Shadow was patiently waiting for Sonic's treatment to end. For once, he was actually worried for Sonic (or as he would call him, faker) was close to death. He was reckless, but for him to be this reckless as a 21-year old was still quite worrisome.
"Here, have a hot drink." Shadow was knocked out of his daze when someone offered him the hot beverage.
"Ah, thank you..." Shadow thanked. He looked to his side to see someone very familiar. It was... Cream? Something was off. Cream looked far too mature for a 12 year old. "Wait, Cream is that you?"
"Of course it is, and how do you know my name?" Cream asked, sounding confused.
"Of course I know who you are. Aren't you 12?"
"I'm 18 and who are you? Who is mom treating in there?"
"I'm Shadow. And the person in there is faker-- Sonic. He was attacked by robots. I used chaos control " Shadow answered. "What is this place?"
"This is... Negatropolis." Shadow's eyes widened in shock. Eggman Nega had come into power.
"Since when!? And how!?"
"The president was overthrown... Then he took power... A lot of us protested against it. Then he went insane and attacked us, trying to eliminate us while we were protesting peacefully. People started fleeing, some got captured. We have no chance against him." Cream explained, sounding disheartened.
"Didn't someone try to defeat him before he became a threat?" Shadow asked.
"Nope. No one can fight against him. He's so powerful, no one stands a chance against him."
"What? How comes none you know who we are?"
"Because we've never known anyone called Shadow or Sonic."
"I see, what about Amy?"
Cream's eyes filled with tears upon hearing about Amy. "Amy..."
"Ah, what's wrong!? Did I say something to hurt you!?"
"No... Let's just say, she doesn't exist here anymore." Cream answered, trying to hold back the pain in her voice.
"Sister Cream! We need your help, her condition has worsened!"
"Be right there!" Cream got up from her chair and rushed over to the area of the problem. Shadow was baffled. They were in a place where no one knew him and Sonic and Eggman Nega had managed to get power. Something just didn't add up.
What in chaos is this? It feels so... Odd. Like I'm floating. There's no pain.
As if nothing ever happened.
It's peaceful.
Huh? What's this?
A bright light... Am I dead?
No, I'm not dead, the pain is coming back.
"Ughh... Ngh..." Sonic groaned in pain, as he opened his eyes to a harsh white light and a plain ceiling.
"Faker, you're awake!"
"Oh Sonic, you're awake now. How do you feel?" Vanilla asked.
"Still a bit achy, but I'm feeling a lot better. Those robots were strong..." Sonic sat up, wincing slightly. "This room... It's smaller than usual, what ward is this?"
"This isn't a ward, faker." Shadow answered.
"It's an emergency clinic." Vanilla added on. "We're outside the city. Where I found you and Shadow."
"Why outside the city? And not the hospital?" Sonic asked, sounding confused.
"Sonic, this is a different dimension to ours. I'm just as confused as you are."
Shadow and Vanilla fully explained what was going on.
"I see, but how do we get back to our dimension?"
"I don't know much about that, but you can go and ask Tails."
"Tails! Of course he'd have something on this. Maybe he has a way for us to get back to our own dimension." Sonic beamed.
"Only problem is, we don't know where he's hiding." Vanilla stated. "Ever since the city was taken control of, we haven't received anything from him. We're worried sick."
"Well, we need to go find him-- Ouch!!" Sonic tried getting out of bed only to be stopped by a sharp pain he felt as one of his major wounds reopened, causing blood to appear on his bandages.
"Sonic, be careful! You've reopened one of your wounds!" Vanilla told him off. Shadow pushed him down to the bed in order to keep him still. "You're an idiot, faker."
"Stay still," Vanilla lit an incense stick and her hands lit up with a mint green aura on Sonic's wound. Sonic took a deep breath, only to succumb to the pleasant feeling and the oncoming drowsiness.
"This is, a nice feeling..." Sonic muttered before quickly falling asleep.
"What are you doing?"
"Speeding up the healing process. I don't want to fully heal his wounds since he hasn't rested properly yet. If I fully heal him there's a chance he'll go blindly to find Tails and end up getting captured by Nega." Vanilla explained.
Meanwhile, Cream was standing on the balcony, looking at the midnight sky, and the ominous red glow from the city that was once free.
"Sonic, Shadow, huh? They said they came from a different place. Sounds a lot better than this one... Where Eggman was just a nuisance..." Cream thought, when her mind was intercepted with a telepathic interaction.
"Cream can you hear ?"
"Tails!?"
"Yep, good news, I'm safe. I haven't been captured. Me, Silver and Blaze are at my workshop."
"Thank goodness you're safe!"
"Not just yet."
"What do you mean?"