I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the characters.

Reinforcements

Shadow stirred to the feeling of two sets of lips kissing the sides of his neck. He smiled instantly as he opened his eyes, both girls lifting themselves up and smiling down at him.

"Good morning," he greeted them.

"Good morning," both replied before taking turns kissing him.

"What are we up to this morning?" Rouge asked.

"Shower first, breakfast second, then we'll see," Shadow said.

Both nodded and climbed out of bed, heading toward the shower together and both casting an expectant, hungry look back at him before stepping into the bathroom. Shadow sighed and stood, shaking his head. They were going to be a handful. But he would never complain. He was too happy to have them both for that. So, with that thought in mind, he followed the two of them into the bathroom, joining them in the shower and chuckling as he found they had not, in fact, waited for him before starting.

Shadow sighed as he finished his pancakes, leaning back in his chair as Blaze and Rouge finished off the last of their own. The others were apparently avoiding the three currently, which Shadow had no problem with, so they had the kitchen all to themselves. He looked around as the coffee was finished and stood, walking over and pouring it into three cups.

"Cream and sugar?" Shadow asked.

"No thank you," Rouge smiled.

"Two of each, please," Blaze said.

Shadow mixed Blaze's coffee, then carried both of theirs to them before returning to make his, using about four of each in his. Rouge laughed as he walked over.

"Who would have known the Ultimate Lifeform couldn't handle strong coffee?" Rouge teased.

"I can handle it just fine," Shadow said defensively. "I just prefer it sweeter."

"I understand," Blaze smiled, Shadow smiling gratefully at her. "Everyone has to be a pussy about somethings."

Rouge howled with laughter as Shadow's face turned scarlet and he crossed his arms scowling. After a few moments, both girls walked over and wrapped their arms around him, kissing his cheeks.

"We're sorry," Blaze said.

"We were just teasing," Rouge said. "Forgive us?"

Shadow sighed. "Fine."

Both girls smiled, kissing him, then returned to their seats, sipping at their coffee, Shadow doing the same. After a few seconds, Sonic walked in, eyeing the trio for a moment before grabbing a convenience store chilidog from the fridge and putting it in the microwave.

"I'm heading to Angel Island to meet with Knuckles today," Sonic said. "Would you mind checking in with the others?"

"Sure," Shadow nodded. "Good luck on your trip."

"Thanks," Sonic said.

He ate his chilidog quickly, then left the facility. Shadow walked into the living room with the other two, all three still drinking their coffee, and found Amy, Charmy, and Cream in what passed as the living room. All three blushed as the three entered, but Shadow ignored them, instead walking over tot he computer. He picked up one of the headsets, a type specifically designed for non-humans to use by using vibrations against some of the bones in their skull rather than sound, and pulled it on, using the computer to connect it and called Zeta first.

"Hello?" Zeta asked.

"Where are you?" Shadow asked. "I thought you were staying at the facility to rest."

"I left the facility to see if chilidogs were really as good as Sonic kept insisting," Zeta said.

"Oh," Shadow said. "Well, I suggest you try a cheeseburger from that diner over on Court Street. It's called Highway Fifty Five."

"Will do," Zeta said.

Rouge tapped Shadow's shoulder, and when he looked, she and Blaze both raised a hand.

"Can you bring three back with you, too?" Shadow asked, rolling his eyes at them.

"Sure," Zeta said.

"Thanks," Shadow said. "Be careful, alright?"

"You too," Zeta said, Shadow disconnecting.

He called Tails next, but all he got was explosions, Tails screaming, then saying he was okay and could handle it.

"Is that what he normally sounds like in a fight?" Shadow asked.

"Pretty much," Blaze nodded.

Shadow shrugged, calling the others who were sent out. Silver had already gotten his two Emeralds, Knuckles had collected two and was on his way to Angel Island, Vector had collected his one, Espio had one, and Tails would collect his soon, if he actually could handle whatever he was up against. Of course, that was a big if.

"Maybe we should call Tails again," Shadow said.

"I'm sure he's fine," Blaze said.

Shadow hesitated for a moment. "I'm going to call him again."

He sent the call, but after several seconds the computer reported it had failed to connect. He tried again with a similar result.

"Yeah, that's not good," Rouge sighed. "Where was he heading?"

Shadow checked the map and sighed. "White Jungle."

"That's not too terribly far," Rouge said.

"Yeah," Shadow sighed. "I'll head over there myself."

"You're not going alone," Blaze said.

"I'll have Zeta meet me there," Shadow said, calling her.

"Hey, I just got to the diner," Zeta said.

"Change of plans," Shadow said. "We need to go pull Tails' ass out of a fire. Can you meet me at the White Jungle?"

"Sure," Zeta said. "I'll head there now."

"Thanks," Shadow said, then disconnected and sighed, turning to Blaze and Rouge. "Wait for me?"

"Always," Rouge smiled, kissing him.

"Don't make us wait too long then," Blaze said kissing him. "Otherwise we might decide that we like each other more than you."

"You're evil," Shadow said, kissing her before pulling away and leaving.

He looked around for a moment once he was outside before taking off through the city. He had never really understood why most of the roads in the city included loops, or gaps, but it made using the roads a hell of a lot more fun. He sped through the city rapidly, expertly avoiding potential obstacles and reaching the city's exit within minutes. Then, he started away from the city, heading toward the White Jungle. Even with his top speed, he was a couple hours away. So, he began to try to call Tails while he ran. Nothing. He called Zeta. Also nothing. He swore. This wasn't going to be very good after all.

Shadow knelt in the trees on the edge of the jungle, listening. He was just barely able to hear two voices somewhere in the jungle, thanks to his extra-sensitive hearing. He was able to make out Zeta's and a deep one he didn't recognize, but which sounded familiar all the same. He focused, trying to catch what they were saying. He couldn't tell exactly what was going on, but it sounded like the second voice was looking for something, or maybe someone, and Zeta was refusing to tell them.

Shadow stood, looking around before spotting a fallen tree that he could run down. He back up, then leapt to it, landing on top of it and speeding forward. He shot down the tree in a blur, then up a branch, which had broken open and rotted into a sort of tunnel. It bent and curved, then ended in a ramp and he shot up it, flipping and continuing to run on a chunk of bark that was hanging from several giant roots, the bark flipping as he ran on it, ending up with him facing the correct direction and allowing him to launch off of it just as it began to fall to the ground. He shot through the air before landing on another fallen tree, following it to several branches, taking one of them and following them along. Just as he reached the end of that one, he leapt off of it, catching a vine and swinging forward before the vine hit a branch, wrapping up around it before swinging back down and slingshoting him through the jungle.

Finally, he flipped, landing on a branch overlooking a gigantic stump about a hundred meters across. Below him, Tails was lying beside a destroyed hunk of metal that was once his walker mech, and Zeta was standing between him and their attacker, except she was hurt. She was covered in bruises and scrapes, and her left arm was holding her right side.

"I'll give you one more chance, Zeta R02, tell me where Shadow the Hedgehog is," their attacker said.

He looked sort of like a hedgehog, except that he had no fur. He had grey flesh with some red. It was red around his eyes, then in two stripes that ran up from his forehead in a "V" before running back along the top of two of his four spines, then red on the tips of the other two, red around his wrists like sleeves, each of which had a small, one-inch spike on it that curved back toward his elbow, then a larger one about three inches long just behind it, and he had red around his ankles and the back halves of his feet with similar curved spikes on his calves, one spike per leg. He had two pointed toes per foot, two fingers and a thumb per hand, each of which were tipped in a claw, a long, devil-like tail tipped in red, a red mantle-like shoulder ornament that stuck out to the sides and had a spike reaching a couple inches down his chest, and had yellow irises with black sclera.

Shadow watched as the freaky monster hedgehog began forward, flexing his fingers in preparation to use his claws. However, before he could get to Zeta, Shadow launched himself off of the tree, curling into a ball an streaking down into the freak's back, launching him sideways. The freak flipped, driving his claws into the wood and skidding to a stop, glaring at Shadow.

"Who are you?" Shadow asked.

"My name is Eclipse," the freak said. "Ultimate creation of Black Death."

"Who?" Shadow asked.

"The successor of Black Doom, who Shadow the Hedgehog killed," Eclipse said. "Now, what are you?"

"Shadow the Hedgehog," Shadow said.

"Nice try, but the real Shadow the Hedgehog isn't some pathetic Android," Eclipse said.

"Well, I'm the real Shadow now, so you'll have to deal with it," Shadow said, red Chaos Energy flowing over his body for a moment, only to fade as Eclipse grinned. "What the...what did you do?"

"While we fight, we exist in my world, and you will die by my rules," Eclipse smirked. "You won't be using your Chaos Control, or any of your other powers, for as long as I'm your enemy."

"Is that right?" Shadow asked. "Alright, fine then. I'll just take you down without them."

Eclipse grinned and both shot forward. However, when Shadow threw a punch at Eclipse, Eclipse suddenly glowed red and snapped his fingers, a small Chaos Burst going off and crashing into Shadow, launching him. Shadow flipped, landing on a branch and took off instantly, sprinting along branches, leaping between trees, and continuously moving, keeping Eclipse from targeting him with any ranged blasts.

"So, you can block mine while still using yours," Shadow mused as he ran. "Not bad. That'll be a bitch to beat. But not impossible."

He suddenly sped up, going as fast as he could and leaping off of a branch, catching a vine and swinging around a tree to slingshot himself at Eclipse from behind, using a blast from his shoes to go even faster before curling into a ball and crashing into Eclipse. Just as Eclipse landed, he set off a Chaos Blast, but Shadow flipped over the blast wave and launched himself away with his Air Shoes, resuming his run. Then, he flew at Eclipse from the front. Eclipse set off another blast, but Shadow bounced on the tree in front of him, slowing just enough for the blast to end before Shadow exploded into Eclipse. Eclipse pushed himself up, snarling in rage, only for Shadow to crash down on him from above, bouncing back to the tree and leaping to the left before blasting off of that tree and once again crashing into the alien hedgehog.

This time, when Eclipse landed, he took off, speeding after Shadow as Shadow took off into the trees again. After a moment, Shadow flipped as Eclipse crashed down where he had been, bouncing to his feet as they ran alongside one another. Eclipse smirked, then flipped, kicking at Shadow, only for Shadow to leapt off the branch they were on, immediately launching himself back into Eclips with his shoes, crashing into Eclipse's back, launching him. Eclipse flipped , landing on his feet and exploding off of the tree at Shadow, who met him head on, both bouncing off onto a pair more trees. Eclipse shot down his to a branch heading for Shadow. However, as he launched himself at Shadow, Shadow suddenly shot around his tree, causing Eclipse to crash into it and bounce before Shadow arrived from his lap around the tree, swinging a branch thicker than either was tall around. The branch crashed into Eclipse and sent him flying out into the open air before Shadow took off, crashing into Eclipse rapidly and pinballing him around the trees for a moment before streaking down at him from above. Before he could hit again, Eclipse roared, sending out a Chaos Blast and launching Shadow backward into a tree. Shadow flipped upward instantly, allowing Eclipse to explode into the tree before Eclipse sped up the tree after him. Eclipse used his Chaos Control to launch himself up at Shadow, but Shadow grabbed a vine, taking off just before Eclipse could hit him. Then, his vine hit a tree as Eclipse began to chase him along a branch and whipped around it, Shadow being flung back at Eclipse and crashing into his face directly with three times the force of a cannonball, sending Eclipse exploding through several branches and into the side of a tree, cratering it.

Shadow dropped to the stump, landing beside Zeta, who stared at him in awe. "Are you alright?"

"You're incredible!" Zeta gaped. "How did you do that? I couldn't even tough him!"

Shadow shrugged. "I don't allow anyone to hurt the people I care about and get away with it."

Zeta smiled and nodded, hugging him. Shadow hesitated a moment before hugging her back, a bit awkwardly. After a moment, they pulled back as Eclipse landed before them again, this time holding a sword with a jagged purple blade with the center of it hollow, and a lighter purple grip. Shadow growled in annoyance.

"I refuse to lose to you!" Eclipse snarled. "I came all the way to this dimension to kill a Shadow, and I will not be returning a failure!"

"Wait, this dimension?" Shadow asked. "You're from another? Which?"

Eclipse glared at him for a long moment before his eyes widened slowly. Then, his mouth curled into a wicked grin. "Oh, so you're the one. But you're obviously a failure. I mean, really. You're supposed to kill my master? You? You're not even worthy of returning to my master's dimension."

"To...Who are you!?" Shadow demanded.

Eclipse laughed as his sword's blade dissolved into the handle and that dissolved into his hand. Then, a purple sphere formed behind him and he stepped backward into it, the sphere shrinking out of existence instantly. Shadow stared where it had been for a long while before sighing.

He began to turn to Zeta and Tails, who was still unconscious, only to catch Zeta as she suddenly collapsed. He glanced down her body to scan for injuries and spotted the problem instantly. It wasn't a broken rib she'd been holding before. It was a gash in her side, which had purple blood slowly leaking out of it. He swore, lifting her and running to tails, kicking him three times before he stirred.

"What happened?" Tails asked.

"Zeta's been poisoned," Shadow said. "Where's the Chaos Emerald?"

"That alien had it," Tails said. "He was as fast as Sonic."

Shadow swore, glancing down at Zeta. She didn't have several hours to run back, and he couldn't control his Chaos Energy to slow time the entire way back to the others.

"Are there any plants around here that help with poison?" Shadow asked.

"Uh..." Tails tried to think. "A few, yeah. Wait here. I'll be right back."

Shadow nodded, and Tails took off just as Zeta winced, stirring and looking up at him. "Don't try to move. You've been poisoned."

"His...tail," Zeta said weakly, moving her hand back to her side. "Did you...get the Chaos Emerald?"

"Tails says Eclipse had it," Shadow said. "Which means he just left for my dimension with it."

Zeta sighed, nodding slowly. "I was...afraid...that was the case." She looked up at him through half-lidded eyes, smiling slightly. "They're lucky."

"What?" Shadow asked.

Zeta smiled tiredly, shaking her head, her eyes fluttering again, trying to close as her head began to bob. "It's cold."

"Hold on," Shadow said. "Tails is trying to find herbs to help with the poison."

"Hold me," Zeta murmured, barely awake, or maybe talking in her sleep. "It's...so...cold."

Shadow held her against him, looking around for Tails. Finally, Tails returned just as lightning flashed overhead, rain beginning to pound down around them. Shadow cursed and lifted Zeta, streaking down the edge of the stump, Tails just behind him, and into a hollow under the roots of a partially over-turned tree. He gently set Zeta down, the android shivering now, face contorted in discomfort and pain. Shadow looked to Tails, who handed him a bowl of green paste, which he had crushed the plants into. Shadow quickly applied it to Zeta's wound and she groaned miserably, but didn't flinch away or cry out in pain like she should have.

"She needs to warm up," Tails said.

"Then you'd better find a different try to take shelter under," Shadow said, giving him a look that left no room for argument.

He knew how Zeta would react to Tails seeing her nude. He wasn't sure how he knew, but he did. He also knew how Tails would react, immature, shy child that he was. Tails seemed to agree because he left instantly. After a moment, Shadow quickly took Zeta's jacket and pants off, unsurprised to find she had nothing on under it. Once she was out of her wet clothes, he used his speed to quickly rub her dry before laying beside her and pulling her against him. She curled into him instantly and he looked down at her, seeing her contented smile, despite the pain that still had her brow furrowed.

"Warm," she exhaled. "Thank...you."

Then, she was asleep again. Shadow gently ran his hands up and down her back to help keep her warm, and closed his eyes, silently praying to whatever deities he could think of that she'd survive, and hopefully not beat the shit out of him in the morning when she woke up and realized their position and state of dress.

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