The Genesis of a Generation
"Only the shallow know themselves."
Notes: We're chuggin', chuggin' right along to the top. Soon enough, we'll reach the peak…
Shadow was a lot of things, but afraid wasn't one of them.
Nevertheless, even he couldn't help but try to get away when attacked. He was never afraid. He just acted out of self-preservation, not fear.
His small bout of delusion was cut short as Dr. Eggman shot at him again, clipping the quills on his back. He made a sound that was most definitely not a yelp, and dove forward, throwing his hands over his head in a feeble attempt to protect his skull. Dirt rained down around and on top of him and he grunted to himself as he rolled to the left when he heard the high pitched whine of the canon discharging again. Seconds later, the bright bolt of white slammed into the ground right where he had just previously been cowering, making his fur crackle at the close proximity.
Quickly, he reached behind his back and dug the yellow Emerald from between his quills. Still dodging Eggman's attacks, he focused on the Energy radiating from the gem and narrowed his eyes in preparation for Chaos Control.
However, before he could flicker away, the human's weapon slammed into the middle of his chest, knocking yhe wind out of his lungs and sending him crashing onto his back, the Emerald flying out of his grasp. It skittered away, rolling over itself, before stopping a few feet away.
Shadow wasn't too concerned with the Emerald however. He was preoccupied by the giant black hole of pain sitting right where he had been hit. He curled in on himself, imitating an actual hedgehog, and gasped out a very nasty word, before gritting his teeth and struggling to stand.
He only got as far as his knees before the gun fired again. He barely dodged this time, throwing himself – and grunting when his chest protested - to the right and rolling once before using his momentum to get completely to his feet. He could feel himself weakening with every step he took, his breath coming quicker than he was used to and his vision swimming in a way that was almost alien to him, and he knew that he didn't have a chance against the human unless he could get his hands on that Emerald.
Swiftly, he jerked his whole body to the left, darting back the way he had come, his sharp eyes searching for the yellow gem in the dark of dawn. He easily found it and swooped down to grab it, immediately trying to do Chaos Control as soon as his hands wrapped around it.
However the Emerald simply sparked against his gloved palm, unable to flood his system with Energy and transport him, as if something was blocking it. He skidded to a stop, uncaring that Eggman's machine was right behind him, and stared stupidly down at his fisted hand, trying to understand what was going on.
"Hoho, Shadow!" Doctor Eggman crowed in a voice he usually saved for Sonic. "Unable to use that Emerald to save yourself? How unfortunate – for you!" He cackled, throwing his head back and slamming his hands down, fingers splayed on the control panel of the Egg-O-Matic. The machine looked no differently than it usually did, but, somehow, it could fire off a beam of bright energy, as if it had a canon shoved into its interior
"Save that simpering tone for Sonic, doctor," Shadow hissed, pressing a hand to his chest. "You do not scare me."
"Of course," the human agreed, waving off his adversary, "nothing scares my grandfather's great Ultimate Lifeform…" He trailed off before leaning forward and grinning a grin so huge, Shadow could almost see the remnants of the man's last meal, "until now." He laughed again, though it was a bit more controlled this time.
"You have no idea what you're dealing with, human," Shadow said simply in a low, dark tone, his eyes somehow flat and fiery at the same time.
"Perhaps…" Eggman retorted, waving his hand again, "perhaps not." He smiled forebodingly at the black creation. "I know what I'm capable of, however."
"Only the shallow know themselves," Shadow retorted, clenching his hand impulsively around the Emerald as he looked down at it. "What is it that you seek, doctor?" He moved the yelled conversation back on track, disliking how his vision was starting to darken around the edges.
"Why, the huge amount of Chaos Energy inside of your body!" the human yelled, sweeping his hand out in a grand gesture toward the black and red figure. "You are the final piece in my plan! The lynchpin as it were; you should feel honored."
"Excuse me while I gather my glee," came the clipped, flat reply.
"The beam that I've been shooting at you sucks the Chaos Energy out of anything that it touches, including carbon-based life forms!" The human ignored Shadow's sharp response and plowed forward. "Right now, I'm sure you can feel the effects… The hole in your chest, the weakness in your limbs, the swimming vision… Soon enough, all of your energy will be depleted and I will just have to collect your unconscious body! The Emerald will just be a bonus prize!"
Ignoring the human's maniacal laughter, Shadow forced his eyes to leave their widened position, schooling his features into a blank face. His mind was whirling though, trying to figure out how to get away and save himself, but, he couldn't deny the pain that was radiating from his chest, eating away at his energy reserves. His Inhibitor Rings hummed as they tried to hold back the sucking force, but even they were failing to keep his inner balance in check, and he could feel his limbs getting heavier and his eyelids drooping dangerously low… His priorities shifted. He needed to get the Emerald to Sonic. As much as he hated the faker, he knew how to control the Emeralds, and he was pretty sure that they had the other six at this point. Besides, the hedgehog having it was better than the human getting his grubby hands on it.
Shadow's mind ticked over possible ways to get the gem to the Mystic Ruins. It wasn't that far away – just through Station Square and over the canal… Suddenly, his eyes widened and he jerked to the right, ignoring Eggman for a few seconds. A pair of bright green eyes stared at him from the bushes, and he immediately knew what he needed to do.
Gritting his teeth, he darted away, activating his shoes as he went. The jets powered on, propelling him forward much faster than he could have on his own, and he skated away, putting as much distance as he could between Eggman and himself. The owner of the eyes followed him, sprinting at full speed a few feet behind him. Eventually, when they were far enough away, the artificial creation bent down and held the Emerald out to his companion. It stared up at him with huge, confused eyes, and he offered it a small, reassuring smile.
"It's alright. I need you to take this to the Mystic Ruins…" An incomprehensive stare answered him. "Take this to Sonic…" he floundered for a few seconds before his mind kicked back on and he smiled again. "Tails, you remember Tails?"
The eyes brightened and the feline quickly darted forward and latched its jaws around the point of the gemstone, somehow managing to keep a hold of the smooth surface. Shadow sighed thankfully when it left his possession.
His ears quirked as the distinct sound of jets met them. – Eggman was getting closer. Quickly, he reached under the cat's collar and pulled out a small square of folded paper – stashed there for instances such as this – and yanked a pen from nowhere from his quills. Hastily, he scribbled a message before shoving the paper back where he had found it. He then shooed the cat away with a "Go, Mr. Snuffles. Stay safe." and it sped off at full speed, moving through the underbrush with ease and grace.
Shadowed watched the cat run off and then turned to face the egg-shaped human, his face determined. Shadow the Ultimate Lifeform would not go down without a fight, no matter how weak or disadvantaged he was. He was not afraid of anything, especially Dr. Eggman.
o0o
…Six hours later…
"Since when does this place have a sign that says 'Camp Sonic' out in front?" a twenty year old voice demanded as its owner threw himself across the couch, draping his legs carelessly on the lap of his younger self, who had been relaxing on said couch all morning. The smaller hedgehog scowled and pushed at the blue appendages, sending them falling to the floor, though the elder simply replaced them seconds later. A tiny sigh.
"Technically, it should say 'Camp Tails,'" the elder fox corrected as he slammed a tray of refreshments on the coffee table a little too forcefully. "This is my workshop." He grabbed two soda cans off the tray and tossed them toward the two hedgehogs, who both easily caught them. "And, I'm the one that has to constantly run into Station Square to keep getting supplies, because certain individuals feel like they need to eat me out of house and home."
The elder hedgehog hummed his agreement while he easily flicked his index finger on the top of the can before opening it with a smooth crack and taking a gulp. His younger counterpart did the same, though his efforts were rewarded with a spray of brown liquid hitting him in the face. He scowled down at his can before setting his future incarnation with a glare that read 'how do you do that?'. Sonic shrugged at the smaller hedgehog, his grin a mile wide. "Age and practice, young grasshopper," he chuckled, watching as a drop of soda dripped off the ten year old's black nose.
"I'm sorry if we're intruding, Tails," the younger Knuckles offered, ignoring the hedgehogs' sidebar, "but Shadow's abduction has got us all on edge."
"Yeah, whatever," Tails sighed as he spun on his heel and marched out of the room, his back rigged and his tails whipping.
Sonic took a deep gulp of his drink before sending a sharp glare at the echidna sitting on the floor. "Really Knux, what's wrong with Angel Island? Not safe enough for you all of the sudden?"
"Look," the elder red one cut in, passing his younger self a meaningful look, "this is Shadow we're talking about. The fact that Eggman got him would make anyone worry. Angel Island floats above the planet; imagine what would happen if the human decided he wanted the Master Emerald. If he managed to take out Shadow, even with two of me, we'd be pretty screwed. Then, Angel Island would fall to the surface and possibly squash a few innocent people."
"Man, Knuckles, way to have faith in your abilities," the younger hedgehog retorted, hiding his smile behind his drink.
"I'm just being realistic, hedgehog!" both echidnas snapped as one, their eyes flashing dangerously. "I mean, I know it's a trait that you don't possess, but it would do you some good to think that way sometimes." the elder finished, rolling his eyes.
"Being realistic is overrated," the twenty year old replied, rolling his eyes and sinking lower into the couch cushions, inadvertently shoving even more of his legs onto his younger self. "Besides, you're giving Shadow too much credit. Faker relies too much on Chaos Control. If he knew how to run and get out of messy situations, he probably wouldn't be in trouble now."
Knuckles looked ready to retort, but Sonic cut him off by throwing the rest of his drink back, twisting his upper body toward the back of the couch, and lobbing the can toward the opposite side of the room. It hit its intended target dead on, bouncing off a metallic colored skull with a hollow sound. "What about you Silver?" the hedgehog questioned with an easy smile, oblivious to Silver's dangerous mutterings or the way he was rubbing his head. "What are you still doing here?"
"I'm here to ensure that the events of this time period follow the predetermined timeline so that the futu-" He was cut off.
"And, Blaze is here." Sonic grinned toward his younger self, shoving his two hands together to create a heart shape. The smaller hedgehog returned the smile and leaned back so he could peer at Silver around the side of the couch, his eye ridges raised suggestively.
The hedgehog from the future reddened, and he ducked his head, hiding his blushing cheeks. Seconds later, a purple face popped into their field of vision, her eyes glaring.
"Quit it, Sonic," she ordered, resting a hand on Silver's head to calm him. Somehow, his face managed to plunge into a deeper shade of red. "Silver just wants to help."
"Sure, sure," the elder hedgehog waved off Blaze's admonishment, his grin somehow widening. "But, seriously, don't you guys have your own place to stay at? Tails is going to have a heart attack if we spill something on the carpet in here again."
"To be fair," a deep voice muttered, and everyone present turned to watch as Espio flickered into view next to the echidnas, his arms crossed and his eyes closed, "the last time it happened, it was Tails' fault."
"I heard that!" A thirteen year old voice filtered in from the next room. "And it was not my fault!"
Espio didn't show emotion very often, but Sonic seriously thought he saw exasperation float across the chameleon's features, though he could have been imaging things. "Your younger self," came his simple answer.
Tails must have ignored him, because he didn't answer after that, and the sound of the door to the Workshop slamming sounded a few seconds later. Eventually, the little incarnation of the fox wandered in, and he settled himself on the floor with his back against his older brother's legs. The younger hedgehog didn't seem happy about that.
"So," the adolescent hedgehog started after an awkward silence, "what are we gonna do about Shadow?"
"Right now, we're waiting for Mechanic's scopes to pick up where Eggman is so we can go get him," Tiny Tails answered, leaning his head back so he could look up at his big brother.
"How'd you find out anyway?" Sonic asked of his older self, satisfied with Tails' answer.
"Rouge," was the simple response, and the elder shifted, accidentally kicking the ten year old in the stomach. "She said that G.U.N. sent her to get him for a mission or something and he was gone. Can't find him anywhere."
Little Sonic made a show of wiggling his way free from his older self's legs, pushing Tails out of the way in the process, before replying. "How can we be sure that Robotnik got him?" As he spoke, the four year old sent him an acidic look and crawled onto the newly vacated cushion, ignoring the annoyed sound the elder hedgehog made. "I mean, from what I've heard about G.U.N., they're not exactly the best at keeping track of Shadow…"
"We can't," came the clipped reply, and the twenty year old leaned down, grabbed the small fox around the middle, and hoisted him up so he was sitting on his stomach. He then replaced his legs onto the couch, this time unhindered by the body of a past incarnation, "which is why I don't understand why everyone who doesn't belong here decided to set up camp in my living room."
"Do you want to go over this again, hedgehog?" Knuckles replied, finally getting annoyed enough to stand up and tower over the horizontal hedgehog on the couch in a play of strength. Sonic simply smirked at him with an eye ridge raised, his hand moving to rest on the head of the younger version of his little brother. The fox relaxed into the touch, gaining protection from the strong hand – behind him, little Sonic scowled and threw himself onto the vacant recliner, crossing his arms in the process. "We're here because there's something up, and I'd rather have Angel Island on the surface when it explodes in your smug, blue face."
Sonic raised his hands in a placating gesture, though the meaning was lost when his smirk deepened. "Okay, Knux, jeeze, don't worry yourself into a coma."
"Can I add something?" Silver offered, and Sonic waved his hand over the back of the sofa to give him permission. "Even if G.U.N. isn't that good at tracking Shadow, you should still be concerned that Rouge told you about it. That means that she couldn't find him either."
The whole room was struck silent at the time traveler's words, and Sonic whistled through his teeth. "Good point, Silver."
A crashing sound cut off whatever reply the metallic hedgehog was going to make, and Sonic sat up quickly – albeit carefully to keep from upending the fox still lazing on his stomach – his ears at the ready. He barely caught sight of something flash past the kitchen window before Tails darted out of the Workshop and yanked open the side door.
"Tails…" Sonic called, tone masking something that the rest of the room couldn't quite identify, "what was that?" The hedgehog carefully placed the four year old on the floor so he could rise, and he zipped toward the kitchen, halting in the doorway.
Suddenly, a streak of black and white exploded out of the kitchen. It tackled Sonic's face and did a very nice impression of an Olympic gymnast as it used his muzzle for a spring board, sending the hedgehog crashing to the ground as his center of balance was thrown off. He slammed into the floor roughly, enabling his attacker to dart into the den, straight toward the little fox.
Tails squealed when the blur reached him, knocking him over as well. However, he wrapped his arms around the assailant and giggled, struggling upwards so he could sit. The small attacker was revealed to be a black and white cat and it was currently rubbing the side of its face against the child's face, purring so loudly that Silver and Blaze could hear it across the room.
"Mr. Snuffles!" Tiny Tails called happily, hugging the feline close. "What're you doing here?!"
"I thought I got rid of that thing," Sonic mumbled into his glove as he rubbed his face. He accepted Tails' offered hand and allowed the fox to pull him to his feet, nodding toward Chip when he noticed the small god floating above Tails' shoulder.
"Shoving it off on Shadow does not count as 'getting rid of,' Sonic." Knuckles was still a little hurt that the blue one had tossed his present to Tails away like that, and his tone portrayed as much.
Sonic chose to ignore him completely, instead rounding on Macro-Tails. "Why'd you let it into the house?"
Tails shrugged. "She had this in her mouth," he dug a hand into his tails and produced the yellow Chaos Emerald for all to see, making Sonic's fur echo the color from the close proximity, "and she looked so very sad… You've always taught me not to let people suffer."
"The cat isn't a person." Sonic sniffed, snatching the gem out of the fox's hand to look at it. He pointedly ignored the affronted sound that Blaze made. "Well, this is it. Shadow's Emerald. Why did she- Wait. Did you say she?"
The blue eyed vulpine nodded. "Yup. Mr. Snuffles is a girl cat."
A sudden peal of laughter sounded from the den and the elder hedgehog turned in time to see his younger self rub the four year old on the head. "Good naming Tailsy. I bet she appreciates that."
The child didn't reply, as he was too far gone in kitty giddiness.
The elder fox padded into the room, Chip following and dropping himself on top of the four year old's head and leaning toward the cat, careful to keep himself out of swiping reach. Sonic followed at a subdued pace, the yellow gem weighing heavily in his hand.
"What was she doing with Shadow's Emerald?" he asked, placing his hands on his hips. Tails shrugged and dropped to his knees next to his younger self before reaching out a tentative hand to pet the cat. The feline leaned into the hand, pushing her nose between his fingers and gazing up at him with huge green eyes. Sonic huffed when he didn't get an answer. "How did she get here?"
"This might help." Tiny Tails had been running his fingers over the collar Shadow had on the cat while his future incarnation distracted her and they had caught on something under it. He held it up to his older self and the fox grabbed it.
"It's a note." Tails unfolded the paper, revealing Shadow's flowing script.
"Let me see that." Sonic snatched it away before Tails could read it and the fox scowled. The hedgehog's eyes quickly moved down the page and his scowl deepened the further he got. "I'll go get the Tornado started," he announced once he was finished. He shoved the note into Tails' surprised hands before turning on his heel and darting toward the Workshop.
"What's it say?" Mini-Sonic made a swipe for the note, but Tails anticipated it and held it out of his reach. The hedgehog glowered.
"Let me read it out loud," the fox commanded, ignoring the indignant snort Sonic made. "Dear Fakers," he spoke in his normal tenor, but something about the way it was written made him sound gruffer, almost exactly like Shadow. "I trust that Mr. Snuffles made it to you safely. I do not have much time, so I'd suggest that you hand this note to the fox so he can explain the big words to you." Tails chocked off with a half-cough-half-laugh – which was mirrored by almost everyone present. "Dr. Eggman has created a weapon that harvests Chaos Energy from living beings and I am his first target. I sent the Emerald to you – keep it safe. Do not come for me."
"…that's it?" Knuckles ventured into the silence that followed.
"Yeah…" Tails answered, passing the creased sheet to Sonic. The light blue hedgehog grabbed it and stared down at it, as if trying to find some hidden meaning.
"…why'd Sonic go start the Tornado?" the echidna asked again, his tone still confused.
"To go get Shadow," the ten year old answered before Tails could. "I don't know a lot about him, but I get that Eggman siphoning energy from him is a very bad thing. Those inhibitor rings hold back a bunch of it, right?"
"Yes," Tails nodded as he stood, making sure that the cat was securely in his younger self's hands. "Shadow is always taking in Chaos Energy, because of the way that he was created. If Eggman has a way to siphon it out of him, then he'll have an unlimited energy supply – way more than putting organic organisms inside his robots."
Knuckles looked sick at the idea and he glanced at his younger self before nodding. "You take Angel Island back into the sky," he told the young echidna. "I'll help get Shadow back."
Tails' face fell into a mixed expression of confusion and bemusement. "But, Knuckles, you never like to get roped into Sonic's 'schemes.'"
"There's something bigger than Eggman and Sonic going on this time, Tails." Knuckles shook his head, searching for the words to describe it. "Something's off; the Chaos is preparing for something big."
"The Gaia Energy is shifting too." Chip's soft voice spoke from where he was half suspended off of the four year old canine's head, one hand held out toward the cat as he teased it. "I can feel the core trying to align itself with something that I don't recognize. Chaos, Dark Gaia, and Tikal are trying to figure it out, but I can't help because I'm here." He sent them all a suffering smile. "Though, Tikal sends her support. She encourages you to go see the Master Emerald as soon as possible."
There was a loaded silence, barely punctuated by the sounds of Blaze and Silver as they padded toward the main group. Espio had disappeared a while ago, possibly to join Vector and Charmy and attempt to get a jump on finding Eggman. The hush was broken when the green eyed hero stomped his way back into the room.
"The Tornado-2 is fueled and locked into the slingshot." He sent a meaningful look towards his little brother and the fox nodded. He turned and left, mumbling about getting his aviator goggles and Sonic turned back to the rest of the room. "Knuckles, you're coming with us." It wasn't a question, and his tone held a knowing note, as if he had heard the conversation that just happened. "Blaze, Silver, I need you to help little Knux get all of the supplies for Tails' time travel machine onto Angel Island. If this goes south, T2 knows how to get it together and working, and I need you to make sure they get back to the past. Got it?"
"But-" The ten year old version of the hedgehog didn't know whether to be annoyed, angry, or confused.
"No buts, Little Blue," the older hedgehog cut across, watching as Silver and Blaze rushed toward the Workshop and Knuckles' younger self left the building out of the front door, slamming it shut with a formidable sound. "We can't take any chances. I've been talking to Tails about Chaos Energy and the timeline, and he agrees that we can't risk you sticking around for much longer." He grimaced. "I may not be a science freak like Tails, but even I can tell that if Eggman hits me with that machine, it'll affect you more than me if you're in the same time period. Chaos Energy flows backwards, which means that it'll never make it back you."
"You just expect us to go sit on Angel Island and twiddle our thumbs?!" the past incarnation demanded, his fur and quills rippling up in agitation.
"No, you need to protect the Master Emerald. It's more powerful than Shadow and me and Knuckles and Tails combined. Eggman knows that. He'll come for it soon enough." The hedgehog tossed the yellow Emerald to the light blue Mobian. "Take the Emeralds. Contact Tikal and see what she needs to tell you. Odds are, she won't talk to anyone else besides you."
The young male held his older self's green gaze for a few seconds, and they seemed to have a silent conversation – or rather, argument – before the smaller eventually wilted in defeat and nodded once. "Fine."
"Chip," Sonic turned to the small god, "you do what you need to do."
"I'll go with these guys," he waved his small hands toward the younger personas of the hedgehog and fox. "I would like to see the Master Emerald."
Tails chose that moment to rush back into the room, his goggles resting on his brow and a small tool belt in his hands. His sudden entrance startled the cat and she darted away. "T2," he started, dropping to his knees in front of the tiny fox, "I meant to give this to you a few days ago, but Sonic told me to wait." He sent an eye roll toward the twenty year old as he held the belt toward the child. "It has everything you'll need in case you need to put the Temporal Transporter together. It's almost completely finished – only needs calibration, which would have taken two months once I started it, but if you hook it to the Master Emerald and all seven Chaos Emeralds, it should only take minutes."
Tiny Tails reached out and ran his fingers over the tool belt, his eyes widening as they recognized all of the tools. "But, Mechanic… Are you sure I can…?"
"I know you can, T2. You helped me design and build it. You know how it works just as well as I do. You can do it." Quickly, he looped the belt around the fox's small hips, allowing it to rest there. "I believe in you."
Mini-Tails nodded once, crisply, tears pricking at his eyes, and he fisted his hands at his sides. The weight of the belt was comforting and he swallowed the ball in his throat. "I'll do my best." It came out as a whisper, but his voice didn't crack like he expected it to.
"That's all I ask." The teenager sent his childlike persona a thumbs up and he stood up, mussing the familiar bangs of his past self as he rose. "We're ready," he announced to Sonic, twisting so he could look at both hedgehogs at once.
Both blue mobians nodded once in response, and that small motion set the rest of the day in movement.
"Let's do it."
You guys all probably thought Mr. Snuffles was just a gag, right? Kekekeke, not so! (The cat is from chapter 28, if you've forgotten.)
A year ago, I would have ended this chapter after the Shadow section, but now I know better. :p See how much I've grown.
I apologize for the giant wait. If you haven't been watching my tumblr (which is updated daily with random chapter snippets, reblogs, and news tidbits) or my deviantART account, then you don't know that I've been dealing with a thief. They stole some of my work as well as one of my friend's art and started to harass and threaten her through notes. I've been running damage control and retaliation on this coward for the past almost two weeks in between doing homework for college. I've also started a new story and it's doing pretty well (ten reviews in one chapter, holy crap! o.o), as well as a few oneshots. This story is not going to be left behind, I promise. It's just so massive that updates might take a while. Sorry. C:
And, now I present you with a deleted scene inspired by Buh-The-Snowleopard. She thought that Sonic was hiding in the bushes in the Shadow section, so I had to write it. XD (She also loved Shadow's magical pen-from-nowhere and told me not to edit it out, so that's why… Yeah. Just read it.) Enjoy~
Shadow's mind ticked over possible ways to get the gem to the Mystic Ruins. It wasn't that far away – just through Station Square and over the canal… Suddenly, his eyes widened and he jerked to the right, ignoring Eggman for a few seconds. A pair of bright green eyes stared at him from the bushes, and his own pair narrowed as he tried to place them.
Suddenly, a blue form catapulted itself out of the bushes, and tackled the dark hedgehog to the ground. "Shadow!" Sonic's deep voice yelled, laughter hidden in its depths. "What are you doing here?"
Shadow went stiff, his backbone practically creaking at the stress and he tried to struggle out Sonic's grip. However, the blue hedgehog was stronger than he looked, and held on with a steadfast determination. "Sonic… Let go."
"No, Shadow, no! I've been following you for Chaos knows how long! And I want a hug!" The blue hedgehog snuggled deeper into their embrace, burying his face in Shadow's chest fur. "Didn't you miss me, Shads?"
"No," Shadow responded in a tone flat enough to level mountains.
"Aww, but, I missed you…" Sonic whined.
Above them, Dr. Eggman stared at the scene with a flabbergasted expression, but did nothing to attack. Perhaps Shadow would kill Sonic for him…
"Get off me, Faker."
"No." Sonic replied firmly, closing his eyes. "I'm not letting you go ever again."
"But… Eggman… He-" the artificial creation was cut off.
"- won't hurt you again, Shadsy. Not if I have anything to say about it. Now, why don't you come back to the Workshop with me? Lil' me misses you."
"Look, this is your last warning, Sonic. Let me go, or else."
The hedgehog looked up at him with huge, shining green eyes. "Or else what?"
Shadow didn't reply vocally. Instead, he simply shoved his hand into his quills and pulled his trusty pen from nowhere. He then shoved it into Sonic's arm, like he was trying to stab the hedgehog.
Sonic immediately jumped away before falling to the ground in some sort of flailing tantrum, as if the pen was poisonous.
The dark hedgehog rose to his feet and dusted his hands off before looking up at the doctor. "Shall we finish before the idiot brigade here realizes that there's nothing wrong with him?"
The human shook himself out of his shocked state and he nodded once. "Yes, let's."
End deleted scene.
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(This is usually where I tell you that reviews are cherished, but because my birthday's on the eleventh, I've decided to change it up.)
Reviews are treated as birthday presents and all reviewers are welcome to a piece of birthday cake.