Hi all, Neizd87 here! I finally decided to publish my first story here (finally snapped) :D In advance sorry for any mistakes, english is not my native language, but I tried my best AND got a LOT of help from TheWhyteRabbyt and Stormsong7 so this story is dedicated to them :)

Anyway on with the story, hope you like it, and if not, then feel free to post reviews in both cases!

It was a very quiet night on Mobius prime… the hour was late and the sound of wind moving through blades of grass was the only thing that anyone could hear. Of course, on rare occasions, one could also hear an old owl or a small bug passing by but otherwise the night was dead silent.

In the night like this, there in this endless darkness one would assume that most sapient creatures would be asleep, and while it was mostly true for a lot of them, there was one single entity that didn't sleep… it didn't need to perform such meaningless activities.

The lone and prideful warrior, the dark hero of Mobius, stood motionless on a cliff while scanning the surroundings with his ruby eyes. Shadow the Hedgehog , the one called The Ultimate Life-Form, the agent of G.U.N, had better things to do than lie in a warm bed while reliving the nightmares from his past. He knew that he was supposed to leave it all behind him, but the echoes of the past are not so easy to forget. In this situation he decided he would do the only thing he could do and that was to occupy himself with work. He didn't need to sleep if he didn't want to and there was always a lot of missions ready for him. In this way, not only did he make his life easier by not returning to his dark memories from Ark, but also found a way to help the world that he promised to protect at all cost.

In short…that was his one and only reason to stand alone on a cliff in the middle of the night while overlooking one of Dr. Ivo Robotnik's bases. He had received intel that there was recently some unusual activity in this old fortress of the mad doctor…but as he kept looking more and more, he started to become bored. There was nothing. No trace of the doctor, not even one moving robot.

Maybe the intel was wrong. If it's Eggman it wouldn't be this silent, he thought to himself, looking at his communicator, which showed 1:00 AM. It was late, and since it was autumn, the sky was already dark.
I should probably go back to base and report everything to Commander since all of those sleepless night are getting to me. I may be the Ultimate life form, but it doesn't mean I don't have to sleep at all… once a week is a must. While the thought ran through his head, he spun around and started walking forward while uttering well-known words…
"Chaos… Control…"
He vanished in a small flash of light. Unknown to him, there was another small flash… the reflection in the optic lens of a hidden camera…

"Mwahahaha… Shadow… you don't have even the smallest idea what's coming up." The old, fat man with round glasses on his eyes laughed maniacally. Dr. Eggman sat as always in his chair, looking at computer screens while adding the final touch to his newest plan. All was coming together well; G.U.N didn't suspect a thing, nor did the Freedom Fighters or anyone else. The Guardian Units of Nations thought they actually had some info about him and his operations… when in truth they were chasing ghosts in his empty bases. All he had to do was to install some hidden cameras that would help him track their movement while moving around undetected with his project.

"The filters are in place. Soon we can begin the final tests." Another voice, very much like his own, came from behind the mad scientist.

"I see. Good. The faster we work, the sooner we can rid ourselves of those annoying heroes that always foil our plans. Don't you agree, Dr. Eggman?" Dr. Ivo Robotnik replied in the direction of the mysterious voice that came out of the shadows.

"It's Dr. Eggman Nega my dear ally, and yes. Soon we shall get rid of all of those annoying pests and then our worlds will bow before our joined genius!" He started to laugh but was soon interrupted by his counterpart from Mobius Prime.

"Are the emeralds safe? It would be a shame if 'Princess' manages to track them down. We don't need…" Dr. Eggman started but his speech was shortly cut off by his other self.

"Everything is good. That damn cat won't be able to track Sol emeralds… and besides: it will take her some more time before she will find a way to this dimension." Dr. Eggman Nega calmly stated with his arrogant voice, one hundred percent sure about his own plan.

"Still…the sooner we finish the better," said Eggman while smiling from ear to ear, playing with his moustache. -And then I can get rid of you and be the only ruler of two dimensions or more, he added in his mind, knowing all the time that his counterpart was thinking exactly the same thing… but no matter. He will outsmart his other self. After all, he was great Dr. Ivo Robotnik, with IQ over 300.

The big vortex of swirling blue energy and occasional, crackling electrical discharges wasn't exactly the safest way to travel. The purple feline knew that very well from the start, but what other possibility did she have? Blaze the cat, princess and guardian of sol emeralds looked at the portal that would take her to Sonic's dimension. Her goal? To recover lost sol emeralds so her world wouldn't fall apart. The cat let out a heavy sigh; I wonder how many more times I will have to cross the dimensions, before I will finally be able to have a moment of peace. As she was thinking to herself, Gordon approached her from behind.

"Princess, some of our guards—along with myself—would like to assist you with recovering the jewels this time. We know it is your sole duty as their guardian, but we also know that we can't rely on you all the time," he spoke as Blaze turned slowly to him, giving him a small smile.

"Thank you Gordon, but as you said: it is my duty. I cannot put your lives in danger because of my carelessness. I was the one that let Eggman Nega take them away, so I should be the one to recover them."

In truth, Blaze would love to let others take care of this matter. She was tired and she knew it. Being a ruler had its duties…a lot of them… but being a guardian made it so that she practically didn't have any time for herself. All she ever knew was fighting or governing over others. Due to that, she never had any true friends before, didn't know anything about girly stuff and so on. It's no use to be angry about it now. I may not even know how to cook but who cares? I need to do what I can do, and that is to get the sol emeralds back.

With those words in her head, the brave princess set foot on the brown earth and started slowly walking toward the portal. She could fell its energy on her fur, her ponytail swirling before the mighty wind coming at her in full force, but she had no intention on stopping. There was only one goal in her mind and that was to get back what was hers, or her world—and every living being in it—would be destroyed. She could hear Gordon yelling after her, wishing her good luck. He always did this and it was what gave her strength to go forward. It wasn't for her… but for others… and that's why she always won and was able to move forward. Gordon's voice stopped after a while and all she could see was white accompanied with the feeling of falling. She hated that the most; it reminded her of the heights that she was so much afraid of. Her last thoughts echoed in her head, I wonder If I can meet some of my allies… I still have to thank Shadow for helping me last time.

After that she felt her head burst and images started to flow into her mind. She saw Eggman and his reflection in the mirror, grinning like mad making her angry… She saw a large tower in the distance and masses of poor people before it pleading for something, filling her with hopelessness… She saw an empty, old room that made her heart break… and she saw how everything around her shattered to pieces, but she wasn't able to grasp any emotions…only the feeling of grass under her, when she got out on the other side. She arrived on Mobius Prime, still breathing heavy. She looked at the blue sky and clouds slowly drifting. She touched the red jewel on her forehead and massaged it in with eyes wide open – What was that…?

To be continued...