Shadow woke up to Silver the Hedgehog standing in front of him. "Silver. How- what are you doing here?"
"I've been looking for Sonic." Silver said. "But I found you instead. The future is...complicated."
Shadow was irritated. "In that case, why don't you just travel back and fix this?"
"It's not that simple." Silver said. "First of all, I'd need to know where Mons actual performed the experiment, and secondly, the future doesn't turn out...all bad."
Shadow debated if what he was going to ask was a good idea, but curiosity won out in his mind. "Well, considering Mobius is one bad day away from total collapse- what can you tell me about the future?"
Silver sighed exasperatedly. "I suppose I have to tell you about the future, or someone here is going to take matters into their own hands and find a way to undo everything. Right now, Mobius is in a state of emergency. Eventually, those that were forcefully brought to Mobius assist in it's restoration. We enter a new technological age. However, a rouge squad Freedom Fighters attempt to undo the harmony between worlds, and attempt to travel back in time, just as I'm warning you against. Sonic and I work together in the future to stop them. The alterations in time free the villain Mephiles, and he wages terrible war against Mobius. You, Shadow, land the finishing blow that stops Mephiles and saves Mobius. You become publicly associated with Gazelle, and Zootopia loves you. And eventually, she does too."
That shocked Shadow.
"I don't know what kind of sick joke you think this is, Silver, but I take the fate of our planet very seriously!"
Silver was unphased. "As do I. Everything I've told you is true, believe it or not. That is the future that awaits. But I've sensed alterations in the timeline. It's become uncertain. If the events of the experiment are undone-"
"If they are undone, it would return millions back to their homes." Shadow retorted.
Silver sighed. "I can't stop you, Shadow. I know what you're thinking of doing. I'm asking you to consider."
What Shadow was, in fact, thinking of doing, as Silver had guessed, was using his speed to move so fast that he could enter the timestream and travel backwards in time. The only obstacle was that Shadow was simply not fast enough to pull such a trick off.
"What stops me from doing it in the future?" Shadow asked.
"I do, at this moment, by telling you the future. It's a time loop- you get this point and are about to attempt time travel, when I come back from the future and tell you what life is like. In doing so, you never travel in time, and the future I came from is created. It's a closed loop, likely set in motion by the experiment.
Shadow shook his head. "The experiment didn't manipulate time. That's been someone else's work. Silver, I know there's someone else involved. If there's anything you know, please-"
"Eggman." Silver said flatly. "Eventually, Mons is proven innocent. Eggman, alive, turns out to the real culprit, and attacks Mobius. He has a partner, Deadlocke. Deadlocke betrays Eggman and takes over his army, killing thousands of innocents. But after his defeat, there is peace. Deadlocke is believed to have been able to travel throughout time, though he did so sparingly, only tweaking precise moments. He's likely who's been causing the manipulations you've noticed."
Shadow's mouth hung open in shock. "I have to find Deadlocke." Silver shook his head. "You try, Shadow. All of us do. But we never find him. I'm sorry. Not until he's already killed thousands."
Silver began to fly away. "I've told you our future, Shadow. It rests in your hands now."
Shadow couldn't believe what he had just been told. Deadlocke? Mephiles? A relationship with Gazelle?
Could that really be what the future held?
I hope you enjoyed this quick chapter! This is here to balance the plots and give Shadow's some extra time.