Manic was pacing in front of Shadow and Rouge muttering erratically to himself. Shadow crossed his arms "Manic. Are you okay?". Manic pressed his fingers to his eyes "Yeah. Have either of you ever studied quantum physics?". Rouge shrugged "Only to make conversation" "Alright, so… five years ago, right before this Infinite guy. I was in a place called the quantum realm. It's like its own microscopic universe. To get in there, you have to be incredibly small. Mina. She's my, um… She was my… She was supposed to pull me out. And then Infinite happened and I got stuck there". Rouge looked sympathetic "I'm sorry, that must have been a very long five years" "Yeah, but that's just it. It wasn't. For me it was five hours. See, the rules of the quantum realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable and are you gonna eat that sandwich". Before they could answer he ran over to it "I'm starving" "Manic, what're you talking about?" Shadow asked. Manic swallowed a large bite of the sandwich "So what I'm saying is time works differently down there. The only problem is right now we don't have any way to navigate it. But what if we did? I can't stop thinking about. What if we could somehow control the chaos and we could navigate it. What if there was a way that we could enter the quantum realm at a certain point in time but then exit at another point in time? Like before Infinite". Shadow stared at him "Are you talking about a time machine?" "I know, it's crazy. It's crazy. But I can't stop thinking about it. There's gotta be some way… It's crazy". Rouge shrugged "Manic, I get emails from a talking Flicky, so nothing sounds crazy anymore" "So, who do we talk to about this?".
Inside a secluded lakeside house Sonic and Amy were in a kitchen. Sonic held out a bowl of fruit "Are these ours?" "They are not" "What's wrong with ours?". Amy smiled condescendingly "Your Becky ate them all. All of them". Sonic laughed "What a glowing endorsement. First of all, Gerald is our Becky". Amy laughed as he cut food "He's not my Becky if he's eating my fruit" "Okay. They're gonna be nice in the salad there, right?". Sonic was about to put something in the bowl, but Amy pushed his hand away "No, don't, don't, don't! Could you put it down? Get out of my kitchen" "Fine". Sonic walked out of the kitchen "Tell Madam Secretary that lunch is at five!" Amy shouted after him. Sonic walks out onto the porch of the house and then across the lawn. He sits in front of a small tent and claps his hands "Chow time! Mercia the Hedgehog, you want some lunch?". A young female pink hedgehog stepped out of the tent holding a large yellow and red hammer "Define lunch or be crushed". Sonic held up his hands "You should not have that, okay? That is part of a special anniversary gift I'm making for Mum". He kissed her cheek and took the hammer from her "There you go. You thinking about lunch? I can give you a handful of bugs on a bed of lettuce" "No" "That's what you want". He held up the hammer "How did you find this?". She smiled mischievously "Garage" "You didn't find the ring did you?", she shook her head. Sonic narrowed his eyes "Were you looking for it?". Mercia innocently played with her quills "No. I found it, though" "You like going in the garage, huh? Just like daddy". He picks her up "It's fine, actually. Mum never uses anything I buy her". He takes her back up to the house but stops when he sees a car in his driveway. Shadow steps out along with Rouge and Manic. Sonic steps up onto the porch and turns to face them. Rouge gives him a nod which he returns before entering his house.
Later, on the porch Sonic poured them drinks. Manic had just explained the story "We know what it sounds like" "Sonic, after everything you've seen, is anything really impossible?" Shadow said. Sonic looked up from his glass "Quantum fluctuation messes with the Penders scale which then triggers the Flynn Proposition. Can we agree on that? In layman's terms, it means you're not coming home". Manic awkwardly held up his hand "I did" "No. You accidentally survived. It's a billion-to-one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull a… What do you call it?" "Time heist?". Sonic nodded "Yeah, a time heist. Of course. Why didn't we think of this before? Oh yeah, because it's laughable. It's a pipe dream". Shadow sighed "The gems are in the past. We could go back; we could get them". Rouge nodded "We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everybody back" "Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?" Sonic said. Shadow shook his head "I don't believe we would". Sonic sat down in a chair "Gotta say it. I sometimes miss that giddy optimism. However, high hopes won't help if there's no logical, tangible way for me to safely execute said time heist. I believe the most likely outcome will be our collective demise". Manic stepped forward "Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel. Alright? It means no talking to our past selves, no messing with ancestors". Sonic raised his hand "I'm gonna stop you right there, Manic. Are you seriously telling me that you plan to save the universe is based on Chrono Trigger? Is it?". Manic glanced away "No" "Good. You had me worried there. Because that would be horseshit. That's not how quantum physics works". Rouge leaned against the railing and lowered her head "Sonic. We have to take a stand" "We did stand. And yet, here we are". Manic started to look angry "I know you got a lot on the line. You got a wife a daughter. But I lost someone very important to me". Sonic glared at him "Have you not been paying attention? We all did" "Exactly. And now, now we have a chance to bring them all back and you're telling me that you won't even-" "That's right, Manic. I won't even. I can't". Mercia ran up to Sonic "Mummy told me to come and save you". Sonic picked her up and hugged her "Good job. I'm saved". He stood up and looked to the others "I wish you were coming here to ask me something else. Anything else. I'm honestly happy to see you guys, I just…". Shadow stopped him "Sonic, I get it. And I'm happy for you. I really am. But this is a second chance". Sonic's expression softened "I got my second chance right here, Shads. Can't roll the dice on it". Shadow held out a drive confusing Sonic "What's this?" "Everything Arthur Mongoose knew about the Quantum Realm. Just in case". Sonic rolled his eyes and took it "If you're done talking shop, you can stay for lunch".
The trio headed back to the car "Well, he's scared" Rouge said. Shadow didn't seem angry "He's not wrong" "Yeah, but, I mean, what're we gonna do? We need him. What, are we gonna stop?". Shadow stood next to the car "No, I wanna do it right". He looked to Rouge who realised what he was thinking.
At night a tall building was on fire with fighters trying to control it "Chief! Stairs are blocked and we still have people on the 48th floor" "Where are those damn choppers?". They suddenly heard a crash, they looked up at the building. Hyper Knuckles leaped down from the roof holding a large satellite dish "Ding, ding. Everybody out" he lowers the dish which was full of people who all climbed out. Knuckles put the dish down "Chief, between you and me halon bombs above and around the bomb zone". His phone ring and he casually answered, "Hey Shads. What's up?".