Eggman's Hidden Base — Location Unknown
Several Weeks Ago
"Oh, Doctor Eggman!" Orbot calls out loudly as he enters an extravagantly posh bedroom, holding a tray of food in one hand. "We heard you weren't feeling well, so we decided to make you a special breakfast! Eggs two-ways with freshly-squeezed orange juice!"
A voice grumbles from the opposite side of a door on the side of the room, "Ah—… Erm—… Yes. Leave it outside the door."
Orbot whispers aside to Cubot, "I told you that bug he caught on the island was a nasty one. He won't even leave the gentleman's room. And just listen to his voice. He barely sounds like himself." Clearing his throat, he continues out loud, "Right away, sir." He obediently places the tray down before turning to leave.
"Wait!" Orbot stops. "Did you bring a latté as well?"
"Doctor, I'm offended that you'd think we'd forget your morning coffee."
"Yes, well… There's no accounting for incompetence."
Cubot whispers to Orbot. "I don't know what you're talking about. He sounds normal to me."
Orbot shushes him and waves him away. "Enjoy your meal, Doctor. Rest assured, we'll take care of things for as long as you need us to."
Cubot continues, "You know, last time I caught a bug, it corrupted my entire hard drive. Then it burrowed its way out through the back of my head."
"Yes, I remember…"
On the other side of the door, a tall and slim figure rests on his hands over the sink. He looks up into the mirror with a satisfied grin on his face. Though he wears a long, unkempt mustache, bald head, and red flight suit, he is clearly not Eggman. Tapping the screen of a device strapped to his wrist, he begins in a hushed tone, "Doctor's Log, Day 89."
The title appears on the screen as the device begins to record the waveform of his speech.
"It's been two days since I arrived in this strange, significantly-more-inhabited-than-the-last-one world. The locals don't appear to suspect that I am not, in fact, their emperor. Although I am not entirely sure how I arrived here, and although I'm still unable to calculate the seemingly-unscientific mechanical differences between this world and my own, my grasp on sanity remains, as always, absolute. Isn't that right, Agent Stone?"
He looks over at the counter, where an oddly-shaped rock sits, covered in pockmarks and moss that give it the vague appearance of a carefully groomed face.
Receiving no response from his stone, not-Eggman continues, "Despite the existence of a 'Sonic the Hedgehog' in this world, I've come to suspect that this is not the home planet of the invader to my own world. The Sonic of this world appears to be a frustratingly well-known figure who, though in hiding, still lives on this planet, as he has his entire life."
As he speaks, he strolls over to the door, which opens for him automatically, allowing him to scoop up the cup of coffee left on his breakfast tray, and take a long swig. His face contorts immediately. A second later, he spits it all out, growling in a much more accurate Eggman impression, "They call this thing a latté!? It's a lotta something, alright." He slams the cup down next to his rock. "Agent Stone. Fix it."
Clearing his throat, he resumes his erratic pacing around the room. "Now, where was I? Ah, yes! The existence of this 'other' Sonic, combined with my apparent resemblance to this world's ruler, seems to support my theory that I have traveled not just to another planet, but to an entire other universe, perhaps one parallel to my own. Agent Stone?"
The rock offers no response.
"Why, yes, I, Dr. Robotnik, am a genius, to the surprise of no one. Stop spouting the obvious and tell me that my latté is ready." He swipes the coffee cup back and takes another swig. "Aah. Now that's a latté. Your talents are wasted, my friend. Unless you secretly own a coffee shop that I'm not aware of." He leans in close to the rock and whispers, "Of course, if you were to leave my service in pursuit of your higher calling, I would have to have you silenced. I'm sure you would make the right decision."
He straightens up to resume the log. "Now that I've accomplished all I can through stationary research, I believe the time has come for me to venture farther out into this unknown world. Maintaining the guise of this world's emperor will be made more difficult, which is why subtlety and caution will be paramount. I think you know what that means, Agent Stone." He grabs the rock with two hands and hefts it off of the counter with a strained grunt of effort. "It's time for some more…rock-connaissance!" With all his might, he hurls the rock out through the nearest window, shattering the glass along the way.
Far down below, Cubot's voice can be heard shouting, "Owie!"
Robotnik cups his hands around his mouth and calls out through the window, "I'm going to need that back!"
With exasperation in his voice, Orbot answers back, "Yes, Doctor!"
Robotnik cheers for the world to hear, "ROCK-CONNAISSANCE!"
Sonic the Hedgehog: The Chaos Project
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 the Movie Special Episode
Next Level Nexus
Written by ChaosProjectAuthor
Meanwhile, in another world…
San Francisco, California
"When the city by the bay faces insurmountable injustice…" Under the light of the waxing moon, a lone hedgehog figure stands high on the rooftops. "…they turn to their lone protector…known only as…The Rodent!" Teen Sonic takes a pose, crouching down on his hands to bare his quills straight up. After a moment, he gives it up to strike himself in the forehead. "No, no, that was terrible! What was I thinking?"
He takes a seat on the edge of the rooftop, letting his feet dangle over the side as he pulls out a small slip of paper and a pencil. Moving his eyes down the list, he finds the name "The Rodent," and draws a long scratch through it. "Yeah, that one's a definite no." The list of names begins with "Blue Blur," noted with a question mark, while lower down on the list are names like "Blue Devil," "Spiky Supernova," and "Spiny Sentinel."
He turns the paper over, revealing a separate list, apparently written on a restaurant bill, with almost every item scratched out already. New entries have been crammed into the margins, and he turns the paper sideways to get a look at "Become a real superhero," one of the few unmarked items on the bucket list.
Lost in thought, he takes a look up at the stars in the sky. "Man, I'll bet The Flash didn't have this hard of a time coming up with a good superhero name. Hmm… Maybe I can just be The Flash? Would anyone even know the difference?" He turns the paper back over and pencils in "The Flash." Almost immediately, he crosses it out. "No, no, I need to be my own hero. What if I played off of the whole 'injustice' thing? That's it." He adds another item in the form of "Blue Justice." He stares at it for a while. "I like that. I'll come back to that."
He looks up and out at the city skyline, his eyes eventually finding a distant clock tower. "Oh, shoot! Dinner's on the table in 3 minutes! I need to get back to Montana!" He stops to think for a moment. "Maybe I'll stop for donuts on the way, that'll still leave me a minute to spare." Nodding with satisfaction at that plan, he stands up to do a few stretches before diving straight over the edge of the building. His feet hit the wall, and he sprints the rest of the way down, picking up even more speed before turning out onto the streets, zipping out through the city blocks faster than any eye on the ground could trace.
High atop the clock tower, a cloaked figure watches the blue streak speeding by. The cloak bears a strange pattern, almost entirely white on one side and black on the other, meeting into decorative swirls with sharp pointed ends in the middle. From the shadows under the hood, an animoid's red eyes stare out. "We've found him."
"Help! Somebody help!"
Teen Sonic skids to a halt as he hears the cry. "Don't worry! The Quilled Crusader is coming to the rescue!" He turns around and races in the direction of the cry for help.
He arrives on the scene to find a large-scale collision at a busy intersection. Damaged vehicles are piled up on all sides, and in the center, an oil tanker has toppled on its side. Sonic quickly goes to work, zipping into each car and pulling all the startled victims out and to safety one at a time. Once the entire group has been moved a safe distance away, he raises his hands to address them all a bit nervously. "Okay, everyone's out, no serious injuries, what next?"
The uniformed driver of the "Oil Ocean" tanker car shouts with surprise, "What the heck are you supposed to be!?"
"It's okay, I'm a superhero, I'm here to help."
"Well you could start by making sure my truck doesn't explode!"
Sonic realizes, "Of course, it's a classic comic book save, what was I worried about? I'm on it." He zips over to the overturned truck, taking a moment to study the hole where a steady stream of oil flows out, forming a black puddle that creeps slowly closer to the burning engine of a nearby car. He disappears for a moment, before returning with a bucket to place under the hole, arresting the spread of the puddle under his feet. He quickly realizes the flaw in his plan as the bucket overflows, resuming the spread as quickly as it was going before. He dashes off with the filled bucket and returns with an empty one.
"That doesn't look like it's helping!"
Sonic shouts back at the driver, "I don't see you contributing anything!"
"Just put out the fire!"
"Oh yeah." He leaves the bucket where it is and turns his attention to the flaming car. "Hmm… How would The Flash handle this? Duh. Tornado." He takes off at a full speed run, circling the flaming car rapidly enough to whip up a whirlwind around it. The action only seems to draw more air inwards, fueling the flames and sending a pillar of fire spiraling up into the air.
"You're making it worse!"
"So is your attitude! It's not my fault it doesn't work this way in the comics!"
"You're not fast enough! Just get out of there, it's too late!"
"I am too fast enough! Just watch me!" Sonic puts all of his efforts into speeding up. A blue light sparks through his eyes, coursing through his body. A jolt of lightning arcs off of him, striking the pool of oil and setting it ablaze. "Uh oh." A moment later, the flames spread all the way up to the tank, and explode in a blazing light.
Sonic slowly lowers the arm he was using to protect his face, finding himself unharmed and surrounded by open air. "Wha…?" Adjusting his eyes, he manages to find a distant plume of smoke rising from a street far below him. He stands now on top of the clock tower from before. "Oh no, the truck! Doesn't matter how I got up here, I have to—"
"Stop."
Sonic freezes mid-step, turning around to look at the source of the voice.
"The people are fine. You already saved them. Emergency responders will handle the rest." The cloaked figure offers Sonic a nod of acknowledgement.
"Who…are you? Wait, don't answer that. Creepy cloak, creepy voice, creepy red eyes, and…" Sonic takes a glance back at the distant city street where he had been standing only a few moments ago. "…teleportation powers? You must be my first supervillain. Maybe I'll be scratching something off of my bucket list today after all."
The figure gives a calm chuckle. "We are not enemies. In fact, in a manner of speaking…we are friends." He reaches up to pull down his hood, revealing the familiar face of Shadow the Hedgehog.
Sonic blinks a few times as he takes in the sight. He holds up a finger as he finally identifies, "Evil version of myself. That's definitely a bucket list item. Hold on a sec." He reaches into his bag to get his list and pencil back out.
"We're here because we need your help, Sonic the Hedgehog."
"Hey, that's 'The Quilled Crusader' to you."
"Is that what you're calling yourself in this dimension?"
"What? It's not that bad."
"You can do better."
"Well, since you seem to know so much about superheroing, Mr. Black-and-White Cloak, what's your idea for a good hero name?"
Shadow closes his eyes and chuckles for a moment. "Sonic. It isn't the name that makes you a hero. It's the heart…and the soul."
"Heart…and soul…" Sonic starts to look downwards in contemplation, until his eyes find his clean red shoes. "That sounds…familiar. Wait a minute! I remember now!" He suddenly looks back up, circling the bridge of his nose with a finger. "You have the cyclops eye! You're from His World, aren't you?"
"The answer to that question is yes…and no. There are many worlds beyond your universe, as you well know. Some pairs of worlds have lived in parallel to one another since their origins, while others diverge through time. Our worlds were once the same as the Sonic you speak of, but we no longer belong in that world."
"Uhhh… … …what?"
"Our story isn't important right now. We've come here seeking your aid in preventing the man you know as Dr. Robotnik from disrupting the natural Balance of another world. Will you help us?"
"You know, I'm still a little hung up on the whole 'us' thing. This isn't like a Borg Collective situation, is it? You're sure you're not evil?"
"You have a lot to learn about the Balance. Think what you will of us, but rest assured, Robotnik certainly is what you would call 'evil'."
"I really thought he wouldn't be my problem anymore after I sent him to another world… Wait a minute, is this my fault?"
Shadow shakes his head. "No. By all accounts, he should still be on the same world you left him—but he found his way much farther."
"So…he's even less my problem than he was before?"
"Is that something a real hero would say?"
Sonic only needs a moment to consider. "No. No it isn't. If there are real people in danger, I'm going to save them. Just show me the way, and the Ring King will do what he does best."
Shadow shakes his head with a groan. "That one was even worse."
Sonic mutters something incoherent as he flips his list over to scratch out another name.
"Please, follow me." Shadow holds up his hand, pushing it forward until it seems to press flat against the empty air. For a moment, a glow of energy flashes through his eyes. Then glowing white lines shoot out from his open palm, branching and splintering like cracking glass. Another push forward shatters it all, opening a hole in space itself. Without another word, he steps through, beckoning for Sonic to follow.
—–—
Metropolis — The Imperial Capital
"My, what an unusual design." Dr. Robotnik walks a circle around Eggman's parked Egg Mobile, taking it in from every angle. "Aerodynamics would certainly seem to be lacking, but…" He ducks down to get a look underneath. "…this antigravity generator would appear to be more efficient than the standard set of turbines, as long as the craft's weight distribution remains approximately spherical. Really, you couldn't design it any other way. Somehow, in all the worlds, I may just have found the one person almost as smart as me."
Behind him, Cubot, still with a large dent in his head, whispers into Orbot's ear, "Is he talking about me?"
Orbot whispers back, "You do realize that's not him, right? It's impossible. He can't have lost that much weight. And look at his nose!"
They watch as Robotnik sticks his face into the cockpit, taking a long whiff in through his normal human–sized nose. A grimace instantly appears on his face. After a moment of contemplation, he takes another quick sniff.
"Did you just call the Doctor fat? Not cool, man. I'm totally telling. Hey Doctor!"
Robotnik turns his head to the side with an almost mechanical motion. "What do you want?"
Orbot hastily shoves Cubot aside and stutters, "Uh, what my companion here wanted to say is that, uh, we are…very…accepting of…any, uh, changes, that may have come in your life recently? Also please don't scrap us thank you."
"Yes, yes, whatever. Box one, stand there for me." Cubot obediently moves into place. Robotnik uses his head as a stepping stool to climb inside. "Perfect. Round one, what's this thing's top speed?"
"About forty miles per hour, sir. Though you've claimed to push it a bit higher when Sonic was in pursuit. I'm…surprised you wouldn't remember that."
"Is that all? How ever is a person supposed to catch a supersonic hedgehog at speeds like that?"
"Well, that would be what the mech attachments are for, sir."
"Mech attachments? Now that sounds interesting. Where can I find the closest one?"
"Well, you have them strategically placed all over the world, to be used only in case—"
"Did I stutter? The. Closest. One."
"Just on the other side of the city, sir. I've taken the liberty of marking its location on your display screen. Will there be anything else?"
Robotnik checks the map displayed on the screen in his cockpit. "Yes, ah…keep doing my…Imperial duties. Like you said. I'll be busy for a while."
"If I might ask, why—"
"Goodbye!" Robotnik presses a button on his controls, and the hovering craft lifts off the ground, darting out through the opening hangar bay door ahead. He flies out from the tallest building in the grand futuristic city, taking in the sights below with a look of only moderate surprise on his face. As he goes by, distant figures on the ground look up and point at him.
"Doctor's log, continued. This world appears to be quite technologically advanced compared to my own. This comes as no surprise, given that my counterpart is this world's ruler." As he flies by a particularly high elevated road, he takes note of the objects lining its sides—fake metal trees that bear small solar panels instead of leaves. "Curiously, much of the infrastructure I see here appears to be built for solar power…" He looks up at the murky urban sky above. "…despite the distinct lack of sun. By my understanding, this particular city houses a power plant with the largest energy reserve in this world, though I would expect that reserve to begin depleting soon, if it hasn't already. Surely, my counterpart can't be that shortsighted…"
His console screen beeps, showing on his map that he's arrived at his destination.
"Ah. Time to try out this mech attachment." He starts lowering the craft down, as a massive panel on the ground below parts open, revealing a dome-shaped machine with an Egg Mobile–shaped hole in the middle. He slots it perfectly inside, getting a quick look around at the machine. "This…must be just the top of it. Now, how to make the rest come out…?" After playing around with the controls for a moment, he finally gets the mech to rumble to life. Five holes open around the sides of the dome, a long head and four stubby legs that lift the machine only a bit off the ground.
Robotnik looks back down at his screen. "Ah, instructions, perfect. How to operate the…" He takes a moment to enunciate the name clearly, showing a strange mixture of emotions on his face all the while. "…Egg Turtle?" He stops to consider. "Hm. Perhaps turtles are…swift, magical creatures in this world?" Taking up the controls, he starts to pilot the machine forwards. It takes one lumbering step ahead. Then another. And another. "Or…perhaps not."
Something thunks against the mech's outer shell, prompting Robotnik to look up from the controls. A young animoid boy stands with a second rock at the ready. "Get out of here, meanie! Sonic's gonna stop you!"
Robotnik ducks down as the second rock is thrown over his head. "Well, that wasn't very nice." He looks back down at the instructions on his screen. "I wonder if this thing has any weapons… Aha!" He gets the Egg Turtle to turn its head and open its mouth, pointing the giant laser cannon inside at the boy.
With a concerned scream, the boy's mother runs in and grabs him off of the ground, carrying him just barely out of the way of the cannon fire that explodes just behind them.
Robotnik laughs, charging the cannon for another shot. The mother gets back up and keeps running, quickly leaving the Turtle's range. Robotnik aggressively steers the Turtle in their direction, but it takes several seconds just to turn to the right heading before it can even begin to walk.
"Grah! Who would build a machine like this!? It's tooooooo, sloooooow! How could you ever expect to deal with the speed of a hedge—" He suddenly goes silent. Slowly, he looks over to the side, where his rock sits on the seat next to him. "Agent Stone. Why didn't you remind me that I have an unlimited power source available? Sometimes I swear you're as dense as a rock…" He turns to his opposite side, where he's set down his bag full of various supplies and machine parts. He quickly finds what he's looking for—a glass tube containing a single blue quill, sparking with electricity.
He ducks down under the control panel, quickly beginning to pull at various mechanisms and wires. "We'll just pop this baby in here, and…" The whole mech shudders as he connects the quill capsule in with a wire strapped to each side. He straightens back up, putting his hands back on the controls. "Time to push some buttons." The next button he pushes forces him back into his seat as the Egg Turtle takes off down the road at super speed, trailing a blue streak as it goes.
Robotnik cheers, "Now this is a mech!" Taking up two lanes of the road, the Egg Turtle rams aside hovercars going in both directions, turning its head to fire a laser in the general direction of the occasional angry citizen. "Ah, nothing like some good mayhem in the morning. Isn't that right, Agent Stone?"
The movement of the mech causes the rock to fall flat on its face.
"Wrong! A latté is just as good!" He shakes his head in frustration. "The idiocy I have to deal with…"
"Hey, buddy! Pull over! This is a strict 'no simultaneously adorable-yet-terrible robot zone'!"
Robotnik's lips are already curled back in a snarl as he looks over to see Teen Sonic, keeping perfect pace as he runs alongside the mech. "You!"
"Ehh, what's up, Doc? I hear this is the part where I'm supposed to say 'long time no see'. So what did you think of my Donut Lord impression? Super stern, inspires confidence, right? Good place to start for building my hero persona."
"Impression? I dare say it's perfect. You've captured every bit of his mediocrity."
"I like the new look, by the way. Bald head, new mustache? It's like Professor X meets the Monopoly Man."
"Do you ever stop talking?" Robotnik turns the Egg Turtle's head to fire a laser at the ground in front of Sonic's feet.
"Whoa!" Sonic makes a leap to the side, landing to perfectly straddle the Egg Turtle's head. "Nailed it!" Robotnik works furiously at the controls to throw the head around in every direction, trying to knock him off. This only gets Sonic to cheer as he holds on with one hand. "Yeah, ride 'em, cowboy! Woo hoo!" The mech finally manages to throw him straight up and back onto the front of its shell, where he rolls until he hits the glass windshield that separates him from Robotnik. He quickly takes up a relaxed position there. "You know, I'm all for helping the poor, slow turtles experience the miracle of speed, but this feels a little excessive."
"Silly little Hedgehog. You should know by now that my excessive switch is on 24/7. Speaking of which, this turtle has spikes."
"Spikes?"
"Spikes." He presses a button with a satisfied smirk.
"Yikes!" Sonic narrowly avoids being impaled by the steel spikes that eject out of every square inch of the turtle's shell, jumping off into a run on the ground as the mech races ahead of him. With a smirk of his own, he picks up his speed to match.
—–—
Daily log, May 8th, 2 A.E. Shadow the Hedgehog reporting.
Our search for Sonic and Tails at Emerald Hill didn't turn up anything. As far as we can tell, they left as planned without any sign of a struggle. Most likely, they ran into trouble on the flight back. Whether that means they crashed, or merely had to divert course, we still can't say. It's concerning that they haven't made any attempt to contact us, but it's possible that they had to go dark. They could be anywhere in the world by now. Keeping up the search any longer seems—
…
What do you mean, you found Sonic?
—–—
The Eggshelter — Rebel Camp Alpha
Knuckles points up at the main screen of the base's computer room with a thumb. "See for yourself."
On the screen, an EGG1 news broadcast shows live footage from Metropolis, where a blue streak can be seen chasing a turtle mech through the streets.
Shadow groans, "What does he think he's doing, exposing himself like that? And in Eggman's capital no less?"
Knuckles keeps watching the footage carefully. "I'm still not seeing any sign of Tails. What if…?"
"Don't jump to conclusions. It could mean anything."
"Do you think he needs our help?"
Shadow looks at the footage for a moment longer. The fight on screen draws ever closer to the camera, as the streak chases the turtle up and down the sides of buildings. "He got himself into this mess. If he's not going to contact us and ask for backup, he can get himself out."
The streak suddenly passes right by the camera, before turning around and stopping to look straight back into it. "Oh, hey, is this being livestreamed? No need to fear, citizens! Blue Tornado is here to make sure that this invader goes back to the Mushroom World where he belongs!" His speech finished, Teen Sonic races back off into the fight.
Knuckles' mouth gapes open. "I…think that might not be Sonic."
"You think?"
"We…should probably check this out."
"Probably."
"Emergency protocols?"
"I'll get the Emerald. You should grab a disguise."
"Disguise? What for?"
"For walking into Eggman's capital exposed?"
"Oh. Yeah. I'll see what I have and meet you back here."
—–—
"Oh, sure," Robotnik complains. "When I attack you for invading my planet, I'm the bad guy. But now that the shoe's on the other foot, I'm still the bad guy? You're really exposing the double standard of children's media here."
"There's no double standard, bro." Sonic waits for the Egg Turtle's spikes to retract before making a leap up to strike at the cockpit. "You're just a bad guy." He keeps right on running as he bounces back to the ground.
"Well that's just unfair. You know I can't object to that."
The turtle fires a laser into Sonic's path, forcing him to roll into a ball and swerve underneath. Along the way, he rolls back into one of the turtle's back legs, momentarily knocking the entire mech off balance. It keeps running at super speed, letting the damaged leg drag along the road long enough to be torn away completely. Though its speed is reduced quite a bit, the mech manages to keep running on its three remaining legs.
Sonic cheers, "Yeah, that worked!"
Robotnik looks down at the warnings popping up on his console screen. "Hm. Perhaps I didn't think this plan fully through. Oh, wait. Yes I did!" Robotnik suddenly pulls the mech into a skidding halt, tearing up parts of the metal road as he goes.
Sonic slows down to match, skidding into a turn that leaves him facing the mech in a ready stance. "We really doing this again? You and me, head-to-head standoff? Maybe you forgot how that turned out for you last time." He lifts up on his fists and toes, energy beginning to arc off of him in preparation.
"There's something I think you'll soon learn about me, Hedgehog. I never forget. And I never forgive. Robots!"
"Robots?" Sonic looks up in confusion, suddenly realizing that he's become surrounded by a literal army of Eggman's robots. Hundreds, perhaps even thousands of Egg Pawns, Flappers, and Buzz Bombers wait at the ready to fire their weapons from every angle. "Robots. Yeah. Lot of robots."
"Maybe you haven't heard, Sonic, but around here, they like to call me 'Emperor Eggman'. I have all the power. I wasn't expecting you to show up here, but you can note my lack of surprise. I'm always prepared. Now, just stand there and be a good little target." He presses down a button, charging the turtle's cannon in unison with the weapons of every other robot in sight.
"Uh oh…" Sonic frantically looks around for any route of escape, but doesn't seem to find much.
"Chaos Control!" A cloaked figure drops down, grabs Sonic around the shoulders, and disappears just as quickly, leaving only empty space behind for hundreds of weapons to fire on at once.
Robotnik gasps. "What? How did he escape visual contact? Where—"
"GrrHAH!" A hard uppercut to the damaged side of the mech from a second concealed figure sends the mech toppling over on its side.
Robotnik frantically demands, "Shoot him, shoot him!"
The robots turn their attention to open fire in a second wave. The masked man takes cover behind the shell of the mech, which takes the full storm of fire.
"Stop, stop, not me!" The robots obediently stop shooting. Robotnik sets the turtle's limbs flailing, but the machine can't seem to right itself. He finally gives up and ejects the entire Egg Mobile, flying it around to get a look at the sheltered side. But there is no longer any sign of the figure who hid there.
"Ahem. What do you think you're doing with my machines?"
Robotnik laughs. "I don't know who you think you are, but you can't speak to your Emperor that—" He turns the Egg Mobile around to find himself face to face with another Robotnik in another Egg Mobile.
Emperor Eggman crosses his arms with a scowl. "My Emperor? I'm your Emperor. Now get out of my Egg Mobile!"
A big, goofy grin appears on Robotnik's face. "I think you mean…" He holds his arms out in a wide circle. "…our Egg Mobile. I've finally found you, my brother from another motherworld."
Eggman stares silently for a few moments as he processes that statement. Finally, he lets out with a sigh, "Just what I needed after being stranded on an island for a week. More of myself for company." He continues a bit louder, "Follow me, do as I say, and you might be forgiven for your little joyride." He turns his Egg Mobile around to fly it up and away.
"Good man. I suspect we'll be fast friends." Robotnik pilots his own craft to follow, leaving the damaged mech behind. "Just don't expect me to go to any weddings."
—–—
Teen Sonic breathes a long sigh of relief as he leans back against the side of a building in a shadowed alleyway. "You saved my life again. And you…changed your cloak? I was wondering where you went after we came through the portal."
Shadow pulls down the hood of his simple black cloak so that Sonic can see his glare more clearly. "Let's get one thing straight. I don't know who you are or what you're doing here, all I know is that you aren't the Sonic that I know, and that you seem to have brought a lot of trouble with you. So give me one good reason why I shouldn't throw you back to those robots and be on my way."
"Wait, so you aren't the guy who sent me here from my universe? Geez, this dimension-hopping stuff is a pain. How do the Spider-Men keep doing it?"
"I'm not hearing a reason."
"I'm basically here to save your planet, is that good enough for you? At least, that's what Yin-Yang Borg you said. Something about the Balance being thrown off by an evil presence from my world ending up in yours, he wasn't very clear on the details. I thought I could take Robotnik down easily enough, but I wasn't really prepared for…" He gestures around at the futuristic city. "…this."
Shadow closes his eyes and lets out a sigh. "You're a Sonic alright. As unprepared and out of your depth as ever."
"So you're friends with the Sonic in this world? How's he doing, by the way?"
"He's missing. You wouldn't happen to have anything to do with that?"
"No, no, I just got here, honest. I've already told you everything I know about what's going on here."
"And there's no one else from your world here? Just you and your Robotnik?"
"Ew, hey, don't call him my Robotnik, I don't take any responsibility over him. And the answer is no, at least as far as I know. No one else."
Shadow turns away, looking off to the distance in thought. "If my Sonic were here…he would make sure you got whatever help you needed."
"Hey don't sound so down about it. You can help me beat Robotnik, then I can help you find Cyclops. Uh, I mean, Sonic. I'd be happy to do it, we actually go back a little ways, if you can believe it. Anyways, good deal, right?"
A voice whispers from around the corner, "Coast is clear, guys."
Shadow nods. "Good work, Knuckles. Did you see where Robotnik went?"
Knuckles steps in from around the corner, still wearing his cloak and mask. "Off with our Eggman. I don't like the look of it."
"Eggman was there? In person?"
"If I made a move, those robots would've vaporized me before I could get anywhere close. Had to get out while they were busy scratching their heads over which Robotnik was theirs. Now, what have I missed with you?" He turns to Sonic.
Sonic stands silently, staring at the metal mask on Knuckles' face. Once worn by the Masked Guardian during his underground wrestling days in Casino Night, its tribal design bears decorative feathers around the outside, stripes of white paint on the forehead, and teeth-like protrusions framing the eyes.
"Get down!" Longclaw shouted ten years ago as arrows flew through the walls and the windows of their hut in the Green Hill Zone. And Sonic, just a helpless child, could only watch as an attacker wearing that very same mask readied his next arrow. The arrow that would shoot her out of the sky. The attacker that would lead the charge as she said her last words. "Goodbye, Sonic."
Sonic's hands clench into fists. "You…"
"Oh, right, I guess things might be a bit different in your world. I don't know if we've met or anything, but…" He takes off the mask and offers out a hand. "I'm Knuckles. I'm on Sonic's team in this world, and that's all that really matters right now."
Light flashes through Sonic's eyes. "You think I don't recognize that mask? You think I don't know what you and your people did!?" The energy begins to course through him.
"The mask? This thing's just a wrestling prop, I don't know what you're talking about."
"You took my home… You took Longclaw… You're the reason I could never stop running! Well I'm not running anymore!" Electricity flies from his body.
Shadow hesitantly tries to step between them. "Sonic…remember why you're here. We're trying to stop Robotnik, right? Knuckles just wants to help with that."
"Robotnik can wait. I've been waiting for this moment my entire life. I'm going to make sure that you can never have my power."
Knuckles throws up his hands in confusion. "Do I look like I want your power? Honestly, even for a Sonic, you're acting completely ridiculous. Usually it's you who has to talk me down from a fight."
"You think you're such a tough guy? Let's go a few rounds and see who's left chuckling, Knuckles." He races forward, blasting right past Shadow with a burst of energy that knocks him off his feet.
—–—
"So what do you need in order to leave this world as quickly as possible?" Eggman gestures around at his vault filled with all manner of gadgets and trinkets. "Dimensional buffer? Warp Ring? Phantom Ruby? Please don't say Phantom Ruby. That would be significantly harder."
Robotnik smirks. "Who said anything about leaving? We've only just met, my dimensional chum. There's so much we could learn from one another. Like mustache care, for instance. How do you get yours so luxuriously silky?" He reaches out as if to start stroking Eggman's mustache.
Eggman takes a long step backwards. "Maybe I wasn't clear before. I want you gone. The last thing I need right now is an evil genius freeloader that my idiot servants can't even tell apart from me."
Behind him, Orbot raises a finger. "To be fair, he…technically is you, sir."
Cubot adds, "I got hit in the head with a rock. Now I can't stop thinking about coffee for some reason." Orbot knocks him on the dent in his head to silence him.
Robotnik presses, "What if I were to tell you…" He leans in close and starts waving his hands for dramatic emphasis. "…that I…"
"Get on with it already."
He finally pulls the quill capsule out from behind his back. "…have an unlimited power source to offer?"
Eggman gives a prolonged groan. "Well great. Now you've piqued my interest. Let me see." He reaches out to grab it.
"Nah ah!" Robotnik swipes it out of his reach. "This one's mine. But you can have all the quills you want for yourself, after we work together to capture the hedgehog."
"Well…luckily for you, I'm still waiting on a certain package to arrive from that accursed island where I was trapped. So, for the time being, my plans are free."
"Then it sounds like we have ourselves a partnership." Robotnik offers his hand forward.
Eggman glares down at the hand for a moment. "I don't shake hands."
"Smart man." Robotnik takes his hand back. "I would've punched you in the gut anyways. It's just so easy when people leave themselves open like that."
"Here in the Empire, that's what we would call treason. I'm going to pretend I didn't hear it."
"So, what do you have available in the way of devices built for hedgehog capture?"
"Would you prefer the list alphabetized, or chronological?"
—
Minutes later, Robotnik smiles upon his choice. "It's so nice when diabolical evil lives up to the hype. This is the one."
"Are you sure? It's an old model. And its success rate is…technically lower than average."
Robotnik spreads his hands wide over the side of the Death Egg Robot's foot. "It's perfect. We'll just need to make a few modifications."
"Modifications?"
Robotnik holds up his quill capsule. "Like making it run at the speed of sound?"
"That sounds…terrifying. I love it!" The Robotniks laugh together.
Robotnik turns his attention down to his wrist pad. "Of course, no maintenance montage is complete without the right soundtrack. Let's see here… 'Tunes of Anarchy'… 'Everybody Wants to Rule the World'… 'Obscure 1970s Canadian Jams'… Aha! Tell me, do you have Crush 40 in this world?"
"This seems unnecessary."
"Well, you're in for a treat!" Robotnik presses down on his selected playlist, starting the playback of a tune which starts with a techno beat, but soon kicks in with drums and a heavy guitar. Moving to the tune of the music, he begins to scale the tall machine with impressive agility, keeping up the rhythm all the while. As he goes, he pulls panels and presses on switches on the outside of the machine, activating exterior lights which flash and strobe in increasing intensity. Standing up on the arm, he appears to lose his balance for a moment, only to spin around on his toes and wink down at Eggman. "Need to get the cardio in somehow. Not that you seem to know much about that."
He struts his way up to the shoulder, and shimmies from there to summit the dome-shaped head, where he raises his fists into the air and breaks into a full-on dance to the chorus of "Call Me Crazy," spotlighted by the colorful lights strobing all around him.
Eggman watches him from the ground, stunned beyond words. Finally, he manages to stutter out, "He's…actually enjoying this…"
Orbot suggests, "Reminds you of a time when you were younger, doesn't it? When you took pride in all the work you did? When did your passion turn into some job?"
Cubot comments, "Probably around the time we were built."
Eggman stares a few moments longer. His foot begins to tap in tune to the music. "Bring me my tools. I have some modifications of my own to make."
—–—
Knuckles catches Sonic's spinning ball in an open hand, struggling to keep it back as Sonic continues to push against him. "Sonic…what're you…doing…?" His grip is finally broken, and Sonic barrels straight into his chest, sending both of them flying.
Behind them, Shadow struggles to stand back up, the last of Sonic's energy pulse still sparking through him. He looks down in confusion at the purple Chaos Emerald in his hand, where all the energy appears to be concentrating. "This power…"
Knuckles crashes down onto the open street as Sonic lands upright in front of him. "In my world, I'm known by many names. One of them…is Vengeance. As far as you know."
Knuckles climbs back to his feet. "Sonic…I don't want to fight you."
Sonic fills himself with another surge of energy. "I wouldn't wanna fight me neither. But I guess your people wouldn't understand that." He rushes at Knuckles at full speed, grabbing him by the shoulders and carrying him miles away in a second, finally stopping to hurl him straight at the side of a mountain. A cloud of dust and rock is thrown out at the impact. Sonic dusts off his hands in satisfaction. "You know, for a guy named Knuckles, I was expecting you to put up more of a fight." He stops for a moment. "You know, that felt weirdly…not good…" The dust begins to settle, revealing an empty hole in the mountainside. There's a slight tremble in the ground beneath his feet.
"Hyah!" Knuckles flies up from underground in an uppercut that launches Sonic away. Through his re-donned mask, he growls, "I didn't want to fight you. But I won't sit back and let you insult my people."
Sonic rubs at his chin as he gets back up. "Okay, now I see where the name comes from. But you'll have to hit a lot harder than that if you want to stop me!" He races back in towards Knuckles.
Knuckles takes a bracing stance, ducking down and throwing a punch at just the right time to knock Sonic off of his feet, sending him tumbling back to the ground under his own speed. "I'm a proud Echidna warrior. Maybe you don't know what that means."
"It means that you're from a clan of power-hungry, bloodthirsty savages! I don't care if you're from my world or not, that's what we call a bad guy!" Sonic runs in for yet another attack.
This time, Knuckles simply steps to the side and lets Sonic run past. "That was true. A long time ago. But we had thousands of years to learn from those mistakes. For thousands of years, we became Guardians, protecting the world from our mistakes. An Echidna warrior never backs down from a righteous challenge. But that's not what this is. Tell me why you're fighting."
Sonic stops to glare at Knuckles in frustration. "Because you—… Your people—… In my world—…"
"You can't even put it into words. It's nothing but a mistaken idea." Knuckles slips his mask back off to look Sonic in the eyes. "You have a lot of power, Sonic. Maybe even more than my world's Sonic, and believe me, I've had my share of scraps with him. But you're untrained, and unfocused. I fight for the legacy of my people. As long as you don't know what you're fighting for…you can't beat me. In any world."
"Untrained? Unfocused? Maybe. But you forgot one thing." Sonic charges his largest pulse of energy yet. "Unstoppable."
Knuckles shakes his head in disappointment. "Don't try it."
Sonic pauses for a moment. "Curses, action movie quotes, my one weakness." He clears his throat and recites back, "You underestimate my power! Seriously though. All I have to do is step this up into Flashtime, and you'll be taking the L before you can blink."
"Then why don't you?"
"Maybe I want a fair fight."
"Maybe you're realizing that all you're accomplishing is venting your frustrations. I've been there. It's not going to bring you any closer to peace. It's not worth it."
"It'll be worth it just to prove you wrong." He takes off.
Knuckles tosses his mask to the ground and readies his fists.
"Chaos Shield!"
Sonic slams headfirst into a barrier of golden light. "Ow! What the…?" He gets a look around, realizing that the barrier closes him in on all sides.
"That's enough, Sonic." Shadow walks in from the side, holding up a fist to keep the barrier closed.
Sonic shouts back, "Just let me do this! He's still ready to fight!" He looks back at Knuckles "Right?"
Knuckles shakes his head. "You have to see that this is pointless."
"It's not—"
"Sonic!" Shadow growls. "Just slow down. Take a deep breath."
Sonic grits his teeth in frustration, but, left with little other choice, he closes his eyes and takes a long, shaky breath.
"Your powers come from your emotions, don't they?"
Sonic looks up in surprise.
"We're alike in that way. When I lose control, it feeds my powers, which just…pushes me into even more distress. But yours…" Shadow slowly turns over the Chaos Emerald in his hand, revealing that it sparks and crackles continuously with Sonic's absorbed energy. "Your pain, your anger…it's strong enough for me to feel it. Believe me when I say…I know these feelings. I know what it's like…desperately seeking some way to avenge what you've lost. But what would that person really have wanted?"
Sonic shakes his head, tears forming in his eyes. "Longclaw would've wanted…she would've wanted me to hide. To keep running for the rest of my life, but I can't do that. Now that I've found a real home…every day, it feels like I'm disappointing her. Ever since I lost her…I've been looking for…some other way to prove that she'd be proud of me. I thought I saw this moment that I could take, to finally…finally be the hero that she needed. The kind of hero that could've saved her."
"But you can't save her. You can't bring her back. And hurting people just because they look like the ones who took her…isn't going to change that. When you try it, it feels like justice. But all you're really doing is spreading more hate in the world. Maybe there will be a moment where you become the kind of hero you're talking about. But you don't choose that moment. That moment chooses you."
As Sonic wipes the tears out of his eyes, a smirk appears on his face. "Pretty good speech. Gave me goosebumps."
"I can put the barrier down now, if you're ready to stop this."
"No need." Sonic reaches into his sack and flicks out a Warp Ring, instantly bridging the inside of the barrier to the outside. He marches right out, and immediately offers a closed fist out to Knuckles. "I'm sorry for…trying to blame you for something a bunch of weirdos did in another universe. And for insulting your tribe, and your strength, and your wrestling mask. Power bump?"
"Uhh…apology accepted." He bumps Sonic's fist with a look of slight confusion.
"Speaking of wrestling—You said you were a wrestler, right?—does that mean you know this world's version of The Rock? Come to think of it, you actually sound a bit like him. Wait a minute, are you this world's version of The Rock? Dude, I need you to sign my—…uhh…" He looks around frantically for something to write on. He finally reaches into his sack for something, passing up both his bucket list and an old-looking map. "My duct tape?"
"I…have no idea what you're talking about."
Shadow interrupts, "You could've walked out of my shield at any time?"
Sonic glances back at him with surprise as he gestures down at his sack. "I can't believe you people don't use these things, they're unbelievably convenient." He takes a peek down into the sack and realizes, "Oh, whoops, guess my supply's running low. I'll have to stock up again when this is all over."
"You can save the rest." Shadow holds up his Emerald for Sonic to see. "We have our own means of getting around quickly."
"Perfect. We're gonna need every advantage we can get if we want to stop Robotnik together. So, Guardian, Black Cloak, what do you guys say to being Road-Hog's sidekicks for the day?" He points confidently at himself with a thumb.
Knuckles raises an eyebrow. "Road-Hog?"
"Yeah, I'm working on my superhero name. Pretty good, right?"
Shadow comments, "It makes you sound like a pig."
Knuckles adds, "And also a biker?"
"To be fair, my origin story does involve a biker bar. And the consumption of pork products. But it's not my fault, I can't just put the word 'man' after something when I'm not a human."
Shadow rolls his eyes. "Keep working on it. Also…" He pulls his hood up over his head. "I'm pretty sure you would be my sidekick."
"Wait a minute, are you an actual superhero?"
"It's a long story."
Sonic speeds into an attentive sitting position. "I got time."
Knuckles interjects, "Shouldn't we be worried about stopping Robotnik first?"
Sonic waves it off. "Worried? Nah. Really, he's nothing to worry—…" His ears perk up as he takes on a look of confusion. "Hey, why do I hear Boss Music?"
Shadow looks up in surprise. "I hear it too…"
Knuckles points out over the barren hills in the direction of the city. "Guys…?"
Sonic follows with his eyes to see what he's pointing at. Looming over the horizon, something massive sprints straight towards them. The Death Egg Robot, covered by a sparking blue aura, bounds along the ground at a speed completely unbelievable for its size. Two massive missile pods appear to have built onto its shoulders—only, they aren't missile pods. They're speakers, blasting the heavy guitars of Crush 40 over the hills.
"Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap!" Sonic grabs Knuckles and Shadow by the arms and speeds them out of the way the moment before the Death Egg Robot can smash over the spot where they stood. It skids into a halting turn, carving trenches in the ground as it goes.
Sonic quickly tries to explain, "That thing has to be powered by one of my quills. If we can get that quill out, the rest'll be a piece of cake. So here's the plan. Step one, light taunting. Step two…I have no idea."
Shadow picks up, "Step two, while you're distracting them, we'll try to find the quill."
"I like that plan! Let's— Oh!" Sonic breaks off in one direction while Shadow drags Knuckles in the opposite, as the Death Egg Robot speeds by between them.
Inside the cockpit, Robotnik complains, "You missed, again! Just give me the controls!"
Eggman, squished into the seat next to him, returns, "I told you there'd only be room for one in here!"
"And I told you that one should be me!"
"I'm the only one who has experience piloting this machine."
"And that experience includes piloting at hedgehog speeds, right? No, wait, that was me."
A loud knock sounds against the metal outside.
Robotnik calls out in a high pitch, "Who is it?"
Teen Sonic's voice answers from outside, "It's justice knocking."
"I'm sorry, I don't know anyone named 'Justice'. But please, feel free to leave a message."
"Okay, it's Sonic. You're a civilized guy, right? Can we just…talk? Man-to-hedgehog?"
Eggman growls, "Don't trust him."
"I'll do as I please, thank you very much." Robotnik brushes Eggman's hand away from the console so he can push a button.
The head module of the Death Egg Robot pops open, leaving Sonic standing on the seam of the neck as he looks in through the glass dome windshield remaining between him and the Robotniks. He nods in greeting. "Doctor." He takes a quick glance to the side. "Other Doctor?"
Robotnik puts on a big smile. "Where…are my manners? Sonic, meet Emperor Eggman. He's my new BFFAE."
Both Sonic and Eggman give him a confused look.
"Best Friend Forever And Ever."
Eggman groans, "Or at least until I get too sick of him to tolerate it any longer…"
Sonic takes a closer look at Eggman. "So, you're the famous 'Emperor' I've been told so much about. You know, the way you were described to me, I was expecting something more like a Sith Lord with lightning shooting out of his hands. Kind of a letdown."
Robotnik looks sternly over at Eggman. "You can shoot lightning from your hands?"
"No, humans can't shoot lightning from their hands!"
"No, you're right. But what if…?"
Sonic interrupts, "Look, Robotnik, let's just be honest with each other. The reason you came after me in the first place is because I didn't belong in your world. Right?"
"Well, that's a bit of an oversimplification, but sure."
"So just think for a second about what you're doing here. You don't belong in this world any more than I did in yours. If that's really something that matters to you, why don't you just leave? We don't have to bother these people with our fight, and we don't have to bother each other either."
Eggman adds quietly, "You'd certainly be doing me a favor by getting him out of here…"
Robotnik nods slowly, appearing quite impressed. "You make a sound argument, Hedgehog. There's just one flaw in your logic. I once wished to study you purely in scientific interest. Until I realized that I could use your power to rule the world! But, Live and Learn, as they say."
"Wait, but—"
Robotnik turns up a dial, cranking the Crush 40 volume up to 11 and forcing Sonic to cover his ears in pain. Taking over the controls completely, he forces the robot back into a full run, shaking Sonic off of his perch and sending him tumbling down. Robotnik sings after him, "Ooh, now you're face down on the floor!"
Eggman growls, "Ugh," as he drops the head module back into place.
The Death Egg Robot makes a considerably smoother turn than the last one, coming back around in an attempt to step on Sonic once again. Sonic clutches at his head as he tries to stand back up, muttering, "Could you turn the music up? I can't hear it over the ringing in my ears…"
Shadow races by to pull him out of the robot's path.
"Whoa… You're pretty fast…"
"I usually am. But in this case—"
"WHAT?"
Shadow stops to put him down, holding up the still-sparking Emerald and shouting, "I'm borrowing some of your power!"
"What!? They're playing 'Knight of the Wind' now!?"
"Just keep them distracted a little longer!" Shadow flashes away, leaving Sonic alone to notice the Death Egg Robot's spiked hand rocketing towards him.
Sonic picks up the speed, diving out of the way of the first hand and leaping over the second as he runs in towards the Death Egg Robot. But instead of making any move to attack it, he keeps running right past, shouting back, "Come and get me, Docs!"
Robotnik declares over a loudspeaker, "You'll find I'm quite good at coming and getting!" The moment its hands rocket back into place, the Death Egg Robot gives chase, bounding along the ground and rapidly managing to catch up. His voice projects with each rapid step, "Coming. Getting. Coming. Getting."
Eggman's voice objects, "What is the point of this!?"
No matter how Sonic swerves through valleys and over mountains, the robot manages to keep pace. Once it draws close enough, panels on its chest open up to fire off a volley of missiles. Sonic takes greater evasive action, darting around the ground so that each missile strikes just behind him. "What is taking those guys so—…" Sonic halts as he realizes that the music has stopped. He turns around to see that the Death Egg Robot has frozen up a short distance behind him.
Knuckles stands triumphantly on top of the robot's head, holding up a capsule containing a glowing blue quill. "Hey! This belong to you?" He chucks the capsule down, and Sonic snatches it out of the air.
"That it does. Black Cloak! Help me wrap this up?"
Shadow steps up beside Knuckles. "Gladly."
Shadow and Sonic both take off at super speed, both circling the hulking robot in opposite directions as a blue and black blur, ripping out panels and screws as they go. In less than a second, the disconnected pieces all tumble and slide apart, leaving nothing but an exposed Egg Mobile sitting in a pile of robot parts.
Robotnik shouts in frustration, "I told you we should've added eye lasers!"
Eggman turns his head slowly to look Robotnik in the eyes. "You know what? I've reached my limit." He suddenly slugs Robotnik across the face, knocking him out in one blow. He grabs him by the back of the jacket and tosses him right out of the vehicle at Sonic's feet. As he activates the Egg Mobile to lift off, he calls out, "Get him out of here, and I'll pretend I never saw any of this!"
Sonic gives him a thumbs-up. "Sounds like a good deal to me!"
Shadow looks over at Knuckles with a sudden gasp. "This is our chance!"
Knuckles encourages, "Follow him, go, you can catch up!"
Shadow turns to run, but is immediately stopped by an outstretched hand pressed against his chest. "Huh…?" Looking up slowly in confusion, he finds his own face looking sternly back at him. "What the—!?" He takes a flipping dive backwards, readying himself in a fighting stance.
Sonic greets, "Hey, Yin-Yang, there you are!"
Yin-Yang Shadow addresses his counterpart firmly. "You mustn't go after him. He wasn't supposed to be here at all. Once he's gone, this world's Balance will be restored to its natural state."
Shadow scowls as he tries to take in the situation. "Who…are you?"
"We've already met. For the first time more than once. Unfortunately, we're not here for you right now." He bends down to pick up Robotnik, slinging his unconscious form over his shoulder. "This one must be returned to his rightful place." With his free hand, he once again presses against a barrier between the worlds until it shatters into a portal for him to step through without another word.
Sonic explains, "Don't worry, that's normal for him. Them? Whatever. Anyways, we won! And I even got my—…" Sonic looks around in confusion, suddenly realizing that he is no longer holding the quill capsule. "Did he seriously…? Whatever, doesn't matter, we won. Let's celebrate, yeah? Captain Fleetfoot and his amazing friends for the win!" He holds his hand up high, and Knuckles happily meets him there for a high-five. Shadow keeps staring off in the direction that the other Shadow disappeared. "So, Avengers tradition dictates that we go out for a meal after our first big superhero team-up. My vote is for the Olive Garden."
Knuckles scratches his head. "The…what?"
"'Cause when you're there, you're family. And as the great Vin Diesel teaches us, it's all about family. Also I have a gift card. And once we're done there, I figure we can start looking for your world's Sonic like I promised. That's what a real hero does, and now that I'm a real hero, I have to help wherever I can."
"We can't let you do that."
Shadow and Knuckles gasp as they watch Sonic lose consciousness, falling back into the arms of the suddenly-returned Yin-Yang Shadow.
Shadow growls, "What did you do?"
"Our last order of business. Balance here is restored. But for the same to remain true of their world, neither of them can remember what transpired here." He turns around to start walking back into the portal.
Shadow calls out, "Wait!"
Yin-Yang Shadow stops. "You've done well for yourself since last we met, Shadow the Hedgehog. Hold fast to the Balance you've found. Dark times are ahead." Not waiting for any response, he disappears back into the portal. Glowing shards reverse direction behind him, sealing reality back into place, leaving Shadow and Knuckles alone with more questions than ever.
—–—
San Francisco, California
"Huh…? What happened…?" Teen Sonic rubs at his head as he stands back up on the city skyscraper where his adventure began. "Did I fall asleep?"
Still looking distracted, he pulls out his bucket list and pencil, and reads over it absently. For a moment, he puts his pencil down on "Become a real superhero" as if to scratch it out.
A moment later, he shakes his head. "No, no, that was just a dream."
Instead, he crams in a new sub-item underneath it—"Get a real sidekick." Looking at that, he nods in satisfaction. Then he looks up at the clock.
"Oh no! I'm late for dinner! Pretzel Lady's gonna chew me out for this…" He quickly stows his stuff away and takes off.
—–—
? ? ?
Sonic's every action is watched as if through a screen surrounded by cracked edges, floating in a strange realm filled with streaking hues of white, purple, and blue.
"He's powerful," Yin-Yang Shadow comments as he watches. "Maybe the most powerful we've seen. He could be a Prime Candidate."
A voice behind him whispers, "He's too young…"
Shadow shakes his head. "We may not have a choice. If we don't find what we're looking for…this will keep happening until the barriers between the worlds shatter completely. It will be the end of all."
To be continued…
…
…
…
—–—
Probably some universe, somewhere, eventually
Shadow and Knuckles, along with Teen Sonic, fuzzier versions of Tails and Knuckles, and a human cop all sit around a table in a crowded restaurant. Knuckles and Movie Knuckles appear to be engaged in an eating contest, both slurping down seemingly never-ending bowls of pasta as they glare at one another aggressively. Movie Tails makes a more meticulous effort at sampling from a variety of pasta dishes, taking time to consider the flavor of each one. Shadow appears to have eaten more than his fill, leaning back against his chair uncomfortably. Sonic surreptitiously attempts to feed chunks of a breadstick to a golden retriever hiding under the tablecloth. Tom the cop watches them all with a completely bewildered expression on his face. A server walks by to drop off a new bowl of pasta, prompting Shadow to groan and roll his head back in disgust. Movie Knuckles swipes the new bowl before Tails gets the chance to try it, prompting Sonic to laugh. Everyone else at the table soon joins him, the dog included.
̶S̶o̶n̶i̶c̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶H̶e̶d̶g̶e̶h̶o̶g̶ BLUE JUSTICE will return…