Chapter Two – Generations
The following years on Mobius had been very eventful. Mainly in the bedroom. There were children everywhere. A baby boom like no other, and even the Ultimate Lifeform had gotten in on the action.
Shadow The Hedgehog had always secretly wanted to be a father. But he never understood why. It didn't make any sense. He was created in a laboratory. He was sterile, the perfect soldier. All efforts had been made by Gerald Robotnik to remove all elements of breeding from him, and yet that burning desire was constantly eating at him. No one knew, and yet the wonderful thought of raising a child genetically his own, always plagued him. Eggman had been defeated. With the Human gone, he'd retired back to the Ark, job done, while the others were finally settling down in peace. As the babies starting arriving on the planet below, Shadow found himself standing in the very laboratory, he, himself, was created in.
It was very surreal. He'd not been back here in decades. He took a deep breath. He wanted this. He gathered all of Gerald's notes on his creation, and using his own D.N.A. as a base, he set to work, right under the Mobian Authorities's nose. He had been outright banned from doing this, creating more of himself, but he just didn't care. One child then he'd destroy the place. The Ark, gone. He knew he'd never be able to keep the infant up here. The Mobian Authorities would immediately kill it. Down on the planet, he have a better chance of hiding it. Shadow didn't care about the cosmetics of the resulting child. Colour, gender, or look. He just wanted one that survived. But he now was getting increasing desperate. His first attempt successfully created an infant, but the baby died, minutes later in Shadow's arms. He was devastated, and became more determined to succeed. But three more attempts, and three more deaths later, and Shadow was at breaking point. What was he doing wrong? Was creation really this hit and miss?
If so, how many died before he survived? Shadow dreaded to think, but realised that this was mentally killing him. He decided to take one more attempt, and if it failed, he'd shut the whole thing down. Not just the experiment, but the Ark, and himself. He'd go into stasis and never come out. He'd hate it, but that was how much he wanted this child. Without one, there was just no point. He checked and recheck everything, for the final attempt. Everything seemed to going exactly as planned, and just as Shadow was doing the most important part of the experiment, there was suddenly, a blinding flash of bright white light and the entire laboratory exploded in his face.
He was thrown backwards, against the wall, and knocked out. When Shadow came to, having no idea how long he was out, to a laboratory in darkness. It was completely destroyed. There were sparks flying and lights were flashing, and in tears, Shadow knew this was the end. Most of the laboratory had one-of-a-kind equipment and would be difficult to replace. Thankfully, he backed up all his work, and if he really wanted, he could rebuild the laboratory, but what was the point? He'd given up, and was about the leave to tend to his injuries, when he heard something. Something impossible. A baby cry. Deep under the rubble. Shadow panting hard, searched, tossing everything aside, until he found it. Picking up the child, it immediately quietens in his arms. It was completely black and had Shadow's upturn quills down its back, but with deep purple stripes, and eyes, a small nose, and a small white marking on the chest where the white fur was meant to be.
A girl.
Shadow was both gobsmacked and delighted at the same time, immediately naming her Violet. He'd succeeded. He didn't believe it. Not the way he expected but who cares, it worked. She had been strong enough to survive creation and the explosion, then that was good enough for him. He held his daughter close, the happiest Hedgehog in the universe. He now had a lot of work ahead of him, but he didn't care. He checked the her over. She was perfectly healthy. Further examinations showed the girl didn't have Shadow's super accelerated growth rate, which may have aided in her survival. Growing that super-fast can be incredibly unstable.
Shadow went from creation as a infant to full grown adult, in just three weeks. A year's worth of growth in one day, and all of it in the Creation Tank, and only barely conscious. Not a time of his life he enjoyed remembering, if at all. Violet, thankfully, grew only slightly faster then everyone else, her body physically growing about six years ahead of her age. Shadow calculated that she'd reach full adulthood around her twelfth birthday. He heaved, relieved. Significantly, better then him. At least she'll get a childhood, if a little shortened. In the end, however, he just shrugged.
Suddenly, the alarms went off, as the Mobian Authorities and G.U.N. were on to him, sending personnel to the space colony via forced teleport. They had detected the explosion of the laboratory. He grabbed a blanket and wrapped up the baby. Time to do as he had planned. With her, tight in his arm, Shadow ran for the main console unit of the Ark, and immediately activated the space colony's self destruct mechanism. Countdown. Ten seconds. He punched the console, destroying the computer, so it couldn't be halted.
Hearing strange voices behind him, and with his daughter not making a sound, gently asleep in his arm, he ran through his home for the very last time.
Time to leave.
Knuckles and Rouge were in an absolute mess. The infamous lovers had had a scorn and had gone their separate ways, largely fuelled by the death of the mighty Blue Blur. Neither could cope and they had split. A year later, both were back, stood on the alter in front of the mighty Master Emerald, on Angel Island, and both were how holding, each, a baby girl.
They just stared at each other, desperately wondering how all this happened.
Knuckles had gone seriously off the rails with Sonic's death, once Amy left. He just couldn't cope and abandoned his duties to the Master Emerald and just wanted out, of everything. Silver had given him a solution, and before he headed home, using the Time Stone, to go back to his own time, the future. Knuckles had reluctantly persuaded him to drop him off in the ancient past, before he left, to a female Echidna, whom Knuckles recently hadn't been able to stop thinking about.
Tikal.
The only daughter of Pachacamac, a power-hungry patriarch who was the last chieftain of the Knuckles Clan, which resided in what is now the Mystic Ruins, three thousand years ago. She was surprised to see him, and it wasn't long before they were together. Knuckles knew he was messing with the timeline but if they kept their relationship to themselves, who was going to know.
Soon, they were secretly married, in the traditional Echidna fashion, even from the Knuckles Clan. It was wonderful for the short time while it lasted but unfortunately, it wasn't long before Tikal fell pregnant. But that was when the trouble started. Tikal's father, Pachacamac, found out and exploding with anger, challenged Knuckles, claiming that he'd brought shame on the Knuckles Clan. But the mighty Guardian of the Master Emerald didn't stand out down and won the resulting fight. But Pachacamac wasn't done with him, threatening to banish his own daughter from the Knuckles Clan.
But Knuckles gulped, knowing that that would be disastrous for the future. Tikal had to remain with the Knuckles Clan, the future, and the liquid creature Chaos depended on it. So he struck a deal with Pachacamac. For his daughter to stay with the Knuckles Clan, he and the resulting child would leave, which was agreed to. Tikal didn't want it, but Knuckles knew he didn't have a choice, and made her swear to never tell him what had happened between them, when they met again. Her future, but his past. He wouldn't know, and mustn't. The timeline depended on it.
Knuckles was allowed to stay for the duration of the pregnancy and finally, his daughter was born. Scarlet the Echidna is red just like her father, with the same deep purple eyes. She was beautiful, and Tikal was desperate for her not to leave, but her father doesn't allow it. With the timeline stable and the future assured, the ancients grant Knuckles passage back to the future, and finally, he travels alone, his newborn daughter in his arms, never to see Tikal again.
Knuckles leaving, really upset Rouge. He'd completely lost his flare for the Master Emerald and he let Rouge have it. Literally. He even safely landed Angel Island somewhere protected, so if she wanted to take it, she could. Utterly believing him to be joking, she did take it, fighting the stupidly large Master Emerald into her small apartment in Westropolis. Which was where it stayed.
But as the days, turned into weeks, then months, the mighty Guardian never came, and as the Master Emerald became dull and dark, loosing both it's light and power. Rouge knew then Knuckles the Echidna had gone. She searched the whole of the Angel Island for him, and as far around Mobius as her wings could carry her, but nothing. She was a Bat with white fur, tan skin, teal eyes with eyelashes, and a curvy figure. She has large pointy ears, small fangs, a small black nose on her muzzle with a pink lipstick, a short pointy tail, and a pair of dark purple wings on her back. Only her head appears to have fur, which flares out into six points at the back. Rouge usually wore powder blue eyeshadow and pink lipstick. Her typical attire consists of a black, skin-tight, strapless unitard with a pink, heart-shaped chest-plate with white trim, along with long white gloves and high-heeled boots with pink cuffs. Her boots also have grey soles and feature pink hearts on the toes.
She cried her heart out. The reason why she constantly stole the Master Emerald was to have the mighty Echidna come after her. She loved that, not the huge power stone. With Knuckles gone, the Master Emerald meant absolutely nothing to her. She just covered it with a sheet, unable to face it anymore. The Echidna was who she wanted, whom she loved, not that stupid rock, and soon she found herself drowning her sorrows at the local bar, with rather a lot of alcohol. Very drunk, she meets a rather handsome looking male Bat, whose name she can't even remember, but immediately she regrets the encounter, when she wakes up next to him, in the same room she stored the Master Emerald.
Upon seeing the mighty gemstone, he immediately flees, never to be seen again, and Rouge was left feeling very strange indeed. A few weeks later, gets her, her answer. Her drunken one night stand, landed her accidentally getting pregnant.
Oh no!
What was Knuckles going to think? What was anyone going to think? She still had kept contact with Tails, Amy, Cream and Vanilla, as well as Shadow, since Sonic's death. Would they help her? After shedding yet more tears, she finally came up with an answer. Aborting the baby was out of the question. Knuckles would never forgive her, so she was keeping it, as for asking for help, better to turn up with a baby, then a bump. So she kept the pregnancy entirely to herself. She told no one. But it wasn't easy. She was in and out of hospital with complications, but finally, her daughter was born healthy, though Rouge needed stitches, but made a full recovery.
As for her daughter, Rouge was delighted. Pearl the Bat is a mirror image of her mother, white furred with large green eyes and the same sassy attitude of the mother. After a long stay in hospital, they were finally allowed to go home. But her apartment, though suitable for raising a baby was not the home she wanted. So she found herself, holding her daughter, stood atop of the Master Emerald alter, the mighty gemstone still not there, in her apartment.
She just cried, cuddling her baby, Pearl, in close. Thanks to the Blue Blur, Mobius was now safe for babies like her, and as she looked over the landscape from her high vantage point, she saw peace everywhere, and was so proud. His incredible sacrifice now meant so much, which she didn't really understand until she became a mother. Now she was determined to never forget him, and vowed to tell her daughter all the stories she knew of the mighty Blue Blur and what he did for them. She smiled, but suddenly, she heard a voice behind her, the last she expected to hear. He smiled.
"Still here, I see." He heaved. Rouge went white, as she gulped and hard.
"Knuckles?" She gasped, instinctively folding her wings over herself at the front, hiding the baby in her arms, but the Echidna just gasped, nodding.
"Rouge." He panted, but the Bat just exploded in anger, her back still to him, tears running down her face.
"Where have you been?" She spat. "I've looked everywhere for you." She hissed. Knuckles just deeply sighed. With the Master Emerald not on Angel Island, he knew exactly where it was. The same place Rouge always hide it. Her apartment. But he was aware that she stole it always for the chase, never for the gemstone itself. He gulped hard, now rather guilty.
"I had to leave. I was struggling to cope." He admitted, but Rouge just growled.
"Oh, really. Do you just think that Sonic's death didn't just effect you?" She squealed. "It got to everyone." She spat. "But what about me? I missed you. I needed you." She gulped, going rather red. Knuckles too was embarrassed. As much as he loved Tikal, he had a huge soft spot for Rouge. He knew she loved him, but as a Bat, she was no use as a potential breeding partner. Mobians had to breed with their own kind, unless their species were very closely related, like sub-species, for example, such as Wolves and Jackals. Bats and Echidnas, unfortunately, were not compatible.
Was a child, the reason that drove Knuckles to Tikal? Truthfully, he had no idea, as his instincts took him there, but as he held his daughter, Scarlet, he didn't regret his choice at all. He just preyed that Rouge would forgive him. He looked at the empty alter, and huffed.
"Now that I'm back, can I have the Master Emerald please?" He hissed, but Rouge just cried.
"You and that stupid Emerald." She screamed. But Knuckles just giggled, looking down at his baby girl. Becoming a father had changed him, and he knew it. He just laughed.
"Yeah, your right. Scrap it, there are more important things." He beamed. He couldn't have cared less about that stupid Emerald either. His little girl now meant the world to him. Rouge frowned, as finally, she turned around.
"What do you mean? You love that Emerald." She wondered, then she outright gasped, as she immediately spotted the baby in his arms.
What?
She blinked hard, going absolutely white.
"Knuckles?" She stammered. The Echidna nodded. The baby was indeed his, as he just beamed down at her. Rouge looked at the baby. She was clearly pureblood Echidna. She gulped, and then frowned.
"But who?" She breathed, asking after the mother, completely clueless. Knuckles heaved.
"Tikal." He sighed. But Rouge squealed.
"What?" She screamed. She was aware of who the Echidna was but never met her, and as far as Rouge knew, she lived thousands of years ago. She stared at him. "But how?" She asked. Knuckles sighed.
"Silver." He heaved. "He dropped me off in the ancient past, before returning to the future, after Sonic's death." He admitted. But Rouge just heaved.
"But Knuckles, you could have screwed up the timeline." She gasped. But Knuckles just growled.
"I know, that's why I'm back here. I fell for Tikal back when I first met her, and I just wanted to see her again. The pregnancy wasn't exactly planned, and I quickly realised that neither me nor the child could stay in the past. By coming back, the timeline is safe, but I lost her." He admitted, tears in his eyes. Rouge gulped and hard, suddenly going very white. She felt for Knuckles, she really did, but she also had a problem of her own. Knuckles frowned. "Rouge, are you alright?" He asked. Rouge heaved. Time to tell the truth.
"You not the only one who got caught by something unplanned." She admitted, finally opening her wings, revealing her own baby girl, fast asleep in her arms. She gave a weak smile. "Snap." She sighed. Knuckles blinked, and to Rouge's completely surprise, he was by her side like a shot, running over, and hugging her hard, with his free hand. He panicked.
"What happened?" He stammered, then suddenly, his temper flared. "I swear if someone violated you..." He growled, but Rouge, shocked by the thought, pushed him off of her, cutting across him. She squealed.
"What? No." She screamed, but Knuckles growled, but Rouge stood her ground. "No." She hissed. That was the truth. But then she sighed. "I was missing you, so I drowned my sorrows in the local bar. I found this guy, a male Bat, rather drunk and Pearl was the result." She stuttered, indicating her baby. But Knuckles just giggled. That was utterly ridiculous. He gave Rouge a sideways look. He raised an eyebrow. He wouldn't put it pass her to do something like that. He grinned.
"Seriously?" He smiled. Rouge nodded.
"Yeah, but I swear, he didn't violate me. I let him. I was very drunk, and wasn't really thinking of the consequences." She admitted, looking down at her baby. Knuckles stared at her and hard. Finally, he believed her. She did have a choice. She could have stopped him, but she just choose not to. Knuckles rolled his eyes, but he could see that Rouge was in somewhat over her head, with it all. Knuckles hugged her again, and this time, Rouge hugged him back, their babies in their arms. Rouge just giggled, getting slightly overwhelmed with the emotions. "You know. I can't even remember his name." she smiled, very embarrassed, but Knuckles just outright laughed, and hugged her even closer. For some reason, he loved her even more. She did something stupid, a very Rouge thing to do, but now, she wasn't alone. But Knuckles heaved, feeling guilty again.
"You know, your right. I shouldn't have just left. I should have thought about you." He admitted. Rouge nodded, but he heaved. "But don't let our babies by the butt of our mistakes. Thanks to a certain someone, extremely special, we both know, they're safe." He stammered. "And I would be honoured if we could work together to raise our girls." He beamed. Rouge gasped.
"A girl? You too." She asked. Knuckles nodded, but suddenly, there was an almighty explosion high above their heads, in the deep orbit of Mobius. It was late afternoon, as the mighty light show, expanded outwards as it lit up the entire sky. Rouge whirled round and looked skywards, and screamed in pure horror, tears rolling down her face, a hand over her mouth. She cried.
"The Ark!" She stammered. Knuckles gasped, looking skywards, not surprised at all that Rouge knew exactly where in the night sky, the space colony was. He blinked, not quite believing. It was thanks to Shadow that Sonic's sacrifice worked, it successfully destroying Eggman. They had all left him in peace, the Blue Blur's death hitting him very hard. But to destroy the Ark? Had things gotten really that bad? He looked to the floor, and shed a tear, as he just held Rouge close, who just cried her heart out. She was close to Shadow, and he did meant something to her, even if Knuckles didn't exactly approve.
Suddenly, a bright pale blue, almost white light appeared ahead of them, a few steps down the stairs from the top of the alter of the mighty Master Emerald. It hovered there for just a nanosecond, until suddenly it vanished, forming something solid, as someone teleported straight into their midst. He was sat on the steps, his back to them, very badly battered and bruised. A completely jet black Hedgehog. His upturned quills down his head and back, clearing showing his infamous red stripes down them. He was panting hard, his red eyes flaring, teeth gritted and bared, his chest fur matted. His white shoes and gloves, were badly scoffed, his gold Inhibitor Rings dull and lifeless. His black furred arms and legs were badly cut and he was incredibly relieved to have made off his home, the Ark, with his life, and not just his. He immediately looked over his shoulder, as Rouge gasped at him.
"Shadow?" She breathed, but got immediately cut across by the mighty Ultimate Lifeform. He heaved, hard.
"I partially overheard your conversation." He hissed. "You said that you wanted to work together to raise your girls." He growled. Both Knuckles and Rouge blinked, looking at each other. Suddenly, Shadow held up aloft with one singular hand, so she could be seen, his own baby daughter, still sleeping. "May I join you?" He stammered, his voice cracked. Knuckles jaw dropped, swearing hard, as Rouge ran down the steps to join him, her hand over her mouth, her own baby still in her arms.
She sat next to him, gulping hard, looking at the baby Hedgehog. She frowned.
"Shadow, where...?" She stammered, unable to get her words out, still in shock. Shadow, still shaking himself, just pointed upwards. Rouge's eyes widened. "The Ark?" She gulped. Shadow nodded, but then the truth hit Rouge like a ten tonne truck and hard. She went white. "Shadow, please tell me you didn't use the laboratory?" She pleaded. But Knuckles dived down the steps the other side of him. He gasped.
"Creation? But that's forbidden." He spat. But Shadow nodded. Rouge outright screamed.
"What? Why?" She cried, but Shadow's scrambled to his feet, panting hard, his temper getting the better of him. He growled.
"Because I wanted too." He spat, to instant silence. "She hasn't been genetically engineered in any way. I just created her using my own D.N.A. as a base, nature did the rest." He admitted. He truthfully wasn't entire sure how he succeeded, but right now, he wasn't going to tell them that. Rouge heaved, getting to her feet. She heaved.
"Shadow." She sighed, but the Ultimate Lifeform wasn't having it. He was going to make his case. He heaved.
"No, it's not fair. You people always land yourselves with kids you just don't want or even plan for but I, all because I was created in a laboratory, wanted a child but can't, all because it's morally wrong." He hissed. All of a sudden, Rouge and Knuckles go very white, both still utterly stunned that the Ultimate Lifeform actually wanted this. Desperately by the sounds of it. But Shadow smirked. "I am the only one here, who actually planned for their daughter." He hissed. Finally, both Knuckles and Rouge both nodded, but the Echidna heaved.
"But Shadow, if the Mobian Authorities or G.U.N. find her, they'll kill her." He growled, but Shadow heaved, an unusual look of desperation in his eyes. He gulped.
"I know, and it's why I'm here. I need your help. My daughter will need protection until she's old enough until it doesn't matter anymore." He stammered. But Rouge blinked.
"Immortality?" She wondered. Shadow nodded.
"She has it, I can feel it on her, but it's not active yet." He admitted, but then suddenly, he rounded on them. "Look, the war against Eggman made me very wealthy. I lived on a space colony, for cripes sake. If you let me join you, anything you need for yourselves and the girls, I'll pay." He spat. Knuckles blinked, not believing at all but Rouge just gave him a sideways look. She hissed at him.
"How wealthy?" She growled. She heard rumours, now she wanted the truth. Shadow smirked, not offended at all. He knew Rouge, she always scrutinised everything. He told them the figure. He was a multi-millionaire. But Knuckles just rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, right." He spat, not believing him but Shadow rounded on him. He growled.
"Regardless of whether my endeavours in the laboratory succeeded or failed, I was done with Ark. I'd had enough of it. Too many bad memories with it, with both Maria and..." He gulped, letting the sentence hang. Knuckles heaved.
"Sonic?" He hissed. Shadow nodded. The Ark had indeed been involved in the final fight again Eggman, the Blue Blur dying in the process. Shadow was not directly at fault, and even though no one blamed him, he blamed himself, taking the death extremely hard. He deeply sighed.
"So I transferred all of my assets to private bank accounts here on the planet before I started." He hissed, as he placed a hand into his quills and pulled out a credit stick, with millions of Mobian Dollars on it. It had his callsign engraved on it, and he immediately gave it to Rouge, who, absolutely stunned, just took and stared at it. "Anything we need." He repeated, his smirk broadening, his own daughter, still sleeping in his arm. Knuckles blinked, and just giggled.
"I wonder what Sonic would make of all this." He grinned. Rouge laughed. It was rather absurd but Shadow didn't find it funny at all. He growled, hard, shaking his head.
"No, don't." He hissed, very coldly. Being reminded of the Blue Blur was more then he could handle, at the moment and right now, they had more important things to deal with. Their children. Knuckles nodded, apologising, as suddenly one of the girls began to cry for food. He smiled, walking pass them, and down the stairs of the alter. He turned back to them and beamed.
"Follow me. I know of a place here on Angel Island where we can care for the our girls properly." He smiled, indicating with his head, for Shadow and Rouge to come with him.
They did.
Soon, the Master Emerald was returned to the alter of Angel Island and the famous floating island returned to the skies again. Hopefully, no one would think to look on Angel Island for the Ultimate Lifeform, as the trick of him pretending to be killed in the Ark's destruction might succeed. But Shadow knew that wouldn't last forever. They would coming looking eventually. Once his daughter grew up and started exploring Mobius for herself, then they would notice, but as Shadow said, she would be immortal by then, it wouldn't matter.
But together, Shadow, Rouge and Knuckles could now keep their baby daughters safe, and thanks to Sonic, Eggman wasn't an issue, but there still dangers out there. Three single parents just doing what was best for their little girls.
It worked.
That was ten years ago.