13 - Welcome To No Zone, Soldier!

Usually in the morning, Sonic would wake up from sunshine beating on his face from the window. But in this world, there wasn't a sun. And if there was, it's never shown it's face to the planet, not for a long time. Perhaps it had froze? Maybe it burned out? Or maybe Moebius just didn't deserve the privilege of having beautiful sun rays. A shame, really. Sonic didn't need a mechanical clock to tell him what time it was. He had an internal clock inside of him that let his mind tell him what time it was. He spent so much time outdoors that he's learned to make his body prone into telling time. So sometimes if he forgot to set an alarm for certain occasions, he just woke up on his own at an early hour. Sonic was mostly an early riser, even though he enjoys sleeping in now and then. But in important situations like this, he knew he had to wake up at a very crucial hour. His body automatically woke itself up.

He sat up slowly and scratched his head. He looked over at the broken window near the bed. Yup, no sunlight. What a depressing world. He sighed, but it became a long yawn. He stretched while his ears flattened. A few bones cracked, and he forced himself to be a little more active and less drowsy. He had to get dressed and leave with Shadow. Then, his eyes got bigger. He turned to his side, to see the ultimate life form sleeping next to him. One of his red striped arms was behind his head, and he was silently snoring. Holy crap, he looked so cute! Sonic grinned to himself with a giggle. Damn it, he wished he had a camera so bad. Even a phone would be perfect for this moment, and he hated those things.

Then he remembered what they did last night. Well, they did a few things. Sonic's face was pinker than Amy's fur as of that moment. He said all those things, and Shadow said all those things and...He dragged his hand back against his quills. They'd have to talk about that later. He totally didn't regret it, though. He enjoyed himself the whole time. It was fun and, it relieved a lot of stress. Not only that, but he told Shadow how he truly felt. He showed him, too. He was developing feelings for him lately, he was glad he got it out. But he was more happy that Shadow felt the same way, and accepted his feelings. But did he love him? Even if he did, did Shadow love him? Did he even know what it was? No, of course he did. He loved that Maria girl, right? Oh, but probably not that way. Were they a couple now? What were they?

...Yeah they'd have to talk about it.

Enough about that, they had to leave. Scourge was probably back and they needed to get outta here before he checked his little safe haven. He was pretty sure he wouldn't be too happy about them messing around in his bed. Plus, they had to get the body-Oh dear Chaos. The body, the body, how did they forget about the body!? They did things in front of an unconscious body! Oh God that's so freaking gross...After imagining himself ripping his own eyes out from embarrassment, he reached beside him and shook Shadow's shoulder to wake him up from his slumber. If he was sleeping this hard, then he must have used up a lot of energy. "Hey." He said in a quiet voice. He didn't want to be too loud, that'd be rude. "Shadow, wake up. Come on, we gotta go."

It still wasn't working. He wouldn't wake up. Hm, there was only one thing he could think of. Sonic leaned over him, and caressed the side of his muzzle to turn his face in his direction. He licked his own lips to moisten them, and rubbed them together so that they wouldn't be too wet. Maybe they were good in the heat of a sexy moment, but wet kisses normally didn't feel nice. His mouth was hovering above Shadow's, and he pressed his thumb on the side of it to get a better opening. He leaned his face closer, and prepared to kiss him.

Shadow opened his eyes steadily, hazy from his drowsiness. He waited for his vision to fix itself, before he realized what was coming towards him. A pair of perfect peach lips, was coming towards his own. He didn't protest, or move against it. He allowed it to happen. Once Sonic kissed him, Shadow reached up and pressed his hand on top of the hero's head to pull him even closer. At that moment, Sonic noticed that Shadow was already awake. He moved to pull away, but the other wouldn't let him go. So, he just went along with it and continued to kiss him while sitting on Shadow's lap. Maybe ten seconds into it, both of Shadow's hands went down, and grasped Sonic's lower body. His hands roamed lower and lower until he reached a certain place.

Instantly, Sonic broke the kiss and gave Shadow a playful glare. "Hands above the waist, buster."

Shadow smirked. "My apologies. But if you knew just how long I've waited to touch it, you'd understand my vulgar behavior."

"Oh really?" He replied sensuously. "Well in that case," He grabbed Shadow's hands and placed them back on his behind. The dark hedgehog massaged it thoroughly, giving Sonic an extremely erotic stare. What a nice way to wake up. His hands feeling his body like this, his touch was making him hot again. He was getting excited and he wanted him to do more. Shadow rose one of his hands, and swung it back down onto one of his cheeks. "Ahh.." Sonic gasped and made a small moan, he was turning red already. Maybe they could use just a little bit more time to-Wait. They didn't have time to do this right now! "W-Wait stop, we gotta go!" He exclaimed. He gently pulled Shadow's arms away from his body and got from on top of him. He climbed out of bed and jogged to the bathroom.

Shit, he was right. Shadow felt somewhat shameful for letting Sonic's ass distract him from their priorities, but he couldn't let that mislead him any further. He stood up from the bed and joined his partner in the bathroom to clean up and get their clothes on. Well, their shoes and gloves. They hopped in the shower together and quickly washed themselves. They had already seen each other naked, why not? Besides, it was quicker. Thankfully, the plumbing still worked here. They dried themselves and put on their shoes and gloves. Shadow made sure to clip on his inhibitor rings that he previously threw away somewhere in the room last night. They were both in front of the bed, double checking everything. Sonic had all the emeralds, he had the warp ring...

Oh yeah, the body. They both looked at it in unison. Sonic hauled it all the way here, so Shadow figured it'd be nice if he took a turn to carry him this time. He lifted the body up on his back and looked at Sonic with a nod. Everything was fine. Sonic nodded back and took out the warp ring from his quills. He grabbed Shadow's shoulder so that they both would be transported to where they needed to go. His body glowed with a light blue hue, and he was just about to teleport them-

"Wait." Shadow interrupted his concentration. Sonic blinked at him.

"Huh?"

Soon, Shadow and Sonic were outside standing in front of the bed and breakfast. Sonic didn't know why, but Shadow said that they shouldn't stay in the building. So they scurried outside, and got back in their normal positions. Shadow was carrying his look-alike on his back, and Sonic was holding onto his shoulder while closing his eyes and concentrating on getting them out of here. He held the warp ring tightly, and felt his energy collide with its power. But just before the white sparks made them disappear, Shadow made a sneer and held his hand up towards the bed and breakfast. He uttered the words, "Chaos Blast." A large beam of red energy blasted from his palm into the structure in front of them. It decimated it into nothing, becoming nothing but ash and rubble. Sonic's eyes were wide with shock, and before he could turn to Shadow and ask him what the hell he was doing, they had already been warped away.

Nothing was left, but a burnt picture of someone fluttering in the breeze.

Someone...Blue, smiling.

Before they knew it, they appeared in white sparks on solid ground.

Sonic couldn't even scold Shadow for his reckless behavior, because the sight of the new world before them caught his attention instead. This was a very different environment. A much more lively one. There were futuristic looking buildings everywhere, flying cars, flying motorbikes. So many people were outside of their houses, not only enjoying the beautiful day, but working. There were people working hard for their community. There were carpenters working on apartments, teachers rounding up their kids from their playgrounds, hard hats working on construction all around town. Err, actually, they were a lot of constructions workers. Literally everywhere. And there were so many, that even women were working. That wasn't good.

The sun was shining bright on their cornucopia of city life. Even children were working jobs here. Teens were respectful to their fellow elders, and even the elderly were working hard. An infant would be working right now if they could. And the beauty of it all, was that nothing was forced labor. Everyone here was glad to pick up a hammer and nail and work. Businesses of shops and corporations were booming. The mortality rate of this world was low, but the hospitals were getting patients in and out like clockwork. Once someone was taken in, they were back out in no time and went right back to work. There was no such thing as being lazy here.

Structures of buildings were perfect and sleek, extravagant and complex. Nothing was simple, nothing was basic. Everything was at the top of the line here. The air itself smelled very fresh, like it didn't even belong. The skies were perfectly clear, and the few trees that were around were tall and mighty with organic life. Poverty here was low, and there was mostly middle class. Even a worker with the lowest pay had a chance at life. Hobos had a chance, and rarely, convicts had the chance to be somebody. A world where everyone worked hard with the strongest military force in the universe? That sounded like a fantasy.

And yet, here it was. Right in their faces.

People who looked like soldiers were also littered everywhere. Mobian looking men and women that wore sleek black uniforms, with sharp metallic golden shoulder pieces. The fabric on their uniforms looked like hard material as well, yet it fit them like flexible body suits. There was little armor on them, being on their knees and elbows almost like pads. But they looked much more intimidating than that. They wore military boots, while some wore advanced looking ones. Almost designed like Shadow's or Sonic's shoes. Some wore medals on their chests, revealing their high ranks. And finally, they all wore a signature black helmet on their heads. It was similar to a cross between space helmets and bike helmets, but again, more advanced looking. They all had two odd antennas on the sides of them. Truly, they all looked liked people who belonged in the galactic wonder of space. At the same time, they looked like people who were ready to go to war.

Shadow was simply amazed by the world's glamour. This place was awesome. It even had a strong sense of justice here.

Sonic though, was confused. Were those the zone cops? It couldn't have been, their uniforms didn't look like that. They were red, green, yellow and blue. These guys all wore black, just like Scourge's thugs, with touches of gold and white here and there. While yes, they looked a lot cooler than the other ones, that wasn't right. Were they in the right reality?

"Err, well..." Sonic squinted his eyes. "This is No Zone, Shadow." He said insecurely. He recognized the city, but not their police. Just, weird. "Don't be surprised if your balance seems off when you walk." He warned before trying to take a few steps to familiarize himself with the world's gravity. Shadow noticed this and tried matching Sonic's movements.

"Why is that?" He stumbled a little, and found that the ground did seem uncomfortable to walk on. He was having a little trouble moving while balancing the body on his back.

"Well, this is the Perpendicular Zone. So everything is on a ninety degree angle." He explained as he walked a few steps without any trouble. He supposed he was alright to travel by foot now. "There's devices planted all around the world to make visitors turn upright their way, so we walk and look normal just like everyone else. Not walking on walls and stuff." Shadow seemed like he was getting the hang of it too. He joined the hero's side, and walked with him down the clean street of the city.

"This place is grand." The dark one was blown away. "It's just amazing."

"I know." Sonic grinned. "Much better than crappy ol' anti-Mobius, am I right?"

"Absolutely. It's more vibrant than Empire City."

"That's right! Everybody pulls their weight around here." He looked down at some small kids running past them. They were giggling and laughing but, they weren't just playing around. They ran to a solid dark wall on the side of a building that had unfinished paint. The children were messy with white paint stains on their clothes. They crouched down to the ground by the lonely pails of paint buckets. They grabbed the brushes from inside them and began to paint the unfinished wall. A few adults walked past them while patting their heads with buckets of paint for themselves. They stopped next to them and began painting as well. They'd be done in less than an hour with all those hands working together. It made Sonic so happy to see people helping their community so much. "It's like, everyone's a hero in their own way."

Shadow saw the bright expression on Sonic's face, and smiled to himself. "Indeed." Then, a thought occurred to him. Sonic seemed a little panicked when Miles told them Scourge's men were here not too long ago. "Why were you so surprised that your anti-double came here?"

Sonic blew out some air while looking up at the tall buildings of hotels and apartments. "Well, this world is the only one I know of with a huge military force. They arrest convicts from all over the galaxy, from all types of realities. They're people who you don't wanna mess with, ya know?" He explained. "If Scourge had the balls to come here with his crew, that could have went south. He could have caused a war." Sonic then smiled a little. "Still, these guys aren't strangers to that. They've been in a war before, and won. So I'm sure they could have handled themselves."

"I see." Shadow looked over across from them, where a street of cars zoomed by with people speed walking on the side walks. This world didn't have time for nonsense. Life would keep moving here, no matter what. Other worlds could learn a thing or two from this place.

Their moment of admiration was interrupted by loud sirens.

The hovering vehicles in the air floated downwards on the street and skidded to a halt. Their triangular ears flinched at the sounds of helicopters. They looked up at the skies, watching choppers fly even higher than the cars and stopped over the city. The black police cars had red and blue flashing lights, signifying that there was trouble at hand. Soon, more and more cars piled up behind them, and officers protruded out of their automobiles.

Then, a glass shattering sound. Sonic and Shadow whipped their heads over across the street where the construction workers were. They were on the roofs of a large building, while people were still inside working on their jobs. The front doors to the building burst into glass shards. Five particular people sprinted out, with bags of stuff in their arms and hands. They were all barefoot, and wearing orange clothing. Sonic recognized that uniform. They were all prisoners! A few explosions combusted within the building, making it shake and rumble. A few workers lost balance and fell from the roofs.

Both Sonic and Shadow were ready to bolt over there, until something whirred passed them. They blinked several times, before adjusting their focus on what ran at such high speed.

It was the cops! They were running, and fast. A female cop who was holding an exceptional looking gun put the weapon on the back of her belt and rushed towards the building. She ran to the side of it and ran upwards, yes upwards, and jumped to catch the falling construction workers in time. They thought she would land from her jump by now, but she didn't, because she was floating in the air. Her footwear was a sight for sore eyes, and air puffed out of the bottom of them. Not only that, but she was holding at least three men on her back and arms with no problem at all. She was strong.

Then, more cops ran past them. A good number of them. At least five. Their uniforms were slightly different from the girl's, and they had small medals on their chests. They pressed their black gloved fingers onto their helmets. And right before Shadow and Sonic's eyes, their helmets formed into gas masks. With the smoke barreling out of the broken doors, screams were heard. There were civilians in there, but there were toxic fumes from the explosion. Shadow assumed they were some kind of bomb squad.

Suddenly, more cops ran past them at top speed to usher people away from the building. They were escorting them away gently, while some just picked them up and ran to a safe distance. They were evacuating people from the premises. Both Sonic and Shadow were slack jawed in awe to say the least. Everyone was just so freakin' cool!

Finally, another siren was heard. But it was coupled with a different sound. It wasn't another car, it was a motorcycle. They could hear the rumbles of its engines. And it wasn't just one, there were three. Two people on them landed on the ground in front of the two hedgehogs and made them skid to a stop. One of them was large, while the other was smaller. And, was that a horn coming from his head..!?

However, the third bike just drove passed them all and traveled all the way to where those criminals ran. The soldier on the vehicle had various medals on his chest. Gaining on their trail, the criminals looked back in fear, as if they recognized whoever rode it. The soldier on the bike jumped off swiftly and landed on their feet before picking up speed on foot. The lone motorbike parked itself against the wall of a fence and sat there unattended. The escaped prisoners couldn't get away, they were coming way too fast. They had to stop and turn back to confront the officer head on.

Bad mistake.

The officer swung something at them. Whatever it was had long range, because it struck them all in the face in one swipe. They stumbled back, giving the officer enough time to flip over them while pointing his fist at then. There was something weird on his wrist, some kind of device aimed and shot a beam at them all. It rendered them all helpless, and forced them on their knees. They suddenly couldn't feel a thing, and all they could do was fall on the ground and grovel. The officer landed behind the five escapees, and put two fingers to the right side of his helmet. Some static was heard.

"Attention all units, the threat has been apprehended. Unlock cells number seven, eleven, seventy four, fifteen and eighty nine. Secure HQ and allow admission for prisoner transports." He let his fingers go for a second, before pressing them to his helmet again. "Officers Zespio and Zector, report." He commanded as he bent down to the prisoners and pulled something from his belt. Metal cuffs. He placed them on all of their wrists, draining all of their strength to move. The soldier pressed his thumb on the chin of his helmet, which revealed an opening for his mouth. "You have the right to remain silent. If you do say anything, what you say can be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to consult with a lawyer and have that lawyer present during any questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed for you if you so desire." He then pressed his finger on the left side of his helmet again and stood up tall, he heard his transmitter making static.

"Everything's secure here, sir. No casualties, a few injured due to the blast. The civilians who were harmed are being escorted to a nearest hospital."

Another voice chimed in on the transmission. "The bomb squad is finishing up, everyone's reporting back to HQ by your orders."

The soldier crossed his free arm over his chest as he responded back. "Excellent. Proceed with prisoner transportation as soon as possible."

Both voices from his transmitter complied respectfully. "Yes sir." With that, their connection ended. The proud soldier of four gold stars saluted the few officers and civilians that passed by him. To this, Sonic grabbed Shadow's hand and ran to his location. He could barely see or hear him since he was all the way down the big street. Sonic stood in front of the officer, who turned their head towards him slowly. Shadow was confused by Sonic's sudden actions, but then turned his attention to the male in front of them. The officer held up a hand and took one step closer.

"Stop. You are no citizen of No Zone. State your business and address." They ordered coldly. His voice, sounded a lot like Sonic's.

Sonic recognized that voice anywhere, and his eyes widened with stars twinkling in them. He started to smile warmly, steadily letting go of Shadow's hand. "Zonic? Buddy, is that you?" He asked hopefully.

The officer's mouth was open but didn't say a word. He threw his hands up to his helmet, and pressed his fingers on both sides of them to make it click and release cool steamed air as he took it off. He shook his head to let his quills flow out freely. He held the helmet by his side, and showed his face to both hedgehogs. Shadow was dumbfounded.

This person looked exactly like Sonic.

Blue fur, same quills, green eyes that were a shade darker, and a peach muzzle. At first his expression seemed standoffish, and stoic. Much like Shadow's normal face. Or as Sonic once said, 'Shad's resting bitch face'. Then his expression softened up. The moment he locked eyes with Sonic, he didn't look so grumpy anymore. Just more shocked and relieved. In Shadow's perspective, this person was breathtaking. He was so-Oh wait, he's only saying that because he looks like Sonic. But something about that military status, was he a four star rank? Maybe that was making him hot. The power of immense authority, that was mouthwatering for the ultimate life form.

The person who he addressed as Zonic, started to smile at his partner. "...Sonic prime?" He whispered. Then, he saw Shadow and the body he was carrying on his back. The person he was carrying, he recognized instantly. "...!" He made a look of horror, then anger. To this, Sonic just frowned with a questionable expression.

"Zonic? What's-"

The zone cop placed his fingers on the collar of his uniform and pressed them together. Both hedgehogs heard static. Wait, he had a transmitter in there too?! "Officers Zespio and Zector, recruit any nearby officers and get down here immediately. There is an unknown interloper in possession of an unconscious fellow soldier!"

Sonic and Shadow winced at his tone. That wasn't good. Sonic tried to speak for Shadow and defend him. "N-No no! Zonic, we found this guy back in Moebius. I had a feeling he was one of you guys, so I had Shadow carry it back over here-"

He shouldn't have mentioned Moebius, because once he did, Zonic's eyes became erratic with rage. "Requesting immediate back up. Prepare appropriate security measures back at HQ, I'm going to need some escorts." He glared at Shadow specifically, who just stared back awkwardly. "And prepare an empty cell. Just in case." He growled.

"Oh crap." Sonic muttered.

This was bad, really bad.

The second they stepped foot in No Zone Headquarters, all the soldiers who were escorting Sonic and Shadow had their uniforms digitize into less armored attires. They looked more casual compared to their military garb. No helmets, no pads, just their medals and shoes. Accompanied with normal military articles of clothing. Still, they all wore black. Because of this, Sonic recognized two more soldiers. Zespio and Zector. Zespio was the one with the horn that he saw earlier, but even they wouldn't bat an eye at them due to being suspicious. Zonic, the leader of these men and women walked in front of Shadow and Sonic with his hands folded behind his back. He held something in his hand that looked like a night stick, but it seemed more dangerous than that. The hedgehogs had their wrists locked together with handcuffs, the same ones that he arrested those escapees with. They were draining their energy, and they felt tired just by walking. They traveled by elevator from the entrance and moved to a higher floor. The entire building itself was enormous, and astounding. And of course, soldiers were everywhere.

The body that Shadow carried was taken to an undisclosed area. Must have been someone important if it made Zonic look like that. The entire time they walked, Sonic kept trying to talk some sense into the commander. "Z, it's me, Sonic. Come on, you can't be serious right now." He groaned. "You did this the first time we met. You arrested me for no reason!" He complained. Suddenly, the cops who were pushing Sonic and Shadow stopped their movements, because their leader stopped his movements as well and turned to them menacingly. "Geez, don't make the stink face at me." The hero whimpered.

Zonic didn't even say anything, his ice cold stare was threatening enough. Sonic remembered that glare all too well from the last time he was here. The commander sighed and looked away while continuing to walk again, the heels of his shoes clicking against the metal floors. "I have no doubt in my mind that you are sincere, Sonic prime."

"Then why don't you let us go-"

"You both still need to go through security measures to ensure that you both aren't mind slaves of anti-Sonic's." He cut him off rudely. "Things have been hectic. Even the smallest sign of suspicion needs to be examined." He stated bluntly. Meanwhile, the officers who were holding Shadow and forcing him to walk were being a little too rough with him. They pushed and shoved him, and Shadow of course didn't like the treatment, so he was pushing and shoving back. After all, you shouldn't agitate the aggressor. They were mishandling him so much due to him squirming, that it forced the officers who were escorting Sonic to stop just in case they needed to step in. Zonic stopped once again as well and looked over his shoulder without turning around.

Shadow grunted and broke out of his handcuffs by yanking his arms apart, much to their surprise. He elbowed and kicked the other officers away from him and was quickly regaining his energy back. He tossed one of them, a female against the wall and round house kicked another right in the face. Sonic tried to face palm himself even though he know he couldn't. They would get in even bigger trouble now. The men holding Sonic stepped back and pulled him aside when Zonic walked over.

Shadow stood defiantly against the leader and scoffed. "My apologies, but I don't take well to being mangled." He cracked a few knuckles in one of his hands and readied himself for a fight. Zonic just placed the night stick-looking weapon on his shoulder, while placing his other hand on his hip. He looked very unimpressed. "I suggest you let Sonic go this instant, before I have to manhandle you next." The hell with this guy being attractive, he was irritated. Only two minutes in this world and already, they were being treated like their crummy prisoners. Well no more. He was tired of all these Sonic look-a-likes prancing around like they owned everything!

Zonic tried to be civil one last time. "I do not know if you are a spy of Scourge's or not, this is only a security measure." He then tilted his head to the side with a critical glint in his eyes that narrowed sharply onto the ultimate life form. Though he was Sonic's twin, his eyes were nothing of his. They were so deadly and strict, one could easily tell who was who by looking at their faces. This guy was the epitome of a stern authoritarian. "Of course, if you'd like," His tone was starting to sound inviting. "You could try to take me down, and escape with Sonic prime right now."

"..." Shadow continued to glower, but didn't say anything back.

"Go ahead and try it," He warned. "Convict." He insulted in a grave tone.

With his permission, Shadow gladly accepted it. An outburst of red chaos energy bellowed throughout the entire floor. The shock wave of it made all of his soldiers lose their balance or fall a good distance away. Sonic and Zonic were the only ones who kept their balance. Sonic looked troubled and worried, while Zonic didn't really seem to care. The ultimate life form chaos controlled from his sight and appeared right in front of Zonic. The blue hero cried out for Shadow to stop. "Shadow don't! You'll hurt-" Then, he stopped himself from talking because, he realized Zonic wasn't afraid.

He was going to handle this situation smoothly.

Before Shadow could strike with a fist, Zonic darted his hand to his forearm and watched as sparks of red energy disrupted throughout Shadow's body. Just by touching him, he screwed up his wavelengths and depleted them significantly. Completely caught off guard by this, Shadow could only watch in utter shock as the blue leader turned and swung his leg into the side of his head. The black and red hedgehog was easily knocked over and planted onto the ground. He was forcefully pushed and thrown on his stomach, face down on the floor. His wrists were yanked and pinned behind his back, while Zonic was knelt over him, holding him down. He was holding down Shadow with one hand while pointing his stick directly into the back of his head with the other.

Both Sonic and Shadow were flabbergasted.

Zonic then shoved his foot on the back of his quills, and forced him to taste the ground. "It seems that you skipped school the day they taught basic mannerisms." He scowled. "Let it never be said that you're allowed to talk to an officer that way. Let it never be said that you're allowed to threaten anybody in my facility." He crushed his foot on his head even harder, making Shadow grunt in pain. "You must be an outsider, because you obviously don't know who you're threatening. Care to do your research before making threats." He took his foot off the back of his head and reached to grab hold of Shadow's shoulder. He roughly pulled him on his back and placed his foot square on his chest so he couldn't move. He pointed his night stick to himself and announced who he was. "I am Lieutenant General Zonic, top commander of the zone cops, second in command of No Zone prison and No Zone Corp! I suggest you remember that the very second you dare to try and address me in any kind of way ever again!"

All Shadow could do was grit his teeth and hold his tongue. This hedgehog, he was strong. He was no push over like everyone else. The officers that were blown away, marched over and aimed weapons at the dark hedgehog. Then, the lieutenant general glared at Sonic who meekly stood by against the wall and watched the whole thing.

"Sonic prime," He sounded like an angry mother ready to discipline her children. "How dare you bring this hoodlum on my grounds? Who is this?" He demanded. Sonic yelped at his tone and gulped.

"L-Look," He stuttered, but made a brave face to counter his twin's furious expression. "He's my," His cheeks went a little rosy. "Really close friend," He really hoped Shadow wouldn't take that to heart. They had to talk about that later. "And I brought him here with me because he's helping me. He's my partner. And he was carrying one of your officers here because we found him unconscious in anti-Mobius." He watched one of his men get a little too close to Shadow with their weapon and tried to make them stop. "No! Wait, seriously! His name is Shadow and he's never been here before. He doesn't know how things in No Zone work. I swear to you, he's not evil and he's not mind controlled either. Heck, neither am I!" He said desperately. Zonic's became a little less violent and more attentive. "Listen, we just wanted to come here to see if you would help us. If you want us to go through security measures or whatever, that's fine. Just don't hurt him or arrest him. He means a lot to me, okay?"

His blue twin closed his eyes and sighed. He got off of Shadow and took a step back. "...At ease." He announced to his soldiers, who put down their weapons and stood back. He allowed for Shadow to get up on his own and dust himself off. He still looked pissed, both at Sonic for putting him in the friend zone and at his humiliation. But personally, he was taken aback by this hedgehog's power. Damn, he just made himself ten times more attractive. "Well, with that display of chaotic power, I know for sure you're not one of his lackeys. That proves to me that you're this world's counterpart to Lieutenant General Zhadow. He's the one you carried on your back here." He held up his hand and signaled for his soldiers to disperse and carry on with their normal duties. They were no longer needed to be escorts. "I already recognized Shadow Prime, as I've seen him interact with you before on my monitors. Besides, chaos energy disrupts Scourge's ability. And none of his minions have the power to use chaos like you both do. I just didn't know for sure if he was the real deal, or an imposter." He looked at Sonic's restrained wrists and made a blank stare. "You can break out of those now, Sonic prime."

"H-How'd ya know I could do that?" Sonic did as he said and broke them apart easily, freeing himself. He rubbed his wrists and walked with Zonic and Shadow down the hall.

"Because I know you." Was all he said. "Obviously, you both aren't the average people to arrest. Handcuffs aren't enough for you two. Anyway," He continued on. "Just follow me in my office, and we'll have a proper meeting."

The office was big enough, a clean white room with a large wooden desk. White polished floors, white painted walls and a couple of windows with black blinds. Two lockers were aligned against the walls, and there was a black door in the back of the room. It was locked, and it led to another part of the office. The desk was a deep wooden color, and there was a lone laptop that stood on top of it with files and documents laid neatly in an organized pile. A black office chair was behind it, with one small picture frame that was turned on its face so it wouldn't reveal the picture inserted in it. Next to it, was a pink box with a white ribbon tied around it. On the wall behind the desk was a bulletin board. There wasn't anything important on it, just pictures of fellow soldiers with nice things to say about their commander. Interestingly, some had hearts on them. There were two beige colored sofas in front of it for visitors. Zonic unlocked his office door and allowed the two hedgehog to walk inside. He locked it back so they all could have some privacy and walked to his chair.

Sonic and Shadow sat down in front of him and laid back. Due to the nonsense that just happened, they felt like they needed to relax for a second. With a tired sigh, Sonic tried to smile and looked at his partner. "Welp, Shadow this is Zonic. He's the friend I was talking about. We're like this." He interlocked his fingers together with a silly grin to gesture their close relationship. "I visited this place a few times. The first time I met Zonic, he actually almost arrested me, heheh." He laughed. "After that, I helped him when they were fighting a war against some weird guy who looked like Egghead, but he's long gone now." He looked at Zonic and smiled. "Ever since then, we were tight."

Shadow looked at Zonic for his introduction. Both he and the zone cop were making vacant looks at each other. Feeling like the moment became awkward, Sonic moved on to his buddy. "Zonic, this is Shadow. You know, you met him earlier." Once he said that, the room became silent again. Holy shit this was uncomfortable. "A-And uh," Sonic stammered. "He helped me saved my world dozens of times. We hang out all the time and," His face turned pink again that day. "Well, he would have came here even if I didn't ask him to. He actually volunteered to help me personally. Scourge came to Mobius prime, and he wanted to help me stop him. But we came to you because we don't know what to do."

"..." Zonic didn't respond back, he only stared. It was such a dull expression, Sonic couldn't tell what he was thinking. And then he suddenly started talking. "Oh, that's what this is about." His voice was so uncaring, that Shadow winced at his tone. "I understand, Sonic prime." He said simply, without any depth. What happened to that strict barking persona from earlier? Was this the real him? Shadow felt his attraction to him dim down little by little. "I had a feeling he gave you trouble." He frowned, showing some concern. "I am sorry, but I don't have any idea about what's happened to anyone in your world. My monitors were glitched with some kind of encryption. The warden is trying to fix it as we speak. And not only that," He said gruelingly. "Your anti-self wrecked No Zone HQ again and kidnapped some of my men. That's why I was so relieved that you carried Lieutenant General Zhadow's body here. He was one of our missing men. Before anti-Sonic left, he destroyed all of our warp rings. My engineers are trying to work on them as well."

"Yeah, about that," Sonic scratched the top of his head. "That wasn't a real attack, it was fake. He wanted to kidnap your soldiers. Apparently he wants to study your uniforms." He said sadly, before perking back up instantly and huffing in excitement. "Speaking of which..! Where'd you get those uniforms!? You all look so freaking cool! They're a thousand times cooler than your old ones!" He chimed.

Zonic made a small smile at Sonic's childish nature. "I requested the warden to have them made. You see, this isn't the first attack he's made. Almost a month ago, that's when I found that my monitors weren't working anymore. He made a smaller attack which caused a riot in the prison down below. At the time, I was on vacation, like you. The warden forced me to leave when I started to pass out from exhaustion from working too many hours." Zonic made a small growl at what he said next. "When I returned, things were in shambles. It looked far worse than now. I discovered that it was due to how frail and powerless our suits and weapons were. My monitors weren't working, so I couldn't check to see if you were okay. I was so angry, I marched to the warden's office and demanded that he change our uniforms and equipment. I'll explain that later, but that's probably why you didn't recognize me at first."

"Oh.." Sonic said in a rather glum tone. He didn't realize those cool uniforms only came to be because of such a crappy incident.

"We do have a plan that I'll inform you on later, but please, allow me to give you my utmost respect." He declared as he stood out of his seat and walked around to stand in front of the two. The blue hedgehog twin saluted, before placing a hand on his heart and bowing his head low to the two. "Please forgive me for giving you such a rude welcome." He lifted his head up to Sonic. "You are more than a friend to me, Sonic prime, and you know I value our friendship tremendously. Forgive me for suspecting you." He looked at Shadow and made a smile that was similar to how Sonic smiled. That right there put chills in Shadow's legs. He really didn't expect a guy like him to smile like that. "And you, Shadow prime," He addressed honorably before getting on one knee to bow his head to him again. "Forgive me for getting physical with you. With everything that's happened lately, I couldn't be too sure. I only wanted to ensure that you were not a threat." He stood up and held up a gloved hand to Shadow. "But anyone who is a close friend of Sonic prime's, is a friend of mine as well. I hope that we can mend our newfound friendship."

Shadow stared at his hand, before reaching and grabbing hold of it to shake it. "Err, yes," He said hesitantly. "I hope so as well."

Sonic clapped his hands a few times with a smile of his own. "Wow, look at you! Mister sociable over here."

Zonic's smile flattened and made a small glare at his twin. "Something you're trying to imply, Sonic prime?"

The ebony hedgehog narrowed his eyes and looked over at Sonic. "..?"

Sonic laughed at both of their reactions. "When he introduced himself to me the first time we met, he was like this." The hero cleared his throat and made the blankest, most mundane expression he could muster. "'Hello Sonic prime, pleased to meet you. I am elite officer Zonic, I hope you feel welcomed here in No Zone.'" Throughout that sentence, he made sure his voice was as monotonous as possible. He exaggerated a bit to make it sound more robotic. Shadow tried his best not to laugh at his impersonation.

"Oh please." Zonic's voice was almost the same way, thus proving Sonic's point. "I sound nothing like that." He rolled his eyes.

"Heh," Shadow snickered. This Zonic, he was interesting. He'd keep an eye on him.

"Moving on," He said as he walked over to the back of the room. The two hedgehogs stifled their laughter and stood up to follow him. The door in the back that was locked, he was taking out the keys for it right now. "Allow me to give you a grand tour of No Zone HQ. After that, we'll do lunch." He pushed the key inside the lock and turned it to the side before taking it out and putting it back in his pocket. "First, my office and the monitor room of all realities." When he led them inside, it was a special sight to be seen here. Sonic had already seen it before, but it didn't matter. This was definitely one of the most amazing things he'd ever seen, no matter how many times he saw it.

Shadow saw hundreds and hundreds of monitors all across the walls, some were even on the floors. Every screen had a different environment playing before them. People, animals and things that looked other worldly. Some screens showed realities of other Sonics, and other Tails' and Knuckles' and more! Some were weirder and more breathtaking than the zone they were in right now. It was mind blowing! A couple lone monitors had static showing, unable to show what they were broadcasting. Shadow assumed those were the monitors that looked over Mobius prime.

This was the room that watched all realities of their multiverse. And they were just granted access to them.

Zonic made a small smirk to their speechlessness, and promised them something more grand.

"You haven't seen anything yet," He guaranteed. "This is just the start."

END - 13

Don't forget to review.

I gave the Zone Cops new and improved uniforms because I think the ones they have in the comics are a bit silly looking. I wanted them to have new cool modifications, too. Besides, they're going to need them.

Also, can someone tell me the reference I made in the last chapter?

1. Sonic was nearly arrested before by Zonic, while Scourge was arrested by him more than once.

Sorry, only one difference for this chapter!