Chapter Two – Regeneration

The entire Resistance screamed and cried at that explosion as their precious Hero of Mobius, Sonic The Hedgehog, was caught right in the heart of it. As the last of the smaller Badniks were disposed of, there was inconsolable grief all around. There was no way the Blue Blur had gotten out of that explosion alive, and when the dust settled, many searched the wreckage of the Egg Breaker anyway.

Especially Knuckles and Amy, neither of whom were ready to let go of the Blue Blur, and even though his body was never found, everyone knew he was dead. But to Rouge, she cried her own tears, for someone else.

Shadow.

Even though no one cared, she did, but she frowned and hard. With the Ultimate Lifeform, there was a saying, especially at G.U.N., simply because he was that strong. The Black Hedgehog was never declared dead, unless his body was found. Rouge looked around. There was no signs of Shadow anywhere. Later, an extensive search of the area found nothing, but the Bat couldn't help but smirk.

Shadow was alive.

She didn't understand the how or why, but she knew, he'd be back. It might take years, even decades, but Rouge suspected she'd see him again. As for the Blue Blur, with no immortality, unlike his black counterpart, he was definitely dead, and she mourned him, along with everyone else. Sonic's empty coffin was given a enormous state funeral, where thousands of people lining the streets of Westopolis, and then he was placed in a purpose built tomb, in the centre of the city, to rest in peace. It was a somber affair, but soon, the Resistance, and then the planet moved on.

That was ten years ago.

Inside a cavern, deep beneath the rumble, still lying, out cold, where they fell, suddenly, Shadow gasped, taking a huge intake of breath. He sat up slightly, blinking hard. Then he screamed in pure agony. He'd been lying on his back, but he rolled into a ball, on his side, grabbed his head and roared in excruciating pain. The regeneration migraines. Or at least, that's what he thought they were. No injury he had ever received from anyone had ever given him worser pain then these. They were caused by the fact that the regeneration process completely renews every cell in his body, a process that should be extremely painful. But because he's unconscious and needs to be, for it to work, the combination of which results in regeneration migraines at the end. He normally had the world strongest pain-killers (not legal) on hand, on the Ark for this, but he wasn't on the space colony.

However, this pain was different. It was over his body, though it heavily concentrated itself around his head, with a huge feeling of burning and fire. Shadow growled. Why him? Why did he have to go through hell, all the time? He was here, wherever here was, and on his own.

But he wasn't alone.

Suddenly, through the waves of pain, Shadow caught a glimpse of something blue.

What?

He opens his eyes, to a pair of light blue and slightly see-through eyes looking back at him. He screamed, as did the owner of the other eyes, as they went flying across the cavern and hide behind a rock. Shadow panting, flying backwards in shock. Heaving hard, he looks around in the blackness. He blinked. Suddenly, Shadow hears crying and sniffing from behind the rock, where the creature flew too. Gulping hard, growling through his own pain, he gets up, and slowly wonders towards the rock. He looked around it, and he finds himself face-to-face with the Blue Blur himself.

The Hedgehog was completely light blue in colour, slightly translucent, with long head and back quills and large eyes, which were streaming with tears. A ghost, but he somehow emanated huge warmth, and had lines of deep pale blue sparks all over him. Shadow just stared, as the ghost partially uncurled, to look at him, and Shadow had never seen anyone so frightened in his life. He gulped. He'd been killing for years, and yet he'd never seen anyone come back from the dead. He didn't believe in ghosts, but somehow the hero came back. He should be in the afterlife, the ghost could have moved on, but Shadow was grateful he stayed, but there was something about that explosion that wasn't right. It should have permanently killed the both of them, and yet, he'd survived and Sonic was a ghost, the both of them still desperately shaking. Shadow could tell on Sonic's face, he didn't remember anything and he'd just woken up like this. But as Shadow stared at the Blue Blur, he could hear something on the Sonic that shouldn't have been possible. It followed the ghost around as he moved.

A heartbeat.

Shadow gasped and then smirked, hard.

"Your not dead." He growled. No, Sonic wasn't. The Blue Blur was just stuck in this weird ghost-like appearance. Suddenly, Shadow gasped, as blinked, as he felt around his own throat, as Sonic just outright giggled at him. His voice. It was really deep. Like it had broken at least twice, since the explosion. Then he looked down at his own body and then just gulped. The passage of time could be clearly seen, as Shadow had grown hugely. Sonic just looked bigger, but Shadow's mind and body had completely changed.

His genetic engineering, his emotionally retains, chemical locks, and pre-programming was all gone, the explosion had disintegrated them all, which caused the leftover growth hormone in his body to kick in. Suddenly, he knew why Gerard had stopped him from growing. To keep the control, beyond a certain size, Gerald must have realised the genetic engineering wouldn't have worked. Shadow's mind felt very strange, like that control was no longer there. When he checked, it wasn't.

His fur coat has changed. His stripes were no longer red. They were a deep, dark, blood orange, and his eyes were still burning, like there physically on fire. Shadow, suddenly felt extremely dizzy, grabbed Sonic, needing him. The Blue Blur nodded. He wasn't going anywhere. As a fellow speedster, he understood. Shadow heaved. So this was what real freedom felt like. He smirked. Yes, he could do this. He had grown everywhere. Now tall and muscular, now the size of the full adult male Hedgehog, no longer the grumpy teenage Hedgehog he'd been permanently stuck in.

But Shadow just stared at Sonic, as he still hovered in his pale blue ghost-like appearance. He put his hand out but it went straight through him. It was very warm, as the Blue Blur giggled, and his pulse could clearly be felt. But the heartbeat didn't seem to come from a singular point on his body, like from his heart, it rippled everywhere, as Shadow gasped as he made the astonishing realisation.

Sonic's body made entire up of pure Chaos Energy, and yet he was still alive.

Incredibly the both of them, were largely fine, but had changed beyond imagination. The shockwave had ripped through their bodies, from the explosion, and that with the deadly combination of the Chaos Emerald, and the fact that they could both manipulate the Chaos Energy directly, it had changed them, rather then kill them. Sonic gulped as he looked around the deep, dark cavern.

"Shads? Where are we?" He wondered, his own voice also deepened, with an otherworldly, hollow ring to it. Immediately, two things came to mind. One, Shads was new, but the Ultimate Lifeform quickly shook that off, and two, as Shadow smirked, but then frowned. Sonic was still floating like a ghost. He couldn't stay like that.

"Can you land that thing?" He wondered. Sonic looked down and thought. Suddenly, he nodded.

"Yeah, I think so." He answered, and as he screwed his face up and concentrated, suddenly, his appearance changed, as he literal feet landed in the ground. He was wearing his perfect cherry red shoes, socks, and gloves. Everything about him was pure energy, including his attire, which automatically manifested itself on him, and was exactly what he was wearing when the explosion happened. But Sonic was now very tall and incredibly slender, now standing several inches above Shadow. But instead of him having his normal short, royal blue Hedgehog fur, the Blue Blur now shone with a deep, bright pale blue light. Like living electricity. Shadow looked down and also noticed. Despite the huge change in size, he'd not torn through his gloves, Inhibiter Rings, and rocket shoes. They had grown perfectly with him. He frowned. What? But Sonic gulped, as he looked down at his hands.

"What happened to me?" He stammered. But Shadow heaved.

"The same thing thats happened to me. That explosion, it changed you, rather then killed you, and now I have my freedom, and you, Sonic, your body is made up now of pure Chaos Energy." He explained. Sonic blinked, what? But Shadow nodded. "I remembered watching it, through the Super-Speed explode out, during those shockwaves." He added. But then Shadow deeply frowned. "Hang on, where did that explosion come from?" He wondered. Sonic stared, having not really thought about it, until now.

"Yeah. Good point. I know Egg-Head. He may have been loosing during that fight, and he may have even known it, but to commit suicide like that, with an enormous bomb, is seriously out of character for him. Especially, if it meant killing the both of us in the process." He wondered. But Shadow growled.

"Yes, it successfully killed him, but not us." He spat, but Sonic just giggled.

"Yeah, but we're not normal, Shads, and never have been." He grinned. Shadow heaved, allowed himself a small smirk. No, they weren't, but regardless, something seriously bizarre was going on. He nodded.

"Your right." He admitted. "To commit suicide is a sign of despair, desperation, and the Human definitely wasn't at that point during the fight. I know him, I've worked for him. He seriously valued his own life, above all else, even to the point of outright cowardice. Regardless, he would have fought, one-on-one, with everything he had, until his very last, in the end. He wouldn't have surrendered, giving you the satisfaction, but he would have still put up a fight, even if all of the robotic army had been destroyed, and he was just a plain Human, left physically on his knees. He actually respected us, so taking us out with a bomb, as well as himself, is indeed, seriously out of character." He agreed. But Sonic gulped.

"So if Egg-Head didn't blow us up, then who did?"

Both the Hedgehogs just looked at each other. They had no idea. Neither of them even remembered the exact moment the bomb itself exploded or where it came from. They had both been seriously distracted from the fight. But then came to the very hard hitting realisation, that someone had indeed tried to kill them, and if it wasn't for an incredible combination of circumstances, they would have succeeded. But regardless, one thing was definitely certain.

Eggman had been murdered.

Sonic gulped, stammering hard.

"But what does it all mean?" He wondered. But Shadow shrugged. As he looked around, there was a clear indication that time had passed. Sonic stared. "And how long have we been here?" He wondered, and as he spun around. "Actually, where is here?" He frowned. Shadow shrugged, not having any answers but as the pain of his awakening were beginning to ease, he was keen to explore, but he was incredibly cautious. So much so, that he grabbed the Blue Blur's arm. His pale blue electrical energy body was somewhat solid, and even though he caused Shadow no harm, the Ultimate Lifeform knew, he could do better. Regardless, it felt bizarre. He heaved.

"Hey, solidify please." He hissed, coldly, indicating his body. Sonic looked down at himself, and with a nod, and another intense burst of concentration, his body exploded in short blue fur, as Sonic finally returned to normal. Or he looked it. The Black Hedgehog definitely knew otherwise. Suddenly, Sonic squealed, pulling his arm away from Shadow's hand.

"Hey, ow, Shads. Your burning me." He cried. Shadow gulped, looking down at his own hand. A red glow, and what looked like flames, seemed to be dying away, and yet he still felt like his blood was boiling, even though it didn't hurt anymore. He looked back at Sonic, now somewhat wary, but he heaved, rounding on the Blue Blur.

"Do you remember the explosion?" He asked. Unsurprisingly enough, Sonic shook his head. But he growled. "Well, I do, and with a blast that large, it should have killed us, but it didn't. However, the world out there will definitely think we're dead. Storming out there, unprepared, is unwise." He hissed. "You'll need practice to master those new abilities of yours." He hissed. But Sonic folded his arms, and growled.

"Same to you." He growled. "That fire in your hand, came out of nowhere." He spat. Shadow looked down at his gloves, as he realised that Sonic was right. He heaved.

"It seems that maybe Gerald locked away the power within me, not wanting me to be too powerful." He shrugged, but as Sonic walked away from him, he hissed and hard.

"He's not wrong." He spat, but Shadow could definitely tell the note of fright on his voice. He was scared. Understandably so. Sonic should be dead, and now he was something completely new, and as for him, he was dangerously powerful before, now, it was off the charts, which as he thought about it, even made Shadow falter. They had to find out where and when they were. Time had passed, they had both grown.

But how much, and how would the world take to their return? Shadow had no idea, but regardless, they had to stick together as he braced himself for the worse as he and Sonic helped each other out of the cavern.