The next day, people were all gathering up in the main room of the base. Team Dark stood at the table in the center with Sonic, Amy and Knuckles at their sides. Humans and Mobians of various backgrounds stood around them, looking at them. Or rather, most were looking at the black hedgehog. While outwardly looking stoic as always, on the inside Shadow was basically shuffling around anxious. Even after working with G.U.N. for many years and coming into contact and interacting with various people, the Ultimate Lifeform still didn't feel comfortable among big crowds. Their looks, their whispering… like they expected him to attack them…
Shadow shook his head slightly. Get your act together. Of course they will be nervous. After everything I did, and now having an entity using my face and abilities to harm others, people will be wary. But I have to show them that I am on their side, that I never left it. That I want to stop Infinite like everyone else…
Shadows hands curled into fists as he recalled the Phantom of Maria. …if not more.
Rouge tried to ease her friend up a bit.
"Easy there, Shadow. Just tell them everything and I´m sure they will understand. And even if there are some that don´t, we´ll make sure that they stay in line."
The bat nodded towards not just Omega and Sonic, who let their gazes wander around the room, but also Amy and Knuckles. As leader and his assistant, the two Mobians would make sure that everyone was on the same page and no discourse would be sewn among their forces.
"Right", was all Shadow said. When it looked like no one else was entering the room, the Ultimate Lifeform started to talk.
"Those of you that used to work for G.U.N. may know that I was send on a mission upon gathering intel about some new weapon Eggman was creating. What no one back then knew, including myself, was that every bit of information gathered was faked to guide me into the enemy´s trap."
Some murmuring between people erupted, especially former G.U.N. agents. They where wondering who had a work shift back then and basically send their best fighter into the lion´s den.
"Everyone, settle down. Shadow is the one talking right now", Knuckles said loudly and making everyone else go quite. "Continue on, Shadow."
"Yes. Right now I want to say that whoever had been examining the information, I do not blame you. You were tricked and used by Eggman and Infinite. I would be nothing but a hypocrite to place fault within you, when I myself couldn't overcome… their tricks. But one thing after the other. Upon reaching the destination of the rumored weapon, Mystic Jungle, I was surprised by Infinite and is versatile abilities. He used cube-shaped projectiles to influence my mind, while at the same time stealing the Chaos Emerald I was in possession."
"Mm!", made Sonic while raising his hand. Everyone looked at him confused, while Shadow turned his head toward his fellow hedgehog Mobian, eyebrow raised.
"Yes, Sonic?"
"All of the seven Chaos Emeralds had gone missing since the beginning of the war, but your uh Phantom had said that Eggman has access to them. Sounds to me like it´s all thanks to Infinite. Could you maybe describe to everyone in detail how he took the Emerald from you?"
"Like I said, he stole it from me when he put me under extreme mental stress and hallucinations. When everything cleared for me, Infinite just told me that the seven Chaos Emeralds would just stand in the doctor´s plans and then proceeded to… make my Emerald disappear in some kind of purple mist."
Everyone who knew the details about Ruby´s predicament shared a look. Purple, huh? Just like the void the silver-eyed girl had found herself in, before stumbling into Mobius. And both seemed to have a connection to the abilities of the masked entity known as Infinite.
Shadow continued. "Infinite invited me to `play a game´ of his, under the guise of giving me more information if I were to oblige. What happened in reality was that I was a subject to test his various abilities. I assume many of you already have seen the feats the entity is capable of. One of them is the summoning of Phantoms. Perfect copies of past foes that posses the same amount of strength like the original. Infinite made perfect use of that and summoned the Biolizard."
Some G.U.N. agents gasped.
"Despite being able to destroy the copy, I… I was severely weakened by the fight and… the other stuff Infinite put me trough. He used my exhaustion and one of his cube projectiles to put me in a coma. After that, so I was told, Eggman used my body to create a Shadow Android facility. However, the one assigned to be its guardian tried, apparently a magician from another world called Cinder Fall…" Shadow trailed of as he looked to his friends to make sure he got it right. The others gave him nods. The hedgehog picked up where he left. "…she decided that the best way to win was blowing up the facility she was made to protect."
The content of the sentence, as well as the dry, casual way Shadow had said it, made some people giggle. But they became serious when he finished his story with: "I was freed and woken up by Sonic and the members of my Team. We used Chaos Control to escape. Upon arriving here, I was allowed to rest and be in perfect condition to tell everyone of what happened. I… I´m sorry for whatever my copy has put you trough. And that I wasn't able to stop Infinite before he helped Doctor Eggman to conquer the world. But I promise to you, just like I promised to an old friend, that I will give my all to aid the Resistance and free the world from the grasp of tyranny."
The reaction to this was more expressive than Shadow expected. Then again, he also went a bit more passionate with his speech at the end than realizing. Some were excited and cheered loudly, joyful to have the Ultimate Lifeform on their side. Others, however, looked silently at the ground, stroking the scars they had inherited from confrontations with Phantom Shadow. The black hedgehog appeared unimpressed by both reactions. Inside, however, he was angry with Infinite for causing their torment.
Shadow wanted to step back, allow Knuckles to take the lead, when suddenly someone shouted: "H-hey! What if he is another Phantom?!"
Shadow stiffened. He and everyone else looked towards the one who had spoken. A young human girl with green eyes. She fidgeted nervously upon the sudden attention she gained from all the grown-ups and teenagers.
"Lola, what are you doing here?", asked a red wolf Mobian with concern. The girl gave them and the crowd a brave look. Or tried to, but she came more of as anxious.
"You know I can be right, Gadget." With a shaking arm she pointed at Shadow. "He could be a trick, to hurt m… hurt us all!"
Discussions erupted as several people wondered things aloud. Like:
What if it was true?
Should Shadow be trusted?
How was it that a child of all people came to that admittedly valid point?
The growing pot of paranoia and worried chattering were almost immediately silenced by Omega´s booming voice piercing trough the air.
"CALM YOUR TRAUMA DRIVEN FLESH LUMPS KNOWN AS BRAINS. THERE IS A VERY SIMPLE SOLUTION TO THIS ORDEAL. WHEN SONIC WAS ABLE TO DISPOSE OF PHANTOM SHADOW, I WAS ABLE TO ANALYZE ITS REMNANTS AND GOT A SCAN OF ITS ENERGY READINGS."
Omega connected himself to the system of the computer screen in the room, that usual showed the world map and the ground the Resistance had regained from Eggman. The map disappeared and instead showed everyone the Data Omega had send to it.
"AS EVERYONE WITH FUNCTIONING EYES CAN SEE, THERE IS AN ALMOST PARADOXICAL COMBINATION OF ENERGIES PRESENT. A MIMICRY OF THE ORIGINAL SHADOW´S CHAOS POWERS AND INFINITE´S ENERGY. IT CAUSES SLIGHT DISRUPTIONS ON THE VISUAL READINGS BECAUSE OF ITS UNUSUAL STATE." With that Omega meant that some of the shown Data was slightly glitchy.
The last of the E-Series then wandered towards Shadow and scanned him several times, before projecting the readings onto the screen. There, different, more stable looking Data appeared.
One of the people among the G.U.N. agents said: "I worked under the science division of G.U.N. and have gotten several opportunities of getting familiar with Chaos Energy. Including the ones of the Ultimate Lifeform wavelengths, per his allowance. Its him, alright."
This put the crowd visible at ease. Even Shadow relaxed, knowing that this way no one should be accusing him. Unless they were doing it out of pettiness or irrationality, but THAT would be nothing new to him. The ebony hedgehog looked over to the child, Lola, who had started the discussion. She caught his gaze, flinched, and hurried out of the room.
From the way she called me a possible Phantom out to hurt her and the way my appearance scares her, she must be one of my Doppelgängers victims, he thought to himself. Shadow honestly didn't blame the child for the way she acted. If he were in a similar position, he too would be suspicious and distrustful. And she seemed to be even younger then Maria before she was taken from this world…
…and then used as a tool for a tyrant to realize his plans and cause suffering among the world she wanted me to protect.
Shadow crossed his arms in thought.
And before I start getting retribution upon Infinite and Eggman, maybe I should start making true on that promise with some small steps.
He stepped towards Knuckles side and asked: "Am I still needed in this discussion?" He nodded towards the direction Lola disappeared. The echidna appeared confused until he understood what Shadow was getting at.
"I suppose that you can leave. But come back later in the afternoon, we´re gonna handing out some missions. And we will need your help."
"Of course." With these words Shadow started walking. He ignored humans and Mobians curious and confused glances while the crowd parted ways for him. His goal in mind, Shadow left the room and started searching around in the halls of the base. It didn't take long for him to find who he was looking for.
But he didn't expect that Lola girl not to be alone. She was clinging to an older, for Shadow unknown girl, who had a similar color scheme like him and curiously enough, silver eyes. Beside them was a familiar face. Tails tried to console the distressed child. He looked up and took notice of the approaching hedgehog.
"Oh hey Shadow, Sonic told me you were back."
"Tails, I´m surprised you weren't there during the meeting. Someone of your expertise and skill would have belonged there."
The fox chuckled while sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.
"Yeah, me and Ruby lost track of time. We´ve gotten pretty busy with our project and when we remembered, we tried to hurry along but then we ran into Lola here."
Said child had her arms still around Ruby while watching Shadow warily. The older girl on the other hand had an open and excited expression on her face.
"Wait, you´re Shadow? As in the third member of Team Dark, Shadow?"
"Yup, it is", Tails said with a nod. A smile spread across Ruby´s face. With her right arm being around Lola, gently and reassuringly holding the girl close to her, the huntress-in-training held out her left hand towards the black hedgehog.
"It´s so awesome to meet you! Omega is one of the most amazing things… person… incarnation of destruction I have ever met. And Rouge also seems pretty cool. Can´t wait to see what you have in store!"
"He is fast like Sonic and throws energy spears", Lola muttered while looking away from Shadow. He still managed to get a look at her eyes. They seemed less fearful, like before, and now more... shameful?
Ruby seemed oblivious to the turmoil between hedgehog Mobian and human child, for she tilted her head in curiosity.
"So you´re a speedster as well? Me too! But you can also manipulate energy?"
"Shadow can to many things. Despite this he still ran around with guns and a motorcycle during an alien invasion, even though, like Lola mentioned, he can launch launch projectiles and is fast himself."
"Guns are cool,"was all Shadow said to his defense to THAT particular phase in his life.
"OHMYGODSYOULIKEWEAPONSTOOANDYOUHAVEAMOTORCYCLELIKEMYSISTERASWELL!?", Ruby yelled in excitement. Everyone flinched by her loud voice. Something which caused Ruby to say with an apologetic smile: "Ops. Sorry. Its just… before on my world I never really met anyone who was into the stuff I was into. But here on Mobius…"
"I presume you're that other girl who came from the same world as Cinder." The hedgehog Mobian eyed Ruby up and down.
Ruby's smile disappeared. She became serious.
"You know Cinder?"
"I know OF her. Sonic, Rouge and Omega told me how a malicious magician from another world has guarded my comatose body, while also helping Eggman out against our forces. From what I was told, Omega defeated her with some new upgrades of his. She then proceeded to activate the self-destruct sequence in a pathetic attempt to destroy us. We´re not sure if she herself managed to escape in time."
So the Dust and Chaos Emerald I helped integrate into Omega may have helped into Cinders downfall. Despite these thoughts, the silver-eyed girl wasn't sure if the killer of Pyrrha, Penny and everyone else that fell alongside Beacon was truly gone. It felt to easy. And while she didn´t know the Fall Maiden on a personal level, Ruby had learned one thing about her: She was a viscous and tough foe.
One she may re encounter in the future.
As if to mirror her thoughts, Lola whispered: "We heard about the Doctors newest ally and how cruel she was to other people."
Ruby gently pulled away from the younger girl. She knelt down to her level and put her hands on her shoulders.
"Hey its alright. You´re safe now. None of our enemies can hurt you. Not Cinder or some robots or Infinite and his Pha-"
Ruby suddenly got quite. She looked from Lola to Shadow, while remembering where she had met the former, and the words she said. In the slave city, where the Resistance was attacked by Phantom Shadow…
…saved me from that other hedgehog that tried to kill me…
"Oh", was all Ruby said upon the realization. Tails was a bit confused.
"What do you mean `Oh?´"
Ruby stood up. "… Shadow´s Phantom almost killed Lola."
Now it was the yellow fox´s who made an "Oh." He turned towards the black hedgehog in question.
"Shadow… is there a specific reason why you are here… and why we ran into Lola being very upset?"
The addressed Mobian nodded.
"Yes. "I don't know what the Phantom did to you, but I promise you don't have to be afraid of me. Me and the other fighters will make sure that peace will soon prevail again and that children like you no longer have to live in constant fear."
Lola looked surprised. "Wait, you´re not mad?"
"For what? Telling everyone I might possible trick of the enemy and therefore made sure necessary measures were taken. Don´t be ashamed for being reasonable."
The little girl blinked, unsure how to react to the little praise the black Hedgehog had given to her. She blushed a little and mumbled: "Thank you sir."
Awww, gushed Ruby inside her head, as she was reminded of her and her sister when they were younger.
"Now", Shadow added, "I think we should go back to the main room. You can be brought up to date, Ruby and Tails. And you should go to… what did you call him? Gadget?"
"O-oh, right. I better should go to him and apologize for making a scene. He´s been nothing but nice ever since he became my guardian, but I don't make it always easy for him."
Ruby, Tails and even Shadow shared an uncomfortable glance because of the `guardian´ part, but didn´t press the matter. Instead the group went back to the main room.
The conference there had been dissolved, most people were given a mission against Eggman´s forces or a task to do around the base. The red wolf Gadget, who had apparently been looking for Lola without any luck, was very relived upon seeing her. He was fussing about her disappearance, while also making sure she was okay (which was also something that reminded Ruby of herself and Yang). The Mobian thanked the trio for finding her, before he took the little girl by hand to lead her to one of the Chao Gardens where many other kids like her where playing with the little critters under surveillance. Lola gave them a shy wave while leaving their eyesight. Looking after the girl, Shadows resolve of stopping Infinite hardened.
"So what should we do now? Think there are any missions left for us?", asked Tails.
Shadow opened his mouth, only to be interrupted by his blue counterpart.
"There are always missions, but maybe not today. At least for now and for us. I´ve got something in mind that I think we should check out. That includes you too, Shadow. If you want of course. I think having you there may be of help."
At first, Shadow wanted to decline. He rather go to find a place where recruits trained to see if and how the months spending in that capsule has affected his skills and abilities. But he was admittedly curious about not only what the idea from Sonic had to offer, having it including Ruby, a girl from a different world. Plus, it was an idea from Sonic, so it would be better if Shadow made sure nothing got out of control because of the blue hedgehogs antics. Having made up his mind, Shadow said: "Fine. If you say my presence would be of benefit then I may join you, before I get on with my own business."
Sonic led them outside to an area that was far away from the base and presence of other people. There was nothing but grass, bushes and some rocks laying around. A bit further ahead began a dense forest.
Shadow looked around with crossed arms.
"Why are we here?"
"I just wanted to tell you", Sonic began. He turned to Ruby. "Remember our little incident at our mission in what was left of Green Hills. Before we went to the city?"
The silver-eyed girl needed a moment before she realized what her fellow speedster was on about.
"Oh right, there had been so much stuff happening afterwards, I almost forgot!"
"What do you mean?", asked Tails. Shadow did nothing but silently listen.
"On our last mission, Ruby and I made an interesting discovery. You know about my Boost ability, right?" Nod. "Anyway, me and Ruby had had brief contact when I used a Boost and she had her Semblance active. During that, both of us increased our speed and destroyed several robots."
"From what you, Omega and Rouge told me, Semblance is what allows Ruby to run at high speeds, similar to us. Its a phenomena that everyone on her world has, right?", Shadow asked to make sure he was up to date.
"Pretty much, even if not everyone possesses Aura and a Semblance on Remnant. You have to do some fancy speech to unlock them for someone if you don't develop them naturally, but apparently that also takes some certain skill and spirituality…" Ruby sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "I may or may not have dozed of during these parts of the lessons in Signal Academy."
Shadow raised an eyebrow. "So you have no knowledge on how your abilities works?"
"Nonono, I´ve got plenty experience and training with my Semblance and how to take care of my Aura. I just don´t know the finer details."
Shadow opened his mouth, but Tails decided to add his own two cents, before the discussion escalated away from the topic.
"So! Both Sonic and Ruby have a speed based ability. And somehow they can combine the speed and momentum of them, if I understood everything correctly. I think we may find out more if we do some tests. Sonic, Shadow and Ruby, please doe some runs, at first separately, then close to one another. I will make scans with the Miles Electric and hopefully gather the Data necessary for answers."
And so they did. The speedsters ran around, trough different obstacle courses the natural terrain had to offer. Then they started the second phase. First was Ruby and Sonic, without the activation of a Boost. Their speed and power did indeed increase, but not on the same level as they had experienced in As Hills Zone. After that, Ruby ran alongside Shadow. There was also an increase there, however it was even lower than on the previous attempt.
Tails remained focused during all of this. He scanned and pushed several buttons on his multi functional gadget, sorting trough all the results he got.
"Alright. Now I think Ruby should do it again with Sonic, but this time with a Boost and the Semblance being full active."
The speedsters understood. Shadow stepped back towards Tails side, while Sonic and Ruby started running. The blue hedgehog felt the static and buzzing Chaos Energy building up. Ruby almost disappeared into a red blur of rose petals. The two of them started closing in on each other, made contact upon the full activation of their respective powers…
BOOOOM!
A shock wave erupted, as the duo combined into a red and blue blur, surrounded by crackling Chaos Energy, that shoot trough several rocks and boulders and crashing into the forest. Panicking flickies flew away in a hurry by the sudden disturbance to their peace. Any piece of rock and wood that had stood in the blurs way, was reduced to splinters. A path of torn out grass and earth was left behind by the mad dashing speedsters.
Tails had been thrown to the ground by the shock wave, before Shadow threw himself on to him to shield the younger Mobian from all the flying rock and three remnants.
The black hedgehog stood up, when he was sure nothing was cascading down anymore, and helped the fox up.
"Are you alright?", he asked him. Tails nodded, albeit shakily.
"Y-yeah, thanks to you. I´m just a bit surprised."
"I have to admit that I am as well. Let us see how the two of them are holding up."
Fox and hedgehog wandered trough the disturbed nature. Spooked bunnies, porkies and other critters scuttled away trough the forest´s undergrowth. Ruby and Sonic sat on the ground of a clearing (mind you it was not a natural clearing, all the trees have been uprooted by the stunt the two have pulled), both holding their aching heads and pulling dirt out of their hair/spikes.
"Didn't think we would be THAT fast and strong", groaned Sonic. He looked towards the newcomers. "Are you alright? I´m honestly not sure what happened. One moment we were running, the next we´re now here. Everything was just a blur... and I think we also pulverized a bird?"
"Birdie no…", mumbled Ruby in shock, as she pulled some feathers from her cloak.
Tails said, "You two combined in something I can only describe as an unstoppable force. The shock wave of your combined powers threw me to the ground, but I managed to get a good scan beforehand and these energy readings are very impressive!"
The yellow fox showed his results, even if nobody could interpret the scientific confusion on the screen. Even Shadow, who was created and grew up alongside Gerald Robotnik and other brilliant scientists, was on a loss.
"Uh, Tails, some explanation?"
"If I read all of the gathered Data right he Chaos Energy you focuses on a Boost amplifies Ruby's Aura, causing her Semblance to be amplified. And you yourself also gains additional energy from Ruby's Aura."
"But how is that possible?", the human girl wondered. "I´ve heard of Semblances that can support others. Actually, I believe some very skilled Huntsman are able to do that with Aura alone. But your powers aren´t Aura based."
Tails once again showed what the Miles Electric had gathered. And once again no one really understood what all the jargon meant.
"I have a theory. During your lone runs, I managed to get a good scan of how your Semblance interacts with your body. It appears to function by disassembling and reassembling its molecular structure, which to outsiders appears as a transformation into a blur of rose petals. The exact physical processes would be a bit too complicated to explain, so I better skip those."
"I'm already struggling to keep up," Sonic said.
"Ruby can use this transformation on others if they make physical contact with her, which I experienced in Mystic Jungle. The exact same thing happened right now with her and Sonic. Each person's molecules swirled together during it, allowing Aura and Chaos Energies to into close contact."
"And so they reinforce each other and their users. The reason my and Ruby´s runs with one another are less effective must be because my energy focuses inside my Airshoes to give me speed", Shadow summed it up.
"Exactly."
"And if you look at the path behind us, we got quite the power at doing it", Ruby said in awe.
"And a lack of control," Shadow replied sternly. With one arm he waved to the destruction the two other speedsters have caused. The silver-eyed girl and the blue hedgehog rubbed their heads in embarrassment.
"Sorry."
Shadow took a deep breath and sighed. "Nobody was hurt, that's the main thing. You did good on bringing us to a place relative isolated from the others. Yet it still caused damage and terror to the local ecosystem. From now on, train on the more barren parts of Angel Island or on the battlefield where only Eggman's robots can be damaged. Now, if that´s all I would like to go and start my training."
He wanted to go, but Tails stopped him.
"Wait! The whole thing gave me an idea. Shadow, do you still have the Chaos Emerald that Sonic gave you?"
"Yes?"
"Could you give it to Ruby for a moment?"
The black hedgehog hesitated at first, but then complied. He held out the red gem towards Ruby.
"Be careful, this is a very powerful artifact."
The Huntress-in-training gently took it from Shadow´s hand.
"I know. I already had one of those things. Its how me and Tails were able to bring Omega back online after all."
As soon as Ruby held the Emerald in her hands, it glowed slightly and she felt the same power radiating from it like from the green one.
Tails made another scan and then nodded.
"The Chaos Emeralds seem to react to Aura. With the right training, Ruby could possibly use them like you two, Sonic and Shadow. In fact, I´m sure she may have used their power before."
Ruby caught on what the fox meant and said, "Oh you mean when I escaped the purple void! Guess it makes sense that the Chaos Emerald helped me gain enough power to escape the place."
"But how is that possible?" Shadow wondered aloud.
"In my world, we use crystals called Dust. We unleash their elemental powers using Aura."
Tails smiled. "Exactly! Controlling the power of a Chaos Emerald is like using Dust for Ruby. If you think about it, the Emeralds are very powerful and highly processed Chaos Dust."
Shadow stared thoughtfully ahead of him. "Interesting. This would be the first time a human could naturally wield the power of the Chaos Emeralds. But until we find Ruby one of her own, I'd like the red Emerald back."
The huntress-in-training only now realized that she was still holding the powerful gem and returned it.
"Hey Shadow, could you train me in something like that then? I'd love to do cool stuff like this uh what did you call it Sonic?"
"Chaos Control."
"Correct. Could you Shadow?"
The addressed crossed his arms and eyed the human girl sternly.
"The ability to control Chaos is not a toy. It can do serious harm to you or those close to you."
"But with these skills I can help others and maybe it will help me get home if the Infinite thing doesn't go anywhere. Pleeeeaaaaaase!"
Ruby gave Shadow a puppy dog look that reminded him of Maria whenever she wanted to ask him something. The black hedgehog's features softened.
"Fine," he murmured.
"YAY!" Ruby spread her arms.
"But only if you don't hug me now." Ruby lowered her arms again. "And when you've found your own Emerald."
Ignoring the dejected sigh the human girl gave from her, the Mobian turned to the other hedgehog in the group.
"Is there something akin of a training hall in the Resistance Base?"
"Yeah, I can show you the way if you want."
Sonic lead Shadow away from Ruby and Tails. The two of them waved and parted ways with them, saying something about tinkering on a bunch of weapons. While walking, Shadow gave Ruby some side glances before she completely disappeared from his view. Sonic noticed. He smirked.
"And what does Mr. Edgehog think about sweet bubbly Ruby?"
Ignoring the jab, `Mr. Edgehog´ gave his answer.
"She seems… enthusiastic. When you first told me about her, I was suspicious that she might be in cahoots with that Cinder woman. But now that I've interacted with her myself, I can see that she is too… innocent for something like that." He turned to Sonic. "But you really let her go in the fight against Eggman? She is practically still a child and, as I said, seems far too innocent. For a deception, but also for a war."
Sonic just kept his smirk.
"Don't worry Shadow. She may not look like it, but the girl is tough. Can attest to that personally. And in her world, she has experienced quite a few adventures herself."
"…if you say so."
Shadow thought about Rubys´s eyes. Despite their metallic color, they shone with life and purity. Just like Maria´s eyes.
He hoped these kind of eyes wouldn't be extinguished once again.
With last chapter being on the shorter side of the spectrum, here we got a larger one. It helped that my brain came up with many way of what and how scenes should play out.
To Supermath33: Maybe, maybe not. I see the Brother Gods as the main religion of Remnant (they do exist after all) so I think it makes more sense that the people there simply say Gods. Your question with Ruby and the Chaos Emeralds got its answer within this chapter. As for the rest of your comment… we will have to see ;)
To SuperSaiyanFever: Shadow is getting better and determined to give it his all to fight back against the Eggman Empire.
Hm, you kinda predicted something, while at the same time not.
To Guest: Corrected it.
Look, I´m not saying that Shadow is responsible for everything. I just explained how he feels about the situation. If someone is to blame its the villains being villains.
Ask the IDW comic writers why they designed the androids like that, I just described them that way because its what they looked like when they killed the Diamond Cutters. Eggman rules the world, he has all time of the world. Infinite literally mentioned within the last chapter a batch of Shadow Androids that were already taken before Cinder blew the factory up. I´ve heard that the comics were canon. Even if they are not, they´re close enough to canon that scenarios and characters from them can easily be integrated into the games world.
To ArguableReader: Sonic lore is wild. And it is even wilder in Archie.
Cyborg Cinder? Maybe.
Infinite meant actually Tails, not the Avatar. But we got Gadget, the Avatar stand in for most fanfics, here. He is Lola´s legal guardian and looks after her and some other children like her.
XelaZagity: Oh? What exactly is so unusual about my story, if I may ask?
Yeah, Ruby as a lot to worry about, so she is more serious. But she got her new friends on her side. Also, it took me a while to realize with Zwei´s chewtoy you meant Blake lol.
To Guest: Like I wrote in the first chapter, this isnt just a crossover, but also sorta a fix up of RWBY and Forces. Including Infinites powers, because they made no sense for me in the game. Episode Shadow (my version) was there to show that his reality bending powers and hallucinations are two separated things.
To the other guest: I changed it up. Now it clarifies it happened to her before she went to Beacon.
To Monster King: Thanks.