Shadow growled, his eyes staring deep into Nicky's eyes with suspicion, but he did put the kid down.
"S-sorry about him, kid!" Silver apologised, rubbing the back of his head. "He's… um…"
Shadow turned to face Silver, raising an eyebrow.
"…always like this." Silver finished lamely.
Shadow rolled his eyes and started walking away without a word.
"O-oh, it's no trouble, really!" Nicky wiped his tears away on his arm. "I – I'm sorry I wasted his time!" He bowed repeatedly in Shadow's direction, despite Shadow having his back to him.
"Silver." Shadow said, ignoring Nicky. "Where is the Paradox Prism now?"
"Huh?" Silver blinked. "Well, uh, where we left it, I guess?"
Shadow stopped walking and turned his head, letting Silver see his scowl. "And where is that?"
Silver looked around. The landscape was still flickering as he watched, switching between several different versions of Green Hill Zone and that one suburban town he had seen before.
"Point taaaakagh!" Silver got halfway through conceding the point before bending over at the waist, hugging himself as his body flickered into transparency for one long, painful moment.
Nicky's eyes went as round as saucers, and he tugged on Silver's arm as he flickered back into tangibility. "Mister? Mister, are you okay? D-do you need… u-um…"
"Tch!" Shadow made a noise of frustration. "He's beyond your ability to help, kid. Stop butting into things that don't concern you."
"What?" Nicky blinked up at Shadow in confusion. "B-but he needs help!"
Shadow stared back at Nicky for a moment, then switched his gaze to the horizon. "…just like Chris…" He muttered to himself.
Silver swallowed. "W-whatever happened, if it's affecting me this badly…"
"A disaster of unimaginable proportions." Shadow snorted. "And Sonic nowhere to be found, naturally."
"H-hey!" Nicky objected. "S-sonic will come! He always does! I – I don't know how, but he'll fix this!"
Shadow turned around fully, and Nicky shrank away from the full force of his glare.
"Uh, Shadow?"
"What?" Shadow turned the force of his glare onto Silver, who ignored it in favour of searching Shadow's face.
"Who's Chris?" Silver asked, honest confusion written across his face.
Shadow froze for a brief moment, before shaking his head violently. "I don't know."
"That's not how it sounded like to me." Silver folded his arms.
Shadow's outline flickered slightly, and as he straightened up Silver could have sworn that he looked taller, with a larger chest. "It's none of your business, hedgehog!" He snarled.
"'Hedgehog'?" Silver narrowed his eyes. "You can't remember my name right now, can you?"
Shadow said nothing in response, simply growling, until he flickered again back into his previous appearance. Clutching his head in pain, Shadow dropped to his knees.
Silver waited a moment for Shadow to catch his breath, his stern face turning worried again. "Um, do you remember who I am again now?"
"…yes." Shadow grumbled begrudgingly, as though that was the unhappy outcome.
"…does he need a doctor?" Nicky whispered in Silver's ear, shooting worried looks at Shadow.
Silver sighed, and shook his head. "No, he's the Ultimate Lifeform. Anything wrong with him can't be fixed by any doctor. …well, not that kind of doctor anyway."
"I can hear both of you." Shadow snapped, getting to his feet.
Nicky blushed in embarrassment, then looked confused. "What's 'Ultimate Lifeform' mean?"
"It means…" Silver trailed off, and looked at Shadow.
Shadow narrowed his eyes at Silver. "What is it?"
Silver rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Um, I just realised I don't really know either?"
Shadow's scowl returned full force. For a moment Silver was sure that Shadow was going to walk off without answering, but then his outline flickered again, and he looked at Nicky with an unreadable expression in his eyes.
"…50 years ago, Eggman's grandfather, Professor Gerald Robotnik, was tasked with creating a creature that would not age or get sick." Shadow was a poor storyteller. His voice was gruff and he made no effort so speak up or enunciate clearly, but given how closely Silver and Nicky were listening they caught every word anyway. "Initially, he refused, thinking it a fool's errand; until his granddaughter came down with a disease that made her deathly ill. She needed to live in space, on the Space Colony ARK, as the germs present everywhere on Mobius would kill her."
"Mobius?" Silver blinked.
Shadow flickered. "Earth." He corrected himself, shaking his head in annoyance. "The germs on… Earth."
Silver and Nicky shared a look of worry.
"Professor Robotnik realised that research on the Ultimate Lifeform, as a creature that never got sick, could be used to cure his granddaugher."
Nicky twiddled his thumbs awkwardly. "Eggman's grandfather sounds much nicer than Eggman…"
Shadow hmp'd in response, his expression unreadable. "Professor Robotnik studied the legends of the Ancient Echidnas. His first attempt tried to replicate the mythical monster 'Chaos' –"
"Like the emeralds?" Silver interrupted, his hand raised sheepishly in the air. A flicker of his own passed through his body.
Shadow glared at Silver. "The emeralds get their name from the monster. Supposedly, he was their guardian in the ancient past."
Silver blinked. "So, we should be calling them 'Chaos's Emeralds', then?"
"Do you want to hear this story or not?" Shadow growled, flickering again.
"Sorry!" Silver held up both hands in sheepish apology.
"That prototype was unable to live without its life support and proved too unruly to control, so it was deemed a failure." Shadow continued, pacing back and forth. "On his second attempt, Professor Robotnik decided instead to base his creation on the creature depicted as fighting Chaos in the prophecy – a golden hedgehog."
Silver snapped his fingers. "Oh, I get it. So that second attempt made you, right?"
Shadow turned around. "Supposedly." He muttered.
"'Supposedly'?" Silver echoed back. "How can you not know? Weren't you there at the time?"
Shadow whirled back around to face Silver, his form flickering. "Of course I was!" He snarled. "Professor Robotnik's journal – when Nicole digitised it, they confirmed – gah!" He clutched his arms to his chest, his form flickering again. "No… no! That's not what happened… Maria ejected two capsules, and G.U.N. didn't recover either of them! Gerald Robotnik must have created me on Prison Island, and injected me with false memories… gaaagh!"
Multi-coloured lightning began to play out over Shadow's body. Nicky took a step back, shaking in fear.
Shadow's eyes snapped open, the rainbow lightning playing out over his irises. "Who am I?" He demanded.
"Well, ain't this a sorry state of affairs."
Shadow's head snapped up at the sound of the new voice, the lightning over his skin abruptly vanishing.
He, Silver and Nicky looked up. Above them, standing unafraid on one of the glitching hilltops, was a green hedgehog wearing sunglasses and a leather jacket. Behind him stood a mean-looking fox lady in black jacket and pants.
"Having a little trouble with the scenery?" The green hedgehog mocked. "Can't say I blame ya – this is even freakier than the No Zone! You must have screwed up big time to get things this bad, Sonic!"
Then he squinted, seemingly just realising that Nicky wasn't Sonic. "Hey. Where's Sonic? Who's this runt?"
"Who wants to know?" Silver demanded, stepping protectively in front of Nicky.
The newcomer seemed genuinely taken aback for a moment, then his mouth curled in a savage grin. "Seriously? You don't recognise the Scourge here to wreck you? Man, sucks to be you guys."
"Probably ran head-first into a wall one too many times." His fox companion suggested snidely.
"Probably." Scourge cracked his knuckles. "Tell ya what. You tell me where I can find Sonic, and I let you off with only a light beating. That's fair, right?"
"Sounds like it to me." Another new voice cut in. "Only, you tell me where Sonic is, and I only beat you to within an inch of your lives."
Silver, Shadow and Nicky turned around. On the glitchy hill behind them was another pair – a brash, green woman with a black patch of fur on her face, and a demure young kid with light blue fur.
"Um…" Silver raised a finger. "Am I supposed to know you as well?
The new girl rolled her eyes. "No, genius. We've never met. Or should I say, you've never had the pleasure of having your face smashed in by Surge and Kit."
"I-I'm Kit, by the way…" Surge's companion clarified with a little wave of his hand (his other hand holding firmly onto Surge's).
"Woah, momma." Scourge smirked. "A beautiful woman who hates Sonic? How'd you like to ride up and down the Cosmic Interstate with me, babe?"
Smiling with faux sweetness, Surge made a hand gesture at Scourge and told him to do something that had Silver hurriedly covering Nicky's ears.
Rather than be offended, however, Scourge gave a lovestruck sigh. "Oh babe, where have you been all my life?"
"I'm right here." Scourge's fox companion snarled, tapping her foot impatiently behind Scourge.
"U-um…" Nicky whispered up to Silver "Where's that music coming from?"
Silver looked down at Nicky in confusion, his hands still clamped tightly over Nicky's ears.
"Oh Fiona honey, don't take it personally." Scourge waved off his companion's concerns. "You know me – I just like meeting new people, right?"
Fiona the Fox wasn't amused by Scourge's light tone, however. "Remember who rescued you from the No Zone prison? Who got you back here to Mobius?"
"T-the music? Can't you hear it?" Nicky persisted. Silver just shook his head, shooting a worried look at Shadow – who, naturally, seemed more annoyed by the new faces than anything else.
"Get real, babe." Scourge shot Fiona a quick glare out of the corner of his eye. "You don't know how we got here any more than I do!"
"Maybe I wasn't clear." Surge stomped a foot, sending bolts of lightning shooting out and down into the hill. "Sonic. Now."
"Well, you heard the lady, fellas." Scourge grinned down at Silver and Shadow. "I'd do as she says – she seems like a girl who doesn't mess around."
"We don't have time for nobodies like you." Shadow snapped. "Out of our way."
"D-don't…" Kit mumbled, before six columns of water suddenly shot out of his back, lifting him up into the air. His eye, no longer hidden behind his hair, glared down at them furiously. "Don't you dare talk to Surge like that!"
Screeeeeeeeeeeetch
A sound like a cat being strangled stabbed into the eardrums of everyone present like an ice pick.
Everybody's eyes focused on Nicky, a violin in his hands and a bow shakily sliding down the strings.
"Nicky?" Silver asked, pressing a hand to his face in exasperation.
"It… it's important." Tears and snot were running freely down Nicky's face, his legs shaking in fear. "I… I just know it is!"
The kick came so suddenly Silver didn't even see the moment Scourge was in front of him. Just suddenly, there was green, and Nicky went flying into a hill that glitching into a brick wall just long enough for him to slam into it. He impacted head-first, then went limp. As the wall glitched back into a hill, a bush appeared around his collapsed body.
Silver leaped back in a panic, hands suddenly glowing cyan. "What the –?! Hey, he's just a kid!"
"So?" Scourge smirked, lifting two fists. "I conquered my whole planet, man. You think I'd baulk at kicking a grade-schooler in the face?"
"Hope you don't mind then if the school kicks back then, man!"
Shadow pinched the bridge of his nose. "How are all these people finding us? Is there a sign over these hills somewhere saying 'Annoyances, converge here'?"
"Don't know about anybody else, man." Said the third green newcomer, another hedgehog with oversized shaggy quills, twirling drum sticks in both hands.
"We just followed the awful wailing!" Added his companion, another hedgehog with pink spikes.
Scourge groaned. "Manic and Sonia? How did you idiots get here? This isn't your Zone!"
Manic paused in his stick-twirling. "Uh, bro? What are you talking about?"
Scourge scowled. "You idiots really don't remember that… oh, wait." Scourge smiled. "That was before my little makeover. Forget I said anything, then."
This did not seem to clear things up any for Sonia or Manic, who stared with even greater confusion at Scourge.
Silver looked between Manic, Scourge and Surge. "What's with all the green hedgehogs today?" He wondered aloud.
Surge growled at him dangerously. "I'm a tenrec, moron! That's it! I'm going to kill you all!"
"You guys need a hand?" Sonia offered, settling into a fighting stance.
"No!" Shadow barked, at the same time as Silver shouted "Yes!"
Even as everybody charged in at once, Shadow took a moment to properly glare at Silver.
