Now I'm not overly fussy about my appearance. I try to keep my spines in check, and I keep myself clean, and I only wearing one type of sneakers, mostly because they're the only ones that can handle my speed, but otherwise I'm not too fussed. However, looking in the reflection and seeing Shadow looking back was slightly more than alarming.
Sonic continued to look aghast in the mirror. Staring back at him was the familiar face of Shadow the Hedgehog. However, as Sonic was sure, Shadow was a fox like Dawn was. Sonic was suddenly struck with an identity crisis in his mind. He took a step back to take his reflection on the mirrored glass of the offices windows. The red and black spikes, the white patch of fur, even the hover shoes. They were all exactly how Shadow the Fox would look if she was a male hedgehog. However, Sonic recognised this face from more than just his imagination, he knew this face.
It was a beeping car horn that made Sonic jump forwards. The hedgehog had unwittingly stepped into the road, and his own reactions had managed to avoid him from being road kill. Sonic finally broke eye contact with the reflected image of Shadow, and decided it was time for some answers. Sonic tried to break into a sprint, and found running on hover skates to be exceptionally difficult, but with a bit of practice the now black hedgehog got the hang of it.
Sonic made a decision to go to Tails. He couldn't trust Dawn if she was sided with Eggman, and he still didn't trust Amy fully. Even if he did, he had no idea what had happened to her since the sudden disappearance of the factory. However, as Sonic had noted from his brief stint of running in that odd way Shadow did; he didn't actually know where he was. Was it possible, Sonic thought, that he had been teleported by Chaos Control.
"Wait," Sonic said to himself, "Chaos Control? What on Earth is that? Shadow always used Sol Control to teleport didn't he? I mean she!" Sonic said angrily with himself. He held his face in his paw and shook his head out of frustration. Sonic was confused now, "Shadow is a female fox, like Dawn is" he said again to himself to clarify his confusion.
Sonic kept running in that daft skating motion. He thought it looked ridiculous when Shadow did it, but wearing the hover shoes, he suddenly understood why Shadow ran like that. However, the more Sonic ran, the more he realised that his surroundings, although similar looking to what he knew, didn't look right. Sonic couldn't put his finger on it, but everything looked disjointed and skewed. It wasn't technically wrong, and Sonic knew where he was, it just didn't look correct. Buildings seemed a little taller, maybe a tree was a different type; Sonic couldn't be sure.
It had taken half an hour for Sonic to find Tails' house. Sonic had apparently got his numbers mixed up, as the number he thought Tails lived at was lived in by three hawks. The youngest of the hawks, Tony had asked for an autograph, and was naturally puzzled when he read the name Sonic. Sonic however didn't have time to explain, and he dashed off to Tails'.
"Shadow," Tails said surprised," What brings you here?"
"Tails, it's me Son- Wait, you recognise me as Shadow?" Sonic asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"Err, why wouldn't I?" Tails asked inquisitively. Sonic could see the worry on Tails' face as he asked.
"Because for one li'l buddy," Sonic said, shocking himself by saying 'li'l buddy'. Sonic shock his head and continued, "I'm actually Sonic, and two, Shadow's a Fox like Dawn and…" Sonic trailed off. For a second he was going to say that Tails was also a fox, but Sonic could see plain as day that Tails was a two tailed cat. Sonic did another double take at this. He recalled a conversation he'd had the other day with Tails, and remembered making that very comment.
"And what?" Tails asked. Tails looked very confused now.
"I … I don't know Tails," Sonic said really nervously, "It doesn't make sense."
"What doesn't Shadow?" Tails said again.
"I'm not Shadow!" Sonic screamed angrily, "And you're not a cat, you're a fox, an eight year old fox. Only you're not, as you're twenty seven, and Dawn's my fiancée and Amy isn't really real. Knuckles is male, and there's no such thing as Julie Su. I'm not Shadow, I'm Sonic the hedgehog, I don't know who the other Sonic is," the hedgehog continued to rant, "but he is not me! I am me, I am Sonic the Hedgehog, I save the world from Dr Robotnik!"
Tails blinked a couple of times, and watched the black hedgehog calm down a bit, before asking what he was wondering "Whose Robotnik?"
"Who's Robotnik?" Sonic said almost laughing, "Robotnik is my enemy. He's the Eggman. He's done something Tails, and nobody can remember it. He killed me, and took me prisoner, and he's teleported away a whole factory from an office block. He even saved my life from the very doctor he'd sent to kill me."
Tails had heard enough to make up his mind. He'd humoured the black hedgehog long enough, and now he intended to make it very obvious that he wasn't up for it anymore, "So Robotnik killed you?" he asked calmly.
"Yes," came the reply.
"But you're alive now Shadow?" Tails asked, catching the glare from the hedgehog.
"Yes," came a disgruntled reply.
"Do you not see why I can't believe you?"
"He's got to you!" Sonic shouted again, "He's messed with you."
"I think its best you calm down," Tails said in a tone Sonic thought was slightly sinister. Sonic felt a sudden jab in his arm, and he noticed Tails remove a needle, just before everything went black.
Sonic woke up a couple of hours later. He was in a white cell again. However, unlike the last one, Sonic noticed that this cell was padded. Sonic tried to get up off the floor, but found his arms couldn't move. Looking down he noticed a clean white straight jacket. Sonic sighed, and collapsed on the floor. He looked to the ceiling. Perhaps he had lost his marbles, he thought to himself.
"I mean how could Tails be both an eight year old cat, and a twenty seven year old fox? How could he have both one tail and two tails?" he mused to himself, "How can there be two of me, and how can I suddenly turn into someone who I remember, yet doesn't exist in this form?"
"Because this isn't real," a voice answered. It was a female voice, Sonic was sure of that, but he couldn't recognise it. The hedgehog tilted his head to the source of the voice, but could only see the door.
"Who are you?" Sonic beckoned out. He listened carefully, but several voices all came at once. Sonic was aware of the fact that it was most likely he was in an insane asylum, but finally someone was agreeing with him, and he had to try and hope that whoever it was, was also experiencing what he was, and could help him. Sonic knew it was a long shot, but it was all he had.
"My name's Tikal," the voice said calmly, "and I'm one of the seven servers of the Sol Emeralds."
