Tikal quietly slipped into the Chieftain's chambers after leaving Shadow and Maria. Though the sun had long set, and most of the villagers were finishing up their duties to return home, the Chieftain continued to pore over the documents covering his desk. His guards apparently elsewhere, Tikal watched her father work in silence. Not normally noticeable, the soft light of the torches revealed the effects of time that slowly crept upon him. Wrinkles covered his face, and his beard was rugged.

After a time, he spoke without looking up. "Are you going to greet your father?"

"My apologies," Tikal replied. "I did not want to disturb your work."

"Your presence is never a disturbance," the Chief corrected as he stood. "But the sentiment is appreciated." He walked over to the throne at the back of the room. Instead of sitting down, he pulled two small wooden chairs from behind it and set them in the middle of the room. "Come, sit for awhile so we can talk."

Without hesitation, Tikal approached and sat in a chair opposite her father. The Chieftain sat down second, not forgetting his manners. For as long as Tikal could remember, her father had always strived to make time for her, so that the two of them could talk about whatever troubled them. It allowed Tikal to draw on her father's experience, while also providing the Chieftain a cautionary ear in matters involving the well being of the tribe. He'd always been a good and loving father… it was his leadership skills that Tikal worried about.

"So…" the Chieftain began. "What have you learned about our visitors?"

"Not very much, to be honest. I took the group for a small tour today, and spent the entire day answering a never ending barrage of questions! They are a curious bunch. Maria is what they call a 'hue-man', a race I've never heard of before. The lizard, too, must be a new race, because although he doesn't speak, he can think for himself and asks questions through Shadow, as if they can read each other's mind! Maria has the smoothest hair I've ever felt, and she says it's natural! Oh, and-"

"What about where they come from?" the Chieftain interrupted.

Tikal fell silent. "These people are much smarter than you're giving them credit for, father. Shadow, especially."

"What do you mean," he asked, perplexed, before widening his eyes. "What did you tell them?"

"Shadow knew instinctively that I was hiding something from him. He asked about the legend."

Tikal's father leaned back in his chair and sighed. "And you told him."

"He deserves to know. I know that you plan on keeping him here; he should at least know why."

"Or he'll try to use it as leverage," the Chieftain explained. "We need to find out where he came from quickly, so that-"

"So that you can add more territory to your domain?" Tikal let slip with a bite in her voice.

Her father's true nature as a ruler was no secret to Tikal. Until recently, the Echidna tribes had been spread out, still functioning as separate clans from as far back as the Exodus from their homeland. Believing his purpose was to unite the clans, the Chieftain forcefully conquered the other groups of Echidnas, bringing them all under one banner. Although his excuses could be reasoned as justifiable, Tikal knew her father had become power hungry, and that his only objective was to increase that influence as much as he possibly could. In her heart, Tikal would never be able to forgive him for the pointless power struggle that resulted in the deaths of innocent people, and the banishment of her mother and her tribe.

"So that I can determine whether he is the one we've been waiting for!" the Chieftain shot back. "The Hero that will save our people, and reclaim the Master Emerald!"

"You can't reclaim something that never belonged to you, father." Tikal spoke quietly, knowing her words would fall on deaf ears. "If he is the Hero… what will you do?"

Tikal's father rose from his seat, and walked over to a window near the entrance, looking onward at the peak of the mountain at the island's center. "I will help him fulfill his purpose."

"You can't do that!" Tikal could no longer hold back her words. "The Chao are a peaceful race! They've never done anything to harm you, or anyone else!"

"You doubt the words of our ancestors?" The Chieftain inquired, turning to face her.

Tikal chose her next words carefully, thinking for a moment before she spoke. "I do not doubt the prophecies of our ancestors, father. I merely doubt your interpretation."

"We shall see," the Chieftain walked behind Tikal and grabbed her chair, a signal that their time for talking was over. She stood, allowing her father to return the chairs to their storage. As she walked out, Tikal let loose a brief sigh and spoke a small prayer of protection, for her father, her people, the Chao, and the visitors.

The Chieftain watched his daughter exit before mumbling to himself. "Shadow will help us… or he will suffer the consequences."

"Achoo-!" Shadow sneezed.

"Someone must be talking about you," Maria said with a smile.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Shadow rubbed his head.

"It doesn't?"

"I'd feel better with some Acetaminophen," he continued. "My head is starting to hurt again."

The next day, Tikal walked though the village, heading towards the hut with the Visitors. Though to everyone she seemed calm and collected, in reality her mind was frustrated and fraught with worry.

I need to find out more about Shadow today, no exceptions. Maybe if I show I'm not completely against him, my father will listen to some reason… I can't let myself get distracted for even a second! As she neared the hut, Tikal could clearly see the mass of flesh belonging to the Prototype. He was lying on his side, his underbelly facing inwards towards the hut and with his tough, leathery skin facing outward. As Tikal approached, he lifted his head and nodded in recognition and approval, sliding his tail away to allow entry.

Say, Shadow, where are you from? No, that's too direct… Does anything here remind you of home? Yes, that's better. What's your family like? Could you teach me some techniques for healing? Good, good… Tikal went though several mock conversations as she prepared to enter the front door. Breathing deep, she raised her hand to knock on the door…

…and went straight through as Maria opened the door from the other side. Caught off balance, Tikal fell forward into Maria, knocking both of them to the ground.

"I'm so sorry, Maria!" Tikal crawled back on all fours off of Maria. "I didn't… mean to…" her next words were forgotten as she observed Maria. She was wearing a new outfit, one made by the village's women and extended to suit her height. Her hair was a mess, a tangle of unkempt bed hair and half-attempted braids. The look was so out-of-norm for Maria that Tikal found herself laughing before she could think better of it.

Maria's face flushed a deep red, and she smiled sheepishly. "I don't suppose you could teach me how to braid hair?"

"If the alternative is watching you walk around looking like that, I don't think I have a choice!"

"What's all the noise?" Shadow came into view, his spikes and fur skewed to the left side of his body.

Tikal and Maria looked at Shadow, then back to each other before continuing to laugh. Shadow raised an eyebrow, thoroughly confused.

"Apparently," Tikal answered, "everyone's having a bad hair day. Let me fix you two up!"

An hour later, the three were sitting around the table again. Tikal sat behind Maria, braiding her hair while Shadow followed Tikal's instructions on making hair solvents. The table was covered with exotic fruits, various dead insects, and fine powders from plants. The ingredients formed a paste that Tikal applied directly to Maria's scalp, which, according to Tikal, would relax her hair and hydrate her roots.

After a few minutes of silent work, Maria spoke up. "I almost feel… too comfortable. I can't believe we've already been here over a week. A week…" Saying the words out loud put the situation into perspective all at once. "I miss home," Maria finished.

Tikal was abruptly reminded of her objective, and how easily she'd been sidetracked. She decided to venture a question.

"What's home like, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Did your father tell you to ask us that?" Shadow reversed the question.

"Shadow!" Maria spoke over him sternly.

"She doesn't have to tell me," Shadow unapologetically continued. "I already know the answer. Your father is dangerous, Tikal, and you know it. You shouldn't go along with it if you know he's wrong. You should sta-"

Shadow was cut off by Maria grabbing him by his nose and yanking hard. "There are things you can say, and there are things you can't say, Shadow!" Maria had his horn in a vice grip. Clearly not having expected to have his nose crushed, Shadow gasped for air through his mouth.

"So… you knew…" Maria and Shadow looked over at Tikal, who had tears streaming down her face. "Both of you knew, the whole time…" Mindful of herself, she promptly wiped away the few drops from her face and managed a smile. "I don't know why I expected anything different; I've always been a bad actor. You should have seen me in my childhood plays…"

Tikal was silent for a moment before she stood and composed herself. "I'm sorry for disturbing the two - um… three of you. I'll take my leave."

As soon as she turned her back on them, Shadow called out. "Stop." Tikal froze in place. "Sit, now." Tikal hesitated, then returned to her seat at the table. She stared down, steeling herself for the looks of betrayal and hatred she was sure to receive.

"We come from another world, one very similar to this one. It's called 'Earth'." Shadow began. Tikal looked up, shocked. "In orbit high in the sky above Earth is a haven for scientists to study and create, named Space Colony ARK. It is where Maria was born, and I was created.

"Wait, why are you telling me this?" Tikal blurted out, flustered. "I just admitted to… lying… and following my father's schemes!"

Maria whipped her hand forward with near superhuman speed and grabbed Tikal's nose, causing her to breathe deeply through her mouth as Shadow had moments earlier. "Because you're our friend, silly!"

Friend?... Tikal could feel tears welling up behind her eyes, and shut them to hide it. "Right, how silly of me!" she said lightheartedly.

"Get comfortable; our story is just as long as yours." Shadow warned.

A full hour later, Tikal sat with Shadow and Maria, awed by their story. A floating city, a being created for perfection, and a terrible accident… all of it was fantastical, but lingered in her mind like a half forgotten dream, leaving only a vague sense of familiarity.

"My powers, as incredible as they are, are not perfect." Shadow explained. "I'll need to vent my power soon, or a similar event to last time may occur. I need a way to store my power for future use, if need be."

"Why not use rings?" Tikal suggested. "We could always use help filling our empty rings; we have more than we can afford to store efficiently."

Shadow thought it over before giving a nod. The further he could stay from another catastrophe like last time, the better. The rings wouldn't work forever, but they might do the trick in the meantime.

"And at the same time we try to keep Shadow in check…" Maria added. "we still need to find a way home. Sooner rather than later, if we can."

"You don't know how true that is," Shadow pointed out.

Confused, Maria tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"We don't know how long we've been here. In relation to Earth, I mean."

"You've been here a week." Tikal stated, also confused by Shadow's declaration. Shadow opened his mouth to explain before stopping short.

I need a better way to explain this, he thought to himself. After staring at the two girls from across the table, Shadow had an idea. He walked over to a bucket of water in the corner, and brought it over to the table, positioning it on the shelf behind Tikal. "Maria, whose hair would you say is longer? Yours or Tikal's?"

"Well, mine, right?" Maria held her hair up to Tikal's for comparison. "See, my hair's about a whole foot and a half longer."

"Oh?" Shadow feigned surprise. "Tikal, would you do me a favor and sit back?" Tikal agreed, and Shadow dipped a lock of her hair into the water. Drawing from his well of power quite easily, Shadow heated the water in the bucket until it began steaming. Careful not to burn Tikal, he sifted his fingers through her hair, probing into hard to reach spaces with tendrils of power, unknotting and untwisting the tangled mess of hair. After about thirty seconds, and satisfied with his work, Shadow withdrew her hair from the water.

Tikal's lock of orange hair had gone from a complex dreadlock maze to perfectly straight, well groomed hair in no time at all.

"Now who's is longer?" Shadow asked. After comparing again, Maria was astonished to find that Tikal's hair was actually four inches longer than hers!

Shadow held up a strand of each of their hairs. "These hairs are the flow of time in each of our different worlds. Although they run parallel, they don't necessarily share the same path. Tikal's hair, or one week of Angel Island Time, is represented by this one strand. Just a moment ago, though, this strand was twisted and curled, and only went down to her shoulders. Maria's hair represents one week of Earth Time, and is straight.

"Even though we've already experienced a week here on Angel Island, it may have only been a few hours, or even a few seconds in our time. The reverse could also be true, where we've already been gone hundreds of years. It all depends on where the 'wrinkles in time' are. If we want to get back to where we started, we need to find a way home fast. Otherwise…"

Silence descended as the weight of Shadow's words fell on Tikal. These two may never get to go home… at least, not to a home they recognize. She could feel her guilt from earlier compounding inside her chest, and mentally kicked herself for being so inconsiderate of how much Shadow and Maria must want to return home.

"Well, no good's going to come from worrying about it!" Maria broke the silence. "I'm more interested in your inner hairstylist, Shadow."

"My… my what?" Shadow stammered, dumbfounded.

"Look at Tikal's hair! This is amazing!" Maria exclaimed as she held up Tikal's straightened hair. "She told us herself that she spent two weeks trying to uncurl her hair, and you did it in thirty seconds!" Tikal, as well, had to admit that she was impressed, and was secretly extremely pleased at the prospect of having a head of straightened hair.

"Now… do the rest of it." Maria continued.

"I must have used up too much of my power," Shadow lied through his teeth. "I'm feeling tired all of a sudden. I think I'll go lay…"

With a speed that made Tikal do a double take, Maria grabbed Shadow's ear as he tried to ease his way past her to the bed. "Not a chance, Mr. Stylist. You're going to finish what you started."

Shadow sighed briefly, then sat down behind Tikal and got to work.

On Space Colony ARK, Professor Gerald Robotnik descended with a security detail to the bottom of the hole in the station via a make shift lift. Only forty-five minutes prior, the entire Chaos Laboratory had ceased to exist, along with any backups and the experiments themselves. Although it was a significant loss, the experiments were the furthest thing from Gerald's mind.

Where is my granddaughter? Where is Shadow?

Security teams had already confirmed that both Shadow and Maria had been within the radius of the phenomenon via security camera footage, and although no one else was suspected to be in the area, the security team was currently doing full head counts of all staff and personnel. Gerald didn't care about anyone else, though. The two most important things in his life were gone, and his top priority now was to find out exactly what happened.

Upon reaching the bottom of the spherical wound in the colony, the professor immediately noticed several things that were off. The lack of residue was uncanny. Although the edges where the station disappeared were scorched black, there was no ash, dust, or rubble.

Mass cannot be created or destroyed… if the laboratory didn't get burned to ashes, where did it go? A light chirp from his radio communicator interrupted his thoughts. Gerald quickly answered it.

"Robotnik."

"Grandfather!" a young voice came over the radio.

"Ivan? What is it? I thought I asked you to…"

"I know; that's what I'm calling about. You asked me to check and see if any of the other scientist's projects could cause an event like this, possibly if combined with the experiment's power."

"Did you find anything?"

"No. Well… yes. Sort of."

"Sort of?"

"You know Professor Graham? He's working on a project to monitor exotic particles created by particle accelerators."

"Yes, I know of him," Gerald ran through his memory. "He requisitioned the particle accelerator that runs along the outside of the colony, correct?"

"Graham just happened to be running a simulation when the event happened. He managed to record a significant spike in foreign and known exotic particles, the prominent of which were… p-branes!"

Gerald breathed in sharply, not wanting to fool himself into a false sense of hope, but also still overjoyed at the possibility the discovery of exotic particles presented.

"So in other words…" the Professor summarized, "they may not be dead. They may be…"

"In a parallel dimension," Ivan finished.