"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

A pained distant scream filled the surrounding air, intensifying as the lights flickered and the room grew dark with the cracklings of heated blue electricity, when the ceiling was gradually clouded over by a dark swirling vortex. Just as the devoid expanse swelled to edges of the hall, a pink hedgehog girl rapidly descended out of the center of the portal only to slam against the metal panels of the floor harshly. The sole occupant of the room rushed to the young female's aide, afraid to touch her but reaching out when she scrambled to stand, wobbling on her legs unsoundly as he hesitantly supported her weight. Her lime, trauma-dilated pupils came to focus on his face, her sight remaining blurred until she shook her head and blinked away the temporary blindness. She looked to him in familiarity as she spoke in an exhausted, weak voice.

"Shadow, please, help me-" Her emerald orbs rolled back as her lashes flittered shut before falling into the arms of the one standing before her, unconscious.

Aghast, he stood there, supporting the peculiar female in his arms before he realized the urgency of the situation and rushed her to the only person he could think of that might try and help her, maybe helping him understand what had just transpired in the process.

'How did she know my name?'

Meanwhile, as Amy was thrown into her own odyssey, another portal opened up to land it's occupant on unfamiliar grounds. Bashed fiercely into the sunflower speckled grassy field, Shadow's body imprinted deep against the pastured surface, his body recoiling from the shock of its sudden halt. He groaned painfully as he lay on his back in the lush grasses, rubbing his pounding forehead and temples to help clear his mind from the experience. 'How many damn times must I take a fall like this before I can't get up anymore? This is getting exhaustive and the habit utterly tiresome.'

Gradually, the male stood to his feet, holding his head to ease the dizziness while he almost fell forward in the process of standing, an arm quickly flying out to distribute his mass. He stumbled his feet underneath his teetering frame, concentrating on balancing to keep from faltering anymore, when his legs suddenly gave out and toppled him over backwards into the concealing field once again, a leg flying up above the plants during his collapse. Debilitated by his second recent impact, he lay there with a weary frown of frustration forming upon his muzzle as he remained hidden in the breeze-shifting grasses, appreciating how no one could see his ultimacy in such a weakened state, when a familiar laugh approached his ears. Before he could even finish scowling, his head bean to throb and he passed out with an agitated grumble…

'That could not be…!'

A pair of feminine eyelids wavered open, trying to clear their vision of the hazy blur surrounding her, but all she could see was the outline of a black figure with a pair of glossy red pupils staring down at her. While the image cleared, a voice reached out from somewhere nearby.

"Shadow, do you think she's finally waking? Oh, look! Are you alright dear?"

Amy Rose groaned as she sat up, rubbing her eyes, while a bright-eyed, unsullied Shadow helped her sit up, looking back to her other attendant. "Maria, do you think she will fully recover? It sounded as though she fell from some distance."

Shadow looked back to Amy, his softer, innocent mannerisms stunning the female hedgehog he supported in his arms, while a girl, blonde with a sweetened disposition, lifted a dampened rag to Amy's forehead and wiped a scratch near her temple. "I'm sure she will be fine Shadow, if she's anything like you that is. Imagine what grandfather will think when he sees her! A girl hedgehog appearing out of thin air- how exciting!"

The younger Shadow grew tensely quiet; his eyes dropping to the side after shooting a quick glance to Amy, unable to keep from watching her while blush ran over his cheeks, forcing him to look down bashfully.

Maria sat beside the pair of anthropomorphic animals, smiling to her young black-furred friend as she placed one hand on his head in assurance, the other reaching out to lie upon the pair of gloved peach hands resting in Amy's lap and patting them to construe her attention on the recently arrived patient. "No need to be shy Shadow. Soon enough, I'm sure our new friend here will feel better than ever!"

Shadow gave a nod up to his human companion, satisfied, before they both turned to look to the disoriented pink girl in anticipation.

"Well, how do you feel?" Maria questioned, Shadow awaiting an answer vigorously, when Amy fainted again into the younger-than-she-was-used-to male's arms.

"Hey stranger! Why are you lying here like that?"

A chuckling sound could be heard and Shadow's eyes flew open to leer into pair of chartreuse pupils, recognizing them immediately. "Sonic." He spoke tartly.

"Yup, that's my name, Sonic the Hedgehog! Though I can't say we've met before. What's your name?" Sonic reached out to help the older male up, but Shadow resentfully pulled his arm away before he could even be touched, refusing to let this annoying, smaller version of his rival help him in any way.

"Geez, don't say I never offered to help you out. If I didn't know any better I would guess you're up to no good like that crazy Eggman, but you don't look too dangerous."

'How dare you say that you little…' After he stood to his feet and covered any sign of weakness from his deadly fall, Shadow searched around the area, trying to recognize the location, but nothing looked familiar besides the pesky blue child tapping his foot before him. 'Obviously I am somewhere in the past with a younger Sonic, but where could Amy have possibly gone?'

"Amy Rose." Shadow retorted, his question sounding less threatening but still caustic enough to get a stern look from an immature Sonic, causing him to grow more aggravated with the stouter blue speedster by the minute.

"Oh, I don't know. Probably playing with her fortune cards somewhere around here." Sonic mumbled, less enthusiastically then his prior statements. They both had successfully set a terrible first appearance with each other by their opposing introductions, and had made it extremely clear there was no friendship to be shared between the two, Sonic now reluctant to give Shadow the tiniest bit of information. The sprite hero took a taunting stance before departing in his usual, hasty manner. "In case you haven't heard I am the fastest thing on Earth. If I find out you are here to cause anyone, including Amy, trouble you're going to have to deal with me!"

Shadow scowled into the dust cloud left behind by the younger male shredding away, not in the least amused by his exit. 'That fool hardy hedgehog doesn't change much over time.'

Immediately Shadow began searching for his intended, checking every place he could think of until he found a small hedgehog girl playing alone in a patch of shortened grass. As he walked up to her he cleared his throat, hoping to avoid scaring the young animal child as he often did to human children during his own time. "Excuse me, but I am searching for someone. She would be pink with-"

Shadow's eyes went wide for the first time since he could remember. The girl smiling up to him looked just like his lost female, aside from the sharper quills and mismatched clothing. When he didn't think his expression could get any more dramatic, the younger Amy Rose jumped up and hugged herself firmly to his waist, his jaw briefly gaping from the shock.

Separated by time and space, the transported Amy Rose and Shadow had the same words runs through their mind an equal period from their chronologic departure.

'This cannot be happening to me.'