A/N: Whaaat? A brand new chapter only half a month after the last one? I must be dreaming!
But nope, I managed to cruise on through and make a new chapter in just half a month! Though, it is a shorter one than usual because it's kind of a bridge chapter to enter the Shadow Saga, even though it's my rewrite of episode 33. I do have a lot to say about it in the ending notes, so stay tuned.
We are officially entering one of the most anticipated sagas of Sonic X: the Shadow Saga! Just a heads up that it will be a bit more different than the original, because Sonic Adventure 2 already happened within the timeline. But I know you'll like it just as much!
And since the Thorndykes are going to Minneapolis, shout out to all my Minnesota readers! Sonic's friends are headed your way! :D
I would like to thank JustinTheSpider, Shadow-Ragna, DeniseGalante1009, Girlbook, and Marvel's disneydream universe for favoriting and following since my last chapter!
Shoutout of the chapter goes to gregorian12!
Without further ado, let's move on to the reviews and what matters most: the story!
9 Reviews
dbehi1
You'll see ;)
Ushigomesan123
Thanks for your review, I'm glad I could make your day a little better!
blazeknight01
I know, I loved that like about Tails too! XD
That's true, but Eggman will always find a way to make things go his way.
Guest
Sadly, no, I don't currently have plans to adapt the Advance or Rush games into this story, but I do agree with you that they are underrated. In fact, I really love the Advance games and their art style.
Just-A-Fan
I really like your ideas! I'll see what I can do with them, but spinoffs would definitely work better for my story.
D.J. Scales
Those are really great ideas! The Neo Metal Sonic and Dark Gaia adventures were some of Sonic's toughest, but who knows what Eggman will do next with the Phantom Ruby?
gregorian12
Thanks! This is why I'm really glad I set this story after Forces, so I could have a proper explanation to the season 2 arcs, and I can do a lot with the Phantom Ruby in this story.
CreativeKitty975
It's great to see Super Sonic have his first fight on Earth where he has full control of himself! And poor Chris, hopefully he's doing okay after the Perfect Chaos incident.
That's true, Sonic can learn from the Sonic Adventure 2 arc from last time so he knows what to expect this time... or does he? Eggman is always trying to stay one step ahead of Sonic, but can he do better this time?
You didn't have to wait long for this chapter, did you? :D
DeniseGalante1009
Yeah, Bokkun is still around, he just hasn't appeared in a little while, but he'll appear again very soon. And yes, Decoe and Bocoe will be back, but not right away.
Chapter 31
Episode 33
Aftermath! The Thorndykes Move to Minneapolis
Mobius Redux
Station Square – Sun November 20; 9:23 AM – Sonic's POV
The sound of chainsaws, the beeping of trucks backing up, and the motors of other vehicles filled my ears and heralded the next morning as I rushed back into town. It was a complete disaster. Even though the heart of the city was spared, the suburb of Farnsworth was completely unrecognizable. There was debris everywhere, and the entire place was leveled. It was just like I remembered from back in the day, but at a smaller scale.
All things considered, it could have been so much worse. If it weren't for my quick acting, and, of course, Tails' help, it could have been a one-to-one repeat of the original Perfect Chaos attack. To think that Eggman repeated that tragedy on purpose… I didn't think he would stoop so low as to kill so many people like that, just to repeat his plans. Perfect Chaos had already taken five million lives the first time around.
It was incredible how far the effects of the water reached. There was some standing water as far south as downtown and even Thorndyke Mansion, and there was still enough water in Farnsworth to pilot a boat. It was hard to imagine that even though Perfect Chaos was just an illusion, all the water it made was very real. I couldn't explain that, but I had a feeling that somehow, the Phantom Ruby was more powerful than ever before. How exactly, I didn't know, but I had a feeling I would find out soon enough.
But I wouldn't be alone with rescue efforts. Tails, Amy, and even Knuckles had agreed to pitch in and help. Knuckles was right, it was just like being in the Restoration after the war.
I looked over at one of the few dry parts of land in Farnsworth to see Knuckles helping a group of people flip a car back upright, which he did with the greatest of ease, because the job was already done by the time I got there.
"Hey, Knux!" I greeted the echidna. "Man, it's really something else how far out the water went."
"Yeah, I heard it could take up to three weeks for all of it to go away," Knuckles said as he picked up some two-by-fours and cleared them out of the road.
"That's a really long time…" I said, looking around at the devastation around us. There were hardly any standing buildings in the immediate area, but there was a two-story building not far from us that had miraculously stayed intact, even though it was still heavily damaged.
Knuckles nodded. "Oh yeah, keep an eye out for looters. I already caught three of 'em today," he said.
"People do that here?" I asked incredulously as I helped Knuckles clear out all the wood and debris from the stretch of road in a matter of seconds.
"Humans," Knuckles shrugged. "Hey, are Tails and Amy coming?"
"Yeah, they're still coming, don't worry," I told him. "They're just gonna check on the house first with the Thorndykes. And speaking of, I also heard that Chris' parents just got into town this morning."
"They're gonna look at the house too?" Knuckles asked, and I nodded. "It's probably not gonna go over too well with them, I imagine," he said quietly.
"Yeah," I agreed. "One thing for sure, though, is that the cleanup crews are gonna make it look good as new in no time." Knuckles nodded. My statement was an exaggeration, because I was sure the cleanup crews would be stretched thin trying to cover all the areas that were flooded, and I wouldn't doubt that they had to call in units from other towns and cities.
"So I guess the rest of you guys are heading over to Matt's place today?" Knuckles asked.
"Yup, that's the plan," I said before turning to leave. "Welp, I gotta juice. Lots of people need saving, and frankly not a lot of time. I'll keep an eye out for those looter guys you talked about. See ya 'round, Knux!"
Thorndyke Mansion – Sun November 20; 3:08 PM – Chris' POV
The whole front yard was abuzz with activity.
There were several Servpro vans in the driveway, taking care of the water that was still standing in the foyer, as well as seeping into the carpets. Even though it was my own house, I was a little nervous to go inside in case it smelled like mold in there.
The second floor was spared the wrath of Perfect Chaos, but most of the furniture and area rugs on the first floor were ruined. Lots of handymen were bringing out all our first-floor furniture, and Mom was outside, inspecting it closely, especially the base and legs. She told me to assume none of it could be salvaged.
About half an hour ago, Mr. Tanaka went out back to inspect the hedges, as well as the tennis courts. He told me they could be salvaged, but the tennis courts would need extensive cleaning to prevent mold from growing. I had no idea that mold would be such an easy problem to have in a scenario like this.
I looked over at the growing piles of furniture that were outside. The one that was closer to the house were all the keepers, including the pinball table and gumball machine. However, most of the furniture was closer to the front gate, and it included the couches, all the rugs, and our whole dining set. Anything else made of wood couldn't be salvaged either.
Mom looked over as a pair of handymen pulled her first floor vanity out the front doors. She looked carefully around the base for any signs of permanent water damage.
"Okay, we can still salvage this, so let's put it in the keeper pile," she instructed.
The whole time, I was in utter shock. I could not believe this happened to our house. It took everything I had not to cry. I wished this was all just a bad dream. I wanted to wake up so bad. But no, I had to face reality. This was a living nightmare. Our own home had been flooded, and it was all Eggman's fault. To see everything ruined like this… It was a wake-up call that especially went out to rich people like us: money could not be taken for granted.
The governor had declared a state of emergency for my county and the one north of it, and there was an announcement in the news that schools in the region would be closed for the foreseeable future. This did not include my middle school, however.
"I still can't believe it…" I lamented.
"Me neither, honey," Mom told me. "I made sure to ask for a special leave from filming to make sure everything was okay here. I hate Dr. Eggman so much…"
"Me too… He came back really fast," I said. It was a harsh reminder that peace didn't last forever, especially when Eggman was involved.
"I know… I was just starting to get used to him not being around," Mom said. "From what you told me, dear, he doesn't know when to give up. This man put your life in danger so many times, Christopher. I know your friends can take care of themselves just fine, but it's up to the point now where I honestly don't know if I can trust you to go on adventures with them anymore. You guys are magnets to danger–"
"WHAT?!" I exclaimed in shock. Mom looked taken aback by her own words.
"O-Oh, no, no, I'm sorry, dear, I didn't mean it like that! It's not like I'm telling you not to be friends with them, it's just that I'm worried that one of these days, it's gonna go too far and something will happen to you that you can never come back from."
"I-It's okay, I can handle myself, I promise," I tried to reassure her. "And even if I can't, my friends can take care of me."
At that moment, I noticed Grandpa approaching us from behind.
"Hey, sorry to interrupt, but I have to borrow Chris for a moment," he told me as he led me away.
"It's okay," Mom said. "Oh… Oh, we can't salvage this. See how there's water damage on the legs. We'll have to throw that out. Oh, my favorite antique rocking chair… I can't even…"
Once Mom was out of earshot, Grandpa turned to look at me.
"I overheard what your mom was saying to you," he told me, "and for once, I think she had a point– I-I'm not saying you should stop going on adventures with your friends, but after what they just told me this morning, I think it may be a good idea that you sit this next one out, okay?"
I blinked. "Why? What's happening?"
"Tails and Amy gave me the gist of the next adventure– Actually, let me back that up a bit first for you. Did they tell you anything about a Phantom Ruby?"
"No," I replied. "What is that?"
"They said it was a powerful gem that can make things real, even if they're not real. Like Chaos yesterday, that was made with the Phantom Ruby."
"Oh…"
"And they told me they believe Eggman is using it to give himself a second chance at his old plans, so they have an idea what's coming next. And this next adventure is gonna take them up into space, and frankly, I don't think it's a good idea for you to go to space at your age."
But that only made me more confused than before.
"Oh, okay, but what's up there? Are we gonna have to deal with more aliens?"
"Oh, sorry," Grandpa said as he pulled away from me. "Excuse me, only one box of rations per family. One box, please."
Over near the garage, there were almost a dozen box trucks and flatbed trucks, and there were hundreds, perhaps thousands of people coming and going. Several locations, including our house, were designated one of the ration drive locations, and there were many boxes of rations containing emergency prep essentials, including flashlights, batteries, weather radios, blankets, and most importantly, food. There were so many people there that there was a heavy police presence so that the crowds wouldn't get too unruly. I couldn't remember the last time we had so many people over at our place.
But then I noticed Frances and her family in the crowd. I was surprised to see a familiar face there, but I wanted to know what she was doing over at my place, so I made my way over to her.
"Frances!" I called as I approached her. She looked in my direction and smiled.
"Hi, Chris!" she called over the crowd.
"I wasn't expecting to see you here!" I said.
"Yeah, I wasn't expecting to be here… not like this, anyway… but my house got flooded out, so me and my family are going down to our summer house in Long Beach until the repairs are done," she told me.
"You got flooded out too?" I exclaimed incredulously.
Frances gasped. "You too?!" I nodded. "Oh man… How bad was it for you?"
"Well, uh, the whole downstairs got covered in a couple inches of water, and Sonic said he was surprised the water went this far out. And sadly, some of the furniture got ruined, and my mom is going through it to see what we can keep."
"I'm really sorry to hear that…" Frances said quietly.
"It's okay… What about Danny and Helen?" I asked.
"Oh, Danny's folks were worried that they were gonna get hit, but they all got spared. And Helen lives a bit further out, so she didn't get hit either," Frances explained.
"Okay, that's good to know," I said. "Right now I'm just waiting for Tails and Amy to get here so we can say goodbye to 'em, because we're gonna fly out to Minneapolis to stay with my cousin until this place gets fixed."
"Franceeees! Hiiii~!" came Cream's squeal of delight as she ran to Frances, with Cheese right behind her.
"Hi Cream!" Frances beamed as she bent down to the bunny's level, and they hugged. "How are you doing? Oh, hi Cheese!"
"Chao chaaoo!"
"I'm doing really good!" Cream said. "But it's sad that we're all going away soon…"
"Yeah…" Frances said. "I'm gonna miss you guys so much."
Just then we heard the sound of a helicopter coming over the trees, and our heads swiveled in that direction. I immediately recognized my dad's chopper coming into view, and even though it was very loud, I had gotten used to the noise. Cream, however, had to cover her large ears, which seemed hard for her to do.
The police helped to clear the people away from it as it descended and landed on the grass about fifty yards away from us.
"Is that your dad?" Frances asked.
"Yeah…" I replied in confusion. "But he never told me he was coming."
"Weird…" Frances said.
"Hey, Frances," Grandpa greeted as he walked toward me. "Tails just called to say he and Amy will be over to see us off in just a few minutes."
"Okay," I replied as Grandpa headed off in the direction of the helicopter, leaving Mr. Tanaka in charge of supervising the prep kit distribution.
I glanced over the crowd of people, many of whom were homeless from the north side of the city. I didn't know how long it would take them to be able to get new homes, but I was sure it would take a long time.
But then I heard some commotion on the other side of the crowd, followed by Sonic's voice:
"Anybody missing their kid?" he called.
A few anxious parents looked up expectantly, but one mother saw Sonic standing on top of a small box truck parked nearby and made her way through the sea of people toward him.
"Jimmy! Jimmy!" she shouted, her voice filled with worry and relief. I never thought of how people could have been separated from their loved ones like this. It was a reality that no one wanted to ever have to go through, and I was thankful that me and my friends and family weren't separated from each other since the disaster.
Sonic hopped down from the truck carrying the small boy who looked around three years old, and once his mother reached him, they had a tearful reunion. It was heartwarming for me, Cream, and Frances to watch. But before we could blink, Sonic was gone again.
I looked over to see Grandpa approaching again, as Dad and a few men stepped out of the helicopter in the distance.
"We're gonna need some extra help bringing the food and supplies to the pile over there, so if you have nothing to do, you can come help us if you don't mind," he said, pointing to the piles over by the trucks.
"Okay," I said as I walked toward the helicopter, and Frances and Cream followed me. Cream held on to Cheese to make sure he didn't get lost in the crowd, which was held back by the police so they couldn't approach and potentially get in the way.
"Hi, Dad!" I called as I got close.
"Hey, son!" Dad called back as he and the men carries the boxes down to the bottom of the helicopter's ladder. "You guys doing okay after yesterday?"
"Yeah, I think so," Chris said. "Sonic beat Chaos, which is good."
"He sure did," Dad said. "Looked like he was having a pretty rough time, though."
"Yeah…" I said. "But he's okay now."
I bent down and picked up one of the boxes, and I saw Cream trying to lift another box next to me, but it was a bit heavy.
"Here, I got it," Frances volunteered as she picked it up and followed me out of the helicopter.
I saw the hired men placing more boxes in a pile near the folding tables that were set up, and I set my box down in one of the piles. The grass was still wet, so I had to take that in mind and make sure not to run on it. Ella was by the tables, unpacking the boxes and distributing their contents across the tables.
On my way back to the helicopter, I could see Grandpa out of the corner of my eye, walking to a microphone which was connected to a speaker, which he used to address the crowd a few times this morning.
"Attention everyone! We just got a supply of fresh pie and Stouffers! Fresh pie and Stouffers! Come get as much as you need!" he called. "They're over at the folding tables at the top of the driveway!"
Pie sounded really good, but they were for the needy people, and besides, I knew Ella could make the best pie in the world at any time.
I picked up another box, but it felt light enough for Cream to carry, so I chose a slightly heavier box and picked it up. Being careful on the helicopter's steps, I got off and walked back toward the pile. This went on for about another five minutes until Cream pointed up in the sky.
"They're here!" she called.
I looked over to see the X-Tornado landing nearby in X-Cyclone mode. Some people covered their ears at the sound of its engines, but I had gotten used to it by now, so I didn't need to do that, especially since they were quite a distance away from us.
A minute later, Tails was airlifting Amy above the crowd to make their way over to us.
"Hi guys!" Amy greeted once Tails set her down.
"Hi!" Tails echoed, and the rest of us said hi and waved too.
"Hey Frances! Long time no see!" Amy beamed when she saw her human friend.
"Yeah, it's been a long time!" Frances agreed, shaking Amy's hand.
"Her house got flooded out," I pointed out. Frances nodded.
"Oh no, I'm so sorry…" Amy said sympathetically. "Do you have another place to go? 'Cuz if you don't, we can always-"
"I-It's okay! I got a summer house in Long Beach, I'm going there with my family," Frances clarified. "But thank you anyway!"
"Any time!" Amy said with a smile.
"Hey Tails, hey Amy," Grandpa greeted as he made his way back over to us. "I'm going to tell Mom we're leaving now, and she can take care of everything from here."
"Hey Chris!" came Danny's voice from the crowd. I turned around, and I was surprised to see Danny approaching me, pushing Helen in her wheelchair! I was surprised that they showed up, much more that they arrived at the same time!
"Hi guys!" I called.
"Hey! You doing okay, Chris?" Helen asked.
I nodded. "Yeah, we're about to leave for Minnesota," I told her. "And Frances said you guys didn't get any water at your place."
"Yeah, we're lucky to be spared," Helen said.
"Tails called us saying that he was gonna come over and say goodbye, so we wanted to come too," Danny explained. "We had to run like Sonic to get here!" he added with a laugh. I laughed with him, and so did Cream.
"I'm gonna miss you, Chris," Helen said with sadness in her tone as she reached her arms out to me. I walked over and gently gave her a hug. I was going to miss her too. We had bonded so well in the past year, to the point where my heart fluttered every time I thought of her.
"Me too…" I admitted.
Cream was trying not to cry, and I realized I was in the same position as her. We weren't going to see Tails and Amy in quite some time because they had to stay behind to help the city with recovery efforts.
We all shared a goodbye hug, and I knew I wouldn't be able to see Sonic in a long time either. Even though it wasn't anything like that one night in May, it sure felt like it at a smaller scale, and it hurt my heart to say goodbye like this.
"Hey," Tails softly said, "If you guys ever get lonely and you need some extra company, we're just gonna be a short flight away. And you know Sonic can be there for you in no time."
Amy nodded. "Yup, and you guys are gonna be up in Minnesota for, like… two months, I think?" I nodded. "Okay, that's not bad! Two months are gonna fly just like that, and before you know it, it'll be time to come back here."
Even though I was sure their encouragements went to Cream more than to me, I felt myself being uplifted by them.
"I'm gonna miss you lots, Chris," Mom said as she came toward us, and I gently hugged her. "You too, Cream. Mommy's gonna get your house good as new again, okay?"
I nodded, and Cream did the same.
"I'm already homesick…" Cream admitted, and I realized I was feeling the same way. We couldn't actually go inside because it was still flooded. Except for a brief time yesterday, I hadn't been at home since yesterday morning.
"It's all right, dear," Mom said, gently patting the bunny's head. "You'll be with your friends and family, and I'm sure you're all going to have a wonderful time with Matt. Tell him I said hi!"
"Mhmm…" Cream whispered and snuggled Cheese closer to her.
"The RV is ready, Mrs. Thorndyke," Mr. Tanaka said as he approached. "Ella and I will be going with everyone to Minnesota."
"That's fine, Mr. Tanaka," Mom said. "Nelson and I got everything under control from here on out. You did a wonderful job."
"Take good care of your family now Chris, all right?" Dad called.
"Okay!" I called back. Even though it made me feel mature, it felt good to hear Dad say that.
"Bye guys!" Danny called. "And Chris, call us when you get there!"
"Yeah!" Frances seconded.
"I will, I promise!" I called.
"Take care!" Amy added.
"Bye!" I called back as I followed Cream and Mr. Tanaka to the RV.
I was a bit nervous because we would be on the road for a few days, and I didn't like long road trips terribly much. It was ironic, considering I liked flying in the X-Tornado. But on the bright side, my family and Cream and Cheese would be with me. And Tails and Amy were right, it wouldn't be so bad after all.
The White House – Wed December 21; 6:30 PM EDT – Third-person POV
Ever since he was a young boy, Michael Klaus Remerson looked up to the President as a hero.
The Presidents of America's past had accomplished many amazing things, such as helping America win numerous wars and forming ties with other countries. Even in the homeland, the Presidents helped to protect their country and its citizens. Remerson found it amazing watching the President on TV, taking control of situations like he was taking the helm of the ship and steering the country out of rough waters. These heroic actions had always made him want to be the President when he grew up.
But sitting behind the Oval Office's desk was absolutely nothing like he thought it would be as a child. To even get to where he was today, he had to work his way up the ranks over the decades and fiercely campaign against tough opponents. Even now, in the White House, he dealt with the opposite party on a near-daily basis. Negotiations and trade deals were practically a blur for him, as were days like this one, four days before Christmas, where he sat signing bills and approving or vetoing the things that the state governors did.
"Next," he droned as his aide, Christina Cooper, passed him the next stack of bills. It was a tough job that seemed to never end, but someone had to do it.
Ever since Sonic had destroyed Perfect Chaos, the President too had been flooded, not with water, but with countless bills and requests from California alone.
He had flown out to tour the disaster area, but there was still so much water in the area. Even the airport had endured minor flooding in literally all the corridors, so flights had to be diverted to Los Angeles, San Diego, and other nearby airports, which forced him to go to LA and be driven to Station Square.
When he finally got there, he found that it was worse than he imagined. There was still standing water in the northern outskirts of the city, trees were leveled everywhere, and the suburbs were completely unrecognizable. The damage cost came out to be close to $70 billion, and around 400,000 lives were lost. And to think Sonic had to deal with that same monster once before, or so he learned…
Since then, he had approved of bills including a tax cut for citizens in disaster-stricken areas, approval of the payment of loans for destroyed residential buildings and small businesses, and a special budget increase for GUN to assist with the disaster, as well as funding for the mass production of a robot army of their own. To this day, he was still getting bills relating to the disaster in Station Square.
Just then an aide entered the room.
"Mr. President, Secretary Stafford is here and he has some urgent news for you," he reported.
President Remerson nodded. "Send him in," he said, feeling grateful on the inside for the change of pace.
Secretary of Homeland Security Rod Stafford entered the room holding his phone.
"Mr. President, I just got several reports of an unidentified space station in the upper atmosphere, and this is from several credible sources, such as NASA and Area 99," he reported.
The President blinked. "Unidentified?"
"Yes, Mr. President. It wasn't there yesterday, and at a closer look, they were able to detect non-human technology aboard, but it was otherwise built by human hands."
The President was still in disbelief.
"But that's impossible," he said.
"It's true. Have a look," Stafford said, showing his phone to the President, who studied it carefully. It was built by humans, or so it looked, but there was something else that was different about it.
"There's speculation going around that is has a connection to Mobius," Stafford continued.
"Hm… Then in that case, we will need to talk to Sonic about it; perhaps he knows what this is. And while we're at it, it may be a good idea to get Rouge here as well," the President decided.
"Do you wish for it to be arranged now?" Stafford asked. The President nodded.
"Yes, Mr. Secretary. This is a national priority."
Matt's apartment – Thu December 22, 3:02 PM CDT – Chris' POV
"Mr. Chris…? Your tea is ready…!"
"O-Oh! Thanks!"
I was roused from my daydream by Cream who was bringing me a cup of tea that she helped to make with Ella. I took a small sip of it as reality came back to me. I could hear the sounds of Grandpa's hockey game from the living room, and the apartment was decked out in Christmas decorations that we all helped pitch in to buy. Ella was in the kitchen helping Cream and Cheese pour their own cups of tea.
"How long have we been here?" I asked.
"Let's see…" Ella said as she looked at the calendar. "It's been… a little over a month now."
"That long?" I voiced my surprise. I thought we were only here for about three weeks. Amy was right about the time passing quickly.
"I know," Ella agreed. "Time is really flying out here, isn't it?"
"Mhmm," I said.
"I miss home just as much as you do, bambino, but I promise you everything is going to be okay," she said, gently rubbing my back. "I'm sure the cleanup is coming along just fine, and we'll only be here for one more month, and then we can all go home."
I looked out the window at the traffic below us. I felt so out of place living right in the middle of a big city like this.
"I don't know if I can get used to living in a big city like this," I stated. "It's really different… And busy."
"Mhmm…" Cream agreed. "This is how I felt when me and all my friends came here. I miss my real home a lot… but I really like Earth too."
As I took another sip of my tea, I started wondering how my friends were doing back in Station Square. Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Knuckles were all doing their bit to pitch in with recovery efforts, and they were still at it even a whole month later. There was a lot of cleanup for a disaster that big. I didn't know if that part of town would ever fully recover after Chaos' rampage.
I knew that Danny, Frances, and Helen all missed me too. We hung out together last year on Christmas break, but it was a bit sad that I couldn't be there with them this year. Christmas break aside, it was weird not being in school, even though my school was still open, and I probably wouldn't go back until around February.
I was not allowed to leave the apartment unless my grandpa or Matt went with me, because Minneapolis was completely different and way bigger than Station Square, and it would be super easy for me to get lost in. I felt so out of place in Minnesota. This was probably how Matt felt deep down. The more I thought about it, the more I found myself missing being back home and flying in the X-Tornado and going on adventures with my friends.
"Are you thinking about home again?" Cream asked. I nodded.
Cream sat down next to me and gave me a gentle hug, and Cheese did the same from the other side of me.
"It's okay, Mr. Chris, we'll get through this together!" she told me. "You're very strong on the inside, even when things are very hard."
I smiled and hugged her some more.
"You too, Cream," I said. I had to hand it to her, she was immensely brave despite being without her mom for over a year.
Grandpa yawned and stretched from the living room, having paused the hockey game he had saved on Matt's TiVO from last night. He stood up.
"I'm gonna run down to the store and get some more eggnog," he said as he went over to the door to put his shoes on. "Wanna come with, Chris?"
"It's all right, Professor, I can get it," Tanaka said.
"It's fine, Mr. Tanaka, this is a special outing, but thank you anyway," Grandpa said before looking at me again. "Just you and me, Chris, because I want to chat with you about a few things."
"Okay," I said as I finished my tea and got up.
"Bye-bye, Mr. Chris! Have fun!" Cream called.
"Chao-chao!" Cheese echoed.
"Bye!" I replied back as I followed Grandpa out of the room, and he closed the door behind us.
As we started walking down the hall toward the elevators, Grandpa turned to look at me.
"Are you feeling homesick again?" he asked.
"Y-Yeah…" I admitted. I had been coping so well until just now. I didn't know how it all came crashing down at once.
"I know, it's a big change, even if it's temporary," he told me. "In fact, two of the biggest stressors in life are death and moving. Believe me, I know what it's like to move away from everything. Back before I got my start founding Starship Soft, before all the wealth and fame, I went through a lot of hardship. I had to move from house to house four times by the time I was Matt's age, and they were all in different parts of the country. I had to get used to different schools with different students, and it was hard, but I did eventually get used to it.
"And now you're in a similar situation yourself. You're in a brand new place, you don't know anyone here, you're not comfortable – does that sound familiar?"
Even though we already had a talk like this shortly after we arrived, it hit different for me this time.
"What do you mean– Ohh… Kinda like Sonic, I can see that."
"Exactly," Grand nodded as he pressed the button for the elevator. "Think of it this way, Sonic and his friends were all sent here irreversibly thanks to Chaos Control, and when they got here, they didn't know anyone. They were all scared and confused at first, but guess what? They eventually got used to it over time, and not only that, but they're fully used to Earth, and they even made some new friends.
"I know it's not ideal, but it's possible for you to get used to something like this. I mean, I certainly don't blame you if you can't, but just keep telling yourself it's only going to be one more month until you can go back home."
I nodded. "I think I understand. I just gotta follow their example, right?"
Grandpa grinned. "Atta boy."
I smiled too as we stepped inside the elevator. It wouldn't be so hard, especially if I was already halfway through this change of scenery.
"You still miss your friends?" Grandpa asked.
I nodded.
"Do you remember what they told you before we left?"
I didn't answer. I remembered what Amy said about time flying, but only bits and pieces of everything else that happened.
"Well, Tails told you that if you're feeling lonely, you have their number, so you can call them any time you want and they can come over for a visit. Do you remember now?"
"Oh yeah, now I do!" I recalled. "But, uh, they're still busy."
"That doesn't matter, because a promise is a promise, and it's not like them to not keep their promises," Grandpa gently told me as the elevator doors opened and we stepped out.
"O-Okay then, we can call them," I decided.
"All right, I'll go ahead and do that while we're at the store. In fact, I've been missing them too, and it would be nice to have them over for Christmas."
"Oh yeah, then we should definitely call them," I said, feeling much better about the decision.
"We should get a move on and get the eggnog before Matt gets back from his shift at Best Buy," Grandpa told me as we hurried out to the car.
The White House – Thu December 22; 5:03 PM EDT – Third-person POV
"Sonic, Rouge, thank you both for coming," the President said as the two Mobians entered the Oval Office. Christina Cooper closed the door behind them. "And I hate to call you away from your work in Station Square – we as a nation are grateful for your assistance – but we have some urgent matters to discuss. Privately."
"It's all good," Sonic said.
"I'm sure glad we're not doing this in front of Congress," Rouge said quietly. Deep down, Sonic agreed. He didn't want panic stirred up among the people over something like this, especially if it was going to be on national television.
"It is with your interest at heart that we decided to do this here and not on Capitol Hill," Christina explained. "Anything said here is strictly confidential; you have our word that not a word of what you say will be breathed outside these doors."
Sonic nodded as he leaned against the wall, and Rouge reclined on one of the windowsills.
"So what's up?" Sonic asked.
"Well, to start with," the President said, "there is a rumor spreading that your planet's history's is replaying here on Earth as a result of the Master Emerald adapting itself to Earth's dimension, and this is a rumor we have taken seriously, enough so that we have come to call it the Mobius Redux. Is this true? That your history is repeating here, I mean."
"Yeah… Well, to an extent," Sonic explained. "We don't have any solid evidence about this yet, but somehow Eggman's behind it, and it's not really repeating on its own. It's got nothing to do with the Master Emerald, either, that much we know."
"So where did the rumor come from?" the President asked.
"We kinda thought something different was happening as soon as Eggman came back, and the doc tried to play along with that rumor, but we knew better as soon as we figured out Eggman was the one in control of everything. We got an idea how he's doing it, but like I said, I don't have any proof to back it up yet."
"Okay, because I was gonna say, this sounds illogical even by your standards," Christina said.
"It kinda is, but not really, 'cuz it's not a one-to-one repeat of the first time it happened on Mobius," Sonic said. "And the reason for that is, well… Eggman's rebuilding his tech to try and simulate history repeating, so that he can give himself a second chance at his old plans."
Even though it wasn't the whole truth, it wasn't a lie either, because Sonic didn't feel ready to tell them about the Phantom Ruby, mostly because he didn't see it in person, so he didn't have solid evidence that it was on Earth.
"He's right," Rouge said from the window, and everyone looked at her. "There's quite a bit of merit to Sonic's claim, but of course, it's not perfect. There were a few differences betwee then and now."
"Such as?" the President prodded.
"Well, first off," she said, "way back in the past, one of Eggman's robots defected with the help of Amy Rose. This time around, they didn't even interact or cross paths with each other, and as far as I know, the robots are still with Eggman. And intact, I'll add, 'cuz last time, they were all destroyed."
"Okay, this is interesting," the President said, "but it might just be a fluke. What else happened?"
"Well, let's see… the Egg Carrier crashed in the ocean, so Eggman built himself a second Egg Carrier just in case, but it got blown up by Chaos. But this time, he didn't even need to make another one 'cuz the first one's still up."
"And the Mobius Redux is also what urged you to warn Station Sqaure about Perfect Chaos," the President said, piecing the puzzle together.
"Yup," Sonic said.
The President folded his hands across his desk. "So how did you know any of this was going to happen?"
Sonic's eyes closed slightly in thought.
"Perfect Chaos, or…"
"Everything."
Sonic took a moment to think back. This was the first time he talked about it since it happened, since he turned down interviews because he was focused on helping to clean up Station Square.
"Okay, there's a lot that happened. So it all started when me and Knuckles ran into Chaos in the city, and my friend Big found a Chaos Emerald, which got swallowed bu his pet frog, and it grew a tail. All that happened last time too, and– Oh, one other thing, Knuckles said he saw Chaos break the Master Emerald, which made the whole island fall in the ocean. That happened last time too. And because of that, he was the first one to think history was repeating.
The President nodded.
"Okay. So what happened next? So that we can be prepared for what happens next here." he asked.
"My friends and I talked about it the night after we finished beating Chaos, and the next big thing that happened involved a black hedgehog who looks kinda like me, a space station, and a–"
"Ho-Hold it, hold it," the President interrupted, holding up his hand. "Did you say space station?"
Sonic looked a little confused. "Yeah, what about it?"
"Because we wanted you to know this as soon as possible, and in fact, this brings us to the exact reason why we summoned you both. Military surveillance in both NASA and Area 99 detected a space station orbiting Earth, and it's larger than the International Space Station. They know for sure it wasn't there yesterday."
Sonic's eyes widened a bit.
"Oh… That definitely sounds like it's the next part of the, uh… redux, or whatever you call it."
Rouge hopped off the windowsill.
"Do you have a picture?" she asked.
"As a matter of fact, we do," Christina said. "Give me a moment, I'll pull it up."
"This is definitely the ARK, I can feel it," Rouge said. "Oh, this is giving me chills… I can still remember it like yesterday…"
"Okay," Christina said as she turned her phone to face the Mobians. "Here it is. From my perspective, this doesn't look like any space station we've ever built."
"That…" Rouge was agape. "That is Space Colony ARK…"
"It can't be…" Sonic said. "There's no way that thing was Chaos Controlled to Earth."
"So it's from Mobius?" the President asked as Christina put away her phone. Rouge nodded. "What role did it play in your world's history, assuming it is part of the redux.
Rouge spent the next few minutes explaining Space Colony ARK's role the best she could, as well as Project Shadow.
"This is really something…" Christina said. "We didn't have tech like this 50 years ago. In fact, we didn't even land the first men on the moon until a little over 50 years ago, and the most advanced manned space station is the International Space Station, and that was built in 1998. But this space station looks much more advanced.
The President was just about to speak when the doors to the Oval Office burst open and several Secret Service agents burst into the room and tackled Sonic to the ground before he could react.
"Hey, what d'you think you're doing?!" he yelped as he struggled in vain against the agents. "Get pff me! Hedgehog's gotta breathe, y'know!"
"What's all this about? What's going on?" the President called.
"We just got word, a federal arrest warrant has been issued for Sonic the Hedgehog on charges of armed robbery," one of the agents explained. "We're handing him to GUN to take him to Superior."
"Armed ro– That's not like him at all!" the President exclaimed.
Rouge stepped forward. "Look, I know Sonic, this is not something he would do!" she pleaded.
But the Secret Service agent would not be moved.
"The video evidence doesn't lie," he said. "See it for yourself at your earliest convenience. Let's go, Sonic."
Sonic relented as he was helped off the floor and led out of the room. The agents closed the door behind them.
"Oh my gosh…" Rouge spoke at last. "It's happening as we speak…"
"What's happening?" the President asked, thoroughly confused. "And why was I the last to know about his arrest warrant?"
"I don't know, Mr. President," Christina said.
"I know this is kinda a bad time, but what is Superior?" Rouge asked.
"The Superior Containment Facility," Christina clarified. "It's an artificial prison island located in the middle or Lake Superior."
Rouge could not have looked more grim.
"This is sounding awfully familiar, and I don't like it…" she stated.
"Familiar how? Was this part of the Redux too?" the President asked.
"Not to be rude, but we should probably see the evidence now and discuss the redux later," Christina said. The President nodded.
"I couldn't agree more, Secretary Cooper," the President said.
A/N: And that concludes "Project Shadow"! Even though Project Shadow didn't appear at all in this chapter, it's okay because it wouldn't work for the way I'm rewriting this arc.
Also, I unfortunately had to scrap the subplot with Mr. Stewart and Scarlet Garcia. Even though it was one of my favorite parts of the Shadow Saga, I couldn't make it work due to the way I'm rewriting the arc I had plans to replace it with a subplot featuring Mr. Stewart and Topaz, but I scrapped that too because I couldn't make it go anywhere that counted. And that's a shame, especially since I made a bit of headway with that subplot. Maybe sometime I might revisit it and include that idea in the story.
I also scrapped a moment I was going to have where Chris thought about Matt at the end of the scene where he was talking with Chuck, but I felt like it was a bit unnecessary for that scene.
Also, I apologize if Matt is not the best OC, (even though my chapter centering on him was good IMO) because he is the first OC I ever took seriously and wrote a detailed backstory for. I'm not sure if his backstory is poorly thought out, so I encourage all reviews about him so I can make him better.
I encourage all reviews and constructive criticism!
Next time: "Shadow Knows", where Sonic rolls around at the speed of sound, and the heroes get to the bottom of the mess Sonic is in! Don't miss it!
