Me: All these wonderful new followers and favorites…*eyes start to water up* YOU GUYS ARE WONDERFUL!

Brightshadow: *facepalms* Don't mind her, she's been…weird lately. Unnaturally hyper and moody, not to mention her moods change quickly. She's gone from happily dueling with friends at school to ready to kill them at a moment's notice. I don't know why exactly, but I THINK it may be the fact it's getting close to the time Doctor Who comes back.

Me: *Turns red* Shut up and go kill something, I don't care what as long as you leave me alone…AND DON'T FORGET TO DO THE DISCLAIMER BEFORE YOU LEAVE!

Brightshadow: See what I mean? Weepy to angry. Anyways, Idalia doesn't own TMNT or Sonic the Hedgehog. Also, review replies are at the bottom, as usual.

At the edge of the nearby manhole, Shadow froze and turned to glare at Sonic.

"You're serious? We're going down into the sewers. You've sunk quite low Sonic."

Sonic smirked.

"Aww, poor Shads afraid of the dark? Or are you afraid you'll feel too at home?"

Shadow stared at Sonic before turning around to glare at a laughing Raphael.

"Think it's funny, do you? Let's see how you feel with a foot up your…"

"Shadow! I'm gonna have to play the part of Rouge here and tell you to shut your mouth before it gets you into more trouble!"

Shadow only scowled and jumped down into the manhole. Sonic, looking quite surprised that actually worked turned to Raphael.

"He's…never listened to me before. That's just weird. Anyways…"

Sonic smirked again.

"Ladies first Raph."

"You think you're so funny don't you, hedgehog. You are waaay too like Mikey….it's disturbing."

"Oh just hurry up already before Shadow gets impatient and tries to find the old station himself."

Raphael jumped down and Sonic, after waiting a brief moment for the sun to rise and change him back, followed with a splash.

Back up in the alley

A young boy raced out of the alley and back home, not really believing what he had just seen. All the old stories his father had told about adventures with a blue hedgehog and other humanoid animals. He wasn't looking forward to admitting to his father he was wrong, but since he didn't know what else to get his dad for his birthday, news of his old friends would do it. He only hoped that his dad would believe him. Bursting into the house, he ran into the kitchen and interrupted a conversation between his parents.

"Um...dad? You know the stories you used to tell me about the sapients you had adventures with?"

His father grinned.

"You mean those stories you never believed? Is there a reason you're bringing this up Michael?"

Michael's mother moved to his father's side and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Now, now Christopher, you know it's hard to believe if you weren't there. It doesn't help that the Chaos Emeralds somehow wiped everyone's memories but ours." (AN: It seems like something to me that the Chaos Emeralds would do, especially if the two worlds were in danger of merging together.)

Michael sighed.

"Well...I think I believe you now dad. You know what they say, seeing is believing."

Christopher's eyes widened.

"Who was it? Did you hear anything about where they're hiding? Did they look hurt?"

"Whoa, dad, calm down. I can't answer you that fast. No they didn't look hurt, they said something about an abandoned subway station, and it was a turtle with a pair of sai, (AN: is that how it's spelled?) a black hedgehog with red stripes and a blue hedgehog."

"A turtle? He never said anything about a turtle...must be a new friend or ally. As for the two hedgehogs...that's Shadow and Sonic! Shadow must have survived the whole Metarex incident."

Christopher looked up, a determined gleam in his eyes.

"I know exactly where this old subway station was. It used to be on the route I took to work before they closed it down. Want to come with me Michael?"

"Of course!"

Christopher looked over at his wife.

"We'll be back later tonight Alexandra, see you then."

"Good-luck honey, I hope you find your old friends."

Back in the sewers

Grimacing, Sonic and Shadow fell back a bit as Raphael led the way. Raphael looked back at the two hedgehogs, Sonic back to what he looked like when they found him in the evening just before the sun set. He debated on asking about Sonic's past and why he was changing back and forth at sunrise and sunset but stopped to listen when Shadow asked Sonic first.

"So Sonic, would you care to enlighten me on how long you've been dealing with this?"

"No, but I'm going to anyways, since you obviously are going to keep pestering me until I answer."

"In that case, how did it happen and for how long has it been happening?"

"Remember the whole Dark Gaia incident?"

"You mean the world breaking into seven pieces and the creatures appearing at night thing?"

"Yea, that."

"You were missing that whole incident; usually you're the one to save the world. You're still not answering my question though."

Raphael had nearly turned around to demand answers by what Shadow had meant about Sonic usually saving the world but kept walking as the two hedgehogs continued.

"I am answering your question Shadow, I just have to explain a little bit first. Now where was I? Right, Dark Gaia incident. Well, Dark Gaia was still supposed to be in a hibernation of some sort. Eggman had a fleet of ships in space, so I went up to stop him. I went Super and gave chase after he fled, and we ended up in a station of some sort. He was begging and the usual, and I didn't notice the trap until it was too late."

At this Sonic closed his eyes as he recalled the memory, a look of pain on his face.

"A machine rose up around me and held me in place with pulses of Chaos energy. He pressed a button and the machine started to electrocute me, draining me and the 7 Chaos Emeralds of any Chaos energy. I changed back and collapsed, feeling really weird. Using the energy, the station shot a beam at the Earth, breaking it apart and releasing Dark Gaia. I didn't find this out until after though. I was a bit...preoccupied. That was the first time I changed. It was...painful, to say the least. More painful than anything I've ever felt actually."

By this point, both Shadow and Raphael had stopped and were staring wide-eyed at an uncomfortable looking Sonic. Shadow looked shaken and Raphael wanted to ask why, but knew better than to pry. Shadow soon answered his unspoken question yet again though.

"Sonic...I've seen you at your most vulnerable, and you say that what happened in that station hurt MORE than that?"

"Yes. It's because of Dark Gaia that I changed in the first place. Chip...eh, Light Gaia, explained this to me. Dark Gaia was too powerful to sustain itself, so it had to get rid of some of its energy so as not to destroy itself. I happened to be exactly what Dark Gaia needed. Since my internal Chaos energy was all out of whack, my body would accept a strange energy, thinking it would somehow balance my Chaos energy. This Gaia energy changed my genetic makeup somehow. The energy was too much, so my body compensated by changing every evening. That alone made it hurt a lot, but what made it the worst was what else happened. Dark Gaia tried to influence my mind while my body was fighting with this foreign energy. According to Light Gaia, my morals are too strong to lose myself to Dark Gaia. Anyone else would have succumbed and become the monster their body looked like."

Sonic stopped talking and froze when Knuckles and the other three turtles came out from a parallel tunnel. Sonic narrowed his eyes as he looked towards Knuckles, who just looked back, shame evident on his face.

"Sonic…look, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking when I said what I did earlier. The whole shock of the evening just caught up to me when you found me. Can you…forgive me?"

Sonic sighed and stared at the wall for a few moments before turning back to Knuckles.

"Sure Knucklehead, I can forgive you."

At the nickname Knuckles glared, but stopped as he noticed Shadow leaning against the opposite wall of the sewers, a slight smile on his face.

"Shadow? When the hell did you get here?"

At the confused look on Knuckles face, Shadow and Sonic glanced at each other before Sonic burst out laughing and Shadow's smile got a bit bigger.

"Still blind I see. I'm not the only one who still needs to do some explaining though. You still haven't told anyone how you got here."

Trying to get the attention of the bickering sapients, Leonardo whacked all three of them on the back of the head. He couldn't help but flinch when the glares of the three reached him, but he spoke nonetheless.

"Maybe we should get back before we start talking? The sewers aren't exactly a spot to be explaining stuff."

"Right….lead the way!"

Me: Most definitely my longest chapter yet. HOPEFULLY this makes up a little bit for me not updating in 2 months. As well, I probably won't be updating much over the next month or so, I've got culminating's to finish and exams to study for. If you haven't yet, I also suggest checking out my little idea turned prologue thingy I wrote the other day. You all get to vote on whether or not I turn it into a fic eventually. Now where was I….ah yes, review replies! Lots this time

TatlTails: Thanks! I do try to make my work interesting, but I don't always manage that. As for Shadsie…if I ever have him and Sonic in the same story…you can guarantee he'll be important. Blame the dark chapters on the music I listen to while writing!

Skipper917: Thanks!

Sasha15: Nice to know you liked it. Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.

Tailsic: More it is!

Guest: Hoped you liked this next chapter.

madagascarmaster: Shadow was the last hedgie I'm adding, sorry to tell you. I will still be adding more Sonic characters…though not telling which ones!

Leanne: Since when does Shadow care about anything but himself and the shiny Chaos Emeralds ;)