Author's note: Happy holidays, everyone! I'm pleased to say that I got this chapter finished a bit faster than the last. It was somewhat challenging to write Sonic's dialogue and inner thoughts in both this and the last chapter. Sonic normally has this kind of cocksure, carefree attitude, so it was difficult to try to fuse that with the more serious, down-to-earth discourse he has to use when talking about Shadow and his depressing past. Shadow's past just doesn't strike me as something you can joke around with in a cocksure manner. I tried my best, though I'm not entirely pleased with the results. Hopefully this is something I'll get better at as I develop the story. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and thank you for your kind feedback on the last!

For a while, no one spoke. Chris and Chuck had worked throughout the night, and the first rays of sunlight were now beginning to break through the horizon and reach the windows of the laboratory. It was Helen who broke the silence.

"I believe we'll see Sonic again," she said, smiling. Her smile was infectious — Ella smiled in response, then Chuck, and then slowly everyone in the group except for Chris, who merely furrowed his eyebrows.

"It's like you said, Chris," Helen continued. "The connection between our worlds could come back at any time — it could even be today! We just have to keep our heads up and trust that we will see each other again. Somewhere, somehow, it will happen. I just know it."

"She's right, you know," said Sam Speed. "When Sonic first appeared in our world, I was the police officer who had to chase him down—or at least try to. My point is, that hedgehog has a knack for just showing up. In my mind, you can be sure that he'll show up again."

"Yeah," agreed Frances. "Chris, don't you remember those times when I would tag along with you and Tails on the search to find the Chaos emeralds? One day we found one, and Eggman wanted to steal it from us. I thought we were toast! Lucky for us, Sonic showed up just when we needed him. I thought he was miles away, but he somehow knew that we needed help and came to us just in time. Like your uncle says, he has a habit of just showing up, especially when we don't expect him to."

"And if I know that hedgehog at all," said Sam, "I know he'll show up again faster than the speed of sound!"

"In the meantime," said Chuck, "there's still so much to be studied about interdimensional travel. We can use the data that we've collected during the time that the quantum alignment was present to improve our understanding of how it works, so that when the alignment does return, we can capitalize on it in the most efficient way possible. Chris, you and I could sit at the forefront of this academic pursuit." Chuck paused, then added jokingly, "And maybe someday we might get to being half as smart as Tails is."

Finally, Chris smiled weakly, imagining how Tails would respond to Chuck's comment—he would undoubtedly blush and then claim that they were all just as intelligent, if not more so than he was. It obviously wouldn't be true. For someone who could design interdimensional portals, create powerful gadgets, harness the power of Chaos energy and use it to build both aircraft and spacecraft—all at the age of eight—that fox's humility was boundless.

"Yeah," said Chris. "Yeah, I guess you guys are right."

"Of course they're right!" said Ella. "By the way, everybody, I just remembered that there is a new donut and ice cream shop opening just around the corner from here! It opens in just a few minutes!"

"I could do with some donuts and coffee right about now," said Chris's father.

"Let's all visit the new place together. It will be my treat!" announced Chris's mother.

Everyone expressed their assent to this new proposal, and the group began to shuffle out of the laboratory. "And who knows," said Helen as the group made their way to the door, "maybe we'll see Sonic there!"

At this, no one could resist smiling.

In Sonic's world, it was raining.

Normally Sonic would have spent the day running around, but in order to avoid getting wet from the rain, Sonic stood inside his house, looking out the window. Besides, he decided that, at the moment, he did need to slow down for a moment and think about something that made him both curious and worried at the same time.

His thoughts, of course, surrounded around his meeting on the previous night with a certain mysterious black-and-red hedgehog. After Shadow had left, Sonic returned to Cream's party and managed to avoid Amy for the remainder of the party. The others had asked him what he and Shadow were doing and where Shadow was. Part of him wanted to tell his friends about what he and Shadow had talked about. He could really use their input. However, Shadow had singled him out personally — he didn't want to alienate Shadow further by leaking the details of a conversation that Shadow had wanted to keep private. As a result, Sonic had cast the questions aside, telling them it was "nothing important".

On the contrary, they were important. He understood why Shadow refused to believe him, but at the same time, he felt disappointed that he wasn't able to get through to him. He wondered if there was any way he could change Shadow's mind and prove to him that his story was true. Even if Shadow could be harsh at times, Sonic wanted nothing more than to be his friend, and he couldn't help but feel guilty that he might have let his prospective friend down.

Sonic moved away from the window and laid himself on his couch. Staring up at the ceiling, he thought about the last few months they had spent since they defeated the Metarex and since Chris had left. The time had been largely uneventful. Eggman trying a few things here and there, and Sonic always being there with his friends to stop him. Nothing had really broken this pattern, and Sonic felt a fleeting sense of boredom.

His thoughts returned to Shadow, and he remembered something Shadow had mentioned at the beginning of their conversation: apparently Eggman never told Shadow about his past. Eggman had used his knowledge of Shadow's past as leverage to get Shadow to work for him.

And then there was the whole situation about Shadow's continued existence in the first place. Eggman never told anyone that he managed to rescue Shadow after the massive Chaos Control on Space Colony ARK. How did he do it? Why did he do it? Why didn't he tell Shadow about his past after he had finished working for him? What will Shadow do now?

Sonic, being the type to want to get things done as soon as possible, made a decision. After getting up, Sonic walked to the door and opened it partially.

Sonic shivered slightly as he watched the dark clouds pour rain all around him. Sonic hated water, and even though he knew the rain wouldn't hurt him, he still hated the feeling of being wet. It made him feel weak and vulnerable. During his time in Chris's world, he finally managed to learn from Chris a sloppy method of swimming. Although it was better than sinking like a rock, it still made him rather pathetic in the water. Even if he was reluctant to admit it to someone like Knuckles, Sonic was still scared of water.

Taking a deep breath and setting his silly fear aside, Sonic launched into a high-speed sprint straight toward the base of Doctor Eggman.

Shadow watched as Sonic sped away into the rain. After finishing his conversation with Sonic at Cream's party, Shadow did not run off very far. Once he got out of eyesight, he secretly backtracked and began to surveil Sonic's movements. Contrary to what he said, Shadow had not yet made his mind about Sonic. What he said certainly aligned with what he felt deep down inside. However, he needed to make sure Sonic was trustworthy, and to do so, he wanted to observe Sonic in order to better understand him.

He had watched as all the partygoers parted ways with Cream, and then he followed Sonic to his home, where he had slept the night on his roof. It started raining shortly after dawn, prompting Sonic to quickly move indoors. After about an hour, Shadow noticed Sonic open the door, pause for a minute or so, and then suddenly take off, accelerating close to the speed of sound.

Shadow narrowed his eyes. Where is he going?

In just a few minutes, the looming figure of Eggman's tall fortress came into view, and Sonic slowed down as he neared, allowing Eggman to notice his presence.

"Well, well, look what we have here," blared Eggman's voice through a speaker at the top of the fortress. Without a moment to spare, Eggman ordered a dozen of robots to attack the invading hedgehog.

Sonic grinned. It was time to have some fun. "I was wondering when I'd see you again, Eggy. I was beginning to think you'd forgotten all about me."

"You'll soon wipe your smile off your face when you behold my latest creation! True, it's been some weeks since we last met, but I've spent my time working on a device that will dominate any adversary in the blink of an eye. Even you, my spiky friend."

"Is he going to tell him that the EGG-900 isn't finished yet?" said Decoe, one of Eggman's two dimwitted robotic henchmen, who tried to keep his voice down and speak only to Bocoe, who was next to him, but he failed to prevent the microphone from picking up his voice and amplifying it toward Sonic.

Eggman growled. "Shut up, you idiot!"

"Ohh, I'm sorry, Doctor! Please forgive me!" said Decoe.

"No matter," replied Eggman. "When I— huh?"

In the brief moment that Eggman had spent distracted by Decoe about his as yet incomplete project, Sonic had managed easily to destroy all of the robots Eggman had sent his way. As the last robot standing made its way toward him, Sonic curled up into his signature ball, spun the metallic fighter out of existence, then landed directly at the entrance to the giant fortress.

"What?!" cried Eggman incredulously.

"Come on, Eggman, is this all you've got? This is too easy!"

"That's it!" shouted Eggman. "You asked for this, Sonic. Remember, you came to me, not—"

"Calm down, egghead," interrupted Sonic. "I'm not here to fight. I just want to talk."

Eggman was unfazed. "Sonic, I assure you, if you're here to get payback for something I did to one of—"

"Shadow showed up last night."

This, however, piqued Eggman's interest. Although he had his suspicions, he too had not been sure whether Shadow had survived the final battle against the Metarex. "What did you say?"

Sonic didn't say anything back. He merely stared intently into the camera through which Eggman was watching him. After a few seconds, he crossed his arms, donning a look of impatience while tapping his foot.

Eggman growled. "If you're lying about this to get in, it won't work. Bocoe, Decoe, let him in."

"What?" cried Bocoe. "But Doctor Eggman, it is clearly a trap!"

"I agree, Doctor," said Decoe. "I do not think we should let Sonic in."

Eggman, who had already lost his patience with his minions after Decoe's earlier faux pas, screamed, "Do it, or you'll both be a pile of bolts before lunchtime!"

At this, the two robots scrambled to open the front door for Sonic to enter. As soon as the entrance was clear, Sonic bolted into the fortress, eager to get out of the rain, which was still pouring. Finding a stairway, Sonic made his way all the way up to Eggman's command center at the top of the ten-story building at an unfathomable speed.

Eggman grunted in surprise when he realized that his arch-nemesis was suddenly face-to-face with him no later than 10 seconds after he gave the command to open the door that stood hundreds of feet below him. He made a mental note to install additional booby traps into his fortress to stop Sonic from breaching his command center so quickly during an actual battle. For now, Bocoe had disabled what traps he did have within his fortress to allow Sonic the truce he had asked for.

As soon as the distinctive figure of Eggman's fortress came into view, Shadow stumbled.

This was the first time, as far as his current memory could take him, that he ever lost balance while running. He had been closely matching Sonic's speed in order to follow him, so he had to have been traveling close to the speed of sound. If anyone else had tripped at that speed, they would have been seriously – or perhaps fatally – injured. Shadow, on the other hand, was not ordinary. As soon as he tripped, he curled himself into a ball and spun off-course into a large, open field of grass, letting the friction between his outer spines and the ground slow him down gradually… that is, gradually only until he collided with a tree at the far edge of the field.

Shadow groaned and rubbed his head gingerly. Cold droplets of rainwater rolled down his forehead. Fortunately, he had slowed down enough so that the tree did not cause any real damage to him, but it still hurt. Shadow slowly got up and cursed at himself for being so foolish. He should have engaged his strong spines so that they would have taken the brunt of the collision—just like he and Sonic did when they performed Spin Dashes against oftentimes metallic enemies. Instead, he didn't think quickly enough and allowed his skull to receive much of the impact.

Deep down, he did not really expect Sonic to have been lying to him, so it came as an immense shock to see Sonic running toward Eggman – the very man he knew he couldn't trust – on his own volition. That was what caused him to lose balance.

Shadow scowled and clenched his fists. Fortunately, no one saw his embarrassing wipeout. Fearing the worst, Shadow was determined to find out exactly why Sonic wanted to see Eggman.

As a result of tripping, Shadow had let Sonic gain a considerable distance between them. However, Shadow already knew now where Sonic was headed. Ignoring the pain in his head, he forced himself to run toward Eggman's base. From a distance he could see Sonic standing at the bottom of the fortress. Behind him was a trail of about a dozen robots that Sonic had apparently already destroyed.

Okay, so maybe they aren't on good terms after all, Shadow thought. No, I can't be sure of that. I don't know how long ago those robots were destroyed. They could have just been there to begin with.

Shadow then saw the door to the fortress open. His eyes widened. Sonic didn't need to break into the fortress – Eggman had led Sonic in voluntarily!

Shadow stared in disbelief. He watched as Sonic bolted into the fortress, and he knew that he only had a brief window of time to follow him. Blasting off as fast as his feet could take him, he watched as the door to the fortress began to close.

No, thought Shadow. I must reach it!

He willed his legs to accelerate faster, and soon, he slid through the crack of the closing door just as it was about to shut completely.

He was in.

He quickly skid to a stop and began to ascend the staircase to the top of the fortress, being careful to avoid making his presence known. He slowed as he approached the top, hearing the distinct voices of Eggman and Sonic talking to each other. As soon as he could make out their words, he stopped to listen.

"... oh, how shall I put it – a delicate matter," Eggman was saying. "Eventually, we may have to send Shadow to that other world again. But whatever you do, don't tell him. If you do, it's not going to end well."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Shadow heard Sonic say.

Shadow was so shocked, he couldn't breathe. This was it. This was the proof he needed. Sonic and Eggman were working together to hide something from him! It was probably his true past. What were they not telling him?

Shadow had to find out. With his fists and teeth clenched in anger, he burst into the command room.

"Well, Sonic," said Eggman, "I'm listening."

Sonic frowned at Eggman, unsure where to start. "Well, it was Cream's birthday. She threw this awesome party with cake and music and..."

"Sonic, I'm offended that I wasn't invited," Eggman said acidly.

Sonic knew he had to get straight to the point, lest he use up all of Eggman's patience. "Well, Shadow showed up, and it got me thinking..."

"That's not a good sign," said Eggman.

Sonic lifted his head up sharply. "What, Shadow?"

"No, I meant you thinking," said Eggman.

Sonic rolled his eyes. He paused for a moment as he tried to gather his words. Slowly, he said, "When Shadow and I caused Chaos Control on Space Colony ARK, we all thought Shadow was gone forever. But he wasn't. Somehow, he survived."

Sonic strolled up to Eggman, who instinctively moved his hand toward a button which would summon a bot to fight Sonic if necessary. Sonic stopped once he noticed this.

"It was you, wasn't it?" said Sonic.

"Me? Why," Eggman clasped his hands together and tilted his head to one side, "whatever did I do?"

"You found Shadow's body, and you saved him. But you didn't tell any of us."

Eggman cackled in response. "HO HO HO, of course I did, Sonic! Like you and everyone else, I thought he was a goner, but luckily I found his body floating through space around the area where the ARK was, and I took him in. He needed a good bit a rehabilitation, and his memory had some issues, but as you remember, he could still pack a good punch, particularly against the Metarex."

Sonic furrowed his eyebrows. "He lost his memory. That hedgehog can't remember anything about who he is, or even who we are." Sonic took another step toward Eggman. "He spent months with you while we were fighting the Metarex. Why didn't you tell him then, even after the fight was all over?"

Eggman chuckled again. "Now, now, Sonic. I know you don't approve, but you have to admit that it feels pretty good to have Shadow on your side. He is a powerful ally to have, and holding his memory is a great way to get him to work for you."

Upon hearing Eggman's confession, Sonic clenched his fists in anger. "Well, thanks, Eggman! Now that you've used his memory to use him, he doesn't trust anyone to tell him what his past is!"

Realization suddenly dawned on Eggman, and his face grew serious. "Shadow asked you to tell him about his past, didn't he?"

Sonic looked away. It wasn't like him to get this angry, and now he had gone and carelessly let Eggman, of all people, know what he and Shadow had talked about the previous night. He closed his eyes and let his nerves calm down, refusing to respond.

Eggman, for his part, took Sonic's silence as confirmation of his question. "What did you tell him?" he asked.

Sonic sighed. The cat was out of the bag now, for better or for worse. When he got home, he would be sure to loop his friends in to get their input as well. "I told him the truth," said Sonic, "but thanks to you, he didn't believe me."

"Sonic," said Eggman, "Shadow's past is rather depressing, even to an evil genius like me. I'm not sure if Shadow would have believed me if I told him right away."

Sonic stared at the ground. He wanted to retort, telling Eggman that of course Shadow wouldn't have believed him. He's evil! He's Eggman! But then again, deep down, Sonic knew that Eggman was probably right. Sonic wasn't sure if he himself would have trusted any one person to tell him about his past life if he had lost his memory, and that was the core of his worries.

"Do you… do you think Shadow will ever trust anyone to tell him about his past?"

Eggman sighed. "It's tough to say. Tell me, Sonic. How do you know whether you are the same person today as the person you were yesterday?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"Humor me, furball," said Eggman. "I haven't got all day. With each passing minute, I have to restrain myself from blowing you away right where you stand."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Well, I have the same body as I did yesterday, don't I?"

"Yes, yes you do. But what if I, through my awesome evil genius, take your brain, which contains all of your memories, and implant it into a different body? You'd have the same memories, the same behavior. For all you'd know, you'd still think you were you, but in a different body. Would you still be the same person?"

"Well, yeah, because I still have my memories."

"Shadow doesn't have his memories."

"Let me get this straight," said Sonic. "Are you trying to tell me that Shadow is now a completely different person as he was on Space Colony ARK because he no longer has his memories?"

Eggman held his hands up innocently. "You said it, kid. Not me. Besides, I think I may know one person he might trust to tell him about himself."

"Yeah?"

"His creator. My grandfather, Doctor Robotnik, created him in that other world."

"Chris's world," said Sonic.

"Yes, yes, that annoying kid's world," confirmed Eggman. "Don't forget, Sonic, that I too was born in that world."

"But Robotnik… that old man's gone now," said Sonic.

"Not quite. He recorded a diary, and it is still on Space Colony ARK," replied Eggman. Suddenly, Eggman's voice grew low and serious. "Sonic, Shadow is probably very confused now that you've given him a new idea of himself. This is — oh, how shall I put it — a delicate matter. Eventually, we may have to send Shadow to that other world again. But whatever you do, don't tell him. If you do, it's not going to end well."

Sonic considered Eggman's words. As much as Sonic hated to admit it, Eggman was not dumb; Eggman had a point that Shadow's might not be thinking straight since Sonic had told him his story. And who knows? Maybe Shadow is a different person now that he no longer has his memories. And since his memories were pretty much all depressing ones anyway, maybe this is for the better.

Sonic cringed as he remembered Shadow's mercilessness on Space Colony ARK. If Chris hadn't been there to show Shadow the light, Shadow would have allowed Eggman's grandfather's creation to obliterate humanity—Robotnik's final act of revenge for the death of Maria. Sonic remembered how last night, on Cream's balcony, he felt nervous that by telling Shadow about Maria's death, it might trigger another vengeful episode from Shadow.

Sonic sighed. "Yeah," he said, "I guess you're right."

All of a sudden, the entire room shook as the door to the command center was destroyed. Eggman and Sonic both jumped back in surprise, and their blood froze solid when they realized who was standing in the shadows.