The dusk was silent - in the comfortable, peaceful sense, like a gentle hug from a loved one. The gentle humming of the plane's engine did nothing to break the serenity of the moment. The hedgehog couldn't help but be put right at ease, despite his initial worries of getting back in his plane ifor the first time in a while. After letting Tails become pilot, Sonic was a little rusty on his skills - but hey, he'd gotten this far - right? That was worth smiling about.

With Angel Island's dense forest below him, Sonic eventually identified a good clearing he'd be able to land in - close enough to the altar. His mind drew a temporary blank for a moment as he tried to recall how he was supposed to go about landing - but it quickly came back, aiding him in a successful touch down.

The hedgehog hopped out of the plane quickly, pleased with himself. Acting on his late night impulses hadn't resulted in any accidents, for once.

It had only been logical in his head. Usually, randomly visiting your friend's home in the middle night wouldn't be a gesture all that appreciated - but in Knuckles' case, Sonic believed that might be different. He remembered when Knuckles had explained the reason he napped so much in the day because he was awake for a lot of the night - as that's when thieves were most likely to roam.

In hindsight, it made so much sense.

Sonic began making his way up the tall flight of stone steps, expecting Knuckles to be up top with precious gem.

That assumption was proven right, but not in the way he expected.

"Gah-!" Knuckles unmistakably grunted, followed by a frustrated growl. "Damnit-!" It was loud enough to the way he hissed his discomfort.

He was in pain.

Sonic immediately quickened his pace, practically jumping up the staircase.

"Knuckles?" Sonic said worriedly as he was finally able to lay his eyes upon him. "You okay?"

"Sonic-?"

Knuckles was hunched over, catching his breath - leaning one of his hands against the Master Emerald for support. His dreads had become frizzled, and his body had several dark bruises all over - but what caught Sonic's eye was the pink, raw skin on his shoulder devoid of fur - a newly inflicted burn.

"Jeeze! What happened?" Sonic immediately dashed in front of the echidna, making his concern plain.

"Gah-! It's nothing-!" Knuckles tried to insist, his face screwing up with frustration. "Just some stupid bandits - attacked me and the emerald because I was stupid enough to doze off-"

"Aye!" Sonic immediately cut in, holding up a finger. "First off - don't blame yourself. Second - did you give them what for?"

"Obviously." He scoffed. "Sent them packing with their tails between their legs."

"Good." Sonic briefly smiled. "Now, we gotta do something about that shoulder-"

"I used some Master Emerald energy on it. it's fine."

"No offence Knuckles, but I can clearly see it's not done much-" Sonic pointed out. The hedgehog was well aware that the echidna's healing capabilities were rather limited - only really useful for smaller cuts. "Tails usually keeps a bunch of medical stuff in the Tornado, so I'm gonna look for some ointment-"

"Son-" Before Knuckles could finish his objection, Sonic had ran and already came back with an oinment to apply to the echidna's burn.

"Phew! At least Tails thinks about this stuff." Sonic offered up with optimism. "Oh wait! We should really clean that- Angel Island's water is clean, right? Hang on-" Knuckles could barely intake a breath before Sonic returned as though he had never left - carrying a wet, dripping towel that he had soaked in a stream. "Knew little bro would have one, heh." Sonic honestly admired Tails' ability to prepare for so many situations.

Without even thinking, Sonic gently applied the towel to Knuckles' wound and rubbed the area - trying to be both soft and firm to make sure it was properly cleaned. It would have been easier and more thorough to use soap and running water from a tap - but Angel Island was lacking in such luxuries, so improvisation it was.

In the thick of the process, Sonic felt stupefied. He knew Knuckles was strong, everyone knew that - but now that he was so close, actively touching the echidna - Sonic could truly appreciate his toned, broad muscles. The hedgehog could feel the echidna's arm muscles suddenly tense, hardening under his grip, and Sonic inhaled - he'd better apply that ointment now, but he found himself not wanting to pull his hand away.

Sonic dared make a glance towards the echidna's face, and saw that Knuckles' cheeks were flushed with a flurry of emotions. "I- I can look after myself, you know-!" Knuckles then snapped. "I don't need you to do this for me-!"

"Yeah, yeah-" Sonic smirked, realising that Knuckles hadn't even attempted to step back. "But while I'm here I might as well make myself useful-"

"What are you doing on my island anyway? At this time of night?" His tone became accusatory.

"Had some night jitters - a lot of energy to burn, so I thought - why not see you? You must get lonely at night sometimes." Sonic explained, shrugging - resisting the temptation to hold and feel the echidna any longer-

Wait... what were these thoughts? Why did he-? His mind went weird places at 2am, huh?

"You were bored." Knuckles summarised.

"Yep. And I wanted to see you." Sonic picked up the tube of ointment, and started applying a thin layer of the cream. As he made sure to cover every part of the burn, he stroked the curves and ridges of the echidna's robust frame.

"To annoy me." Knuckles' voice came out like a whisper, no matter how much he wanted it to sound otherwise.

"Of course, it's my favourite pass time." Sonic didn't skip a beat with his response.

"But if you're here, and the Tornado is here too - where's Tails?" Knuckles then rose a brow.

"He's not the only one that can fly it, you know. That plane was originally mine, in fact."

Sonic couldn't help but be amused at Knuckles' surprised face. "Oh. I- I thought Tails was the tech guy so-"

"Yeah, he's definitely more skilled at it than me though. That little guy can pull of some insane aerial tricks!" How could Sonic not gush about Tails when given the opportunity?

"Ah. I see-" Knuckles nodded.

"Got something to cover the burn with?" Sonic asked, now done tending to the infliction.

"Yeah... I'll sort that out later." Knuckles said, looking away from Sonic and off to the side - folding his arms, gritting his teeth through the pain it caused him. "Thanks-" Knuckles said stiffly. "Even though I didn't need it-"

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that last part." Sonic said, shrugging smugly.

"You can get off my island now."

"Nice try." Sonic's grin was unwavering. "You've gotta tell me what happened here, Knuckles - unusual of you to look so, well... roughed up."

Knuckles immediately huffed, frowning. "They attacked while I was sleeping. First some hyena with fire powers burnt my shoulder, and as I'm woken by that - their teammates are on top of me trying to beat me to death with their fists! Idiots... they had the perfect advantage to take the emerald but instead went with a sloppy, dirty attack-!"

"Guess that's thieves for you." Sonic remarked dryly, admittedly sympathising with Knuckles' plight.

"I made sure they knew they picked the wrong fight. They ran back to wherever they come from." There was no mistaking the disgust in his tone as he spoke of them. "Whatever aircraft they used to get here probably didn't even belong to them! Stupid thieves-"

Sonic understood Knuckles' hatred for criminals, but could see the echidna was working himself up - so Sonic wanted to instead put him at ease before he hurt himself further. "And they're not likely to be coming back any time soon. And even if they do? You'll kick their butts twice as hard!" Sonic grinned. "The Master Emerald's safe again, that's what counts right?"

"Spoken like the idiot you are." Knuckles rolled his eyes, before the sass dissipated - and gave way to reveal his regretful gaze. "I shoudln't have been sleeping - I'm getting sloppy-"

"Sloppy? Ha! Couldn't be further from the truth, you Knucklehead! You're like- the most hardworking guy I know! You're constantly on the job. It's not like you can stop sleeping, it was just - unfortunate timing, that's all."

"I train my body to stay awake for long periods - especially at night. It shouldn't have happened." All of Sonic's praise had just bounced off of him.

Sonic let out a slightly exasperated sigh. "Fine, don't listen to me. Be that way - I'm not your emotional support hog."

"And I don't need one."

"You sure? Usually, you're too proud to admit your mistakes." Sonic rose a brow, crossing his arms.

Knuckles' eyes widened. Sonic could be surpisingly observant when it came to the people around him. The echidna opened his mouth to speak, but sighed when no words came out.

"Admit it, you dork. You're telling me about your insecurities because I'm your friend. And because I'm your friend, I wanna help you and make sure you know that you weren't at fault for the things that transpired today. You got it? Cool." Sonic answered his own rhetorical question before Knuckles could.

Knuckles gave up trying to argue, resigning himself to biting his lip. Knuckles was so easy to win against, he almost felt bad.

"Now, I know this is gonna be eating at you a while so, what can I do to make myself useful while I'm here? Do you need more traps set up on the island...?" Sonic began to suggest.

"Not... right now, but-" To Sonic's surprise, Knuckles began to sound as though he was actually going to ask Sonic's help for something. Finally! It would appear they were making some progress in their friendship. "Could you run through the island for me? Make sure those thieves didn't somehow circle back and are now camping out on the island again-"

"Sure thing."

"I don't want a stone unturned." Knuckles said strictly. "I know how oblivious of your surroundings you can be."

"If you're worried about me not doing a good enough job - how about you come with me on the Tornado? We can hover around the island together and search - that way you get to be certain the island is safe yourself. How does that sound?"

He blinked. "In the Tornado? With you? I'd rather not die today..."

"Oh come on, I got all the way here without crashing - didn't I?!"

"I... guess..." Knuckles admitted tiredly. "I- Sure, I'll do it then..."

Sonic was pulled out of his memories by the sound of Tangle's excited squealing. "AAAAH!" She was doing a bizzarre little dance on the plane's wing. "I'm actually standing on a plane! Gosh, I'm so excited! I'm going to burst-!"

"You okay there, Tangle?" Sonic couldn't help but grin.

"I AM IN A STATE OF EUPHORIA, SONIC!"

Sonic gave a hearty laugh at the lemur. He could agree, standing on a plane was a pretty cool experience - and it never really got old. He preferred it over piloting, to be frank - but hey, this plane wasn't going to fly itself.

The hedgehog's mind drifted again, there was another reason it felt wrong to be here. This was Tails' spot, he had basically claimed it for the whole three years he'd known him. His little brother... the brother he didn't have here. Try as he might, Sonic could never forget the way... 'Miles' had looked at him - the malice in his face, the mockery in his tone - Eggman's influence written all over him as he gloated with emotionless eyes.

No. Not emotionless... that empathy was just buried, that's all. Buried by the cruel man he worked for.

Sonic was going to save him, whatever it took.

For now, at least he had his other close friend to hold onto. Sonic looked back over his shoulder and saw Knuckles' awestruck face - Sonic realised this version of him had never been in a plane before. Sure, Knuckles could glide - soaring through the air was nothing new to him. However, the plane gave a new experience - allowing him to fly higher and much longer, all while sitting down as the machinery did the hard work. This Knuckles was still getting used to the concept of vehicles in general.

"Having fun there?" Sonic asked.

"Hm? Oh, it's uh-" Knuckles was taken off guard by the sudden question. "Just new to me, is all-"

"Heh. Well I'm honoured that Sonic Airlines got to provide you with your first air travel experience."

He silently wished there had been more interesting things to see than gray clouds and smoke - light a bright, sunny day with a scattering of clouds among the blue - or better yet, a starry night.

Just like before.

"Thank you for having chosen Sonic Airlines' for your Angel Island tour tonight!" Sonic spoke in his announcer voice, looking briefly at Knuckles on the backseat.

"I had no other choice." Knuckles said bluntly, resting his cheek in his hand and looking over the side of the plane. "But if I did have one - I would have picked any other option."

"Oh yeah?" Sonic smiled mischievously, ready to challenge his claim. "So you'd rather get into a plane driven by Rouge, huh?"

Knuckles' face paled at the thought. "I stand corrected... Okay, I'd choose MOST other options-!"

This set off Sonic into a laughing fit as Knuckles doubled down with growing frustration. "Come on! She's the type that would crash the plane on purpose!" Knuckles insisted.

"That made you think twice." Sonic spoke through his snickers.

"You're insufferable-"

"Yeah, but I'm rarely ever wrong."

"Hah! Bold claim, Sonic. I'll remind me you of that after your next screw up." It was now Knuckles' turn to be smug, puffing up his chest.

"We'll see about that, Knucklehead." Sonic shook his head, amused. "Anyways, we're getting a bit distracted here-"

"I'm not. I've been carefully looking this whole time." Knuckles declared pridefully. The two of them were undoubtedly petty, always looking for ways to one-up each other - no matter how minuscule the victory.

"Then I'm assuming Angel Island is free of intruders, then."

"Far from it actually..."

Sonic's ears perked up, and his eyes narrowed. "Where are-?"

"They're right in front of me, actually."

It took an embarrasingly long time for Sonic to figure out what Knuckles meant by his words and the shit-eating grin on his face, but when Sonic pieced it together and frowned, Knuckles loudly began to chuckle.

"HAHAHA! You walked right into that one!" Knuckles pointed at the hedgehog.

Sonic rolled his eyes, but Knuckles' laugh was infectious - and he joined right in. "One of your rare witty moments, Knux. I don't expect it because they don't happen often."

"Whatever, you're just salty." Nothing could rain on the echidna's parade as he leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head. "In all seriousness though, we've circled the whole island - nothing seems off, and I don't see any traces of thieves anywhere."

"Really? We've been round the whole place? Didn't even realise..." Sonic blinked with fascination.

"Proves my point about your lack of spacial awareness."

"I'm more impressed that I basically drove the plane subconciously-"

"Not bad for being out of practise, I suppose." Knuckles achknowledged. "We should head down..."

"You in a rush?" Sonic asked. "Don't you wanna enjoy the night differently?"

"What... do you mean by that?" Knuckles questioned with some suspicion.

"Well, you're always looking up at the sky from the ground - right? So why not enjoy hanging around in the air a little longer?" Sonic suggested lightly, Knuckles had few changes in his daily life - and Sonic had no idea how the echidna hadn't gone insane. Despite how tough and rigid he acted all the time, Sonic knew that Knuckles must be bearing some restlessness at the repetitiveness of his life - and that's why Sonic always tried to be exciting and do something new with him... although it wasn't always appreciated.

"I... guess?" He didn't object to the idea.

"Let's us spend more time together too." Sonic smiled. "I know as soon as we get to the altar you're gonna be shooing me away so-"

"You really want to spend time with me, huh?" Knuckles realised softly.

"Wouldn't have come to you in the middle of the night if I didn't. I would have stayed on my warm couch."

"I guess I just don't get it. I'm pretty boring, really." The echidna admitted awkwardly, removing his hands from the nonchalent position he had been in before - placing them in his lap.

"Your lifestyle is. But you? Far from it." Sonic replied simply. "And I know you can't exactly help the lifestyle part so - I try to bring a little excitement over to ya when I can. You're welcome by the way."

"Heh... thanks." Knuckles said with a gentle smile, catching Sonic by surprise as he had been expecting some kind of retort. "For being there, I mean." He continued. "You and Tails, Amy too - your visits do make a big difference. I'm grateful for it..."

"Knew you'd be less prickly at night. Or is it your injuries that are softening you up and making you tired?" Sonic teased despite the echidna's sincerity.

"Oh shut it, I was thanking you for once!" Knuckles huffed.

"And it was music to my ears." Sonic quickly said in a self-satisfied manner. Ultimately, Sonic knew that Knuckles wasn't the most comfortable opening up about his feelings - so Sonic brought the conversation back to a tone they were more familiar with. However, he made a mental note to be visiting Knuckles more often - he may be a grump, but the last thing Sonic wanted for the echidna was for him to feel alone.

"Hey, Knuckles?"

"Yeah...?"

"You ever ridden on the wing of a plane?"

"Nope."

"Come on then." Sonic said as he stood up from his seet, stepping out of the plane's cockipit much ti Knuckles' alarm.

"WOAH, WOAH, WOAH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! THE TORNADO NEEDS A PILOT OR IT'LL CRASH!" Knuckles yelled, waving his arms around frantically.

Sonic laughed lightly, "Aye, chillax. It's on autopilot - it's driving itself."

"Are we sure we can be trusting this technology?" Knuckles glared at the now empty seat in front of him.

"Well, the autopilot system was made by Tails. And you don't doubt his skills, do you?" Sonic tilted his head back at the echidna - now standing on the plane's left wing and tapping his foot repeatedly.

"Well.. no- ugh-"

"Then up you come." Sonic beckoned him up, and Knuckles had no more excuses to refuse. The echidna was unsure of himself as he unbuckled and stood up initially, but it seemed it wasn't as unstable as he had anticipated. Knuckles shuffled towards the left wing, and Sonic reached out a hand.

Knuckles grasped it, and Sonic held pull him up onto the wing so they could stand together.

"Pretty cool here, don't you think?" Sonic smiled, still holding onto Knuckles' hand.

"I mean... feels dangerous, actually. How have you never slipped?" Knuckles asked, not letting go either.

" 'Cause I'm too cool."

"... Forget I asked." The echidna grumbled.

"Tell you what though, the moon is gorgeous." Sonic suddenly remarked, prompting Knuckles to look as well. It was large in the sky, gleaming down on the planet below - granting the world a white-yellow glow, a gentle dash of warmth. The stars also shone, elegantly scattered across the dark sky - but the moon, with its powerful and ethereal presence, captured the world's attention.

"It is." Knuckles breathed out, staring at it in wonder.

"Tell you what - I'm not always gonna be able to visit you at night, so whenever you're feeling lonely - I want you to look at the moon, and remember me. Remember this little night of ours, yeah?"

"Look at the moon and... think of you?" The idea was so absurd - how could Knuckles not laugh at it? "Hahaha! Sonic, you okay? You're not normally so poetic."

"Hahaha! Come on, Knux-" Sonic found it funny too, but his cheeks were flushed. "I'm trying my best here!"

"i... guess I appreciate the sentiment?" Knuckles snorted with laughter before finally calming down. "I guess that's your corny way of saying you're watching over me... thinking of me?"

"Exactly that." Sonic nodded. "And come on, you definitely couldn't have come up with anything better."

"I might have surprised you."

"Doubt it."

He chose to ignore that. "Hm." Knuckles thought to himself for a moment before speaking again. "You called me Knux just now."

"Huh? Oh yeah, I did-"

"I like it."

"Really now?"

"I wouldn't be saying that if I didn't-"

"Heh- Oh Knux," Sonic squeezed Knuckles' hand a little tighter, not even realising he had done so. "I'm happy to call you whatever you like."

Gazing up at the shattered moon. both mobians fell into a comfortable silence.

"Sonic!" A hand grabbing his shoulder and shaking his body back and forth brought him back to reality again.

"H-huh-?"

"Massive red beam headed our way!" Knuckles shouted in an angry panic.

"Wait - what?" Sonic glanced behind him. "Oh shit-"

"Can you dip the plane under it or something?!" Tangle called out.

"Guess I'll have to find out-!" Hoo boy, this was not Sonic's forte, but he couldn't afford to get anything wrong.

He tilted the controls down as fast as he could, allowing for the plane to narrowly avoid the laser projectile. "What else you guys seeing back there?!"

"I'm seeing..." Tangle squinted, hand shielding her eyes from the sun so she could focus. Her cheeks paled at what she saw. "Oh goodness, oh dear - okay so... we may or may not have an entire swarm of Buzz Bombers pursuing us-"

"Darn it..." Sonic growled. "Those things fire off so many electrcitity balls! I'm not sure how well I'll be able to avoid all of the projectiles-" Sonic admitted. "Tai- My friend, he did this kind of stuff, not me-!"

"Then I'll try to take care of them before they can even get to us!" Tangle announced with determination. With a roar of effort, she flung out her tail and extended it the furthest Sonic had ever seen it go - did it even have a limit. Whipping her tail through the collection of winged badniks, a large number were knocked out of the sky - crushed to mere metallic parts by the might of the lemur's tail.

"Oh dang! You're awesome, Tangle!" Sonic cheered.

"Woo! Thanks!" She beamed back. "That takes care of that!" She dusted off her hands, despite not even using them in combat. "Wasn't expecting to get attacked, I'll be honest."

"You... weren't expecting that?" Knuckles asked in disbelief. "Tangle, we stole someone else's plane! Of course we're going to have pursuers!"

Tangle blinked blankly, opening her mouth - and then closed it again, before finally allowing herself to speak. "Right! Yeah... right, totally didn't assume for whatever reason that the hard part was over already and that we'd face no resistance in the air... totally wasn't thinking that-"

The lack of a strategist in their team was now more than evident.

"Guys-" Knuckles spoke up again. "What Tangle took out... that was only phase 1-"

Both Sonic and Tangle turned to face the direction Knuckles was pointing in.

"Oh no-"

"Ah, Starline. How wonderful of you to stop by my lab." Miles began, opening up the doors with a swipe of his identity card. He could read all over Starline's face that the platypus was bitter that he still had to put in passwords, not having yet been trusted with an ID card in the same way Miles was.

"Well, if we wish for this Empire to run successfully - we must ensure proper commmunications." Starline said, keeping himself formal in both body language and tone.

"Couldn't agree more."

"That and I was very impressed by your work in surpressing the Black Arms invasion-"

Starline was trying to be a kiss ass, and he could feel the doctor writhing with discomfort as he fought against his jealousy. Miles loved every second of Starline's suffering.

"Why thank you." Miles said, finally opening up the door to his labatory... or rather, one of his many.

"How familiar are you with genetic science, Starline?" Miles had asked, whatever the answer was - he didn't care.

"Oh, quite - one of my favourite study fields." He smiled pridefully.

"Then... you'll have an appreciation for this."

"Miles, what on Mobius happened to your lab...?"

Instead of the usual sights on might expect - the large, lavish equipment - the vials of acid among the shelves, or at the very least a worktable - there was absolutely nothing there. It was empty - leaving nothing but the white wall and floor tile - making the whole room feel akin to an asylum.

The only thing in the room was a chair, and a mobian bear sat on it - his head hung low as his hands were tied behind the seat.

"I had a clean up!" Miles responded happily, before giggling. "No, no I jest - not quite. You see, I didn't exactly want my things getting broken so I'm anticipating the worst, and I got rid of anything that might get damaged in this experiment!"

"What...? What are you about to do?" Starline asked, baffled.

Miles reached into his pocket - slowly taking out a needle, a bright green, viscose liquid contained within the barrel. "Do you know what this is, Starline?"

"Watered-down playground putty?" Starline offered up sarcastically, but shook his head 'no' for his true answer.

"Oh, you are funny." Miles didn't laugh, he grinned with his mouth alone - his eyes were not filled with the same joy. "This, Starline, is DNA from the Black Arms themselves. You remember the alien I brought back with me, don't you?"

"How could I... forget?" Starline shuddered.

"I extracted it's blood, and with some alterations - I made a serum. When combined with Mobian DNA, the two will merge - and the subject at hand will develop the alien features of the Black Arms species."

"And you would want that... why?" Starline tried to cut in, but Miles held up a hand - silencing him.

"The Black Arms are an elite alien species possessing great power. As much as an advocate I am for robots filling near every role in society - I do believe that sometimes a more... organic touch... is certainly useful in combat. The Black Arms operate within a hive mind - communicating to each other telepathically, but most importantly - following the orders of their leader without question. What the Empire needs is a powerful, efficient army that we can take with us to conquer other planets. That is the aim of my project!" The fox finished off gleefully.

"An army of monsters..." Starline said slowly. "Quite a risk."

"There's always risk in science." Miles replied with ease. "Just watch." The fox made his way over to the test subject on the chair. "Yoohoo! Time for the show to begin!"

"S-stop-!" The bear immediately looked up, his body shaking in a frenzy. "Don't come anywhere near me!" He pleaded.

"Nervous?" Miles asked. "First time?"

"Please!" He continued. "I have kids! I have KIDS!" His eyes brimmed with tears.

"Oh, hardly a problem." Miles shrugged. "When I'm done with you, you won't even be able to remember their names."

"NO! NO, DON'T DO THIS-"

Try as the test subject might, wriggling and struggling with all his strength - there was no escaping his position tied to the seat. He roared in anguish, bubbling sobs escaping his throat as he finally lost control. It was going to make injecting the stuff a nuisance... oh well.

"Farewell." Miles said, hovering the tip of the needle over the man's arm, letting it brush against the very tip of his fur.

"P-PLEASE, I'LL DO ANYTHING-!"

Miles plunged the needle in, piercing the bear's skin and injected the serum into his veins.

This was where the fun began.

The fox wasted no time in backing away to the furthest corner of the room near the door, ready to make an emergency exit. The bear already begun to mutate, losing its humanoid features and much more resembling the natural beast found in the wild - a large, heavy frame filled with thick fur, sharp and snarly teeth, and small, black eyes.

Then it kept growing, and growing.

Brown fur faded into purple as it towered over the two scientists, slobbering a dark purple substance from its mouth. It roared, sending a tremour through the room and causing Starline to gasp in shock. Miles had to wonder what was running through Starline's head right now.

As for the fox himself? Nothing but satisfaction - seeing his hard work come to life.

Miles opened his eyes.

He couldn't help but realise quickly that his dream had ended on what would have been a perfect note. His experiment was proving itself to be a success with every morphing change on that bear's body. Sure, Starline had been the only one to witness it but - that counted for something at the very least.

It had all gone wrong after that.

No wonder father was getting frustrated with him - two major scientific mistakes unleashed onto the world - and those mistakes were linked to each other!

The fox sighed, heaving himself to sit on the edge. He had pondered for at least an hour, alone with his thoughts, before he had finally been able to sleep peacefully - and found his mind chasing himself around in circles.

It shouldn't have happened. Project Shadow should have stayed an alien, so why didnt he?

The serum had no sort of expiry. It was not something that could be suppressed by mobian DNA strands... so what on Mobius had happened?

Project Shadow was now running off with one of the rebels, as far as he knew any way. Had they been anything to do the unexpected turn of events? Possibly! How could he know without research? Rouge... that was her name, wasn't it? Yet, as far as he recalled there was nothing particularly special about her besides exceedingly high levels of strength - which had nothing to do with what Miles was interested in.

What of her accomplices he had met at the festival? The lemur seemed even less remarkable than the bat. The blue hedgehog...was a mysterious one. Admittedly, after the festival - Miles had felt inclined to search up data records for the blue speedster that Robotnik had referred to as Sonic in his ramblings - yet, no records showed the hedgehog existed.

Now, how was that possible?

Sonic looked ready to crumble and was spewing out nonsense back on the anniversary, so he honestly wasn't expecting him to last all that long as a rebel. Miles would withold judgement though, maybe he had some secret ability - something that interfered with Project Shadow, as the fact that Sonic was nowhere to be found on record was still suspicious.

Finally, Miles had been very surprised to see the echidna guardian with the rebels - but that surprised had turned into an anger seething within. Miles had spoken to his father a long time ago about what was to be done about him. They could have killed him and swiped the emerald for themselves! They could have made him endorse the Empire and help them succeed! And yet...

Robotnik had told him to leave the echidna alone. He had told him to leave Angel Island alone. Even... to leave the Master Emerald.

It was one of father's decisions that did not make sense - was there truly a smart reason behind it? There had to be, right? Of course there was! How could he ever doubt him? The Emperor's most bizzarre plans always had a tendency to work out, how was this going to be any different? Trust the process...

Ugh, but had the guardian somehow interfered with the-? UGH!

Starline's gloating, the rebels interfering - it was all stupid! It was all becoming too much!

Miles stood up from his bed, picked up his laser pistol from the bedside table with a yell - and aimed a shot. He fired at his picture of Starline that hung on the far wall. It was good target practise.

A whole in the picture had been made right where the platypus' head once was.

Bullseye.

The drive had been awkward from that point on, at least - for Rouge it probably was - by the way her gaze quickly shifted around the vehicle, but refused to look directly at him.

Shadow, on the other hand, was quite content to space out with his thoughts.

Starline had warned him that there was a chance he had not been returned fully to normal, but Shadow hadn't expected his alien form to manifest in the way that it did. Honestly, Shadow couldn't describe what that moment had been, he just... lost control.

It wasn't going to happen again. He couldn't falter in his mission... his promise to her.

He missed her.

"Oh goodness me, Shadow. Pushing yourself to your limits again?" Maria spoke, her voice gentle like a songbird in the early morning. Even though Shadow was barely concious, he could just about make out the fact he wasn't even on the ground - rather, hovering above it as he was being carried in someone's arms.

...

Shadow opened his eyes slowly and gradually, allowing light to filter into his vision at a steady pace. For a moment, he couldn't figure out why he was here... where had he been before?

"Ah! You're awake, Shadow." Maria smiled, standing over the bed and placing a glass of water on the table next to it. "Just in time, I thought you could use some hydration when you wake up. When you're ready of course."

"Maria-?" Shadow gasped out, shock setting in. "Was that-? Did you carry me all the way from the training area-?"

"Unfortunately, yes." She said sympathetically.

"But- Maria, you shouldn't exert yourself like that! It's too much for you!" Shadow tried to insist. "You need to be resting, your NIDS has been getting worse and-" Shadow himself wanting to sit upright, but failed to - a wave exhaustion and muscle ache forcing him back down to laying on his back.

"Shadow, I've been fine for the past few days - and trust me, you're much lighter than a human." She giggled lightly. "Don't you think you should be taking your own advice?"

Shadow breathed in slowly. "Is this going to be a lecture...?"

"Only if it needs to be." She had always been reasonable in that regard, never one to nag. "You do understand why you can't keeping doing this, right?"

"How else am I going to get stronger if I can't train without them-?"

"You have your inhibitor rings for a reason, they are to keep you safe and healthy." Maria explained gently despite Shadow's growing frusration.

"But I don't know how else I'll-"

"Do you need to get stronger?" Maria questioned, knowing what Shadow was about to ask before he had even said the words himself. Shadow stared at her in silence, unable to hide his pained expression.

"How else will I please the G.U.N. officers...? They're coming in a week and I'm not making progress in any tests-!" Shadow asked her, truly at a loss for what to do.

"Shadow, oh you poor thing... you have nothing to prove." Maria soothed him, beginning to stroke the top of his head. "You should not push yourself to your breaking point for the sake of pleasing others, it'll only cause you pain." She advised. "If you want to get better at something, or improve yourself - then you need to make sure you're doing it for you - and make sure you treat yourself with kindess, and take things at your own pace."

"I just-" Shadow sighed with difficulty. "I don't want to let Gerald down. It's important we impress them or- Well, I don't know exactly... but I refuse to believe that I'm imagining the tense atmosphere in here these days... I worry G.U.N. might do something bad to Gerald and the other scientists if I'm deemed ineffective-"

"You're not ineffective, Shadow. You're not. You're grandfather's greatest creation... his biggest success." She reminded him, still stroking the ultimate life form to provide him comfort. "They will see that Shadow. They will all see in time... the destiny that awaits you. They'll learn that their approval... has little bearing on fate."

Shadow's eyelids began to droop again, begging for much needed rest.

"You will fix this world, Shadow... by bringing about its end."

"Shit."

Shadow snapped back to his senses. Hearing Rouge speak combined with the fact she was staring out the window with a stunned expression, Shadow looked out as well. They had finally approached the entrance of another city - but the hedgehog also knew they were only passing through on their way to Apotos.

The hedgehog finally managed to see what exactly it was that got Rouge to swear, and narrowed his eyes. Their were images of both himself and the bat illuminated on billboards on the sides of the buildings - announcing them as wanted criminals, for immediate arrest.

Shadow didn't know they'd gotten a picture of him staring directly at a camera to begin with - was the image generated?

"Wow... that's the biggest wanted poster I've ever been on..." Rouge remarked with equal parts horror and fascination.

"You've been on them before?" Shadow rose a brow.

"As the world's most famous thief, yes - quite a lot actually." She bragged with amusement.

Oh, so he was working with literal scum. Good to know. Shadow's burning desire to reach the ARK strengthened tenfold at the revelation. "I see." Shadow remarked stiffly. "Which city are we entering now?"

"Central City." Rouge revealed. "Like Station Square - but slightly more techy, I guess."

"We'll drive through, get out of the city - and then we'll find a place for you to rest up." Shadow said, knowing his mobian partner was undoubtedly getting tired due to her weaker body.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Rouge nodded with a yawn.

First though, they needed to make it through Central City without running into any trouble. For whatever reason, Shadow doubted that they would be having easy travels...

He was preparing for the worst.

Me when I was supposed to update yesterday but fell asleep LMAO

So what did I serve up today? Ship fuel baby. Most of this chapter took place in the past or a seperate timeline entirely pfft. In case you were curious, the Sonuckles moment flashback takes place between the events of SA2 and Heroes in the old timeline :)

Now we ALMOST have the full picture of how the monsters were made! Thanks to Miles injecting Mobians with Black Arms DNA - the monsters were created, now we just gotta figure out why they're running all over the place...

And finally! A small check in with Shadow and Rouge, with mostly a Maria flashback - because Shadow's false memories are fun teehee.

Kinda funny how Shadow and Rouge have reached Central City, and our hero trio are also on their way there. hMMMMMM.

NEXT TIME: The hero trio are gonna have to fight in the skies, Amy and the Babylon Rogues discuss dances and fashion, the Chaotix do a thing, and the heroes in the In-Between- Nah, not gonna spoil anymore mWAHAHHA

As always, bless ya'll for the love and support! Let me know what you thought of this chapter in a review! I really hope you enjoyed exploring Sonic and Knuckles' dynamic in the old timeline, and I hope you'll enjoy seeing how it compares to the new one! Ta-ta for now! Next chapter is a goodie if I do say so myself ;)