Planet Orthan IV

Clouds part to reveal beams of light from a magenta-white sky above. A soft feminine voice hums a melancholy tune. A four-winged bird flitters down from the sky, perching on the branch of a wide tree with impossibly smooth bark. The bird opens its flat beak to begin a song that not only matches the one being hummed, but simultaneously deepens the melody and harmonizes with it.

With the bird to carry the tune, the voice begins to sing. "Follow me… I'm standing on the border of everything… Listen close." Stepping slowly closer to the tree, the birdlike alien hybrid, Luna the Orthani, holds a hand over her heart, pouring her soul into the tune as her voice harmonizes with the songbird. "Can you hear the spirits sing…lost messages of long ago?"

The bird hops down from its branch to land instead on Luna's arm. It looks up at her with curiosity, letting out a single harmonious tweet.

Luna smiles, gently stroking the bird's head with a finger. "There are no words to express how grateful I am for everything you've done, Seraph."

"I don't think I'll ever be used to having my presence known before it's been announced." The tall white alien in cybernetic armor, White Seraph, removes her helmet as she steps up behind Luna. The bird, startled by the otherwise silent approach of the visitor, rapidly flies away. They both watch it go into the sky. "I hope you didn't stop just for me. Your song was lovely."

"I never thought I'd hear the call of the Orthani Songbird again." She puts her hand up against the tree. "I never thought I'd see the nesting trees growing from the ground. Father always told me…that the dying life of this planet had to be replaced, so that our life could thrive. More life…stronger life…I truly believed that was better. I thought I was doing the right thing, following his wishes. But now, we can have both. Thanks to you."

"I am only one person, offering little more than a collection of DNA samples. It is your bioengineering that brought those samples back to life. Your soldiers who replanted that life across the planet in a matter of days. I accept your thanks only if you admit that the restoration of this planet is only possible because of you."

Luna looks out across the horizon. Greenery grows low to the ground in a patch surrounding the hill on which the tree grows, but beyond that lies only the dark grays and glowing purples of a Black Arms biome. The clouds close back in, and the distant sound of thunder rumbles. "There's so much more to be done."

"And it will be. After what I've seen this past week, I have complete faith in your abilities, with or without my further assistance. I said as much in my report to the Empress."

"I suppose that means you'll be leaving now?"

"I'd say you read my mind, but I suppose you probably did. Yes. The Empress has requested that I return to the mothership for an urgent matter. I don't expect to return in the near future."

"The Orthani will miss you. They don't trust me, or my soldiers. Having the White Arms as a mediator for the reconstruction was a great comfort to them."

"Then before we go, I'll tell them all what I told you. You will restore this planet. They couldn't stop you, even if they wanted to. And besides, they'll have to get used to you. We're restoring their government as well. By their own laws, leadership of the planet was passed to the Black Arms, making you their rightful ruler."

"Only until the reconstruction is done. Then I'll step down. The fact that I haven't yet is exactly why they don't trust me."

"They'll discover what fools they are, in time. I, for one, am proud to count such incredible people as you and your family among my friends. I hope our paths cross again soon, Black Luna of House Gladius. But…before I go, if I might ask… That song you were singing. What was it?"

Luna pauses for a moment. "I'm…not sure. It comes from the collective unconscious of the hivemind. It was likely heard once, long ago, by a Kaosian who no longer lives."

"The collective knowledge of countless generations, accessible at a mere thought… I must say, I'm a bit jealous."

Luna laughs and shakes her head. "Sometimes I wish I could turn it off. But the hivemind is a part of me. In fact…there is another thought associated with this song. A single word. Sage."

Seraph gives that a moment of thought. "Sage? Like, White Sage, creator of the CD bomb?"

"I don't know. It's just the word. Sage."

"Strange. Well…I hope I get to hear the rest, someday. For now, I must leave you and your hivemind alone. Farewell, Luna." Seraph re-engages her helmet and taps a hand against the side. "White Seraph to White Dreamnet. One to transport up." Immediately, she becomes cloaked in a shimmering purple light.

"Farewell, Seraph." Luna watches as Seraph disappears into the light.

The sky rumbles with thunder once again, briefly lighting up with a crimson glow. The tweet of a songbird calls from the top of the tree.

Luna smiles. "It's okay. I'm here."

The bird flitters down to perch on her arm once again, and resumes its melodic singing.

Another bolt of lightning strikes nearby, carving red lines with perfectly square corners through the air. Rain begins to fall. Neither of them seems to care. They go on singing together.

"I'm here… Reaching far across these new frontiers… With my life, I fight this fear…"

The red lightning strikes closer than ever, blinding out everything with a single flash.

Sonic the Hedgehog: The Chaos Project

Season 3, Episode 8

The Final Frontiers Part 1

Written by ChaosProjectAuthor

Daily log, July 27th, 2 A.E. Sonic the Hedgehog reporting.

Space. I am so. Sick. Of space. I have been stuck in this cramped, creepy, slimy spaceship for seven days now. We're only halfway back to Earth. And I'm about to lose my mind. Our new friend Saturn agreed to take the ship down to a nearby planet so I—I mean, we—can get out and stretch our legs for a bit. The detour's going add another day or two to our total travel time, but I don't think I can survive without the break.

I'm not sure how much I trust this Saturn guy. He seems friendly enough, but he's also…a bit strange.

…

Yes, Saturn, I know you can hear me. It's a small ship. Not trying to hide anything from you. I think you're friendly, but also a bit strange.

…

I'm recording a log. It gets my mind off of sitting here and doing nothing.

…

No, you can't record one.

…

Because you don't have a mouth. It picks up sound waves, not brain waves.

…

No, thinking loudly enough definitely won't help. Unless your goal is to give me an even bigger headache.

…

Anyways, Shadow assures me that he can take control of the ship in an emergency, so I don't think we have too much to worry about.

Man, I can't wait to just run around in an open zone for a while. Feels like it's been forever since I could go anywhere but forward. Just thinking about taking a breath of the wild air… Honestly, anything would be better than the constant mustiness in here. If I get out of this ship ten minutes ago, it won't be soon enough.

—–—

Deep Space — Current position of the Black Manta

"Puny Sonic should be careful insulting Black Manta. Ship is Saturn's baby."

Johnny reclines back in his fleshy organic chair with a grin on his face. "Ah, the bond between a man and his vessel. There's nothing stronger in all the worlds."

Saturn snorts. "No. Puny Johnny misunderstands. Saturn's meaning is literal. Saturn personally engineered Black Manta's genome with pieces of Saturn's own. Saturn brought Black Manta to life by hand. Black Manta is, literally, Saturn's baby. All of us ride inside Saturn's baby."

Johnny seems to get second thoughts about relaxing so liberally into his chair.

Shadow gently pats a hand on the arm of his own seat. "And she's a fine ship, Saturn. No one's trying to insult her. Sonic just doesn't understand how to appreciate it."

Sonic laughs. "Of course you would appreciate it, Shadow, you're practically its uncle. The rest of us earthlings need to breathe fresh air once in a while."

Tails looks up from his Handheld Pad. "Now I'm curious. Saturn, when you say you engineered the ship's genome, does that mean you literally see the DNA helix when you're working with unformed biomass? Do you set every codon intentionally? Or is it more intuitive than that?"

"Saturn…doesn't understand the question."

"I'll mark that down as 'intuitive'." Tails actually marks down the note on his screen.

Johnny raises his hand. "Okay, my turn for a question. Your name. Saturn. It's also the name of a planet in our solar system. That can't be a coincidence, can it?"

Tails notes, "Technically, it's the name of an ancient god, equivalent to the Titan Kronos. But yes, they named the planet after him."

Sonic nods along. "Oh yeah. I remember fighting that one."

Tails raises an eyebrow. "Are you talking about Kronos the Titan, or Chronos the Lord of Time? Or a god named Saturn that you haven't told me about?"

Sonic shrugs. "All the gods start to blur together after a while, you know?"

"Gods and titans? Saturn knows not a lot about that, but name is not coincidence. Actually, Saturn's name is not Saturn. Saturn's name is gesture made with hands. Skenouan language is gestures made with hands."

Johnny watches on with interest. "Like a sign language? We have that on Earth, too. I learned a little bit. Let me think here…" He hesitantly raises one hand to wave, then places that hand flat over his chest, then taps two fingers of that hand on top of two fingers of the other. "Hello, my name is…" He stops for a moment. "Wait, what was the letter 'J' again…?"

Tails questions, "That wasn't part of your military training, was it?"

"No, no. There was this girl—… Actually, on second thought, not important." Instead he furrows his brows and directs a similar series of signs to Saturn. "What's your name?"

To demonstrate, Saturn lifts a closed fist in front of his face. With one claw of the opposite hand, he draws a swirling pattern around the fist in such a way as to resemble the letter 'S' when viewed from the front, but only a simple ring when viewed from above. "Saturn. Friend Luna was teaching Saturn mindspeak. Says Saturn's namesign is reminiscent of planet from Puny Shadow's system. Saturn's spoken name becomes Saturn."

Shadow's face furrows into a scowl. "Just how long was she stalking me before we actually met?"

Saturn snorts. "What is Earth saying? 'Best kept secrets of mice and men are better left unsaid'?"

Johnny shakes his head slowly. "That's…not even close to the Earth saying. Where are you even getting that information? Are you, like, constantly scraping our unconscious minds for tidbits about Earth or something?"

Saturn snorts again. "Pretty much."

Tails laughs. "We're all open books, as long as you don't mind us asking our questions a little more directly. So, do you have namesigns for all of us, or is it just a thing for Skenouans?"

Saturn thinks on that for a moment. "Not just for Skenouans. But must be given by one. Like Friend Luna. Saturn gives namesign like this." He passes one closed fist in front of another. "Is similar to sign for friend." He repeats the motion with two flat hands. "So…Puny Shadow could be…" Thinking for another moment, he decides on holding out a closed fist, and lowering a flat hand beneath it, like an object casting a shadow.

Shadow duplicates the sign for himself. "Shadow. I see."

Saturn snorts his loudest laugh yet. "Is funny. Like sign for puny." Again, he repeats the sign with two flat hands.

Shadow rolls his eyes. "Of course."

Suddenly, the soft purple glow in the room turns a sickly green, and everyone's hands move to cover their heads. Sonic shouts as if fighting over a loud clamor, "What's going on!?"

Shadow growls through the pain in his head, "Some kind of…psychic attack?"

Saturn shoves his hands into the control basin in front of his seat. "Manta is afraid of something. Projected like danger alarm. Quiet, girl! Saturn hears you! Saturn hears you!" At his order, the walls dim, and everyone relaxes slightly. "Manta has arrived in orbit around planet. But something is wrong. Big disturbance in upper atmosphere."

The opaque membranous windshield of the cockpit slowly grows more translucent, revealing the view of a planet below, filled with bright shades of blue and green. But between them and the planet lies an odd distortion, rapidly growing in size.

Shadow strains his eyes to get a better look at the swirling distortion of air and clouds. A violet hue shimmers through it. "What…is it?"

Sonic and Tails glance at one another for a moment, a similar question shared on their faces. But before either of them can comment, the ship rumbles violently, throwing everyone out of their seats and off of their feet.

Saturn scrambles to get his hands back in the basin as the ship begins to tumble. "Manta is losing control! Something is pulling! Pulling hard!"

The rippling distortion tears into an open vortex. Johnny shouts, "We're being sucked in!"

All the lights in the room momentarily dim. Saturn demands, "No, girl! Not sleep now! Not now!"

Shadow hesitantly asks, "What happens if she falls asleep while we're inside?"

"Cockpit decompresses."

This time, when the lights dim, they don't come back on.

Sonic manages to voice, "Uh oh."

The back hatch of the cockpit spreads open, explosively releasing air hard enough to pull Shadow off of the ground. "Chaos Shield!" Shadow throws out his hands, erecting a barrier of golden light to reseal the cockpit and stop any more air from escaping. But Shadow himself is already outside.

The Black Manta and its remaining occupants tumble uncontrollably into the vortex. Shadow falls in behind a moment later.

—–—

? ? ?

Shadow clutches at his head as he struggles to climb to his feet on the cold metal floor. His first attempt fails, dropping him back to his knees and leaving him shaking his head. "Saturn…? Sonic…?" This time, he manages to stand all the way back up, taking a moment just to collect his breath. "They must have ended up at a different location…" Rubbing the grogginess out of his eyes, he finally gets a good look around. And he gasps.

A wide window looks out at the unmistakable sight of Earth. Computers whir around the walls of what must be a space colony research lab.

"I'm on…the ARK? But that can't be… Weren't we just…in another star system?" He takes an even closer look around. The room is vaguely hexagonal in shape. Shadow stands on a high elevated platform in the very center, surrounded by rails looking down on lower parts of the room. The ceiling is almost too high above to see. Multiple tiers of catwalks line the walls going all the way up. "I don't remember any rooms like this on the ARK…but there's only one way to go from here."

Shadow hops over the rail to the floor below. The floor is littered with old vehicles, large wooden storage containers, and piles of sandbags, all organized in a hasty but vaguely defensive pattern around the door ahead. Shadow eyes them all oddly, but moves on to the door. Wide, reinforced steel, marked on the bottom and around the doorframe with the black and yellow sign of caution. The center of the door looks as though it might have once been marked with white paint that has long since faded away. Shadow throws one hard punch at the door, and the whole thing crumbles down, revealing a straight road with a steep downwards slope on the other side. He continues down the only path available.

He doesn't seem to notice the strange pixelated distortions and corrupted artifacts left in the air behind him.

—–—

Shadow's path has taken him out into open space, with nothing but the steel platform he stands on between him and the Earth below. The flat face of the ARK looks down on him from above. "Where am I even going? An escape pod? Experience tells me that's a bad idea… Do I even want to escape? Everyone else could still be here on the ARK…if they're anywhere nearby at all…" Shadow stops. Something new has been revealed by this view of the world beyond the ARK. In the blackness behind the planet lies not a starfield, but an interconnected web of intricate lines like the surface of a circuitboard. Pulses of light periodically travel through the distant circuits, lighting up the space around them. "What in the world…?"

Shadow's thoughts are interrupted as a machine activates loudly ahead of him. He gasps as an Artificial Chaos emerges from behind a blue energy field at the center of the machine. It instantly lashes out at him with twin tentacles. Shadow leaps over the attack and straight at the head module of the Artificial Chaos. Using his hover shoes to hold himself in place, he delivers a rapid series of punches and kicks until the machine loses control over the water beneath it. The water splashes to the ground, and the head module bursts into pieces that fade away in a bright blue haze.

Shadow looks up at the machine that generated the enemy. "That's the Mother Computer…of the GUN Fortress." He takes another long look around, and back along the path he came from. "This isn't the ARK. It's a GUN facility, but it can't be that either, it's just…nonsense! A false reality…with only one direction to go."

The machine spawns another Artificial Chaos. Shadow ignores it, skating around the machine and speeding onward as fast as he can go.

—–—

On another platform suspended above open space, a glowing vortex waits. Shadow approaches it cautiously. "If the last portal brought me into this world…maybe this one can lead me back out."

"You would really dive headlong into a mystery portal after what just happened to you?

I will never understand the way you people think."

Shadow seizes up. A shiver runs down his spine. "Eggman. I should've known you were behind this."

Emperor Eggman steps up behind him rather casually. "Well, then you would have known incorrectly. As a matter of fact, I—" He chokes as Shadow's hand grips his throat, tackling him to the ground.

"Finally, after all of this time! You were a fool to think I would waste this chance! I'm putting an end to this war!"

Eggman struggles to choke out, "I can—…help you—…save your—…friends!"

Shadow instantly releases his grip, though remaining in place to keep Eggman pinned down. "Why would you do that?"

"Well, it would seem as though I'm trapped here, just like the rest of you."

"Good. Then I can leave you here, and the world will be saved." To prove the point, Shadow gets up and lets Eggman free.

Eggman climbs back to his feet, dusting off his jacket as he does. "You'll never escape this world without the help of a super genius. You appear to be lacking any of those, at the moment."

"I don't think you understand. That's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. If you're offering to help me in exchange for helping you, you can forget it."

"Oh, I'm sure you're willing to make that sacrifice. But what about your friends? Sonic and Tails, perhaps as well. But how many lives is a worthy trade, hm? What about those who have no qualms with me? Would your new cousins from the Black Arms really be so willing to sacrifice their lives, just to trap a man they care nothing about?"

"Wait…are you saying Luna is here too?"

Eggman grins. "Indeed she is."

"How do you know that? How do you know them at all!? Tell me what you know, Eggman!"

Eggman waggles a finger. "Nah ah ah. I agree to help you retrieve your friends. You agree to help me escape this realm. Then I tell you everything I know. Well, mostly everything. I need to keep a few trump cards, I'm sure you understand."

Shadow glares at him.

"What? You can't fault me for being honest." He offers a hand forward. "That's the only way this partnership can work."

Shadow clenches a fist and growls, "Or, I can destroy you here and now, and find my friends on my own."

"And poor Luna will be trapped here for the rest of eternity, wondering why her plans in life had to be cut so short when she had so much left to do. Oh, but at least you'll have each other. If you ever find her, that is. Assuming she ever forgives you for destroying her only hope of—"

"Okay, I get it!" Shadow aggressively grabs Eggman's hand and shakes it just once, before immediately pulling it back and flicking it off as if it had touched something foul. "Now tell me what you know."

"Very well." Eggman pulls out a large tablet and begins tapping away at the keys. "You should be grateful, you know. I don't usually shake hands. I made an exception for you."

"Doctor…"

"Fine, fine, sharing what I know now. As it would happen, the computers in this little Cyber Space world are all connected to the greater mainframe. Quite the security flaw, if you ask me." He stops and looks over the top of the tablet for a moment. "This is a digital dimension, by the way. I already know you're familiar with the concept, seeing as you trespassed in one of mine, back in the day. Of course, this one is markedly more—…"

"More what?"

"Forget you heard that last part. As I was saying, once I was through the system's poor excuses for firewalls, I gained access to the unquantifiable amounts of data stored within this realm. Sifting through all that data has been more of a nightmare than I care to get into right now, but the important part is that I was alerted when your data was inserted into the mainframe. Plus your five friends and one…living ship, apparently."

"So you know where they are?"

"Not precisely. But I can confirm that they are not in this particular Cyber Space. More likely, we'll be able to find them through this portal."

Shadow's eyes narrow. "Weren't you saying—"

"Saying that it was a bad idea to jump in without knowing where it goes, yes." Eggman waves his tablet in front of Shadow's face. "I know where it goes. Hence, one of the many reasons why you need me. So…after you?"

Shadow scoffs. "Now, Doctor. Don't you know that a commoner should never precede his Emperor?"

"Oh ho ho! Why, Shadow, I see you've figured out already that flattery will get you everywhere." He continues to smirk at Shadow as he reaches up to touch the vortex with his hand. The instant he contacts it, his body dissolves into a red mist that the vortex rapidly absorbs.

Shadow hesitates for a moment with his hand in the air. "Am I really doing this?" He shakes his head slowly. "Shouldn't let him get too far…" He touches the portal, letting himself be absorbed inside.

—–—

Decorative red lines pulse with light, converging into a single point that materializes into the form of Shadow the Hedgehog as he is violently thrown out onto the rain-soaked grass. He grunts as he climbs back to his feet, taking a glance back at the portal he came out of. Eggman reclines sideways on the throne-like stone monument, scrolling through his tablet nonchalantly.

Shadow growls, "You could've warned me about that part."

Eggman looks up from his tablet as if only just realizing that Shadow has arrived. "Hm? Oh, yes, I suppose I could have."

Shadow rolls his eyes and starts taking in his surroundings. The Cyber Space Portal sits in the heart of a small grassy canyon, with little else in view. "Where are we now?"

"Exactly where I predicted we'd be. A precise digital replica of Kronos Island."

Shadow repeats, "Kronos… So this is still the digital dimension?"

"Of course. Did you not think that was obvious?"

Shadow ignores the question. "The Cyber Space we were in before…it was…"

"Constructed using an unusual mixture of your memories, yes. While this place is not."

"Why?"

"Simply put, someone—or something—is going through a lot of trouble to replicate a very particular set of circumstances."

"Who? For what purpose?"

"If I had all the answers, do you think I'd be asking you for help? I believe the most important question right now is whether you were the intended target, or if you ended up here by coincidence. Either way…" Eggman hops to his feet and rubs his hands together. "…we'll find out when we meet our mystery host. And if we want to attract their attention, we can start by rescuing your little friends."

"You sound awfully excited about this."

"Adventuring is rather exciting, isn't it? Now, I'm definitely reading the data of at least one other real-world visitor somewhere on this island. The only thing to do now is explore." He holds a hand out to the mouth of the canyon. "Shall we?"

Shadow eyes Eggman with suspicion, but continues down the path of the canyon regardless.

A glaring yellow eye watches them through pixelated distortions high above.

—–—

Shadow and Eggman's path has taken them to a cliffside arena of sorts, looking down on a choppy ocean below. The triangular center of the floor is glossy, black and smooth, covered by a thin puddle of water, while the rest of the structure is constructed of white stone cut into jagged segments with edges that were once perfectly square, but have since been weathered by time. All of it has been claimed by some amount of dirt, moss, and plantlife.

Shadow runs his hand over the edge of a mossy stone. "This isn't like that other place. It all feels so…normal."

Eggman shrugs. "It's a very good simulation." He turns his attention back to his tablet. "It doesn't look like we're going to find any of your friends around here. I'm getting some unusual energy readings, but it's more like—"

"Look out!"

A tall and slender black machine with many pointed edges swings its pair of floating arm-blades straight at Eggman's back. Shadow dives into him from the side, sending them both tumbling out of the way. The ninja-like robot darts after them, its pointed feet sliding over the ground as if it were almost weightless. Shadow leaps up to fight back, delivering a swift series of punches and kicks at its head. Standing its ground against the attack, the Ninja rears its blades back for another swing. But Shadow jets around it with precision, dodging its attack and getting a clear shot at the back of its head. The Ninja follows up with a second swing. This time, Shadow lands on the ground and lets the attack come to him, waiting until the last moment to parry the slash with a simple swipe of the arm. In an instant, the robot is blasted back onto the ground by the counter of its own force. It explodes in a bright flash, spewing purple and black clouds of smoke, leaving behind only a single glowing gear.

Eggman bends down to pick up the Portal Gear. "This might be useful." He pockets it and returns his attention to his tablet. "Now then, we've wasted enough time here, wouldn't you say?"

"I suppose I shouldn't expect a thank you for saving your sorry life."

"Oh, of course. Where are my manners? Thank you, Shadow, for preventing me from dying before I could rescue you and all of your friends. It's exactly what I expected you to do. Your predictability is an asset to us both." He resumes his walk, but stops when he realizes that Shadow isn't following. He groans, "What is it now?"

Shadow looks down at his open hands. "I feel…different. Stronger."

"That would be because your body is also compatible with the energies of this world. Now, no more dilly dallying. There will be more Guardians where that one came from."

Shadow begrudgingly follows, keeping an eye back on the spot where the Ninja appeared.

—–—

The world has opened. Grassy hills, forests, mountains, and ancient ruins are visible in every direction, all surrounded by the distant ocean. Shadow and Eggman wander through the zone with no clear sense of direction, giving Shadow time to take in the breathtaking view of the wild. "It's all so…somber. Like…something important is supposed to be here. But it's long gone."

"In case you forgot, something important is supposed to be here. Your friends?"

"Why do you keep making it sound like you care so much? Wouldn't you rather them all go unfound?"

"As much as I'd like to say yes, my instinct for self-preservation prevents me from doing so. Besides, I'm allowed to have a bit of fun, aren't I?"

"Since when is 'fun' something you care about?"

Eggman shrugs. "Perhaps it's doing good things for my mental health, being away from those two bolt-heads for a while… Now, according to this radar I just programmed, we should be getting quite close to…someone."

Someone shouts, "Oh, hey, Mr. Shadow! What's Mr. Eggman doing here?"

Shadow gasps. "Big!?"

Sure enough, Big the Cat sits by a pond with his rod in the water, waving hello to Shadow.

Shadow runs up to him. "Big, what're you— How did you get here?"

"I just followed Froggy. We were together before, but now I can't find him again."

"No, I meant—… You've been missing for months, have you been here this whole time?"

"Missing? Hmm… Me and Froggy have been lots of places, but I don't remember ever being missing."

Shadow rubs a hand down his face with a groan. "Okay, you're obviously not in danger, so…can you just tell me if you've seen anyone else around here? Maybe Sonic or Tails?"

"Umm…nope. Oh, but I did see somebody in a big red bubble over there." He points off towards a forest.

Shadow has clearly lost all patience. "Great. Thanks." He turns around to walk back towards Eggman. "Bye."

"Would you like to go fishing with me, Mr. Shadow?"

"Absolutely not." Shadow doesn't even slow down.

"I'll let you borrow my rod!"

"Answer's still the same!"

"Uhh…"

"No!"

"Aww…" Big looks down at the water dejectedly.

As Shadow passes Eggman, Eggman bends down to whisper, "I don't trust that one. No one can be that stupid. And I say that from experience."

"You'd be surprised…" Shadow suddenly stops. "Wait, you don't think…?"

"That he's a digital construct created for this world, rather than the real thing? In a word, yes. That, or he somehow ended up here before any of us. Perhaps he even created this world. Which option sounds more likely to you?"

"I…see your point. Now come on. He said he saw someone this way. He's dense, but he's not a liar."

"If you say so…"

—–—

"There it is!" Shadow runs up closer to the digital cage that floats suspended just above the ground by the cliffside. Its glowing red surface is almost perfectly spherical, with many black metallic protrusions sticking out. It appears just barely translucent enough to see inside. "Saturn…what happened to you?"

Inside the cage, Saturn's eyes suddenly turn in Shadow's direction. With clear anger on his face, he rears back a fist to strike at the inside wall. The wall sends all his energy back with a spark, sending him stumbling back.

Shadow watches as Saturn's eyes dart around in every direction. "I don't think he can see us…" He clears his throat and shouts, "Saturn! Saturn, can you hear me!?" He holds a hand up to his forehead and repeats mentally, "Saturn, answer me!" The attempts to communicate only seem to increase Saturn's confusion. "No good. It's like he's completely cut off from us. How do we get him out of there? It doesn't look like it will do much good trying to break the barrier."

Eggman buries his nose in his tablet. "Let me see here… We appear to be dealing with a token-based encryption algorithm. Unlocking the cage would require a large number of Memory Tokens, which appear to be located elsewhere in the mainframe. We could go look for them. Or, I could hack my way through. The second option will be considerably faster."

"Just do it."

"Oh, I wasn't asking for your permission. It's already done." Eggman raises his tablet and taps it against the outside of the barrier. Instantly, the metal protrusions retract, and the barrier shatters, sending long black and red bars of sparkling data bursting outwards. While Saturn is dropped to the ground, the data is sucked forcefully into Eggman's tablet.

Saturn looks down at his hands with more confusion than ever. He appears to be partially transparent, with a slight ethereal glow and digital scanlines running through his entire body. He looks up at Shadow with a snort.

"Saturn, are you alright? Do you know what's happening?" Shadow glances over at Eggman nervously. "What's wrong with him?"

Eggman scrolls frantically on the screen of his tablet. "Aha! There's the missing data." He taps a key, and Saturn's body takes on a bright glow for a moment before restoring completely to its solid state. "That was easier than I expected."

Saturn takes notice of this, and clenches a fist. Still, he says nothing.

"Saturn…please, talk to me."

Saturn looks up with a scowl. Suddenly, he spreads his claws open and charges straight at Shadow.

"Hey!" Shadow dives out of the way, letting Saturn stampede past him. He glances back at Eggman and shouts, "I don't think that was the only thing wrong with him!"

Eggman growls back, "I'm working on it."

Saturn skids to a halt and turns back around for another charge. This time, Shadow leaps over his head, only seeming to anger him further. "Any time now, Doctor!"

"Hmm… Ah, yes. Now I see why those Memory Tokens were important. Freeing him without them seems to have left him a bit lacking in the…memory department."

"You're saying he can't remember anything?"

"I wouldn't say anything. He clearly remembers how to stand, how to breathe…" In Shadow's moment of distraction, Saturn grabs him by the arm and hurls his entire body up and over his head, slamming it back onto the ground. "…and how to fight, apparently."

With Shadow on the ground, Saturn sets his sights on Eggman.

Eggman nervously tugs at his collar. "Okay, I've made my contribution to the situation. Now it's your turn again, Shadow." He clears his throat as Saturn stomps closer to him. "Erm, Shadow?"

Shadow leaps up from the ground, grabbing Saturn from behind and hanging onto his shoulders. Saturn reels back, flailing his arms in an attempt to grab the obstruction. Shadow growls, "You fixed his body, can't you fix his memories?"

"I'm not a miracle worker, you know. Well, I am, but even I have my limits. His memories are there, the encryption is simply blocking his access to them. My decryption key is in place, he just isn't using it."

"So what do I do!?"

"Duh. Force him to use it. Jog his memories. He's your friend, isn't he? It shouldn't be that hard."

Saturn successfully peels Shadow off of his back and tosses him away, sending him tumbling over the ground like a ragdoll. Shadow struggles back up to his hands and knees. "It'd be easier if he wasn't trying to kill me…"

Saturn drags a foot over the ground, clawing up dirt as he prepares to charge once again. He takes off.

Shadow gets his arms up in front of him, and brings two flat hands together. "Friend!"

Saturn slows to a stop, staring at Shadow quizzically. He repeats the sign back. Friend. After a moment, he follows up with a long series of rapidly moving signs.

"I-I don't know what any of that means, but…yes." Shadow stands up and points directly at Saturn. "You…" He turns the finger around to point at himself. "…and me…" Finally, he repeats the sign from before. "…are friends."

Saturn seems to contemplate that for a moment. Then he makes a small number of slow but still incomprehensible signs around his head, followed by a gesture resembling a shrug, accompanied by an expression of concern.

Shadow seems to understand his meaning. "You can't remember anything. I can help you. You…" He points at him. "…are Saturn." He makes the namesign Saturn showed them earlier, swirling one finger around a closed fist.

Saturn slowly replicates the motion for himself. "Sa…turn…"

Shadow's face lights up. "Yes! Saturn, do you remember?"

Saturn puts on a scowl for a moment. Then he shakes his head, signing a simple closing of the fist that must mean No.

Shadow nods. "That's okay." "You're Saturn," he repeats in mind and in sign. "…and I'm Shadow." He makes the namesign that Saturn created for him.

Saturn snorts a boisterous laugh, and signs the word for Puny in his amusement.

"Yes, yes, ha ha, very funny." "Puny Shadow. That's me."

Eggman looks back and forth at the two of them in confusion. "What, what's funny? I feel like I'm missing part of a conversation here. All I heard him say was his name."

"That's because you are missing part of a conversation. Several parts." He looks out at the setting sun. "Now, if you want to make yourself useful, start setting up camp."

"Camp? I'm an Emperor. I don't camp."

"Well, I'm sorry we haven't found any palaces to occupy, but last I checked, you need to sleep, and I don't. What I do need is time to help Saturn with his memories. Now use that time to set up a camp, or look for some food, or lay down where you're standing and take a dirt nap, I don't really care. Once you're done with that, get back to looking for the rest of my friends. Just do something."

Eggman mutters something incoherent at the ground.

"Remind me which of us is predictable again?"

From the distant trees, the same yellow eye continues to watch them.

—–—

"Hai." A small stone creature with hollow eyes and mouth waddles its way towards Shadow's foot, making faint bell-like chimes as its feet clatter across the ground. A number of these creatures seem to have gathered around the campfire with him, Saturn, and Eggman.

Shadow studies the creature with curiosity. "Remind me what you call these things?"

One of them appears to have climbed up onto Eggman's shoulder, and tugs playfully at his mustache. Eggman grabs it with one hand and plucks it off, answering simply, "Nuisances." He tosses it aside.

It lets out a faint "Oof," mixed with a surprisingly pleasant chime as it bounces over the ground.

"That's not what I… Never mind…" Shadow shakes his head as he helps the thrown one back to its feet.

Saturn pokes an especially large one in the face, knocking it briefly off balance before it wobbles back into place. "Ko…co…" He pokes it again. "Koco."

Eggman looks up from his tablet to scowl at Saturn. "And how do you know that?"

Saturn looks up innocently and taps two split claws against a closed fist, as if drilling in two eye holes. Another namesign. "Koco."

Shadow replicates the sign just to show that he's paying attention. "At least he's figuring out his mindspeak. That should make things a bit easier." He looks directly at Saturn. "Let's try this." He passes one closed fist in front of another. "Luna." He holds a fist up to the side of his head. "Remember?" He repeats the namesign. "Luna?"

Saturn duplicates the motion. "Luna…" He continues to sign and think, "Friend Luna?"

Shadow nods him on encouragingly.

"Remember…" He opens and closes a fist a few times. "…maybe?"

"That's good. That's progress. Speaking of which, Doctor?"

"What?"

"Have you found anything yet?"

"If I had, don't you think I would've told you by now?"

"Honestly? No."

"Well, then you'd be right. I have a probable location for another of those cybersphere prisons. It's quite a distance from here. I propose we go first thing in the morning."

"Fair enough."

"Well then, there's just the matter of dinner."

"If you're expecting to be served a ten-course meal, I'm going to have to burst your bubble. Again."

"No, no, of course not. But…since I set up camp and started the fire…perhaps you could pull your weight and find us something to eat?"

"You produced a spark by hitting two living creatures together. Cruel, but not exactly difficult."

"Well, I'm sure this sort of thing comes easily to you and your friends. You were all camping out of that little canyon for, what, two years? Or perhaps you've gone soft, living at a more…luxurious location since then."

Shadow scowls at Eggman silently.

"What? No reaction to that little bit of information? Don't you want to know how I knew? Don't you want to know what else I know?"

"I don't know what it is you think you're trying to pull, Doctor, but I'm not an idiot."

Eggman suddenly laughs, "Because you just told me, Hedge— Uhh…oh. Darn. That one worked so well against Tails…" He slowly realizes that Shadow's scowl has grown even more furious. "What I meant to say was…pull? Who's trying to pull anything? I'm just trying to get to know you better is all. This whole life-threatening scenario seems like a great opportunity for all of us to come to an understanding. Who says we have to go back to fighting a war when it's all over? In fact, I've heard that eating together is an excellent ritual for bonding. So—"

"I don't need to eat right now, and Saturn doesn't even have a mouth to eat with. Find your own food, or starve. Just don't make it my problem." Finished speaking, Shadow turns his attention back to Saturn.

"Okay…I guess I'll just…wander back into the wilderness…at night…and hope that I don't get killed by any Guardians along the way…ruining your chances of finding your other friends and escaping…" He makes a long show of standing up and turning away.

Shadow offers an irritated flick of the hand. "Have fun with that."

A stone bell chimes at Eggman's feet. The Koco coos, "Hai?"

He looks down in confusion. The Koco stares back up at him, balancing a large red fruit with a rough, thorny exterior on the top of its head. Eggman bends down to pick it up. "Hm. Useful little nuisances, aren't they?"

Several more Koco have gathered around, each one carrying its own colorful fruit. Shadow picks up a blue one to investigate for himself. "You're going to eat the suspicious glowing fruit without knowing where it came from?"

"Technically, these better fit the definition of seeds than fruits, but…ah, food is food, I suppose." Eggman takes a bite, struggling to tear through the tough skin. "Mm. Not bad."

Shadow takes a bite of his own. His appears slightly crunchier.

Saturn presses a red one against where his mouth should be. He appears disappointed when it doesn't work.

"In fact," Eggman continues. "…I feel…great." He takes the last bite of the red seed with gusto. "Powerful, even." He stands up tall and flexes his scrawny arms. "Like I can take on the world! Where are those Guardians now? I'll fight them all myself! Ha ha!" Something taps him on the shoulder, sending him recoiling away with a terrified shriek. "Eek!"

Saturn offers his uneaten seed out to Eggman with a questioning look on his face. "Round Man…wants?"

Eggman glares at Saturn with a mixture of suspicion and embarrassment, before finally giving in and swiping the second seed for himself. Saturn seems pleased.

Shadow chuckles. "Well, if you're feeling that good, I suppose we can skip the sleep and move on with our search."

Eggman grumbles through a mouthful of red seed, "Fine. As long as we can get away from these things." A party of Koco has begun dancing around his feet. He tries to step out of the circle, but the sheer number of them gives his foot little space to land.

"Koco…go…home."

The Koco all stop what they're doing and look up in curiosity at Saturn. After a moment, they all decide to bounce off in the same direction.

Shadow throws Saturn a similar look.

Saturn's face contorts into what might be a smile. "Good listeners."

Shadow shakes his questions away, and leads the way forward.

—–—

"Our next target," Eggman reads, "is on top of that." He points to a towering stone structure that floats in the sky, bearing a distinctly Emerald-shaped construction.

"Don't call them targets," Shadow warns. "We're rescuing them, not taking them out."

"Fine, fine, whatever. I'll reserve the word 'targets' for things I want you to destroy, if that makes you feel better. Speaking of which…"

"One problem at a time. Any idea how you're supposed to get up there?"

"There appears to be a system of rails and pathways around the exterior, which could be climbed by someone of your athletic ability."

"That would take too long. And if whoever's up there is in a cage like Saturn's, I'll need you there to break it. Unless you're feeling confident in your ability to grind on rails, Doctor?"

"I…don't think I have the right shoes for that. Let's find another way."

"Is pretty."

Shadow glances back at Saturn with a raised eyebrow. "The tower?"

Saturn signs No with one hand while pointing up into the sky with the other. "Squid."

In the sky above them, a guardian robot with long trailing tentacles flies through the air, generating a long, flat ribbon of cybernetic road in its wake. It makes elegant twists and turns through the air, its ribbon glistening in the moonlight. Eggman groans, "How is that relevant?"

Shadow smirks. "I think it might be exactly what we need. Saturn, listen to me very carefully. I need you to throw me. Do you understand?" He points at himself, then makes a motion with a closed fist in the direction of the Squid. "Throw me. Onto that. Yeah?"

Saturn nods vigorously. "Saturn understands. Saturn very understands." Shadow curls into a ball, and Saturn picks him up with both hands. "Saturn throws Puny Shadow to pretty Squid!" He hurls Shadow overhead with incredible force.

Eggman shouts after Shadow as he flies away, "This doesn't seem like a very good idea!"

Shadow ignores him, uncurling from his ball in preparation to attack. The Squid spots him, glaring at him for a moment before turning around and increasing its retreat speed. Unable to make it close enough to attack, Shadow instead lands on the road that trails behind it, and takes off running. The Squid fires back repeated bursts of energy down the road as it weaves its way through the air, but Shadow easily sidesteps the attacks, and races close enough to reach the large robot's head.

The robot turns to slice at him with its bladed tentacles. Shadow leaps over the attack and flies in for a strike right at its eye. With the Squid stunned, Shadow raises a hand up high for a follow up attack. "I'm taking control now! Haayaa!" He brings the hand down in a chop square over the Squid's head. The light in its eye goes dimmer as Shadow grabs ahold of the horn-like protrusions on its head. "Come on…work with me." With a struggle, Shadow pulls on the horns like reins, directing the Squid on a path back around towards Saturn and Eggman. "There we go." He closes his eyes and thinks, "Saturn! Now it's Eggman's turn!"

"Saturn understands! Round Man goes up!"

"Hey! What do you think you're—!? Put me down, you brute! No, no, nononono— GYAHHHH!" As Shadow takes the Squid down close to ground level, Eggman flops facedown onto its back. He grumbles against the ground, "I told you this was a bad idea…"

Shadow wears a satisfied grin. "Seems to be working out pretty well, if you ask me." He directs the Squid back upwards, and quickly gets them to the top of the Emerald structure. Dawn breaks on the ocean horizon. Once at the top, the Squid morphs its trailing ribbon into a circular shape that keeps it in place. Shadow hops off. Eggman stumbles behind him a moment later. Shadow stops to take a glance back at the Squid. "It's strange… For a moment there, I thought I…felt its heart. As if it were a living creature…"

"What in blazes is that supposed to mean? A 'heart', as you call it, is an abstract construct used to qualify the neural activity of emotional sapience. You can't feel it."

Shadow shakes his head in disappointment. "I don't even know why I'm still bothering to talk to you."

Eggman holds up his tablet. "Perhaps because you realize that you need to stay in my good graces if you want me to free…" He looks on ahead to the digital cage that floats near the center of the platform at the top of the structure. "Ugh. It had to be him, didn't it?"

Sonic looks up from the inside of the cybersphere. "Huh? Is someone there?"

Eggman continues, "Here's an idea. What do you say we leave him here? Just for now, I mean. Save the best for last and all that. How about it? Yes? Please say yes."

Shadow glares at him.

"I mean, it's just so dangerous on these islands, and he's nice and safe in there. What if something were to happen to him? You can't go home without your leader, can you?"

"Open the cage, Doctor."

"Fine, fine, I'll do it. I've made some improvements to the decryption algorithm, so he should come out with…most of his memories intact. Probably."

"Should? Most?"

"Science isn't an exact science, you know. Haven't you ever heard of 'trial and error'?"

"Sounds like the title of your biography. Now stop stalling and open it."

Eggman lets out a long sigh. "I can't believe I'm doing this…" With his head hung low, he taps his tablet against the barrier, and the barrier shatters.

Sonic's feet drift gently to the ground. Then he drops to his knees. "Ugh… Where am I?"

Shadow moves to help him up, supporting him by the shoulders. "Are you alright, Sonic?"

Sonic clutches at his head. "I feel…kinda funny…"

Shadow turns Sonic's head to face him. "Sonic, this is very important. Do you remember who I am?"

Sonic squints as he concentrates on Shadow's face. "You're…that fake hedgehog…"

Eggman chuckles. "See? He's fine. Mostly."

Sonic takes a sidelong glance at Eggman. "I may not be…totally put together…but I'm pretty sure he's not supposed to be here."

Shadow rests a hand on Sonic's shoulder. "I don't like it either. But he's the one who set you free. We're working together for now, and I need you to trust me on that."

"Trust you… Yeah, I trust you."

Eggman huffs, "Fools, the whole lot of you…"

Shadow glares back at him.

"What? I'm only saying that in a situation of amnesia, the smart thing to do is trust no one."

Shadow shakes his head slowly. "I don't think I'm the one you need to be convincing about that. And I don't think Sonic's ever going to change. So are you saying that just to show off your own ego, or are you honestly tactless enough to believe that anyone is listening to you?"

Eggman starts to sweat. "Uhh… Erm…"

Sonic raises a finger to interrupt. "Hang on, I think I recognize this place. What are we…doing here?"

Shadow answers curtly, "What we're doing is getting out as quickly as we can. So unless your shoddy memory includes any useful shortcuts, you'll just have to follow our lead." He leads the way back to the Squid that waits for them.

Sonic doesn't follow. "No…something's not right here."

Shadow stops. "What do you mean?"

"Well, for one thing, the ground is shaking." He points out at the island below them, which visibly rumbles in a steady rhythm, though the floating tower they stand on is unaffected.

"Danger! Danger, Puny Shadow! Saturn senses danger!"

Shadow growls back mentally, "You don't need to be psychic to sense that!"

Sonic puts a hand up to his head. "And now I'm hearing voices in my brain? Is that bad? I get the weirdest feeling that that's really bad." He pulls the hand away to look at it in confusion. "Oh, whoa, I have a robot hand. How long has that been there?"

Shadow interrupts, "I think we have more important things to worry about. Like…that?" In the distance, a figure steps through the fog. Each time one of its lanky feet lands on the ground, the entire island shakes. As its form becomes clear, the ultimate Guardian of the island bares its rows of flat, gnashing teeth. Its size is almost indescribable. "It's…massive…"

"Titanic," Eggman corrects. "I told you we'd attract someone's attention if we started setting your friends free."

Sonic puts on a smirk. "So, Giganto wants to fight, huh?" He pounds a fist into an open hand. "We've got more friends to save, right? Not gonna let something like this stop us."

Shadow tries to hold him back. "Hold on. No one said we had to fight it."

"Actually," Eggman continues, "there is something I've been meaning to mention. Our escape from this realm will require immense amounts of energy. The sort of energy that would come out of a thing like that upon its destruction. Now, I'm not saying that you have to destroy that one in particular, but…let's just say, the others won't be any friendlier."

"Of course…"

Giganto catches sight of them. It stomps the ground so hard that chunks of earth are sent flying into the air, all the way up to their level. Sonic puts on a smirk. "I think that's my cue." He rushes forward and leaps from the edge of the tower.

"Sonic, no!" Shadow shakes his head in frustration. "Memories or none, he never listens…"

"Don't worry, I got this!" Sonic leaps from one chunk of flying debris to the next, making his way closer and closer to the head of the massive Titan. He flies in for a wild rush, kicking straight at Giganto's face. Giganto snatches him out of the air before he ever reaches his target. Sonic struggles for a moment to escape the Titan's tight grip, before realizing, "Oh no. I think I remember this part."

Giganto plants its feet firmly in the ground, and hurls Sonic overhead, sending him hurtling through the air until he smashes back into the tower wall, hard enough to crack the concrete and send rubble flying. Then he slips off of the wall, and tumbles down. The Squid swoops down beneath him, catching him on its back and bringing him safely closer to the ground.

Shadow hops off of the Squid and onto the ground, shouting back at Eggman, "Look after him!"

Eggman glances down at the unconscious form of Sonic. "That might just be your worst idea yet."

Shadow runs up to Saturn where he was left on the ground. "Saturn! I need your help!"

"Puny Shadow! Not-Puny Titan approaches!"

"Yeah, I noticed. That's what I need your help with. We're going to make a really big gun, okay? Do you understand?" He steps back and gestures an expansion of his arms. "Big." He mimes the action of pumping an assault rifle. "Gun."

"Saturn…makes guns?"

"I'll help you through it, just follow my lead." He takes Saturn by the wrists, and guides his claws up towards his throat, drawing out two streams of red alien ooze from inside. Shadow takes the slime in his own hands and steps back, stretching it out between them and laying it on the ground. "Just focus on holding the form together while I shape it."

"Saturn feels funny now. Head is lighter."

Shadow stretches the slime up from the ground, shaping it into a sturdy base that takes solid form. Above that, he shapes a simple dome with a black barrel on top. Once complete, the Black Arms Cell Cannon lights up, projecting a thin purple shield on either side of it. "This is for you. Get in and start shooting."

"Saturn likes big gun!" He climbs into the seat of the artillery cannon and takes aim at Giganto.

Still waiting on the back of the Squid, Eggman cautiously pokes Sonic in the shoulder. "Hey…are you…dead?"

Sonic barely stirs. "Mmmph… I don't think so…"

Eggman snaps his fingers in disappointment. "Curses."

Shadow hops back onto the Squid and pushes it back into the air immediately. "Sonic, I need you back on your feet for this. Tell me you can still fight."

This time, Sonic manages to push himself up onto one elbow. "There's no way…we can beat that thing the traditional way. We need…the Chaos Emeralds…"

"The Chaos Emeralds aren't here, Sonic." Shadow stops and takes a glance back at Eggman. "Right?"

"Oh, certainly not. Would've stuck out in the code like a sore thumb if they were."

"Anything else, Sonic?" Shadow looks back at Sonic to find that he's already collapsed again. "Guess I'm on my own, then…"

Eggman complains, "Ahem? I'm here."

"Can you hack me a Super Form or something?"

"That's an excellent idea. But no."

"Then I'm on my own." He looks ahead to Giganto, which tries to march closer to them, but constantly has its progress hampered by the barrage of purple blasts being fired from the cannon on the ground. "If it's more power that we need…" Shadow reaches for the ring on his wrist. "…then I'll give it all the power I have." As the second Inhibitor Ring comes off, a golden aura that burns like fire blazes to life around him, filling his fur and sparking through his eyes. "Keep Sonic safe." Shadow leaps off of the Squid and flies down towards Giganto, his golden aura trailing behind him.

Giganto catches sight of Shadow and holds one of its massive arms straight backwards, preparing to strike at him with its full force. A shot from the Cell Cannon at its shoulder disrupts its plan, causing it to reel back a step, and freeing Shadow to strike at the Titan's face with his full power. Parts of the face chip and crack. Shadow keeps up the attack into a furious onslaught of punches and kicks, each one powerful enough to produce a shockwave as it connects.

As Eggman takes ahold of the Squid's horns, he marvels, "He's actually doing it…"

Giganto grabs Shadow and pulls him away from its face.

"Or maybe not…"

Instead of putting up a struggle, Shadow closes his eyes and takes a moment to focus. "Chaos Control." The short-distance warp puts him on top of Giganto's closed fist, freeing him to run back up the Titan's arm towards its head.

Giganto tries to swat Shadow off, but the Squid flies in from behind, wrapping its long road-trail around the Titan's wrist to restrict its arm in place. Eggman can be heard cheering, "Ha ha!" Shadow leaps off of Giganto's shoulder into a punch against its jaw.

Giganto roars with rage as it shakes the Squid off of one arm and plucks Shadow out of the air once again with the other. It hunches forwards as pillar-like structures begin to rise out of its back, each one shooting out a wide spray of bright red laser beams.

"Gyahh!" Eggman throws the Squid into evasive maneuvers to keep clear of the dense maze of lasers in the air.

One beam slices across the ground, forcing Saturn to abandon the artillery cannon before it can be sliced cleanly in two.

Giganto pulls Shadow close to its face, and opens each of its multiple jaws. Shadow struggles to concentrate, but his aura already seems to be fading.

Eggman sighs as he watches. "Well…guess it's time to pull out one of those trump cards. I can't believe I'm about to do this…" He pulls out his tablet and rapidly begins tapping at it. "Hedgehog, you're in charge. Try not to crash." He stops and looks up for a moment. "On second thought, feel free to crash. After I'm gone." He taps one final key, and cybernetic energy bursts out from the tablet.

Crimson energy builds up in the core of Giganto's open mouth, preparing to fire straight through Shadow while he is held in place.

"Hey, Giganto!"

Both Shadow and Giganto look up in surprise.

"Get a load of this!" Eggman comes flying straight down from above, his outstretched arm completely consumed and corrupted by the energy that was released from his tablet. He smashes the Titan square in the forehead, instantly shattering the material of its face, and sending corrupting waves of energy rippling all the way through its body down to the earth. It topples backwards, wracked with small explosions, finally exploding completely as it impacts the ground, leaving a massive orb of glowing red energy behind. Eggman lands elegantly on the ground, holding his tablet up triumphantly to absorb the energy of the orb, and all that remains in his arm, until every trace of cybernetic energy is gone. "Hm. I'm rather starting to like this world."

Shadow stares at him completely agape. "You said you couldn't…"

"I said I couldn't hack you a Super Form. You could really stand to start paying attention to the details, you know."

"Team Saturn is superior to Puny Titan!"

Shadow raises an eyebrow back at Saturn. "Team Saturn?"

"Yes. Saturn and Puny Shadow and Round Man are Team Saturn!"

"We'll…talk about that later. And you forgot about— Wait, where's Sonic?"

As if in answer, Sonic falls face-first into the dirt next to them, the rest of his body sticking up for a moment longer before joining his head on the ground. Everyone looks up to see the Squid flying free off towards the morning horizon. Sonic mumbles into the dirt, "I'll be fine. Just…need a couple minutes…"

Eggman nods in satisfaction. "A perfect crash landing. You see, Shadow? This one knows how to listen to me."

Saturn cocks his head to the side. "Who is puny blue rat again?"

Sonic actually lifts his face high enough to complain, "I'm not a rat, I'm a hedgehog." Then he lets it drop back into the dirt.

Shadow looks at Eggman expectantly. "So…we beat the Titan. Now what?"

"Well, now we get to have a little chat with its master. The one responsible for kidnapping you and all of your little friends. Sage."

Saturn's eyes go wide as a thought strikes his mind. "Sage?"

The yellow eye that watches them narrows into a scowl.

To be continued…

New frontiers await! Let's go!