Part 1

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Blaze and Silver looked at each other, then Blaze turned to Tikal, sighing. "Might as well rip the bandaid off. Tikal, you're the source of time travel."

Tikal blinked for a few moments. "Hold up, what now?"

"Yeah.." Silver rubbed the back of his neck. "You sent us back in time, and are kind of the anchor holding us to the past."

"Oh. So how does that work?"

Silver and Blaze shrugged. "We honestly have no idea. You're the one who knows, will know. Never mind, we can figure that out later. We still know how to jump forward in time. That's just going really fast and using special relativity to make time for us slow down."

"Right, the faster an object moves the slower it moves through time. I assume you intend to use the chaos emeralds to get ahold of enough power to move at that high a speed."

Blaze nodded. "We're more concerned about dealing with paradoxes. Otherwise, we can't make any permanent changes to the timeline. Are you familiar with the grandfather paradox?"

Tikal thought for a moment. "No…why?"

"Let's take you as an example. You sent us back in time. Let's say we killed you at this point in time. You wouldn't be around in the future to send us back in time, so we wouldn't be here to kill you. But then you would be around to send us back to kill you, so you'd be dead."

"So you'd just create an infinite loop." Tikal thought for a moment. "But that's impossible. Do you guys know how time travel works?"

"We know how to travel through time, and we have a lot of theories. But we don't really know anything concrete. No one's ever time traveled like this before, that we know of."

"Ok, weird way to phrase that. Has anyone time traveled in a different way?"

"Uh, no. Didn't mean to confuse you. Anyway, we think changing time might create an infinite loop, or is just out right impossible."

Tikal kept thinking. "Come to think of it. If time changes, would your memories be changed?"

Blaze nodded. "Yes. But we don't know how it works. We believe your journal will stay the same and allow us to know if our memories change. Your future self told us that it "won't be touched by time.""

"Right…" Tikal took a deep breath trying to process everything she was being told. Then a thought occurred to her. "Do you mind if I see the journal? I want to test something."

Silver and Blaze looked at each other shrugging. Silver handed Tikal the journal. "Here. It's yours anyway."

Tikal took the journal and turned to the first blank page. Then she pulled out a pen. "Well, there is one way to know if it's possible. You two know me pretty well in the future right?"

Blaze and Silver nodded and Tikal spoke again. "Do I still have all my appendages?"

Blaze and Silver looked at each other again, this time concern on their faces. "Uh…Tikal…What do you plan on doing?"

Tikal rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna chop a limb off or anything." She laughed a little, those kids definitely knew her well if they'd expected drastic action. "I'll ask something different. Do I have any marks on my body like tattoos or the like? Maybe clothing I always wear?"

"Well, you did have a bandanna." Blaze said. "Actually, you gave it to me before going back in time."

Silver snickered. "Don't ask to hold that thing. Blaze might just punch you to keep the only keepsake she has from our time." Blaze glared at him and he raised his arms in apology.

This piquedx Tikal's interest. "A bandanna? Can you show me?"

Blaze pulled out a blue bandanna with a purple diamond pattern. Tikal instantly recognized the bandanna, feeling what she assumed was the same bandanna under her shirt. This was her chance. She wrote in the journal. I gave Blaze a blue bandanna with a purple diamond pattern. It's her most prized possession.

Then Tikal pulled out her own bandanna. Blaze's eyes went wide. "Is that?"

Tikal nodded as she pulled out a lighter and lit the bandanna on fire. Blaze and Silver stared at the bandanna. Blaze's face went from utter shock, to total confusion. "What are you doing?"

"Burning something." Tikal said. "Now Blaze. Do you have any keepsakes from the future?"

Blaze thought for a moment. "Well, like I said. I have this wristband." Blaze raised her arm showing Tikal her old green wristband. The odd part was, Tikal remembered Blaze both wearing and not wearing a green wristband. She also remembered Blaze mentioning and pulling out a blue bandanna with a purple diamond pattern.

Tikal looked down at the journal. I gave Blaze a blue bandanna with a purple diamond pattern. It's her most prized possession.

"Blaze. Did you by any chance bring a blue bandanna with a purple diamond pattern from the future?"

Blaze and Silver both looked at Tikal in utter confusion. Blaze raised an eyebrow. "No. Why…?"

Tikal handed Blaze the journal. Blaze and Silver looked at the journal, reading the line Tikal pointed out. "What is this?" Blaze asked.

"It was the previous timeline. Congratulations, you've successfully changed your past. And your journal works."

-

Part 2

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Out on the open ocean, an enormous white ship made its way through the waves. The metal hull cut through the clear water, heading east. Sunlight glared through every window, and fumes shot out from a massive exhaust pipe.

Several hundred military personnel were walking around the vessel taking care of any issues. Near the top of the ship a small office held several men and women in various uniforms. They sat at a round table whose center had the image of the globe, surrounded by a shield.

One of the people at the table, a man named Sam Bladder, wore a gray suit matching his thinning hair. He was one of the first people to speak. "We have to deal with this threat now. If we don't, there's no telling how much damage it could do."

"We can't take that risk. What if Chaos escapes?" A woman in a black uniform said.

A different woman in a green uniform spoke. "It'll escape sooner or later. This may be our only chance to stop it."

"Maybe. But keeping it trapped for now allows us to play for time. Perhaps with enough time we'll have something that can truly fight and destroy that monster." The woman in the black uniform said.

Sam shook his head. "But what about the future it destroyed. If a more advanced civilization fell to that monster, what chance do we have of beating it?"

"We don't know if they really will be more advanced. Perhaps we're near the height of what humanity will achieve. The ones who fought that thing might've been less advanced."

The arguments continued. With how much risk Chaos posed to the world, the global defense force had voted by a 60% majority to keep the creature secret. No one knew how to deal with the threat, and there were concerns of widespread panic if it came to light. For this reason all talk about the issue had to be on ships in the ocean where the likelihood of someone overhearing the meeting was minimized to military personnel.

Some world leaders including the president of Nieve had instead argued that telling the public about the issue would give the best chance of stopping Chaos. Sam had been asked by his own country's president to speak at the meeting for him. It wasn't the first time this had happened, but Sam thought it was a little strange that the president hadn't decided to come himself for an apocalypse level threat. The current threat level should've outweighed the risk of exposing information, but only time would tell.

Sure it was an honor, but it was still a little odd. There were at least 3 people in the country more qualified than him for this. Hopefully Sam's decision making justify him being here, but he'd have to wait and see what resulted from his actions.

The meeting took several hours, dragging on until the sun had set. By that time Sam was starting to think President Nitro had just been looking for an excuse to avoid the meeting, not that the thought hadn't crossed Sam's mind earlier.

He went to bed exhausted and was still tired when he woke up the next morning. Luckily there weren't any more meetings for the time being. Most of the issues with Chaos had largely been resolved, and the two time travelers seemingly had the situation under control for now.

Sam sighed as he looked out across the water. The sunrise was a vivid mix of yellow, purple, and orange. The salty air refreshed his face. This was where an admiral belonged, out on the water.

For someone so high ranking, Sam hadn't seen much combat. Most of the other admirals and generals had been in dozens of gun fights and skirmishes, but he'd only ever been in two. Of course he'd saved the life of a soon to be war hero, but it didn't sit right. He often felt like he hadn't earned the position. Sure he was a successful strategist, but the real heroes were either dead or had survived more battles than he could count.

The only reason he'd even gotten out of his first real combat encounter alive was because of pure dumb luck. As for his last encounter, Shadow was the only reason he still had a right arm. He missed that hedgehog, even if his emo edge lord streak got the better of him sometimes.

Sam laughed, but he stopped when he noticed something on the horizon. A speck appeared in his field of vision, growing in the shape of a red and black hedgehog. Shadow was running across the water toward the ship.

Within a few seconds he was jumping from the water, leaving an enormous ripple with waves that almost hit the top of the ship. Shadow landed on the ship, rolling to avoid damaging the metal floor.

Sam blinked for a few moments. "Shadow?" The admiral overcame his shock and smiled. "Of course you managed to find me here. So what brings you out to the middle of the ocean?"

Shadow lay on the deck for a moment breathing heavily. "Hang on…Give me a second." He coughed out.

Sam couldn't keep the surprise off his face. He'd never seen Shadow lose his breath like this before. Of course everyone had their limits, but he'd never seen Shadow even breathing heavily. "You all right?"

Shadow stood up after a few seconds. "Yeah." He stretched out. "Why were you so far out from land? I thought you usually worked near the coast line."

"Sorry Shadow, I'd love to tell you. But that's classified." Sam sighed. "Besides, you'll probably know soon enough."

Shadow shrugged, "Right…well. I've been doing an investigation. And I need to ask a favor."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Uh…pretty sure anything I could authorize, you already have clearance to access."

Shadow shook his head. "No, not that. I discovered something about Oran."

Sam's face went tense. "What!?" He stared at Shadow for a few moments. "Are you serious? Did you finally find evidence of his murder?"

Shadow sighed. "No…but I did find something else that could put him away for a while. What do you know about the Specimen 343 project?"

Sam squinted his eyes in confusion. "What? What does that have to do with anything?"

Shadow took a deep breath. "Murder isn't the only crime he's committed."

-

Part 3

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Dr. Ivo Robotnick sat down on an old couch with a cup of noodles. The gray paint of the living room walls were starting to peel away. He had the money, but Robotnick could never bring himself to fix the paint or even hire anyone to do it. James had gotten annoyed about it, but somewhere inside he felt he didn't deserve nice walls.

He glanced over at a television, to news reports on Sonic. Information still hadn't been released to the public. Despite Sonic breaking into a police station and breaking out a criminal, Oran had insisted his actions remain secret.

Robotnick smiled to himself, having a feeling he knew why. Oran had been so excited when he'd gotten Sonic's reprogramming code. Of course, what the police chief hadn't accounted for was the way the code worked. It would change Sonic's systems, but only to make him immune to outside interference.

It would reset Sonic on one condition, but that was only if he had intent to kill. Robotnick didn't like that idea of rewriting Sonic's brain. It was basically murder. But the Sonic he knew, had saved the life of a serial killer when the maniac tried jumping out a 15 story building to escape. Anyone else would've let that Nosnam fall, but Sonic had gone after him, grabbed the man, and used a flag as a makeshift parachute. Even when that monster stabbed Sonic in the leg, that stubborn hedgehog refused to let go.

At the trial, Sonic even insisted on a life sentence rather than an execution. The jury decided otherwise, but Sonic never could let someone die, even when they deserved it. His systems were designed so he'd kill threats to society, but somehow Sonic always ignored that. It had worked with Shadow, but Sonic who should've been easier to control had somehow been the one to refuse. There was a slight risk that Sonic's brainwaves would match those sent out by someone with killer intent, but that was a risk Robotnick was willing to take.

It was more likely that Sonic became a threat to society at large. That couldn't be allowed to happen no matter what. He'd been against the failsafe when Sonic was younger, but he'd changed over the years. As much as he hated it, he agreed with Oran. If Sonic ever turned, if something ever went wrong, hundreds of people would get hurt or killed. As Sonic got older and stronger he would only become a bigger threat.

Robotnick flipped through a few more news reports when he came across an old movie about Shadow. Smoke and flames rose up along a dark city skyline. Shadow curb stomped a house sized insect, then looked at the camera. "Time for some pest control." Robotnick laughed to himself.

"Yeesh. Sometimes I forget how much of an ego I used to have." Robotnick jumped, turning to see Shadow sitting next to him. Shadow facepalmed. "Why did you have to change it to that movie?"

Robotnik tried to get his breath back. "Shadow…don't scare me like that. There's only so much this heart can take."

"You haven't built a replacement?" Shadow laughed.

Robotnick rolled his eyes. "I get annoyed at Sonic's sass so much, sometimes I forget who he gets it from. So how'd it go?"

"You were right. I did find something that could put Oran away. But it can't be released without authorization of someone with level 5 clearance. I asked Sam, but he refused."

"Of course you'd go to Sam-he said no? To putting away Oran? Seriously?"

"Said it wasn't a serious enough crime to justify declassifying information of that level."

Robotnick raised his finger in thought. "That does kind of sound like Sam. Guy always thought transparency risked enemies getting military secrets. Which, to be fair, isn't entirely wrong."

A/N:

Comment responses

@momojifan: Feel like if Sonic's not doing something funny or stupid once and a while it'd be out of character. For the brain stuff…yeah…there was some pretty shady stuff going on.