Shadow zoomed up the stairs as fast as he could, reaching the front of the house in no time flat, but the crowd had already turned their back to focus on a new arrival. The residents of the village parted down the middle as a blue hedgehog in red shoes approached Shadow, anger having clearly taken hold of him. "Where's that DAMN Shadow Android?"
"Oh great." Shadow muttered under his breath, before approaching Sonic. "Listen, Sonic-"
"OH-HO-HO! Long time, no see, Shadow! You could've called, you know!" Sonic said, a distinct bitterness undercutting his usual sarcastic tone. "I NEVER turn down the opportunity to kick some Badnik Butt!" Shadow unconsciously firmed his stance. "Sonic, it's not like that. we're dealing with-"
"Yeah, one of YOUR messes for once! Funny how you'll always bring up MY failings, but leave out a detail like, you know, literal ARMIES of robot duplicates!" Sonic interrupted. Shadow just hung his head and tried to contain his frustration. Sonic was one to push buttons, sure, but Shadow knew he didn't go for low blows and cheap shots. This was the nanites talking, and he just needed to contain the blue hedgehog for a few more minutes. "Now then, if you'll EXCUSE me, I'm off to be the hero...Again!"
But before Sonic could walk even a few steps, Shadow grabbed him by the arm. "I can't let you do that, Sonic." Sonic just cocked an eyebrow. "You sure you want to die on this hill?" Shadow nodded. "Okay then...Your funeral!"
In the blink of an eye, Sonic grabbed Shadow and threw him across the yard, into the forest surrounding the house, and straight through 5 trees. Shadow managed to recover by tree 6, and redirected his momentum back towards Sonic, the two rolling into balls as they approached each other, their inevitable impact sending a shockwave through the treetops.
Below, in the basement, Daniel and Justin only briefly acknowledged the slight rumbling of the impact above them, laser-focused on their task. "Okay, just gotta bypass these bits of security, and...OH NO!"
"What's wrong?" Daniel asked, turning his head to look at the computer screen. Various processes had begun without Justin activating them, clogging up the computer's limited processing power. "Justin, what are these?"
"I, uh...May not have PAID for some games back when I used this computer." Justin explained, with a slight twinge of embarrassment. Daniel rolled his eyes and used his connection to the computer to deactivate these processes...Along with 27 more on the way. "Let's try to stay on task." He said simply. Justin nodded.
