This is a fanfiction, and as such, most of the characters in the story are not mine. Most characters are © Sega, and are not used with permission.

Chapter 9: Time's Up!

The Chronhorod continued to assail the blackness that barred entrance to Mobius. The darkness retreated slightly under the weight, but its source would not permit that any longer.

From the sheath of darkness, Shadow aligned himself with the invaders.

"Chaos Spear!"

The blazing light fired through the darkness, piercing the barrier, and charged the fiery wraiths. Most of the demons avoided, but one was clipped by the bolt; spinning a bit through the cosmos before straightening out.

From the depths came an evil laugh.

"Come and get me, suckers."

* * *

Back on Mobius, Sally had just finished checking on Tails and the other children; something she did every night, and her birthday would be no exception. After exiting the hut and blowing a few last kisses inside, she rejoined Sonic.

"Can I walk you home?"

"You may."

Sonic escorted Sally back to her hut, though it wasn't a long way as Knothole was relatively small. As they reached the door, the call was made for lights out; around the small clearing, lit windows grew dark as lights were extinguished and window blinds were closed.

Sally turned on a light when she entered.

"I'll see you tomorrow, your highness."

"Tomorrow? Come now, stay a little bit, it's too dark to be outside."

Sonic was a little surprised, not fully realizing that Sally wanted a bit more from her 21st birthday than she already had. The two had been going out for a while, so the hedgehog didn't think it was too strange. "Well, if the birthday girl wants it…"

Sally pulled Sonic into her hut, and then went around to close all the window shades; first to block out the light, and second to block any passing eyes.

One such pair of eyes came from Geoffrey, watching very intently the pair. Another pair watched him; these were the wiser eyes of the older Geoffrey.

Right on queue, his younger self marched towards Sally's hut, ready to chew out Sonic for his midnight stroll.

This was it, clutch time. Geoffrey hesitated for a minute; scared by the possible outcome of his actions, and even more so, actually meeting himself.

Omochao noticed Geoffrey's pause. "Hey, are you awake over there? He's moving."

With a deep breath, Geoffrey almost leapt out of the bushes, and charged towards the younger skunk.

As Geoffrey reached the door to Sally's hut, he received a quick tap on his shoulder.

"Excuse me a minute, but I need your help."

Geoffrey turned; ready to quickly dispatch this jerk, until his eyes looked into the other pair of eyes.

"Mind if we talk over here."

The older one grabbed the younger and pulled him into the bushes, too startled to resist the kidnapping.

* * *

The Chronhorod continued to pepper away at the black void, slowly pushing it back; all the while, Shadow remained relatively safe in his dark home, launching a counterattack at the vicious crew.

Shadow remained much more calm this time, knowing that all he had to do was hold of the invasion; getting angry wasn't going to help, but that didn't stop him from getting a little battle crazed.

"What's a matter? Can't get to the wee little hedgehog?"

Shadow let out a hideously maniacal laugh as he continued to taunt the red flares with the occasional shot from his Chaos Spear.

* * *

"What the Hell are you? A robot clone?"

"Hardly, I'm you."

Young Geoffrey stormed up to old Geoffrey.

"Then what is that?"

"I'm Omochao and I'm here to help you. No wait, I'm here with him, not you, even though you are him, or will be him. Are you confused yet?"

"Listen here, I came back in time to stop you from making a horrible mistake."

"A mistake? Keeping that blue fiend away from Princess Sally is a mistake?!"

The older of the two hesitated again; even he would have wanted to stop whatever was going on between Sally and Sonic in her hut. "Yes."

The younger Geoffrey poked the older in the chest. "That's not very convincing."

The elder grabbed the youth's hand.

"You listen to me, and you listen good. I may not be too much older than you, but over the last year and a half, I have learned more than you did in your whole life; so butt out."

"And just what do you know? Care to tell me that?"

Geoffrey hesitated; saying too much would risk ruining everything. "No, no I can't."

"Then you have nothing to say to me Mr. Whomever-you-are."

The younger Geoffrey shook out of the older's grip and turned his back, heading back to Sally's tent, even angrier than before.

"Well, that went poorly."

"You have an incredible ability to state the obvious."

"I would have said something else, but I wasn't programmed for satire."

* * *

Back in the drift, Shadow continued to defend against the swarm. The Chronhorod danced wildly around the black mass, trying desperately to push through. From inside, Shadow tried to hold the barrier in place, while occasionally firing his Chaos Spear through the murk when the fiery assault was getting too close. Though his shots were often on target, the flaming specters were always able to slide out of the way in the instant before they hit.

The demons had taken a new tactic; they focused their power on two sides, squeezing Shadow in a sandwich. The hedgehog was unable to defend against a focused attack on both sides, he'd fire his Chaos Spear at one group, only to let the other group gain some ground.

It would take only a few more seconds before they pushed far enough to open the path to Mobius, so Shadow had act fast. A quick check of his pouch showed that he still held over 100 rings, not a lot, but enough for a desperate move. Summoning his strength, Shadow commanded the power of the Chaos Control to his hands and into a small sphere. Unleashing a power he had not used in many months, Shadow swung his arms out to release the Chaos energy.

"Chaos Blossom!"

Dozens of bolts of white energy flew out, spreading as they traveled, heading in the two directions of the attack.

Outside of the mass, the Chronhorod were in for a treat when they found themselves on the receiving end of a plasma shower. The large barrage was too fast and too dense to avoid completely, and several of the creatures were hit; some were barely nicked, others were slammed hard.

The barrage paused for a moment, giving Shadow a second to breathe, and he needed it; he could even feel the drain from that last attack. His Ring supply must have taken a good hit, so Shadow thought it best to clue Omochao in on the situation.

"Omochao, come in Omochao… Oh brother. Come in 'Tin Man', over"

"Tin Man here, what's happening, Todo. Over"

"Better tell Scarecrow to finish up, I'm running out of juice, over."

"E.T.A. Over."

{E.T.A? Estimated Time of Arrival? Oh, how long do I have.}

Shadow checked his ring supply, which had just enough to pick them up and return to their time.

"One second. Out."

* * *

"Leave me the Hell alone you jackass. I have no idea what turned you two into best buds, but the Sonic I know is a total wretch, and he's going to have Sally over my dead body."

{An eerie choice of words to say the least.}

The young Geoffrey tried to distance himself again from his older counterpart, and partially succeeded when Omochao distracted him the fastest way he knew, a light head butt to the back of Geoffrey's head.

"Ow, what do you want?"

"Geoffrey, Shadow's power is running out; we have to finish this and leave."

Geoffrey was rubbing the back of his head. "Just give me a few more minutes."

"We don't have minutes."

"Then give me 15 seconds."

Geoffrey ran up to his younger self. "Come back here."

The skunk turned to face his older self. "I'm tired of talking…"

Geoffrey interrupted him not with words, but with his fist; sending his former self to the ground.

"Now you listen to me you fuck! You stay the Hell out of there and leave Sally alone. She doesn't need you pampering her or trying to run her life, so leave her be; otherwise you will live to regret it, and she probably won't."

"Time's up."

The younger Geoffrey watched in amazement as a green light enveloped his future self, carrying him away. He was alone, with a sore on his left cheek as a reminder.

* * *

Back in the present, Shadow, Omochao and Geoffrey were once again in the former's home.

"So, how'd it go?"

Geoffrey didn't respond, he simply stroked his face where he struck his former self.

Realizing he wasn't going to get an answer, he looked around. "Where is everybody else? Omochao, has anything changed?"

Omochao detached himself from Geoffrey's back. "Only some minor changes, most of the people you know haven't changed and don't realize what you've done. Rouge is upstairs; Bunnie and Tails are not here."

"Am I married?"

"No."

"Kids?"

"No."

"Good."

Shadow headed out of the room, followed by Omochao and Geoffrey.

* * *

The trio ended up in the kitchen where they found Rouge cooking.

"Hey hun, supper'll be ready in an hour. Hello Geoffrey and… Who are you?"

"I'm Omochao and I'm here to help you."

Rouge was a little bit flustered by the presence of the metallic creature. "My aren't you a little darling."

"Where's Bunnie?"

"Bunnie? She's been out at the farm all day. Yeesh, you better not be losing your memory already, I wasn't planning on looking into retirement homes for another 50 years."

Geoffrey tapped Shadow on the shoulder. "Excuse me, but we should be a little bit more interested in Sally."

"Right." Shadow turned back to Rouge. "I'll be back for supper, we've got business with Sally."

"See you later."

Shadow, Geoffrey and Omochao headed out.

"Rouge doesn't usually cook, could changing that night have affected her."

Omochao answered. "No it didn't, and you've got a nasty surprise coming when you return."

Shadow started to pout. "Not her goulash again."

* * *

Back in the past, Geoffrey paced around the back of Sally's hut; with every second that passed, he just seemed to get angrier and angrier. His steps matched the pace of the sounds from inside, each moan, gasp and cry.

At any second, he could've stormed in and beaten Sonic to a pulp, screaming "Rape!" or some such thing. But what would Sally do, and what about what his future self had told him; the bruise on his cheek told him he didn't dream it. His threat was very real, and very frightening; could it be possible, could his actions of that day have actually cost Sally her life.

At this time and place, it was beyond Geoffrey to understand what was going on, but the pain on his left cheek was a bitter reminder. Slowly, he stepped away from the hut, and decided to head back to his own.

All this was giving him a headache.

* * *

Shadow, Geoffrey and Omochao made their way to the town hall where they found Sally in a meeting with the heads of the rebuilding committees.

Rotor was in charge of getting the water works up and running and was almost finished the daunting task. "We expect to be completed in a week, and we want another week for any last tests before turning the water on full."

"Very good. I look forward to completion of the water systems." She thought to herself. {I haven't had a good shower in years.}

A cat had been put in charge up getting the power grid back online. "Excuse me, your highness. But if the water works are nearing completion, I was hoping that some of his staff could be reassigned to help with the power turbines. We're already two months behind schedule."

"No, we'll wait until after the water works are finished. I don't like leaving jobs half finished. Once the water works are finished, then we'll start reassigning."

The cat accepted the answer and wouldn't pursue the argument any further.

Sally noticed that Geoffrey and Shadow had appeared by the door, but stepped out when they saw that she was busy. "Is there any more business?"

The cabinet had nothing to present.

"Then we'll conclude for today, ladies and gentlemen. We'll reconvene at the usual time at week's end."

The committee chairs left while Sally waited at the table, answering a few questions from some who didn't leave immediately. Geoffrey entered as the heads left, Shadow and Omochao followed.

The stragglers finally made their way out as Sally turned her attention to Geoffrey. "What is it, Geoffrey?"

Geoffrey was quite shocked at the change. The Sally he left behind was comatose in a hospital bed, and starved almost to a skeleton. This Sally was very mush alive, healthy, and much larger; she wasn't fat by a long shot, but a little bit larger than he ever remembered her to be.

"I apologize for this intrusion, your highness, but I just wanted to report that all was well, and to ensure that everything was well here."

"Always the boy scout." Sally smirked, then looked over to notice that Shadow and a strange metal thing had accompanied him.

"Oh, yes, I also wanted to let you know of a visitor. Princess Sally, this is Omochao."

"'Princess'?"

Geoffrey's eyes shot open. He was looking at Omochao who was trying to mouth a word to him; though his metallic lips were impossible to read, Geoffrey guessed what he was trying to say.

"I'm sorry, Queen Sally."

"An odd slip, sometimes I wonder if you treat me like a child."

Sally stepped forward. "So, welcome to Mobotropolis, Omochao."

Omochao bowed nobly. "It is a pleasure to be here, Queen Sally."

"I'm afraid there isn't much here, but you're welcome to our hospitality."

"Thank you, but I won't make a pain of myself. And I would like to offer my services if you have need of me."

"We appreciate that."

From outside a female called into the room. "Your highness? Miss Sally?"

Everyone looked towards the main door as Amy entered, holding a package in her arms.

"Prince Comet is getting a bit cranky; I think it's his dinnertime."

"Thank you, Amy."

Sally picked up the bundle. Shadow and Geoffrey looked at each other before getting a look at what Amy had brought in; a white sheet wrapped around a small blue hedgehog.

"Excuse me gentlemen, but this is a bit private."

Geoffrey saluted. "Yes, your highness."

"Why don't you show Omochao around?"

"Of course."

The trio started to leave when Sally called to the skunk. "Geoffrey, are we still on for Friday?"

Geoffrey stopped. "Friday?"

Omochao whispered to him. "Your date on Friday."

"Oh yes, yes I am, we are… uh, yes."

Sally smiled. "In need of a personal assistant, eh? You'll have to tell me where he came from."

"NOOOO!!!!!"

"I was created by…"

END