See Chapter 1 for Disclaimer
Chapter 17: Meet the Boom Crew
The twins stared in disbelief at the hedgehog that stood before them and their friends, as much as he looked and sounded like their father, he couldn't be; if it had been the Sonic they knew, he would've come back home if he had escaped from whoever had kidnapped him. This Sonic performed a spin dash into the robot's head, severing it from its body and causing it to fall over and short circuit, "You've won this time, Sonic but...ahh, I'm just gonna leave now".
The kids looked up to see a tall, bald man with a big brown mustache and wearing a red outfit. "Who's that weirdo?", asked Finn. "He kinds looks like Eggman, but...isn't he supposed to be fat?", said Maria. They watched the Eggman look-alike jump into a hovering vehicle and flew away, while the Sonic look-alike stood with a smug grin on his face; that's when the twins, along with SJ who Speedy had taken from Metal's arms, walked over to him.
This other Sonic was taken by surprise when he was approached by two eleven year old hedgehogs, one of which was holding a baby hedgehog but he smiled regardless and bent down to their level. "Well hey there, kiddos. I'm guessing you little tykes want my autograph", he said in a rather prideful manner. Speedy and Turbo's eyes lit up and they suddenly tackled him, giving him a hug; the Sonic look-alike sat in confusion, that's when he looked down at the baby hedgehog who was struggling to say something.
"p-p-p-Papa!", he cried out with a wide smile that exposed his tiny teeth. "Hey Sonic, did you take out robot yet?", asked a voice. The others kids gasped as they saw who spoke, a small group of Mobians were approaching: one was a female brown and orange badger they didn't recognize but the other three looked like Amy, Tails and Knuckles, except they were different. The Knuckles look-alike was very tall, and he had massive muscular arms and rather skinny legs.
The Tails look-alike was wearing a pair of goggles on his head and a tool belt around his waist, and the Amy look-alike wore a more rugged looking pink dress with purple accents; when they had approached the other Sonic, they were stunned to see him being hugged by two hedgehog kids and a baby hedgehog. That was when the other children decided to make their presence known and stepped out from behind the bushes, the three robots following them.
Upon seeing the robots, the other Sonic and the look-alikes stood up and took battle stances; the other Sonic held the three young hedgehogs in his arms while the other Knuckles grabbed Ruby, Maria and Finn, pushing them behind him. "Don't you worry, kids. We'll protect you from those robots!", he said. Orbot, Cubot and Metal Sonic clung to one another and cowered in fear, after the years of peace on Mobius, none of them were prepared to face a violent attack.
Ruby quickly ran in front of them and held her arms up to protect them, "No, don't! Don't hurt them, they're not bad robots! They're our babysitters", she said. The look-alikes stood in shocked silence, "Um...what is going on here?", asked the other Tails. "I think we should explain who we are and where we came from. Is there somewhere we can go so we can talk?", said Maria.
Ten minutes later, they had relocated to a shack near the beach; Maria sat on the couch with the other kids explaining to the look-alikes who they were while the other Amy placed a tray holding cups of orange juice and a platter of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for them. "So...let me see if I've got this right: you're the children of alternate versions of us from another dimension, and you're in our dimension because a group of armored bees kidnapped them and you want to rescue them", said Tails.
Maria nodded, "That's right: the twins and SJ are Sonic and Amy's kids, Finn is Nyx and Infinite's son, Ruby-Emerald is Knuckles and Rouge's daughter and I'm the adopted daughter of Shadow and Silver", she said. That's when Sonic burst out laughing, "Shadow's a dad in another universe? That's hilarious, I'm just picturing him changing diapers and warming up baby bottles", he chortled. Maria sat in confusion but chose not to question it.
Knuckles then approached Ruby, "So...in another dimension...I'm your dad?", he asked. Ruby looked up at him and smiled, "Yeah! You taught me a lot about appreciating nature and the responsibility of protecting the Master Emerald, and how one day, it'll be my job to guard. In fact, this is it over here", she said as she showed him the Master Emerald she kept hidden beneath a sheet. Knuckles walked over to it and carefully placed his hand on top of it, suddenly he froze in place and his eyes began to glow a bright green color.
Everyone saw this and stood in shock, "What's happening to him?", asked Amy. Just then, Knuckles suddenly let go of the Master Emerald and fell to his knees gasping. "Mr. Knuckles...are you okay? What happened?", asked Ruby. Knuckles panted heavily before sitting upright, "It showed me things...memories from the other me...some of them weren't happy memories. He used to be all alone...just like I was", he said in a sad tone.
Ruby gave him a sympathetic smile before pulling him into a hug, "Its okay. I know all about that...Dad told me stories about it and how sad he was to be the last of his kind, and he also told me how happy he was when I was born. He said it made him happy to know there was another echidna with him, even though I'm half bat. Even though you're obviously not my Dad, you don't have to be sad about being the only echidna around. I'm here for you", she said.
Knuckles smiled as he pulled Ruby close to him in a big bear hug, but he didn't hold her too hard for fear he might hurt her with his super strength. Sticks watched them while scoffing as she was still very suspicious of the kids, sure Sonic had traveled to an alternate dimension before but that didn't mean she'd just blatantly trust what they said. The feeling of something tapping her foot caught her attention and she looked down to see SJ tapping her foot and then holding his hands up.
"Sticks, I think he wants you pick him up", said Amy. Rolling her eyes, Sticks bent down and picked up the baby hedgehog; she held him close to her body and looked down at his face, SJ looked up at her with big innocent eyes. Sticks stared into his eyes and suddenly felt tears come to hers, she nuzzled her face into his making him squeal with laughter. "You having fun over there, Sticks?", asked Sonic with smug grin on his face. Sticks blushed in embarrassment as everyone else let out amused giggles.
"I...I just like the little squirt, alright. I was a bit suspicious of the kids but...I guess they're not really a threat to us so...I'll give 'em a chance", she said. "Or maybe you've fallen under the spell of our little brother's cuteness. Once you've looked into his eyes, your heart starts melting", said Speedy. Then Sonic leaned down and picked up the twins, holding them up in his arms.
"Say, I was wondering if you two kiddos could show me your speed. Let's see how fast you are", he said. The twins smiled widely as they ran outside while others followed them; Speedy and Turbo used tree branches to make a starting line in the sand before standing in front of it. They both got into position before suddenly speeding off, "Oh no...they're at it again", said Maria. "What do you mean?", asked Tails. "Back home, they always have races and other little competitions to see which of them is better than the other. But they've always tied and they never seem to understand that they're equally skilled", said Finn.
The twins sped across the beach four times before finally crossing the finish line, they looked to see that they had crossed it at the same time. "Again?! Why do we keep tying?!", shouted Speedy while Turbo stomped his feet in frustration. Sonic shook his head and walked over to them, placing his hands on their heads, "I get that you guys are competitive but maybe you should realize that it's better to appreciate that you're just as skilled as the other instead of trying to see who's better", he said.
Speedy and Turbo looked at him in wonderment, "Wow...you may not be our actual Dad, but you sure talk like him. It's kind of weird...but in a good way", they said. Sonic smiled before he picked them up onto both his shoulders, running around the beach while the two rode upon his back laughing; while the others stood by watching, Maria looked out of the corner of her eyes and saw someone standing near the bushes. It was hard to see them in the shade of all the palm trees, but this figure almost looked like Shadow.
Maria saw the figure looking at them before turning around and walking away, she turned to make sure everyone was distracted before following after the figure; she followed him until she came upon a cave within the forest. The interior of the cave was covered by glowing pink drawings and symbols, Maria was marvelling at the cave drawings for so long that she hadn't noticed the figure walk up behind her.
She felt a presence behind her and turned around to see...Shadow, but much like the others, he had a very different appearance. He was taller than the Shadow she knew, his shoes and gloves looked different and the quills on the back of his head were much larger and there were smaller quills sticking out between them. He looked down at her with a neutral expression while Maria stood there clutching the strap of her backpack out of nervousness.
"Um...hi...", Maria said shyly as she tried to break the awkward silence between them. "Are you really my daughter?", Shadow asked. Maria let out a small gasp, "I overheard the conversation between the Blue Nuisance, his friends and you children...are you really my daughter from an alternate dimension?", he asked again. Maria looked down at her feet before looking back up at him, "Um...yes. I'm actually your adopted daughter, my birth parents died and you decided to adopt me. I actually have two fathers because you're also married to a male hedgehog named Silver, here let me show you", she said.
Maria sat on a large flat rock and opened her backpack, she pulled out what looked like a pink binder with a picture of a rainbow unicorn with wings on the front of it, and above the picture was a label that read "Family Memories". Shadow walked over to look at the binder as she opened it, revealing several pictures of himself and another hedgehog with snow white fur. "This is our family photo album, I brought it with me so I could feel as if my Dads are still with me. These pictures are from their wedding day", she said.
She pointed to the first three photos: the first one showed Shadow and Silver standing at the alter wearing tuxedos, the second one showed them at the alter again only in this they were caught mid-kiss, and the last one showed Silver holding a six month old Maria who wore a pink dress and Shadow stood nearby giving her a spoonful of their chocolate wedding cake. Maria turned the page to show Shadow the next set of pictures, "These are from earlier in my life", she said.
Shadow looked at the pictures, each of them showed Maria at different points of her early childhood: the first one was when she was seven months old and it was of Silver holding her tiny hands as he helped her walk. The second one was when she was eleven months old with her mouth slightly opened, there was something written on the bottom of the photo that read "Dada", meaning that it was a picture of when Maria said her first words.
The third picture was of Maria when she was one year old and she was sitting at a children's picnic table with a small white and pink cake, with a unicorn shaped candle atop it, resting upon the table; this meant that the picture was taken during her first birthday party. The fourth picture was of Shadow hugging a three year old Maria as she was crying, there was a smiley face bandaid on her upper left arm and examination table behind them, so this must've been taken during a doctor's appointment.
Maria laughed at that one, "The funny thing is that I'm still scared of needles, I mean I don't cry when I get vaccines anymore but I do get tiny panic attacks. Just the idea of someone sticking a thin piece metal under my skin freaks me out", she said. Shadow stuck his out his hand to flip the page, revealing more pictures of Maria and her parents in many other places; there was one of them at the beach, one of them camping in the woods, one of them having a barbecue in the backyard, one of them at the movies, and at an amusement park.
There were also pictures of them during several holidays: a picture of them dressed as vampires on Halloween, a picture of them sitting at a table with their friends about to indulge in Thanksgiving dinner and a picture of them opening their presents on Christmas morning. Shadow took in each picture as it intrigued him that in another dimension he was a husband and a father, that he had a family and friends, and that they were so happy.
It was a stark contrast to himself as he was solitary, standoffish and even tried to destroy the dimension he lived in; he didn't know how to feel as he looked at the photos and thought about the young girl sitting next to him. Maria seemed like such a bright and happy girl, she seemed smart and soft spoken but outgoing; she also seemed to possess a good heart and could be a little shy at times. Shadow felt uneasy and even unsure of himself as he closed the photo album, giving it back to Maria.
"You should get going now, the others will notice you've disappeared and they'll come looking for you, and they won't be too happy to see you here with me", he said. Maria looked at him in confusion, "What do you mean by that? Aren't you guys friends?", she asked. Shadow walked further into the cave and stood with his back to her, "I don't have time to go into a the details...just know that I'm...not a good person and you shouldn't be around me", he said before sitting down with his back still turned to her.
As puzzled as Maria was, she still placed the photo album back inside her backpack and left the cave, giving it a small sideways glance before running back to Sonic's shack. If she had looked closer in the cave, she would've seen Shadow lift his hand up and wipe away a tear from his left eye. "Yeah...its best that you leave, you're from another life I don't lead and it's a waste of time for to try to connect with me. I look like your father but...I'm not your father", he said solemnly to himself.
Maria made it back to the beach where Sonic and the others had indeed noticed she was missing and were understandably upset about it considering she left without telling them; she apologized but didn't tell them she was with Shadow...at least not until later.
Later on at night, they kids needed a place to stay while Tails had found their ship and agreed to fix it up for them. Since there were six kids, three of stayed with Tails while the other three stayed with Amy; Amy made some space in her living room for Speedy and Turbo while setting up a cradle for SJ to sleep in, and Tails set up an empty space in his workshop, away from where he kept his plane and the ship, for Ruby, Finn and Maria.
Ruby and Finn were already snuggled into their sleeping bags fast asleep, but Maria was laying in her sleeping bag awake and in deep thought. Shadow said he wasn't a good person but what did that mean exactly? She got up and walked into the kitchen, she looked around for where Tails kept his cups but since she wasn't familiar with his house.
"Can't sleep?"
Maria turned around to see Tails standing in the doorway, "Yeah...usually when I can't sleep my Dad, Silver, would make me a glass of warm chocolate milk...but he's not here and I can't find your cups", she said. Tails let out a small laugh as he opened one of the cabinets and grabbed a glass cup, he then took out a pot and boiled up some milk on the stove; when it was warm enough, he poured it into the cup, squirted some chocolate syrup into it and stirred it until it turned into chocolate milk.
Just before Maria could grab the cup, Tails pulled a box out of the pantry, opened it and pulled a straw out; Maria looked closely at the straw and saw that it wasn't made of plastic but rather it looked like it was made out of a cookie. "What's that, Uncle Tails?", she asked not realizing she addressed him as 'Uncle Tails' despite the fact that he's not the Tails she knew. Tails laughed regardless and didn't bother to correct her, "Its a wafer roll, basically it's a cookie rolled up and baked into a straw. I thought you might want to drank your milk through it", he said.
Maria picked up the glass and sipped her milk, she smiled in delight at the combination of warm chocolate milk and the vanilla flavored wafer roll. After taking a long sip, she looked up at Tails. "Um...Uncle Tails, do you know anything about Shadow? I mean, the one that lives in this dimension. I heard Uncle Sonic make a joke about him and so I know there's a Shadow here too", she said. Tails held a distant expression, "He's...not a good guy. The first time we ran into him, he and Sonic got into a fight but Eggman got in the way and he vanished. The second time, Eggman tricked him into thinking Sonic trashed talked him, so he attacked all of us and fought Sonic again. Then he hid Eggman and another version of him from another dimension and almost caused our dimension to implode. Why do you ask?", he said.
Maria said nothing and finished her milk, ate the wafer roll and gave Tails a hug. "Just curious, goodnight Uncle Tails", she said before she went back to her sleeping bag. As she laid there, she felt tears come to her eyes; she couldn't believe that in this dimension, her father was a...villain. That he did bad things but then...why was he so nice to her? Or at the very least why was he so non-aggressive towards her? "Maybe he just doesn't hurt kids...? Didn't stop him from almost destroying this dimension where there might be lots of innocent kids", she whispered before falling asleep.
Author's Note: That's it for Chapter 17, stay tune for Chapter 18 where we'll see how things are going for Sonic and the others as they learn more about Queen Vespa's regime and about her son who has very mixed feelings about his mother's rule. Until then, this is SuperKirbyLand234 signing out!