Shadow is almost on him when Nine realizes what's happening. He gasps, flinching back.
Blue light shimmers before his muzzle. Nine gapes and Shadow's eyes widen as his fist strikes the blue surface and bounces right off. Shadow stumbles back with a grunt, but quickly steadies himself and glares at the blue wall separating the open garage from the study room—a forcefield?
"Security protocols activated," a robotic voice chimes, and Nine jumps, swiveling around.
Tails is glaring at the hedgehog, his finger on his tablet screen.
"You're not Shadow…" Tails looks him up and down. "At least, not the one from this dimension." He pauses, face hardening. "So you're not welcome here."
Shadow scowls. "But he is?"
His sharp eyes pierce Nine, and a chill rushes up Nine's back, phantom fingers closing around his throat. He tries brushing aside the sensation, inhaling deeply. No air enters his lungs. Panic bursts in his chest. He can't breathe, he can't breathe.
"Has he told you what he's done?" Shadow asks, quills bristling. "Why he's in this world?"
Nine barely hears him as the room slants, bookshelves warping and bending like rubber. He's trying to breathe but he can't, he can't. A hand catches his wrist. Nine jolts, the world snapping back into focus while Tails drags him behind himself, blocking Shadow from view. Suddenly sweet oxygen flows into his lungs and Nine almost cries in relief.
"He," Tails growls, his hand slicing through the air, "Has told me enough."
"Then he's told you lies," Shadow seethes, quills raising.
Yet rage flashes across Tails' face, his hand tightening on his Electric. "Lies? So the panic attack he's having is a lie?"
Nine tenses and Shadow's eyes narrow while Tails' namesakes rise threateningly. "And those bruises on his neck are liestoo?"
Nine's eyes widen. Tails noticed that?
However, Shadow scowls. "If you know a version of me, you should know I'll eliminate any threat to the world." A dangerous edge enters his voice. "And I'll take out anyone who gets in my way."
Nine shrinks but Tails tilts up his chin. "Wouldn't be the first time I fought a Shadow."
Nine's head snaps to Tails and even Shadow is taken aback. Yet Tails just turns, dragging Nine into the hallway.
"That forcefield won't hold him forever," Tails whispers as they pass the kitchen. "But if we take off from the observatory, he might not—"
He stops and Nine almost crashes into him, yet pulls away at the last second. He's about to ask what's wrong when he notices bright light glinting off the floorboards. Nine follows the light to its source.
The door is wide open, the forcefield glowing just outside the frame. Someone is in here.
Nine's heart clenches. Shadow didn't come alone, and if his companion is who he suspects… He glances at his yellow device. Should he portal away?
Nine looks to his twin. Tails' thumb is sliding over his tablet, the fox scrolling through his security footage in search of the intruder. Nine's face contorts. If he opens a portal, Tails will know he tried to kill Sonic Prime… He'll never forgive him if he learns the truth.
Nine bites the inside of his cheek but lowers his device and tugs Tails towards the entrance. "Let's just make a run for it before—"
A sonic boom shatters the air. They flinch, spinning around. Sonic stands in the study, scratching his head and looking everywhere. "Woah, this place is huge, it's like an actual house!"
Nine's jaw tightens. He figured Sonic was here, but seeing the hedgehog in the study, beside that perfect red plane, near the comfy sofa where Tails sat shoulder-to-shoulder with him, reading aloud that detective novel in a soft yet fervent voice and laughing when Nine started leaning into the book like that would help him determine if the museum curator was the thief or the artist stole her own paintings, and he'd forgotten all about being called not real.
Rage inflames his chest. Sonic doesn't belong in Tails'—his home. So he's about to raise his device and fire when Tails stutters, "Sonic?"
Sonic's quills shoot up and his head snaps towards them.
"Nine?" Shock ripples across Sonic's face. "You're…"
His eyes fall on Tails. They grow impossibly wide. "Tails?" Sonic chokes.
Nine's twin tenses and starts backing up. Yet he yelps as he's torn from Nine's grasp and suddenly Sonic is spinning him in a hug.
"Tails!" Sonic beams. "Buddy!"
His green irises gleam blindingly bright, his skin crinkling adoringly around them, and Nine's heart shrivels. He turns away, expression crumbling. He knew that adoring look had never been meant for him…yet it still hurts seeing the teen give that look to someone else.
"Get off!"
Nine's head jerks up as Tails knees the hedgehog's chest. Sonic drops him and clutches at his torso, coughing while Tails flies free.
"Come on!" Tails waves frantically at Nine.
Quickly, Nine shakes off his shock and takes flight as Tails soars towards the doorway.
"No, wait!"
Tails ignores Sonic while he goes to click off the forcefield. Black streaks behind the blue wall. The foxes recoil as Shadow slides to a stop, his hand splaying on the welcome mat.
"Sonic," Shadow growls. "Get Nine!"
Nine whips back while Sonic rights himself, expression strained though his eyes are resolved as they meet Nine's. However, Tails glides in front of Nine, arm spreading out defensively.
"Come any closer and I'll switch my security settings to lethal," Tails hisses, his thumb rising over his tablet screen.
Sonic shrinks, hurt twisting his face. "Buddy?" he asks uncertainly. "Don't you recognize me?"
Tails scowls. "Just because I know a Sonic doesn't mean I know you." Sonic's ears curl low. "Which means you're a stranger who broke into my workshop and threatened my friend."
Nine's breath hitches. They're…friends?
Sonic frowns but nods. "I guess that's fair." His expression grows serious. "But even if you don't know me, I need you to trust me." He gestures at Nine. "We need him to come back with us or our whole universe is going to fall apart."
Tails falters while Sonic's face falls. "I can't let that happen…" He bows his head. "I can't let my friends just disappear. Amy…Knuckles…" His sad green eyes peer up. "You."
Tails' expression pinches, and though he hesitates, he soon flies down and drops by the hedgehog.
"What exactly do you need?"
Sonic perks up but Nine drifts to Tails' side, glowering. "He wants me to give up the Paradox Prism so he can fix all the dimensions in the Shatterverse, but some of the Prism energy is inside Sonic, and the Prism can't fix anything until it's regained all its power."
Nine looks to Tails. His face softens. "That's why I've been searching for a power source that rivals the Prism in this world." He looks away guiltily. "So I can fix what I've done."
Sonic's brow rises in surprise while Shadow observes him with a too-knowing gaze but Nine only has eyes for Tails. He needs him to believe that's why he kept leaving the workshop. So once word of Sonic Prime's death reaches his ears, he won't make the top of his suspect list.
Tails bites the inside of his cheek, expression worried yet not untrusting. "Okay…you're saying you need this Paradox Prism to stop your universe from falling apart, but it can't fix anything because part of its power is inside Sonic, and since you two are fighting, Nine doesn't want to give the Prism to you anyway. Right?"
Nine and Sonic blink, and their stunned silence must be enough of an answer because Tails grabs his chin, glancing thoughtfully at the ceiling. "Well, we could try combining the Prism with a chaos emerald, or use the Master Emerald to replenish the energy Sonic took from it."
His expression grows abashed and he rubs the back of his head. "Assuming Knuckles isn't around to see us borrowing it."
Nine cocks his head. Master Emerald?
However, Sonic gasps. "You have the emeralds here? And the Master Emerald?" He looks past Tails to Shadow. "Did you hear that, Shades? We can try using—gah!"
Sonic drops to his knees, face screwing up with agony. Tails and Nine gape as the teen flickers from translucent to solid.
"What is—are you okay?" Tails crouches beside Sonic, grabbing the teen's arm.
Yet Nine just stares while Sonic grits his teeth, letting out a pained hiss. Is this because of what happened in the Grim, when he tried to drain Sonic of the Prism energy? Or does this have to do with Sonic Prime? Could his plan be working?
The hedgehog flickers again and slips through Tails' arm like a ghost, landing on his hands. "Sonic!" Tails cries, reaching for him.
However, Nine's eyes go cold. Regardless of the how, Sonic is fading away.
A smirk warps his muzzle. And when Sonic is erased, the Prism power inside him will have nowhere to go except back to the shards. He can save the Shatterverse, save the Grim. He smiles at Tails. And he won't live there alone.
"You did this."
Nine flinches while Shadow growls. "I know you're behind this, you—"
The forcefield shatters. Nine's eyes blow open wide.
"Treacherous fox!"
Nine finally unfreezes and spins around. Shadow's fist is a hairsbreadth away. Wrathful red eyes, a snarl pulling back Shadow's muzzle, and suddenly Nine is back in that alley, hands squeezing his neck and the world graying around him. So he misses the two-tailed sphere slamming into Shadow's side, and as Shadow crashes into the wall with a grunt, Nine doesn't hesitate to click his device.
A portal opens up beneath Nine's feet and he's falling in before he realizes what he's doing.
"Nine?"
Tails' startled voice cuts through the phantom hands gripping his neck, the fear paralyzing his heart, and Nine blinks back to reality and sees the portal shrinking right as Shadow lunges at Tails.
Nine's heart drops. "Tails!"
He desperately reaches up.
The portal closes and he grasps cold winter air. Nine stares blankly at the gray-white sky for a moment. Then his legs tremble and he drops to his knees on cold sand, arm dropping. He left Tails with Shadow. He could kill him.
Guilt compresses his chest and he heaves a shuddering gasp. He has to go back, but he's no match for Shadow. Yet if Tails dies, he'll die too… There's only one option then.
Nine shuts his eyes, teeth clenching. No time to look for an alternative.
So he looks at his comm and taps on the screen, pulling up his GPS. Red and yellow dots are stationary on the map, meaning his Grim bots either found Sonic Prime or have already defeated him.
Nine's tails spin and he blazes over the beach because his Prism energy is getting low and he'll need all the power he has to defeat Shadow.
Snowflakes pummel his eyes, his hoodie batting against his neck, but he pushes his tails faster. Tails…hold on.
"I'm here, I'm here."
Tails had looked at him with such worry, such kindness. From the moment they met, Tails had done nothing but make him feel welcome and safer than he'd ever felt… Tails is his friend. He'll do whatever it takes to save him.
His comm beeps and Nine doesn't even check the GPS before barreling down into a forest of snowy pine trees. He lands hard on the frozen dirt, his metal tails stabbing the ground.
He's breathing hard and fast, chest pumping painfully, when a cry pricks his ears. His eyes snap up.
Sonic Prime is stumbling, dirt staining his face and head turned away like it just rolled with a punch. Nine's jaw drops as Grim Tails dives at him, clawed hands swinging. Yet Sonic dodges around the fox's hands in a blur, backing up.
Red flashes beside Sonic, but he can't even turn before Grim Sonic uppercuts his chin. Sonic grunts, flying up, and the Grim bots leap over him. The robotic fox and hedgehog share a mischievous look and then they're throwing themselves into curls, spinning towards Sonic.
The hero gags as the two-tailed sphere strikes his side, but his voice cuts out as Grim Sonic slams into his back. Soon it's red and gold comets pounding into Sonic from every angle faster and faster until the blue is lost behind streaks of red.
Nine blinks owlishly. His plan…is working? Sonic Prime is losing?
Part of him knows he should stop this, yet he's frozen while the Grim bots spring out of their curls in perfect unison. Sonic falls limply, eyes shut in pain and bruises showing through patches of razed-off fur. However, Grim Tails giggles, eyes slanting in cruel amusement, and latches onto Grim Sonic's wrists. The fox whisks its fellow bot at Sonic and the red hedgehog aims its claws at Sonic's throat.
Nine swiftly remembers he needs Sonic alive.
"Stop!" he orders, his tails launching him at the hedgehog.
Both bots' eyes widen and Grim Sonic tries pulling back as Nine glides in front of it. Yet its claws still clash with his tails while Sonic hits the dirt and rolls over to a tree, frost showering him.
"Stand down." Nine glares though he's angry at what he has to do, not at his creations.
Quickly, Grim Sonic takes back its claws and drops in a crouch. Grim Tails glides to hover by the bot and Nine, its glowing optics round with confusion as it glances between him and Sonic.
Nine goes to explain because his robots had been performing amazingly and shouldn't think they did wrong.
"T-Tails?"
The breathy whisper makes Nine's mouth shut and his expression go cold. He turns. Sonic is rising, clutching his side and looking him over.
"Wait." Sonic's face pinches. "You're not—"
"My name is Nine."
His metal tails open up around him. Sonic gasps.
"The one who's been trying to kill you."
Sonic gawks and Nine can't help but smirk while Grim Tails flies to his side, chuffing slightly, and Grim Sonic steps up beside him, hands clenched as he glares.
So I think I like Grim Tails too much, but I probably like every version of Tails too much 😅
Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this chapter! The plot is definitely heating up now, so feel free to let me know what you think might happen next or anything else you want to talk about 😊
Now, have a great day!