"What?" I hear you say. "Illumini's updated Turn Back the Clock? Impossible!" Yes, I've finally updated this, I haven't forgotten about it, I just lacked the motivation to continue, sorry. But nevermind, it's here now, so enjoy the latest chapter!
Sonic and Shadow: Illumini doesn't own us, we belong to SEGA and Sonic Team.
I trained them to do that.
Sonic: Shut up! You threatened to stop buying hot dogs!
Shadow: And you hid my Desert Eagle until I promised to do this…
I still got you to do it, correct?
Sonic: Yeah…
So I win. On with the story!
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"No… Chilidogs?" Sonic repeated, his jaw hanging slightly in disbelief as he stared at Shadow stupidly.
"That's what I said; we don't have any of these 'chilidogs' that you speak of, whatever they are." Shadow said slowly, becoming a bit tired of having to repeat himself.
"Oh, God…" Sonic mumbled, leaning on a nearby wall for support, his knees becoming shaky. He looked up at Shadow, his expression now a mixture of fear and… Sympathy? "You mean to say… You've never even tried one?"
Shadow simply shook his head, trying to be as patient as he could with the hedgehog.
Sonic's face lit up, as a grin spread across his muzzle. "Well, from today, that's gonna all change! Where's the kitchen, or wherever you eat in this place?"
"There's the mess hall just down the corridor…" Shadow suggested, flicking his head towards one of the observation deck's many entrances.
"That'll do!" Sonic said as he made his way towards the door. "Tell me, Shadow, do you have any sausages up here?"
"Of course…" Shadow said, giving Azure a doubtful look. "They're part of the basic meal for workers here."
"Great!" Sonic grinned, his smile growing. "And do you have any chilli?"
"No, but I know how to make it." Shadow explained, following Sonic down the corridor. "I'm pretty sure we have enough ingredients stocked."
"Awesome." Sonic said, walking into the mess hall and staring around at all the dirty stoves, sinks and saucepans. His nose twitched, screwing up in disgust as the pungent odour hit him. "Man, when's the last time anyone CLEANED this place?"
"There was a leak in one of the storage tanks this month. We've had to ration out water for cleaning. Not many people use this kitchen, so I guess they just decided to leave it until we got it fixed."
"I guess it'll do for now." Sonic sighed, grunting as he heaved open the door to a huge industrial freezer. "You get started on that chilli, 'K? I'll get the hot dogs done."
"Alright…" Shadow muttered, setting about his task.
20 Minutes Later…
DING! The timer rang out, causing both Sonic and Shadow to sit bolt upright in surprise.
"They're done!" Sonic cried out joyfully, quickly standing up and heading over to the range.
"Really…" Shadow muttered, cringing as he rubbed his head, having banged it when he sat up.
"Mmm…" Sonic hummed as he sniffed the chilli, a pleased smile on his face. "Smells good, doesn't it, Shad?"
"Let me see…" Shadow said as he walked over to the Sonic. He leant over the pot of chilli, taking in a good whiff of it.
"Mmm!" He murmured as he stood back up. "That smells amazing!"
"Wait 'til you taste it, then…" Sonic teased as he walked over to the other pot and removed the lid, as he extracted two frankfurters with a pair of tongs.
"Here we go…" He said as he carefully placed the sausage on one of the buns, placing a good helping of chilli on top. "Eat up!" He grinned, passing it to the black hedgehog.
Shadow raised the hotdog to head height, examining it. Truth be told, he didn't exactly trust the blue hedgehog, especially after the earlier incident. Aside from that, the creature seemed a little… What was the word he was looking for? Crazy, no… Hyper, maybe… Oddball, that was the word he was looking for. Shadow shrugged it off. The blue creature had no motivation to really hurt him, and besides, he was the Ultimate Lifeform, these 'Chilidogs' couldn't hurt him that badly.
Slowly, Shadow brought the hotdog towards his mouth, feeling the heat emanating from it on his muzzle. He placed the tip of it in his mouth, and slowly, closed his jaw, biting off a small mouthful. He chewed slowly – Once, twice, three times – Before swallowing. That was when the flavour hit him.
Shadow's eyes grew wide as he tasted it. Sonic had been right, these things were good. It was very meaty, as he had expected, but had an incredibly spicy bite to it, more so than he had been anticipating. And it was all absolutely delicious. Shadow quickly brought the chilidog back to his mouth, taking small, quick bites out of it, purring as he savoured the taste, the rich, warm flavour on his tongue and throat.
Shadow's mouth fell open as he panted slightly, his tongue making its way out to lick around his muzzle, capturing any stray bits of food that hadn't made it into his mouth.
Shadow was dragged back into reality by a chuckle. "Looks like you enjoyed that…" Sonic commented as he leaned against the bench.
"I sure did!" Shadow said as he picked up a nearby towel and wiped off his jaw. A puzzled look came over his face. "Wait, haven't you had yours yet?"
Sonic tilted his head back and let out a hearty belch in response. "Looks like that's another thing you're slower at." He teased, grinning at Shadow.
"Hey…" Shadow started, but decided not to continue, he was beginning to learn that it was just not worth arguing with this hedgehog. "Uh, you want to go see Gerald now?" He asked, remembering their original task.
"Of course!" Sonic said enthusiastically. Even though he was having a fun time in the past – He had never been in space before, and this black hedgehog seemed like a really great guy – He still missed his friends in the future, and of course he had to protect the world from Eggman. "Lead the way, Shadow!"
"Very well…" Shadow said, as he and Sonic walked out into the corridor.
"So, do you think Eggm… I mean, Gerald will be able to get me back to the future?" Sonic asked, trying to cover his Freudian Slip.
"I'd imagine that he'd be able to." Shadow said, raising an eyebrow at the hedgehog's change of words. "He's a very smart man, the professor. He did design this whole place by himself, and he's successfully carried out a lot of projects, including yours truly." He smirked.
"Sounds like something like time travel would be his kind of thing, then…" Sonic said.
"Maybe. Gerald has experimented with this kind of thing before, but all have resulted in catastrophic failure."
"Oh…" Sonic said in disappoint, looking to the ground. "I guess I could get used to living here, if all else fails…"
"Shut it!"
"What?!" Sonic exclaimed, glaring at Shadow.
"That wasn't me…" Shadow gulped. "It came from the professor's office."
"Please, major, you're being unreasonable about the whole situation…"
"Oh, great…" Shadow growled. "Not them again."
"Them? Who's them?"
"The military. They think that the professor's a madman and his experiments are a danger to humanity."
"You mean, like…"
"Yeah. Like me." Shadow scoffed. "Here, come watch it…" He said, motioning for Sonic to come over.
"I'm telling you Gerald, you don't know what you're dealing with here." A man in a grey uniform growled. Sonic assumed this was the major. "This isn't test tubes and chemicals," he mocked, "You're talking about a dangerous, biological weapon here."
"I assure you, Baxter." Gerald said, "Shadow is perfectly harmless, his abilities in combat are purely for experimental reasons."
"First of all, you refer to me as major." The man growled. "Second, we're the ones who provided you with the base organism for that thing, so don't go thinking you can go do whatever you like with it."
"Provided?" Gerald scoffed. "As I recall, Major, you unloaded Shadow onto me as a failed military experiment."
"Still…" Baxter growled. "We have certain legal rights over that thing, so you'd better watch your step."
"Whatever, Major." Gerald said. "Bring me that in writing, and perhaps I'll be willing to discuss ownership rights."
"One of these days, Gerald…" Baxter muttered. "One of these days, you're going to screw up with these experiments, and don't think that we'll bail you out again. You've changed, Gerald. You've changed."
"Yes, yes." Gerald snapped. "Now why don't you get back to fighting 'the Red Menace'. Oh wait, I forgot. It's an arms race. You're not battling anyone."
The major simply scowled at Gerald, before turning on his heel and making his way out of the room. "Move it…" He growled as he shoved passed the two hedgehog's, his boot clipping against Shadow's stomach.
"Prick…" Shadow muttered, glaring at the retreating soldier. He turned around to face the other man. "Professor?"
"Yes, Shadow? What is it?" Gerald asked. Even with all the stress he was under from the military, he still considered Shadow as a son, and had resolved to treat him as such.
"I was just wondering… Do you have any idea how Sonic may be able to return to his own time?"
"Hmm…" Gerald murmured, leaning back in his chair. "While I have failed to replicate time travel before, I believe I may actually be able to with Sonic."
"Why's that?" Sonic piped up, intrigued by the developments.
"Tell me, Sonic," Gerald asked, "what circumstances resulted in your being here?"
"I'm not sure…" Sonic confessed, scratching his head. "I do remember something spinning really fast, and the Chaos Emeralds…"
"Exactly." Gerald said, pointing to Sonic. "Tell me, Sonic. You have the ability to control Chaos, is this correct?"
"Yes, I do." Sonic admitted. "Why?"
"It's a somewhat common ability in your kind. Many of you 'Mobians', as they call them, are able to control the power of Chaos to some extent. Some can do it more effectively than others. For example, Shadow here was designed to have extreme amount of control over Chaos. Isn't that right?"
"Exactly." Shadow smirked, bringing his hand to a cut on Sonic's shoulder from the earlier fight. "Allow me to demonstrate: Chaos Heal!"
As Shadow shouted these two words, a small amount of blue light began to leak out of his fingertips, and almost like a liquid, began to circle around the wound. Sonic squeaked as the Chaos energy began to heal him, the process creating an odd tickling sensation in his arm. The brilliant blue light slowly began to fade, the area that used to be a cut now just a patch of fluffy blue fur.
"There we go. Good as new." Shadow grinned, pulling his hand away.
"Very good, Shadow." Gerald told him, nodding. The scientist looked back at Sonic. "Anyway," he said, "Since you were transported back in time through semi-natural means, it makes the process of sending you back much easier. In fact, if a device can be built, it would simply be a matter of determining that last time that your Chaos energy was significantly boosted."
"But does that mean if I gain Chaos energy here… I can never go back?"
"Not as far as I know." Gerald admitted, shaking his head. "But just so long as you do not gain anymore Chaos energy now, you should be fine."
"So how long will this device take to build?"
Gerald scratched his chin, thinking deeply "A few weeks, maybe a month?" He estimated, shrugging slightly. "In the meantime, I'm sure that Shadow will be glad to help you with whatever you need."
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Shadow: Oh my. I wonder who this military organisation could possibly be.
Ooh, I dunno, maybe a certain rifle-inspired organisation?
Sonic: Oh, what a surprise. I never would have possibly guessed.
I'm going to pretend you're not being sarcastic. I know, hey! Anyway, please leave a review! CTHULU, ANONYMOUS AND CEILING CAT DEMAND IT!