Chapter Twelve – The Triangular Pyramid
Sukko was immediately hugged all around, especially by Sonic, Saffie and Kee Kee, who charged straight threw the wall, after him. He completely abandoned Shads as he was ready to let him go anyway. The Black Titan had been doing extremely well, and had mastered Storm-breaker again, without the axe, even getting a chance to fight back, finally regaining the trust. Him, Saffie's body and Manic were all still staying the nearby woods, waited for the call to arms, if it ever came. They all decided that, at the moment, it was better just the stay out of the way.
Sukko's apologies for loosing it and then leaving, just fell completely on deaf ears. No one wanted to know. They were just so thrilled that he was back, that they desperately wanted him to stay.
Sukko sighed and deeply, smiling hard.
"Alright." He beamed, to the cheers of everyone. He was growing very fond of his new family, and if they wanted him this much, how could he now leave. But he stared at his incredible Skunk friend. He shook his head, still in utter disbelieved, that he got successfully summoned by him. He smirked.
"Everglade, your one hell of a Wizard." He praised. Then he frowned. "How did you even find me, let alone teleport me here?" He wondered. But Everglade giggled.
"It was a summoning, by the way, not a teleport, and Knowledge." He smiled, simply. Sukko frowned.
"Excuse me?" He asked, very confused.
Everglade then filled in the mighty Sorcerer in on everything he recently learned about Magic, all of it's differences and what exactly in Chaos Sorcery he was.
The Power.
Sukko just stared, and he gulped hard, looking down at his hands.
"You know, you have no idea how much sense that makes. I understand relatively little about Magic, compared to you, Everglade." He admitted. But the Skunk smiled.
"I know. That's why I'm here. I'm the Knowledge." He agreed. But Tails heaved, rounding on the Sorcerer, delighted too that he was back. It was bizarre. The Sorcerer, since his arrival in the main timeline, had yet to just come and talk in his house. To spend any length of time there. He did a little when he first arrived, with the tea fiasco, but then he'd just vanished. Ever illusive, he hadn't returned until now. He lit up the entire room, both literally and metaphorically. The Fox frowned.
"But how do we fix this. This so-called 'great evil' is still coming." He wondered. But Sukko just blinked, somewhat stunned.
"I don't know." He admitted, deeply shrugging, as he finally relaxed. So much so that took a hand out of his pocket, and promptly held it up and snapped his fingers. Pearly white Orbs surrounded it as, from out of nowhere, a large white mug appeared, brimmed high with streaming hot tea. He sipped it. It was bliss, in the utter pleasure of it. It had been far too long since he'd properly enjoyed his favourite beverage.
He sighed as no one had any idea where the tea was coming form, and he wasn't going to tell them either. Suddenly, he spotted a certain Wizard, winking at him. He smirked. "But I think you might be asking the wrong person. Everglade?" He asked, passing over the question. The Skunk smirked, jumped onto the table, and promptly sat on it, crossed legged, in front of everyone. Everglade was definitely the Knowledge in this incredible Magical partnership. Sukko was the Power. The Sorcerer's understood that now. Everglade beamed.
"He's learning, and maybe the rest of you need to, too." He grinned. "Yes, as it happens, I do have a few ideas. Blaze had been telling me about what had been happening here, and about these monsters coming through tears in space and time across the cosmos." He explained, looking to Sukko. He nodded, confirming that was what he'd seen. He heaved.
"Yes, the tears are caused when the Multiverse itself physically shifts, on a central privet. Which is here, this dimension, the main timeline. Either left or right, at completely random times. I've see it happen twice, and felt it once. Twice did it tear the cosmos, and monsters did come through, but not everything single time. The tears in the cosmos, leads back to the dimensions themselves, which must range in environments, because some had monsters and some don't. I 'kind of' proved this then I accidentally tore space and time, right through to the cosmos itself, from the other side." He sighed, still guilty. "But I still don't know how I managed to do it." He added, sheepishly. But Tails smiled.
"With a lot of power under the hood." He giggled. But Sukko stared at him, drinking from his mug of tea, deeply, he smirked.
"Take that as given, Fox. I am a God, but how do I nail down such power, so it becomes something more useful. My methods so far, have failed." He sniffed, looking incredibly disheartened. The Sorcerer did have a point, as Everglade chimed in.
"That's why I'm here." He boasted, turning to the Sorcerer. "Sukko, your skills in Magic are exceptional, but, as you've admitted yourself, you lack Knowledge, which is the key here. Raw fire power alone won't defeat whatever 'evil' is coming. I suspect it will appear though one of these tears, but until we stop them from happening, they will continue." He heaved. Sukko, nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly.
"I suspect your right. Everglade. But the only way to stop it, is to return everything to a singular universe again. I have no idea if that's even physically possible?" He heaved. But then the Wizard deeply frowned.
"Why is the Multiverse like this anyway? Any and all research I could find, in the Sol Empire, didn't say anything." He sighed. But Sukko giggled.
"It won't. I found the Sol Empire out in the Cosmos. It's natural location is physically nowhere near the Multiverse, so therefore it can't be influenced by it. It's too far removed. That's why tears in the cosmos will never land there, neither will naturally occurring or mechanically generator inter-dimensional portals. Multiverse is just literally consists of million of Mobius's and that's it. Any other planets are not involved. As usual, Magic doesn't follow the rules, I could technically inter-dimensionally travel anywhere." He shrugged. But Everglade frowned.
"But the Magic? Why though?" He wondered. But Sukko deeply thought.
"I have no idea." He admitted. "I just pushed it and it succeeded. Mobius, with it's high levels of Chaos Energies, is exceptionally good for casting on, which I suspect, Everglade may have already noticed." He sniggered, to the Skunk nodding hard. "And with the huge numbers of versions of Mobius, the concentrated of Chaos Energy between them all adding up, is insane, and it's largely centred here. The main timeline, which sits right in the absolute centre of the Multiverse. I don't think I would have exploded so spectacularly, if I had been stood in any other dimension. The amount of Chaos Energy around you does dictate to some degree, how much power under the hood, you can use for casting. I was able to cast in the Sol Empire, when I saved the place, which has little Chaos Energy, because one, I was using my energy stores, and two, I largely borrowed from Mobius. Which one, I don't know, I didn't know about the Multiverse back then. Not that it did me any good, as doing that pushed me to my limit, as I badly crashed very badly afterwards." He shrugged. Everglade growled.
"You sneaky devil, that's god-like abilities, and that was years ago. Sukko, how long have to been The God Of The Cosmos?" He spat. Sukko smirked. No, it wasn't God-like abilities, but he wasn't going to admit that. But being a God, itself, yes, time to tell the truth. He heaved as he looked towards Frank, as he and the Bear, looked at each other. Sukko gulped and hard, bitting his lip.
"Since the Restoration." He admitted, indicating his own dimension. Frank's jaw utterly dropped, as the only person there, who was present at the time. He swore, and hard, as he ran across the room, and grabbed the Sorcerer, panting.
"Sukko, that was before you became a Doctor." He gasped, but Sukko smirked.
"Frank, and it when I was still working in Intelligence, following Sonikku around, as he fought Eggman." He hissed. "I knew it was you working at the in-house Doctor at the Restoration, at the time. Even though you didn't exactly tell me, who you were. But your the one who heavily steered me into medicine, so I thank you." He added. But Frank stared, as he gasped and hard.
"The Ascension." He stammered, looking around to confused looks, he explained. "The Wisps, in my dimension, came down to us to bid their permanently farewell, they were leaving, and Sukko rose up and went with them. I take it that was when you became the God Of The Cosmos?" He wondered. The Sorcerer rubbed his eyes, as he nodded hard. Frank swore again. He gulped. "Oh Chaos, you were so incredibly young back then." He stammered, but Sukko again nodded.
"Yeah. I know." He admitted, still sipping his tea but Frank just frowned.
"I don't really remember it well." He wondered, but Sukko smirked.
"You won't. Sonikku, from my dimension, was destined to die, when Eggman got defeated. In order to cheat this, I had to do some serious Magical recalibrations of the entire planet, which unfortunately lead to it's deletion, and rebuild in the Genesis Wave. I swear, that wasn't intentional. Everyone's memories got wipes at least four times, so that fact that you remember the Ascension at all, is because when I restored your memories, I allowed you to remember everything." He admitted. But Frank's temper exploded, as he grabbed the Sorcerer, but the collar of his black coat. He roared.
"You destroyed our home." He growled, his eyes streaming with tears, but Sukko's own temper snapped, as did his deep, vivid blue Telekinesis, which exploded from his hand, and it promptly picked off the Bear up and threw him against the far wall. The Sorcerer hissed.
"Frank. Loosing Sonikku wasn't a option." He spat. Frank nodded, now somewhat frightened. Sukko was still a mighty Sorcerer regardless, as he let Frank down, the Telekinesis vanishing. But suddenly, the resident Sonic piped up.
"But Sukko, there's other versions of me." He informed, but as Sukko calmed down, as the Magic vanished, he heaved.
"I know that now, but trust me, I didn't, back then. I was a young and stupid God Of The Cosmos who wasn't very all knowing. I just didn't see beyond what was ahead of me. I had the power to successfully save my Sonikku, so I did. But..." He paused. "The price was a high one." He sniffed, looking at Frank. "I'm so sorry." He whimpered. But Everglade, completely stunned by the story, moved from the table, and came between them, his arms out wide. He growled.
"Guys, calm down. What's done is done, it can't be changed. Everyone makes mistakes, some more then most." He hissed, as he eyed the Sorcerer down hard, causing him to squirm with guilt. He heaved and hard. "Well, you are a Blue Hedgehog, it comes with the territory, but what we have to do is concentrate on the here and now, and solve the current problem we have." He hissed. But Sukko huffed and rolled his eyes.
"Like what?" He spat, but Everglade scowled, unimpressed.
"The Multiverse. How did it come to be, and why is it just Mobius?" He frowned, again. "If we work out why the Multiverse exists in the first place, then we may be able to stop it from tearing up the cosmos." He glared, right at the Sorcerer. Sukko blinked, he had no idea. But a Fox, who'd been intensely listening in the background, suddenly piped up.
"Er, I know the answer to that." He stammered, raising his hand. Every stared, astonished. He smiled. "Every dimension has The Hero, The Villain, and The Sidekick. Three sides of the same triangle, and everything else revolves around it. Sonic, Tails and Robotnik, are all fixed points in the Multiverse. Everything else including their relationship to each other changes from one dimension to the next. Well, something happened between them, as we are in every single dimension of the Multiverse and the rest of you are not." He growled, but then sighed. "There is a good chance that none of us might not even remember the event that triggered the creation of the Multiverse, but it exists because of it. But, like you say, the Multiverse doesn't want to be this way." He added, looking at the Sorcerer. "Hence the instability." He explained. "I used to believe that when a planet is locked, it is shed from the Multiverse, left to drift out into deep space. A pocket dimension, the residents completely safe and none to wiser as to what has happened. But since Sukko visited the Greater Cosmos, I have since learned that, that's not true. The dimensions physically go nowhere, and only the purple inter-dimensional portals are locked out, but travel to those dimensions is still possible through supernatural means." He explained.
There was utter silence as Everglade tried to process it. As an explanation, it wasn't he was expecting, but from what he'd heard from Blaze, it was entirely plausible. But the Sorcerer, was heavily deep in thought. From what he'd experienced of the Multiverse and physically seen, it did make some sense, but something was bothering him. Suddenly, he starting acting extremely strangely. Suddenly, he put his tea down, as he grabbed the resident Sonic, and physically pushed him, until he was stood at one corner of the table in the lounge. Confused, he frowned at Everglade, whom smirked, suggested that the Blue Blur play along. He nodded. Suddenly, he grabbed Tails, and placed him at the other corner, then muttered, "Eggman, Eggman?", under his breath. Out of nowhere, he was thrown a broken piece of the Human's tech, which he promptly placed at on the far of the table, creating a perfect three sided shape between them.
Then Sukko above their heads, with his eyes glowing, physically draws with his bright blue illusion an enormous triangle, each of them stood on one edge. Everglade giggled with excitement.
"Sukko, whatever you've got, run with it." He encouraged, but the Sorcerer wasn't really paying attention. Still deep in thought, looking at the triangle and then at his twin, the resident Sonic, and back. He heaved.
"No, the sides of the triangle doesn't feel right." He frowned. He put his hand up, and with his eyes still glowing, and turns the triangle. He nodded. "Yes, The Hero, The Villain, and The Sidekick at three points of the triangle, but why wouldn't you remember the event that triggered the Multiverse. Something that epically explosive on such a cosmic scale, would have been felt, even if they wouldn't have understood what it was." He heaved, but Everglade heaved.
"Assuming it happened to them." He wondered. Suddenly, Sukko grabbed Everglade, and kissed him on the forehead, which left the Skunk going rather red. He panted.
"Everglade, your a genius. Bloodlines. Something did happen, just not between Sonikku, the Fox, and Eggman, but with our fathers or grandfathers..." He gasped, as the sentence ground to a massive halt. Sukko's colour drained from him, as he realised the impossible. He put his hand over his mouth, utter shocked. He heaved. "If all three of the families are identical across all the dimensions, which I suspect they are, then I know when the event happened. There a fourth point to that triangle." He stammered, indicating the illusion, and as he looked at the resident Ultimate Lifeform, who was stood in the corner of the lounge. Sukko heaved. "And it's you, Shadow." He heaved, to the gasped of everyone. Tails squealed.
"A Triangular Pyramid. With each of our ancestors at point, with Shadow at the very top." He panted, but the Black Hedgehog growled.
"What? Me? But I didn't do anything wrong." He scowled, but Sukko gulped, trying to calm everyone.
"No, you didn't. But I think your creation itself definitely had something to do with it. I have extensively researched my and Sonikku's family tree, back on my dimension, but I suspect it'll be the same here. I know that our grandfather, Sir Charles Hedgehog, was an inventor and engineer who helped in the original plans and construction of the Ark. He was aboard the Ark when Eggman's grandfather, Gerald Robotnik was using it, fifty years ago." He heaved. Sonic stared.
"Whoa, that's two of three. Tails, did you ever have a relative work aboard the Ark?" He wondered. Tails went very white and rather small, as to everyone's shock, he nodded.
"I have only very recently found out, as I am now finally old enough to gain access the Mobian Authorities Family Archives. Imagine my shock, when I found out that my great-grandfather Luka Prower, was a genetic engineer aboard the Ark. I don't think he worked on Shadow's creation itself, but was employed to work on other experiments." He admitted. Everyone gulped, as they all looked at Sukko. Everglade smirked, under his breath.
"Nicely done, Sorcerer." He praised, as the Sorcerer's illusionary triangle vanished. The comment caused Sukko to go slight scarlet. But Sonic frowned.
"Right, so we've potentially found the exact point in time, which caused the event that smashed the Multiverse. But what happened between our ancestors and how does Shadow come into it?" He wondered, but Sukko just shrugged.
"Now that, I don't know. I can't see beyond the present. No past and no future. Only ever the here and now. I don't have the gift of foresight."He admitted. But Everglade just frowned and hard.
"I think there might be a way." He smirked. But Sukko frowned.
"How?" He wondered, but the Skunk just giggled.
"We time travel it." He sniggered. But Sukko just exploded, rounding on the Wizard.
"What? Everglade, that's impossible. Besides, you don't have the power under the hood, to perform that kind of cast, it'll kill you." He spat. But Everglade just smirked right back at the Sorcerer.
"But you do." He grinned. But Sukko rounded on him, his temper flaring.
"Everglade, I can't time travel. I have tried everything over the years, but nothing worked. It can't be done." He roared, turning away from the Skunk, and storming off, his long black coat, flaring out behind him. He grabbed his tea, and downed the drags, draining the mug, in one almighty gulp. Shaking it out, he stuffed the mug back into his quills. But Everglade heaved, chasing after the Blue Hedgehog.
"Sukko, you know how I said that Wizards and Sorcerers cast opposite Magic. You can manipulate space with your teleporting, able to travel anywhere. The opposite of that is time. But I have no intension physically travelling back through time. You right, I don't have the power for that, but I wish to travel through memories, in time, and observe the events that happened aboard the Ark. Find out what caused the Multiverse to break and shatter, but not interfere." He panted, desperate for the Sorcerer not to fight him.
But Sukko was deep in thought, as he turned and stared at the resident Shadow. He frowned.
"If you used Shadow as a base for those memories, as a bridge, then it's might be possible. He was present at the time of the Multiverse shattering event happening, even if he wasn't directly involved, or even remember it. Him being on the Ark, fifty years ago, will be enough to get us to the correct point in time and search." He explained, but then he rounded on Everglade. "But this will require huge levels of stamina to maintain the cast for long periods of time, to be able to search and then observe the memories when found. Wizards aren't exactly known for endurance casting." He heaved, glaring at the Skunk. But Everglade smiled.
"When I realised the true differences between Sorcerers and Wizards, it significantly improved my teaching of Arthur, and it was so effective that working together, we managed to literally combine Magic." He beamed, but Sukko frowned.
"What? Like group casting?" He wondered, but Everglade shook his head.
"No. When Wizards group cast, they add strength to a original singular cast to boost it was from underneath, making it stronger, but not actually change it. What me and Arthur managed to do was literally combine Magic, our colours intermingling." He smirked, but instead of being impressed, the Sorcerer just giggled.
"Yes, and how badly did Arthur's emerald mix with your sun yellow. How utterly yucky was the resulting lime green?" He smirked. "Vomit coloured?" He added. Everglade when rather white, as he promptly gaged. He heaved, calming itself.
"Er, yes, it was rather vile, but regardless, it worked. Our combination to a colour of summer leaves, should be much more pleasant." He panted, rather relieved. Sukko just smirked, and hard.
"Well, it's not easy being green." He smiled, specifically thinking of Manic, to much laughing around the room. Everglade, just huffed at him and then rolled his eyes. He allowed himself a smile, but he growled at the Sorcerer. The Wizard pointed at one end of the table.
"Sukko, sit." He ordered, of which the Sorcerer, still intensely giggling, did exactly as he was asked. He sat on the end of the dinning table, crossed legged, moving his long, black coat out of the way. Everglade, then sat himself, identically, on the table, opposite him. He heaved, to the still heavily smirking Sorcerer.
"Look, I need to teach you the cast, so I'm going to knowledge dump you." He informed, and suddenly, he clawed his fingers on the hand with the power ring, and began muttering under his breath. Bright yellow streamed of bright illuminant vapour-like hue, exploded from the hand, as Sukko groaned and hard, rolling his eyes.
"This is going to take far to long. Everglade, you've forgotten, again." He smirked, as he extremely quickly, move forwards on the table, onto his knees, and with his eyes glowing a deep vivid blue, he slams his lower palm of his left hand, right into Everglade's forehead, itself glowing blue. Instantly their minds connected, as Sukko promptly and very quickly downloaded the knowledge. "I'm Telepathic." He sniggered.
Everglade's cast instantly collapsed, as he was left shaking, overwhelmed with Sukko's incredible power. In less then a minute, Sukko's broke off, the two of them collapsing back into their places, either side of the table. The Sorcerer's frowned.
"Oh, so that's what your planning." He heaved. But the Skunk was left panting hard, heavily swearing at the Sorcerer. He growled.
"I forget because you don't act it." He hissed, of which Sukko just huffed. He folded his arms.
"Well, be grateful that I don't." He spat. "I could mind control everyone, in the entire room, I just choose not to." He growled, and then suddenly, he rounded on the Ultimate Lifeform, who was to the side of him. He gulped, his eyes glowing again. "Sorry, Shadow." He added, apologising, as suddenly, he quickly put up a hand and a snap his fingers. Shadow suddenly stopped, shook himself slightly and then immediately went very rigid, his eyes now glowing a deep blue, his whole body now presently a pale, sky coloured aura. Everglade gasped.
"That's not possible." He stammered, as Shadow just swaggered up to the table in between them, and placed his hands on it. He smirked.
"Are you sure about that. Everglade." He hissed. But not as the Ultimate Lifeform, the voice was far too warm. It was stuffed with the sass and sarcasm of a certain Sorcerer, whom hadn't said a word, with his head his hand. He just shrugged. Everglade jaw just dropped. He was frightened, truthfully, everyone was, but Sukko just sighed through Shadow. He heaved. "Everglade." He scowled again, getting the Wizard's attention. "The cast! Look, I really don't like doing this. I've talked to Shadow and we currently have his cooperation. He curious about this, but I don't want to do this, any longer then we have to." He growled, making the Black Hedgehog's throat rumble and hard.
Everglade, immediately snapping himself back, he quickly nodded.
"Right. You know what to do. Just follow my lead." He asked. Sukko nodded. They both place hands, on his knees of his crossed legs, palms upwards, and clawing their fingers. Everglade, concentrating hard, muttered an extremely powerful incarnation, under his breath, as balls of bright yellow light appeared in his fingers. Sukko copies, gritting his teeth, but his Magic was significantly strong and faster in casting. Silently, blue balls appeared in his hands. Suddenly, streams of royal blue and stunning sun yellow Magic exploded from their hands, revolving around each other, like a tornado, in between them on the table.
Suddenly, the speed increased, as a deep line of jet black Magic exploded from Shadow's forehead, as he began providing the memories for the cast. But Everglade, began the wane and badly. The drain. Panting hard, it was excruciatingly painful. Sukko rolled his eyes. Unable to speak at that moment, the Sorcerer found an alternative way to communicate. Suddenly, growling hard, pulling the Magic deep from his gut, he suddenly, did an entirely separate cast, as a large ball of bright blue light, about eight inches across, just out of nowhere, appeared opposite Shadow. It growled and hard.
"Everglade!" It voiced, loud and strong, much the shock of everyone. It flickered perfectly with the words, that enumerated from it. The Wizard jumped hard, as the Sorcerer's voice sounded perfectly from the ball, but Sukko's mouth didn't move a muscle. The Skunk gasped, but the Sorcerer's nodded. He growled, from the ball of light.
"Now, Everglade, listen to me. The drain is hitting you hard, I can feel it. Now I'll trade you. You give me the drain. I'm a Sorcerer, I can take it, and I'll give you the power." He proposed. "But be warned, Skunk, brace yourself. My power is hefty." He added. Everglade blinking hard, nodded. He didn't really have a choice, it was just too painful. Immediately, he aimed for Sukko, and just pushed the drain as hard as he could towards him. Sukko groaned slightly. Yes, that drain was incredibly uncomfortable, but nothing he hadn't handled before.
But Everglade smirked. Hefty power, huh? He wasn't convinced. Sukko was not that good. But the Sorcerer then dug down extremely deep into his gut and pushed, almost everything he had, at the Wizard, and suddenly, Everglade screamed, but quickly regained his composure. Panting hard, his gasped, gritting his teeth hard, as he desperately pushed the intense power towards the cast. He swore and hard. Hefty was an understatement. It was the most powerful Magic Everglade had ever experience in his life, seriously trumping anything he ever seen at the Order of Eldin. Granted, he didn't see everything, including the larger casts, but he saw most, and this was mind boggling.
Suddenly, the tornado spins faster, until finally the Magic combined, and a beautiful emerald-green whirlwind forms, striped with black from Shadow's memories. Everglade, with incredible power at his fingertips, and almost no drain, put everything upwards, until finally, Shadow's memories explode in stunning black illusionary images of his life, above their heads. It was showing his more recently memories. Immediately, Sukko intervenes from his ball of light. He gulped.
"Er, Shadow asks if we can skip that, and go back, straight to the Ark, fifty years ago." He asked. If was obvious from the Sorcerer's voice that Shadow was as intrigued by this, as everyone else there, as they all gather around to watched. Everglade nodded with respect, and still leading the cast, he moves his hands out in front of him, and turning one anticlockwise, the memories began wizzing backwards, like a video being rewound.
Even at the huge speeds, Sukko easily kept up, as suddenly, he shouted "Stop!" from his balled of light, and everyone saw the Ark, fifty years ago, busy and bustling. Everglade, then using his hands, starts moving around the memories, looking all over the Ark, searching for a potentially event that caused the disaster. Soon, Everglade founded Sukko's grandfather Charles Hedgehog, and began following him. He was seen clearly arguing with Gerald. He downright objected to Shadow's creation, believing it to be morally wrong. Despite Charles's objections, and with Black Doom's blood, Gerald creating Shadow anyway, with Luka witnessing it. Unable to stop the procedure, what he did next stunned everyone. He directly told G.U.N., of Shadow's existence and potential threat, leading to the soldiers storming the Ark, forcing Maria to get Shadow off the space colony. A move that cost her, her life, with a fatal shooting.
Suddenly, the gunshot rang out from the memories, and Sukko screamed, at his cast of Magic caused it to ring out right across the cosmos. Echoing millions of time, right around the Multiverse.
They'd found it.
The event that created the Multiverse was Maria's death.
Immediately, Everglade collapses the cast, dissipating the Magic, as Sukko does the same, the both of them panting, but the Skunk significantly more so. Shadow is immediately released from his mind control, now deeply intrigued, somewhat shaken, but truthfully, not that surprised. He heaved.
"The tipping point at the very centre of the triangular pyramid, as the Fox so-called it, was a loud gunshot of Maria's death. The combination of all the actions we've seen leading to the unstoppable and unmovable event. A fixed point in the Multiverse. Going back in time, and stopping Maria from being killed directly, before the event, will do nothing. She will still die anyway, by some other unnatural cause, other then when it's naturally her time. This was the event that smashed the main timeline into thousands of pieces, thus created the Multiverse. This left Gerald, Charles and Luka present in every single Multiverse, and therefore, so are their descendants, Eggman, Sonic and Tails." He explained, but then Sukko rounded on him, as he realised something. He heaved.
"But as the Multiverse has matured over time. I spotted out in the cosmos, dimensions were naturally springing up without the Ultimate Lifeform present, or even the Chaos Emeralds. It's Natural Divergence." He nodded, but Everglade frowned.
"The only way to reverse the Multiverse, is to find the one world in amongst the millions, that was the original timeline, which is this one, and go back in time, and prevent completely Shadow's creation in the first place. Stopping his creation will stop the combination of the unfortunate series of events that lead to Maria's shooting and death. It was the only way for the main timeline to survive alone, a singular universe, is for Shadow to never have existed and for Maria to not die before her time." He added. Shadow blinked, and gasped, but what happened next blew him away. Sukko roared, flat out, refusing to do it.
"No way. I would rather fight monsters in the Multiverse for the rest of eternity then loose the Ultimate Lifeform, or any of them." He declared, pointing straight at him, to a utterly stunned Shadow. He growled. "But the consequences of those influenced by Shadow, would be lost, including myself and the resident Sonic, was just too great. Millions would die. But the speed of time increases in the Multiverse, the further away you get from the point of origin. That was why in in my dimension, on the edge of the Multiverse, before the Genesis Wave, Eggman was already gone, and I'm significantly older.
While Sonic, here, on the main timeline, was still very young, fighting Eggman with no sign of a victory. For the main timeline, only fifty years has passed, but for some other dimensions, even further out, due to Cosmic Acceleration, hundreds, if not thousands of years have passed since the Multiverse's creation. Too much time since Maria's death, the event that caused the creation of the Multiverse. The Multiverse had become far too integrated, settled, relatively stable, despite constantly shifting. It has naturally started creating it's own dimensions, outside of the main events that triggered it, such as Saffie's world. He told me that aside from Tails and a version of Robotnik, absolutely nothing was the same. Different friends, different power stones, everything. To remove Shadow now, could outright destroy everything. There was no guarantee whatsoever that it would return the main timeline to a singular universe, alone in the cosmos. The highest likelihood is that there would literally be nothing left. Everything could cease to exist." He panted, to a now silenced room.
They all gulped, including Shadow. They could change it. In both the Sorcerer and the Wizard. They had the combined Magical power to do it, but they realised the risks were just to great. With no line of sight to a guaranteed victory, they had no choice to keep the Multiverse exactly as it was. Sukko was relieved, as he get keep his beloved husband, his Stripes, but it meant that as the God of the Cosmos, he'd be fighting for the Multiverse, for the rest of time.