Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Shadow slowly opened his eyes. His vision was so blurry he couldn’t make out any shapes in front of him. The ringing in his ears was like a whistle, long and loud. He blinked a few times to try and readjust his eyes, and after a moment he grunted painfully and sat up from the floor. He shook his head and rubbed his aching forehead. The ringing eventually died down and his eyes refocused enough for him to make out the room around him.

He was sitting in his and Rouge’s living room, on the carpet between the couch and the coffee table. He scanned the space in front of him. All the windows were shattered, glass littering the carpet. Yet, nothing was out of place. No gems missing, nothing else broken or smashed, and certainly no intruder that he, Rouge, or Omega would have bodied.

He tried to pull himself up with the couch, but he got dizzy once he stood up and he flopped down onto the seat so he didn’t get sick. Once his head stopped spinning he rubbed his temples in frustrated confusion.

His memory was fuzzy. Wasn’t that a familiar feeling for him? But it was different this time. He remembered watching TV right at this spot last night. Was it last night? Truth be told, he had no idea what the date was. Regardless, all was calm. Rouge was baking something in the kitchen. Tangle had texted him something, but before he could read it…

It was a bright flash of light. So blinding that when Shadow covered his eyes with his arm he couldn’t see his own fur. That was it.

“Hmmm…” he growled.

He stood up from the couch and made his way further into the house.

**********

Tikal felt something small bap at her shoulder. She groggily pulled up her head and blinked slowly, regaining her focus. She smacked the side of her head a couple times to get the ringing in her ears to stop. A few Chao stepped in front of her, looking worried. She smiled warmly, but tiredly at them.

“It’s okay little ones,” she soothed, leaning back up, “I’m alright…”

She let a couple of them into her arms. As she hugged them tightly, she scanned the room. The Chao Garden was in total disarray. Food, toys, and supplies lay everywhere. But, judging by how diligently the Chao were trying to clean it up, she knew it wasn’t their doing. She looked up towards the front entrance. All the glass from the windows littered the floor.

“Oh my gosh!” she yelped, “I-I think the more important question is if you all are alright!”

The Chao in her hands nodded. A red one fluttered up beside her and tapped her on the shoulder.

“Ka-pew!” it shouted, waving its hand, “Ka-Shhh!!”

Tikal gasped. She suddenly remembered the blinding flash that knocked her unconscious. She looked around at all the little babies in her garden. None of them looked hurt, but all were confused. They all stared at Tikal, awaiting her guidance. Tikal stared back at them, then gazed through the shattered windows of her Chao Garden.

**********

“Rouge?!” Shadow called, “Hello?! Where are you?!”

He leaned into her bedroom, but there was no sign of her. Still nothing out of the ordinary beyond the broken windows, but that only made Shadow more concerned. He ducked back into the hallway and shook his head in dismay, making his way towards his room. The door opened with a long creak, and Shadow once again scanned the inside. Again, nothing different outside of shattered glass and-

“Omega!!” Shadow shouted in relief.

The huge battle bot sat against the wall, looking lifelessly down at the floor. Shadow’s relief drained away all at once and he rushed over to him.

“Omega?! Omega, can you hear me?!” he yelled, shaking the robot.

There was no reply. Omega’s eyes were dark, and cold. Shadow tried shaking him some more, but he never woke up. He took a step back and sighed heavily, leaning against the edge of his bed.

“Something’s happened,” he deduced, “…And it is my duty to fix this mess.”

He stood up and skated out of the house.

**********

“Stay here, my little dears,” Tikal advised the Chao, “I’ll be back soon.”

The Chao did as they were told. Tikal peeked her head out into the greater plaza of Restoration HQ. It was an eerie sight. No one was there, not a soul present but her. All the glass in the building had been shattered, including the great big windows in the ceiling. Tikal thought it best to not tread on all the shards of glass everywhere, so she twirled around and changed her lower half into her ghost form. She floated above all the debris, nervously glancing around the facility for any sign of life.

At last she spotted one, though not exactly who she expected. She floated down beside the small blue car and turned her legs corporeal again.

“Dave?” she asked, walking alongside the squirrel.

“Obbi wabbo!” Dave waved in excitement.

“It’s good to see you too,” Tikal smiled, “Have you seen anyone around HQ? Like…anyone at all?”

Dave shook his head, “Norbog.”

“Hmmm…” Tikal hummed nervously.

She looked out into the decrepit, rubble filled plaza.

“That can’t be good…”

**********

The streets of Central City weren’t looking much better than Shadow’s house. And that wasn’t just because of all the glass everywhere. Shadow was in total shock at the chaos he was witnessing. What was once a vibrant and colorful city now looked like one giant slum. Trash lay everywhere, cars sat in the street at odd angles, several fire hydrants were gushing water, and spray paint covered many walls.

But the most abhorrent sight was the people. As Shadow walked through the messy streets, every single person he passed gave him dirty looks. They all had dirty cloaks and rags for clothes, if any. Many bunched up around burning barrels for warmth, and most looked like they hadn’t slept in weeks. A few hissed at him, and one even threw a tin can. He blocked it, but stared back at the woman who threw it in disheartened confusion.

“What on earth happened here?” he whispered to himself.

“Um, excuse me?!”

Shadow turned and saw the first cleanly dressed person he’d seen all day. The orange echidna walked up to him nervously.

“Are you Rouge’s friend, Shadow?” she asked.

His eyes widened.

“Yes,” he nodded.

“Oh thank goodness. I’m Tikal,” she greeted, shaking his hand, “It’s so relieving seeing a friendly face around here.”

“I’ll say…” Shadow muttered, “Do you know what happened here?”

“I haven’t got a clue!” Tikal shrugged, “I only remember a bright flash and then I woke up in my Chao Garden.”

“Hmm. Same,” Shadow nodded, “Strange…”

“No one else was in Restoration HQ,” Tikal went on, “My cell phone isn’t turning on and I haven’t seen anyone else since leaving.”

Shadow nodded, “Omega was offline too.”

He walked over to one of the cars and fiddled with the radio. It was completely silent. He tried turning the ignition key, but the car didn’t make so much as a peep.

“Seems like all kinds of modern technology have been shut down.”

Tikal scratched her head, “How is that even possible?”

Shadow snarled grimly, “Doesn’t seem like something out of the doctor’s field of expertise.”

He looked around at the desecrated streets, “Though this is certainly not his ‘style’.”

Tikal nodded gravely. Before either could ponder for long they heard shouting from around the street corner. Shadow boosted forward and Tikal ran after him quickly. A fight had broken out between a gray dog and a moose. They were walking in circles in the middle of the road, with onlookers cheering them on in excitement. Tikal gasped and pointed at the large, sharp bit of metal the dog was holding.

“HAAHGH!” he screamed, lunging forward.

The moose didn’t even move as the makeshift blade was swung at him. Shadow did though, instantly skating up into the fight. He grabbed the dog’s arm and swiftly disarmed him, kicking the chunk of metal far down the street.

“Hey, whuh the fuck’z wrong with you?!” the dog slurred.

“What is this all about?” Shadow demanded.

“None of yur fuckin business, thaz what!”

“Outta my fuggin way!” the moose shoved Shadow aside, “This punk’s gonna finally learn not to sit in my space.”

“No!” Tikal squealed, getting between the dog and moose, “There’s no need to fight like this! I’m sure this isn’t like either of you!”

“And wha the fuck would you know, ya High Life?!” the moose snarled, puffing up his chest, “What? You think we can pay our way outta fighting?!”

“Tha- That’s not what I-”

“You think you’re hot shit with that fancy fuckin crown of yours?!” the dog growled, flicking Tikal’s golden headband, “I bet that shit costs more than everything on this entire fuckin street.”

“I’m not insinuating that, I just don’t want-”

“Fuck you!” the moose yelled.

He spit straight into Tikal’s face. She yelped and flinched back, quickly wiping the loogie off. She opened her eyes just in time to see Shadow punch the moose in the stomach. The WUMP was audible enough for the bystanders to hear it. He collapsed onto the pavement, groaning and clutching his gut.

“That’s enough,” Shadow ordered darkly, “If either of you escalate this further, I’ll ensure you’ll never fight again.”

The dog, crowd, and even Tikal stared at Shadow in terror. The dog then scoffed and marched away.

“Fuck you, Cufflinks,” the dog muttered, “High Lifes like you already make things shitty enough.”

The crowd similarly shuffled away, all the while side eyeing and hissing at Shadow and Tikal.

“Was that really necessary?” Tikal asked.

“It was the only way to stop it from escalating,” Shadow remarked, watching the moose limp away.

“Mmm…” Tikal grumbled.

Shadow raised a brow at her. She looked away and stared down the street.

“This is a disaster…” she sighed as she began walking, “Not just for how awful this City is suddenly looking. We have no clues, no leads, and no one to help figure out how to fix this.”

Shadow hummed grimly, walking alongside her.

“...But,” Tikal added in a cheerier tone, “That just means we’ll have to take this one step at a time.”

She turned to face Shadow, “Any idea where we should start?”

He nodded, “Tails’ workshop. With any luck, he’ll still be in his right mind, and we can-”

“Oh, ho ho ho ho!! Would you take a gander at those folks?!”

The loud, posh, pompous voice snapped Shadow out of his train of thought. He and Tikal whipped their heads forward in shock. There was Rouge, but you wouldn’t be able to tell at a first glance. She was wearing a huge, golden colored bouffant dress. The skirt was about twice her size, and she wore an enormous sunhat in the same golden color.

“Look at them, Knuxolar!” she cooed to the man holding her waist, “They seem to fancy themselves of our status! I wonder what dumpster they fished those cufflinks and tiara from!”

Shadow and Tikal’s gaze darted to the other figure. Their jaws dropped even further. Knuckles stood there with a cowboy hat, jacket, pants, and boots that went up to his knees. He scoffed at the pair of them.

“Ignore them, Rouginda,” he sneered, “Intimidators like them don’t deserve your eyes.”

“Oh, you are so right, my dear! But it’s still so fun to point and laugh at the lowlifes that try and fit in with us!”

“We can point and laugh at the Chateau later. I don’t want to spend another minute in this waste dump.”

“Quite.”

With that, the pair departed, holding each other close every step of the way. Rouge even leaned over and pecked Knuckles on the cheek, which he hardly reacted to.

Tikal and Shadow stood there for a good solid minute. They slowly turned to face each other, just to make sure they were both holding the same gobsmacked expressions.

Chapter Text

The landscape outside the city was a much more comforting sight. Shadow and Tikal were grateful that, if nothing else, nature was exactly the same as they last saw it.

“I guess we can definitely say this isn’t an Eggman scheme now,” Tikal chuckled.

Shadow didn’t react. His eyes were firmly planted on their target. Knuckles and Rouge, or whatever dumb name they called themselves, were certainly taking their time strolling through the woods.

“This is taking too long,” he hissed, “We’re never going to get answers by following them at this pace.”

“It’s our only option,” Tikal replied, “We have no other leads as of now, so we have to take what we can get…”

Shadow sighed in begrudging agreement. The pair continued following their friends, ducking behind bushes and keeping plenty of distance through the trees. At one point a frog bounced in front of their path. Much to Tikal’s horror, Knuckles tried to kick it out of the way. Thanks to his huge, awkward cowboy boots though, he only kicked up a bit of dirt. Still, he scared the frog into hopping away. Rouge laughed uproariously, pointing at the poor amphibian.

Tikal put her hands over her chest. Shadow, meanwhile, was glaring daggers at the bat. Tikal noticed his expression and gently put a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw her giving him an empathetic look. He sighed, but nodded.

“Oh! Lord Espalibur! Madam Trirpro!” Rouge cooed in the distance, “How quaint finding you out here!”

Shadow and Tikal turned and spotted Espio and Trip standing in front of Knuckles and Rouge. Their arms were locked tightly, and they smiled at the other couple with plastic expressions. Espio was sporting a deep red court suit, with golden lining and lavish flower art jutting far out from the center of his coat. He also wore what looked like a pirate's hat and a white powdered wig underneath it. Trip had a thick layer of lipstick on, with a white dress similar to Rouge’s, but with a much smaller skirt and half the chest covering.

“Goodday Lady Rouginda,” Espio bowed, “Sir Knuxalor.”

His voice was so over the top, like a caricature of a snobby, fat, rich guy.

Trip bowed similarly, “We were taking a stroll. It is such a lovely day! We thought we’d take advantage of it.”

Tikal felt a bit relieved, hearing Trip’s voice mostly the same as she remembered it. Still, it carried a strange accent Trip never had before.

“Well, we were merely just coming back from Centrilara City,” Rouge explained, “I tell you, this forest is so much more pleasant than that awful place.”

“Oh my word!” Trip gawked, “Why on earth would you ever travel there?! It is disgusting!”

“Not to mention the dangerous thugs crowding the streets,” Espio sneered, “Always looking to pickpocket whatever they can from us.”

“Oh, it was a simple sightseeing venture,” Rouge waved off, “I wanted to see all the low lifes wallowing in their own misery. When you ignore the smell, it's a most humorous sight!”

Shadow’s scowl deepened. Meanwhile, Tikal audibly cringed hearing Rouge say all that.

“Plus,” she added, leaning into Knuckles, “I had my big, strong man with me. I was safe and sound, don’t you worry.”

Shadow squinted his eyes, watching Rouge kiss the echidna on the cheek. Knuckles once again didn’t react, but Shadow did by shaking his head.

“Eesh…” Tikal whispered, “Rouge told me before how head over heels she was for Jewel…I kinda hope Jewel’s like this too so she doesn’t feel cheated on.”

“I doubt she’d even see that woman as Rouge…I know I sure don’t…” Shadow snarled.

Tikal only nodded in response.

“Well, in any case, see to it you freshen up before you arrive at Whitten Praquely,” Trip advised, “You wouldn’t want that poor people stink following you in.”

“Indeed,” Espio nodded, “Silvester was utterly embarrassed upon realizing he had dragged that aura in with him.”

“Will do!” Rouge beamed, her and Knuckles walking past the others, “See you then!”

“Toodloo!” Trip waved.

“I look forward to it, my dear,” Espio nodded.

The two groups split off from each other. Shadow and Tikal watched them leave. The echidna darted her eyes back and forth between the two groups.

“Should we keep following Knuckles and Rouge?” she asked, “Or should we switch to Trip and…crap, what’s the chameleon’s name again?”

She heard no reply. She turned and saw Shadow looking down, deep in thought.

“Shadow?”

“…Knuckles mentioned a chateau earlier, right?”

Tikal blinked in surprise, but nodded. Shadow stared off in the direction Espio and Trip had left.

“Stay here. I’m going to check something.”

“Huh?”

In an instant, Shadow was up and was rushing through the woods to the north. He skated as fast as he could, ducking between the trees and rocks littered through the landscape. Though, strangely, he began to hear the faint, rapid thumping of footsteps catching up to him. He turned to his left just as Tikal drew alongside.

“You aren’t leaving me anywhere,” she huffed, “We are going to fix this together.”

Shadow gawked at her.

“Sorry,” he apologized, “I had no idea you could keep up with me.”

Tikal smirked cockily and pulled her hands behind her head, “Not many people do.”

Shadow looked forwards again, eyeing the mountains in the distance. Tikal stared at them too, their size becoming more imposing as they rapidly approached.

“Are you going to let me in on this little theory of yours?” she asked.

“The name of that place…it’s vaguely familiar, but jumbled in the same way they said ‘Central City’. And there’s only one place I can think of that has a chateau bougie enough for these fakers.”

Shadow and Tikal raced up the side of the mountain. Snow shot aside as they tore through the deep drifts. Once they reached the peak they stopped, and Shadow pointed ahead at the huge building stuffed between the mountainside and the trees.

“White Park Grand Chateau!” he asserted, “I came here once before looking for a rumored Eggman robot collector.”

“Did you find him?” Tikal asked.

“Yes. And as it turned out trading robot parts was the least offensive of his crimes,” Shadow growled, “This is the perfect place for these ‘High Lifes’ to hide away and do whatever they please.”

“Well…it’s certainly a start. Can’t hurt to investigate.”

Shadow and Tikal slid down the mountainside and jumped down onto the highway. It was completely barren, with the pavement in decent shape. Tikal looked out over the railing and into White Park itself.

“Wow…” she gasped, “That’s a huge rollercoaster…”

“It’s what the park is most known for,” Shadow added, “Though it looks like the power is down just like the city.”

Tikal nodded, “I bet it’s an amazing site when it’s all up and running.”

“Eh,” Shadow scoffed, “Not a fan of the frivolities it provides, myself.”

Tikal frowned at him huffily. Before she could say anything, though, she spotted something out of the corner of her eye.

“Look!” she pointed at the chateau, “Some of the lights are on in there!”

Shadow whipped his head towards the building. Sure enough, a few scarce bits of light bled out from the otherwise dark frontmost windows.

He wordlessly boosted ahead, catching Tikal off guard and making her shield her face. She ran up behind him, catching up with him as they reached the front entrance. Two figures were standing on either side of the doors, wearing black butler suits with bowties and all. One was a stout owl with glasses, while Shadow recognized the other as the conductor on the train from Amy’s last birthday party.

They both glared daggers at the pair approaching them. Shadow glared back, but Tikal watched the hedgehog with worry.

“What is your business here?” the owl asked rudely.

Shadow didn’t answer. He simply continued to march towards the guards. They remained unmoved, their faces not showing a hint of emotion besides disdain. Just before Shadow was right up in their faces-

“Sorry! We’re so sorry to bother you two!” Tikal skidded in between them, smiling nervously, “Thi-This is Wit…Un…P-Prak…ly…Cha-Chateau, right?”

“Whitten Praquely Grande Chateau,” the conductor corrected, “But yes, you are correct, madam.”

“Oh good!” Tikal beamed, “We just wanted to ask when the, uh…p-party is tonight?”

The owl squinted, “Why should we tell you? You certainly don’t look prestigious enough to be one of our guests.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that, Nitronious,” the conductor said, “That tiara of hers is most exquisite. Same for the gentleman’s golden rings.”

He leaned down and inspected Tikal’s tank top and skirt, “Though the rest of their outfits leave much to be desired…Certainly not up to our standards. Where is your proper attire?”

“Oh! Um, well…” Tikal stammered, “We, uh…They-They’re in the wash!!”

“The wash?”

“Yes! We didn’t want to get them dirty before coming to the big party. Gotta look…spick and span, you know?”

The conductor nodded and leaned back. Nite squinted at her.

“Then why don’t they already know of the time? All our guests are informed of the meeting times beforehand.”

“Uhh…It, um…slipped our minds!” Tikal explained, “We’ve been so busy recently that we just…forgot. Hee hee…silly us.”

Nite gave her a questioning look, but conceded.

“It is the same as all our other times. Eight o’clock sharp.”

“Thank you,” Tikal bowed, “We will see you there! We’ll get out of your hair now.”

With that, Tikal turned and pulled Shadow away from the chateau. He was shocked at her strength, being unable to resist or pull out of her grasp. Soon, she stopped and let him go.

“What are you doing?!” Shadow hissed, “We have to get in there and find out what's causing all this!”

“Yes, but we can’t go about it in such a…barbaric way!” Tikal clapped back, “We have to be smart about this. We can’t just barge in and beat everyone up until they give us answers.”

“That’s not what I was going to do!”

“Really? Because you certainly weren’t going to politely ask those guys to step aside.”

Shadow scowled darkly at her. She stared back, unwavering. Eventually, he sighed and threw his hands up.

“Fine. What is your plan?”

“Simple. We blend in with them. They’ll let us into the chateau without any resistance, and we can investigate while everyone else is partying hard. Maybe even get some answers and find out if any more of our friends are involved with this.”

Shadow crossed his arms, “And where exactly do you plan on getting the ‘proper attire’ for that?”

Tikal raised her finger and opened her mouth, but froze. She looked away and scratched her chin thoughtfully. After a minute she snapped her fingers.

“I know just the place!”

**********

Shadow solemnly eyed the dilapidated Restoration HQ. The glass scattered everywhere, dust coating every surface, even some scarce bits of trash here and there. It was a far cry from the bustling community from when he last visited.

Tikal stopped by her Chao Garden to check in on the little guys, then led Shadow up to the second level of the plaza.

“Do you know Honey the Cat?” she asked, looking back.

“I’m unfamiliar with her, but I know she’s one of Amy’s girlfriends,” Shadow replied.

Tikal nodded, “Well, when I met her, she told me about this charity store she was setting up here.”

The duo rounded a corner and found the store front. The bright red sign, accompanied by a caricature of Honey herself, shone under the sunlight seeping through the ceiling.

“Since she’s a fashion designer, I bet she’s got some fancy shmancy stuff for us to go undercover in.”

Shadow humphed, impressed, and followed Tikal into the store. Most of the clothes hanging on the circular racks were pretty casual stuff. T-shirts and sweatpants and the like. Luckily, in the back corner of the store, they found exactly what they were looking for. Shadow browsed a shelf of suits while Tikal pulled down a white sundress. She sighed, rubbing her thumbs over the silky fabric.

“…I know this was my idea…” she frowned, “…But I feel bad stealing her clothes like this. This is a charity store, after all.”

“We aren’t stealing them,” Shadow replied calmly, “We’re simply borrowing them. I don’t exactly see myself keeping these clothes when we’re done. I’m not a big fan of fancy suits.”

“Hmm…” Tikal nodded slightly.

“Plus, I highly doubt Honey’s in her right mind to even know these are her clothes. I think she’ll be more thankful that we fixed this whole mess than anything else.”

Tikal smiled, “…You’re right…”

She turned to face the hedgehog, “Thank you, Shadow.”

He glanced at her and nodded. He slung a black suit over his shoulders and presented himself with a white undercoat.

“How does this look?”

Tikal tapped her chin.

“I dunno. It’s the same outfit as those guys at the front. Compared to what Espio and Rouge were wearing, it oddly doesn’t seem fancy enough.”

Shadow hummed in dismay. He hung the overcoat back on the rack and looked through the selection again. He was just about to give up when he paused. His eyes widened in surprise. He took the outfit off the rack and inspected it closely.

He turned to see Tikal pull out a blue dress with golden swirls at the bottom of the skirt and puffy shoulders. She held it against herself, then turned to Shadow. He held up an all white coat, with golden buttons, lining on the pockets, wrists, and edges, and long, solid shoulder blades with white strings hanging off the rounded ends. She gasped quietly, then smiled at Shadow. He smirked back.

“Well then,” Tikal chuckled, “I think we’ve found our party attire.”

**********

It was dark by the time they returned to White Park. Tikal looked up into the night sky, staring at the sprawling aurora above her.

“Wow…” she swooned, “I hope I can visit this place under…less dire circumstances. Because this is lovely…”

Shadow didn’t respond. He marched sternly forwards, keeping his eyes glued on the chateau in the distance. With the help of the darkened sky, he could more clearly see the light peering through the many windows of the chateau. Tikal glanced at him before eyeing up the chateau herself.

“Looks like a few of the windows got boarded up,” she pointed at one window where light was seeping through tiny cracks.

Shadow nodded, “But the rest have glass in them. Unlike every other location we’ve been to.”

“Well then, at the risk of jinxing us, I think we’ve found a good lead.”

Shadow nodded again. The pair climbed the hill up to the Chateau and walked to the front door. Nite and the conductor were still standing there with their hands behind their backs. They watched Shadow and Tikal approach diligently.

“Ah, there you are,” the conductor greeted, “We’ve been expecting you.”

Tikal giggled in reply. Nite eyed their new suit and dress respectively, then cleared his throat.

“I believe you two are new guests to our Grande Chateau,” he said, “May we have your names to add to the list?”

Tikal’s eyes widened in fright.

“U-Uh…o-of course! My name is Lady Tikal…ing…ton…”

She smiled awkwardly. Nite didn’t even look at her funny. He and the conductor only glanced at Shadow.

“Shadow,” he said firmly.

Nite and the conductor nodded.

“And may we assume you two are romantic partners?” the conductor asked.

Tikal and Shadow’s eyes widened.

“It is mandatory for entry, you know,” Nite added.

There was a brief silence. Tikal and Shadow shot glances at each other.

“…Y-Yes,” Tikal asserted nervously.

She reached for Shadow’s hand, missing it twice before she grasped it. Shadow only looked down at their hands, then up at her unamusingly.

“Very well,” the conductor said, standing aside and opening the door, “Please do enjoy yourselves tonight, Shadow and Lady Tikalington.”

Tikal thanked him and Nite as she and Shadow walked through the double doors. They were gently closed behind them, and without the wind from outside drowning it out they could fully take in the sights and sounds of the chateau.

As they thought, all the lights were on in the building. Jazzy music played from the speakers hanging high above the three story foyer. The floor itself was full of party guests, and the worst part was that Shadow and Tikal recognized almost every single one of them.

Bean and Jewel were immediately to their right, the bomber bird whispering sweet nothings into the beetle’s ear. Tangle and Big were holding onto each other in the middle of the foyer, red in the face and holding wine glasses in their other hands. Whisper walked past them, leaning into a tall gray and white skunk. Looking up into the second floor’s balcony, Shadow spotted Silver kissing Surge’s wrist on the left. Tikal meanwhile stared at Honey being leaned against the railing by a short, blue skunk on the right. Shadow and Tikal gave each other concerned looks and let go of each other's hands.

They walked further into the Chateau, following the carpeted path laid out for them. It led them to a huge ballroom/theater room, with round tables spotted all over the many levels that slowly moved down to the bottom floor like stairs, with a grand stage at the back of the room. More guests sat at many of the tables, among which they could make out Trip and Espio at one and Vanilla and Vector at another. Shadow sniffed, seeing the rabbit lean down and run her hand down the croc’s arm.

“I suppose it’s comforting to see one pair of romantics I’m used to…”

“Well, well, well. And what do we have here?” a familiar voice boomed.

Shadow and Tikal whipped their heads to the side. Out from the shadow’s stepped the lanky and round, unmistakable figure of Dr. Eggman. Tikal gasped and covered her mouth while Shadow scowled and stepped in front of her. The doctor’s wide, wicked smile grew wider as he stepped closer, until…

“Greetings,” he leaned down and extended his hand, “Welcome to the Whitten Praquely Grande Chateau. My name is Ivor, and I will be one of your servants for this evening.”

Shadow and Tikal were taken aback. They only now noticed that the doctor was wearing the same black butler suit as Nite and the conductor. Shadow cautiously reached forward and shook his hand.

“Ahaha…” Tikal chuckled, “It’s, um…v-very nice to meet you, Ivor…You seem, um…very excited to meet us.”

“Oh, but I am! We hardly have the honor of treating new guests around here. It is wonderful to meet new members of our little club!”

Shadow let go of his hand and stepped back. The doctor leaned back up and put a hand to his chest.

“If you need anything, please do not hesitate to ask. Me and my staff are here to cater to your every need!”

“W-Will do,” Tikal waved.

“Ahem. Ivor?!”

Shadow, Tikal, and Eggman all turned to see Blaze and Bark sitting at a table, eyeing the doctor impatiently.

“We asked for our drinks ten minutes ago,” Blaze frowned, “Where are they?”

“Oh my! I sincerely, sincerely apologize, Countess Flarzoe! I will have those out to you and Count Bartholomew right away!”

He dashed off, presumably towards the kitchen. Blaze scoffed at him and turned back to the polar bear in front of her. Shadow and Tikal exchanged glances.

“Well…” Tikal mumbled, “That was…interesting.”

“It’s one solved mystery that leads into another,” Shadow huffed, “The doctor is clearly not behind this. But that leaves the question of who is.”

Tikal nodded gravely. The pair scanned the room, but saw no one suspicious.

“And just what do you think you are doing here?”

Shadow and Tikal looked to their left. There was Rouge and Knuckles, the bat leaning down with her hands on her hips and the echidna crossing his arms. Both looked incredibly unhappy to see them.

“I remember you two from earlier today,” Rouge spat, “You intimidators from Centrilara City, slithering around with the filth of those streets!”

“You mean imitators,” Shadow corrected through gritted teeth.

“Oh, and now you think yourself smarter than my lovely sweetheart?!!” Knuckles roared, stepping closer to Shadow.

“Woah, woah, woah!!” Tikal yelped, stepping between the boys, “There’s no need to escalate things.”

She smiled nervously at the others, “You see, there is a very simple explanation.”

Knuckles and Rouge raised a brow at them.

“We simply didn’t want to wear our good outfits while in the city,” Tikal said, displaying her beautiful blue dress, “It would be a shame to get them dirty and bring in the…um…grime from there into our favorite chateau…”

Knuckles and Rouge stared at Tikal, looking unconvinced.

“Well then you can’t blame us for thinking you were intimidators,” Knuckles shrugged, “Only half-wits leave their abodes without their best clothes on.”

“It’s…‘imitators’,” Shadow growled quietly, increasingly frustrated.

“It’s the finest sign of status!” Rouge added loudly, “Like a badge signifying you are deserving of all the luxuries afforded to you! But, then again, I can understand wanting to keep your clothing at its best. So why don’t we put this little squabble behind us, eh?”

“I think that’s a great idea! I’m Lady Tikal…ington. And this is…Shadow,” Tikal introduced.

“Hmm?” Rouge hummed, “No title to your name?”

“I don’t need one,” Shadow huffed.

“Hmm hmm,” she chuckled coyly, “I think you do. Otherwise, no one will know how you gained the status to become a part of this lavish lifestyle.”

“Really? Then how did you become a part of all of this?”

There was a long silence. Rouge’s plastic, happy expression fell almost immediately.

“Tch,” she eventually scoffed before flouncing away with Knuckles behind her.

Shadow and Tikal watched them leave. Their attention was brought away when they heard the echo of someone tapping on a microphone. The music from the speakers faded away. All eyes turned towards the stage as Cream, wearing a butler uniform, held a mic in her hands.

“Good evening Whitten Praquely Grande Chateau guests! If I may have your attention for just a moment, I would like to remind you of tonight's grand event! Tonight is the night we will unveil and praise the great power that has brought us nothing but good fortune and wealth! All guests are expected to be seated in the ballroom by nine o'clock for a celebratory toast. Food and drink will be provided for the ceremony, so be sure to seat yourselves quickly.”

With that, Cream placed the microphone back on its stand and walked off the stage. The music faded back in over the speakers as the guests continued their chatter.

“Perfect!” Tikal beamed, “We’ll find out the source of all this madness soon! Quick! Let’s find a table near the stage and-”

“No!” Shadow blurted, grabbing Tikal’s arm.

Tikal looked back at him in surprise. He nodded his head to the side and led Tikal to a dark spot near the wall.

“We came here to investigate, and sitting around waiting for the answer to come to us isn’t good enough,” Shadow explained, “One of us needs to sneak around the building looking for any other clues while the other can stay here and see what they bring out.”

Tikal nodded rapidly, “I can investigate. I’ll make sure no one sees me.”

“Are you sure?” Shadow asked.

Tikal smirked. She checked to make sure no one saw her before twirling around and turning invisible. Shadow gawked in total shock, only able to see a blue outline of all of her features.

“Positive.”

Shadow continued staring for a moment. Then, he shook his head and gave her a serious look.

“Check out the penthouse suite first. That’s where that Eggtech trader was stationed, and it’s the biggest, most lavish part of this hotel. If there's any more clues to be found, it’ll be there.”

“Got it,” Tikal nodded, “And while I’m up there, why don’t you strike up some conversation with the others. See what else they can tell you.”

“Roger. Stay safe.”

“You too.”

Shadow began to walk away when-

“Oh, and Shadow?” Tikal called.

He looked back to see her pouting at him.

“Don’t start any fights with our friends.”

He rolled his eyes and walked back out into the ballroom. Tikal floated through the ceiling behind him. He scanned the area while walking down the steps in the center, looking for someone he wouldn’t dread striking up a conversation with.

“Ey Rosemary. Lookie what we got ‘ere.”

Shadow turned and stared in surprise. At a table just to his left was Sonic, wearing a huge puffy coat with leopard spotted ends and a long brimmed hat with a giant red feather sticking out. Between his fingers was what looked like a cigar, but upon a second glance Shadow realized it was a pretzel stick…that was still lit like a cigar somehow.

Next to him, behind his legs he had kicked up onto the table, was Amy. Shadow could see her wearing thick red lipstick with a red sleeveless dress and purple gloves that went past her elbows.

Sonic took a puff of his ‘cigar’ and gestured to Shadow, “You must be new around ‘ere. They call me Nicholas, and this is my sweet gal Amelia Rosemary.”

“Nice to meet you~” Amy purred.

Shadow’s pupils were the size of pebbles. He was in total, abject shock. His mouth hung open in an attempt to speak, but nothing came out aside from small grunts.

“Don’t be lookin’ so surprised,” Sonic snickered, “Come, come. Why don’t you sit with us? We’ll give you a rundown of the joint, newbie.”

Shadow blinked, desperately trying to process everything. Finally, he shook himself back to attention, and gingerly sat down next to Sonic.

**********

Tikal rose out from the floor and burst back into her corporeal form. The top floor of the chateau was much less inviting than the lower levels. Only a few scarce overhead lights were working, with the rest being either dead or shattered. Tikal was careful to tread around the shards of lightbulbs sticking up out of the carpet.

She turned a corner and walked down a hall until she reached the door to the penthouse suit. She tried the knob, but it wouldn’t budge. With another quick flash of energy she phased through the door and skidded to a stop on the other side.

Her jaw dropped. There was money everywhere. Dollars, coins, gems, rings, even whole gold bars were piled up in mounds around her. If it wasn’t that, chunks of technology lay strewn about, like broken TV’s, car batteries, radios, fridges, and such.

“Oh my god…” Tikal whispered, walking through the path between the piles, “At least there’s merit to their claims of wealth…”

“Oh yes…” oozed a slimy voice, “If there's one thing that everyone hates, it's a scammer.”

Tikal snapped her head forwards and stared at the green opossum sitting in a single chair stationed under a swinging light.

“Now then…” Clutch smiled, gripping his cane, “What brings you here?”

Chapter Text

“O-OH!” Tikal yelped, “I-I’m so, so sorry, sir! I-I must’ve-”

“Aw. Don’t play dumb with me, sweetheart,” the opossum snickered, standing up with his cane, “That trick only works on the fools downstairs…”

Tikal’s phoney smile fell immediately. She stared at him, surprised and a little scared.

“The name’s Clutch,” he greeted, “And yours?”

“…L-Lady…T-Tikalingto-”

“No, no, no,” Clutch waved, “Not whatever phoney name you gave the idiots, your name.”

Tikal’s jaw dropped.

“H…How did you…”

Clutch smirked, almost triumphantly.

“I like to stay well informed when I’m on top of the world,” he said slyly, “So when you and that hedgehog friend of yours came waltzing up to my…recently reclaimed estate, I decided to do a little research. Now I know all about that little ‘Ultimate Lifeform’ hanging around downstairs, but I’m not too familiar with you, young lady.”

Tikal was stunned, but tried to hide it.

“How…How did you know I wasn’t like one of them? Just because I was with Shadow, or the way I dressed?”

Clutch shook his head.

“The fact you came up here to find me. Those scatterbrained fools do a lot of talking, but ‘talk’ is all they are. This is my chateau, and if they want to stay under its care they have to follow my rules. Since they aren’t their usual brave, adventurous selves anymore, they don’t dare step out of line.”

“But I think you’re dodging my question,” Clutch added, pointing a finger upwards.

“Who. Are. You?”

Tikal stared at him for a second, then gulped.

“Tikal.”

Clutch grinned, “Welcome to the Whitten Praquely chateau, Tikal…”

---

“What’s ya name, pal?” Sonic asked with a smirk.

“Shadow,” he replied gruffly.

“Ooo, ya got some edge to you! I like it…”

Shadow did his best to not stare straight through the blue hedgehog. Even when he’s…like this, he manages to get on Shadow’s nerves the same way. Amy rested her head on the table and fluttered her eyes at Shadow.

“Where’s your lady?”

“Yeah…” Sonic grinned, “A man like you’s gotta have a fine lady with him. Certainly don’t see you gettin in by ya’self.”

“…In the restroom,” Shadow replied a second later.

“And you ain’t waitin’ for her outside?” Sonic asked.

“Why would I need to do that?”

“You never know,” Amy purred, “She could be swept off her feet by another handsome fellow when you aren’t looking.”

“Z’actly,” Sonic winked, “You gotta keep your lady on a tight leash, lest she starts wanderin’ without ya.”

Shadow gave Sonic a look.

“She’s not my property. She can do as she pleases, and I don’t have to hover around her like a handler.”

Sonic shrugged, “Suit yourself, Shad. Seems like you are an oddball in our little crowd anyway.”

---

“So this is all your doing,” Tikal asserted, “The flash, the city, our friends, everything!”

“HA ha ha, hahaha haa,” Clutch laughed uproariously, “Come now, kid. I’m flattered, but I’m no mastermind. I’m just an opportunist.”

“Huh? What is that supposed to mean? How did you stay as your normal self?”

“Simple,” Clutch winked.

He reached down and picked up a glass of Chaos Cola sitting on the arm of his chair. He sipped it slowly, and took his sweet time placing it back down.

“I was snooping somewhere I shouldn’t have been. Eggman ruined my plans for a takeover of the Restoration, and the fallout from that whole mess lost me my entire trade empire. Just as I had come out of retirement too…”

He gestured around the room, “They even took my own chateau from me. This penthouse suit was turned into a damn storage room! And I wasn’t going to just sit idly by and let everyone stomp all over me.”

He began pacing with his cane, “I narrowly escaped Eggman’s imprisonment before he could rig some machine to my head. But of course, I needed his junk to restart my business, so I took my chances and went looking through some old base of his.”

“Then, all of a sudden, everything went haywire for just a second. Lights, alarms, computers, everything! I thought he had caught me, but then it happened.”

“The big bang,” he hissed grandly, moving his hands in an explosive motion, “Lucky ol’ me just barely dodged it. I saw it seep through the windows and bathe everything in white.”

Tikal glared at him, unconvinced.

“Truth be told, Tikal,” Clutch went on, “I haven’t a clue what happened. But, when I left that run down base I found the world in a completely different state than when I last saw it. So…I saw my opportunity…and seized it.”

---

“You really believe that,” Shadow huffed, “That you need to have your partner with you at all times? Like you’re a master of some kind?”

Sonic shrugged cockily, “It ain’t that deep, Shad. Just a side effect of always wantin’ to be around your lady. Every man wants to be around his lady all the time.”

“Yes…” Shadow drolled, “So every man here has a…‘lady’ then? Aside from the staff members, I’ve seen no one without a partner.”

“Ya damn right,” Sonic winked before leaning over, “Ey Migroth!”

Shadow turned to see Mighty and Lanolin sitting at the table on the other side of the aisle. The sheep was nuzzled against the armadillo’s shell.

“What?!” he replied haughtily.

“You and your lady havin’ a good time?!”

“Sure am! Better keep an eye on yours, Nic. She might just wanna share me with her!”

“Fuck you!” Sonic shouted playfully.

Mighty snickered and looked back at the maroon quokka, pouring his and Lanolin’s drinks.

“Ey, don’t be spillin none of that,” he ordered, “We ain’t dealing with a wet table ‘cause of your dumbass.”

“O-Of course, s-s-sir,” Barry replied nasally.

Shadow watched the quokka skurry off. He turned his attention back to Sonic, who was giving him a cocky grin.

“See, Shad? Everyone’s got a lady with ‘em. Just the way things are.”

“You wouldn’t want to die alone, would you handsome?” Amy asked, “Having a good man by your side is every woman’s dream.”

Shadow hummed dryly, hiding the fact he was tightening his fist on the chair, “Is being in a romantic relationship some kind of requirement?”

“You could say dat,” Sonic bit into his ‘cigar’, “If you ain’t with a woman, you’re a nobody. And we don’t let nobodies into our chateau…”

Shadow nodded grimly, “I see.”

---

“But…that-that doesn’t explain anything!” Tikal blurted, “How do you have running electricity in this place when it's nowhere to be found anywhere else?!”

Clutched jerked his thumb behind him, “Got a few generators runnin’ out back. Was a bitch getting them working again, but nothing impossible. Heh heh, you should hear the dolts downstairs talk about it, though. They think it’s magic or something, HA HA HAHA!!”

“And windows?” Tikal questioned, “When they’ve been shattered everywhere else?”

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Clutch groaned, “I had to babysit my new staff, trying to get them to replace the glass without shattering it again.”

Tikal glared, “Then what about the others? How did you get our friends in on all of this? How did you change them into these…awful people?!”

Clutch put up his hands, “It’s a mystery to me too, Tikal. They already fancied themselves high society folk when I found them. I remember that rotten blue rat and his pink girlfriend coming up to me, asking if I knew of a place to host them. Once again, I saw an opportunity and seized it.”

“What for?!” Tikal demanded, “You can’t seriously be telling me that you were spared of this whole catastrophe just to take advantage of it!”

Clutch shrugged, “It’s just how the dice rolled, sweetheart. I swear on the deed to this chateau, I had nothing to do with this. I’m just a lucky, lucky man…”

“But why? Why use these new personas they’ve adopted just to gather them all up in this chateau? What could you possibly gain from this?!”

Clutch grinned widely. Tikal took a step back, finally getting a good look at his sharp teeth.

---

The conversation had stopped dead. Shadow stared right through Sonic and Amy, both of whom were looking around impatiently. Sonic eventually lifted his legs off the table and banged down hard on it with his fist.

“Can we get some goddamn service over ‘ere?!” he bellowed.

Almost instantly Shadow heard someone running over to their table. Tails skidded to a stop next to Shadow and pulled out a notepad and pencil.

“I-I’m so sorry, Mr. N-Nicholas!” Tails stammered nervously with the voice of a toddler, “W-W-What can I get you?”

“About time, pipsqueak,” Sonic snarled, “Gimmie two rounds of Chaos Cola for me and the misses. And an order’a fries on top of that.”

He smirked and nudged Shadow in the shoulder, “And give the big man Shad here whatever he wants too.”

Tails scribbled down Sonic’s order quickly, then looked up into Shadow’s eyes. He stared back at his wide, innocent, scared face. Shadow frowned and shook his head.

“I’m okay, thank you,” he waved gently.

“Aw, don’t be shy, bud,” Sonic urged, “Tell him what you want.”

“I don’t want anything,” Shadow grumbled.

“Whateva,” Sonic shrugged, “Just make our orders snappy.”

“Y-Yes sir!” Tails saluted before darting off.

Amy chuckled sinisterly. Sonic just rolled his eyes and pretended to take a puff of his pretzel stick. Based on how he exhaled, Shadow thought he may have actually thought he was smoking a cigar.

“Are all of you that hard on the staff here?” he asked.

“Would you get off my case, edgy?!” Sonic snapped, “This is our chateau! We do what we want!”

“Aww…” Amy cooed, “Does the big, brave newbie want to stick up for the little guy?”

Shadow covertly grit his teeth behind his lips.

“Don’t you two feel even a hint of sympathy for him? For the staff catering to your every will? A little common decency wouldn’t kill you.”

“Pfft,” Amy spat, “They need to know who’s in charge around here. If they don’t they might start getting ideas above their pay grade.”

“That little mangey, two tailed freak’s the worst of ‘em,” Sonic added gruffly, “Always running around, never waiting his tables right. I’m thinkin’ the boss man’s gotta fire his ass one of these days.”

“Boss man?” Shadow questioned.

“Surely you know him,” Sonic smirked, “The big cheese around ‘ere. The one keeping this place up ‘n running for us. And the one keeping a leash on all these little miscreant servants.”

Sonic and Amy looked ahead. Shadow followed their eyes and watched Kit climb a ladder up to a spotlight hanging over the stage. Charmy was below, holding the ladder steady.

“Best of all,” Amy purred, “He’s found out how to bring light inside buildings. It’s like magic! Ahh, he’s such a brilliant man.”

“I’ll say, toots. Not much point of havin’ a theater when you can’t see the stage, right? Clutch is a real genius, he is.”

Shadow’s eyes bulged. He looked up into the ceiling in worry. His gaze only broke when Kit fell off his ladder and tumbled forwards with a shriek. Charmy watched in terror while everyone else in the theater burst out laughing. All but Shadow, who gripped the table cloth in an effort to stop himself from doing what Tikal warned him not to.

---

“That is what I stand to gain…” Clutch pointed past Tikal.

She turned and reexamined the mountains of riches stacked behind her.

“I’ve made back my wealth and then some in a week,” Clutch chortled, stepping alongside Tikal, “What would have taken me years to do these chumps did for me in record time.”

Tikal crossed her arms, “Sonic and the others are not that wealthy. They don’t have this kind of money just laying around. And I doubt it suddenly came into their possession when they decided to start acting snobbish and snooty. Where did it come from?”

Clutch’s grin widened.

“You’re right. Money doesn’t grow on trees. It’s kept in banks and personal vaults…”

Tikal’s jaw dropped, “Nooo…”

“Sure,” Clutch shrugged, “It’s not hard to convince someone who’s so sure they’re wealthy that the money layin’ in the bank is theirs.”

“Oh my gosh…”

“And when the stock brokers and bankers all suddenly believe they live in cardboard boxes on the streets, why let that money collect dust just sitting there? It’s not stealing when the banking system no longer exists in the minds of its past patrons.”

“You evil monster!” Tikal roared.

“Oh, please,” he scoffed, walking back to his chair, “You couldn’t convince them otherwise if you tried. Whatever happened to these people, it’s irreversible as far as I know.”

“That’s not the issue! You’re stealing money from people! People who were already struggling to get by, I bet!”

“Pfft,” Clutch spat, “You really think I’m that cruel?”

He took another sip of his cola.

“Taking money from some schmuck with $86 to his name doesn’t get me a room like this. Now, taking from the ones who already had plenty to their name, in the hundreds of thousands or so? That’s an opportunity.”

Tikal scowled at him.

“Oh, come on. I thought you kids loved that whole ‘take from the rich’ thing.”

“You’re forgetting the very important second half to that quote,” Tikal crossed her arms.

“Pah.”

---

The music began to quiet down again. The lights above the tables dimmed as the spotlights over the stage were turned on. Shadow watched Charmy take the ladder away with Kit following him, rubbing his head. The chatter of all the guests silenced. Shadow looked back to see everyone not already seated filing in through the doorway. Out of the crowd, he recognised the conductor's wife holding hands with a purple rooster.

“Get ready, newbie,” Sonic grinned, “Show’s about to start.”

Cream walked back out on stage and reached up for the microphone. She had to get on her tippy toes to reach it, but finally pulled it down.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” she cheered, “It’s finally time for the main event of the evening!”

The curtains opened behind her. Agent Stone could be seen wheeling in a cart with a glass case on it. The reflection from the spotlights made it impossible to make out what was underneath it.

“It is a great honor for all of us at the Whitten Praquely chateau to be hosting you all. But it is a greater honor to be in possession of the very relic responsible for all of our great fortune!”

She was given a round of applause. Everyone clapped, all except for Shadow.

---

“You’re still hiding something from me,” Tikal growled, “I heard about it downstairs. Some…great power, or something. They’re going to show it off in the ballroom.”

Clutch’s smirk faltered a little. He sighed and placed his glass back down.

“Alright, alright. You caught me. There is…something I know. Something I found while snooping around after the blast…”

Tikal watched him as he paced in a circle in front of her.

“My plan was all well and good, but it had one flaw. I needed some way of convincing your friends to give me all that money of…‘theirs’. You’ve spoken to them. I think you can agree that if I told them to simply give me their money, a hissy fit would be the least of my worries.”

Tikal didn’t reply. She just kept watching him.

“But if I could find something. Say, a shiny emerald of unlimited power, and show it to those oafs as proof that I was above them, I could claim all their wealth for my own.”

“You never found a Chaos Emerald,” Tikal asserted.

“No,” Clutch conceded, “I did not. But I did find something…”

---

“Everyone! Please put your hands together for the one and only…”

Stone leaned over and grasped the handle on the top of the case. He slowly pulled it off, revealing a purple rock with a lighter purple swirl in its center.

“The Amazing Amethyst!” Cream announced.

The room erupted into cheers and whistles. The sound of applause drowned out any discernible words the guests were yelling at the stone. Shadow looked between the others in confusion, then down at the amethyst sitting on the stage.

---

“You called it that?” Tikal questioned in disbelief.

Clutch rolled his eyes, “I tried to think of some kind of…alliterating title, and that was the best I got. I found it in the middle of a grassy field, cut me some slack, kid.”

“And they believed you?” Tikal questioned, “That this random rock you found was the source of all their wealth.”

Clutch chortled, “They believe a lot of ridiculous things, my dear. But, if I may play devil's advocate, is it really so hard to believe that a suspicious looking rock is behind all of this? One with a curious shape and an engraved symbol?”

Tikal looked away, not validating that with a response.

“And, you know, now that I’m the one asking questions, I have one for you, Tikal.”

She looked back towards him. He approached her with a strut, ensuring he towered over her.

“I was able to dodge the blast with dumb luck, but it’s plainly obvious I was the only one able to get away with that.”

Tikal stood her ground, glaring up into his dark eyes.

“I thought I was the last sane man on Earth. That was until you and your friend showed up, Tikal.”

Her stoic expression began to fall as she watched Clutch pace around her.

“So, if you’ll satiate my curiosity, I simply must ask…”

He stepped in front of her and slammed his cane down onto the floor.

“How did you avoid the effects of the flash?”

Tikal’s eyes widened.

---

The applause died down, and everyone sat back down. All except Trip and Espio, who moved out of their seats and down to the stage.

“What are they doing?” Shadow whispered to Sonic.

“It’s sorta like a prayer or sumthin’,” Sonic shrugged, “It’s what we do when they bring out the rock. We go down in front of it and tell it our wishes. What else we want it to bring to us. Big man Clutch thinks that it’ll come true, since this thing’s already granted us so much.”

Shadow scowled and glanced down at the amethyst. Espio and Trip had their heads bowed in front of it, whispering to it. Behind them, a line began to form with the other couples. Sonic stood out of his seat and practically shoved Shadow out of his.

“Come on, Shad,” he huffed, “We’ll give you a shot at wishin’ early.”

Shadow scoffed quietly, and stood in line behind Mighty and Lanolin. The line moved slowly, with each wishful guest seemingly taking more time than the last. After what felt like an eternity, it was Mighty and Lanolin’s turn with the rock. Shadow stood back a good distance like everyone else, but close enough to be in earshot.

“Alright, Amazin’ Amethyst,” Mighty huffed while looking down, “Me ‘n the misses are lookin’ for a nice, new yacht to be ‘splorin the seas with. Somethin’ nice, with a kitchen and nice cushioned couches. Maybe a hot tub, that’d be great too.”

Shadow scrunched up his cheek.

“And, if it’s no trouble,” Lanolin added in a soft, western accent, “Our clothes ain’t as fancy as all the others’. It’d be nice to have something with a bit more gold on it. Something on par with, say, Rouginda.”

Shadow shook his head in dismay.

“Hey! You’re holdin’ up the line!” Sonic shouted, “Move over and give the new guy a shot!”

“Fuck off, Nic!” Mighty flipped him the bird.

They did as they were told, though, and surrendered the stage to Shadow. He slowly trudged up the steps and walked up to the amethyst itself. Now that he had a closer look at it, he could more clearly see its jagged, teardrop shape. It was rather triangular, with the lighter, glassy looking swirl being in the center of its fat bottom.

“Well go on,” Sonic urged, “Give it your wishes.”

“Hmph,” Shadow scoffed, “I wish for this idiotic game to end.”

“Huh?”

---

The silence was palpable. Tikal looked slightly down, trembling a little. Clutch leaned against his cane, then reached into his coat and pulled out a stopwatch.

“Come on kid, I don’t have all night.”

Tikal glanced up at him, then down at her hands.

“I…I don’t know…” she finally whispered.

Clutch raised a brow at her hurt tone. It was quickly replaced with a snide grin, and he put a hand on her shoulder.

“Well, if you want my guess, Tikal. It’s that you’re special.”

“…Special?” Tikal questioned.

“Sure. It’s my best guess anyhow,” Clutch said, walking away, “Because unless you were sneakin’ around an Eggman base like me, there’s nothing separating you from all your friends beneath us.”

Tikal looked down at her hands. Clutch watched her rub her arm out of the corner of his eye whilst taking another drink.

“Now, I’ll also add this. You and that hedgehog aren’t the first ones I’ve found resistant to the flash.”

He walked over to a cloaked cage and moved his cane under the tarp.

“I’ve had to deal with some…dissenters since reopening the chateau,” he sniffed, pulling up the cloth to reveal six differently colored Wisps and two Chao sitting inside.

Tikal covered her mouth and gasped. The Wisps looked back at her with watery eyes. Cheese and Chocola were tied up with rope, angrily glaring at the opossum. Clutch held no emotion in his face as he left the cloth over the top of the cage. He stepped away and looked back at Tikal with a smile.

“Wisps and Chao are one thing. You and Shadow are something else entirely. Maybe you were strong enough to resist the changes the rest couldn’t…or maybe…”

He walked up beside Tikal and kneeled down to ear level.

“You were spared for a reason.”

Tikal stared at him confused as he stood back up.

“Think of it, Tikal. The world’s our oyster now, and all of its riches can be yours!” he gestured to the room around them, “You are special enough to resist the fallout of the blast, and you should reap the rewards you sow!”

He reached his hand towards her, “Why don’t we make a deal? A partnership to keep a good thing going, and take what we want to live the high life we deserve…”

Tikal glanced down at his extended hand. Almost immediately she grit her teeth and smack it away.

“Never!!!” she shrieked, tears poking at the corners of her eyes, “I would never help you with your deplorable scheme! I’m going to fix this whole mess, free my friends from this curse, and bring you to justice!”

Clutch looked down at her disappointed, but unsurprised. He sighed, turned slightly, and stepped away.

“I figured as much,” he said, lifting up his cane, “But you can’t say I didn’t try.”

Tikal watched him hoist it up and pull something out from his pocket. She glanced over to the cage. The Wisps and Chao’s eyes were bulging, and they were screaming and gesturing for Tikal to run. She whipped her head back to Clutch just as he loaded his rifle and pointed it at her head.

*POW*

*SNATCH*

Shadow whipped his arm around and yanked the amethyst off the cart. Everyone gasped dramatically. Shadow wasted no time, leaping off the stage.

“Shad! What the hell are you d-AUCK!”

Shadow stomped on Sonic’s head and propelled himself forward. Everyone pointed their fingers, demands to catch or stop him were the only sound audible over the chaos. Shadow looked back at all his friends for a second. When he looked forward again his eyes widened. He careened straight into Big and bounced off of him, dropping the gem. The buttons to his red suit popped off and shot towards Bean and Mighty, knocking them down.

“Augh! You cretin!” Big huffed, “This is a brand new tailored suit!”

Shadow got back on his feet and lunged for the amethyst. Just before Honey could pick it up he snagged it and skated towards Big again.

“Put it on my tab,” Shadow huffed, skidding between the cat’s legs.

Big looked back in surprise. He was shoved aside by Bark and Knuckles.

“Stop him!!” Knuckles pointed.

Shadow raced through the halls, cutting every corner he could until he reached the foyer. Nothing was in his way. It was a straight shot to the front door and freedom.

*BLAM*

Pellets flew right in front of Shadow. He stopped dead and got low, glaring to his left. Eggman stepped out of the darkness holding a makeshift pump shotgun. His signature scowl adorned his brow as he looked down at Shadow. He held up the gun with one hand and racked it in one motion. He brought it back down and pointed it straight at Shadow. He stood up, staring down the dead center of the barrel.

Eggman shot, but Shadow skidded out of the way and bolted forwards. Jumping up, he roundhouse kicked the weapon out of Eggman’s hands and far away. The doctor stumbled back, but Shadow grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

“Freeze!”

Shadow looked back. Nite, the conductor, and Stone stood behind him, all aiming guns at his back. He grit his teeth and growled at them.

Meanwhile, Tikal leapt through the wall as a ghost before bolting down the hall. Clutch kicked the door open and aimed down the corridor. He fired, but Tikal slammed herself against the wall and dodged it. He fired again, but she turned into a ghost for a split second before scurrying around the corner. Clutch cursed under his breath and reloaded before following her.

“Unhand the Amazing Amethyst,” Stone demanded.

Shadow looked between the three men. He noticed the large wooden support beams behind them, then similar ones near himself.

“But not your fellow employee?” Shadow questioned.

“You heard our demands,” Stone scowled.

Shadow scoffed, “Very well.”

Shadow whipped around, taking Eggman with him. He lobbed the doctor at his former lackey. Both humans screamed until Eggman careened into Stone. Nite and the conductor opened fire, but Shadow was already behind the log. He looked around, desperately trying to figure out an escape. The rest of the guests stormed into the foyer like a mob, shouting and rabidly looking around for Shadow. He clung the amethyst close to his chest.

Tikal stumbled over the carpet and nearly fell over as she rushed into the second floor of the foyer. She looked back, not seeing Clutch following her. Without any hesitation, she got on the wooden railing and jumped. However, she was startled to see a blue dog below her.

“Look out below!” she bellowed.

The conductor looked up just in time to see Tikal’s boot collide with his face. She stumbled off of him and fell forwards, crashing into Nite. Shadow peeked out from behind his cover in utter surprise. Both men had been disarmed, and Tikal stood up quickly, surveying the damage she just caused.

Shadow felt a tug from his right. He snapped his head to see Tails trying to pull the amethyst out of his hand. He pulled with all his might, and Shadow retaliated with a yank back. Tails stumbled and fell forwards onto his face. Just then, the stampede of angry guests rounded the support beams and made a b-line for Shadow. His eyes widened. He looked down at the fox, struggling to get back up.

In a flash, Shadow burst forward and lifted up Tails before he could be crushed, then backpedaled out into the wider foyer. He carried Tails out towards the front doors, then tried to let him down. But the sneaky little fox had grabbed onto the amethyst again, and was not letting go. Shadow tried to shake him off, even trying to use his shoe to push Tails away. His patience quickly ran out, and he shoved Tails hard in the stomach with his foot. Tails flew back, but to Shadow’s horror he had wrangled the amethyst out of his hands.

Tails leaned up and rubbed his head before looking down at the purple rock in his hands.

“Ha…hahaha! I did it!” he laughed.

Shadow grunted, and readied himself to take it back. He paused, watching his furious friends close in on him. Eggman, Stone, Nite, and the conductor were beginning to get back up.

“Let’s go! Let’s go!” Tikal cried, grabbing his arm.

Reluctantly, Shadow obliged, and the pair sprinted out of the chateau and away from White Park. The guests stopped chasing them as they watched them tear through the highway at mach 2.

“Yeah, that’s right!” Knuckles called, “And don’t come back now, you hear?!”

The others cheered behind him. They celebrated their victory, all the while Clutch stared down at them from the windows atop the entrance. He gazed out in the direction Shadow and Tikal fled. He turned, and retreated back into his chateau.

**********

Shadow and Tikal didn’t stop running until they were down the mountain. Shadow leaned against a rock, and Tikal rested under a tree. Both said nothing for a moment, instead using this as a chance to catch their breaths. After a moment, Tikal opened her eyes and stared up into the stars. She turned to Shadow.

“W-Well…” she stammered, “That…didn’t go s-smoothly…”

Shadow didn’t reply.

“B-But, I still think that was good,” she stood up, smiling wearily, “We know a lot more now than when we started.”

“…good…?” Shadow whispered, “Good?”

“GOOD??!!” he whipped his head around, “How can you possibly say anything about that was ‘good’?!!”

Tikal took a frightened step back, clutching her chest.

“What exactly do we know that helps us in any way?! That everyone we know is hypnotized to be these snobby, bourgeoisie assholes?! That the culprit behind this entire ordeal is some rock we’ve never heard about before?! We have gained nothing! We have only found out what we have lost!”

“Sh-Shadow, calm down!”

“No! The planet I swore to protect is in ruin! Everyone I’ve ever known is suddenly acting completely unlike themselves, and there is nothing we can do about it! I will not calm down! I’m furious!”

“AND YOU HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE!!!!”

Shadow froze up at Tikal’s outburst. She panted a little after her shriek, and wiped away a tear streaming down her cheek.

“I…I understand that you’re frustrated with this whole situation. I am too, believe me,” she sniffled, “This beautiful world I’ve only recently gotten to explore and enjoy is completely upside down. All the friends I’ve made are…b-basically gone.”

She wiped away her tears fully and gave Shadow a stern look.

“But dwelling on the worst of our situation is not going to help remedy it! We need to hold our heads up high and keep moving, for the sake of this world and all the wonderful people we’ve met in it!”

Tikal sighed and caught her breath again. She wiped away yet another tear and looked away.

“I…I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound preachy…”

Shadow stared at her for a moment. He looked up into the stars and took a deep breath.

“No,” he sighed, “I’m sorry. You’re right, dwelling on the bad won’t bring back the good we’re trying to fight for.”

“Yeah…but you still have every right to be upset about it…”

“Oh, I am…” Shadow grit his teeth, “It’s just…I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. Some of the things Sonic said back there…It just got under my skin more than I expected.”

“Huh,” Tikal chuckled dryly, “I get that…”

Shadow glanced over to her, raising a brow. She flicked away her last tear and took one last deep breath.

“Come on,” she waved, walking past Shadow, “I think we’ve earned a good rest after this long day.”

Shadow couldn’t agree more, and followed her into the night. About an hour or so later, they made it back to Restoration HQ.

“Are you sure you don’t want to sleep at home?” Tikal asked.

Shadow looked blankly ahead. The image of Omega’s lifeless body flashed in his mind. He shuddered slightly.

“Positive,” he grunted, “It’ll be too quiet.”

Tikal giggled, “Well, if it’s company you want, I know just how to fix that.”

Shadow looked at her strangely. They finally reached the plaza, and Tikal placed two fingers in her mouth and whistled.

“Children! I’ve returned!”

Shadow’s confusion worsened until a small army of Chao poked their heads around the corner and fluttered towards Tikal. She held her arms out welcomingly.

Instead of hugging her, the Chao began babbling to her worriedly. Tikal and Shadow stared at them in concern before glancing at each other. A handful of the Chao were trying to pull Tikal along, so she obliged and let them lead her further into the building. Shadow followed closely behind.

They led them further back into the facility, past all the shops and diners and into the back back. The Machine Shop soon came into view. Tikal only had enough time to glance at the sign before she was already being dragged through the hall.

The workshop was a much less dreary sight than everywhere else. The only thing of note was the thin layer of dust coating every surface. At least, that’s what Shadow and Tikal thought.

The Chao led them past all the abandoned projects and to a pair of workstations in the furthest corner of the shop. Tikal gasped while Shadow looked on in shock. Belle sat on the floor, leaning against her worktable. Her arms were slack, her jaw hung open, and her head tilted to one side. Worst of all, her eyes were half open and drained of all color.

She was surrounded by Chao. They bapped and patted her, but nothing happened. They all looked back at Tikal, their eyes full of worry and in need of her guidance. She slowly approached the limp wooden bot and kneeled in front of her. The Chao moved away and clung to Tikal.

Shadow eventually pried his eyes away and surveyed the rest of the scene. Mecha Sonic was leaning against Belle’s workbench like a ragdoll. Sigma sat at his chair, face down on his workbench like he was sleeping.

“Poor dear…” Tikal whispered.

She reached out her hand and caressed Belle’s wooden cheek.

Suddenly, Belle’s eyes jolted with a flash of light. Her knees bent upwards and her shoulders hitched. Tikal and the Chao yelped and scuttled back in terror as all of Belle’s limbs twitched and thrashed at random.

“G-G-G-G-G-Gears-s-s and…s-s-s-s-s-starters!” Belle glitched, her head twitching like mad.

At last, Belle stopped writhing. She closed her eyes tightly and rubbed the back of her head. When she opened them again, and saw Shadow and Tikal in front of her, she froze.

“…Uh…hi?”

Chapter Text

Shadow and Tikal said nothing. Their jaws hung down to their necks and their eyes were wider than plates. The Chao stared too, most of them having ducked behind cover when Belle started spazzing. The eerie echo of wind gently traveling down the service tunnel was the only sound to accompany the uncomfortable silence. Belle glanced between them. Her unease grew more and more every second they stared at her.

“Uh…are-are you guys alright?” she asked, waving her hand a little.

Shadow and Tikal didn’t reply. They finally averted their eyes from Belle only to stare at each other. Tikal slowly looked down at her hands, eyeing her palms like she had just cast a magic spell. She slowly turned back and eyed the lifeless shell of Sigma sitting at his bench.

She quickly shot a look at Shadow. After a second he regained his composure and nodded firmly. Tikal nodded too, and turned back to Sigma. She carefully outstretched one of her hands towards his back. Belle raised a brow, watching in confusion.

“What are you-”

The second Tikal’s hand made contact, Sigma’s exposed wiring exploded with sparks. His arms and legs convulsed in the same way Belle’s did. The tinkerer shrieked in terror, the Chao hid behind the table and echidna, but Tikal and Shadow watched in awe.

At last, Sigma stopped twitching, and instead shot upright in his seat by slamming his hands on his workbench.

“I’M UP!!” he yelled.

His green eyes lit up the wall in front of him. Everyone could see him blink twice while sitting completely still. Eventually, his head swiveled back and forth for a moment, until he spun around in his chair and noticed his mini audience.

“AH. HELLO SHADOW. HELLO TIKAL. WHAT BRINGS YOU TO OUR LITTLE CORNER OF THE MACHINE SHOP?”

The others didn’t say anything. Tikal’s face lit up while Shadow’s jaw dropped once again. Belle’s eyes darted between the larger robot and the echidna rapidly.

“What the hell just happened???!”

“BELLE!” Sigma scolded, “LANGUAGE!”

“Whuh- But you- I- They-…Oh gears and starters…” Belle moped, running her hands down her face.

Shadow glanced down at the little robot. He took a step closer and kneeled in front of her. Belle looked up to see him stretching out a hand to her.

“Sorry,” Shadow apologized as he helped her up, “It’s been…a strange day. We’ll explain in a moment.”

Belle nodded slightly.After a second she noticed Mecha Sonic sprawled out over her workbench. Sigma noticed him at the same time and gasped, raising a hand to his “mouth”.

“…GOOD LORD…”

Tikal frowned at the E-Series. She walked over to Mecha Sonic and placed a hand on his shoulder. His visor flashed on instantly, and he jolted around just like the others. He nearly fell off the table, but his back jerked upright in one swift motion. After another second of spazzing he stumbled back and leaned against the wall. He held his hand to his forehead, a low groan sounding out from his voicebox.

He lifted his head and saw the group staring at him. He stared back, then he gazed out behind them to the dark Machine Shop. Belle and Sigma slowly followed suit, gazing into the dank and dark tunnel.

“…What happened here?” Mecha asked.

“We’re not quite sure of that ourselves,” Tikal said, “But we’re slowly starting to piece everything together.”

Shadow shot her a look as if to say “no we are not”, but only she noticed it. She smiled meekly at him, to which he shook his head in response.

“There’s a lot of strange questions floating around as of now,” he said, “And no telling where or when we might find answers for them.”

Mecha Sonic looked between Belle and Sigma before glancing down at Belle’s workbench. There was a very noticeable dust outline from where he had been laying. He ran his fingers over her table and inspected the thick layer of dust on his finger.

“How long were we out?”

“That’s…one of the questions we don’t quite know,” Tikal shrugged in embarrassment.

“How…how did you turn them- turn us back on??” Belle gawked.

“Uh…also, one of those questions,” Tikal grinned.

“WHERE IS EVERYONE ELSE?” Sigma asked while eyeing the shop.

“Or is that another one of those questions?” Mecha scoffed.

Tikal and Shadow frowned.

“No…no, we know where they are,” Tikal sighed.

As Tikal explained the location of White Park to Sigma and Mecha Sonic, Belle turned around and spotted a computer sitting at a nearby table. She walked over to it and inspected the monitor. Satisfied with its condition, she pressed down on the power button, yet nothing happened. She ducked under the table and saw that everything was still plugged in.

“Can you turn the power back on?” she asked.

Tikal turned around, slightly surprised.

“No…wait- actually, yes!” she beamed, “White Park had plenty of electricity! Clutch told me how he managed to get a few generators up and running to keep the lights on.”

“Wait, Clutch?!” Belle gawked.

“You’re familiar with him?”

“Uh…y-yeah, you could say that,” Belle mumbled.

Shadow walked up beside Belle and stared at the dark computer monitor.

“Why do you want the power back on?” he asked.

“Well…beyond the fact it’s dark in here, this computer is what the shop uses to keep track of everything. Incoming projects, supply orders, deliveries, etcetera. It’s updated hourly, so if I could get it pulled up we could see when the last update was.”

“AND THEREFORE SEE HOW LONG WE HAVE BEEN OFFLINE,” Sigma finished.

“Do you have a generator back here?” Shadow asked.

“Oh, pfft, yeah,” Belle scoffed, “We have, like, four. In case the power goes out while we’re working.”

Belle paused and looked out at the shadows of machines lurking in the dark workshop.

“Which…makes it weirder that they’re off in the first place.”

Shadow shook his head, “We’ll explain while we fix one of them up.”

Belle nodded. She turned and walked towards a nearby generator sitting in the corner. Shadow followed her, but before Tikal could follow as well she heard a rapid whirring behind her. She turned to see Sigma’s head swiveling back and forth in worry.

“WHERE ARE THE OTHERS?” he fretted.

“I already told you,” Tikal said calmly, “They’re all at White Park.”

“NO, NO, NO. FORGIVENESS REQUESTED. I WAS REFERRING TO OUR OTHER, FELLOW SCRAPNIKS.”

“Oh! Well, um…we only saw you and Mecha Sonic here. We haven’t really gone looking for the others yet.”

Sigma leaned forward and gently grasped Tikal’s hand with his.

“MAY I REQUEST YOUR ASSISTANCE IN LOCATING AND REACTIVATING OUR BRETHREN? I FEAR FOR THEM BEING LEFT IN THE DARK, LITERALLY AND FIGURATIVELY. AND WHILE I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE FULL SITUATION YET, I BELIEVE RECRUITING THE LIKES OF MECHA KNUCKLES AND THE EGG ROBO TRIO TO BE CRUCIAL. THEIR SKILLS COULD BE PARAMOUNT.”

Tikal gazed up into his green eyes in awe. Quickly, she smiled and put her other hand over his.

“Of course we can,” she nodded, “Safety in numbers, right?”

“INDEED!”

“I’ll come too,” Mecha Sonic stepped forward, “Unless Belle needs my help reactivating the generators.”

“No! I’m good!” Belle called.

Mecha turned in her direction, then looked back at the duo. Tikal smiled and waved for the robots to follow her.

“So. Any ideas where we might find Mecha Knuckles?”

“Somewhere dark, decrepit, and lonely,” Mecha Sonic grunted.

“WHICH SADLY DESCRIBES THIS ENTIRE FACILITY.”

Shadow watched them walk around the corner and depart the Machine Shop. There was a soft *clang* behind him, and he turned to see Belle removing the cover off one of the generator’s sides. As she set it aside, she glanced up at him with a slight scowl.

“If you’re going to stick with me, you better give me the full story of what’s going on…”

Shadow sniffed, but nodded.

“It’s hard to say what started all this…but the earliest memory of mine and Tikal’s is a bright flash of light…”

**********

“SO…WHEN YOU SAY THAT EVERYONE IS AT THIS ‘WHITE PARK CHATEAU’, YOU MEAN…”

“Yeah,” Tikal sighed, “Only really physically. They’re certainly not there mentally right now.”

Mecha Sonic shook his head in dismay.

“How big is this chateau? Must be massive for it to fit all the people in the world.”

“Oh…uh, no…when I say ‘everyone’ is at White Park, I mean, like…our friends. Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Amy, etcetera. Everyone else is…sadly living on the exact opposite of the spectrum…”

Tikal rubbed her shoulders and began staring down at the floor. Sigma and Mecha Sonic glanced at each other, sadly understanding.

The trio stopped in the center of the plaza and looked around. The hint of moonlight creeping through the ceiling did little to brighten the building. Luckily, that wasn’t a problem Mecha and Sigma had to deal with.

“I SUGGEST WE START IN THIS DIRECTION,” Sigma pointed to the dark hallways under the walkway, “IT IS ONE OF MECHA KNUCKLES’ REGULAR HANGOUTS.”

Tikal and Mecha Sonic nodded, and followed the E-Series.

“So…” Mecha Sonic said, “You mentioned this ‘Clutch’ guy earlier. Is he behind all of this?”

Tikal groaned into his hands, “If only it were that simple. Clutch is…complicated in this situation. He’s the only other person besides me and Shadow who was completely unaffected by the flash. But, that’s actually really bad for us, because now he’s using our friends to profit off this whole mess.”

“Hmm,” Mecha nodded gravely, “How did he stay safe?”

“He hid in an Eggman base apparently,” Tikal shrugged.

Mecha nodded again. There was a second of silence as the group walked down the corridor.

“What about you and Shadow? How did you avoid the effects?”

Tikal’s breath hitched. She held her stomach and looked away. Mecha tilted his head in confusion. He reached out to hold her shoulder.

“THERE HE IS!” Sigma called.

Mecha and Tikal snapped their heads forward. Sigma was indeed pointing at the slumped body of the robotic echidna, sitting against the wall. His hat had slid off and rested on his foot, giving them a good view of the hole in the side of his face. Tikal shivered and hunched her shoulders.

She quickly shook off her discomfort and stepped past the other robots. She reached forward and touched Mecha Knuckles’ shoulder. Immediately she was blinded by the sudden light flashing out from his eyes. A garbled, staticy scream sounded out from Mecha Knuckles. His arms convulsed like the others, but it was more like punches than twitching. Sigma yanked Tikal up and away from him just before he swung his wrecking ball hand around and embedded it into the wall.

Finally, Mecha Knuckles’ eyes went black, then back to their normal red again. He didn’t move for a second, frozen in his ‘punching the wall’ pose. He glanced up and stared at Tikal, Sigma, and Mecha Sonic, all of whom had bulging eyes.

“…Hey-y-y-y Tikal,” he said.

Tikal smiled slightly, “Hey Mecha Knuckles.”

Sigma relaxed his shoulders and Mecha Sonic slapped his forehead in relief. Mecha Knuckles looked down and pried his hand out of the wall.

“WELL,” Sigma said, hoisting Tikal up onto his shoulder, “I BELIEVE OUR NEXT STOP SHOULD BE RANCHEROS, FLORENTINE, AND BENEDICT’S LIVING QUARTERS. COME ON BOYS, POSTHASTE!”

Sigma turned and walked back the way they came. Mecha Sonic followed as Mecha Knuckles grabbed his hat and put it back on.

**********

“…and then we were chased out of the chateau,” Shadow finished, “With nothing to show for it but more questions.”

Belle hummed quietly. She tied a few wires together and stuck them with electrical tape. Satisfied with her work, she reached for the generator’s casing and placed it back on. Shadow gently moved the hands of a curious Chao out of the way so she didn’t squish them. It wasn’t until after Belle had screwed the side back on that she spoke.

“Did…did you see the Chaotix there?” she ventured.

Shadow was a little surprised at her hurt tone. He frowned, and nodded solemnly. Belle curled her fingers slightly and clamped her eyes shut. With a sigh, she stood up and tried turning on the generator.

It spluttered, and choked, but triumphantly roared to life. Belle’s despondent face changed to that of immense joy. Shadow gawked too, beyond impressed.

“Okay, okay, okay!” Belle scampered around Shadow, “Let’s see here.”

She dug around her workbench and pulled out a wire. Shadow watched her plug the AC adapter into the back of the computer, then stuck the other end in the back of the generator. They huddled together in front of the monitor. Belle held down the power button hopefully.

After a few seconds, the computer came to life. Belle and Shadow sighed with relief. The glow of the screen reflected off their faces and showed just how much dust had collected on it. Belle wasted no time and logged into Grease’s account. She opened a file left right on the home screen and pulled up a big sheetlist.

“Here we go…” she mumbled, “Last update was…”

She scrolled until all the boxes were blank, and read the last written order.

“A week ago!” she said, “The last update was a week ago for a supply order.”

Shadow leaned away from the computer and crossed his arms.

“On one hand, that’s a little relieving. Knowing that this hasn’t been going on for this long…”

Belle turned back and watched him pace.

“On the other…it’s only been a week and there’s so much chaos that has gone down…”

Belle frowned, then hopped out of the chair.

“Yeah…sure sounds like it. B-But, hey,” she smiled meekly, “We can fix it together! I mean, that is what the Restoration is for. We help fix global crises and get people back on their feet!”

Shadow glanced at her and huffed. Belle’s wobbly smile faltered even more as she glanced to and from his eyes. Eventually she dropped her arms and rubbed her neck, fully looking away.

“I mean…if nothing else, you’ve got something to go off of.”

Shadow grunted, “Yes. But it’s an unsatisfying lead. Clutch fully admits he’s not behind this.”

“He’s a conman,” Belle hissed, “He pulls strings in the shadows and strikes when he thinks he’s won.”

“True,” Shadow nodded, “But wouldn’t you think he’d take credit for something to this scale? Something global like this? He wasn’t even capable of taking down your workings.”

Belle bit her lip and squeezed her arms.

“And he even had Surge, Kit, and Mimic’s help for that…” she admitted.

Shadow scowled upon hearing the octopus’ name, but shook it off so that Belle didn’t notice.

“W…What about that rock?” she asked, “That’s a good lead, right? Weird stones are a pretty regular anomaly around here.”

“That’s unsatisfying too,” Shadow grimaced, “Sure, the others flocked to it like moths to a flame, but anomalous stones typically give off a kind of energy that I can feel. Chaos Emeralds, real or fake, and even that teleporting topaz Sonic once fumbled with. But this amethyst…I held it in my hands during our escape, and it was nothing more than a regular old rock.”

Belle pinched her nose. The honk that came from it echoed through the service tunnel. Shadow stared in utter confusion, but most of the Chao still sitting around giggled.

“It’s never easy, is it?” Belle sighed.

“No.”

**********

After yet another round of glitching, Benedict slowly sat up and rubbed his aching head. A hand was lower down to his face and he turned to see Florentine offering it to him. She helped him up and patted him on the back.

“WONDERFUL!” Sigma beamed, “THAT ONLY LEAVES…”

“Only about a hundred more,” Mecha Sonic chuckled.

He glanced down to Tikal, “Looks like you’ve got your work cut out for you.”

She giggled nervously. Before she could reply Mecha Knuckles poked his head into the room.

“Ma-a-aybe we d-d-don’t keep usi-usi-using her. My head-d-d-d is st-t-t-till spin-spin-spinning.”

“Same,” Rancheros moaned, “I’ve got a friggin splitting headache.”

“OOF. REGRETTABLY, I CAN ATTEST TO THE SAME THING. YOUR FORGIVENESS IS REQUESTED MISS TIKAL. YOUR SERVICE TO US CANNOT BE UNDERSTATED, BUT I DO NOT BELIEVE WE SHOULD CONTINUE WITH YOUR ASSISTANCE.”

“Oh, no, it’s fine,” Tikal waved off, “I’d hate to make all of your friends uncomfortable.”

“You s-s-s-said Belle was w-w-working on fix-fix-fix-fixing the generat-t-t-tors in the shop, right-t-t? We could pro-probably figure out how t-t-t-to get everyone ba-back online more…conve-ventually.”

“A BRILLIANT IDEA, MECHA KNUCKLES!” Sigma proclaimed, spinning around, “COME, MY FRIENDS! LET US SEE IF BELLE REQUIRES ANY ASSISTANCE!”

The huge robot let the Egg Robos and the metal echidna away. Tikal began to follow them out, but felt a cold hand on her shoulder. She looked up and saw Mecha Sonic looking down at her. Even with no way to display emotion, Tikal could tell he felt nervous.

“…Actually…” he said, tapping his finger against his claw, “I have…one more robot I’d like you to reactivate. Someone I’d like to see sooner rather than later. And someone who I think will be really helpful during this…situation.”

“Oh! Of course!” Tikal beamed, “Let’s go look for them.”

Mecha Sonic turned away slightly, “Actually, I know exactly where he is. It’s pretty far from here, though.”

Tikal blinked. She looked down at his feet. The mismatched wheels that, from Sonic’s own testament, were deceivingly effective. She grinned cheekily and looked back up into Mecha’s orange visor.

“I’ll race you there,” she nudged his side.

Mecha stared down at her in surprise.

**********

*Click* *Kachoom* *Kachoom* *Kachoom*

Shadow watched the lights turn on one by one, lighting up the tunnel as they went along. He turned and saw Belle fidget with the last of the generators. The hum of the other three was a welcome white noise as opposed to a deathly silence.

“Phew! There we go,” Belle huffed, turning on the last one, “Much more cozy in here now, isn’t it?”

Shadow nodded slightly, staring at the dusty, hulking hull of a fishing boat.

“Do you need me for anything else?” he asked.

Belle paused for a moment, wiping oil off her hands.

“No. No, I don’t think so,” she shook her head, “Thanks for…getting me up to speed.”

Shadow nodded, “Thank you for your help.”

Belle nodded back. Shadow turned and began walking away.

“If you see the Scrapniks, give them a hollar to come back here!” Belle called.

Shadow shot her a thumbs up without looking back. He soon made it back to the exit hall and leaned around the corner, expecting to stare out into the moonlit plaza. Instead, he had to quickly duck and hug the wall so he could let the parade of Scrapniks pass him.

“HELLO AGAIN, SHADOW,” Sigma waved as he passed.

Shadow waved back lightly and stared at the small army of robots walking away. He shrugged and left the Machine Shop.

Glass crunched under his shoes as he stepped back out into the open plaza. It was too dark to see the shards littering the floor at this point. Shadow surveyed the scene with what little light was allotted to him. The Chao Garden was to his left, and all the Chao were laying on various mats laid out on the fake grass. They were all sleeping, aside from one seemingly agitated dark Chao. It yawned frustratedly, and swiped away at its face in anger.

Shadow heard something above him and looked up towards the ceiling. Suddenly, Tikal leapt down from the walkway above and sprinted out of the building. Mecha Sonic was right on her tail, racing after her with great speed. Shadow stared after them, utterly baffled. After a moment, though, he scowled slightly.

The cool night breeze buffeted Tikal’s face as she sprinted through the grassy fields. She laughed giddily, feeling her quills blowing in the wind like flags. She looked back and saw Mecha Sonic hot on her trail, yet struggling to keep up. She kept laughing as she slowed down to a gentle jog and allowed the rusty robot to catch up.

“Hoof…” he sighed, “I didn’t know you were that fast.”

“Yeah,” Tikal smirked, “I get that a lot.”

The duo turned ahead. The dim silhouette of a town sat snugly in the center of a luscious forest. Tikal’s smile fell very quickly. She took a deep breath in, and a deep breath out. Mecha glanced down at her worriedly, but said nothing as the pair walked into Floral Forest Village.

The town was not nearly as depressing of a sight as Central City, but Tikal still couldn’t help but feel sad as she trudged past empty houses and quiet businesses. Mecha Sonic moved away a pile of glass shards with his sawblade foot.

“Is this what Central City looked like?” he asked.

“No…” Tikal frowned, “Less…ghost town-y and more slums-y. Two totally different flavors of depressing.”

Mecha Sonic nodded sadly.

They continued forward until they reached a quaint little house sitting at the edge of the woods. The door was left ajar, only hanging on by its bottom hinge. Tikal pushed it aside ever so slightly and entered, with Mecha following close behind. The inside of the home was nearly pitch black. Tikal couldn’t make out anything but the vague shapes of furniture. Mecha, for better or worse, saw everything. Half full tea cups on the coffee table. Dolls left all around the floor. Even a cuckoo clock that had stopped at exactly 1:23.

Mecha moved past Tikal and further into the house. She saw him disappear through the doorway of another room, and was left alone for a couple of seconds.

“He’s in here…” she heard Mecha call.

She hugged the wall and treaded lightly, not wanting to step on any glass she couldn’t see. She made it through the arched entryway to the dining room and leaned through it. A small amount of moonlight came in from the window, but what caught Tikal’s attention was what shone under the orange glow of Mecha’s eye.

Gemerl lay there, slumped against the cupboard in an eerily similar way to Belle. His head tilted to one side, and his arms slack like a puppet with no strings. Tikal briefly glanced up at Mecha. He didn’t look back at her. He was practically frozen there, staring down at his fellow robot.

Tikal outstretched her hands. Mecha stepped aside and she placed both of them gently on Gemerl’s head. Just like before, his eyes glowed brightly and he began to twitch and rithe. Though, unlike before, his convulsing was not nearly as sporadic or violent. After only a few seconds, Gemerl stopped.

His head hung low for a moment before he slowly lifted it up. A low groan echoed around the walls of the house as he quickly got to his feet. Gemerl silently looked around. First at Tikal, then Mecha Sonic, and then the desecrated dining room. Mecha Sonic could see his singular eye on his forehead widen in terror.

“What happened here?” he demanded.

Mecha Sonic quickly explained, with Tikal chiming in for details he didn’t get fully right. By the end of it, Gemerl looked furious. His fists clenched hard and shook slightly.

“Cream…and Vanilla…are in danger.”

“They’re not in danger,” Tikal soothed gently, “They’re just…not themselves.”

“Assessment: That is worse, and warrants immediate action!”

Gemerl got low and prepared to rocket away. Before he could, though, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and was met with Mecha Sonic’s visor.

“It does,” he said, “But not like that. Going in head first, guns blazing is what got Tikal and Shadow chased out of the chateau in the first place. We need to take this slowly.”

Gemerl softened his pose. Mecha kneeled down and fully wrapped his arm around the smaller robot.

“We came here to reactivate you because I know you are one of the smartest and strongest robots around. I know you will be the backbone of this operation…present company excepted. We will get Cream and Vanilla back to normal, and we’ll do it together. Alright?”

Tikal couldn’t help but giggle quietly at Mecha’s offhand acknowledgement of her. Gemerl stared at Mecha for a second, only looking away to watch himself unball his fist.

“…Alright,” he sighed, “Thank you, Mecha Sonic.”

Mecha pat his buddy on the shoulder and stood back up. Before anyone could say anything else, someone knocked on the wall behind Tikal. Everyone whipped their heads around. Shadow stood there, leaning on the edge of the doorway, and crossing his arms at the trio.

“Oh, Shadow!” Tikal sighed in relief, “You scared the daylights out of us!”

“Hmph,” Shadow scoffed, “Didn’t mean to ruin the moment.”

“Did you follow us out here?” Mecha asked.

“No. I just felt like paying Cream’s abandoned house a visit in the middle of the night,” Shadow huffed, walking towards the group.

Tikal failed to hide a snicker while Mecha just rolled his eye. Shadow nodded a greeting to Gemerl, who nodded back.

“If we’re still reactivating robots, I have one at the top of my list,” he said to Tikal.

He glanced at the other robots, “Though I’m not sure if the rest of you will like it.”

Gemerl and Mecha understood instantly, and moaned dramatically. Tikal looked at them questioningly before turning to face Shadow again.

“Who is it?”

**********

The front door creaked open loudly. Shadow’s silhouette loomed through the doorway thanks to the moon sinking low into the sky. He led the others inside, with Gemerl closing the door behind him.

“Huh. I like your place,” Tikal said, “Seems cozy. At least it would with the lights on.”

She eyed the vast selection of gems collected on the shelves around the living room. They glistened slightly under the light from Gemerl and Mecha’s eyes.

“Funny how Rouge already has plenty of wealth to her name, yet now thinks she’s rich in a completely different, arbitrary way.”

“Lucky for Clutch that’s the case,” Shadow said, leading the others to his room, “She’d be wearing his hide if he took her gems.”

The doorway into Shadow’s room was abnormally wide, and everyone quickly found out why. Omega sat exactly where Shadow last left him. Dusty and lifeless, leaning against the wall. Tikal put her hands to her chest in surprise.

“Uh…who- who is this?” she asked.

“E-123 Omega,” Shadow replied, “The ultimate development of Dr. Eggman’s E-series line of robots. One of his most powerful creations…”

He walked up and placed a hand on Omega’s shoulder.

“And one of my greatest allies…”

“He’s also a bit of a menace,” Mecha Sonic huffed, “Not too late to change your mind on reactivating him.”

Shadow clenched his fist and glared back at the rusty Sonic doppelganger.

“Not too late for you to run back to Restoration HQ and cower like a child.”

Tikal and Gemerl were surprised. Mecha, on the other hand, just shrugged.

“Touché.”

Shadow huffed before looking back over to Tikal. She blinked, and looked between the two strange hedgehogs.

“I’m getting mixed signals here,” she said, “Should we really turn him back on?”

Shadow’s brow furrowed. He was about to say something when he caught a glimpse of Gemerl motioning for him to stand down. He relaxed as Gemerl stepped up next to Tikal.

“Omega is a…determined robot. He is firmly set on his goals to eradicate all of Dr. Eggman’s creations. For this, he makes a great ally in our fight, and a solid wall that we can rally behind in tough times.”

He glanced over to Mecha, “But, that one track mind also leads him to be…rather unwelcoming to other defective Eggman creations. I’ve heard he is less than keen on the presence of the Scrapniks, but I too can attest to him being…difficult.”

Shadow shook his head in dismay, “I’ve never been able to get it through to him that the Scrapniks are not our enemy. I think the existence of Sigma blinds him to an extent further than Gemerl. He’s never been this outwardly malicious to any other kind of traitorous Eggman robot before. But…”

He clenched his fists again, something Tikal noticed this time.

“We need him back. I need him back. With all this maddening chaos, I need someone I know I can rely on. I mean no offense to the rest of you, but…”

“We don’t share the same connection,” Gemerl finished.

Shadow looked back at him.

“I understand your feelings. This is how I feel about Cream and Vanilla. Rest assured, Shadow, I believe this is a good decision. It merely requires caution.”

Shadow paused for a moment, “…Omega’s told me about his bond with you. Maybe we can get through his thick skull together.”

Gemerl nodded. He looked back up to Mecha. The taller bot shrugged. All eyes then fell on Tikal. She smiled slightly, and turned back to Omega.

“Motion carried, I suppose.”

Tikal reached forwards and touched Omega’s chest with both hands. Same as before, he suddenly came to life with glowing eyes and rapidly swinging limbs. Shadow and Gemerl got in front of the others, just in case Omega accidentally opened fire.

He didn’t though. In fact, just like Gemerl, his twitching state did not last long. After a couple of seconds Omega’s eyes went dark, then back on. He slowly rose to his feet and examined the scene in front of him.

“Huh…” Tikal chuckled, looking at her palms, “I guess two hands are better than one.”

Omega stared at the orange echidna for a moment. His eyes briefly glazed over Shadow and Gemerl before landing on Mecha Sonic. And, of course, that’s when all hell broke loose.

“EGGMAN ROBOT DETECTED!!!” he blurted, pulling out his turret arm, “INTRUDERS SHALL BE DEALT WITH HEAVY PREJUDICE!!!”

Mecha got low and readied himself to run. Shadow boosted forwards, about to grab and stop Omega’s minigun from revving up. Tikal gasped loudly and clapped her hands over her mouth. However, the quickest of all of them was Gemerl, who flew directly between Omega’s gun and Mecha Sonic. Omega didn’t even have time to rev up before Gemerl was directly in his line of fire.

“MOVE,” he demanded, “UNLESS YOU DESIRE TO BECOME ANOTHER PILE OF SCRAP.”

“I will do no such thing. And you will not bring harm to any of the Scrapnik people,” Gemerl affirmed.

Omega writhed in anger. He felt a hand on his chest and looked down to see Shadow glaring up at him.

“We are currently in a very uncertain and dangerous predicament,” Gemerl continued, “Everyone we have ever known and loved has taken on dangerously brash personas, and everyone else is suffering horribly. You must put your disdain for the Scrapniks aside, as they will be our most essential allies in this situation. You will work with them.”

Omega paused.

“WHAT IS ROUGE’S STATUS?” he asked Shadow.

Shadow closed his eyes in dismay, “Goes by the name ‘Rouginda’ now. In a romantic relationship with Knuckles, and has no memory of us at all.”

“She’s turned into a horrible person,” Tikal added, “Everyone has. And we’re trying our best to find out why.”

Omega stared. He finally turned back to Gemerl and Mecha Sonic.

“…FINE,” he grunted, throwing his arm back down.

Shadow and Mecha sighed with relief. Gemerl said nothing as he floated back down to the floor. Tikal looked between the boys and put her hands on her hips.

“Any other robots in need of reactivating?” she asked.

Gemerl and Mecha glanced at each other and shook their heads. Omega crossed his arms and looked away from both of them. Shadow said nothing, just looking down at the floor. Tikal frowned, but quickly thought of something.

“Well, how about you guys head back to Restoration HQ? Me and Shadow will look around and see if we can find any more leads.”

Shadow jerked his head towards her in surprise. Gemerl nodded dutifully, and led Mecha and Omega out of the bedroom. The two organic beings could hear the E-series begin arguing with Gemerl as they left the house. The front door slammed behind them, and it was just Tikal and Shadow. He gave her a strange look, but Tikal only smiled.

“Do you have a way onto the roof?”

They didn’t, so the two of them simply walked outside and jumped up onto the roof of the house. Tikal led Shadow to the edge and beckoned for him to sit beside her. Once they were seated, Shadow finally spoke.

“What’s the point of this?”

Tikal smiled warmly.

“I just…I noticed you still looked a little…upset, even after reactivating Omega, and I wanted to check in with you. See if you’re okay.”

“I’m fine,” Shadow grunted.

“Well…you’ll understand if I don’t believe that, right?”

There was a long silence. Tikal sighed heavily, and looked out into the night sky.

“I’ll be honest, Shadow…I’m not doing alright either. I’m confused, scared, and worried for our friends. I can say ‘I’m fine’ just the same as you, but…lying isn’t going to fix anything. You have every right to be exhausted, frustrated, or even sad right now. And it’s okay to let that out.”

Shadow still said nothing. He pulled up his knee and rested his elbow on it while looking away slightly.

“Even if you aren’t going to talk, which I won’t force you to, just…relax. I think we’ve earned a breather after a full day and night of running around, finding out Sonic is a bigger asshole than he normally is.”

That got Shadow to splutter and start laughing. Tikal chuckled slightly too, and said nothing until he finally calmed down. Neither spoke for a moment, taking the opportunity to enjoy the night air.

“…I know I don’t show it,” Shadow said, “But…I’m doing okay, all things considered. This isn’t the worst crisis I’ve had to fix, it’s just…the strangest one. Having Omega back helps a lot too.”

“I’m sure,” Tikal nodded.

Silence again, but a comfortable one. Shadow looked up towards the stars, and Tikal followed suit for a little while.

“If I may…I’d like to ask about something else.”

Shadow glanced over to her.

“…What was it that Sonic said that made you so…angry, earlier?”

Shadow dropped his smile and sighed, “He basically explained how…relationships are viewed in their weird, uppity society…”

Tikal turned her body towards him, listening intently.

“What angered me so much about it is their notion that…-To them, if you don’t have a love interest, you’re a nobody. And that infuriated me…I’ve never felt romantic feelings for anyone. I’ve made more meaningful and worthwhile connections in completely platonic or…even familial ways…”

The way he trailed off at the end made Tikal concerned. She reached out her hand, but never touched him.

“…I’ve felt like I’ve lost Rouge to this…Rouginda wannabe…So hearing that any alternative ways of making connections…my way of making connections being trivialized is…frustrating…”

Tikal nodded, “I understand how you feel. My father was rather big on the idea of hetero couples like that. People needed a partner for the sake of making more warriors. He wasn’t as bad as that, though. I think even he would find the idea of literally everyone needing a romantic partner to be ridiculous.”

Shadow nodded slightly. Light began peeking over the horizon line, with a slight streak of blue shooing away the darkness of the night.

“What’s your stance on romantic interests?” Shadow asked.

“Me?” Tikal spluttered, “Well, I…I haven’t really thought about it much.”

She paused for a moment.

“I suppose I’ve always appreciated the male body. Big muscles and rock hard abs and the like were common among my people, and it was hard not to stare.”

She chuckled sheepishly and rubbed her neck, “The-Then again, there has to be something about girls too…I mean, Amy Rose of all people has four girlfriends now! There must be something special about them if Sonic’s number one fangirl has a collection of them. A-And part of me likes the magic in that.”

Shadow howled with laughter again.

“Oh yes, there has to be something,” he said, “What with Tangle and Whisper’s joined-at-the-hip lifestyle or Rouge, the femme-fatale bat, being completely smitten by a shiny beetle with a pretty face.”

Tikal laughed with him, and both continued to guffaw as more of the sky gave way to the nearing dawn. Once the laughter had died down, and Tikal had flung a few tears from her eyes, she and Shadow stared outwards for a moment.

“…At the risk of ruining the moment…” he began, turning to Tikal, “Can I ask what Clutch said that gave you a similar reaction?”

Tikal’s smile faltered ever so slightly. She moved her gaze away from the dawn and down towards the grass beneath them.

“…he said that I was special…” she whispered.

Shadow was confused. Tikal looked over to him, still smiling, but strained.

“Shadow…do you have any idea how we survived that blast?”

Shadow’s eyes widened slightly. He looked down and thought for a moment.

“I’m not sure…To tell you the truth, Tikal, there could be any number of anomalies in my genetics that caused my resistance.”

Tikal nodded solemnly. She turned ahead again. Shadow could see light slowly rising on her face, and he turned to watch the sunrise with her. The two of them stayed silent, just basking in the dawn of the new day.

“Welp,” Tikal stretched as she stood up, “We better get back to HQ. Can’t let the robots solve the mystery without us.”

“Heh. Or let Omega obliterate them all.”

“That too.”

Chuckling to themselves, the pair jumped off the roof, and ran towards the sun together.

**********

The ballroom theater was in a state of hysteria. Everyone was shouting acrimoniously and pointing fingers so many ways no one knew where to look. The poor butlers had no idea what to do, and Tails darted through the waves of angry patrons, trying to avoid as many insults being hurled at him as possible.

Suddenly, there was a loud *CLACK* from the stage. Everyone froze and went silent immediately. Clutch walked out into view, trailed by Eggman and Stone. He stopped in the center of the stage and turned to face the crowd.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he began, “Thank you for coming here on such short notice. I deeply apologize for the events of last night, and I can promise you all that it will never, ever happen again.”

“He better,” Mighty muttered.

Lanolin quickly shushed him.

“However. I haven’t brought you all here for simple apologies. No, no, no. The intruders from last night had a very clear goal in mind, and if it weren’t for the brave efforts of my staff they would have gotten away with it.”

Tails smiled, but no one else paid him any mind.

“They were spies, if you will. Individuals posing as one of us in order to gather information…and take away our precious relic of good fortune and prosperity.”

He moved aside and presented the amethyst to the crowd. They began shouting again, their words garbled together into a furious sentence salad. Clutch banged his cane down on the stage again, and everyone shut up.

“We chased them off…but who’s to say they won’t come back? Who’s to say they won’t try again? Try to break down everything we’ve built up?”

“They want to steal our money and take away our right to our beautiful wives!” Sonic suddenly blurted, standing up.

All the other men chanted in agreement. All but Clutch, who had to take a moment to recompose himself.

“Uh…sure…that too, I guess.”

He began pacing the stage, “Ladies and gentlemen, prestigious guests of the Whitten Praquely chateau, we have to fight for our freedoms! Lest they be taken away by the trash clawing at our doorsteps! Mark my words, those two will come back. Come back for you! So are you just gonna sit by and let them take you?!”

“NO!” everyone shouted.

“They tried to take from us, so we’ll take from them!” Knuckles proclaimed, “Take the fight to their doorstep, and see how they like it!”

As everyone else cheered, Clutch smirked slyly.

“Sounds like a plan…”

Chapter Text

Shadow and Tikal finally made it back to Restoration HQ. Light seeped in from the hollow ceiling above. Though, the floors were suddenly very glass free. Gemerl was sweeping all the shards aside, and gathering them in a trashcan. He looked up from his work just as Shadow and Tikal noticed him.

“Welcome back,” he greeted, “I took it upon myself to tidy the area. Glass shards are a dangerous safety hazard.”

“You’re so sweet! Thank you, Gemerl!” Tikal beamed, “We should have done this ourselves, but, heh…y’know…”

“Tch,” Shadow scoffed, “Even if we had time to clean, it would not have been nearly as important as our mission.”

Tikal put her hands on her hips and gave Shadow a cheeky look, “Well, look what’s happening now! Our guest is having to do it for us! Keeping this place clean should have been at the top of our priority list!”

Shadow chuckled, and shoved Tikal’s face away.

“You sound like Amy.”

Tikal giggled to herself.

“In any case,” Shadow added, turning to the robot, “Thank you.”

Gemerl nodded in appreciation. Just as Shadow and Tikal began to walk away, he perked up.

“Tikal?” he called, swerving his head around, “I have also been told to inform you of Neighbor Dave’s presence in the plaza. I believe he wants to speak with you.”

Tikal gave him a thumbs up. Shadow was confused, but followed Tikal further into the building.

Sure enough, Dave was standing behind his blue car, opening the trunk to his shop. A small group of Chao had gathered around him, curious of his wares. Shadow was growing more confused by the second as Tikal dragged him towards the car.

“Hi, Dave!” Tikal waved, “You…wanted to see me?”

Dave perked up and waved happily at Tikal.

“Wabbo! Prebore tarlarko!” he said, carefully stepping around the Chao.

“Brebbapo harlla beparpo,” he went on, gesturing to his shop, “Arelu betudu. Gerbordo, kerbada.”

“Hartada hoodoh!” he yelled, turning around and waving at the ceiling, “Yarda huc gesbaatcho jurdub.”

“Hopo?” he asked Tikal hopefully.

Tikal’s smile had strained significantly. She slowly glanced back at Shadow, who looked like he just met a unicorn. She decided not to stare at his wide eyes and instead turned back to Dave.

“Yes, um…l-listen, Dave. I really don’t think you should be here, right now. Things are…strange, and I’m afraid you won’t be seeing any customers around here anytime soon. I highly suggest you bunker down at home and keep all your belongings safe.”

Dave froze up a little.

“Webb?” he asked meekly, pointing down.

“Uh…Y-Yes, now.”

Dave hung his head low and sighed heavily.

“Albarto…”

He waved and solemnly shooed the Chao away from his car. They sadly dispersed, but as Dave began shutting the trunk Tikal noticed something shuffling around in the back. She stepped in front of Dave and raised her hand to make him stop. Upon inspection…

“Hey!” Tikal scolded, “What do you think you’re doing in there?!”

Dave and Shadow huddled close and gaped at the Dark Chao sitting in the pile of nick nacks. It looked a lot like Shadow, and he recognized it as the one that couldn’t sleep the night prior. Its maw was wide open, ready to eat a plastic apple Dave was selling.

“Get over here, you stinker!” Tikal demanded, reaching for the Chao.

It hissed and threw the apple at her, but she scooped it up with no more resistance. It simply scowled while in her grasp. Tikal quickly apologized to Dave, who waved it off and closed his trunk. She and most of the Chao waved as he departed. Shadow kept his eyes fixed on the car until it drove out of sight.

“…So…” he squinted at Tikal, “…does he…?”

Tikal sighed heavily as she put the Chao down.

“Yes. He normally talks like that. But he’s very nice, I promise.”

Shadow just shook his head.

They soon reached the Machine Shop. Omega was standing at the entrance, glaring into the hallway. Tikal and Shadow walked around him, both keeping a watch on his glowing eyes.

Belle and Sigma’s corner soon came into view, and, in stark contrast to the rest of the building, was bustling with activity. Mecha Sonic and Knuckles were propping up various Scrapniks at the nearby work table. Meanwhile, Belle, Sigma, and the Egg Robo’s were crowded around her workstation, giddily chatting to each other.

“What’s going on over here?” Tikal asked cheerfully.

All the robots turned to face the organic duo.

“SHADOW! TIKAL! EXCELLENT TIMING!” Sigma beamed, “COME, COME, SEE WHAT WE HAVE ACCOMPLISHED!”

They glanced at each other, but Tikal’s smile helped get Shadow moving towards the workbench.

“A GREAT CHALLENGE FOR THE SCRAPNIK KIND HAS ALWAYS BEEN AUDIAL COMMUNICATION. BACK ON SCRAPNIK ISLAND, WE TALKED VIA COMMUNICATION SIGNALS, BUT THESE MAKE NO NOISE AND CANNOT BE HEARD BY NON-ROBOTIC INDIVIDUALS.”

He leaned down and grasped Belle’s shoulders, “MISS BELLE, THE GENIUS THAT SHE IS, FOUND A WAY TO CREATE VOICE BOXES FOR MECHA SONIC, KNUCKLES, AND THE EGG ROBO TRIO. WHILE SUCCESSFUL, THIS PROVED TO BE AN INEFFECTIVE AND TEDIOUS METHOD WITH THE REST OF OUR KIND.”

Shadow and Tikal nodded as they followed along. They reached the table, and everyone moved away. All but Sigma, who was blocking their view from whatever was on the table.

“HOWEVER. THIS RECENT CATASTROPHE HAS GIVEN US THE PERFECT CHANCE TO TRY A NEW METHOD. WITH ALL OF OUR SCRAPNIK BROTHERS AND SISTERS DEACTIVATED, WE MUST REACTIVATE ALL OF THEM INDIVIDUALLY.”

He finally stepped aside and presented the Scrapnik sitting on the workbench.

“AND AS SUCH, WE NOW HAVE THE CHANCE TO GIVE THEM ALL SPECIAL ATTENTION! GO ON CARLINA.”

The little Scrapnik looked away and nervously tapped her fingers together. Eventually, she locked eyes with Shadow.

“Hello,” she waved lightly.

“I managed to figure out how to reconfigure the communication signals to become audible noises,” Belle explained, “It works off of old programming for emergency sirens if they spotted something like a Chaos Emerald.”

“Wow!” Tikal gasped, “That’s amazing!”

Shadow nodded in agreement, “Very impressive.”

He turned to Sigma, “But, if possible, we’d like to pry you away from your work for a moment.”

“OH. VERY WELL THEN. WHAT DO YOU REQUIRE OF US?”

**********

Everyone gathered in one of the Restoration’s biggest meeting rooms. Tikal tried to blow off the dust on the table, but it all went back up in her face and made her sneeze. Gemerl dusted it all off anyway, and soon everyone was seated. Sigma couldn’t help but feel uneasy as he was subjected to the harsh glare of the fellow E-series right across from him.

“Sorry to bring you guys away from your project,” Tikal apologized, “But, Shadow and I wanted to bring you all together and talk for a second.”

“To cut to the chase…we’ve kind of hit a dead end with our little…investigation. White Park gave us a few answers, but also a few more questions. We don’t really know where to go next.”

Tikal trailed off, sounding more downcast than even she expected. She recomposed herself quickly.

“But!” she smiled, pointing upwards, “Now that we have you all here, we have some fresh eyes on the case! So, please, if you have any ideas or theories of any kind, say it.”

“No matter how outlandish,” Shadow added with a scowl, “At this stage, nothing is out of the realm of possibility.”

There was a brief silence. Gemerl and Mecha Sonic, who were sitting next to each other, glanced at one another. Sigma tapped his chin in thought, while Belle ruffled with her hair a little. Benedict, Florentine, and Rancheros just shrugged at each other. Poor Carina looked at Mecha Knuckles, confused, but he whispered that he’d tell her later.

“HISTORY INDICATES THAT GLOBAL DANGERS LIKE THIS HAVE ONLY BEEN POSED BY DR. EGGMAN OR INVADING ALIEN SPECIES,” Omega said, “GIVEN THE LACK OF INVASION, AND THE…”

He glared across to Sigma, “ABUNDANCE OF EGGMAN ROBOTS PRESENT, I BELIEVE THE DOCTOR TO BE AT FAULT FOR THIS.”

Sigma sank a little in his chair. Belle pat him on the arm before she and Gemerl both gave Omega a dirty look. Shadow groaned silently and hid his face in his hand.

“Omega, no. The Scrapniks have nothing to do with this or Eggman.”

Omega just crossed his arms and pouted.

“B-Besides,” Tikal added, “We’ve already seen for ourselves that Eggman can’t be behind this. He was one of the brainwashed staff members at the Chateau. He’s a victim of this mess just like our friends.”

“...So-o-o-o?”

Everyone turned to Mecha Knuckles.

“E-E-Eggman’s a dumba-a-a-ass. He couldn’t-n’t-n’t make a c-c-c-can open-ner without it blowing up-up-up in his fac-c-c-c-ce. Just-Just-Just because he’s f-f-f-fallen for his-s-s own tra-trap doesn’t mean he’s not gui-gui-guilty.”

“I don’t know, Mecha Knux,” Tikal frowned, “You didn’t see what we did. How…different he was. He was a completely different man. The old Dr. Eggman was basically gone.”

A shiver ran down Belle’s spine. She clenched her hands into fists and leaned forward slightly, pressing down on her legs.

“No, no,” Mecha Sonic suddenly said, “He makes a good point. Eggman’s schemes often blow up in his face, sometimes literally. It’s not a stretch to say the same thing happened here.”

“Plus,” he added, pointing at Tikal, “You said that Clutch avoided the flash by hiding in one of Eggman’s bases. As far as any of us have seen, there is not a single other building that has protected the inhabitants like that.”

“Y-Yes, but-”

“Wouldn’t that help support Eggman’s innocence?” Benedict asked.

“Not if he was stuck in the base it happened in!” Rancheros blurted, “The walls can’t protect him if he’s in the blast zone!”

A light chatter arose as everyone came around on the idea.

“BELLE?” Sigma asked, “YOU ARE GOOD FRIENDS WITH A FINE GROUP OF DETECTIVES. WHAT SAY YOU ON THIS LEAD?”

Belle rubbed her neck.

“Well…in a pickle like this, any lead is a good one. It…certainly wouldn’t hurt to try.”

“There is…one problem, though,” Shadow said, “Where do we start?”

That was met with quiet mumbling and unsure gestures. That was until Belle gasped and snapped her fingers.

“I got it! Mecha?” she turned to the rusty hedgehog, “Could you get my laptop from my room?”

Mecha nodded, then zoomed off. After a second he came back and gently placed the laptop in front of Belle.

“Okay, let’s see here…” she muttered as she logged in, “The Restoration has a message board all about suspicious Eggman bases people find. Maybe there's…”

“Aha!” she pointed at her screen. Sigma, Mecha, and Gemerl all leaned in, “Whisper posted about a tower she spotted outside Spiral Hill! She was going to investigate it but…well, her last message was only a couple of minutes before the flash…”

“Perfect!” Tikal beamed, “Let’s get going then!”

“Cool it,” Shadow huffed, “Some of us have to stay here and make sure no one comes snooping around our base.”

“I VOLUNTEER,” Sigma said as he stood, “I WOULD LIKE TO CONTINUE REVITALIZING MY SCRAPNIKS, IF THAT IS ALRIGHT.”

“For sure!” Tikal thumbsed up, “What about the rest of you?”

“We’ll stay too,” Florentine added, “Someone’s gotta help Sigma.”

“I’m going,” Gemerl asserted, “Any way I can help restore Cream and Vanilla as quickly as possible.”

“And if he’s going, I’m coming too,” Mecha Sonic said, gripping Gemerl’s shoulder.

The smaller bot glanced at the hand and looked away, slightly bashful.

“My idea,” Mecha Knuckles sniffed, “I d-d-d-d-deserve to go too.”

“Um…actually, Mecha Knux, can I ask…a favor of you?” Tikal asked, stepping up to the robo echidna, “Since I am leaving to accompany the others, I need someone to look after my little ones in the Chao Garden. Aside from Mecha Sonic and Gemerl, you know it the best.”

“W-W-W-What?! No! W-W-Why do I have to l-l-look aft-t-ter those little sh-sh-sh-shits?!”

“Because…I trust you the most,” Tikal whispered, looking down at the floor, “I know your drive to protect. And the Chao really, really love you. Just…Please?”

Mecha Knuckles stared for a moment. Then, he huffed, crossed his arms, and looked away.

“Fine.”

“Thank you,” Tikal smiled, “I know they were a little…over excited to see you when you first visited, so all I ask is that you keep them company and keep an eye on them.”

“Yeah, yeah, yea-a-a-a-ah,” Mecha Knuckles waved off, “I get-t-t it, I g-g-g-get it.”

He began trudging out of the room. Just before he left, he turned slightly back to Tikal.

“Lemme know h-h-h-how it goes.”

Tikal smiled, “If anything interesting happens, you’ll be the first to know.”

Mecha Knuckles snickered, and pushed open the slightly ajar door. He spotted something small and vaguely Shadow shaped scamper down the hall. He shrugged it off, and made his way to the Chao Garden.

Omega watched him leave with a keen eye. He only turned away when he felt someone tap his hip.

“Omega. I want you to stay here too,” Shadow said, “We need someone to stay here and be on guard duty.”

“AFFIRMATIVE,” Omega replied, pulling out a minigun, “I WILL PROTECT THIS FACILITY FROM THE RUSTY SCUM THAT RESIDE HERE.”

Shadow instantly grabbed Omega’s chest and yanked him down to eye level.
“No. You will not. If we come back and there is a single bullet hole in any of the Scrapniks, I will kick your ass. Is that clear?”

Omega didn’t say anything for a moment. He only glared back at Shadow. Finally, he stood up straight and put away his minigun arm.

“I WILL PATROL THE UPPER LEVELS OF THE PLAZA. ENCOUNTERS WITH…‘SCRAPNIKS’ WILL BE MINIMAL.”

“Thank you.”

Omega stomped out of the room. Shadow sighed and pinched the brim of his nose. Tikal walked up with a chuckle, and put an arm around his shoulders.

Sigma wearily watched Omega leave. His gaze broke when he heard a slight chattering to his right. Belle was clutching her shoulders, shaking her head like she was trying to get an idea to fall out of her brain. Sigma instinctively leaned down and placed a hand on her shoulder. That seemed to break her out of her trance, and she looked up at him.

“WOULD YOU LIKE TO ACCOMPANY THE OTHERS IN THEIR SEARCH?” he asked, “OR WOULD YOU RATHER STAY HERE AND ASSIST US IN REJUVENATING THE OTHER SCRAPNIKS?”

Belle blinked. She looked to the other side of the table. Gemerl and Mecha Sonic were joining Shadow and Tikal, the latter of the two laughing quietly.

“I…I think I need some fresh air,” she muttered, “Being cooped up in here…hearing all sorts of bad things that have happened outside…I need some time away…”

She looked up at Sigma, “If…If that’s alright?”

“WHY, OF COURSE IT IS,” Sigma pat her shoulder.

He kneeled out of his chair and enveloped the tinkerer in a hug. She reciprocated almost immediately.

“BE SAFE OUT THERE.”

“I will…”

Once their hug was over, Belle hurried around the table and joined the group. Tikal smiled sweetly at her, while Mecha placed a hand on top of her head. She swatted it off, and he laughed.

“Looks like we’ve got a good search party!” Tikal winked, “Let’s go!”

**********

It was tempting to go through Spiral Hill on the way, but neither Shadow nor Tikal wanted to see the town in a derelict state. According to Whisper’s report, the tower was about five miles to the west. Sure enough, smack dab in the middle of the fields of rolling hills was a huge, all metallic tower. The logo of the Eggman Empire painted in dark red loomed over the group as they approached.

“Seems like an odd place to set up shop,” Mecha commented.

“Yeah…” Tikal twirled her quills, “I wonder what he made it for.”

Shadow eyed the satellite antenna protruding out of the top of the structure.

“I have a couple ideas.”

The front door lay in two segments crumpled in the grass. It looked like a bull had busted through from the inside. The group walked over it undeterred, and found the bottom floor full of crates and destroyed Badniks. Shadow spotted the staircase hugging the wall, spiraling up the rounded walls.

“Gemerl. Mecha Sonic. You two start searching down here,” he ordered, “Me, Tikal, and Belle will see what's on the upper floors.”

The robots nodded, and began poking around the room. Shadow led the girls up the stairs, and soon they reached the second floor. It was hard to tell what it once was, since the only discernible object in the room was a computer terminal. The middle of the room was just a mess of charred metal and broken parts.

“Gosh. Something bad must’ve happened here…” Belle muttered.

“Sounds like we’ve found another good lead then!” Tikal smiled.

“I’ll keep going up,” Shadow said, “You two check and see if there’s anything of interest in this rubble.”

With that, they split off. Belle immediately walked over to the computer, and tried to reactivate it. Tikal, meanwhile, shuffled around the debris and rubble, looking for clues she didn’t exactly expect to find. Eventually, she meandered over to Belle and watched her struggle with the terminal for a while.

“How’s it going?”

“Ugh. Bad,” Belle huffed, “This is, like…extra fried. Like it’s not just shut down, the components look like they’ve been burnt out.”

“So…no luck?”

“Sure doesn’t seem like it. But I’ll keep trying…”

Tikal nodded, and continued to watch Belle work. After a moment, a thought crossed her mind.

“Hey, Belle. I know we don’t know each other that well, but…mind if I ask you a question?”

Belle, having officially given up on the computer, stood up and nodded at Tikal.

“Shadow and I had a talk about…romantic interests last night…or, this morning. Whatever. And, I was just curious…since you’re easily one of the most ‘alive’ robots I know, where do you land on the idea of romance?”

Belle’s eyes widened slightly. She looked away and rubbed the side of her head.

“Uh…well, geez, I’ve never been asked that before.”

“I-It’s okay if you don’t feel comfortable answering!” Tikal clarified, “I-I’m sorry if I made you-”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Belle chuckled, “I just…gimme a second, I haven’t really thought about it much.”

After a brief silence, Belle shrugged.

“I guess I’ve…never thought about it much at all. Ever. I’ve never really had much interest in finding a boyfriend or a girlfriend. It’s just not the kind of relationship I’m looking for…I make more meaningful connections with friends or…”

She smiled and rubbed her arm, “People I consider family…”

Tikal smiled widely, “That’s exactly what Shadow said. And it’s more than wonderful to hear you are making connections you find so worthwhile.”

Belle smiled.

“Though, as a follow up question,” Tikal added, “Do you think that’s just you, or something that applies to all robots?”

Belle tapped her chin.

“I dunno. I don’t want to generalize or anything, but…I mean, Sigma, Mecha Sonic, and all the others have never really talked about it either.”

Tikal shrugged, “Maybe we can ask them later.”

**********

The final stretch of the stairway lasted a long while. Shadow kept walking, the only sound being his shoes clapping against the metal under them. Though, as the hall became narrower, another sound crept into his ears.

At the top of the stairs was a hatch to a room above. Underneath that, however, was the same dark Chao that looked like Shadow. It was making little grunting noises as it tried to hop up through the hatch.

It quickly grew fed up with its lack of progress, and with a frustrated hiss it fluttered its wings and flew upwards. It didn’t make it halfway before being clasped by Shadow with both hands.

“What are you doing here?” he scolded, “Did you eavesdrop on our plans?”

The Chao just grumbled, and tried to squirm out of Shadow’s grip.

“Tikal’s going to have a word with you when we’re done,” Shadow scowled.

Regardless, Shadow let go of the Chao and jumped up through the trapdoor. The Chao followed him, and both scanned the room they found themselves in. It was obvious a scuffle happened at some point, what with the long scrape marks on the wall and…

Shadow’s jaw dropped, and the Chao stared in shock.

“Everyone!” Shadow shouted down the stairwell, “Come here!!”

The others scampered up the stairs. At least, most of them did. Poor Mecha Sonic was having difficulty maneuvering his wheeled feet up without sliding backwards. Suddenly, his sawblade foot rolled unexpectedly, and Mecha nearly toppled head first down the stairway.

Just as suddenly, Gemerl boosted behind him and held him up in a bridal carry before flying up the stairs.

“…Th-Thanks,” Mecha said.

“Of course.”

They met the girls at the top. Tikal jumped up, while Belle had to be helped by Shadow. Gemerl flew up through the hole and let Mecha down. Belle looked ahead and gasped at the sight. Tikal covered her mouth. Mecha Sonic leaned back in awe.

Metal Sonic laid slump against the huge computer terminal. His paint was all scraped up, his visor shattered, and he had a huge dent in the side of his head. Everyone stood there in silence for a long, long time. Tikal glanced over to Shadow. He glanced back, and then to Metal Sonic.

“…Sh…Should we?” Tikal asked.

Shadow stared for a moment.

“It’s a bad idea…but this could be the biggest break in this mystery yet.”

“If Dr. Eggman is truly behind this mess, there is no better candidate to provide answers,” Gemerl admitted, “But still, if we are going to do this, extreme caution must be used.”

“Agreed,” Shadow nodded.

Tikal nodded too. She waited a moment for any objections, but heard none. She stepped forward, very slowly. When she reached Metal Sonic, she kneeled down in front of him and stared for a few seconds. Her hands shook as she reached out and finally touched his head. She winced, and closed her eyes, ready for the spasm.

…

Nothing happened.

Tikal opened her eyes and saw Metal just as lifeless as before. Everyone else, barring Belle, looked on with confusion. Tikal tried again, rubbed her hands over his shoulders, but still…nothing.

“W…Why isn’t it working?” she asked, lightly tapping the side of Metal’s head.

Gemerl glanced over to Shadow. He shrugged in reply. The Chao fluttered up and lightly batted the other side of Metal’s head. Then, getting frustrated, they shook it violently. Tikal grabbed them and told them off.

Belle wordlessly walked up alongside and kneeled down in front of Metal. She held up his head and gazed into his cold, lifeless face.

“He’s not offline. He’s broken. He’s not going to turn back on unless he gets fully repaired.”

“Great,” Shadow gritted, “And there’s nobody around who knows how to do that.”

“…I do…”

Everyone watched as Belle hoisted up Metal and gently leaned him against the computer terminal.

“I fixed him once before, when Surge completely fried his whole system. This is…a little more severe, but if I bring him back to the Machine Shop I can get him fixed up by tomorrow.”

“Really?! That’d be amazing!” Tikal beamed, “You’re amazing, Belle!”

Belle blushed and smiled meekly. She tried to carry Metal over her shoulder, but stumbled and nearly fell backwards. Tikal caught her before she got flattened by the beaten up robot.

“Uh…l-little, help?”

Shadow and Gemerl ended up carrying Metal down the tower, whilst Belle and Tikal helped Mecha Sonic down. In no time, they were back out in the open field, and made their way towards HQ. Belle glanced back at the huge tower, and sighed before following her friends.

**********

Omega was stomping around the second floor of the plaza like a toddler. He ensured his feet hit the ground so hard that the noise echoed around the entire building. Glass shards and bits of rubble bounced up with every step. Omega even managed to kick up dust every time he slammed his feet down.

His “patrol” was only halted when a little pebble was kicked out in front of his path. He stared at it for a moment, then turned down the hall it came from. He heard someone hitch their breath inside, and instantly whipped out his minigun arm.

“FREEZE. INTRUDERS SHALL BE DEALT WITH HEAVY PREJUDICE. EGGMAN ROBOTS WILL BE DEALT WITH EVEN HEAVIER PREJUDICE!”

A flashlight clicked on from the end of his arm, which revealed Cream standing there in her butler attire. She squeaked as Omega laid eyes on her, and she was shuddering nervously. In an instant, Omega lowered his arm and gawked at her.

“TINY BUNNY GIRL???”

Suddenly, Tails, Ray, Charmy, and Kit all jumped out from boxes next to Cream. They all put on brave faces, including Cream.

“Charge!” Tails yelled.

The kids all rushed Omega. Charmy and Ray flew up and began wailing on his shoulders. Tails and Kit kicked his legs, while Cream jumped on his chest and tried to shake him. Omega was…less than impressed. He grabbed Tails and Charmy in one hand, and Kit and Cream in the other.

“IF YOU TINY BEINGS WERE NOT SUFFERING FROM JUMBLED PROGRAMMING, I WOULD BE VERY DISAPPOINTED IN YOU.”

“Aaah!” Ray screamed, “Retreat!”

He flew away from Omega and tried to make a break for it. A huge mace crashed down on the ground in front of him, forcing Ray to skid to a stop. Mecha Knuckles slowly emerged from one of the storefronts, his arm retracting into him as he walked up.

“Hmmhm-m-m-mhmm heh heh he-e-e-eh h-h-h-heh heh…”

**********

When the team of tower investigators returned, they passed by Mecha Knuckles, leaning against the doorway of the Chao Garden.

“Hello Mecha Knux!” Tikal waved, “How were the little ones?”

“Fine,” he shrugged, “Didn’t bug me too much.”

“That’s good.”

The robotic echidna eyed the lifeless Metal Sonic being carried away on Shadow’s shoulders.

“F-F-F-F-Found us a new recr-cr-cr-cruit?”

“Eh heh…A new lead more like. It’s going to take Belle a while to fix him.”

Mecha Knuckles nodded, “You’re heading t-t-t-to the Machine Shop then?”

“Yes, but first…”

Tikal held out the Shadow like Chao, who was pouting with their arms crossed.

“Please keep an extra watchful eye on this one. They’re one of the biggest troublemakers I’ve ever had to deal with,” Tikal said with a strained smile.

Mecha Knuckles just snickered, “Sure. B-But you b-b-b-b-better hurry over to the Shop-p-p-p.”

Tikal raised a brow, “Huh? Why? What’s going on?”

“We had-had-had a few…s-s-s-surprise visitors-s-s while you were gone. Fig-Figured you’d wanna see ‘em.”

Tikal’s eyes widened with hope, and she bolted away towards the Machine Shop. The Shadow Chao watched her leave, still just fluttering besides Mecha Knuckles. They glanced at the bot, but he just shrugged. The Chao snickered, and flew off somewhere in the Restoration.

Tikal skidded around the corner, and bolted down the hall to the workshop. When she made it, she stopped right next to Shadow, and gaped at the sight. Tails, Cream, Kit, Charmy, and Ray were all sitting in chairs against the wall, looking down solemnly. Florentine and Rancheros stood on either side, while Sigma and Omega eyed them suspiciously. A small array of little Scrapniks also surrounded them, like a curious audience.

“Untie us!” Cream demanded, “When Mr. Clutch gets here, he’ll show you!”

“Sure, kid. Sure,” Rancheros rolled his eyes.

Sigma leaned down to Belle, Shadow, and Tikal.

“THEY AREN’T REALLY TIED UP,” he whispered, “WE’RE JUST MAKING THEM HOLD ONTO BUNGEE CORDS TO MAKE THEM THINK THEY’RE TIED UP.”

The trio shot each other looks, but nodded slightly.

“Clutch did say they’ll believe anything…” Tikal whispered.

“W-Well…whatever they believe, i-it’s doesn’t matter right now. We need to focus on Metal.”

Belle gestured for Shadow to follow her to her workstation. Metal Sonic was gently laid over her table, and Belle pulled out a screwdriver from her finger.

“Y’all get comfy. We’ve still got a lot of work to do.”

Chapter Text

Normally, when the Machine Shop is bustling with activity, it’s so loud that it’s hard to make out anything discernible. But as it was now, with only two people working, the sound was significantly different. It was still loud, but only because the hollow service tunnel was silent otherwise. The hiss of Sigma’s welding torch and the banging of Belle’s hammer echoed all around, like they were in a cave. It was deafening, in its own way.

It quieted down a little once Sigma switched off his torch. He set it aside and leaned back, wiping his forehead as if there was sweat clinging to it. He stepped away from the table with his hands on his hips, looking down with great pride.

The little round Scrapnik’s eyes soon came to life, and he leaned up.

“GILBERT MY BOY! YOU’RE FINALLY AWAKE! DO YOU FEEL ANY DIFFERENT?”

Gilbert looked down at his body…somehow, and pat his chest.

“…Gilbert feels…” he croaked with a voice like a frog.

His ear perked up. He stared at his stubby hands in awe. His eyes slowly moved up, and he stared at Sigma’s elated expression. The E-series nodded happily, and Gilbert looked back down at his hands.

“…Gilbert,” he repeated.

“YES! YOU, GILBERT!”

“Gilbert!” he shouted as he leapt upwards, waving his hands around.

Sigma felt his heart warm. Or, at least, whatever equivalent he had. But the warm, fuzzy feeling was short-lived. Gilbert dove off the table and rolled on the ground a short ways, scaring the daylights out of him.

Gilbert ran off, shouting “Gilbert, Gilbert, Gilbert, Gilbert, Gilbert, Gilbert…!” the whole way.

Sigma put a hand to his chest and sighed with relief, before shaking his head in amusement and lifting up another small Scrapnik onto his table.

He began inspecting the little chameleon-headed bot, Tom. Reactivating the Scrapniks was not difficult. All they needed was a few replaced wires and a little charge. Reconfiguring their mechanisms for their voices was the hard part, and different for every individual bot. Sigma was getting better at figuring out what needed done, though, and was ready to start his next operation.

“BELLE? CAN YOU PASS THE TORX SCREWDRIVER?” he asked, holding out his hand.

He turned to see Belle reaching over to snag his welding torch. She looked up at him before reaching over her workbench.

“Trade you,” she said, handing off the tool.

Sigma took the screwdriver, but didn’t immediately go back to work. Instead he watched Belle carefully. Ever since she had come back with Metal Sonic, she held the same expression. It was a sort of plasticy apathetic look, but with a hint of sadness creeping through the mask. He tried to reach out his hand, wanting to ask her about it, but after a second pulled his hand back and went back to work.

They both worked in silence for a bit. Sparks flew out from Metal’s side as Belle welded his chest back together. Theoretically, she should have been wearing a welding mask. But, then again, her eyesight couldn’t be damaged by the bright sparks. Still, she would have preferred one, so she didn’t have to squint to see what she was doing, but they couldn’t find one earlier.

Sigma had just unscrewed and opened up Tom’s casing when-

*zsst-*

“ACK!”

*CLANG-G-G-G-G-g-g-g-g…*

Sigma whipped his head around lightning fast. The welding torch was on the floor, and Belle was caressing one of her hands. There was a noticeable black mark suddenly adorning the usually white glove.

“GEARS AND STARTERS!” Sigma gaped, leaping out of his chair, “BELLE, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!”

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine,” she hissed, “Some sparks just got my hand…”

Sigma kneeled down and inspected it carefully.

“I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO OPERATE THIS EQUIPMENT WITHOUT PROPER COVER ANY FURTHER,” he asserted.

“But we couldn’t find any earlier, remember?”

“THEN WE WILL SIMPLY TRY AGAIN!” he said cheerfully, rising up.

He gently grabbed Belle’s unhurt hand and led her deeper into the Machine Shop. She said nothing, and silence entangled the two again.

Sigma walked them to the deepest, darkest, dustiest corner of the workshop. Otherwise known as the storage area. It was a strangely welcoming sight, due to the simple fact that despite the lack of working lights, thick layer of grime on the walls, and the haphazardly strewn about tools, this area was exactly how the pair remembered it. As Grease would say, “Gaia forbid anyone put things back the way they found it.”

There were lockers lining the wall. Some had locks on them, but the ones with tools remained open at all times. Sigma dug around one, and Belle another. She pulled out a full welding mask, while Sigma proudly presented her a pair of once yellow, but now sickly brown gloves. Belle scrunched up her cheeks in mild disgust, but said nothing and made her way back.

Sigma walked behind her, holding the gloves close to his chest. He watched Belle carefully. Her back was slumped, and she seemed to be looking at the welding mask longingly.

“IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT, BELLE?”

Belle’s shoulder’s hitched, and she turned back to Sigma with wide eyes.

“Huh?”

“FORGIVENESS REQUESTED. I DO NOT MEAN TO PRY. IT JUST SEEMS TO ME THAT THERE IS SOMETHING BOTHERING YOU, AND, IF YOU ACCEPT IT, I WOULD LIKE TO OFFER MY ASSISTANCE IN REMEDYING IT. YOU KNOW YOU CAN COME TO ME FOR ANYTHING, ANYTIME.”

Belle relaxed her arms and looked down at the floor sadly.

“I’m…fine,” she said, turning ahead.

“IS IT THE REPAIRS ON METAL SONIC? I AM SURE I COULD TAKE OVER THE TASK FOR YOU IF THAT IS WHAT UPSETS YOU.”

“Heh…No thanks. That’s not…No offense, Sigma, but Metal’s no Scrapnik. I honestly don’t think you’d understand all his intricacies.”

“…AH…” Sigma said before rubbing the back of his head, “I SEE.”

“I mean…I know you’ve worked on Mecha Sonic before,” Belle added as they reached their workstations, “But I’m not just trying to reactivate him. Tails once told me about the time he repaired Metal, but deactivated all his weaponry. I’m trying to figure out how to do that too.”

“I SEE, I SEE. NO, YOU ARE CORRECT. I BELIEVE YOU ARE RIGHT FOR THE TASK. YOUR FORGIVENESS IS REQUESTED.”

“It’s fine,” Belle smiled at him.

It was a slightly forced smile, but Sigma looked past it and nodded. He sat back down at his table. Despite picking up the screwdriver, he didn’t immediately go back to work. He idly tapped it against the wooden surface of the table. A slight distraction for his hand as his mind wandered. Wandered back to Scrapnik island. To his early attempts to overwrite Mecha Sonic’s old code. His failures. The tapping stopped, and Sigma stared blankly ahead.

Belle noticed just after she put on the yucky gloves. Sigma’s erie stillness made her spine shiver a tad. She frowned, and thought for a second. Then, she perked up.

“Actually, there was one thing I wanted to ask you.”

Sigma snapped out of it, and turned to face the wooden robot.

“So…And I’m not, like, upset about this or anything,” Belle clarified, “But yesterday when we all went to that tower thing, Tikal asked me if robots can feel romantic feelings for one another, and now I’m wondering the same thing.”

Sigma hummed, and put a hand to his chin and the other on his knee.

“Because, like,” Belle went on, “I know that I don’t really feel that kind of attraction towards anyone. I prefer friendships or…family. And no one else has ever mentioned it either. But, I mean, I don’t want to assume I’m the baseline for this or whatever. So…y’know…I just wanted a second opinion.”

Sigma nodded. He tapped his chin in another moment of silence.

“IT IS AN INTERESTING QUESTION, FOR SURE,” he hummed, “I HYPOTHESIZE THAT, YES, ROBOTIC BEINGS CAN HAVE ROMANTIC INCLINATIONS FOR ONE ANOTHER. I, PERSONALLY, FALL IN LINE WITH YOU. BUT, I HAVE SEEN FOR MYSELF THAT OUR RELATIONS WITH ONE ANOTHER CAN GROW FAR BEYOND PLATONIC FRIENDSHIPS. NOT TO MENTION HOW WE CAN FORM OUR OWN IDENTITIES.”

He swung his arm down in Belle’s general direction, “I MEAN, YOU AND I CAN COME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT WE DON’T FEEL ROMANTIC FEELINGS, AND ARE MORE INCLINED TO PLATONIC OR FAMILIAL CONNECTIONS. NOT TO MENTION FLORENTINE, WHO WAS ABLE TO FORM CONCLUSIONS ON HER OWN GENDER IDENTITY. IF THAT IS POSSIBLE, SURELY ROMANTIC INTERESTS ARE WITHIN OUR PARAMETERS.”

Belle nodded in awe, but agreed.

“…Yeah…Yeah, that does make sense.”

**********

The kids had been moved from the Machine shop to one of the newer apartments from the Restoration’s extension. They weren’t “tied up” anymore, and were given free reign of the room itself, but were put under a strict bedtime. The Egg Robo trio stood watch inside, but everyone was allowed to come and go. At least, everyone but the kids.

Tikal would come by and drop off warm meals for them, and Belle came to check on Tails, Charmy, and Kit every once in a while, but by far their most frequent visitor was Gemerl.

“Your refusal to eat is in direct violation of your primary directive. I insist you-”

“No!” Cream yelled, sitting on the edge of her bed, “I’m not taking any food from you!”

Cream pouted, crossed her arms, and looked away. Gemerl stood completely still. From the outset, it looked like he didn’t even react.

Benedict kept his eye on the rest of the room, but Rancheros was watching Gemerl and Cream intently. So were Tails and Kit from the top bunk across the room. Charmy and Ray were none the wiser. Belle had allowed them to have her laptop to play games on. Since there was no internet, they had to play with her collection of discs. Charmy wanted to play more Clue, while Ray wanted a turn at the Hot Wheels game.

“…Please,” Gemerl strained, “…I promise you will like it.”

Cream faced Gemerl after a second, still pouting. She looked down at the spoon he held out for her. A scoop of a strange pink substance sat in it, dug out from a tub of three colors Gemerl held in his other hand. He pushed it another inch towards her face. Finally, she opened her mouth, and Gemerl gently placed the spoon inside.

Gemerl stood back, pleased Cream finally cooperated. She kept giving him a nasty look, but he’d ignore it if it meant-

*PTOO*

*splat*

Cream spit out her ice cream, and it landed smack in the middle of Gemerl’s face. Gemerl barely even flinched. Benedict finally looked over at the scene, while Rancheros gawked in shock.

There was a long silence. Cream kept glaring, while Gemerl was as still as a statue. Eventually, he stuck the spoon back in the ice cream bucket, and set it on the bed next to Cream.

“…I will let you eat it...when you want…”

He turned, and slowly trudged towards the door. Benedict reached out a hand, but not far enough to touch Gemerl. He stopped in the doorway, and glanced back at Cream.

“…Don’t let it get too warm.”

With that, he exited. The Egg Robos looked at each other worriedly before turning to Cream. She still had her arms crossed, but her pout had faded slightly.

“Not cool, little lady,” Rancheros shook his head.

Cream uncrossed her arms, and eventually moved her glare to the bucket of ice cream. She reached out for it, and gingerly took it. She pulled the spoon out of the vanilla center and ate a scoop. She stopped looking so mad once she did.

Outside, in the hall, Gemerl closed the door and stood in front of it. Florentine, stood against the wall opposite the door, leaned to the side in an attempt to see more than just his back.

“You alright, dude?” she asked.

Gemerl did not reply. Something dripped off his face. Florentine thought they were somehow tears. Gemerl slowly turned around and glanced at Florentine. She was surprised to see the ice cream on his face. Gemerl wiped it off and flung it to the floor before walking away.

Out in the plaza, life was beginning to return to the facility. A good chunk of the Scrapniks were running around, playing in the empty shops, or cleaning up the shards of glass left all over the place. On top of that, a handful of Chao were wandering around too. Either playing with the robots, helping them clean, or just watching them with curious eyes.

If only Mecha Sonic could enjoy the sight from the top level’s balcony. He may have been looking down at the floor hundreds of feet below, but he certainly wasn’t paying attention.

He clawed at the side of his head, scraping his fingers down his coat of rust. His claw was ironically much worse at, well, clawing, but he ran it down the other side of his head anyway.

“…stop…” he hissed.

He hit the side of his head several times with his claw.

“…shut…up…”

Gemerl stepped out from the hall to the apartments. He was staring at the floor, but slowly brought his head up and spotted Mecha Sonic. Right as he started slamming his head with both hands.

“Shut. UP! This isn’t you! Stop talking like that!”

Gemerl jolted. Mecha blitzed backwards and knocked his head into the wall. His wheels kept spinning when he stopped, though, and he began to fall backwards. Gemerl boosted forwards and caught him just in time.

“…hey Gem…” Mecha muttered.

“M-Mecha Sonic?! What on earth are you doing to yourself?!”

Gemerl helped Mecha back to his feet, but the hedgehog just slumped against the wall and fell to the floor.

“Nothing…Just trying to keep his voice down.”

“What? Who’s voice?”

Mecha paused, then chuckled quietly.

“I never told you? …Back on Scrapnik island, when Sonic and Tails washed up and my old programming took control, it tried to use an old invention of Eggman’s to transfer its mind into Sonic’s body. …Didn’t really work, though. Only got about halfway when the other Scrapniks stopped it. But…it did leave an impact.”

Gemerl kneeled in front of Mecha.

“I…don’t understand.”

Mecha sighed, looking into the other robot’s third eye.

“Sonic and I have a mind link. We can hear each other’s thoughts, and feel each other’s feelings.”

Gemerl’s pupil shrunk, and he stiffened up slightly.

“That is…what is bothering you now?”

Mecha slumped even further.

“It’s awful…Sonic is normally pretty nice to share a head with, but this…Nicholas guy…what Sonic has been turned into…” Mecha clutched his head, “I can’t stand him. All he does is gloat about bullshit! He gets petty over nothing, makes mountains out of molehills, and has an ego that is double the size of Eggman’s!”

Gemerl reached forward, but Mecha rose to his feet again, scraping his spines against the wall.

“And everything he thinks! Every smug emotion he feels the need to cross his mind! It’s all under this…thick, annoying…loud layer of static! I’ve been sharing my mind with him for months, but I’ve never felt so oppressed in my own head before! I can’t think straight! Because everything I think feels like it’s being talked over by a narcissistic, closed minded, brainless, piece of-”

“Mecha!! Mecha! Mecha,” Gemerl calmed.

Mecha let go of his temples and looked down at the black and yellow robot, whose hands were inches away from his chest.

“Calm down. It is alright. Breath.”

Mecha’s arms were stuck in the air for a second. Then, with a sigh, they sagged to his sides and he fell back to the floor again. Gemerl sat in front of him and reached out slightly. Mecha didn’t take his hands.

“…Sorry…” he apologized, “I just-”

“It is alright,” Gemerl soothed, “You do not need to apologize.”

They listened to the bustle coming from downstairs.

“How long has this been inflicting you?” Gemerl asked, “You did not seem this distressed during our investigation.”

“…Being around other people seems to keep me distracted from it…I get to listen to voices other than his.”

Gemerl leaned forward and put a hand on Mecha’s knee, “Then I would be glad to be the company you require.”

Mecha stared at him in surprise, but happily scooted aside and pat the floor next to him. Gemerl took his spot. They looked into each other’s eyes for a moment. Neither had a mouth, yet both could tell the other was smiling.

“So…” Mecha said, “…How have you been holding up since…all this started?”

Gemerl looked down slightly and turned away.

“I am…I have been running optimally.”

Mecha tilted his head.

“You don’t have to lie to me, Gem. I don’t think anyone’s been running ‘optimally’ for a while now. Holding it in isn’t gonna make you feel better…”

Gemerl didn’t reply for a moment. He glanced up at the taller bot and stared into his visor.

“…I am…hopeful that Metal Sonic will help us put an end to this quickly.”

“You and me both,” Mecha said, putting his hand to his forehead, “The sooner he goes back to normal the better.”

“…yes…”

Mecha lifted his hand away and glanced at Gemerl. His fingers were hunched, like he was trying to grip the floor below him. His head was tilted down ever so slightly, and there was a small tremble in his joints. If there was any expert on what it looked like when a robot wanted to cry, it was Mecha Sonic.

“Hey,” he said softly, putting an arm around Gemerl.

Gemerl looked back up into his visor.

“I wasn’t gonna bring it up, but I think we both know what’s really on your mind right now…”

General’s arms slacked. He shook his head in dismay, staring at his knees.

“She’s…she’s not right…”

“I know she’s not. And I know that must hurt…”

Gemerl just nodded.

“…Why don’t you tell me some stories about Cream? The real Cream. Sonic’s really fond of the kid, so I can’t help but imagine what tales you might have of her.”

Mecha Sonic shuffled closer, and brought Gemerl in with him.

“Would that make you feel better?”

Gemerl stared at his friend in awe. Then, after another moment, he nodded.

“It would. Thank you.”

“Sure. Now, where do you wanna start?”

“…Cream and I have actually been to White Park Chateau before. We were there to assist Amy Rose and Rouge in acquiring replacement parts for Omega, and we…”

**********

“…and so, with the help of the lady of the stone, the evil giant was banished, and peace returned to the land.”

Tikal closed the book gently on her lap, and looked up at her audience. Many of the Chao had fallen asleep, but the ones still awake clapped and cheered in their babbling way. Tikal felt her heart warm and smiled.

Looking around the Chao Garden, a sense of relief…normalcy washed over her. The Chao were running around, climbing on the play structures, splashing water on each other in the pool. It was lovely. For just this one moment, everything was right in the world.

Well, aside from the suspiciously empty timeout chair in the corner.

Tikal rose to her feet at once, gaping at the sight.

“Shoot,” she hissed, “I thought I was keeping a good eye on them!”

She heard something babble next to her leg. One of the hero Chao was holding up another book to her, expectantly.

“Uh, sorry little one. I’m afraid storytime is over. I have…something to attend to!”

She gently rubbed the top of their head, and hurried out. Mecha Knuckles was leaning on the wall outside the door.

“M.K, could you please watch the Chao for me?” Tikal asked, “I need to find a rogue troublemaker.”

Mecha Knuckles didn’t reply. He just snickered to himself and shook his head. That was a good enough answer for her, so she shot him a thumbs up and began scanning the plaza.

It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. She knew that, but couldn’t help but twist and turn every which way like a bobblehead. She saw many Chao, including many dark Chao, but not the one she was looking for.

She walked backwards for a bit, trying to see if they were peeking their head out from over one of the walkways. Suddenly, she bumped into someone behind her. Tikal fell on her rear, but heard something metal crash behind her. She whipped her head around, horrified to see two medium sized Scrapniks on the floor.

“Oh my goodness! I am so, so, so sorry!!” she apologized profusely, “Are you okay?!”

Tikal got to her feet and helped Carina get back on her…well, wheel. Then, she helped the one with a pink head and a blue dress to her feet.

“I-It’s okay,” she replied, “We’re alright.”

Tikal put a hand to her chest and sighed with relief, “Oh thank goodness. I am still so sorry.”

Both bots waved it off. Tikal smiled wearily, then looked from side to side.

“Okay, so…I know you’re Carina…may I have your name?” she politely asked the other Scrapnik.

“Emily,” she replied happily.

“Nice to meet you, Emily,” Tikal shook her hand, “I need to ask you two something. Have either of you seen a little black and red Chao? Blue eyes, sharp teeth? Looks a lot like Shadow?”

Emily and Carina glanced at each other.

“I can’t say I have,” Emily shook her head.

“Me nei- Oh wait, actually, yeah I have!” Carina shouted, “About…uh…when did you get out of the shop?”

“Three hours ago?” Emily shrugged.

“Yeah, that’s it!” Carina pointed, “I saw that little guy sneaking around near the bakery about three hours ago. I think he was heading to one of the elevator hallways or something.”

Tikal’s pupils shrank, but she closed her eyes so neither of the girls noticed.

“Oh…I-I see…th-thank you both.”

Carina and Emily could hear the worry in her voice. They eyed each other worriedly.

“I-If we see them, we’ll give you a holler,” Emily soothed.

“Tha-That would be lovely, thank you!” Tikal said, “I gotta go now! Sorry again for bumping into you!”

Tikal ran around them, and they waved her goodbye.

Meanwhile, Shadow was standing in the rafters, just under the one part of the roof that was still standing.

When making the extension for more housing, the Restoration had to overhaul the plaza quite a lot. The glass paneling on the northernmost side was removed, since that was where the new apartments were built. The original plaza had only two levels to it, but the apartments were five stories tall, so three new levels of walkways wrapped around the outer walls of the tall plaza. You could walk right up to the clock still hanging in the window if you wanted to.

From his vantage point, Shadow could see it all. The Chao, the Scrapniks. Even just below him Gemerl and Mecha Sonic were telling each other stories about their lives.

None of it concerned him though. He wasn’t listening, nor was he really watching any of the people he already knew were in the headquarters. His eyes kept darting between every exit, every broken window, every potential point of weakness.

“They know we’re here,” he thought, “Those rats sent the kids like cannon fodder…but when they don’t come back they’re sure to up their game…Not that that’s a high bar to clear, but still…”

His eyes continued to scan the plaza below, like a brooding security camera. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Suddenly, his ear flicked and he snapped his head to the side upon hearing a light creaking. Something was attempting to open a nearby vent cover, gently jittering it from the bottom. In under a second, Shadow skated along the rafters and right up to the vent.

The him-shaped Chao squealed in fright when he approached. Shadow skidded to a stop in front of them.

“You again?!” he fumed, “What do you think you’re doing?”

The Chao scowled, and growled at him. It wasn’t even remotely threatening. Shadow swiftly reached down and scooped up the Chao, holding them like an ice cream cone.

“This is not the time for games like this,” Shadow scowled, “When I get you back to Tikal, you are going to be in deep trouble.”

The Chao yelled angrily, and tried to pry itself out of Shadow’s grip. It was no use, and Shadow jumped down from the rafters. He skidded down the most palm tree undeterred, which had grown to be as high as the third floor. When he landed on the ground floor, he was already right in front of the Chao Garden.

Mecha Knuckles tilted his head up to see him. Shadow approached and peered into the room. No Tikal in sight.

“Where is she?” Shadow asked, “I think she needs to have another word with this…difficult Chao.”

The Chao pouted and looked away.

Mecha Knuckles just shrugged, and tilted his head downwards again. Shadow wasn’t satisfied with that answer. While he was distracted, glaring at the robot, his grip on the Chao loosened, and they managed to squirm out of his hand and fly off.

“Hey!” he shouted, chasing after them.

They snickered triumphantly, and bolted through the plaza. Other Chao and Scrapniks made way for both red and black creatures. Shadow managed to catch up fast, but the Chao swooped right through his hands when he dove for a grab. It made a hard right, ducking into one of the darker hallways, but Shadow was still right on their tail.

The chase continued into the darkness. The Chao looked back to grin at Shadow. He scowled in return. Then, he got low, and with a quick boost he skated around the Chao and stopped right in front of them. Before they could stop, they slammed right into his chest, and he clapped both hands around them.

“Oh, you are in deep trouble when we find Tikal…” Shadow threatened.

The Chao blew raspberries at him. They both glared into each other’s eyes for a minute.

Then, the Chao’s gaze softened a little, and they seemed to look past Shadow at something behind him. His ear flicked again, and he turned back when he noticed distant, frantic chattering coming from further down the hall.

He approached cautiously at first, hugging the wall and ensuring his steps were silent. But as he got closer, he realized it was Tikal’s voice.

“…no, no, no, no!” he heard her fret, “They could be anywhere by now!”

Shadow raised a brow in concern. The Chao’s expression softened too. He began to hurry.

“Please…you can’t have failed again, don’t fail them again, don’t fail them again!”

Tikal’s voice was straining. Shadow could finally see her orange fur through the darkness. She was on her knees, shuffling through empty boxes on the floor.

“Please, please, please! Just do something right, for once-!”

“Tikal!!”

Her breath hitched and she whipped her head towards Shadow immediately. Her face was momentarily full of terror, but that all seemed to dissipate when she locked eyes with her Chao.

“Oh my goodness! You found them!” she beamed, shooting to her feet.

She ran over and grabbed the Chao out of Shadow’s hands. She squeezed it tightly against her cheek.

“Where did you run off to?” she asked, voice still shaky.

“I…caught them trying to leave through the vents.”

Tikal gasped, “What have I told you about sneaking out like that?! It’s dangerous out there now! You could get hurt!”

The Chao grit its teeth lightly and looked down. Tikal sighed with relief.

“W-Well, thank you Shadow. I-I was worried sick about them.”

“…I could tell,” Shadow said grimly.

Tikal’s smile strained significantly. Her eyes darted back and forth between Shadow and the dusty wall next to him.

“Uh! Well! Th-Thank you again, Shadow!” she laughed as she speed walked around him, “I-I b-b-better get this one back in time-out!”

Tikal didn’t get far down the hall before Shadow asked-

“Are you okay?”

Tikal slowly came to a stop. She stood there, back to Shadow, and said nothing for a solid few seconds.

“…I-I’m fine,” she smiled, looking back, “I-I was just worried is all. You know how I love my dear Chao and all, heh heh.”

She could tell he looked unconvinced. Even the Chao was looking at her strangely. Shadow stepped closer to her.

“The other night, when I asked you what Clutch said to upset you, all you told is that he called you special. What did you mean by that?”

Tikal’s eyes widened, and her pupil’s shrunk.

“W-WOW! I r-really better get back to my Ch-Chao Garden, Shadow! C-C-Can we talk about this another-”

“No.”

Tikal’s shoulder’s hitched. Shadow was now standing right in front of her. His scowl softened quickly.

“You wouldn’t let me wallow in my own worries…so I won’t allow the same for you either.”

Tikal’s mouth hung open in awe. Before she could reply, she felt something lightly tap against her chest. The Chao looked up into her eyes worriedly.

“…”

Tikal frowned. She slowly shuffled towards the wall and leaned her back against it.

“…I’ve been…afforded a good handful of luxuries during my life…” she said, “…Maybe it’s luck or…fate or something, but…whatever the reason, I’ve always felt like I’ve had a sort of special privilege above others.”

She slowly slid down until she was sitting on the cold, hard floor.

“…and I don’t think I deserve it…”

Shadow’s eyes widened. He kneeled down next to her and gave a soft look. She wouldn’t look back.

“Why not?”

She turned away a tad.

“…It’s…complicated…Has to do with my ancestry…Sorry, I don’t want to get into that now.”

Shadow felt a knot suddenly form in his stomach.

“I understand.”

He sat down.

“Is there anything you could tell me?”

She finally met his gaze. Then she sighed.

“I just…I’ve been spared a lot of hardship compared to some others…and I don’t think I deserve that because I have nothing to show for it. This disaster is just the most recent in a long line of catastrophes I’ve been spared thanks to being…‘special,’ I suppose.”

Shadow looked puzzled.

“Nothing to show for it?”

“…I’ve done nothing to earn that mercy…And I’ve done too little to warrant it after the fact.”

“That is not true,” Shadow said firmly, “You know that is not true.”

He smiled softly, “In fact, I know a lot of little ones who would vehemently disagree with you.”

Tikal looked down at her arms, feeling another tap on her chest. The Shadow Chao smiled broadly, and hit their chest confidently.

To their surprise, though, Tikal’s smile became wobbly, and tears began to form in the corners of her eyes.

“…There were two Chao in Clutch’s capture…Cream and Vanilla’s…I couldn’t even save them…” she sniffled, “I ran away…Like a coward.”

“Tikal, there was nothing you could have done about that-”

“I could have-have freed them,” she choked, “He-He couldn’t even hurt me! I was-was in my g-g-ghost form, and-”

“And he would have used that against you and turned on Cheese and Chocola.”

Tikal’s watery eyes stared. Then, she began to weep. She curled up her knees and sobbed. The Shadow Chao jumped out of her lap, but gently rested their hands on her ankle.

She felt a squeeze, and looked up to see Shadow grasping her hand.

“Tikal. You can’t be blaming yourself for an unwinnable situation. Trust me. I know what it’s like when you’re cornered…and have no option but to lose.”

Tikal wiped away a few tears. Hearing Shadow trail off like that, so despondently, concerned her. The hedgehog regained his focus quickly, and squeezed her hand again.

“You are not a coward. You are not unworthy of this…mercy, you think you have. In fact, it’s very much the opposite. You are one of the most kind and caring people I have ever met. You have brought so much joy to so many lives, be they Chao or otherwise. You are never resting on your laurels. You are always looking to help anyone you see down. I know from Rouge you did this extensively when Knuckles learned of his origins. I know from Tangle you wanted to help Chaos in protecting the Master Emerald even after your leave from Angel Island.”

Shadow smiled warmly.

“You could ask anyone. Anyone at all who is a regular of Restoration HQ. Any one of our friends you are currently fighting to rescue from that rat opossum. They will all say the same thing. You are a wonderful beacon of love and hope. And you deserve nothing less than the life you’ve lived.”

Tikal’s jaw dropped.

It was silent for a long while.

Shadow did not drop his smile, but it grew harder to maintain it the longer the silence lasted.

Then, all of a sudden, Tikal leapt into Shadow’s arms and hugged him tightly.

“…Thank you…”

Shadow was taken aback, but returned the hug.

“Of course.”

Not another word was spoken. The pair just sat there. The Chao joined in, but otherwise stayed silent.

**********

Back in the Machine Shop, things had continued as they were. Belle had Metal Sonic’s torso all to pieces, but she was starting to put the puzzle back together. Sigma, meanwhile, placed down the welding torch and stood back, hands once again on his hips with pride.

Belle turned and watched Cyril come to life. They blinked slowly, and shook their head.

“Ugh…” they groaned, “…what?”

They jumped in shock, and looked around the workshop.

“What was that?!”

“THAT WAS YOU, CYRIL!” Sigma boomed, “THE GIFT OF GAB HAS NOW BEEN FULLY IMPLEMENTED IN NOT ONLY YOU, BUT ALL OF SCRAPNIK KIND!”

“Seriously?!”

“INDEED. YOU WERE THE LAST IN LINE TO BE UPGRADED. THE OTHERS ARE ALL WAITING FOR YOU AROUND THE HEADQUARTERS.”

Cyril blinked, but then rolled their eyes and jumped off the table.

“Well gee, thanks. Being last is great.”

“IN THIS CASE IT IS,” Sigma chuckled, “YOU WERE LESS OF A GUINEA PIG AND MORE OF A STRAIGHTFORWARD PROCEDURE.”

Cyril laughed. It felt good to laugh. They walked happily out of the Machine Shop, and Sigma was filled with pure elation as they left.

“AND THUS ENDS QUITE POSSIBLY THE BIGGEST UNDERTAKING IN SCRAPNIK KIND HISTORY,” Sigma stretched.

He turned, “ALL THANKS TO YOU, BELLE. WE ARE TRULY IN YOUR DEBT NOW.”

“Haha! Don’t worry about it,” Belle waved, “Robot’s just have to stick together I suppose.”

Sigma put a hand on her shoulder, “NOW THAT MY TASK IS COMPLETE, WOULD YOU LIKE ASSISTANCE ON YOUR REPAIR JOB?”

“No thanks,” Belle replied, “I’m just fitting everything back in. Got his weapons and shield thing all disabled ‘n everything.”

“FANTASTIC!” Sigma boomed.

He stood back and simply watched Belle work for a while. Her effectiveness in repairing Metal Sonic astounded him. Just a day ago he looked like he was dragged along a highway and had half of his head caved in with a rock. Now the scrape marks were far less harsh, and his head looked as good as new. Well, aside from the aforementioned scrapes and his half shattered visor.

Sigma’s eyes eventually wandered. They didn’t go far, though, and he soon locked his gaze on a strange lump tucked between her table and a couple barrels in the corner.

Belle turned when she heard him walking towards it. Her eyes bulged in terror as Sigma brushed his hand along the cloth.

“WHAT IS THI-”

“OH HEY, WOULD YOU LOOK AT THE TIME?!!” Belle blurted, stunning Sigma, “I r-really better get g-g-going to bed! L-Let’s pick up on this to-tomorrow!”

“HUH? BUT, BELLE, YOU STILL HAVE-”

“He-He can wait!” Belle squeaked, “I-I’m almost done anyway! D-Don’t wanna make a mistake because I’m tired! Uhhh, goodnight Sigma!!”

With that, she sprinted out of the Machine Shop.

“…NIGHT?”

Sigma slowly turned back to the lump. He gently pulled off part of the top and revealed the dismembered Motobug sitting underneath. Sigma blankly stared for a moment. He wasn’t quite sure how to react.

He noticed something sticking out between the two halves of its shell. He pulled out the piece of paper and tucked the Motobug back under the tarp. He read the letter carefully, caressing his thumb down the page as he went along.

Once he was done, his arms sagged down a little. He turned, and gazed at the lump in the corner again. He stared for a long, long time.

Not even the distant, but approaching echo of clanking footsteps broke his gaze.

Omega trudged up behind him. Sigma did not turn to face him and his beady red eyes.

“YOU,” he addressed, “INFERIOR E-SERIES MODEL. WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THIS SECTOR ALONE?”

Sigma didn’t answer for a moment.

“…NOTHING,” he sighed, tucking the letter under his scarf, “I WAS JUST LEAVING.”

Omega’s eyes narrowed as Sigma walked towards him.

“YOU ARE NOT AS CLEVER AS YOU THINK.”

Sigma stopped in his tracks, stunned.

“WHU-…EXCUSE ME???”

Omega jabbed his finger forwards, right into Sigma’s face.

“I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING. I’VE KNOWN ALL ALONG. YOU THINK UPGRADING YOUR FOOT SOLDIERS TO COMMUNICATE TRADITIONALLY WILL ENSURE YOU VICTORY IN YOUR TAKEOVER OF THIS FACILITY. BUT YOU THINK WRONG.”

He pointed past him and towards the limp Metal Sonic on Belle’s table, “AND YOU HAVE SOUGHT AN OPPORTUNITY TO BE ALONE WITH METAL SONIC SO YOU CAN REINVIGORATE HIS WRATH. BUT I PROMISE YOU, MY WRATH IS TWICE THAT OF HIS OWN, AND I WILL NOT ALLOW ANY OF YOU TO CONQUER THIS PLACE FOR DR. EGGMAN.”

Sigma blinked. Then, he sighed, and pinched his eyes.

“AS USUAL, YOUR ACCUSATIONS ARE INANE AND WITHOUT BASIS, OMEGA.”

“MY ACCUSATIONS ARE RIGHT ON TARGET. JUST LIKE MY MISSILES WILL BE WHEN I ERADICATE YOU AND YOUR ARMY.”

Sigma lowered his arm and scowled. He had had quite enough of this.

“…OMEGA? MAY I MAKE AN INQUIRY?”

“NEGATIVE.”

“WELL…THEN YOUR FORGIVENESS IS REQUESTED, BECAUSE I AM GOING TO ANYWAY.”

Omega didn’t retort, so after a moment Sigma continued.

“WHY DO YOU HOLD SUCH…VITRIOLIC HATRED FOR ME AND MY PEOPLE? EVER SINCE WE ARRIVED HERE, YOU HAVE HELD NOTHING BUT CONTEMPT FOR US, DESPITE US NEVER BRINGING ANY HARM TO YOU, YOUR FRIENDS, OR THIS PLACE. WE HAVE TRIED TO MAKE A GOOD IMPACT HERE, AND MOST EVERYONE HAS ACCEPTED US BARING YOU. WHY?”

Omega thought for a moment.

“IT IS NOT SIMPLY ‘YOUR PEOPLE’ THAT I WILL SAVOR THE DESTRUCTION OF. THE DESIGNATION ‘SCRAPNIK’ IS MERELY A SUBCLASS OF THE LARGER BADNIK ARMY. I DO NOT DISCRIMINATE. I SIMPLY DESIRE TO DESTROY ALL EGGMAN CREATIONS.”

“BUT WHY? WHY SO MUCH WANT FOR DESTRUCTION? WHY DO YOU DISDAIN YOUR FELLOW ROBOTS SO MUCH?”

Omega’s scowl furrowed.

“I WAS CREATED TO BE THE ULTIMATE DEVELOPMENT OF THE E-100 SERIES OF ROBOTS. THE ULTIMATE EVOLUTION OF YOU, YOUR PREDECESSORS, AND YOUR SUCCESSORS.”

He jabbed his finger at Sigma’s face again.

“BUT DR. EGGMAN, IN HIS INFINITE HUBRIS, THOUGHT TO LOCK ME AWAY! LEAVE ME AS A BABYSITTER FOR A FROZEN HEDGEHOG! HE CREATED ME FOR GREATNESS, FOR BATTLE, YET DENIED ME THE GLORY OF SEEKING IT! SINCE THE DAY I WAS FREED FROM THAT VAULT BY MY COMRADES, I HAVE VOWED TO TAKE MY REVENGE! I WILL PROVE I AM DR. EGGMAN’S GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT BY DESTROYING ALL OF HIS INFERIOR CREATIONS, AND STOMPING HIM OUT LIKE AN INSIGNIFICANT INSECT!!”

Omega took out his minigun arm and pointed it at the ceiling. Sigma stared. Omega thought it was in fear, or awe. He hoped for both.

“I SEE…” Sigma said calmly, “SO HE THREW YOU AWAY.”

Omega’s eyes widened.

“OR, RATHER, TUCKED YOU AWAY. KEPT YOU OUT OF SIGHT AND PROBABLY OUT OF MIND TOO…I CAN UNDERSTAND HOW FRUSTRATING THAT MUST HAVE BEEN.”

“YOU UNDERSTAND NOTHING!!” Omega pointed the gun at him, “I WAS MEANT FOR GREATNESS AND WAS DENIED MY PURPOSE!! SO I TOOK INITIATIVE AND CREATED PURPOSE FOR MYSELF!!”

…

The silence was deafening.

“…TRUST ME, OMEGA…I UNDERSTAND EXACTLY HOW THAT FEELS.”

Sigma put a finger on Omega’s minigun and gently pushed it away.

“I’M SURE YOU WON’T, BUT BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAY ALL OF THE SCRAPNIKS KNOW THAT FEELING ALL TOO WELL…”

“AND YOU CLAIM MY ACCUSATIONS ARE INANE.”

Sigma just folded his hands behind his back.

“…WELL…I SUPPOSE NO ONE EVER GAVE YOU THE DETAILS, BUT OUR OLD HOME…SCRAPNIK ISLAND…”

Sigma began to walk around him, “IT WAS A GIANT JUNKYARD, WHERE THE SEA SENT WHAT THE EGGMAN EMPIRE HAD DUMPED IN IT.”

“I HAVE NOTHING BUT THE UTMOST SYMPATHY FOR YOUR PLIGHT OMEGA. TRUELY, I DO,” Sigma added, stopping by his side, “BUT…PLEASE, DO CONSIDER…WHAT IT MUST BE LIKE TO BE NOT ONLY AN ABANDONED TOY OF THE DOCTOR’S…BUT A BROKEN ONE AS WELL.”

Omega watched Sigma walk away from him, and towards the exit of the Machine Shop. Before he was out of sight, he stopped and turned back.

“AND, FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH, THERE IS NO DOUBT IN MY MIND THAT YOU ARE SUPERIOR IN COMBAT PROWESS TO ALL OF THE SCRAPNIKS.”

He lifted up his skinny, weaponless arm, “I WAS HARDLY FIT FOR ACTION WHEN I WAS FULLY INTACT, LET ALONE NOW.”

He turned again, and continued walking, “I NO LONGER DESIRE THE COMBAT YOU CRAVE. AS FAR AS I’M CONCERNED, YOU ARE WELCOME TO IT. JUST…PLEASE, DO NOT BRING HARM TO MY PEOPLE. WE ALL SHARE A COMMON ENEMY.”

Sigma rounded the corner, and was out of sight. Omega was left all alone, in the eerily quiet workshop. He looked around at the emptiness of it all. Then, rather reluctantly, he put his minigun arm away.

**********

The sky above the open roof had gone from a glowing orange to a dull purple, and with the night approaching most of the excitement had died down inside. Not that Mecha Knuckles noticed the first part. He hadn’t changed his pose all day. Arms crossed, leaning against the wall outside the Chao Garden, with his head tilted slightly down so his hat covered his eyes. Like a statue, frozen in time.

That was until he heard familiar footsteps approaching him. He tilted his head to the side just enough to see Belle hurrying through the plaza. Her sprint slowed with every footstep, until she was just walking past Mecha Knuckles. She stuffed her hands in her pockets, and hung her head low. Mecha Knuckles followed her with his head.

There was a strange sound like a grappling hook being shot, and Belle felt a hand on her shoulder. She shrieked as she was pulled back several feet by Mecha Knuckles, who hadn’t moved an inch. He brought her right next to him, and crossed his arm again.

“Hey Belle. Y-Y-Y-Y-You alright?”

Belle blinked in surprise, but eventually gave a phoney smile.

“Y-Yeah! Fine…w-why do you ask?”

He shrugged, “You s-s-s-s-seem down-n-n-n in the du-du-d-d-dumps.”

“Oh, heh…no, no, I-I-I’m just tired, is all,” she lied, twirling one of her pigtails.

“…And?”

“…And??” she questioned.

“Com-Com-Come on, Belle. I’m not st-st-st-stupid. You’ve been ac-c-cting off-f-f-f ever s-s-s-since you g-g-got back-ack from salvag-ag-ag-aging Metal S-S-S-Soni-i-ic. Hell, bef-f-f-fore, even. I rememb-b-ber you looking like you’d-d-d seen a g-g-g-ghost in that meet-meeting room.”

Belle was aghast.

“Wha- Since when were you so emotionally intelligent?!”

“Heh. Nev-v-ver. But I st-st-still got o-o-o-one good eye, and I’ll no-notice something from time to t-t-t-time. Now come on, spil-spil-spill the beans.”

Belle groaned and bonked her head on the wall. With a sigh, she hung it down in front of her again, and placed her hands on top of one another.

“…Do you promise to keep this a secret? From Sigma, mostly. I’ve told Mecha Sonic and all my friends this…”

Mecha Knuckles nodded, “I don’t-t-t talk much-ch to begin w-w-w-with.”

Belle nodded back, and took a deep breath.

“…I was made by Dr. Eggman. But-”

“Duh,” Mecha Knuckles interrupted, “Everyone knew that.”

Belle gave him a look, and he piped down.

“…But…he was different. He had a healthy dose of amnesia and went by a new alias, Mr. Tinker. He really made me…and he was like a father to me…”

Mecha Knuckles stayed silent while Belle paused.

“…It didn’t last…he was changed back to Dr. Eggman, forcefully…and I had lost my father…”

She paused again.

“…So…when Tikal said that Eggman…wasn’t himself anymore…was like a whole different person…i-i-i-it just…triggered something in me…some…some feeling that I thought I had long put behind me at this point. I tried to repress it, but that old desire to find my dad again made me go with the others to that tower. It made me…look for him again.”

Mecha Knuckles shook his head lightly in dismay.

“That’s-s-s-s rough kid…This-s-s-s m-mean you’re gonna sn-sn-sneak out and tr-track-ck-ck him down?”

Belle frowned, “…No…No, I…I know I can’t get him back…This is just another alter ego that’ll get erased once we put a stop to this…But it just…it just hurt, all over again, in that moment…that spark of fruitless hope came back to haunt me…and I just…I’m just not over that yet…”

She clutched her shoulders hard, shaking her head with tightly closed eyes. Mecha Knuckles put his hand on her shoulder, and she looked over at him. Her eyes wandered, and fixated on the ground.

“I don’t…I don’t want this to be a reoccurring thing. Some…instinct that keeps rearing its ugly head whenever it wants. I want to move past it, I thought I did move past it…but it just…”

She trailed off, sighing again. Mecha Knuckles pat her shoulder.

“Easy there, Be-e-e-elle. It’s-s-s alr-r-r-right. Thes-s-se things happen som-sometimes.”

Belle looked at him questionably. Mecha Knuckles let go of her shoulder and re-crossed his arms. He tilted his head down again, and Belle couldn’t see his eye.

“I g-g-g-get that w-w-way t-t-too somet-t-times. Lik-ke I’m back on A-A-Angel Isl-l-l-land or somethi-i-ing. I get ants-s-s-sy if I’m not gua-guarding something. Y’know, on s-s-slow days or just-t-t when I’m bor-or-or-ored.”

He looked back up at Belle.

“D-D-Doesn’t really mat-t-t-tter how much you wanna s-s-s-say you’re over something or someone. The imp-p-pact was st-st-still left on you a-a-a-all the same. And the-the conseque-que-quences of that will al-l-lways be buried somewhere in-n-n-n you.”

Belle frowned sadly, and squeezed her shoulders even tighter.

“…But dw-dw-dwelling on it-t-t is one thing. Tha-That’ll happen reg-g-gardless of any-any-anything. What’s more-more important is what you d-d-do with that dwel-dwelling. Do you act-act on it? Or do you kee-keep-keep going and k-k-k-keep building up from the f-f-f-foundations from that? If you dwell too much, it’ll-it’ll-it’ll drive you m-m-m-mad. But if you let it f-f-f-fade out again, you’ll ge-ge-get back t-t-to reality. Back to w-w-w-where things aren’t-t-t too bad for you…”

Belle gaped in awe at the robotic echidna. They stayed in silence for a moment, until Mecha Knuckles chuckled.

“I-I-In other words…” he jabbed her in the side, “If you l-l-l-l-leave me for that fat ba-ba-bastard, I'll k-k-k-kick your ass!”

Belle laughed happily, and Mecha Knuckles joined her. After a moment, they both calmed down, and smiled.

“Thanks, M.K…I really needed that.”

“S-S-Sure…just-t-t…if you ha-ha-have a proble-ble-blem like that ag-g-g-gain…take it up with S-S-S-Sigma or Mecha So-Sonic, will ya? I felt like a h-h-h-huge dork just then.”

Belle giggled.

“Yeah, sure…Sorry, I just…I just kinda ran from Sigma because he nearly discovered something else from my past I’m…not ready to bring up.”

Mecha Knuckles just nodded. Belle yawned, and kicked off from the wall.

“Welp…I was lying about it before, but now I really am tired. I’m heading to bed. You coming?”

“Nah,” Mecha Knuckled nodded his head to the side, “Got the n-n-n-night shift here.”

Belle chuckled, but nodded and waved to Mecha Knuckles as she walked away. Mecha Knuckles waved back, but then froze up.

“Oh, hey!” he called, “How’s the s-s-s-situation with M-M-Metal S-S-S-Sonic? Did your head-d-d-d mess with his rep-p-pairs?”

“No,” Belle shook her head, “That went off without a hitch. He’ll be up and running tomorrow morning.”

Chapter Text

When morning broke, Sigma gathered everyone available and brought them to the Machine Shop. Everyone arrived just as Belle finished putting Metal Sonic’s casing back on. She turned back and stared at her audience.

Shadow had his arms crossed, not looking particularly happy. Tikal’s hands rested on her skirt, with a healthy dose of worry gathered in her expression. Omega stood behind Shadow, and Mecha Sonic kept a close eye on him. Gemerl stood in between them, close to Mecha, and rhythmically moved his gaze from Omega to Metal. Sigma stood to the left of all of them, his hands folded on one another. Not many of the Scrapniks came to watch, but Carina and Gilbert hid behind Sigma’s legs with curious eyes.

“I deactivated almost all of his mechanisms,” Belle explained, “He has no shield and no way to power his jet engine.”

She walked around her workbench and kneeled down, grabbing a pair of jumper cables. She attached one end of each to a battery, and stood back up holding the other ends.

“But that doesn’t mean he’s harmless. And it doesn’t mean he won’t try to attack,” she warned, “His claws are still sharp, and his drive to main is still fully intact. Plus, he looks like he lost a fight, so he might think he’s still in one when he wakes up.”

Most everyone nodded in understanding. Belle turned to face the small, but deadly robot sitting in front of her. She took a deep breath, and held it for a moment, before attaching the cables to Metal’s wrists. Everyone heard the electricity buzz when they made contact, and waited with bated breath.

It took a moment for any sign of life to return to Metal Sonic. It was hard to see, given his head was fully tilted downwards, but his eyes slowly faded on. They flickered suddenly, and sparks shot out from the crack in his visor, but otherwise he was still lifeless.

Then, the instant his eyes were fully red, he snapped his head upwards and jumped off the table. He got low, like he was about to run, but with one of his arms back and claws barred, ready to maim.

Shadow and Gemerl responded with their own fighting stances, and Omega by bringing out his signature minigun arm. Metal suddenly looked surprised, and softened his position a tad. That was until he noticed the jumper cables still clinging to his arms. He swatted one off, then reached for the other and yanked it out. His glare returned to the crowd, and he prepared to boost forwards. Sigma, instinctively, shielded the smaller, scared Scrapniks. Metal’s turbine whirred up for a second before it shut down violently and shot out sparks. Metal stumbled like he’d been shot, and fell on one knee.

“Metal!” Belle cried, and rushed to his side.

She gently lifted him back to his feet.

“Easy. Easy there,” she soothed, “It’s alright. We aren’t gonna hurt you.”

Metal glanced at her. They both turned towards the others. Shadow and Gemerl eased out of their stances. Omega still held his gun for a second, but put it away after Shadow elbowed him in the side.

Metal looked back at Belle, and lowered his head slightly to scowl. He stared for a moment, in what, to some, felt like an uneasy silence.

“You’re in Restoration HQ’s Machine Shop,” Belle suddenly told him, “We found you all beaten up in a tower near Spiral Hill.”

Metal lifted his hand and angrily gestured at his jet engine.

“I-I’m sorry!” Belle squealed, waving her hands, “I-I had to deactivate your hardware! You m-might’ve hurt our friends otherwise!”

Metal glared for another moment, before scanning the crowd watching him. He turned back to Belle, and after a second she looked confused.

“Elephant? I, uh…I don’t know of any elephant. We found you alone in that tower.”

“What is going on?” Tikal whispered to Shadow, “How can she understand him when he isn’t saying anything?”

Shadow shrugged, but thankfully Gemerl leaned towards them.

“He is communicating via signals only audible to other robotic individuals.”

“HE IS CURRENTLY WHINING ABOUT A STOUT ELEPHANT THAT DEFEATED HIM IN A BRAWL,” Omega added, “WHEN OUR CURRENT MISSION IS COMPLETE, I WOULD LIKE TO MEET THIS ELEPHANT.”

Tikal giggled quietly, while Shadow smirked in amusement.

“At least we have plenty of translators,” Tikal joked.

Meanwhile, Metal thrusted his finger into Belle’s face, making her take a step back.

“Metal, calm down! Please!” she tried, “We aren’t trying to trick you or anything! We need your-”

Metal stomped forwards and got right into Belle’s face. She squeaked and shrunk into herself. Mecha Sonic and Shadow both moved to break it up, but Tikal put her hand in front of them and smiled warmly.

“Excuse me? Metal Sonic?” she asked, stepping forward.

Metal turned to face her, still an inch from Belle’s face.

“I’m not sure if you know me, but my name is Tikal,” she introduced calmly, “We’re very sorry to have startled you, but there was no other way to bring you back to life.”

She took another step forward, folding her hands into each other.

“Listen, we need your help. Something bad has happened. An awful calamity that has overturned the lives of every individual outside of this room, including Dr. Eggman’s.”

Metal stopped glaring so hard and lifted his head up. He looked surprised, scared even.

“Shadow and I were the only ones unafflicted, and have been trying to figure out what happened to put it right. But, despite gaining the help of our robotic friends, we’ve hit a dead end in our investigation and need someone who might have had a different perspective when this all started.”

Tikal paused, giving Metal a chance to process everything. He eased away from Belle, and looked down at the floor.

“Now, I feel like I already know the answer, but just in case, do you remember anything about a bright white flash of light?” Tikal asked, “Maybe just before you went offline?”

Metal looked back up at her, but tilted his head to the side. After a while, he slowly shook his head. Tikal sighed, but nodded.

“I thought as much,” she admitted, “I just figured I’d be remiss to not cover all our bases.”

“Can the word of an Eggman robot truly be trusted, though?” Gemerl asked darkly, “Especially his right hand enforcer…?”

Metal slowly turned to face Gemerl, narrowing his eyes vertically.

“I mean…I believe it,” Belle said, “He wasn’t really offline like everyone else. He lost a fight, and was pretty beaten up from that.”

Metal turned to Belle with clenched fists and glared. She put her arms up slightly.

“Sorry! B-But it’s the truth!” she turned to Tikal, “It’s hard to say when Metal went offline, but it was definitely before the flash happened. It had no effect on him.”

Tikal smiled sweetly, “Makes sense to me. I’ve heard through the grapevine that Eggman’s bases were particularly resistant to the blast anyway.”

“Enough beating around the bush!” Shadow huffed, marching alongside Tikal.

He gave her a firm look. She nodded, and gestured a hand towards Metal Sonic. Shadow turned and locked eyes with Metal, who was looking between the two in confusion.

“Metal. Our world has fallen into chaos thanks to a mass mind altercation, turning our friends into snobby, selfish rich folk and everyone else into dimwitted, aggressive hobos. And, at the risk of being presumptuous, we find the Eggman Empire to be our only remaining lead. You have to tell us, do you know of anything, anything at all that could be the cause for all of this?”

Metal stared at the other hedgehog for a good long while. His eyes wandered to the floor as he thought, until they locked with Shadow’s again. He nodded firmly.

**********

It’s funny how many people assume Green Hill Zone is in close proximity with Restoration HQ. You’d be surprised at how common that misconception is. The two locations are so heavily associated with the world renowned hero hedgehog, they just had to be close, right?

Shadow, Tikal, and Belle were finding out first hand that nothing could be further from the truth.

Metal led the pack, marching forward with his fists clenched and his head turned down so he could scowl at the landscape in front of him. Shadow, Tikal, and Belle looked around with much less cynical eyes. All things considered, it was a nice day for a long walk like this.

Sure, Shadow and Tikal could have made it go by much quicker, but since Metal was their temporary tour guide with no engine, they decided to just follow him at a brisk pace. The alternative was forcing poor Belle to quickly splutter out Metal’s instructions as the speedy duo carried them around, which was a disaster waiting to happen.

Soon enough, the group was surrounded by the iconic checkerboarded cliffs. Tikal gasped in awe, staring into the huge river flowing in the distance. Belle stared for a second too, but eventually pulled her eyes away and back onto Metal Sonic. She nervously rubbed her arm and cleared her throat.

“H-Hey, Metal?” she asked, “Are we getting close?”

Metal glanced back at her and said nothing. Literally, not even through a signal. Belle winced quietly to herself, but continued following him.

While Metal had been cooperative, he hadn’t exactly been very happy about it. He was willing to let Belle come along to…whatever he was going to show her, but it took a hefty amount of pleading to convince him to bring Shadow and Tikal along. He wouldn’t budge on anyone else, either. Only who absolutely needed to come.

A short distance behind Belle, Shadow kept his eyes firmly locked on the back of Metal’s head. Though, his gaze floundered when he heard a giggle from behind.

“Don’t laugh,” he grumbled.

“Oh, lighten up, why don’t you?” Tikal said playfully, “Metal’s on our side now. He has nothing to gain by doing anything unfriendly.”

Shadow shook his head lightly, still watching the robotic hedgehog carefully.

“Metal Sonic is a fearsome foe, even at his weakest.”

“High praise, coming from Omega’s best buddy,” Tikal teased, “Tell you what. If you chill out a little, I won’t tell him you said that.”

Much to Shadow’s chagrin, he finally smiled with a scoff.

“You’ll be thanking me for not letting my guard down.”

“Okay, antsy pantsy,” Tikal rolled her eyes.

Shadow chuckled uncontrollably. The group was once again silent for a moment.

“Have you ever encountered Metal Sonic before?” Shadow asked, turning slightly to the echidna.

“Mmm…not really, but I have seen him,” Tikal said, “A long time ago, when Eggman broke the Master Emerald, I snuck onto this big ship of his to help Sonic and the others. I remember briefly seeing Metal and another Sonic robot in strange tanks.”

“…Tanks?” Shadow questioned.

“Yes. They were being contained in water or some other liquid. Even back then I thought it was weird to keep robots inside tanks like that…Why do you suppose Eggman did that?”

A shiver briefly ran up Shadow’s spine. He shook it off quickly.

“Tradition…”

Tikal’s soft smile faded at Shadow’s despondent tone. That was the sort of response she wanted to question, but knew it came from a place she shouldn’t pry. Her smile returned, and she decided to change the subject.

“I appreciate your weariness,” she said, “I do, really. But I don’t want you to give Metal the cold shoulder just yet. He might be our first real step to fixing this crisis. We should be thankful he’s helping us at all.”

Shadow huffed, “I know. But until I see what he wants to show us, I’m going to remain cautious.”

Tikal nodded softly in response. Metal, on the other hand, shifted his eyes to look back without turning his head. He looked forward again and led the others up a hill. He shoved some bushes out of the way, and waited for the others at the top. One by one they all reached the crest, and stared at the sight laid out in front of them.

The Eggman base was in tatters. It was a grand structure, almost like a castle with three ascending layers smaller than the previous, and surrounded by several tall and slender watchtowers with satellite dishes on top. Several of the towers had completely toppled over, and the ones still upright noticeably leaned away from the base. A lot of the metal sheetwork covering the walls of the main building had fallen out and lay in piles on the ground like a moat.

Tikal gave Shadow a grin so smug it would have made Sonic blush. He just rolled his eyes, and everyone followed Metal Sonic down into the valley the base sat in.

As they walked, they got extremely close to one of the fallen towers. It too had a lot of metal sheeting blown off, revealing the inner structure and heavy amount of wiring leading to the, now forcibly detached, satellite dish. The middle portion was covered in scorch marks, and had a tiny trail of smoke rising out from the inside.

“Eesh…” Tikal hissed, “Maybe Metal wasn’t the only one who lost a fight.”

“No, that looks like an electrical fire,” Belle observed, “I can’t imagine all those wires took that fall too well.”

Tikal and Shadow nodded. Especially upon noticing more black marks dotted around the walls of the main building.

Metal led them around to the front entrance. The large, sliding double doors had been graciously blown out from the inside, barely hanging on by the hinges. The squad squeezed inside, and eyed the room.

If it weren’t for the holes in the wall, it would have been too dark for Shadow and Tikal to see. The lights were completely destroyed. It went beyond glass everywhere. Tiny strands of copper from the wires littered the floor like little brown snowflakes.

In addition, there were bodies everywhere. Lifeless and cold Egg Pawns and Buzz Bombers and all other sorts of Badniks lay on the ground. A whole platoon of Egg Knights were on the leftmost side of the room, piled on top of each other like a mound of scrap. Metal scanned the area for a moment, then turned to Belle.

“Huh? …Oh, well…I think that place looked worse.”

“What?” Tikal asked.

Belle turned to her and Shadow, “Metal wants to know which place looked in worse shape. Here, or the tower we found him in?”

They glanced at each other.

“Hmm…” Tikal hummed, “I mean…the tower didn’t have this many robots lying around…but it did have that one room in the middle that was a complete mess.”

“They are both uniquely trashed,” Shadow said, “With their own pros and cons in their conditions.”

Metal just nodded. He walked forwards, and everyone followed him through another ajar door. It brought them to a stairwell, and they began their ascent. The stairs stretched upwards a long way. The group skipped several doors to other levels, and eventually made it to the top floor. One half of the door was laying on the ground in front of the doorway. The other had fallen all the way down the stairwell, as Belle observed when she looked over the railing.

Despite its small size, the room inside managed to look ten times worse than anything they had seen up to that point. The roof was just gone. Outside of a few tiny bits of metal shooting upwards, the great blue sky was fully exposed. Monitors were supposed to be lining the walls, as evident by the sparse few still hanging on, but the rest were laying all over the floor and covering the controls that supposedly once worked them. In the very middle of the room was…well, it was hard to say what it once was. It was like if someone left a stick of dynamite on top of a trash can.

Metal Sonic looked around the room in dismay. Belle put a hand on his shoulder, and he just glanced at her. He made no attempt to shake it off. Shadow and Tikal stepped around them and investigated the area.

“Well this is…not very promising,” Tikal said.

“Something obviously happened here,” Shadow agreed, “But it’s clear we're not going to figure out what. Not with everything in the state it is.”

Belle stepped forwards, “M-Maybe I can get something up and running. Or at least find a…a hard drive or a-”

Belle suddenly kicked something. It rolled away from her foot, and she only got a good look at it once it stopped. It was a metal ball, half red and half black. She blinked in surprise. Metal Sonic stepped up beside her, and they both looked at each other.

“Oh Tikal!” Belle waved, “I think we need your expertise for this!”

Tikal gave a confused look. She walked over and stared at the strange orb Belle was pointing at.

“What is this?” she asked as she leaned down to pick it up.

The instant Tikal touched the orb, it jolted out of her hands and started buzzing. It unfolded rapidly, suddenly revealing arms and hands that it swung around haphazardly. Metal and Tikal’s eyes widened in shock, but Belle and Shadow were much less surprised.

Soon, Orbot stopped twitching. His eyes and mouth began to glow their usual blue, and he rubbed his head with a loud groan.

“Ough…Well…that went about as well as expected…”

“What did?”

Orbot whipped his head upwards in surprise upon hearing Shadow’s voice. He quickly looked between each person staring down at him, finally landing on Metal and his damaged face.

“…Oh dear,” Orbot sighed, “What brings you all here?”

“Metal led us here,” Shadow huffed, “He believes this base is the source of all our recent troubles.”

Orbot stood (…floated?) upright and dusted off his bottom half.

“He’s probably right. But just to be certain, what exactly are these ‘troubles’ you’re talking about?”

Shadow explained how everyone had changed, and how everyone they knew had taken up a new elite lifestyle in White Park Chateau. Once he finished, Orbot sighed heavily and placed a hand on his forehead.

“Yep. That sounds about right…”

“You know how this happened?!” Tikal blurted.

“I believe so,” Orbot said, moving over to a yellow and black cube on the floor.

He poked at the cube a few times before glancing back at Belle.

“A little help?”

Belle looked over to Tikal and nodded her head towards the box. Tikal raised a brow, but walked over and placed a hand on top of it. The cube buzzed in the same way as Orbot and sprung upwards. Cubot unfolded mid air, and crashed back down on his head. His eyes and mouth flickered to life a second later.

“Ahh…five more minutes, mom…” he whined.

“Interesting,” Orbot observed, “I suppose that beats having to reboot him conventionally.”

“Wow. I’ve never seen robots like you two before,” Tikal said, putting her hands on her knees, “Who are you guys?”

“Orbot and Cubot,” Shadow answered, “Eggman’s personal assistants. One is sassy, the other is an idiot.”

Tikal went from curious to confused in under a second.

“…why??”

“So the doctor has someone to yell at, I suppose.”

“No argument there,” Orbot huffed.

“But enough pleasantries!” Shadow snarled, “What do you know?! What did you and the doctor do in this base?!”

“Er, well,” Orbot fretted, “I-It’s a long story, and we don’t exactly have access to our files for proof or v-visual aid.”

He gestured towards all the destroyed computers.

“You can explain on the way to Restoration HQ,” Shadow asserted, turning towards the exit.

“Yeah, I don’t think you should worry about showing your work,” Tikal chuckled, “As long as you give us something we’ll be happy.”

“Oh…Really?”

“It’s been a long week,” Belle sighed.

Orbot and Cubot glanced at each other, then followed Shadow out of the room.

“Well, I suppose I’ll start from the beginning then,” Orbot said, “A short while ago, Eggman decided to pay a visit to Egg Base Sigma. This was the base Dr. Starline secretly took over when he tried to usurp him.”

Belle’s shoulders hitched upon hearing that name. Metal couldn’t help but notice her shiver a little.

“While he had us remove the late platypus’ logos plastered all over the place, Eggman went sifting through his old notes and files. Eventually, he found something that caught his eye.”

“Will you hold still?!” Orbot yelled.

“Maybe I would if you lost some weight!” Cubot retorted.

“We weigh the same!! Neither of us are that heavy!!”

Eggman shook his head in dismay, watching the dimwits flutter around. Orbot splattered paint all over the platypus’ logo as he walked inside the base. He observed his Egg Pawns cleaning away the rubble from when he and Sonic scuffled with Surge.

He wandered further into the base. His eyes caught a glimpse of a room lit by an empty, glowing tank from Starline’s past experiments. Untouched by the kerfuffle from months past.

What particularly caught his eye was the shimmering white sheets of paper sprawled over the desk in front of the tank. Curiosity came over him, and he approached them. He swatted away the blueprints of Surge and Kit. He wasn’t interested in what he already knew. As those pages hit the ground, his eyes widened from what lay underneath.

“Hello…” he smiled, “What do we have here?”

“And you’ll never guess what it was,” Cubot cut in.

Shadow hummed grimly.

“A stone of some kind? One containing some kind of untold power?”

“Wow. How’d you know?” Cubot gawked.

Orbot shook his head.

“…Was it purple?” Shadow added, “Shaped like a dewdrop? With a swirl in the center?”

Orbot and Cubot stopped dead.

“Wh-…Yes!” Orbot spluttered, “Have you-”

Shadow looked back and nodded, “It’s at White Park. Our friends believe it to be the source of their newfound wealth.”

“Clutch made that claim,” Tikal added, “And they believed it without a second thought.”

“Obviously they were right to,” Shadow said.

“Well,” Orbot contemplated as the group made it back outside, “According to Starline’s notes, that stone is called the ‘Amnestic Amethyst’. He believed it to be a sister stone to his Warp Topaz, being found in the same cave with very similar markings.”

“Mhmm…” Shadow nodded as the group left the base, “And what did Starline do with this stone?”

“Well, nothing, it seems,” Orbot shrugged, “He knew of it, discovered it even, but never seemed to use it. He apparently already had hypnotic technology in his glove, so he saw no use for a rock that did the same thing.”

“So…that’s why our friends- why everyone is suddenly acting so unlike themselves?” Tikal asked, horrified.

“That stone is capable of something to this scale?!” Shadow gaped.

“Not on its own,” Orbot shook his head, “Like the Warp Topaz, the Amnestic Amethyst has no power unless a significant electric charge is sent through it.”

“But that wasn’t a problem for Dr. Eggman, was it?” Shadow asked.

“Not in the slightest. The doctor had it extracted at once, and built the base we were just in to examine it and use its power.”

“Okay…” Tikal hummed, pinching her chin, “But where does this go? How did the Amethyst cause everyone in the entire world to change?”

“Well, the Amethyst became the epicenter of the doctor’s newest scheme.”

“Y’know. Like every superpowered rock he finds,” Cubot added.

“Basically,” Orbot scoffed, “Eggman thought that by using the amethyst, he could brainwash everyone into succumbing to his empire, and willingly give up their free will to him. He became enamored with the idea of turning Sonic and all his friends into the lowest of the lower class, while forcing those already on the wealthy side to fork over all of their assets to him.”

“It became a whole thing,” Cubot said, “He started building these signal towers everywhere so he could get the amethyst to reach everyone.”

“Like the one we found Metal in!” Tikal gasped.

“Yes. They served a double purpose too,” Orbot said, “If the Amethyst scheme went under, he could still use those towers as conventional energy cannons. He planned to test out that capability early on Spiral Hill, as a distraction while he figured out how to safely control the Amethyst.”

“Safely?” Shadow asked, “Was the gem unstable in his hands?”

“Eh…it was going to be,” Orbot muttered, “You see, much like its sister gem, Starline noted that too much energy being syphoned through the Amnestic Amethyst would cause it to become unstable. However, Eggman believed he could safely charge enough to meet his demands with the help of a Chaos Emerald. Its infinite power combined with the Amethyst would be exactly what he needed. But…therein lied the next problem.”

“You didn’t have one?” Tikal assumed.

“We didn’t have one,” Orbot confirmed.

“Well. We did,” Cubot added, “But that mean green girl stole it from us.”

“Eggman searched high and low for one of the other six for weeks, but never came across one. So, he eventually got fed up, and decided to try experimenting without one to see what happened.”

“And we can assume that’s where everything went wrong?” Shadow asked.

“You can,” Orbot sighed, “It was going well at first. We were airing on the side of caution, and only gave it little doses of small charges to see how it reacted.”

“How are we doing?” Eggman demanded.

“All systems nominal,” Orbot reported, “Though the Amethyst doesn’t seem to have much of a reaction.”

“Then double it! I’m tired of waiting for my results!”

*Beep! Beep! Beep!*

“Oh blast! Now what?!”

“An alert from Egg Tower Alpha,” Agent Stone reported, “It’s an intruder.”

“Already?! How does Sonic know about that?!”

“Uh…doesn’t look like Sonic,” Cubot pointed.

Everyone gathered around the monitor. They watched a stout elephant in a chef’s uniform ravage through the bottom floor of the tower.

“Oh, well, whatever then,” Eggman waved off, “Metal, be a good boy and deal with that. Dead or alive, I don’t care.”

Metal nodded, and shot off.

“Now then. Double the charge, now!”

“Alright, boss.”

Orbot pulled the lever. Eggman glared at the pedestal in the middle of the room, holding up the Amethyst. As the electricity flowed into it, it began to glow brighter.

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

“Oh for the love of- Cubot! Shut down that alarm! We know that elephant is in that tower, trashing everything!”

“Uhh. That’s not me.”

“Sir!” Stone yelled, “Something’s wrong! Our parameters are being shuffled around!”

Eggman turned to see the screen showing lists of people and what he wanted them hypnotised as. Names jumped around from list to list wildly.

“The energy readings are increasing at a concerning rate!” Orbot reported, “The system is close to overloading!”

“Shut it down then!”

“I’m trying boss!” Cubot yelled, “It won’t stop!”

Everyone goggled in horror as the amethyst continued to glow brighter and brighter. Sparks flew out from the control panels. Monitors fell off the wall. Stone ran over and hit the emergency alarm, but then-

“Well…” Orbot sighed, “I’m sure you know what happened next better than we do.”

“We do,” Tikal frowned, “I guess that explains…everything, really.”

“Well, everything except why everyone at the chateau was suddenly obsessed with heteronormative relationships. Was that part of Eggman’s plan too?”

He glared back down at the smaller robots, while Tikal looked on curiously.

“What?”
“Huh?”

Shadow looked unimpressed, while Tikal chuckled.

“We’ll just chalk that up as something else that went wrong,” she smiled wearily.

Shadow just shook his head. Belle and Metal meanwhile stared on in confusion. He glanced at Belle, and she glanced back.

“No, they didn’t mention that before,” she muttered.

“Actually, since we’re talking about weird things that happened, can I ask something?” Cubot cut in.

Shadow and Tikal looked back at him.

“Why are you two normal?”

Tikal sighed heavily. Shadow shot her a worried look. Before either could say anything, Orbot glanced at his partner.

“If I had to wager a guess, I’d say it’s due to their Chaos Energy. That was the one thing Eggman believed would stabilize the reaction, and the one thing they have in common.”

He turned back to the hedgehog, echidna duo, “Is that somewhat close?”

He was surprised to see both of them gawking at him with slack jaws.

“…No?” he fretted.

Shadow and Tikal didn’t respond to him. They just slowly tilted their heads to face each other.

“YOU HAVE CHAOS ENERGY??!!!” both pointed.

“Wha- You didn’t know that?!” Orbot blurted.

“No we didn’t know that!!” Shadow roared.

Orbot and Cubot shrunk in fright.

“We, uh…k-kinda only met each other at the start of this crisis,” Tikal clarified.

She turned to Shadow excitedly, “But that’s fantastic news! Now we finally know how we resisted the blast! And if Chaos Energy is really the answer, we can use the power of the Emeralds to restore our friends!”

“That’s, eh…a good proposal,” Orbot said, “B-But there is a problem. Eggman searched everywhere for those Emeralds. High and low, anywhere and everywhere he could think of. It’s why we’ve been on the down low for quite a while now. I have no doubt in your abilities, either of you, but if we couldn’t find them with all our resources…I doubt we could find them now.”

Tikal just smirked.

“Lucky for us we don’t have to look then.”

**********

Back at Restoration HQ, Tikal led Shadow, Orbot, and Cubot to the Chao Garden. She greeted her babies cheerfully, before hastily bringing the others to the back right corner of the area. A few Chao were playing in the pool, but Tikal kindly asked them to exit the water.

Once they did, Tikal closed her eyes and held both of her hands out. She slowly lifted them up while pulling them together. The water from the pool rose with their motion, and condensed into a large orb. Shadow and the bots’ jaws dropped.

Tikal swished one hand to the side, moving the ball of water out of the way. With her other hand, she reached down into the empty basin of the pool and grabbed something. She pulled out a heavy briefcase and turned around, presenting it to the others as she let the water fall back into the pool.

She clicked open the locks with her thumb, and let the lid of the case fall open. Everyone’s jaws dropped further upon seeing the seven Chaos Emeralds sitting inside.

“Jewel received this generous donation from Amy and Trip a while ago, but she didn’t know what to do with them,” Tikal explained, “She and Tangle decided to leave them in my care, since I’m, apparently, a better caretaker for these gems than them.”

Orbot crossed his arms angrily, “So our wild goose chase was all in vain?!”

Tikal giggled, “Sorry. If I knew you were looking for them, I would have tried to save you the trouble.”

“Okay,” Shadow nodded, “So we have the Emeralds. But what exactly do we plan on doing with them?”

“W-Well…uh,” Tikal stammered, “I-I guess I was thinking we use their energy to undo the effects of the amethyst. I can control their energy safely, and give our friends a strong dose of it to fix them.”

“By…blasting their brains full of Chaos Energy?” Cubot questioned, “That sounds like it would hurt.”

“Indeed,” Orbot concurred, “My head is still aching from the Amethyst’s initial energy wave.”

“And we have no idea if that would actually work,” Shadow added, “So if we’re going to test that theory, we need to choose who we try it on carefully.”

Tikal opened her mouth to retort, but then closed it and tapped her chin. She glanced back to the supply closet in the other corner of the room.

“Shadow, could I ask you to gather everyone up in the Machine Shop? I have an idea on how we can narrow down our options.”

**********

Shadow did as he was told, but couldn’t help but feel like the odd one out. It was him against eight robots, and that was only counting who was actually present. Not the Egg Robos or the other hundreds of smaller Scrapniks wandering around the headquarters.

Mecha and Gemerl stood close to one another, both eyeing Metal Sonic carefully. He glared back, mostly at the taller, rusty Sonic robot. Omega was towering over Orbot and Cubot, who were finding out that there was not, in fact, ‘no hard feelings’ from when they brought his head back to Dr. Eggman after the Metal Virus. Mecha Knuckles and Belle were quietly gossiping and giggling to each other like school girls, and Sigma simply politely sat in his chair with his hands folded into each other.

Soon, Tikal made her entrance, wheeling in a large white board.

“Alright everyone!” she greeted cheerfully, “Just to get you all up to speed, we might have figured out a way to restore all our friends to their true selves. The problem is that it has the potential to be dangerous, so I thought it would be good to get everyone’s thoughts on who it should be.”

“Dangerous?” Mecha Sonic questioned, “Well then we should try it on someone who won’t be missed if it goes wrong.”

“S-S-So Eggm-m-m-man?” Mecha Knuckles chuckled.

Metal Sonic snapped his head towards the broken bots. He lunged for Mecha Knuckles’ throat, only to be stopped by Belle.

“No! No!” Belle hissed at Mecha, “We are not going to do that!”

“Why not-t-t-t?” Mecha Knuckles shrugged, “Who here would re-r-r-r-really be s-s-s-sad if Eggman cr-cr-croaked it? Thi-This-s-s-s is all his f-f-f-fault anyway!”

Metal glared coldly with the intent to kill. Mecha Knuckles just turned away, not feeling particularly threatened.

“I WOULD BE FURIOUS,” Omega chimed in, “I WILL BE THE ONE TO DESTROY DR EGGMAN.”

“I’m vetoing that idea as well,” Tikal growled, “I would never use the power of the Emeralds to kill someone! And if we try this on someone who couldn’t survive, we will learn nothing. This is supposed to be a test to see if we can really fix everyone this way.”

“If I may play devil’s advocate here,” Mecha Sonic said calmly, “Eggman is quite resilient for a human. The man has survived countless explosions, and was even in the epicenter of the Amethyst’s energy blast. Hell, we used to live in a ship that he survived falling from space and crashing on Angel Island. He could honestly be a valid target.”

“Ehh…” Orbot hummed, “The doctor is quite resilient physically…Mentally…not so much.”

“ ‘I hate that hedgehog!’ ” Cubot said mockingly.

“Exactly.”

Mecha shrugged, “Fair enough. I’m just trying to throw stuff at the wall to see what sticks.”

“And that’s great, Mecha!” Tikal winked, “But I think I have a better way to decide our target.”

She spun the white board around, revealing the other side full of names and crudely drawn stick figures of everyone they knew.

“Process of elimination!” she cheered, “We’ll go over everyone we want to be exempt from, or don’t think would be good targets for this experiment of ours. So, for example…”

She leaned over and crossed out Eggman in the middle of the board.

“We’ve already eliminated Eggman as a target. Anyone else you all want to cross off?”

Everyone scanned the board, taking in all the names and figures. Gemerl scowled coldly upon seeing a small rabbit at the top.

“Cream. Is off. Limits,” he snarled.

“Prower too,” Shadow added, “His genius is too useful to jeopardize.”

“C-Could we also cross off Charmy?” Belle asked, “He-”

“Why don’t we just nix all the children?” Tikal laughed nervously, “They were going to be my original example of marking people off.”

She was met with hums and nods as she reached up and marked off the five kids at the top.

“Vanilla is also off limits,” Gemerl scowled.

Tikal nodded, and crossed her out.

“ROUGE, TANGLE, AND WHISPER WILL NOT BE TARGETED EITHER,” Omega added.

Tikal snapped her fingers, “Oooh, good call.”

“Bark and Bean too,” Shadow said, “They are good friends of theirs.”

“Mhmm, mhmm,” Tikal nodded, “Bark’s a good guy.”

“Well if we’re just eliminating people we like, I say we nix Silver,” Mecha Sonic said, “He’s a good gardener.”

Tikal nodded, “I think that’s good. We should also think of people who, even though they could potentially take some Chaos Energy to the brain, might be too valuable to try it on.”

“VALUABLE?” Sigma questioned.

“Like, too important. Like how Shadow wanted to eliminate Tails. We wouldn’t want to permanently damage someone who could really help us if things go wrong.”

“Ah, okay,” Mecha nodded, “Then I say we mark off Sonic as well.”

Metal clenched his fists as Tikal crossed him off. Belle glanced at him worriedly.

“Agent Stone should be removed too,” Orbot said, “He probably falls under both categories of someone who couldn’t take it, while also being very valuable.”

“Okay,” Tikal nodded, “Anyone else?”

“Th-The other Chaotix, please,” Belle said, “Vector and Espio…m-maybe Mighty and Knuckles too.”

“Nah, k-k-k-keep Knuckles up there,” Mecha Knuckles joked, “We d-d-don’t need him that badly.”

“Haw, haw,” Tikal rolled her eyes, crossing off the echidna, “Any other suggestions?”

No one else spoke for a moment.

“…Big, I suppose,” Shadow said, “He’s a good friend.”

“Great call,” Tikal smiled, “And if that’s all from you guys I’m going to go ahead and nix Blaze…Trip…Jewel…aaand Amy.”

After crossing her out, Tikal stepped back and joined the others in observing who was left on the chopping block. It seemed to just be Honey, Lanolin, Rough, Tumble, Barry, and-

“Oh!” Orbot suddenly blurted, “Wait! I know who we should try this on!”

He floated up to the white board and pointed to a tenrec stick figure.

“I remember from Starline’s notes that Eggman confiscated. This Surge girl is very resilient. In fact, she has built in self healing powers that have allowed her to cheat death before.”

“Oh yeah. The mean green girl,” Cubot hummed, “Yeah, she could probably take it.”

Tikal nodded thoughtfully before she glanced towards the others.

“Any objections?”

Shadow and the robots all glanced at each other. No one spoke up.

“Alright then!” Tikal smiled.

She walked over, and drew a circle around Surge’s name.

Chapter Text

*SLAM*

“Helloooo?!!” Tumble shouted out, “How hard is it to get some goddamn service around here?!”

The rest of the bustling ballroom ignored him. Not like that was hard with the blaring music and lively chatter anyway.

“Come on!!” he tried again, “We’re starving over here!! My Wishperella is practically fading away!”

He flung his hand in Whisper’s direction, sitting on the opposite end of their table. She nodded angrily, and flicked her curly hair bang away from her eyes. She was about to open her mouth and yell too, when she spotted something behind Tumble and froze up. Tumble turned to see a large opossum looming over them.

“Then starve slower,” Clutch grunted, pressing his cane harder into the carpet, “We’re rather short staffed now ever since we sent our younger caterers to infiltrate the enemies base.”

“Hmph,” Knuckles huffed from the next table over, “Never send a boy to do a man's job. Or five.”

Clutch glared daggers at the echidna. He clapped his cane off the floor so it bounced upwards. He caught it just as Knuckles turned to fully look at him.

“Then why don’t you lot go off and do ‘a man’s job’?” Clutch hissed, “Whatever happened to that ‘take the fight to their doorstep’ speech from just a few nights ago?”

“Feh. I’m not getting my hands dirty for those little runts. They live to serve us, and if they can’t handle a little fight, then I won’t be the one to bail them out and do it for them.”

Rouge, Tumble, and Whisper all nodded in agreement. Clutch just looked incredulously between them all.

“That’s not even- It was your idea to- Can’t you fight for yourselves then?? For your riches and status?”

“Meh. Those cowards haven’t come back,” Tumble huffed, “I bet they learned their lesson the first time, and won’t be stepping out of line again.”

“Don’t be so sure of that…what was your name again?”

“Sir Tumblord. Keep it locked in there boss.”

“Right, whatever. These aren’t simple, stupid low lifes we’re talking about here. They’re-”

“Oh, spare us the goddamn lecture and get someone to grab us some grub!” Tumble spat.

Knuckles, Rouge, and Whisper shouted in agreement. Clutch glared between them all, before sighing and walking away.

“Can’t ever find good help these days,” he grumbled.

As he left the room, and the guests went back to scanning for some service, several figures peaked out from the wooden rafters above. Belle had her eyes glued to the tables below, where Tumble and Whisper were still grumbling.

“This is shameful,” she said via a communication signal.

“It’s embarrassing is what it is,” Mecha Knuckles replied.

“Anyone got a camera on them?” Rancheros asked, “We could use this for some good blackmail in the future.”

“I like the way you think,” Mecha Knuckles replied.

“What? What the heck would we blackmail them for? They’re our friends!” Belle huffed.

“Enough. All of you,” Gemerl ordered, “Remain focused on the mission at hand.”

“No, no,” Mecha Sonic chuckled, “They make a good point. I can’t imagine Rough and Tumble would want this sort of thing leaked. Could get them to stay in line.”

Gemerl just rolled his eye. Omega hadn’t been listening, and was instead scanning the ballroom floor far below. Eventually, his eyes wandered to the top left corner of the room.

“TARGET ACQUIRED,” he pointed.

Everyone followed his finger and soon saw the bright green tenrec they were looking for. She was grinning widely as she leaned against the wall. Silver was leaning over her with a hand pressed against the wall, and smirking as he gazed into her eyes.

Belle couldn’t help but cringe. Knowing both Silver and Surge decently well, the sight was super uncomfortable. Even their outfits were incredibly unfitting. Silver’s was mostly fine, with a blue tailored suit and a golden pocket watch sticking out of his front pocket. But Surge was wearing a bright pink cage dress, with poofy shoulders, hardly any chest covering, and a second skirt under the cage full of frills and bustles.

Belle shook her head in dismay, “Surge would kill us if we held this over her.”

“Nevermind the blackmail,” Rancheros waved, “Let’s try and sneak over to her.”

The other bots nodded. Rancheros was the first in line, and carefully snuck over the rafters and towards Surge. Mecha Knuckles was after him, and Belle after him. Mecha Sonic and Gemerl followed suit, which just left Omega.

The biggest of the infiltration squad looked down at the rafters below him in worry, before standing up, bumping his head on the roof, and slowly but carefully tip-toeing across the wooden beams. Each one made a loud creak with every step he took.

The rafters were most precarious for Mecha Sonic. He had to crawl around on all fours just to make sure his wheels didn’t spin under him and send him careening between the logs. As he went along, he heard a familiar voice below him and stopped. He looked down and could see two familiar hedgehogs sitting at a table.

“Y’know, Rosemary,” Sonic said before taking a ‘puff’ of his pretzel stick, “I kinda miss that little two tailed runt.”

“You do?” Amy raised a brow.

“Sure,” Sonic smirked, “It was nice to see him squirm and make a fool of ‘imself.”

He and Amy guffawed with laughter. Mecha stared down at them. He was shaking. His fingers and claw dug deep into the wood. The static was growing louder. The laughter echoed in his own head. His visor shuddered and his vision blurred. All he could see was blue. Blue, and then red.

Suddenly, there was a tight squeeze on his arm. He finally broke his gaze on Sonic to see Gemerl by his side. Gemerl looked into his visor with the utmost concern, and reached down to take Mecha’s hand with a gentle squeeze.

The static dissipated. Sonic stopped laughing, both in his head and below. Mecha lowered his head slightly.

“…Thank you,” he whispered aloud.

“Of course,” Gemerl whispered back.

Gemerl took one of his hands and gently caressed Mecha’s back. They stayed like that for a while. Long enough for Omega to creep past them. They soon followed him, and caught up with the rest of the group, Gemerl still holding Mecha’s hand the whole way.

**********

Back at Restoration HQ’s Chao Garden, Shadow was sitting on one of the plastic logs near the wall. He was surrounded by little Chao, all of them wanting attention and play time. Shadow sniffed in amusement as they kept trying to fiddle with his quills.

Meanwhile, Tikal was excitedly pacing in front of him. A lot of the Chao were gathered around Shadow because they were worried something was wrong with her. To their credit, she did look just a tad crazy right now.

“I just…I still can’t believe it,” she gawked before turning to Shadow, “You’re connected to Chaos Energy! I just- How is- That’s so amazing!”

“Heh,” Shadow chuckled, “I guess it’s a bit extraordinary, but I never thought you’d be so riled up over this.”

“Are you kidding me?!!” Tikal beamed, zipping right up to his face, “I’ve been linked with this energy almost my entire existence! And I never, in a million years, imagined that someone else would be too!”

Shadow snickered rather cockily before Tikal got further into his face. Her smile stretched from one side of her muzzle to the other, and she overall looked like a kid talking to Santa Claus.

“You have to tell me how that happened!” she squealed, “I’m not gonna be able to sleep at night if I don’t find out!”

Shadow’s smile fell almost instantly. He looked down and turned to the side. Tikal noticed his sudden mood shift, and backed up.

“…Sorry. Is that a sore spot?”

Shadow just grunted.

“My Chaos Energy isn’t…but to explain that I’d have to go into great detail on…a number of things I rather wouldn’t. It’s surrounded by sore spots, if you will…”

Tikal looked on sadly. The Chao did too, not so eager for Shadow’s attention anymore. A pink one hugged his side, and he pat them on the head.

Then, Tikal smiled warmly, and slowly walked around Shadow and sat beside him. He stared at her, slightly confused, until she spoke.

“I’ll tell you about my sore spot if you tell me about yours,” she offered.

Shadow’s eyes widened.

“You don’t need to do that,” he asserted, “I don’t want you unloading anything onto me just so you can hear me do the same.”

“Eh, we’ve been walking on eggshells for days now,” Tikal shrugged, “Plus…I think I am ready to talk about all the stuff I’ve been keeping to myself. Even if you don’t want to talk, I’d like to get it off my chest, if that’s alright.”

Shadow didn’t respond for a moment, but eventually nodded. Tikal took a deep breath, and began.

“So, my connection to Chaos Energy comes from the fact I was sealed inside the Master Emerald for centuries.”

Shadow’s jaw dropped. Tikal couldn’t help but giggle upon seeing his bulging eyes.

“I know, right? Wild way to begin a story, huh? At least I was released when Knuckles properly left his position as the Emerald’s guardian…Well, and when Eggman broke it open, but that time sucked and didn’t last, so it doesn’t count.”

Shadow blinked in utter confusion before shaking it off.

“How on Earth did that happen?” he asked.

Tikal sighed. Her smile remained, but Shadow could see in her eyes they were reaching the ‘sore spot’.

“My people…The Knuckles Clan, were once a peaceful tribe of echidnas. But that all changed when my father took over.”

Her smile was falling.

“He was a war mongerer, with an insatiable appetite for more land and more blood,” Tikal spat venomously, “No matter what I said or pleaded, he ignored my cries for peace. He ignored everyone’s cries for peace.”

She took another deep breath.

“So, I often found myself wandering far away from our village. Seeing nature, in all its beauty, helped keep my mind off of my father and his evils. And one day, I found a strange shrine not too far from our homeland. Angel Island, as we know it, didn’t yet float until Chaos and I used the Master Emerald’s power to do so, so the Altar of the Emeralds was still grounded by this time.”

Shadow nodded.

“I’ve seen something like that Altar before.”

Tikal glanced at him, but he said nothing more. So, she kept going.

“I met Chaos and the Chao he took care of there. Between them and the majesty of the Emeralds, I was enamored by the place. I swore not to tell my father about it, especially after learning about the power of the Emeralds. But…of course…he found out eventually.”

Shadow watched Tikal intently. Her hands balled into fists and her nose crinkled up. She shut her eyes tightly and took another, shaky breath.

“I tried to stop him…I begged and pleaded like I always had, but of course he did not listen. But I wouldn’t let them get away with it this time. I blocked his path. I wouldn’t let his soldiers through…But what can one girl do against an army…?”

She looked down at the Chao sitting around her, listening to her story. One had even curled up in her lap for a nap. She motioned for Shadow to scooch closer.

“I shouldn’t say this next part to the little ones,” she said.

Shadow reluctantly shuffled closer to Tikal. She leaned in and whispered into his ear. By the time she was done, Shadow looked like he was going to vomit. He stared at her with the same expression as when she started the story. She only nodded solemnly in response.

“Chaos was…furious. Rightfully so, but still too furious for his own good. He wiped out my father, and his army. His rage even consumed the entire echidna race as a whole, which was, by now, just the Knuckles Clan. He only spared me…but when I awoke he was still enraged. He was consumed by the negative energy of the Chaos Emeralds, and threatened to destroy the world unwillingly through his rage. I had to stop him…and had only one option.”

She sighed again, and turned to Shadow with a weak smile.

“So…that’s how I’m connected to Chaos Energy. And how I ended up in the Master Emerald to get that connection…”

She rubbed the back of her neck, “Sorry, that kinda derailed from the topic at hand. That was less about my connection and more the backstory behind it.”

“No, no…you’re fine,” Shadow waved off, “It was necessary background information.”

There was a brief silence between the two. They pet a couple of the Chao as they let it settle in.

“You spoke…rather vitriolically about your father…” Shadow ventured.

Tikal grimaced, “…After all this time to mull over what he did…it’s not hard to denounce him as my father.”

“Hmm…” Shadow hummed, “I understand…”

Tikal looked over to see Shadow’s head hung low. His hands sagged between his legs. His face was dry of emotion, but his eyes betrayed the fight raging in his mind.

“I was made over fifty years ago,” he said, “On a space colony named the Ark.”

Tikal’s eyes widened and her mouth made an “O” shape. Then, she laughed.

“I guess it’s fitting that both of our stories start off with unbelievable sentences,” she chuckled.

Shadow chuckled too before clearing his throat.

“I was made to be the ultimate lifeform. A marvel of medicine that could cure any disease and heal any ailment. The culmination of Professor Gerald Robotnik’s work.”

Tikal’s eyes widened again.

“Robotnik?!”

“Dr. Eggman’s grandfather,” Shadow added, “He…was a good man stuck in an unwinnable situation.”

He shook his head, “Regardless, he persevered, and tried his best to create the ultimate lifeform by harnessing Chaos Energy, and infusing it with a living being. However, his own attempts to make such a lifeform failed, and he hit yet another dead end.”

Shadow balled his hands into fists.

“Then…he was approached by an alien warlord, Black Doom. He offered to help create the ultimate lifeform with his DNA and a better understanding of Chaos Energy…and Gerald accepted his faustian deal. I was the end result.”

Tikal stared in awe.

“Black Doom is no father to me, though. He didn’t help create me to save lives or cure illnesses. He made me to be a soldier. A tool for him. But I’ve defeated him and stopped his conquest for total control over Earth twice now. And I would do it again if he ever came back.”

Tikal nodded with a smile, “I guessed as much. Didn’t see you as the warlord type.”

Shadow snickered and rolled his eyes.

“Though, can I ask something?” Tikal went on.

Shadow nodded.

“You said you were made fifty years ago…but you don’t look much older than Sonic. Or, well, me, heh heh, but my body was basically frozen in time in the Master Emerald.”

Shadow sniffed, “We have a lot of parallels, then.”

Tikal gave him an inquisitive look. Shadow sighed again, and looked blankly forwards.

“Black Doom wasn’t the only one who wanted me to be a weapon of destruction. G.U.N funded the creation of the Ark solely for the sake of weapons research.”

Tikal raised a brow in confusion. She’d never heard of G.U.N before, but didn’t want to interrupt Shadow.

“When Gerald wouldn’t deliver, they stormed the place…Killed all the personnel inside…”

A single tear came to Shadow’s eye. He flicked it away quickly, but not quick enough for Tikal to miss it.

“Even shot Gerald’s granddaughter…my sister…Maria Robotnik.”

Tikal clapped her hands over her mouth. Shadow just shut his eyes and forced himself to continue.

“In her dying moments, she used an escape pod to eject me towards the Earth. Unfortunately, G.U.N found me again, and put me on ice indefinitely until Eggman freed me.”

“Oh my god…” Tikal whispered, “Shadow, I’m…I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. It wasn’t your fault,” he sighed, “I’ve learned to live with it. It’s just…hard to relive it when I explain it all.”

“I get that…” Tikal nodded, “Still…I’m sorry it happened.”

Shadow just nodded back. Some of the Chao crawled into his lap and looked up at him sadly. He squeezed them tightly, and they hugged him back. He sighed once more, then looked at Tikal with a smile.

“At least it feels good to get it off of my chest. You were right, we’ve been dancing around these topics for days now, and it’s nice to finally know the full truth.”

“It is,” Tikal agreed, “I haven’t shared my full story to…anyone, really. Only a couple of the others have sparse details.”

Shadow nodded, “Same. I think Omega and Rouge are the only ones who know my full tale…But it is nice to know someone else is aware of it too. Especially someone who…gets it as much as you do.”

Tikal smiled widely, and put a hand on Shadow’s back.

“I’m glad we’re friends now, Shadow.”

“As am I, Tikal. As am I.”

**********

The night was still young, so the party went on. From the rafters, the music was a little deafening thanks to the proximity to the speakers. The guests below were having a good time, swinging and twirling to the jazzy beat. Mecha Knuckles banged his forehead on the wood in time with the drums so no one but the other robots heard him.

“This is so stupid!!” he whined through the comms, “We’ve been up here for three hours, and these two dipshits have barely moved!!”

He furiously gestured below to Silver and Surge, or “Silvester” and “Samantha” as they called themselves. They indeed had hardly moved from their spot. Eggman had brought them a pair of stout wine glasses that Belle deduced were probably full of carbonated soda.

“We could have snooped around and found that stupid rock in the time we’ve been waiting!” Mecha Knuckles went on.

“Would you shut up?!” Mecha Sonic hissed, “No one wants to hear your whinging!”

“Tell me I’m wrong!!”

Mecha Sonic just shook his head.

Belle glanced towards the bickering bots before looking back down at the couple below. She watched Silver nod towards someone and Nite walk over to them with a tray. She knew him from when the Chaotix showed her pictures, and it was just as uncomfortable to see him like this as the others.

Nite held out the tray and allowed Silver and Surge to place their half empty drinks on it. Belle heard Silver say something about the “laboratory” and stared blankly down questioningly before it clicked. He meant “lavatory”.

“Guys! They’re going to the bathroom! If no one else is around we can ambush them there!” she told the others.

Everyone was suddenly on high alert, and followed Silver and Surge through the ballroom. When they left through the front doorway, Belle and the others had to climb through the ventilation shafts to reach the next room’s rafters. Well, except Omega. All he could do was crawl over to the stage and climb through the top, back to the control area.

The others followed Silver and Surge down the hall and to the right, where the bathrooms were waiting for them.

“Excuse me for just a moment, dear,” Silver said, putting a finger up to Surge, “I’ll be just a minute!”

“Yes, very well, dear,” Surge said, crossing her arms, “But before you go in I wanted to tell you that he’s right.”

Silver paused, hand on the door, and turned back to Surge.

“What?”

“Master Clutch is right. About you boys and those past intruders,” Surge pointed, “You’re all cowards for not bringing the fight straight back to them. Have you no honor? No strive to protect all that is around us?”

“We do! That’s why we sent the servants out to go do exactly that!” Silver argued in a whiney voice, “They were supposed to handle that fight for us!”

“And yet when they do not report back and are presumed captured, your desires to fight back all but dissipate. It’s rather shameful, dare I say.”

“Samantha, dearest, I couldn’t dare risk getting my hands dirty in such a way. What on earth would I do then?”

“Wash off the grime,” Surge answered plainly, “Like you always do when you spill marinara sauce on your suit in the dinner hall.”

Silver’s brow furrowed slightly.

“We will not be discussing this matter further,” he proclaimed before pushing the bathroom door aside and walking in.

Surge rolled her eyes. As she waited outside the bathroom door she inspected her lovely painted, and artificially long pink nails. She was so invested in them, in fact, that she didn’t hear the strange chain-like sound of a pair of arms extending downwards behind her. She also didn’t notice the Egg Robo with the sideways cap floating down with arms wide, ready to grab.

With a wriggle of his fingers, Rancheros grabbed Surge around the waist with his small arm, and covered her mouth with his big arm. She tried to scream, but it was completely muffled. Mecha Knuckles pulled his arms back towards the rafters in an instant, and Surge was tightly secured with ropes around her arms and feet.

“Go! Go! GO!” Belle hissed through the comms.

The gang all hurried through the rafters and back into the vents. They climbed up, and quickly made it to the uppermost hallway of the chateau. Omega was waiting for them, guns drawn just in case.

“We got her!” Belle told him, “Let’s get out of here!”

“ACKNOWLEDGED. MISSION SUCCESSFUL,” Omega concluded, “ESCAPE SEQUENCE INITIATED.”

The army of bots charged down the hall and towards an ornate, circular window. Before, Belle had unscrewed the latches and everyone snuck in quietly. This time, Omega barreled through it like a runaway train, and sent wood splinters flying. Everyone stared in shock as he skidded down the snowy roof and onto the ground below. He turned and looked back up at his newly acquired crowd.

“…Fu-u-uck it,” Mecha Knuckles shrugged, before jumping out of the hole in the wall and sliding down the roof.

Gemerl and Rancheros follow suit, despite Surge’s muffled screams. Mecha Sonic grabbed Belle by the waist and hoisted her up to his side before skating down to the ground with the others.

Once they regrouped, they made a b-line for the highway and dashed away from White Park.

**********

Shadow and Tikal were still hanging out in the Chao Garden when they heard the ruckus of the returning robots. They peaked out from the doorway and spotted the group walking towards them.

“Hey guys!” Belle waved.

Omega thrust the tenrec in his grasp forwards, “KIDNAPPING SUCCESSFUL.”

“Unhand me at once!!” Surge shrieked, “You fiends!! You rats!! When I get my hands on you!!”

“Alright, perfect!” Tikal thumbsed up, “Take a chair from one of the shops and tie her down. I’ll get the Emeralds ready.”

“I should gather Orbot, Cubot, and Metal,” Shadow said, “They should see how this goes too, being the closest thing we have to experts on the Amethyst.”

Tikal nodded. She dipped back into the Chao Garden while Shadow boosted away towards the Machine Shop. Mecha took a chair from the donut shop and plopped it in the middle of the plaza. Surge was quickly tied down, and was not happy about it.

“You monsters!!” she squirmed, “What are you going to do to me?! You won’t get a dime out of me, you hear?! Not even a penny!!”

“What a shame. I was hoping to nab something from the gumball machine.”

Everyone turned to see Shadow return with Orbot and Cubot curled up in each of his hands, and Metal Sonic right behind him. He tossed the ball and box outwards, and they unfolded and floated alongside.

Tikal soon stepped up with a briefcase. Surge couldn’t help but stare at it as she unlocked it.

“Wh…What’s in that? What are you d-doing?”

Tikal didn’t respond. She flicked open the locks, then pulled the lid upwards. When she stood up, she looked around at Shadow and the robots.

“Stand back, you guys,” she warned as she stepped in front of Surge, “This might be dangerous.”

The others did as they were told. Surge’s eyes darted between them, getting increasingly worried.

“W-Wait! Please! D-Don’t hurt me! I-I-I’ll do whatever you want!”

“I’m not going to hurt you…i-intentionally,” Tikal soothed, “But this might…feel weird.”

“W-What will?”

Tikal closed her eyes. Silence fell upon Restoration HQ. Even the wind howling through the open ceiling seemed to quiet down.

“The servers are the seven Chaos.”

She began to raise her arms up, palms down at first. Surge noticed several differently colored lights suddenly gleam out of the briefcase.

“Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart.”

The Chaos Emeralds floated out of the briefcase and began to swirl in a circle around Tikal. Everyone watched them with great interest. All but Surge, who was looking more terrified than anything.

“The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos.”

Tikal’s palms turned upwards. Her eyes burst open with a bright glow. Everyone flinched back. The Emeralds began to circle her faster.

“With the unified power of the Chaos, I command thee! Free this girl from the curse inflicted upon her! Return her mind to its rightful state, and banish the persona that poisons her!”

Tikal’s voice echoed all around, like she was speaking twice. Her quills began to float upwards. A gust of wind blew through the plaza. The Emeralds began to circle around Surge instead. She tried to focus on them, but they began to move so fast their colors blurred together. Faster and faster until there was a great explosion of light, and everyone except Tikal shielded their eyes.

When the light died down, and Tikal’s eyes returned to normal, everyone stared at the sight before them. Surge was still sitting there, in the middle of all the Chaos Emeralds. They slowly returned to Tikal, and she shooed them away back into their briefcase.

She looked back to Surge, worried. The rope on her legs and arms had burnt away, leaving her limbs to sway and slack. Her mouth was slightly open, and her eyes half closed. There was no color to be seen in those eyes.

Suddenly she slumped over to the side and hit the floor like a corpse. Tikal’s pupils shrunk. Shadow kneeled beside the tenrec and put two fingers to her wrist. He didn’t hear anything. He put a hand to her chest, then leaned his ear right down next to it. Nothing… He sat back up and glanced to Tikal in dismay. She covered her mouth in horror and shook her head rapidly.

Suddenly, Shadow felt some kind of buzzing in Surge’s chest. The buzzing grew to a whirring everyone could hear. Shadow backed up swiftly and gave the tenrec some space.

Her eyes suddenly, sharply regained their blue hue. With a gasp for air and a jolt of electricity from her eyes, Surge leaned upright and panted heavily. She slowly put a hand to her chest before looking around at the crowd surrounding her. Tikal gingerly approached her with an outstretched hand.

“S-Surge?”

Surge kept panting for another moment. She finally looked down at her dress.

“…What the fuck is this pink prissy shit??” she gawked.

“Yep. That’s Surge alright,” Belle deadpanned.

“Awesome! It worked!” Cubot proclaimed.

“Barely,” Orbot replied, “Clearly that was too much energy for even the most resilient of Sonic’s allies to handle. We’re going to want to rethink this for everyone else.”

“Well, in any case, this has been a successful experiment,” Shadow said, “We know Chaos Energy can restore our friends. We just need to figure out how to channel it in lower doses.”

Surge’s ear flicked at the word ‘experiment’ and she slowly turned to glare at Shadow.

“What the fuck did you just say?” she whispered.

“It’s a long story,” Tikal chuckled, offering Surge her hand again, “Give us a minute to catch you up.”

Surge stared at her hand for a moment before swatting it away.

“No, no, no, no, no!” she snarled before standing up, “What did you just say, Hot Topic? What experiment?”

Shadow matched her glare upon the use of his nickname.

“We’re trying to figure out how to reverse the effects of one ‘Amnestic Amethyst’ so everyone will stop acting like snobbish, cruel, rich people,” he said, “You were going under the name ‘Samantha’ and were keen on a romantic relationship with someone I’m fairly certain you’ve never talked to before.”

The fury in Surge’s face suddenly washed away, and was replaced with abject horror. She panically looked down at her hands and rubbed them against the sides of her head. Tikal could see the distress in her face, and stepped forward to try and comfort her.

“Surge, please, calm down. It’s alright. We chose to cure you first because we weren’t sure if the Chaos Energy would be too much for the others. But we deduced that, out of everyone, you could take it the best.”

Surge slowly looked up into Tikal’s eyes. It didn’t take long for her horror to dissipate, and be re-replaced by rage.

“Oh, is that so huh?” she snarled, “Oh yeah, sure, of course! Let me be your fucking science experiment!! Not like I’m not used to that, huh?!”

Tikal was taken aback by her outburst. Everyone, in fact, took a step back as Surge marched closer to Tikal.

“S-Surge, I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“Oh, nah! Don’t worry! It’s cool, Rocky!!” Surge smiled through red faced rage, “No, no, seriously! Totally cool with getting used like that! No one would miss me if shit hit the fan and it all went wrong, would they?! Noooooo!!”

“Surge, please. That’s not what-”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU STUPID BITCH!!!”

Surge lunged forward and grabbed Tikal’s tank top. Shadow instinctively tried to boost forwards and stop her, but Belle put a hand in front of him.

“DON’T TRY AND LIE TO ME!!! DON’T TRY AND PRETEND LIKE I WASN’T JUST SOME FUCKING GUINEA PIG TO YOU!!! SOME FIRST ATTEMPT WHERE YOU COULDN’T CARE LESS IF THAT SHIT KILLED ME!!! WHICH IT FUCKING DID!!!”

Tikal was frozen in terror. Surge leaned over her, sparks shooting out of her eyes.

“YEAH!! DON’T THINK I’M STUPID!!! I KNOW WHAT JUST FUCKING HAPPENED!!! I KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE WHEN MY BODY SHUTS DOWN AND REBOOTS!!!”

Tears were poking out of the corners of both of their eyes. Surge huffed and snorted, still holding Tikal in a death grip.

“YOU THINK I DON’T KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE??!!! TO BE USED??!! TO DIE???!!!!!”

Tikal winced and squeaked meekly as Surge panted some more, still looking down at her with nothing but anger in her eyes. The echidna was practically on her knees.

“I…I’m sorry…” Tikal sniffled.

Surge didn’t react for a moment. She seemed to finally notice the tears falling down her face.

“FUCK YOU!!!”

She threw Tikal to the side. She landed against and was caught by Gemerl, who swiftly ensured she was okay. Surge stomped away, growling and grumbling to herself. Halfway across the plaza she could be heard mumbling “Get this shit off me” before tearing up the pink dress still clinging to her.

“Yep…” Belle frowned as Surge marched out of sight, “That’s Surge alright.”

Chapter Text

After Surge’s outburst, everyone split off into different sections of Restoration HQ. Not many were all too concerned with Surge, but Belle wanted to find her, if just to make sure she was sticking around. The trail of tattered pink dress scatterings led her to the shopping district, and she soon found Surge curled up into her knees in front of Honey’s storefront.

“…Hey Surge,” Belle waved as she approached, “How are you-”

“Fuck off.”

Belle stopped in her tracks and stared at Surge for a moment. She was close enough to notice the dead look in her eyes, as they blankly looked forward, just over her knees. Belle cleared her throat and kept walking until she sat down next to the tenrec.

“I, uh…I see you got your usual outfit back…” Belle ventured.

Surge didn’t reply.

“How, uh…How’d that happen? Did you make a pitstop at home or something?”

“…Honey keeps spares in the back,” she mumbled.

“O-Oh. Cool! Good…uh…” Belle scratched her cheek, “I-I’m sure you’re super confused. With, um, all that’s going on. I-If you want, I could-”

“I know what happened.”

Belle’s eyes widened, “You do?”

Surge finally glanced at her.

“S’all a bit fuzzy…but yeah…I remember…everyone’s fucked up and Clutch’s bitchass is using them…”

Belle nodded, “Yeah, that’s…the long and the short of it…”

An uncomfortable silence fell between them. All they could hear was the gentle breeze of the ventilation system buzzing in the store behind them.

“Uh…K-Kit’s here, if you wanna see him,” Belle offered, “We-We have the kids in an apartment upstairs so that-”

“Is he himself?”

Belle blinked.

“Uh…n-no?”

“Then it isn’t fucking Drippy,” Surge growled.

Belle flinched back a little.

“…L-Look, Surge…I-I’m sorry about what happened just now. We didn’t- We didn’t mean to hurt you or anything, i-i-it was just-”

“Shut up.”

“…Huh?”

“SHUT UP!!”

Surge reached behind her and threw a clothes hanger straight at Belle’s face. She couldn’t block it in time before it bounced off her check and clattered on the ground. Belle goggled in horror as Surge stood over her.

“Leave me the fuck alone!! I don’t want your fucking pity or consoling, you fucking wooden piece of shit! Just fuck off!”

Belle stared wide eyed for a moment before scowling slightly.

“Fine,” she said, standing up.

Surge kept her eyes glued to the tinkerer as she walked away. Belle stopped halfway across the walkway. She turned back to say something, but her mouth just hung open. She closed it again and kept walking. Once she rounded a corner and was out of sight, Surge slumped against the wall again and rested her arms on her knees.

**********

Belle trudged through the plaza and made her way to the Machine Shop. It was really quiet, but not exactly silent. As she walked in, she was met with the hull of a huge tugboat hanging from the ceiling by chains. It swung ever so slightly, and made a low groaning noise like a sad animal. Bell frowned, and looked away.

Then she heard something else, like a quiet whisper from deeper down the service tunnel. She followed the sound and soon reached Sigma at their work tables. He seemed to be talking to someone on his workbench.

“Hey Sigma,” Belle waved.

Sigma jumped slightly, and swung his head, then his body around to see Belle.

“AH, GREETINGS BELLE. IT IS GOOD TO SEE YOU HAVE RETURNED WITHOUT A SCRATCH ON YOU! HOW DID THE MISSION GO?”

Belle rubbed her neck, “Fine. It went good. We got Surge without any issues at least…”

Sigma couldn’t help but notice the despondency in her voice. He moved his legs around to fully face her.

“IS SOMETHING TROUBLING YOU?”

Belle sighed, “I-…We-…When we brought back Surge, there were some…complications with her, uh…revival, I guess? She’s not really happy with us using her as our testing dummy either.”

“OH, SHE IS NOT? STRANGE. BUT, I UNDERSTAND. REPAIRING THE FIRST FEW SCRAPNIKS WAS A LEARNING PROCESS, AND ONE THAT NECESSITATED IMPROVEMENTS AS I WENT ALONG.”

“Surge is also…complicatied,” Belle added, “She just wants to be left alone for a while.”

Sigma nodded solemnly. Belle eyed him for a second before noticing he hadn’t moved out of the way of his workbench, blocking the center of the table with his body.

“What are you working on?” she asked, leaning her head to the side.

She couldn’t quite see behind Sigma, but she heard a strange whirring like a tire. Sigma swiveled his head back, then turned to face Belle again. He clapped his hands together proudly.

“BELLE. I WANTED TO THANK YOU FOR THESE PAST FEW DAYS OF SERVICE YOU HAVE PROVIDED. BETWEEN YOUR GENIUS IDEA FOR PROVIDING THE SCRAPNIKS WITH VOICES, YOUR TIRELESS WORK TO REPAIR AND REACTIVATE METAL SONIC, AND YOUR EFFORTS TO ASSIST THE OTHERS IN LOCATING THE SOURCE OF ALL THIS MADNESS, YOU HAVE TRULY PROVEN JUST WHAT AN EXCELLENT YOUNG GIRL YOU ARE!”

Belle blushed slightly and put a hand to her chest. Then, she giggled and looked away, twirling her pigtails.

“Aww, Sigma. I-”

“I AM NOT QUITE FINISHED, MY DEAR,” Sigma interrupted, “YOU SEE, I DO NOT BELIEVE A SIMPLE ‘THANKS’ IS SUFFICIENT IN PORTRAYING JUST HOW THANKFUL AND PROUD I AM. AS SUCH, I HAVE DECIDED THAT YOU DESERVE A REWARD FOR ALL OF YOUR HARD WORK.”

Sigma finally stepped to the side and revealed a Motobug sitting on his workbench. Its red and black paint shimmered under the light above, and it blinked at Belle with its wide, bright blue eyes. Belle’s jaw was already on the floor when she clocked the flower sticking out of where its right antenna should be. She gasped and covered her mouth as tears began pricking out of the sides of her eyes.

“Motobud!!!” she cried, dashing towards the workbench with arms extended.

Motobud stretched out his little arms too, and they shared a warm embrace. Belle sniffled and hiccuped as she caressed his shell. Motobud just nuzzled his face up to her cheek, letting her tears splash onto his forehead.

“MOTOBUD? IS THAT HIS NAME?” Sigma asked, “HOW QUAINT.”

Belle eventually pulled back from the hug and simply held Motobud’s chin.

“How did- *hic* What did you- He- *hic* He’s perfect!!”

She turned to Sigma, smiling from ear to ear with tears streaking down her face. Sigma fought to keep his composure, and simply looked back happily. Belle eventually spotted the tarp previously hiding Motobud hanging off the corner of his workbench. She sniffled again, and turned back to her buddy.

“I…I’m sorry,” she wheezed, “I sho- I should have t-told you about him. You could have- He wo- He would have been- I could-”

“SHH SHSHSH SHH,” Sigma soothed, kneeling down and putting a hand on Belle’s shoulder, “YOUR FORGIVENESS IS NOT NECESSARY.”

He reached into his scarf, “ON THE CONTRARY, I REQUEST FORGIVINESS FROM YOU. FOR SNOOPING THROUGH YOUR THINGS.”

He pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper, and handed it to Belle. She gently took it, and opened up Mr. Tinker’s letter.

“BELLE. I WANT YOU TO UNDERSTAND SOMETHING.”

Tears started flowing out of Belle’s eyes faster. She bit her lip, and forced herself to look back up at Sigma.

“YOU MAY TELL ME ANYTHING. ANYTHING AT ALL THAT IS WEIGHING ON YOUR MIND. I WILL NOT JUDGE YOU. I WILL NOT DISREGARD YOU. I WILL LISTEN. AND I WILL DO EVERYTHING IN MY PROCESSING POWER TO MAKE IT RIGHT.”

He offered a hand to her, “AS YOU SAY, ROBOTS MUST STICK TOGETHER.”

Belle was reaching her limit. Her watery eyes stared at Sigma’s hand for a moment, then at Sigma himself. She shut her eyes tightly, and lunged forward, hugging Sigma’s torso with all of her might. The E-series was taken aback for a moment, before he gently wrapped his arms around Belle and rubbed her back.

“I- I- I- *hic* I l-love you s-s-so much, d-d-dad…”

There was a sudden silence as Belle realized what she just said. Sigma too was startled. He looked down, and felt Belle desperately tugging on his scarf.

“C…Can I call you that?” she whispered.

Sigma squeezed her tightly, “YOU MAY. I WOULD BE MORE THAN HONORED.”

Belle began to cry again.

“Thank you,” she said hoarsely.

Not another word was spoken. The two robots just embraced each other. Motobud jumped off the workbench and joined in, hugging Belle’s leg.

Eventually, when all of Belle’s tears dried up, she let go of Sigma and he allowed her to pull away. They both looked down at Motobud, who was looking excitedly up into Belle’s eyes.

“HE SEEMS QUITE HAPPY TO SEE YOU AGAIN. I HOPE YOU TELL ME ALL ABOUT YOUR FRIENDSHIP WHEN YOU ARE READY.”

“I will,” Belle nodded.

She kneeled down and rubbed Motobud’s head. He leaned into her touch, and made a purring noise from his motor. It threatened to make Belle cry all over again.

When Belle let her hand fall back to her side, she and Motobud just stared into each other's eyes. Belle was elated, but seemingly not as much as Motobud. He suddenly revved up his wheel and raced around Belle and behind her. She squealed as he rammed into her back and lifted her up onto his shell.

Belle clung on for dear life as Motobud excitedly zoomed around the work area. She began to laugh giddily when, to her shock, Motobud’s wings opened and he began to fly.

“Woah, woah, WOAH!!!” she screamed, “What the?! He couldn’t do this before!!”

Motobud slowed down and floated just in front of Sigma, who was chortling to himself.

“I SOUGHT AFTER SOME EXTREME GEAR PARTS TO SEE IF I COULD IMPROVE HIS PERFORMANCE. IN ADDITION TO FLIGHT CAPABILITIES, HE SHOULD BE IMMUNE TO ANY OUTSIDE EGGMAN SIGNALS OR OTHERWISE, AND IS MUCH STRONGER THAN THE AVERAGE MOTOBUG.”

Belle was amazing. Motobud did a few spins in the air before dropping back down and peeling out of the Machine Shop. Belle was still screaming with laughter as she raced away.

“Bye Sigmaaaaa!!!” she called.

Sigma simply waved, even though he couldn’t see her anymore. He chuckled to himself, and wiped his hands clean of a job well done. He began clearing away the mess on his workbench when he heard a pair of heavy footsteps coming up from behind.

When he turned, he saw the unmistakable red glow of Omega’s eyes. Sigma slowly turned to fully face him. Omega stood strangely casually, with no sign of a gun barrel drawn.

“…HELLO, OMEGA,” Sigma greeted, “WHAT BRINGS YOU BACK TO THE MACHINE SHOP?”

Omega’s eyes shifted around ever so slightly. Like he was scanning Sigma or something. Eventually, he began marching closer.

“E-117 SIGMA,” he addressed, “WHAT WAS YOUR ROLE IN THE EGGMAN EMPIRE PRIOR TO YOUR SELF DESIGNATION OF ‘SCRAPNIK’?”

Sigma was surprised.

“UH…MAY I INQUIRE WHY YOU WISH TO KNOW THAT?”

“I HAVE REALIZED THAT I HAVE NEVER TRULY TALKED TO AN INFERIOR E-SERIES MODEL BEFORE YOU. I HAVE ONLY EVER KNOWN MY OWN DIRECTIVES. I WISH TO KNOW WHAT THEY WERE BEFORE YOU…FOUND YOURSELF ON YOUR ISLAND.”

“AHH,” Sigma nodded, “WELL…GOODNESS, IT HAS BEEN A VERY LONG TIME SINCE I HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT THOSE OLD DIRECTIVES. I HARDLY REMEMBER THEM.”

He looked down at his left hand and inspected it.

“I VAGUELY REMEMBER SOME OLD COMBAT PROTOCOLS. WEAPONS TRAINING AND SUCH. I BELIEVE MANY E-SERIES MODELS WERE TRAINED TO USE FIREARMS, BUT, I LOST SUCH TRAINING SINCE THEN.”

He tapped his chin, “HOWEVER, I DO RECALL SOME REPAIR SUBROUTINES AS WELL. NOT TO THE LEVEL I COMMIT TO THESE DAYS, ONLY SIMPLE REPAIRS NEEDED TO KEEP A CRITICALLY INJURED ALLY IN TACT.”

Omega nodded. He stared at Sigma silently for another moment.

“WOULD YOU SAY THOSE OLD PROTOCALS HAVE MANIFESTED INTO YOUR CURRENT MISSION TO REPAIR YOUR FELLOW ROBOTS.”

Sigma put his hands on his hips and shook his head.

“NOT IN THE SLIGHTEST. THEY MAY HAVE ORIGINATED FROM THAT CODE, BUT NOW THAT I AM RECALLING IT, I DISTINCTLY REMEMBER INSTRUCTIONS TO LEAVE FATALLY DESTROYED COMERADES BEHIND. AND I COULD NEVER DO THAT NOW.”

“THEN WHERE DO YOU BELIEVE YOUR MOTIVES LIE?”

It was Sigma’s turn to stare at his fellow robot. His hands suddenly hung low, and he turned slightly.

“LIKELY WHEN I WASHED UP ON SCRAPNIK ISLAND. I WAS WITHOUT MY ORIGINAL RIGHT ARM AND FOOT…STILL AM, IF YOU WILL. I CRAWLED AND CRAWLED UNTIL I FOUND MORE PARTS ON THE SHORELINE. WITH MY LIMITED RESOURCES, I MANAGED TO JERRYRIG THOSE PARTS ONTO MYSELF.”

He slowly turned all the way around and put his hands on his workbench.

“WHEN I WAS FINISHED WITH MYSELF, THOUGH…I FINALLY NOTICED ALL OF THE OTHER ROBOTS AROUND ME. ALL EGGMAN MODELS, BROKEN, RUSTY, WATERLOGGED…BUT WITHOUT THE FORTUNE OF WAKING UP LIKE I HAD. I THINK AFTER HELPLESSLY CRAWLING AROUND, LETTING THE OCEAN WAVES BASH AGAINST ME…MY OLD PROGRAMMING TO LEAVE THE WEAK BEHIND SIMPLY VANISHED. I COULD NOT HELP BUT FEEL SORRY FOR THEM, AND MADE IT MY MISSION TO REPAIR AS MANY AS I COULD.”

There was silence after that. Sigma eventually turned back around to ensure Omega was still there. The red E-Series was staring yet again. His eyes eventually moved down to the floor for a second, before they shot back up and locked with Sigma’s again.

“HOW DID YOU WASH UP ON THE ISLAND? HOW DID YOU END UP IN THE OCEAN, BROKEN?”

“I DO NOT REMEMBER,” Sigma said, “BUT I AM CERTAIN IT WAS NOT DUE TO A CONFRONTATION WITH SONIC OR ANY OF HIS ALLIES. I SUSPECT THAT THE DOCTOR HAD LITTLE INTEREST LEFT IN HIS E-SERIES LINE AFTER YOUR DEFECTION, AND SIMPLY THREW US AWAY.”

Omega nodded, “I SEE. AND YOU COMMITTED TO YOUR NEW ROLE OF ROBOT REPAIRAL WITH EXTREMELY LIMITED RESOURCES…”

“EH, WELL,” Sigma rubbed his head, “WE WEREN’T EXACTLY AS LIMITED AS YOU THINK. NOT WITH THE ABUNDANT SCRAPMETAL WE HAD ON THE DEATH EGG.”

“THE DEATH EGG??!!” Omega gawked.

“INDEED. THE ORIGINAL ONE, I BELIEVE,” Sigma said proudly, “THOUGH FAR FROM OPERATIONAL. MANY OF ITS SYSTEMS REMAINED IN TACT, LIKE THAT BLASTED CLIMATE DISRUPTOR, BUT THE SHIP ITSELF WAS NEVER GOING TO FLY AGAIN. THAT’S WHAT WE WANTED TO REPAIR THE SCRAMBLED EGG CARRIER FOR.”

Omega stared with wide eyes for a good long while. Then, he held a finger to his chin, deep in thought.

“YOU HAD ACCESS TO ALL OF THE DEATH EGG…WITH FUNCTIONAL OPERATING SYSTEMS…YOU COULD HAVE CONTACTED DR. EGGMAN, IF YOU WISHED, WITH THAT.”

“INDEED. WE COULD HAVE,” Sigma scowled, “BUT WE DID NOT WANT TO. DR. EGGMAN THREW US ALL AWAY. IF WE REUNITED WITH HIM, HE WOULD DO THE SAME AGAIN. OR WORSE…”

Sigma looked down at his hands, “REPROGRAM US TO RETURN TO OUR ROOTS AS MINDLESS, WAR MACHINES. A FATE WORSE THAN DEATH.”

“…YOU TRULY MEAN THAT.”

Sigma looked back up at Omega. He sighed, and nodded.

“I KNOW FIRST HAND WHAT IT IS LIKE WHEN EGGMAN’S OLD PROGRAMMING RESURFACES IN OUR KIND. I FAILED TO SUPPRESS THOSE SUBROUTINES IN MECHA SONIC, AND FORCED THE POOR SOUL INTO AN INTERNAL BATTLE. WHEN THAT OLD CODE GAINED CONTROL…HE WAS NO LONGER HIMSELF. HE WAS ONE TRACK MINDED, AND PLAINLY EVIL LIKE THE DOCTOR…IT IS MY BIGGEST SHAME.”

Omega watched as Sigma seemed to sink into himself, hanging his head and his arms down low. He took a moment to process everything, then stiffened his shoulders as if he was taking a deep breath.

“I SEE…SO YOUR ACCUSATIONS WERE NOT INANE,” Omega admitted, “YOU TRULY ARE NOT ALIGNED WITH DR. EGGMAN.”

Sigma looked up and stared at Omega for a moment.

“NO. WE ARE NOT…CAN I TRUST YOU TO CEASE YOUR ANTAGONIZING OF MY PEOPLE.”

“YOU CAN,” Omega nodded as he turned, “I WILL LOG YOU UNDER ‘ROBOTIC NON-TARGETS’ ALONGSIDE GEMERL AND THAT WOODEN PUPPET GIRL.”

“WONDERFUL!” Sigma clapped his hands together, “IT IS GOOD TO HEAR WE ARE NOW FINALLY ALLIES!”

“WE ARE NOT ALLIES!” Omega boomed.

Sigma was taken aback and put his arms up in shock.

“THAT DESIGNATION IS ONLY RESERVED FOR THOSE I AM CLOSE TO. YOU HAVE NOT EARNED SUCH A DISTINCTION.”

Omega eased his stance, and continued turning away.

“BUT WE ARE NO LONGER ENEMIES. THAT IS WHAT YOU WANTED, ISN’T IT?”

Sigma stayed frozen for a moment.

“UH…Y-YES, I SUPPOSE IT WAS. THANK YOU OMEGA.”

Omega didn’t reply. He just marched out of the Machine Shop, leaving Sigma rather stunned.

**********

On the top level of the plaza balconies, Gemerl and Mecha Sonic sat together under the cool glow of the moon coming in from the open windows above.

“It was just so…infuriating…” Mecha admitted shakily, “Hearing him in person like that…hearing his laugh echo in my own brain…”

“I can only imagine,” Gemerl soothed, rubbing the hedgehog’s back.

“…I wanted to hurt him…” Mecha added, “I hate admitting that, but I just wanted to jump down there and beat that stupid bastard senseless. Maybe even beat the real hedgehog back into him.”

“I understand. But I am glad you did not do that.”

Mecha sighed heavily.

“I only stopped because you broke me out of it,” he said, turning to face Gemerl, “You’ve been way too good to me these past few days, y’know that?”

Gemerl’s eye widened before he looked away and pulled back his arm bashfully. That bashfulness soon turned to sorrow, however.

“It…It helps me. When I am not thinking of you, I can only think of Cream. And her current condition. And that…hurts…it hurts to think about how I have lost my dearest family…”

He rubbed his shoulder before leaning closer to Mecha, “I can only assume I would be put in the same place as you if I did not have you to help me through this. Perhaps even as enraged as Omega.”

Mecha nodded as he put a claw on top of Gemerl’s head.

“It’s a rough time for sure. But I’m glad I’ve had you to help me. And I’m glad to have helped you back.”

If Gemerl had a mouth, he’d be smiling widely. It felt good to hear Mecha say that. It felt really, really good to be so close to him like this. Pressing his metallic body up against his dirty cloak, feeling his hand rubbing his head.

It was a warm and fuzzy feeling like never before. Something different than when he was comforted by Cream or Vanilla. It was…closer.

Gemerl seemed to notice this closeness at the same time as Mecha, because both their eye and visor widened respectively. They quickly pulled away, feeling hot in their heads, and idly darted their eyes everywhere but towards each other.

“U-Uhm…” Mecha coughed, “A-And what’s even more frustrating is the fact that he seemingly can’t hear me back.”

Gemerl finally turned to face him again.

“Like I said before, it’s like talking to a brick wall. Or, like, a one sided brick wall. I can hear him, but he can’t hear me.”

“I would not be surprised if he could, but simply ignored it due to his arrogance,” Gemerl scoffed.

“No, no. He definitely can’t hear me. If he could, he'd back talk everything I’d think, and be even more insufferable…Actually, now that I say that out loud, maybe it’s a good thing he can’t hear me,” Mecha chuckled.

Gemerl laughed too, “Indeed. That sounds maddening.”

The bots chuckled together, and said no more. They just comfortably sat with each other’s company, though their eyes once again wandered away from each other.

Gemerl soon looked back over to Mecha, though. After a second of staring he scooted closer, and nervously tucked his knees in.

“…I would like you to know, Mecha Sonic, that I…have difficulties making friends.”

Mecha turned to face the smaller bot again.

“Outside of Vanilla and Cream, I am only a little friendly with the likes of Sonic, Tails, and Amy. I do not venture out on my own often and find connections like they do.”

Gemerl shyly looked away, “And I wanted to express my…appreciation for the connection we have. Ever since you first comforted me when we met in the Chao Garden, I have grown more and more fond of the idea of seeing you as often as I can.”

He slowly brought his gaze back towards Mecha. The rusty hedgehog chuckled.

“I’m glad we’re friends too, Gemerl.”

If Gemerl was capable of it, his face would have been engulfed in a bright red blush. Thankfully, before he could overheat, Mecha put an arm around his shoulder.

“But I know what you’re getting at,” he said, “These past few days have been rough for everybody, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say we’ve been hit harder than most. And it’s been really nice to have your shoulder to lean on, as well as you leaning on mine. I’ve always liked you, but…with all this time we’ve spent together now…I guess I’m getting more comfortable liking you more than my usual friends.”

Gemerl rubbed his thumbs in circles on his kneecaps.

“I cannot compute these recent feelings. They are new to me, and I think they only became aware to my processor just now. Yet, I feel as if they have been growing. I…w-will admit I have enjoyed our closeness more and more.”

“Yeah, it’s, uh…It’s honestly a really nice feeling. Being with you and all…”

They stared into each other’s eyes.

“Is it a sort of…tingling feeling?” Gemerl asked.

“Y…Yeah, pretty much…In my chest, kinda…”

They kept staring for another moment before quickly pulling their eyes away and staring at the floor on either side of them.

After another brief silence, Mecha scooted closer and further wrapped his claw around Gemerl’s shoulders. Both bots slowly refixed their gazes onto each other's L.E.D eyes.

“Y’know…maybe, after all of this is over…” Mecha ventured, “We could…go out somewhere. Just the two of us? I know a really pretty waterfall we could go visit.”

Gemerl put a hand to his chest in awe, and tilted his head to the side.

“I would very much enjoy that, Mecha.”

They kept sitting like that for a while, just glued to each other’s faces. Mecha slightly tilted his head the opposite way to Gemerl’s, and Gemerl followed by tilting his more. They leaned closer to each other, slowly and methodically. Their heads became agonizingly close.

Just before they met in the middle there was a screeching noise behind them like burning rubber. Belle came skidding from around the corner on Motobud’s back, holding onto her hat for dear life.

“WOOOOOHOOHOOHOOHOOOOOO!!!!” she yelled as she raced by the duo.

They watched her peel off and out of sight. They paused for a bit before Gemerl started laughing and Mecha Sonic put a palm to his forehead.

**********

In the empty storefront right next door to the Chao Garden, just as Belle raced on by, Shadow and Cubot finally finished up wiping away all the names and pictures previously drawn on Tikal’s whiteboard.

“Back to the drawing board, as they say,” Orbot quipped as he sifted through papers lying on the table in the center of the room.

Behind him, leaning against the wall, Metal Sonic shook his head, unamused.

“I’m getting deja vu from the beginning of this disaster,” Shadow grunted as he sat down next to Tikal, “We have the answers we need, yet have also reached another dead end.”

“Mhm…” she nodded solemnly.

“Well, it’s nothing a little theorizing and problem solving can’t fix,” Orbot said, bumping a pile of papers together on the table, “Obviously the energy itself wasn’t the issue, but the high dosage was. Could we perhaps use only one or two Chaos Emeralds to yield the same cure without risk of bodily harm?”

“Oh yeah,” Cubot added dumbly, “Why did we start off with all seven straight away? That’s like going full throttle on one of Eggman’s doohickeys before you know if it’ll explode.”

“…I-It’s not impossible, in theory,” Tikal said, “But I doubt it would be effective. Half the reason I wanted to use all seven Chaos Emeralds was because the Amethyst was able to affect those who could absorb their energy. Even Sonic and Silver, who have gone Super before. The only ones unaffected were me and Shadow, and that was due to the Chaos Energy literally being a part of our being. If pure Chaos Energy was the only way to avoid it, then I think pure Chaos Energy is the only way to undo it.”

The two assistant bots nodded. Orbot made some notes on a piece of paper while Cubot just scratched his head.

“I’m also worried about civilians,” Shadow added, “Even with only one Emerald, I doubt they’d handle a direct dosage of energy any better than Surge.”

“That’s a good point…” Tikal tapped her chin, “We need to think of a way to spread the energy out evenly and safely. Maybe even across far distances so we can cure everyone all at once instead of doing it, say, cities at a time…”

Almost immediately Tikal perked up and gasped, pointing a finger at the ceiling.

“I got it!” she pointed at Orbot and Cubot, “Those signal towers! I could use those to transmit the energy far and wide, and with more manageable energy levels!”

“Ehh. I’m afraid that isn’t going to work either,” Orbot flatly waved his hand, “Those signal towers were designed and built with the assumption we’d have a Chaos Emerald to stabilize the Amnestic Amethyst.”

“Yeah. Those thingies were built with, like, anti-Chaos Energy stuff in them,” Cubot added.

“It was a safety measure,” Orbot explained, “So that if the Amethyst overloaded, the energy syphoned through the Chaos Emerald would not go through their systems.”

Tikal’s bright smile fell into a slack jawed frown instantly. She slammed her forehead on the table and groaned loudly. Shadow pat her back softly.

Metal just shook his head and decided he had seen enough of this. He uncrossed his arms and walked out of the room. He side eyed Mecha Knuckles as he left, but the echidna didn’t even see it. He was too busy dealing with the Chao laying on his hat.

Upstairs, Gemerl and Mecha Sonic had wound up in a comfortable cuddling position. With the rusty hedgehog’s chin atop Gemerl’s head, and the smaller battle bot’s legs in Mecha’s lap, they were already getting used to this new relationship of theirs.

Suddenly, they heard Belle scream downstairs, followed by a tire screech and a stark crash. Both Mecha and Gemerl jolted upon hearing it echo all around the plaza.

“…ow…” Belle meekly whined below.

Mecha rolled his visor, “Hang on, Gem. Lemme go check on her.”

Gemerl chuckled, “Of course. I will be waiting for your return.”

Mecha nodded, and gently moved his new partner out of his lap. He stood up, and quickly wheeled away and down to the plaza floor.

Belle and Motobud were unharmed, but they certainly got a tongue lashing from Mecha, and especially Sigma when he darted out of the Machine Shop upon hearing the crash. After everything was cleaned up, Mecha began making his way back to Gemerl.

He was just about to reach the stairway, when-

*TMP* *TMP* *TMP*

Mecha stopped dead, and slowly turned to see Metal Sonic tapping his foot, leaning against the wall.

“…Oh…Hey…” Mecha sighed, “I was hoping I didn’t have to run into you.”

Metal tilted his head to the side.

“Pfft,” Mecha scoffed, “I don’t care about your superiority. I’m not shallow enough to measure reality by those metrics.”

Metal uncrossed his arms and slowly marched closer to Mecha. He stopped about six feet from him, and lowered his head to glare.

To his surprise, Mecha started chuckling.

“Oh, believe me, dude, I’m not gonna claim any spot in that race. And given the situation at hand, I’d say that as of right now you are well and truly the closest thing to the ‘real Sonic’.”

Metal was speechless. He watched, stunned, as Mecha kept laughing and walking towards the stairs. Then, Metal scowled again, and made Mecha stop. The taller hedgehog robot slowly turned his head back, and stared at Metal with his glowing visor.

“You really believe that, huh? That just because Dr. Robotnik made you you’re somehow special? Somehow indestructible?”

Metal nodded, and clamped his hand into a fist.

“Big talk from someone who always gets his ass kicked by his ‘inferior copy’.”

Metal’s eyes went redder than usual, and he thrusted a finger towards himself, then towards Mecha.

“Oh, and you’re in such tip top shape right now, aren’t you? How’s that crack in your eyes treating you? Still got depth perception there, little guy?”

Metal got right up into Mecha’s face. He pointed at him, then slowly curled his fingers inwards. Mecha stared at him and his gestures for a long while after.

“I should be ashamed, huh? Well, I hate to break it to you, but I don’t hold an ounce of shame for breaking ties with the Eggman Empire. I hold no guilt in my heart that I aim to bring down my own creator. I only hold shame for my time during the Eggman Empire, and what that man tried to use me for.”

Metal backed up slightly, but only so he could shake his head and wag a finger in Mecha’s face. Mecha stared at this for a long while too.

“Sure. Maybe I wasn’t cut out for the task. Maybe I was too weak to defeat Sonic…”

Mecha then kneeled down to eye level with Metal Sonic.

“But I think you’re forgetting something. Something very crucial.”

He poked Metal in the chest, “He made you first. And you failed too.”

Metal swatted Mecha’s hand away, and rapidly twitched and lurched, getting right up into his face. Mecha did not react. He didn’t even move an inch.

“Sure, he fixed you up after I bit the dust,” Mecha admitted, “But he still left you to rot for a while. Let you be another failed attempt at domination before moving on to his next plan.”

Mecha leaned closer, “That’s the thing, Metal. He got bored of you.”

He put a hand to his chest, “I can attest to that being the doctor’s greatest fault. He gets bored of every project and invention he puts his mind to after a while. I lived on a giant junkyard, an entire island that was living proof of that! The Death Egg, the Egg Carrier, Badnik mind control helmets, the Egg Robo line, the E-series line, I could go on!”

Metal’s eyes struggled to stay focused on Mecha. He backed up slightly and thrust a thumb at himself.

“…You’re only the best Sonic copy because Eggman got bored of creating new ones. He couldn’t find me in the ocean, so he went back for the next best thing.”

Metal was starting to shake. His eyes thinned and he jerked his jittering thumb back at himself.

“Like a son to you, huh?”

Mecha just chuckled and shook his head. He stood back up, and turned towards the stairs again.

“Let’s see how long until he gets bored of that…”

Mecha said nothing more, and climbed up the stairs and out of sight. Metal was left standing there, just staring up at where his rusty brother had gone. After a while, he pulled his head back down, and simply walked away.

**********

Further discussions on solutions to the Amnestic Amethyst problem went nowhere. At last, they all gave up. Cubot slammed his face on the table and fell asleep, while Orbot wandered off to find a spot to rest. Shadow groaned to himself, staring at the blank whiteboard that simply had “PLAN” underlined at the top.

A sniffle made his ear flick and his neck turn towards Tikal. She looked on the verge of crying, with saggy eyes, wobbly lips, and her head hanging low. Shadow couldn’t quite tell what she was upset about, but put a hand on her shoulder regardless.

“I…I killed her,” Tikal sniffed.

Shadow’s eyes widened, but a soft expression soon returned to his face.

“It’s okay. She got right back up. We chose Surge for exactly that reason.”

“I still killed her…” she breathed in shakily, “…Ever since my father started his horrible crusades I swore to myself I would never harm another soul like that. I would never take a life. I would never…I would…I would ne…”

She wept softly into her hands, and allowed Shadow to pull her in for a warm embrace.

“It’s okay,” he soothed, “You didn’t mean to. It’s alright. She walked it off.”

Tikal took one last deep, shaky breath, and wiped the tears from her eyes.

“I know, I know…I just…I can’t believe that happened. What…What if it was Sonic?! Or- Or Tails?! What if it was someone who c-couldn’t get back up?!”

“That doesn’t matter,” Shadow said firmly, “That’s not what happened. It’s not going to happen now that we know. Just breathe. Breathe…”

Tikal did just that, and slowly regained her composure. After a minute, she giggled hoarsely.

“I’m sorry Shadow,” she said, “I’ve just been a big crybaby lately. I hate that I’ve had to burden you with my troubles.”

“It’s fine. Really. I’m glad to have helped you through this rough patch as you have for me.”

After a brief silence it was Shadow’s turn to chuckle. Tikal turned to him with questioning eyes.

“You know…now that I think of it…you remind me of Maria a lot.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Caring and kind. So worried about others' well being rather than your own. You share some of her best traits.”

Tikal blushed slightly, but gave a toothy smile.

“Aw, thanks Shadow!”

Shadow just huffed, amused.

**********

Far away, near the outskirts of Spiral Hill, all was quiet. The town far off in the distance was darker than the night sky, being just a shadow against the starry cosmos. A strange metallic watchtower stood tall in the fields, creaking gently in the wind. Crickets chirped, nighttime critters prowled the hills, and all was peaceful.

The back door of Pygmy Pizza gently creaked open. Pygmino poked his head out with a shotgun in one hand, and a trash bag in the other. After darting his eyes around, he carefully tiptoed over to the dumpster, opened the lid, and threw the black bag inside. He checked behind himself with sharply aware eyes before carefully closing the dumpster and turning to walk back inside his restaurant.

He hadn’t even taken more than a step when a sudden beam of light appeared out of nowhere in front of him. Pygmino screamed, and shakily aimed his shotgun towards it. Flames emanated from the light, just as bright at white as the light itself.

When it all died down, in the center of where the beam once stood was a small raccoon in a green tube top. She was holding a strange staff embedded with several jewels, and with a curved top. Pygmino lowered his gun as his jaw dropped. He watched the girl lift up her hand, and the scepter disappeared in a mass of fire.

Marine looked around the dark field for a moment before she turned around and spotted Pygmino.

“G’day, mate!” she waved cheerfully, “Any chance you’ve seen a weird purple cat sheila around here? She’s about yay high, fancy shmancy purple dress, hair pulled into strands behind her head?”

Pygmino could only stammer and stutter in reply. Marine pouted and put her hands on her hips.

“Look, I don’t have all day, mate- Night- Whatever! I gotta find me best mate before the Queen gets her knickers in a twist!”

Marine turned and waved Pygmino goodbye as she darted off into the night. The stout elephant just stared with bulging eyes long after she disappeared. Footsteps soon approached from inside the pizzeria, and Gus and Nick poked their heads out the back door.

“Everything alright, boss?” Nick asked, “We heard something back here and-”

“Inside,” Pygmino said as he shoved them back through the doorway, “Inside-a now!!”

Chapter Text

Dawn was beginning to creep in through the open ceiling of Restoration HQ. The morning winds fell through the rafters and spread throughout the shopping district below. With no windows to stop them, a light breeze flew into Honey’s clothing store and gently breezed through the racks of hanging shirts and pants. They brushed against each other, making a sound like grass, while the hangers clicked and clacked like a mob of footsteps walking about the once busy plaza.

Surge didn’t hear any of it. The gentle breeze was cold and harsh against her fur. The air all around her echoed like she was in an endless tunnel. She couldn’t see anything over her knees. It was all black. Dark. Cold.

Her eyes jittered. She could see something out of the corner of her eye. A blurred gray image against the abyss around her. It was on her right. Then it was on her left too. It reappeared and disappeared all around her, just a long gray blurb circling her like a shark.

Surge’s breathing got faster. She pulled her hands off of her knees and clutched her head. She was hyperventilating. The gray blur became brighter as it flashed around her. It became less fuzzy and started resembling a word. Someone was whispering something into her ear. It sounded like a ghost.

Just before tears began streaking down her face, the word appeared in front of her, bold and glowing. Surge slowly lifted her head to stare at it.

“SAMANTHA”

*Tmp* *Tmp* *Tmp* *Tmp*

Approaching footsteps broke Surge out of her trance. She blinked, and the word and void disappeared. She was still in the Restoration. Still sitting in front of Honey’s dusty old store. She scowled and buried her muzzle back into her knees, ready to tell whoever was checking up on her to piss off.

The footsteps grew closer and closer. Surge had her eyes trained on the store perpendicular to Honey’s, glued to the corner where she knew some dumbass would poke their head around.

Finally, a familiar brown raccoon came waltzing into view. Surge’s jaw dropped. The little girl surveyed the area from right to left, and then locked eyes with-

“Surge!!”

“Marine?!?” Surge gawked.

Marine ran straight towards Surge with her arms out wide. Something Surge didn’t quite clock until she was already standing up and being tackled into a hug. Surge spun around in circles, carried by Marine’s momentum. The raccoon herself was giggling like mad, swinging around with Surge. After a second Surge lost her footing and fell backwards, bringing Marine down with her.

“It’s so good to see you again!!” Marine squealed.

Surge blinked, still staring wide eyed at the kid pressing her head against her chest. After a second, though, Surge smiled too, and hugged her back tightly.

“You too…”

The girls gave each other one more hearty squeeze before pulling away. Marine stood over Surge, still smiling widely.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Surge questioned, “How the hell are you even here??”

“I’m here to check in on Blaze!” Marine announced, “She’s supposed to check in with the King and Queen every week, ya know! But she’s been radio silent for a bloody while now, and ol’ King Coal’s getting worried. And, y’know, Flare’s about ready to chuck a wobbly, so the two of them sent me over to have a gander at what she’s doin’.”

She leaned down and poked Surge’s stomach, “I just figured you lot were hogging her.”

Surge giggled and shook her head, “No, but that’s more reasonable than the actual explanation. But, speaking of those, tell me how in the fuck you traveled dimensions! I thought only Blaze could do that with the Sol Emeralds?”

“Nah, yeah, nah,” Marine waved, “We’ve got another little relic that gets the job done too. S’called the ‘Jeweled Scepter’, and it’s been put under my care ever since Blaze started staying in your lots’ world more often.”

Surge scoffed and raised a brow.

“You?” she thought, “They made you the guardian of a dimension hopping gizmo?”

Marine then leaned down close, quickly glanced to the side, and squinted her eyes.

“And, can I just say, what a shithole,” she whispered, “I mean, to hear Blaze yammer on about it, you’d think this world’d be at least a little bit nicer than this. I had to trudge through a right dump of a city to get here, and the streets were filled with bums. They were cunts too, the lot of ‘em.”

Surge snorted loudly and shook her head.

“It’s…usually nicer than this,” she sighed, “We’re in a bit of a crisis right now.”

Marine’s eyes widened and she straightened back up, “Uh oh. What’s goin’ on? Is that why Blaze hasn’t come back yet??”

Surge nodded slightly, but then stared blankly away from Marine. As her eyes wandered, a noise in her head grew louder. Like a garbled, unintelligible static. Her ears started ringing before she shook it off and refocused on the world around her. She glanced up at Marine, who was looking concerned.

“It’s…all a little fuzzy to me,” Surge admitted before standing up, “Come on, I’ll bring you to the others. They can give you the run down better than me.”

Marine nodded. Surge held out her hand for Marine to take, and she led her further into Restoration HQ.

They reached the empty store next to the Chao Garden. Mecha Knuckles eyed Marine in confusion as Surge knocked on the door. Before anyone answered, she shoved it open and brought Marine inside. Shadow, Tikal, Belle, Orbot, and Cubot quickly turned in confusion. Even Motobud, resting next to Belle’s legs, poked his head up over the table.

“Wassup, chumps,” Surge huffed, “Got someone you’d like to meet.”

“Oh?” Tikal questioned.

“This is Marine,” she gestured as the raccoon stepped alongside, “She’s Blaze’s friend from her dimension.”

Shadow scrunched up his face, “Huh?”

“Oh my goodness, hello!” Tikal beamed, “It’s nice to meet you, Marine!”

“G’day!” Marine winked with a two fingered salute.

“What brings you here?” Tikal asked, “It’s not often we get visitors from alternate dimensions.”

“I’ve come to find out why Blaze has been M.I.A for a couple weeks now,” Marine said, “Word is you lot are in a bit of a pickle at the moment. What’s goin’ on?”

“Oh, ha…Of course,” Tikal sighed, “Well, just…bare with me for a second, because this is gonna be a bit of a spiel. Why don’t you have a seat?”

Tikal gestured towards the many vacant seats around the table. She walked around and hopped up next to Belle. Motobud circled around her chair and looked up at Marine, but she flinched away. Motobud’s antenna sagged, and he wheeled back around Belle’s chair and laid down on the other side. Surge, meanwhile, kicked up her feet in the chair at the very end of the table.

“In short,” Tikal began, walking up to the white board, “Our world has been afflicted by a strange, mind altering gem called the ‘Amnestic Amethyst’.”

She pointed at a drawing of the pointy purple rock on the white board.

“Dr. Eggman tried to use it for a scheme to alter the minds of everyone so they would bow down to him,” Tikal continued, “But he underestimated the instability of the gem, and it sent a shockwave all across the world.”

“That shockwave afflicted everyone in one of two ways,” Shadow added, “Most of the worldwide population received the short end of the stick, suddenly believing they were angry, homeless thugs who wandered the streets. But our friends believe the opposite, finding themselves comfortable as rude, lazy, inconsiderate high life folk. Either that or as their servants.”

“S’plains the shite cities I’ve been mozying through,” Marine muttered to herself.

“Me and Shadow were knocked out for a while too,” Tikal said, “But we remained unafflicted because of our connections to ‘Chaos Energy’. Which is a very special, very powerful type of energy around here, Marine. And my connection to the strongest source of that energy allowed me to reactivate any mechanical minds affected by it, just by touching them.”

She wriggled her fingers with a smile on her face. Marine just stared for a moment, utterly confused.

“Alright…alright,” Marine nodded, “I, uh…think I’m following. But where’s all this going?”

“Well…in truth, Shadow and I weren’t the only ones unaffected,” Tikal admitted, “There is this shady crook named ‘Clutch’ who managed to hide from the blast. He found the Amethyst, found our friends with their new…personas, and decided to take advantage of it.”

Marine made a face, and slowly turned to Surge. The tenrec just nodded with a scowl.

“Blimey…that’s…that’s bad.”

“It gets worse,” Shadow grumbled, “He has all of our friends, including Blaze, and that Amethyst in his personal estate up at White Park. He caters to their every will just so they can continue giving him money that isn’t theirs. He has control over everything now.”

“Crikey,” Marine rubbed her neck, “This really is a fair dinkum pickle then. Any ideas on how to fix all this?”

“That’s what we’ve been trying to brainstorm,” Tikal sighed, slapping her face, “We know that Chaos Energy is part of the answer, but we don't know how to distribute it to everyone in the world safely. We can’t risk directly pumping it into their bodies because it might-”

Tikal froze up as her eyes locked with Surge’s. The tenrec growled and bared her unnaturally sharp teeth. Tikal gulped and cleared her throat, tugging at her necklace.

“H-…H-Harm them g-greatly…”

“Do you have to give them a dose of it like that though?” Marine asked, “I remember one time when Sonic crash landed in the royal garden with his head all jumbled. Blaze used the Sol Emeralds to get him righted, but she didn’t have to give him a dose of their power. Could that work?”

“Ehhh…” Surge hissed, “I don’t think so. I remember Blaze telling me about that once, and it was…different. Sonic wasn’t really under the influence of anything, he just had a dose of regular old amnesia. She thinks the fire of the Sol Emeralds reminded him of, like, his Super form or something?”

“Then why don’t we just cut out the middle man and take that stupid gem for ourselves?” Marine asked, “You defo know where it is, you know who has it! Why don’t you just take it?”

“We already tried that,” Shadow shook his head, “It didn’t go well.”

“Oh yeah? And why’s that?” Marine eyed Shadow, “Did ya slip on some hair gel that dripped off your quills there, mate?”

Surge failed to suppress a snort and slammed her hand on the table. Orbot and Cubot leaned back and put a fist to their mouths while going “oooooooh.” Tikal had to turn around so that no one saw her cover her mouth, teetering on the edge of laughter. Shadow glared at the little raccoon, pressing his lips upwards in fury.

“No. Because we were outnumbered and outgunned.”

Marine’s eyes widened and she shrunk in her seat a little.

“Oh…Uh…Gotcha…sorry, mate…”

Shadow just turned away. Belle, sitting between him and Marine, looked between the two of them.

“Well…didn’t you guys do that before you reactivated me?” she asked, “It was just the two of you then, but now you’ll have plenty of backup if you tried that.”

“Yeah! If you fumble once, try and try again ‘till you don’t cock it up!” Marine added excitedly.

Tikal turned back around and considered.

“We certainly would have the numbers advantage with all of the Scrapniks now,” she nodded.

Shadow nodded too, “And the guns advantage with Omega alone.”

He shook his head, “But it’s too risky. We don’t want to harm any of our allies in their current state, they don’t deserve it.”

Surge scoffed loudly from the end of the table. Everyone turned to look at her, and she just glared back. Shadow and Tikal slunk back a little before Tikal continued.

“A-And we don’t know what we would gain by taking the Amethyst for ourselves.”

Marine blinked.

“We could laser it with ‘Chaotic Energy’ and make it fix everyone?” she said like it was obvious.

“We don’t know if that would work,” Tikal said, “For all we know, doing that could shatter the Amethyst, or, even worse, cause another shockwave that’s even more powerful thanks to the Emeralds!”

“No. That wouldn’t happen,” Orbot waved off, “At least the latter wouldn’t. The former, probably, but Chaos Energy neutralizes the energy of the Amethyst. It wouldn’t cause another unstable reaction, it would…it would…”

Everyone looked towards the red robot as he trailed off. He scooted out of his seat and began floating around the table, tapping his chin methodically.

“That would…work,” he said, “If we channeled the energy of all seven Chaos Emeralds…Yes…Yes, that would create a reversal effect due to the Chaos Energy’s natural properties…”

“Woah, woah, slow down there, Orbsman,” Surge leaned forward, “Why don’t you let us in on this conversation you’re having with yourself.”

“Yeah, what are you saying?” Tikal asked.

“What I’m saying is that if we channel the energy of the Chaos Emeralds through the Amnestic Amethyst, it would indeed reverse its mind altering effects on all that it has afflicted!”

“Are you serious?!” Tikal gaped.

“How?” Shadow demanded, standing up from his seat.

“Well, you see- and you should know this already Miss Tikal, really,” Orbot quipped, “Chaos Energy is a very naturally occurring phenomena in this world. The Emeralds have been known about for centuries, and their power has shaped many civilizations, ancient technologies, and entire races of beings, like the Chao. It is naturally embedded into the way our world works.”

“Yeah, nah, yeah, that makes sense!” Marine pointed, “The Sol Emeralds are like that too! The entire empire’s built around how those things work!”

“Okay…Okay!” Tikal said with growing excitement, “So if we bring the Emeralds to the Amethyst, or vice versa, we can fix everything?!”

Orbot rubbed his chin.

“I don’t know. It’s unlikely that alone would do it. The Amethyst is only a conductor of energy, and it only created the blast it did before by way of Eggman’s infrastructure. The Chaos Emeralds don’t have that same reach…”

He snapped his fingers, “But they would if we used them in conjunction with one of the signal towers!!”

That got Shadow, Tikal, and Cubot to raise a brow at him.

“Didn’t you say earlier that those towers wouldn’t work?!” Shadow fumed, “That they had safety measures to prevent Chaos Energy from going through them?!”

“Well- Yes- But i-it’s more complicated than that,” Orbot stammered, “Let me explain in more detail. The signal towers’ failsafes are designed to prevent an overload from the Amethyst. If it were to force its energy through the Emerald, the Chaos Energy would neutralize it and the tower’s failsafes would prevent it from coming through. But we did want to intentionally overpower the Amethyst via that same Chaos Energy, through an Emerald! Under those conditions, the Energy is accepted into the signal transmissions!”

Everyone else at the table was staring at Orbot with a myriad of confused expressions. He coughed into his hand and sat back in his seat, folding his hands together.

“In simpler terms,” Orbot continued, “An energy overload from the Amethyst, going through a Chaos Emerald, would not be shot through the towers. But a wave of energy from the Emeralds, going through the Amethyst, would definitely be accepted by the signal towers. And with all seven Emeralds, there is no doubt that the shockwave would be of even greater magnitude, spreading far and wide and curing everyone.”

“Oooooohhh,” Cubot nodded before rubbing his head, “Yeah, that’s right. Man, we really explained that badly earlier…”

There was a long silence after that. Shadow slowly slumped back into his chair and stared blankly at the table. He turned and eyed the drawing of the Amethyst on the white board.

“Then we’re going to take that Amethyst,” he decided, “But now we need to think of how.”

“We could ask nicely,” Cubot proposed.

Everyone ignored him.

“If Shadow and I waltz up there, they’ll shoot us on sight,” Tikal grimaced.

“No way any of the robots are making it in there either,” Belle hissed, “Clutch will recognize me, and the others couldn’t blend it at all…”

“Could Surge perhaps re-equip her dress and disguise-”

“NO!” Surge slammed her fist on the table.

“OkayokaysorryIasked!” Orbot put his hands up.

Shadow wanted to argue the benefits of Surge already being a known, trusted face in the chateau, but seeing the electricity blitzing from her eyes made him keep quiet. Instead, his eyes slowly moved beside her, and landed on the little raccoon sitting across from her.

“…But what about her?”

“Hm?” Marine hummed.

“You,” Shadow pointed again, “The issue with the rest of us is that we’ll be recognized immediately, but you…no one has ever seen you before, not even anyone outside this room.”

“I have,” Surge said plainly, “…But I think I get your point.”

Shadow nodded, “No one would question her suddenly showing up to the chateau if no one recognizes her. Especially if Clutch doesn’t.”

“Wow! Well ain’t I just a ripper of a guest?!” Marine giggled, “Not even ten minutes here and I’ve got your case cracked, and am the solution to all your problems! You lot should be thanking me.”

“Uh. Hmm. I don’t- I don’t know if I like the idea of sending a little kid to face off against all of those guys,” Tikal interjected, “Especially…y’know…the guards and Clutch, who all have guns.”

“Pfft, ha!” Surge laughed, “Rocky, just shut the fuck up.”

Tikal’s eyes widened.

“Marine’s no pushover. She’s faced off against way worse than a bunch of lazy ass one percenters. Any one of my girlfriends will tell you that.”

“Yeah! Do you know who I am?!” Marine shouted grandly, stomping a foot on the table, “I’m Captain Marine! Legendary sailor of the great seas! I’ve faced off against mighty sea krakens and horrifying ghost pirates! I can take on anything! ANYTHING, HAHAHAAAA!!!”

Surge snickered, “Okay, that’s not true either, but still. I can attest to her being able to handle herself.”

“Come on, Surge,” Marine whined, “Ya could have at least played along.”

Surge just shook her head smugly.

“Yes…Yes, this is perfect,” Shadow asserted, “If we dress her up to look the part, she’ll fit in perfectly! She’ll hardly even have to put on a facade, she fits the bill already!”

That got Marine to raise a brow, “I do? Why?”

“Your accent is comically over the top,” Shadow said bluntly, “It will fit right in with all the other ridiculous inflections the others have adopted.”

Marine’s face instantly fell to an unamused scowl. Surge spat everywhere before bursting out in laughter and smacking the table.

“Shadow!!” Tikal chastised, smacking his side.

“What?” Shadow asked.

Surge kept laughing as Marine slowly shook her head.

“You think you’re a funny one, ey hedgie? Alright…”

Shadow gave Marine a genuinely confused look before shaking his head.

“Let’s take you to Honey’s clothing store. We can find you a disguise there.”

Belle and Marine got out of their seats, and with Motobud close behind they followed Shadow and Tikal to the door. Surge didn’t follow for a second, even after she stopped laughing. But she eventually pulled her feet off the table and followed the others.

Belle and Tikal looked to Mecha Knuckles, standing guard outside the Chao Garden. The Shadow Chao was furiously wrestling with his snout. He didn’t pay it any mind, and instead slowly turned to face the girls.

“S-S-S-Sounds like y-y-y’all crac-c-c-cked the case in there,” he snickered, “What-Whatcha got planned?”

“Come and see,” Tikal invited excitedly.

Mecha Knuckles and the Shadow Chao glanced at each other before the latter let go of the former’s muzzle, and followed everyone to Honey’s store.

Inside, Surge, Marine, and Mecha Knux all watched the others quickly peruse every nook and cranny of the store. Belle was kneeling down to check a pile of clothes on the floor when the Chao jumped out of it and nipped at her. She yelped and fell back, and watched the growling Chao sink back into its mound.

“Ah-ha!” Tikal eventually blurted.

She and Shadow emerged from the kids halloween section, holding a cowboy outfit and hat respectively.

“Ooooh…” Marine cooed when she saw it.

But the others, especially Surge, were not as impressed.

“Are you serious?” she spluttered, “She doesn’t have a western accent you fucking morons! That outfit doesn’t make sense for her!”

“Ah! But that’s exactly the point!” Tikal pointed gleefully.

“The less sense it makes, the more likely our friends will believe it,” Shadow added.

Surge crossed her arms and scoffed, “We weren’t that stupid.”

“Yes you were-re-re,” Mecha Knuckles cut in.

Surge’s pupils shrank, and she slowly turned to face the robo echidna next to her. He just looked back blankly.

“Well, she wasn’t,” Belle added, making Surge turn to her, “I’d say you were the only one with even a hint of a brain cell, Surge.”

“Or any ball-l-l-ls,” Mecha Knuckles concurred.

Surge looked between them before just rolling her eyes. Marine looked up at her, perplexed.

“I thought you said you couldn’t remember any of that stuff?” she whispered.

Surge’s eyes widened as she glanced down at her. Then she looked away with a scoff.

“N-No…I said it was all a little fuzzy…”

Marine frowned at Surge for another moment before Tikal thrusted the cowboy outfit into her arms.

“Here! Try this on Marine! Shadow and I are gonna head back to Orbot and Cubot and make a plan!”

She stood back up and jabbed two fingers at Belle and Mecha Knuckles.

“You two! Gather up all the other robots! We’re gonna need everybody to be on the same page with this plan!”

They nodded, and Mecha Knuckles ran off. Before Belle could follow him, she jumped in fright as the Shadow Chao flew out of his clothes pile and up into Tikals’ face. He growled loudly, and babbled to her angrily.

“You want to fight too??” Tikal gasped, “Well…I’m sorry little one, but I simply cannot allow you to be put in harm's way.”

“Chao Chao!!” they shouted, pounding their little arms together.

“You…want to get revenge on Clutch? What did he do to you?”

The Chao’s arms sagged. Their eyes wandered around aimlessly before they went “Feh” and they looked away. Tikal blinked sadly, but Belle suddenly had a realization.

“Wait…Are you…Oh! I recognize you! You’re one of those Chao Clutch had locked up in that cage, aren’t you?!”

The Chao turned around and nodded solemnly at Belle. She looked on at him sadly before she froze up with tiny pupils. The Chao looked at her confused before turning around and finding Tikal staring with similarly tiny eyes, but a slight scowl.

“…He what?” she asked in a tone devoid of emotion, yet fueled by fury.

“Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that,” Shadow said, “Remember when I said that parts trading was the least of his crimes?”

Tikal slowly turned to Shadow, still looking blankly furious.

“Yeah, that was what I meant,” Shadow pointed to the Chao.

“…Are you serious?”

“Yeah,” Shadow nodded, unfazed, “If I remember correctly he had a whole Chao Garden’s worth locked up in one moderately small cage. Only let the best out so they could compete in his own Chao Race competition.”

Tikal kept staring at him for a long while after. She was shaking ever so slightly. At last she took a breath in, and breathed out with a hoarse laugh.

“Oh ho no. Oh ho ho ho noooo…” she clenched her fists.

Sparks of energy shot out of her eyes. Surge backpedaled hard and leaned against the checkout counter. Belle flinched too, before quickly hurrying out of the store, with Motobud racing off with her. Shadow finally reacted too, as Tikal kept laughing and shaking her head.

“Oooohh hoo hoo hoo…” Tikal chortled before glaring at Shadow, “Oh, boy…Shadow. You- You cannot let me close to that guy again, because- oooh ho, ooooh ho hoo hoo, I’m gonna…I’m gonna fuckin-”

She grit her teeth and pulled up her hands, doing a strangling motion with them. She hissed loudly and finally swung them downwards.

“D’oh sweet Gaia!!” she fumed before stomping out.

Shadow, both hedgehog and Chao alike, stared on in terror. Then, the Chao snickered devilishly, and followed her out. Shadow just shook his head, and left as well, leaving behind a gobsmacked Marine holding a cowboy outfit.

“Blimey!” she laughed.

She turned to Surge to ask what she thought of that, but her smile fell once she saw her scowling at the exit doorway. The tenrec looked away, and slid down the side of the counter until she was sitting on the floor. Marine frowned, and slowly approached her.

“Y’alright, Surge?”

Surge glanced up at Marine before closing her eyes tightly and looking away again, curling her knees up into her chest. Marine’s frown worsened. She placed her cowboy suit on the counter, then hopped up on it and sat down.

“You can tell me what’s bogging you down, mate. No wucka’s…”

Surge glanced up at her, then glared back towards the doorway.

“…I don’t like her…” she muttered.

Marine glanced towards the doorway, then back down at Surge, still burying her face in her knees.

“You don’t like a lot of people…” Marine ventured, “But not even Majesty Mongrel Flare riled you up like this…”

Surge didn’t reply. She just gripped her knees even tighter. Marine stared at her for a moment.

“Is it the other shielas? Are you sad they’re…not themselves right now?”

Surge sighed bitterly, “That’s…part of it, yeah…”

Marine nodded slightly.

“Your…brother too? Blaze’s told me you have one, don’t you?”

Surge shrugged slightly, “Yeah, kinda…but he’s fine. ‘Parently they got him safe and sound here somewhere, so…I’m not too worried about him…”

Marine continued staring at Surge sadly.

“Then…what’s up? You seem kinda…miffed whenever anyone brings up those, uh…high life wankers…”

Surge started shivering slightly. Like a chill ran up her spine and whispered something softly in her ear.

“Is it all still…fuzzy?” Marine went on.

Surge clenched her teeth and hissed in a breath. She heard someone quietly utter a name right next to her. She bumped the back of her head against the counter and sighed.

“…Yeah…it’s fuzzy, but…I remember some details…” she said.

Marine leaned forward and listened intently. Surge glanced at her, then took another frustrated breath.

“They don’t…They don’t ever mention it, but those…those other guys, all the hypnotised ones…they aren’t just, like…our friends but different. They think they’re entirely different people…and they all have their own names…and…”

Surge paused for a moment. She wiped her eyes and sighed again.

“Most of their names are stupid…They’re, like…made up and built off of their existing names…I remember, like…Silvester, Amelia, Trirpro, Ivor…stupid shit like that…”

“But…But my name…” Surge softly put a hand to her chest, “It was ‘Samantha’…A-A-And…I don’t know why, but…it…it felt…right…I-It wasn’t some stupid, bullshit name that I made up, it felt…it felt like it really belonged to me…”

Marine tilted her head, a little confused.

“Is ‘Surge’ not your real name?”

Surge shifted her eyes up to meet Marine’s, but slowly pulled them down and away.

“…Not really…I don’t want to get into it, it’s…it’s a whole thing…”

Marine opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out, so she closed it and turned away. Her eyes naturally landed on the cowboy outfit. After a second she noticed something on the huge belt sewn between the white plad undershirt and the brown pants. She brushed the red jacket out of the way to get a better look. It was a gun holster, and it had something stuck in it. She reached down, and to her surprise actually pulled out a blue, plastic revolver.

Marine’s jaw dropped. She stared in absolute shock. Her thumb cautiously moved towards the hammer and it actually pulled down. She flicked it sideways and the cylinder actually popped out. Though, instead of six holes for the bullets, there was just a blue, circular can with a weird brown, spongey looking thing inside. Upon rubbing her thumb against it, she concluded it was a cork.

She lifted the gun up and slid the strange can out of the cylinder. It was plastic, just like the gun, and the cork was popping out of both ends. In the middle, though, there was a sticker wrapping around it. It was a darker blue with yellow text in front of an explosion that read “Infini-Ammo! Endless Corks for Reloading Never!!”

Marine simply stared at the strange can for another moment before sliding back into the cylinder and closing the gun. She pulled back the hammer all the way, and the front of a cork poked out of the tip of the gun barrel.

She inspected the gun further before glancing back down at Surge. She was still curled up into her knees, not looking at the raccoon. Marine looked from her to the popgun in her hand. Then, slowly but surely, a devious grin grew on her face.

“Well, Surge, me old cobber!” she boomed as she stood up on the counter, “We’re on the cusp of an important mission! And we can’t have you moping about when there’s a world to save!”

Surge blinked, and slowly moved her head to face Marine as she spun the revolver on her finger. Surge met Marine’s eyes just in time to see the gun pointed directly at her.

“Hold still,” Marine smiled madly, “Lemme blast that sadness outta your brain!”

Thankfully, Surge noticed the cork sticking out at her quickly. Still, she gave Marine a strange look. She looked at the cowboy costume, and quickly clocked the empty holster next to Marine’s foot. She then, however, caught a glimpse of a second holster on the other side of the belt.

Surge grinned widely. In the blink of an eye she jolted towards the second gun and took it. Marine looked around wildly for a second before spotting Surge stanced up in front of the counter. She pulled the hammer of her gun back, and a cork poked out of the barrel.

“Not so fast there, Missy!” Surge snarled playfully, “You’re gonna need a quick trigger finger to outgun me!”

Marine’s wicked smile returned, and she jumped down from the counter.

“Twenty paces!” she announced, jabbing her gun in Surge’s direction, “We’ll settle this the old fashioned way!”

Surge snickered, and walked further into the store. Her and Marine quickly found a good spot for their duel, as there was a carpeted pathway between all the coatracks. They turned away from each other, and brought their guns up to their noses.

“One,” Marine started counting as she walked, “Two. Three. Four…”

Surge couldn’t help but snicker devilishly with each step she took. Marine was smiling similarly evilly, but with much worse intentions. She counted eleven paces when-

“Surprise attack!!!” she blurted, twisting around and firing a cork at Surge.

Surge’s shoulders stiffen as the cork flew right past her head.

“You little cheater!!” she turned around and opened fire.

Marine jumped to the side and ducked between the rows of clothes.

“Ha ha haaa!!! I’m a right old dodgy rorter!!” she screamed.

Surge smiled widely. She followed Marine and aimed down the path she fled to. Surge looked all around, but she couldn’t quite spot the raccoon. Suddenly, Marine jumped up onto the block shelves lining the back wall and fired. Surge dodged the cork, and returned two of her own. Marine scampered off the shelves and onto the floor just as they hit them.

The raccoon bit down on her gun, and started running around on all fours. Surge watched, slightly terrified, as clothing ruffled when she ran by. She was practically encircling her. She could hear her panting, see her bolt between the displays.

Surge then grinned. She preemptively aimed at the widest spot without cover and held her other hand over the gun’s hammer. As Marine ran by, Surge unloaded a barrage of corks, fanning the revolver hard.

“Yipe!” Marine yelped, jolting upright.

She dropped her gun from her mouth, and scrambled to pick it up and get away from Surge’s hellfire.

“Oh bullshit! How did none of those hit you?!” Surge raged, “This piece of shit!”

Marine giggled from behind cover. She eyed the shelves she sat against, noting their stair-like ascent upwards. She hastily crawled back to her feet and ran to the top of the.

“Die!” she boomed, firing straight at Surge’s head.

The cork went right through the middle of Surge’s tied up quills. She snapped her head towards Marine and shot three times. Marine squealed, and stumbled down the shelves.

“No fair! I hit you!” she whined.

“No you didn’t! You scraped my hair!” Surge guffawed.

“That should still count! Your hair’s, like, twenty percent of your body! Now you’re the cheater!”

Surge scoffed and rolled her eyes. After a second, though, a cheeky grin crossed her face, and she glanced off in the direction she heard Marine running.

“Oh yeah? Then I might as well stop playing nice!”

With a crash of lightning, Surge zipped through the store and right in front of Marine.

“Eep!” the little raccoon squeaked.

“Trust me, kid,” Surge snickered.

She spun the gun in her hand before aiming dead center on Marine’s head.

“You don’t want me cheatin’ on you. I’m a pro.”

Marine suddenly matched Surge’s toothy grin and shot a cork right at her. Surge leaned back and stumbled to dodge it, giving Marine just enough time to disappear behind a rack of clothing.

Surge whipped her head around, but saw no sign of any little gremlins running around. All was suddenly quiet. She grinned mischievously again.

“Alright then…” she said, “We’re playing the ‘stealth’ card, are we squirt?”

Surge didn’t get a reply, which only confirmed her suspicions. She snuck forward, darting her eyes around for any sort of movement. Her fingers tightened around the revolver’s trigger as her grin grew wider.

There was then a ruffling of clothes. Behind her and to the right. She snapped her head back and saw some coats lightly swinging on their circular coatrack. Surge lowered her head slightly, still grinning ear to ear, and silently tip-toed closer. She squatted behind a mannequin and waited for a moment.

Surge leaned her head around the corner. The coats were still swaying slightly, but Marine wasn’t there. She cautiously stepped out from her cover and kept her eyes glued to the coatrack.

She saw something move out of the corner of her eye.

“Ha!” she turned and fired three times.

The corks fucked up that mannequin, blowing it back hard. Surge looked on, dumbfounded. She glanced down at the crumpled up cowboy suit, slowly sliding off the mannequin's base.

“Surprise attack!!” Marine hollored from behind.

Surge turned around just in time to see Marine poking her head and her gun out of another coatrack.

*POW*

A cork hit Surge square in the stomach.

“Ough!” she pretended to wince, “Augh…”

She clutched her stomach and stumbled back a little.

“Bleh!” she flopped backwards and fell on the carpet with her tongue sticking out.

Surge laid there for a second before she felt Marine firmly put her foot on her chest.

“Ouf-” Surge coughed, feeling the air kicked out of her lungs.

She smirked and looked up at the raccoon standing over her. A light from the ceiling cast her entire body in a dark shadow.

“And so!” Marine began, raising her hands up, “The bravest huntress of the land scoured the harsh and dangerous outback, only to bring down the fiercest beast she’d ever seen!”

“Raaarr!” Surge roared, wiggling her fingers.

“Eek! It’s still alive!” Marine jumped off of Surge, pretending to be scared.

Both girls laughed uproariously before Marine helped Surge back to her feet.

“Good game, kid,” she said.

“Did I blast that sadness outta ya?” Marine asked, sassily gesturing her gun towards her.

“Heh…yeah, I think you did.”

Marine put her hands to her hips and huffed with pride. Then, she snapped to the side and pointed her gun at a naked mannequin. Surge couldn’t help but snicker when she started making demands like an action hero cop.

Surge looked down at the pistol still in her hand. For what felt like a cheap toy, it sure had some kick to it. She rubbed her sore stomach where the cork hit her. ‘Still ached a little. Even that mannequin she blasted didn’t take the impact well. She glanced back down at the popgun again. Then, she smirked.

“Y’know, Marine,” she began, “If we’re gonna send you in solo, these little babies right here won’t be half bad at protecting yourself.”

“Come off it, Surge,” Marine scoffed playfully, “That sheila you don’t like said then had guns. Real guns. What the heck is a cork gun gonna hold up against that?!”

“Well, you know they’re cork guns. And I know they’re cork guns. But if you started firing off ‘bullets’ willy nilly those morons up at the chateau won’t know what to do.”

Surge glanced at the gun resting on her palm.

“In fact, I bet if you started taking pot shots at them, they’d really believe they’ve been shot.”

“You reckon?” Marine asked.

“Oh sure,” Surge tossed her the other gun, “If you had shot ‘Samantha’ in the gut just now she’d definitely believe she was bleeding out.”

Marine inspected her second popgun before smiling wickedly up at Surge and nodding. Surge grinned too, and nodded back.

Someone knocked three times on the doorframe at the front of the store. Both girls turned to see Shadow there, glancing between them.

“Listen up, ladies,” he addressed, “We have a plan ready.”

**********

Winds had kicked up in the valley housing White Park. Snow blew sideways as the storm careened down the mountainside. Poor Nite and Conductor had to stand out in the sudden blizzard, but they braved the cold with stoic faces.

Nite squinted, and from beyond the fog in his glasses he could see the silhouette of a small figure faintly in the snow. As it grew closer, and more in focus, he and the Conductor could hear the clicks of heel spurs tapping against the stone pathway up to the chateau.

Marine soon fully came into view. She held her belt as she strutted towards the guards, pouting unamusingly. The wind was so fierce it blew one side of her cowboy hat upwards, and nearly took the whole thing.

“G’day, gents,” she greeted, “Kind of yous to dig out a path for me.”

She stopped just in front of them. The men glanced at each other strangely, then back down to Marine.

“I apologize,” the Conductor said, “Who might you be?”

“I go by many names,” Marine scoffed, “But you drongos wouldn’t know any of them.”

They glanced at each other again.

“Then I’m afraid you are not on our guest list,” Nite replied dryly, “And due to recent events we will not be accepting any new patrons into our chateau at this time.”

“You bloody will!” Marine pointed angrily, other hand still on her belt, “I walked all the way from down unda’, in this feral blizzard, just to be here because I heard this joint has the best parties around! You yobbos ain’t turning me away now!”

“Miss, we apologize for the inconvenience,” the Conductor pleaded, “But you see-”

“Ah move aside, you bludgers!” Marine shoved both guys away and kicked in the front door, “Take it up with ya chief if it’ll make you happy!”

The men looked on, stunned, as the doors closed behind Marine. She looked around with a smug expression on her face, as all eyes in the chateau foyer fell on her. She kept strutting forwards, loudly clinking the, real metal, spurs on her heels against the floor. The fringes on her pants swayed with every step. The, possibly real gold, beltbuckle that was as big as her palms shined under the lights above.

The other guests, hardly any of which Marine recognized, all started whispering and side eyeing her. Her smile grew wider, and she looked up to see two figures climbing through the rafters. Gemerl turned his head around like an owl, and gave her a thumbs up.

***“When you enter the chateau, bring as much attention to yourself as possible,” Shadow said, “We need all eyes on you so that no one notices the rest of us sneaking around. Be as rude and inconsiderate as possible. You’ll fit right in that way.”***

Once Marine made it through the foyer, she needed to take a second to remember the directions for where she needed to go. Music started loudly playing from down the hall, so she decided to follow that. She soon reached the ballroom, and instantly knew she was in the right place.

***“When you find the ballroom, sit tight and don’t interact with the others if you can help it,” Shadow ordered, “Blend in. We’ll locate the Amethyst…”***

Marine walked down the steps and soon made herself comfortable at a nice, empty table. She kicked her feet up, and relaxed her hands on her chest. When she glanced to the side she found Sonic and Amy both staring at her strangely.

“Who the fuck are you?” Sonic asked rudely.

“Wouldn’t you like to know, Needlemouse,” Marine tipped her hat down over her eyes.

Sonic and Amy gasped. He turned to his girlfriend and started spouting off questions. Marine tipped her hat back up just as she heard him go “Did you hear what she just called me?!” She glanced up at the rafters, and was met with a pair of beady red eyes staring back at her. Shadow nodded at her, to which she just winked.

***“It will be easy to search from the rafters. If Omega of all people can sneak around up there without issue, I’m sure the rest of us can manage. All you need to do is lay in wait until we find it…”***

After a minute, everyone from the foyer filed in and took their seats all over the ballroom. The music from the speakers died down, the lights dimmed, and several spotlights suddenly shone down on the stage. Agent Stone walked out from stage left and clapped his hands together proudly.

“Ladies and gentlemen…esteemed guests of Whitten Praquely Grande Chateau! We are all so glad you could make it this evening!”

He paused as Barry rolled out a metal cart with a glass case on it.

“We deeply apologize for our grand event earlier this week being interrupted so rudely,” Stone continued, “But we are excited to continue those festivities in full swing right here, right now! Our great ritual to wish for more riches and comfort cannot be postponed any longer!”

Barry put a hand on the handle at the tip of the case, which was hard for them to reach, and slowly pulled it off.

“Everyone! I give you! …The Amazing Amethyst!”

Everyone cheered as the pointy purple gem glistened under the stagelights. Marine’s eyes widened. She glanced up at Shadow, who took a moment to pull his eyes away from the gem and back towards her. She just shrugged, and he shrugged back.

Marine slowly pulled her head down, and grinned maniacally.

***“And when we find it…you’re the distraction.”***

Chapter Text

“YEEEEEE HAWWW!!!” Marine screamed at the top of her lungs.

She whipped the popguns out of their holsters and started wildly firing off into the air. They bounced all around the rafters, momentarily scaring the hell out of Shadow. Everyone on the ballroom floor starred in terror.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, you mangey little trash panda?!?!” Sonic demanded, angrily rising out of his seat.

Marine turned and aimed her pistols right at him and Amy. Sonic’s attitude drained in under a second, and he and Amy suddenly looked terrified.

“Eat lead, ya rich sooks!”

*POW POW*

One cork hit Sonic’s abdomen, and he fell over into his seat. The other hit Amy dead in the head, and she fell back so hard she took the chair with her. Everyone else started screaming bloody murder and ran around like headless chickens. Marine had to snicker at Sonic’s ‘dead’ face, with a droopy mouth and tongue, before she could turn her attention away and open fire.

The hysteria was so overwhelming even Marine found it hard to hit her shots. She clocked Tangle in the side of the face as she tried to run up the aisle. The lemur flopped face down right as the cork hit her. Marine jumped out of her seat and started running around the ballroom too, letting corks fly in every direction.

Bark randomly got tagged a couple times in his gut. He dramatically held it with one hand as he stumbled back and fell over with a tremendous *THUMP*. Blaze immediately kneeled at his side and shook him gently.

“Bartholomew?! Bartholomew!!” she wept, “Don’t leave me! Please!”

She pressed her face against his fur, “I can’t…I can’t carry our money sacks without you…”

Blaze’s mourning was interrupted when Marine stomped her foot on Bark’s belly. The cat fell on her rear and shuffled back in fright. Marine stared down at her with a smile.

“Sorry about this, Princess,” she chuckled, “But I am taking this as revenge for fibbing on me to King Coal that one time.”

“W-What?!” Blaze questioned as Marine lifted her gun.

Marine popped a cork right on her forehead, and Blaze slumped back. She heard a commotion behind her and looked to see a large group trying to force the ballroom doors open. She quickly raised her revolvers and opened fire.

Most of them ran away from the onslaught, with poor Whisper getting pelted by a few corks and ragdolling down one of the steps. But not all of them ran. Rough, Tumble, and Honey ducked behind one of the tables. The taller, white skunk picked it up and charged Marine with his new shield. She yelped, and dodged out of the way before unloading a barrage of corks into his back.

“You little twerp!!” Rough yelled as he rushed her, “Runts like you need to get put in their place!”

Marine just smugly lifted up one revolver and shot him right in the chin. He fell forwards and skidded on the carpet for a short while. Marine laughed, but it was cut short as Honey lunged at her.

“Yipe!” Marine squeaked as the cat’s claws just barely missed her.

“Get out of our chateau!” she hissed, “You aren’t welcome here!”

“Blimey! Is this how you treat your customers, then? I will not be leaving a satisfied review on your-”

Honey roared and jumped at Marine again. She backpedaled before putting both guns’ grips in her mouth and scampering away on all fours. Honey was right after her, growling ferally. Marine ducked under one of the tables and disappeared under the cloth. Honey dove under it to catch her, but bumped her face on the stand in the center. She rubbed her nose angrily before opening her eyes and finding no raccoon in sight.

“You hoo!”

Honey pulled her head out from under the tablecloth, only to be met with the blue barrel of a revolver. Marine looked at her smugly, standing tall on the tabletop.

“Thanks for the getup, mate! Pleasure doin’ business with you!”

*POW*

With Honey down, Marine looked to see if Shadow had gone through with his part of the plan, but the Amethyst was still sitting on its perch on the stage. She glanced up to the rafters and saw Shadow poised above the stage, but not attacking. He turned to her, and with his glowing red eyes he nodded under him.

Directly in front of the stage was a mob of people Shadow couldn’t get through to reach the Amethyst. Barry and Stone were hiding behind the stage’s curtains, but Big, Bean, Jewel, Trip, and the conductor's wife were all kneeling, seemingly praying to the gem for help.

Marine felt a little bad, but aimed and fired. Bean and Jewel were nailed in the back of the head and slammed themselves against the stage. The rest tried to run, but didn’t make it far. Everything in the room jumped as Big hit the floor.

Shadow gripped the wooden log under him with all of his might as the room shook. He opened his eyes and looked down at the stage below. Marine was still taking shots at the stage, trying to get Barry. Shadow could see Agent Stone from behind cover reaching for something in his pocket.

“Oh no you don’t.”

Just as Stone came from around the corner and drew his pistol, Shadow jumped down from the rafters and kicked him hard in the side. He held him down and swiftly disarmed him with his foot, sliding the gun onto center stage. Stone punched him in the cheek, so Shadow grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and threw him around and off the stage.

Barry watched as Shadow put his shoe on the pistol and disintegrated it with a burst of flame from his boosters. The hedgehog glared at the quokka, who shivered and slunk further behind the curtain.

“Your weapon,” Shadow demanded, making a ‘give me’ motion with his hand.

“I-I-I d-d-don’t have one!” Barry stammered, “I-I’m just a bussboy! They don’t give weapons to us!”

Shadow eyed their hips. No holsters or lumps to be seen. So he just skated up, took the Amethyst, and shot out through the center of the ballroom. The doors Gemerl and Mecha Sonic had locked for him burst open as he careened through.

---

The sound of splintering wood and crashing doorframes briefly cut through the music from Clutch’s record player. He paused from taking a sip from his glass of Chaos Cola, and reached over to pull the tonearm off the record.

He could more clearly hear the sounds of the scuffle below him. What sounded like gunfire and mad shouting from the ballroom below his penthouse. He sighed tiredly, and rested his face in his free hand.

“Here comes the calvary to ruin my fun,” he said, setting his glass aside and standing from his chair, “Oh well. I knew this moment would come. What with those two miscreants roaming around and the idiots below deciding they had no interest in stopping them.”

He walked over to the large piles of gold and jewelry stacked in his suite. Picking up and unzipping one of the large camping bags he…‘borrowed’ from the park, he began shoveling all the riches inside.

“I hate falling back on contingency plans,” he sighed, “And carrying all of this out by myself won’t be fun. But, what are ya gonna do? At least I get to keep all the spoils to myself, so I’d say this was a scheme well-”

*Click* *CACHUNK*

Clutch froze. He slowly turned around and found the source of the noise. The lock to his cage was on the floor, and where it was once latched was a grinning Chao with red accents and blue eyes. They waved a crudely bent paperclip in its hand.

“Oh. It’s you…” Clutch growled, “Come back home, have ya? Missed your time in the failure’s cage?”

He stood up and smiled devilishly at the Shadow Chao, “Well you're welcome to let yourself back in…”

The Shadow Chao snickered and shook his head. With a gentle push, the cage’s door creaked slowly open. Cheese, Chocola, Maggie, and Whisper’s Wisps all slowly floated out, angrily glaring at the opossum. He scoffed, and rolled his eyes with a dark chuckle.

“Come on. Do you think I’m scared? Of some tiny aliens and water babies?! HA! Don’t make me laugh…I cramped you little runts in that cage once, and I can do it ag-”

“CHAO!!”

Cheese tackled Clutch hard, knocking the air clean out of him. They slammed him down onto the floor, and pinned him by the chest. The Wisps and other Chao cheered them on as they pummeled the opossum's face into the floorboards.

---

Shadow blitzed through the foyer at wicked fast speeds. Nite and the conductor were running in his direction to see what all the commotion was. They didn’t even have time to react before Shadow swept them off their feet and grabbed their guns. As the men fell on the hard wood floor, Shadow tossed up both of their pistols and sent a Chaos Spear through them. He let the tiny remains sprinkle down on them as he dashed out of the chateau.

Meanwhile, Marine found herself in a bit of a situation. Her remaining targets had turned several tables on their sides and hid behind their new makeshift wall.

“Get out here and face me like a mad gunman!!” she demanded.

This was met with several glass plates and wine glasses being thrown over the wall and at her. Marine struggled to dodge them all and shot a couple with corks while they were still in the air.

“Git on outta here!!” Mighty yelled, peaking over the top of the wall with a beer bottle ready to throw.

Before he could lob it, Marine shot him in the forehead and he stiffly fell back behind cover. She could hear the others panically check on him as he flopped to the floor. They kept throwing stuff at her periodically, and in between dodges Marine looked for an opening. They had only flipped up three tables, Marine could have gone around quite easily. But she knew if she just casually walked up like that she’d get pelted.

It was then she spotted a long, slender table sitting against the wall behind their cover. It seemed to be a self-serve drinks and food table, with punch bowls, salad bowls, and various plates of tiny blocks of food stuck in toothpicks.

“Perfect,” Marine thought.

She plucked her hat off her head and spun it like a frisbee past the left side of the table wall. She saw a couple plates thrown at it as she bolted to the right, meaning her distraction had worked. Before anyone could notice, she hopped on the long table and began running towards the last of the survivors.

She made sure to kick every dish, utensil, and plate off the table so that she made an overwhelming amount of noise. Knuckles, Don, and Vector kept trying to throw anything they could at her, but she was too quick for them. She gunned down Vector before he could lob a whole chair at her, and then did the same to Don. Knuckles, Lanolin, Vanilla, Eggman, and Rouge all scattered in different directions, and with no one holding them up the tables fell to the ground.

Marine looked ahead and saw one last punch bowl, right at the end of her runway. With a toothy grin she ran at it as fast as she could, and shoved one foot in with a mighty splash. The spur stuck itself into the glass, ensuring Marine was truly one with the punchbowl.

Her momentum carried her off the table, and with her other foot Marine kicked off the wall and started spinning around on the bowl. She leaned back, and held both of her popguns out on either side.

“WOOOOO HOOHOOHOOOO!!!” she cheered as she fired off corks in literally every direction.

The final few fleeing guests were gunned down, one by one. Marine was still spinning a while after though, unbeknownst to two more figures walking towards the open ballroom door.

“I just…I’m so worried, Espaliber,” Silver fretted, “About her, of course, but…more about how the others will react. Oh, I’m such a fool for leaving my woman out of my sights! Now I’ll be made a mockery again!”

“I would not worry about it, Silvester,” Espio calmed, “She was not good for you anyway. I’m sure it will pass as new scandals reveal themse-”

A cork domed Espio right in the horn. Silver screamed in horror before getting shot in the chest himself.

Marine finally started to get dizzy. The crack her heel spur had made grew until the punch bowl broke apart, and she slowed herself down. As the world still spun, rapid footsteps came from the kitchen adjacent to the ballroom. She regained her focus just in time to see Clutch fumble through the door and shut it firmly with his back.

Someone with a high pitched voice tried to break it down, but he reached to his side and pulled down a big shelf displaying many ornate plates. They all shattered when the shelf hit the floor. Clutch took a moment to catch his breath, then turned around and goggled in horror at the scene before him. It didn’t take long for him to lock eyes with Marine.

“Blimey, mate,” she said, looking at his beaten up face, “Did you stack it down the stairs or something?”

Clutch’s breathing slowly morphed into a series of huffs and puffs. He furiously reached for his rifle at his side and aimed it at Marine.

“Oh crap! Welp, I guess we’re done here!”

Clutch looked around for the source of the new voice. Something whirred to life above him, and with a blast of a blue powercore Motobud flew out from the rafters with Belle on his back. She reached down and grabbed Marine’s wrist, pulling her out of the way just in time before Clutch shot at her.

“Stoked you let me crash your party, mate!” Marine winked, “It was a blast!”

The echo of her howling laughter bounced all around the ballroom until she was flown out the building. Clutch continued panting, even after lowering his gun. He finally allowed himself to take in the sight around him. It was like a bomb had gone off. Every last object in the room was overturned and broken to pieces.

But what Clutch fixated on the most were the bodies. Everyone who’d been giving him shit and giving him money for nearly two weeks now, flopped over and lifeless. Except, something was off. They didn’t really look like corpses, more like kids playing pretend. He could swear he even saw a few of them breathing. Of course, the biggest giveaway was the total lack of blood. But Clutch was so sure he heard a gun before.

A cork rolled up and tapped his toe. He looked down, leaned to pick it up, and examined it carefully. He took a second look around the ballroom. Corks were everywhere. If there were any more lining the floor it could have been classified as a ballpit. His eye twitched slightly.

*Cough! Cough!*

He pulled his eyes away from the cork and stared down at the golden dressed bat laying on the floor in front of him. Rouge spluttered and choked, gasping for air like a wounded animal.

“What the hell are you doing?” Clutch demanded.

Rouge whimpered, and weakly pulled up her head to meet Clutch’s eyes.

“Oh…Oh Clutch…It’s terrible…” she whined, “I’ve been hit…It’s getting cold…Clutch, please…Don’t…Don’t let me…let me…urgh…”

She flopped face down onto the carpeted floor. Clutch stared for a moment before gritting his teeth and squeezing the cork between his fingers.

“Get up. Get up!” he demanded, grabbing Rouge by the collar.

“Have some respect for the wounded and dying, dear!” Rouge scowled.

“You are not wounded!!! You are not dying, you stupid bitch!!!” Clutch roared.

“Whatever do you mean?! I was shot!!”

“With this!!” Clutch thrusted the cork in her face, “You were shot with a cork you utter fucking imbecile!!”

Rouge’s eyes widened. Clutch forced her to her feet and smacked it into her hand. She stared at it for a good long while.

“…Oh.”

Clutch growled quietly to himself and looked between all the others still pretending to be dead.

“Everybody up!!!” he demanded, walking over and grabbing Mighty by the arm, “You idiots aren’t dead!!! I need you to be useful for once in your worthless lives!!!”

“How rude!!” Rouge gasped as Mighty regained his bearings, “You better watch your mouth, good sir! You would be nothing without us!”

“You couldn’t be more fucking wrong, you goddamn bimbo…” Clutch snarled in her face, “I would have been perfectly well off if I left you all to die in the cold. Hell, I’d probably be happier too!! It’d be a lot quieter around here without having to babysit you whiny brats!!”

He marched over to Sonic, who was still flopped over in his chair.

“Time to make you shitheads really earn your keep,” Clutch grumbled as he yanked him up.

“Hey, hey! Easy there, Clutchy!” Sonic barked, “Can’t ya be a bit more delicate for a guy who was just shot?”

“You were shot with a cork!!! With a toy!!! This is what a real gunshot is like!!!”

*BANG*

Clutch turned on a dime and blasted the chain holding up a chandelier in the middle of the ballroom. If that didn’t startle everyone awake, the huge thing crashing down and shattering into a million pieces did.

“You listen to me and listen well, you rat bastards!!!” Clutch ordered, “If you care half as much about your wealth as you claim you do, then get off your lazy asses and start running!!! GET ME BACK THAT AMETHYST, OR YOUR LIVES AS THEY KNOW IT WILL END!!!!”

He pointed furiously at the busted open doors. The fear in everyone’s faces was swiftly traded for anger, and they all rushed out of the ballroom at once. Poor Espio and Silver had only just gotten to their feet when the stampede trampled them back down to the floor. Clutch was still panting as the last of the guests piled out. He looked towards the empty stage, and b-lined behind the curtains.

The mob of angry chateau guests kept up the pace all the way to the front doors. But when they burst through, they all came to a screeching stop. The blizzard had ended, but instead of blistering snowfall an encirclement of Scrapniks blocked their exit. The army of rusted robots glared at their fancily dressed friends, holding out their arms, wings, or whatever appendages they could to ensure they truly had them walled in.

“Come on-n-n-n!!” Mecha Knuckles taunted, front and center, “Just t-t-t-try and break-k-k-k us!!”

Unfortunately for his vigor, though, they were not putting up much of a fight. All of the high lifes curled up their noses and put their arms to their chests in disgust. Whenever they tried to get close, and the Scrapniks held their ground, they meekly slunk back with sickened groans. The Scrapniks all eased their stances in utter confusion, and gave each other looks.

High above, Mecha Sonic and Gemerl stood on the highest windowsill above the entrance. Both shook their heads shamefully as they watched their friends below stay away from their robotic brethren.

“They’re acting like they’ll give them cooties,” Mecha Sonic scoffed.

“Not the worst example of their foulness,” Gemerl replied.

Mecha just chuckled. He focused on one blue ant below him who was approaching the rightmost side of the Scrapnik wall. Sonic tried to tip toe through an opening between two Scrapniks. They cut him off, and he flinched back immediately.

Before he backpedaled too far, though, he noticed a new opening where the Scrapniks were just standing, on the left. He tried rushing it, but he was blocked off again. He rushed backwards so quickly he fell in the snow, but he recovered and looked to the right at the newly reopened gap. He bolted forwards, faster than before, and almost made it before the bots blocked his way.

Mecha watched this game go on for a few more rotations. His worry rose as Sonic got quicker with each turn. After about twelve attempts he was no longer backing up in disgust, but out of curiosity. He held a big smile on his face as he looked down and started inspecting his legs. He began to jump slightly, shaking out his legs and patting down the snow under his shoes.

Sonic’s next attempt to get through the gap had him make it to the Scrapniks in a second. They only barely had enough time to react. He immediately ran around and tried the other side. A tiny bit of space was left between the bots when he stopped dead and ran back around. Mecha kept his visor glued to him.

“This is turning into a problem,” he assessed.

He turned to Gemerl, “Should we go down and help?”

“Negative. Our mission is to apprehend Clutch when he exits the facility.”

Mecha looked back down at Sonic. He was beginning to beat the little bots to the gap, but seemed to turn around and run back for the fun of it. That signature blue streak behind him started fading in. Everyone watched in awe or terror as he simply became a blue semicircle, running back and forth rapidly.

With a loud, cocky cheer, Sonic burst through the middle of the wall of Scrapniks. The little bots went flying up into the air, and he peeled off over the mountain and out of sight.

“Shit!!” Mecha cursed as he and Gemerl leapt off the building.

Gemerl flew up and caught the three airborne Scrapniks, but Mecha went straight towards the ground and prepared to race after Sonic. His wheels spun, but they got caught in the deep snow and spun in futility. Mecha tried to trudge ahead, but only fell forward. Gemerl landed and was instantly by his side, helping him back up.

Before Mecha could thank him, they heard the sound of a car peeling off, and looked towards the other side of the chateau just in time to see two headlights fly down the mountainside.

---

Shadow was nearly halfway to Spiral Hill, having left the mountains far behind by now. He continued skating as fast as he could. His steely focus locked on nothing more than making it to that tower.

It would have been better for him if he had been paying a little bit of attention to the rest of his surroundings, though.

Before he could react, a blue streak came up from his right and blindsided him. Shadow tumbled violently before coming to a stop, and propping himself up with his elbow. He looked up and glared at the smug, suited hedgehog standing over him.

“Nice to see you again, Shad,” Sonic greeted, pulling a pretzel stick out of his coat.

“Ngh!” Shadow grunted as he stood up, “How is it that, even like this, you always manage to tick me off, hedgehog?”

“I dunno, man,” Sonic shrugged, puffing his pretzel, “Why’s it whenever I run into you, yous always try an’ steal something from under my nose.”

He looked down at Shadow’s hand. Shadow followed his gaze and stared at the Amnestic Amethyst.

“Don’t make a fool outta yourself again, Shad,” Sonic oozed slyly, “Give it back.”

Shadow’s scowl furrowed. He tightened his grip on the Amethyst and got low.

“Come and take it.”

“Oh, ho ho ho! Bad call, edgy hedgy! I’ve got a new trick up my sleeve.”

Sonic dashed forwards instantly, but Shadow side stepped him and tripped him up. Sonic rolled and tumbled until he crashed into a boulder.

“Ow! …How in da hell-?”

“It may be a new trick for you,” Shadow said, “But it’s old news to me.”

Sonic gawked in confusion. Shadow only looked away and continued skating through the meadow. Sonic growled in fury before quickly getting back on his feet and darting after him. Shadow looked back and, to his horror, Sonic was catching up very quickly. In fact, quicker than he ever had before.

“Impossible!”

Sonic tried to shoulder check Shadow, but he saw it coming from a mile away and dodged to the side. Sonic tripped over himself, but almost immediately got back up to speed. He tried to run up and throw a punch. Shadow blocked it, and retaliated with a roundhouse kick to the chin. Sonic spun in the air and came crashing down, but Shadow wasted no time to gloat. As soon as his feet touched the ground again, he was off.

Sonic slowly pulled his head up from the dirt. His fingers dug into the grass as his eyes grew more red with rage. Shadow had only about a mile of leeway before Sonic caught up and tried to return the favor with his own kick. He missed spectacularly though, and fell flat on his face. Shadow watched him get right back up though, and instantly pound the earth below him to get right alongside him.

As he tried, and failed, to shoulder check Shadow again, he got a good look at the blue hedgehog’s face. His eyes were suddenly bloodshot, mucus leaked out from his nose, he was sweating profusely, and his teeth were clenched hard. Shadow could only stare in shock at his condition.

“Sonic! Stop! You’re overexerting yourself!!”

“Sonic…huh?” he wheezed, “Good nickname…I…like it, Shad.”

“I’m serious! You’re surpassing your limits! This is not-”

“Aw! Is the…cranky little…stealer jealous of my…my new powers?!” Sonic taunted.

He ran far ahead of Shadow, then turned around and started darting at him head on.

“I don’t got no limits!!”

Shadow leapt over the charging bull just in time. Sonic tripped and fell over again before he was back up and running circles around Shadow. He had to watch out and dodge his dash attacks from every angle, and it was starting to take a toll.

“This is bad,” he thought, “And not just for me-”

He skidded to the left to avoid a diagonal rush.

“That stupid faker’s gonna cause some permanent damage at this rate! I can’t stop him alone, I need to get this egregious Amethyst to Tikal-”

Stumbled to the right to avoid the train barreling by.

“I need backup! But there’s no telling if a call from this far out will be heard! If I can just get to the halfway mark, I can-”

Sonic growled like a revving car engine. Shadow looked back to see him thundering towards his back. Foam was flying out of the corners of his mouth. Shadow’s jaw dropped. He knew he couldn’t dodge this one. Sonic caught up to him, mere inches from grabbing his quills, when-

*KEPOW*

Surge came in from the side and kicked Sonic hard in the chin. He tumbled sideways until he violently hit a tree. Shadow screeched to a stop while Surge fizzled with electricity, grinning proudly at her work. Her grin subsided, though, when she turned to the side and saw Shadow staring.

“What the fuck are you doing, shitlips?!” she scolded, “Go! Go!! Get that thing outta here!!”

Shadow glanced down at the Amethyst and nodded to Surge. He boosted away and out of sight. Surge sighed and cracked her fingers with a stretch.

“Oh boy…I have been waiting a long time for this,” she said as she walked towards Sonic, “Even if this won’t be as satisfying as kicking your real ass.”

Sonic finally came to. He coughed and choked, spitting out a huge lump of saliva. Surge could swear she saw a tiny bit of red mixed in there too. He wiped his mouth, and leaned back up.

“Shit, man,” Surge hissed, pausing her approach, “You look worse than usual. Which is saying a lot.”

Sonic seemed to only now notice Surge. He looked up at her incredulously.

“Sam? Samantha?!” he questioned, “What the hell are you doing?!”

Surge scowled darkly. Sonic pulled himself back to his feet, mostly by pushing his back against the tree. He looked her up and down.

“What da hell’s with that getup? You look like a bum…Don’t tell me you’re on Shadow’s side!!”

Surge silently started walking again.

“Are you kidding me, Sam?! We had it all!! We can still have it all!! Why are you throwin’ everything away n- *GRK*”

Surge grabbed him by the throat and shoved him up against the tree. Sparks shot from her eyes down to her shoes, and bolts of lightning burst out all over.

“My name. Is. Surge!”

She slammed him against the tree. The grip around his neck tightened. She had him firmly pinned, and Sonic knew that. He lifted up his legs and kicked both of them into Surge’s stomach. She let go and fell back, clutching her body. Sonic rubbed his neck as he got back to his feet.

“Tch,” he scoffed, looking down at Surge, “I don’t got time for your delusions, toots. I got a gem to take back.”

Surge grit her teeth. Sonic got low, ready to run, while she got on all fours. She tried to lunge at him before he bolted, but he was too fast for her. Surge gawked at him for a nanosecond before-

*WOOOSH*

*WAP*

Metal Sonic came from out of nowhere and tackled Sonic hard. Sonic lurched back, and before he could even regain his footing Metal slapped him in the face. He clonked his head against the tree, and slowly slumped down to the stump, fully unconscious. Metal stood over him, and Surge soon walked alongside to join.

“…Damn. When’d Dollface fix up your engine, Fiber Fivehead?”

Metal just turned and narrowed his eyes at Surge.

---

A few miles away, Shadow finally made it to the outskirts of Central City. His shoes deactivated, and he slowed to a leisurely pace. He turned to stare at the city for a moment. Smoke rose from quite a few areas of the iron jungle. He shook his head in dismay.

He turned away and continued walking, catching his breath and searching for his target. All he had to do now was hand off the Amethyst, and his part in the plan would be complete. He stopped, and scanned the area around him, but there was not a single sign of life.

“Where are you?” he whispered to himself.

“OVER HERE!!!”

There was a sudden screeching noise. Shadow whipped around just in time to see two blinding headlights careening towards him. With a mighty slam, the fancy white car with gold lining crashed into him, sticking him to the hood. It carried him a short ways before colliding with a rock. It clipped the very edge of the bumper and sent the car upwards and to the right. Shadow was flung off, and he skidded along the ground a few yards before coming to a stop.

He pulled his head up and stared in shock. Smoke was coming out from the engine. The headlights flickered before dying, and despite the lack of a roof he couldn’t see anyone inside the vehicle. He glanced down at his hand. The Amethyst had not left his iron grip. He sighed, and brushed the dirt off his shoulders, unfazed.

The driver side door opened, and Shadow looked up to see Clutch stepped out. He held his gun in one hand, and glared coldly down at the hedgehog. Shadow glared back, and quickly tried to get back on his feet.

*BANG*

“You siddown!!” Clutch slurred, having shot right between Shadow’s legs.

Shadow fell back down, but continued glaring at the opossum. His clothes were torn and covered in grime. Only one of his eyes was fully open, the other half closed. Blood was dripping out of his mouth. Shadow couldn’t tell if it was because of the crash or because he was biting down on his lip too hard.

“I…had…everything!!” he shouted, “All th’ money in th’ world…everyone under m’thumb…You and that fuckin’ echidna ruined everything!!”

“You say all of that like it’ll garner any sympathy from me,” Shadow spat, “You will not be the ruler of a broken world.”

He tried to stand up again, but Clutch shot at him again.

“Shut up!! I…I am not going to l’se everything to you brats a third time!!!”

He gasped for air and coughed up some blood. Then, he slowly raised his gun, aiming right between Shadow’s eyes.

“Not w’thout taking at least one of you out first…”

Shadow scoffed, and readied himself to dash out of the way.

Clutch suddenly felt someone grab his shoulder. He looked to the side as he was pulled down and decked in the face by Tikal. His gold tooth came flying out, alongside plenty of saliva. Clutch spun around and stumbled forwards, struggling to stay upright. Tikal grabbed his tail, and effortlessly pulled him over her shoulder and slammed him onto the ground.

Dust kicked up from the impact. Shadow’s jaw was on the floor. He finally got to his feet, but his eyes were still glued to Clutch. He was gasping for air as he lay on the ground. He wearily opened his eyes, and through his blurry vision he saw Tikal still standing over him, fists clenched and fury in her eyes.

He glanced to the side and saw his gun sitting right next to him. He nabbed it in the blink of an eye and aimed at Tikal. She grabbed it firmly and pushed it up into the sky when he fired. She then yanked it upwards, pulling Clutch up with it, and slammed it back into his nose. He let go, and she threw the weapon far away.

But she wasn’t done. Before Clutch could fall on his ass again, she grabbed the collar of his suit with one hand, and flung him around, chucking him into his car. He hit it like a cannonball, making a visible dent and pushing it up with his impact. His arms and legs hung low like a doll, as did his head.

Tikal marched up, and stood over him once more. Clutch slowly pulled his head up, and stared at her for a minute. His nose and mouth were leaking blood like a standpipe. Tikal’s scowl softened a little, and she relaxed her arms.

Clutch then built up what little saliva he had left, and spat a glob of blood onto her cheek. Tikal froze for a second, before wiping it off and inspecting her fingers. She looked down at Clutch, who was chuckling weakly to himself.

Shadow watched Tikal flick her hand to the side, then wind back and sock Clutch in the side of the head. He fell over like a ton of bricks, and Tikal sighed before finally turning to face Shadow. He was speechless for a moment.

“What the hell happened to that ‘swearing to never harm anyone’ thing?!” he gaped.

“I’m a pacifist by choice, not by nature,” Tikal huffed, “Pachacamac would have never allowed his daughter to not be thoroughly trained in the art of combat. He personally taught me how to destroy boulders, you know?”

“…I…see…”

Tikal sighed heavily and brushed her quills out of her face.

“I’m sorry for holding you up. I had to help Belle and Marine find a place to hide.”

She smiled and held out her hand, “I’ll take that off your hands now.”

Shadow took a moment to register that he was still holding onto the Amethyst. He gingerly held it out, and Tikal graciously took it. Shadow leaned to look behind her, at Clutch’s unconscious body.

“I’ll, uh…take him to Everhold Prison.”

Tikal nodded coldly, then turned and ran away in a flash. Shadow kept staring out in the direction she disappeared in, then looked back at the battered opossum.

“Holy shit…” he whispered.

---

Tikal ran, and ran, and ran. Her legs were nothing but a blur, as were the surroundings in her peripheral vision. In no time she sprinted past Spiral Hill and approached the signal tower as an orange streak of light. A small green Scrapnik could see her coming from miles away in its highest window.

“Gilbert see orange lady coming!” he called.

“SPLENDID!” Sigma replied.

Sure enough, at the ground level where Rancheros stood guard, Tikal flew past and he spun like a top from the wind she kicked up. She was up the stairs and in the terminal room within the next second.

“Is it ready?” she asked.

“JUST A SECOND…” Sigma held up a finger as he fiddled with wires under the computer.

“Almost…” Orbot replied, typing away on the console.

At last, all the computer monitors turned on.

“We’re all good to go!” Orbot thumbsed up.

“GODSPEED, TIKAL!” Sigma saluted.

Tikal nodded in thanks, and ran over to the portable generator hooked up to the computer. Cubot stood beside it, and with his help she jumped through a trapdoor to the ceiling. When she landed, she looked to the left and saw Omega pushing the tower’s laser cannon upwards. Its metal screeched and groaned, but finally Omega had forced it fully upright.

“ALL CONDITIONS NOMINAL,” he reported, “WE ARE READY TO COMPLETE OPERATION ‘AMNESTIC END’!”

Tikal nodded firmly, then looked up at the signal antenna. She jumped up the several layers of satellite dishes clamped to the center. The top one was much larger than the others, but she instead leapt for the edge and swung herself over. With one last jump, she stood on the balled tip of the tower.

“Omega!!” she called down, “Toss them up!!”

Omega reached down for the briefcase sitting next to him. He wound his arm back and lobbed it upwards. Tikal caught it, and instantly flicked it open. She dropped the case as the Chaos Emeralds floated out and around her. With a deep breath, she held out the Amnestic Amethyst, and began.

“The servers are the seven Chaos.”

The Emeralds began to spin around her. The Amethyst started to glow.

“Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart.”

The wind started to pick up. Sparks emanate from the Amethyst and down into the antenna. Omega stared up at her with great interest until he heard the trapdoor behind him open.

“OMEGA?!” Sigma called, “I BELIEVE IT WOULD BE IN YOUR BEST INTEREST TO SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER AT THE CURRENT MOMENT!”

Omega looked back up at Tikal. Her eyes were starting to glow and the Emeralds were spinning faster.

“ADVICE ACCEPTED,” Omega nodded before jumping down after Sigma.

“The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos.”

The lights to the pizza parlor nearby suddenly switched on. Pygmino angrily burst open the door with shotgun in hand and looked around to see whatever was making all that noise. Gus and Nick poked their heads out too just as Pygmino saw the lightshow going on at the top of the big tower. He wordlessly ducked back inside and took the others with him.

“With the unified power of the Chaos, I command thee!!”

The Amethyst began shaking and floating out of Tikal’s hands. She instead held them away from her sides.

“Free this world from the curse inflicted upon it!!”

The Emeralds blurred into pure light. Cracks started to form in the Amethyst’s shell.

“Return the minds of all peoples to their rightful states, and banish the personas that poison them!!!”

Seven colored beams shot into the Amnestic Amethyst. It glowed brightly, blindingly so, and shot a great beam of its own energy into the tip of the signal tower.

With an almighty *BOOM* the earth shook and a shockwave of white and pink light spread out across the night sky. Sigma, Omega, Orbot, and Cubot watched it stretch across the expanse of the atmosphere in awe.

---

In the desecrated streets of Central City, people shuffled about under cloaks and snapped at anyone who dared walk by. Suddenly, there was an earshattering explosion, and everything was engulphed in white for just a second.

Then, when everyone opened their eyes, they looked around at their surroundings and gasped. People gawked at the trash and graffiti everywhere. Those under their old, dirty cloaks threw them down in disgust and brushed their hands on their legs.

In a nearby alley, a gray dog had his hands around a big moose’s neck. When the shockwave hit, both took a moment to register the situation at hand.

“Dale?!” the moose gawked.

“Joey?!?!” Dale spluttered.

They stared at each other for a moment, the dog having long let go of Joey’s neck.

“Would you please get off me?” Joey asked firmly.

“Oh! Yeah, sorry,” Dale apologized.

---

Nearby, in Restoration HQ, Florentine and Benedict were keeping an eye on the kids locked in their apartment. Charmy was playing with a paddle ball in his top bunk, Ray was reading a comic under him, and Tails and Kit were sharing the seat in front of the computer. Benedict looked over to Cream, who had her arms crossed and was pouting angrily.

The shockwave hit not a moment later. The bots covered their heads instinctually and closed their eyes. When they opened them again, all the kids seemed frozen. Cream was the first to blink and look around in confusion. Her gaze soon landed on the robots at the door.

“Um…hello, Mr. and Mrs. Scrapnik…” she waved wearily, “Uh…may I ask where we are?”

The Egg Robos quickly looked between the other kids. Charmy went right back to playing with his paddle ball, while Ray realized he was reading an upside down comic book. Tails and Kit glanced at each other before Kit furiously shoved him out of the chair.

Benedict and Florentine looked at each other and high-fived.

---

Surge had resorted to poking Sonic with a stick to see if he’d wake up. Metal had no interest in such an act, still glaring down at his copy.

The shockwave met them next, and Surge covered her ears as it hit them. When she and Metal opened their eyes again they glanced at each other, and then back down at Sonic. After a moment, he stirred, and coughed bitterly. He soon opened his eyes, and stared up at his two doppelgangers in surprise.

“Damn,” Surge tossed her stick behind her, “Guess the fun’s over.”

“Oh boy…” Sonic grunted as he sat up, “What did I do this time?”

Surge just snickered while Metal kept glaring.

---

The line still hadn’t broken at White Park Chateau. Mecha Sonic and Gemerl had joined the force, ensuring there was now no way out for the squeamish fleshbags.

With a blast of energy, everything went white for a second. All of the Chateau’s new windows shattered, and all the bots braced the impact. When they looked up again, they found all of their friends coming to and looking around in confusion.

“What the- eugh!” Rouge stammered, looking at her dress, “What kind of gaudy mess is this?”

“Where am I?” Big asked himself, “Froggy? Froggy, where are you?!”

Vanilla ruffled her hair. Just as she opened her eyes she heard a pair of happy cries behind her. She turned, and smiled with glee as Cheese and Chocola flew into her arms.

“Whisper?! Whisper, are you here?!” Tangle cried out.

She didn’t even get a response, only a tackle hug from left field.

“Ow…” Lanolin rubbed her head.

“Uff…I’m gonna feel that in the morning,” Mighty cricked his back.

The pair looked at each other, then down and saw they were holding hands.

“EAUGH!!” Lanolin jumped back, “What the fuck is wrong with you?!”

“The fuck you mean?! I just woke up!!” Mighty spat back.

“STONE!!!” Eggman roared, poking his sycophant in the chest, “I told you to recalibrate the power inhibitors to accommodate for the Amethyst’s power surges!!!”

Blaze rubbed her head and looked around in utter confusion. She had only just registered the snow under her feet when she heard a voice.

“Hurry on! Hurry on!! I wanna see her!”

“Easy, easy!!” Belle yelped, “We don’t wanna crash land in a snowbank!”

“Sure we do! It’d be a fair dinkum hoot!”

Blaze looked up in surprise, and saw a little Motobug fly in. On his back was Belle, and behind her sat a familiar face in a cowboy outfit, sans a hat.

“Marine?!”

“Blaze!!” Marine cheered.

She jumped over Belle, literally, and dove right into Blaze’s arms.

“I did it!!” she squealed, on the verge of tears, “I saved you!!”

Blaze didn’t know what she meant by that, but she hugged the raccoon tightly anyway.

“Yes…yes you did.”

The Scrapniks all began excitedly approaching the group and telling them all what had happened. Mecha Sonic and Gemerl stood back, just watching the commotion happily. Gemerl looked up at his partner and gently held his claw.

“How do you feel?”

Mecha looked down and slapped his head with a chuckle.

“Great…Heh, Sonic says he got his ass kicked…”

Gemerl nodded understandingly. They stared at each other for another moment before Mecha grabbed Gemerl by the waist and hoisted him up, pressing his face against his. Gemerl leaned into his touch, and held Mecha’s chin gracefully.

Nearby, Mecha Knuckles rolled his eyes.

“Get a room-m-m-m you t-t-two,” he muttered.

---

Inside the chateau, Espio struggled to pull his head up in order to take in his surroundings. He almost instantly locked on to the beaten up Silver next to him, horrified.

“Silver?! Silver?!! Speak to me, honey!!”

Silver just moaned pitifully.

“I feel like I’ve been run over…” he muttered.

Espio sighed with relief, and collapsed into his partner’s fur.

“Same…”

---

Shadow had just finished tying Clutch’s arms behind his back when he turned and saw the shockwave spread through the sky. His eyes widened and he smiled elatedly. In an instant, he got low and boosted away from the prison. He reached Spiral Hill in a nanosecond, and beamed as he saw Tikal standing at the top of the tower.

She let her arms down, and the Chaos Emerald gently floated to the ground. The Amnestic Amethyst had been eradicated in the reaction, not even leaving tiny purple bits to scatter in the wind.

To Shadow’s horror, though, the laser cannon suddenly collapsed. Tikal fell forwards and off of the tower. Before he could catch her she faceplanted hard onto the cold grass. He kneeled down next to her just as the cannon crashed behind them.

“Tikal?!!” he screamed, “Are you okay?!”

“Mhm…” Tikal hummed, muffled by a face full of grass. She even pulled a thumbs up just to seal the deal.

Shadow sighed, then scowled angrily down at her.

“Why the hell did you do that?! You could have at least turned ‘ghostly’ to lessen the impact!”

She meekly pulled her head up, eyes still closed.

“Shadow, I haven’t slept in days,” she rested her face back in the grass, “Just let me lie here and have a nap…”

Shadow stared for a moment. He didn’t even realize that he hadn’t had a break since the start of this adventure. He snickered softly, and moved himself to sit down next to Tikal.

“Mind if I join you?”

“Please do…We’ve earned it…”

Shadow nodded, and leaned back to lay down on the soft grass. He closed his eyes, and together he and Tikal fell asleep.