Sonia and Manic's 'van' turned out to be an oversized camper van parked in the shade of a glitching hill. It had two large glass viewports – one replacing the front dashboard, and one on the roof. It had no side or rear windows, which would have made Shadow wonder how they ever reversed this thing if he had cared in the slightest.

As large as it seemed on the outside, it somehow seemed even larger inside – with grey metal walls and enough space inside that it felt more like a garage than the inside of a road vehicle.

Case in point: the pink and purple motorbike strapped down into an alcove in the wall. Unceremoniously dumping Silver onto one of the van's uncomfortable-looking beds, Shadow moved up to the bike and ran a critical eye over it.

"That's mine." Sonia said proudly, as though there had been any doubt.

"Hmph." Shadow grunted, forcing himself to look past the paint job. "1000cc?"

Sonia blinked, then smiled. "1500, actually. I have to keep up with Sonic, after all!"

"Hmm." Shadow grunted again before moving on. "…acceptable."

"…glad to know my bike meets your approval." Sonia said somewhat sarcastically, one eyebrow raised and her arms crossed.

Manic stuck his head around the front seat where he was sitting. "Uh, for the record, I use that thing up there. That's a –"

"I know what an Extreme Gear is." Shadow snapped, seeing the repulsors on the underside of the triangular board hanging from the ceiling.

Manic blinked, then smiled widely. "Well, I was going to say that's my hoverboard, but I am totally calling it that from now on. That name is sick."

Sonia sighed and shook her head, gently putting Nicky down on the bed opposite Silver's. "You okay? Does it hurt anywhere other than your head?"

Nicky quickly shook his head, nervously fidgeting his thumbs.

Sonia tilted her head. "Well, it doesn't look like you'll need bandages… might disinfect it though, just to be safe." So saying, she reached up to a shelf above the bed and pulled out a first-aid kit.

"Y-you're pretty." Nicky suddenly blurted out.

Sonia paused, blinking in surprise. After a moment she let out a soft chuckle. "Thanks kid, but I think I'm a bit old for you."

"N-not like that!" Nicky suddenly went bright red. "I-I mean you remind me of my sister, Tania!"

"Oh yeah? She a tomboy too?" Manic called teasingly from the front.

"Manic Hedgehog, I am not a tomboy!" Sonia firmly planted her hands on her hips, her pink hair nicely matching the powerful motorbike behind her that she was so proud of.

"Enough." Shadow growled, having lost his patience. "We have no time for this… inane chit-chat!"

Manic sighed. "Hate to say it, but tall dark and serious is right. Things look as crazy as they did that time Dingo broke a Chaos Emerald!"

Shadow, who was aware of at least two previous occasions where someone had shattered a Chaos Emerald without anything of note happening, narrowed his eyes at Manic. "In this case, it was a gem called the Paradox Prism."

"Wait." Sonia turned around to face Shadow. "The Paradox Prism? That's not a legend?"

"The what now?" Manic said, finishing whatever he was doing at the front of the van and leaping over his seat to join the rest of the group.

Sonia tilted her head, staring at Shadow. "It's something I heard about when I was trying to find out more about Chaos Emeralds. Supposedly, it's a gemstone with the power to shatter worlds into separate, smaller worlds."

"S-s-s-shatter worlds?!" Nicky cried, chewing on the tips of his gloves nervously.

Manic looked behind him at the view out the front window of the van. "Don't know about you, dudes, but that doesn't look like a shattered world to me." He pointed out. "Looks more like a bunch of different worlds all trying to shove each other outta the way."

A sound of pain made everyone turn and look as Silver slowly started to get up, shaking his groggy head. "That's because that is what's happening." He groaned unhappily. "We tried to fix it before it broke all the way… and we fixed it too well. Worlds that broke off long ago are being pushed back into each other."

"Ugh…" Manic said, scratching his head. "I don't exactly get this, but wouldn't that just… put the original shattered world back together?"

"The shattered worlds have been apart for too long." Silver explained, hissing as he tried to sit up. Sonia rushed over to try and help him up. "They've grown. They don't add up to just one world anymore – there's all these leftover pieces that time can't see where to put in."

As if summoned by his words, a wave of glitching passed through the van, causing everyone but Nicky to clutch their heads in not-quite-pain as their bodies shimmered dangerously towards full transparency, before oh-so-slowly snapping back.

"We have to find the Paradox Prism." Silver winced, rubbing the side of his head. "Now."

"So we can break it again?" Manic asked.

Dead silence reigned in the van.

Even Shadow simply glowered at a blank patch of wall.

Manic slowly blinked. "Ooookay, why'd everyone suddenly go super quiet?"

"Manic…" Sonia bit her lip. "Have you ever tried to break a gemstone the exact same way twice?"

Manic blinked. "Uh…"

"Even if we broke the Paradox Prism again almost exactly the way it was broken the first time… that wouldn't put our worlds back." Silver winced, glitching mid-sentence. "It'd just make worlds that were similar at best."

"O-oooh…" Manic's opened and closed several times, trying to think of something to say. That… a problem like that, it was so huge and so abstract that his brain just wasn't parsing it.

Shadow snorted again. "Exactly. There is no fixing this, not anymore." Spinning around, Shadow strode powerfully towards the back door of the van. "The best we can hope for is to somehow use the Prism to save those ravaged by its effects."

"H-hey, wait up!" Sonia called, stunned by his sudden declaration. "If you give us a chance to find Sonic, we can help! We know he's around here somewhere, we heard his playing…!"

Shadow paused at the foot of the ramp, turning to glare up at the other hedgehogs. "Then look no further. He's sitting behind you."

Confused, Sonia, Manic and Silver turned in the indicated direction to see…

"M-me?!" Nicky squeaked. "B-but I'm not –!"

"Do you think I'm an idiot?!" Shadow marched back up the ramp again, growling in Nicky's face. "Sonic disappears, Nicky appears. Nicky disappears, Sonic appears. Sonic disappears, Nicky appears! A child could have figured it out!"

"Lay off, dude. Not cool." Manic shoved Shadow back.

"B-but I'm not Sonic!" Nicky cried. Great big tears were swelling in his eyes now. "Sonic is cool, and strong, a-and… and he can play the guitar, and…" He let out a big sob. "And Amy likes him better than me-he-eeeeeeee!"

Shadow squinted down at the crying fourth-grader, obviously not believing Nicky.

For a moment, the only sound was Nicky's crying.

"Hpmh." Shadow eventually snorted. "Maybe you aren't. After all, Sonic would never –"

"Oh, clear off!" Sonia snapped.

Shadow whirled around. "Excuse me?!"

"You heard me!" Sonia jabbed a finger into his chest-fluff. "If I'd known you were going to act like this, I would have just let you walk off!"

"Don't you see –!" Shadow demanded.

"All I see is a jerk who made a little kid cry!" Sonia cut him off. "You clearly don't want to be here, so just go already!"

Shadow cast a glare behind himself, but if he was expecting help from Silver he was disappointed – the time traveller hand his arms folded, one eyebrow raised.

Shadow cursed under his breath, and without another word disappeared in a flash of Chaos Control.

Sonia glared for another moment to be sure he was gone, then turned and started rubbing Nicky's back (around his spines) soothingly. "Listen, Nicky, we know Sonic's a tough act to follow."

"Yeah bro." Manic agreed. "We think so, and we're his siblings!"

Nicky's eyes suddenly went wide. "Huh?"

"You're his what?!" Silver shouted, looking about ready to jump to his feet. Sonia and Manic ignored the outburst with practice – Sonic had been a key figure in the Resistance for years before they'd known about each other, and more than a few Resistance members had been shocked (and suspicious) about their star agent suddenly gaining two siblings out of seemingly nowhere.

"Like, bro. We all have this mystic destiny or whatever, but take away my pendent and all I'm good for is picking locks and picking pockets." Manic shoved his hands into the pockets of his vest and kicked at an imaginary bit of dirt.

"And I can lift and throw pianos," Sonia added "but sometimes even I forget that, 'cause Sonic can clear a room full of SWATbots faster than I can take out one."

"If Sonic was around this is probably where we'd do, like, a totally awesome song about this." Manic rubbed his head. "But basically – you can't always be comparing yourself to someone else. You'll always be able to find someone better than you at something. You'll forget all about the things you are good at, dude."

Nicky sniffed and wiped his nose on his arm. After a second, he gave a watery smile and said "T-thanks."

Manic slapped him on the shoulder. "Anytime, bro." He turned to Silver. "Now that that shady guy is gone though, what are we gonna –"

He and Sonia suddenly cried out in pain together, a new glitching fit coming over both of them and the van around them.

Nicky and Silver watching on in concern, expecting the fit to end shortly… but it didn't. The two siblings collapsed to the ground, entire limbs starting to turn transparent… and stay that way.

"No no no no…!" Silver cried, cyan light engulfing his hands and Sonia and Manic, to no visible effect.

"W-what's going on?" Nicky jumped to his feet, looking panicked.

"I thought we had more time…!" Silver grit his teeth, trying to focus and grip something not quite tangible with his psychokinesis. "The world is deciding whether or not they fit, and…!"

Nicky's eyes went as wide as dinner plates, dashing forwards and trying to grab Sonia and Manic's hands, but they kept slipping out of his grasp. "We have to help them!" He cried, tears starting to come back to his eyes.

"I'm trying!" Silver cried, the cyan light of his power spluttering in and out. His face scrunched up in concentration, not even noticing that he himself was also starting to glitch now. "There has… to be… something…!"

Multi-coloured lightning started to play out over Silver's body…

Without looking, without thinking, Nicky touched Sonia and Manic with one hand, and reached back for Silver with the other…

…and the world seemed to explode before his eyes. The van, Sonia and Manic seemed to shoot away from him, leaving him in blackness. Jagged lines of rainbow lightning shot out from Nicky's body, carving the dark void into twelve sections – with Sonia and Manic shooting down one section, away from him.

"W-wha…?" Nicky stammered.

"Go!" Silver's voice shouted from behind him with a strange echo, and Nicky turned to see three different Silvers in three different sections, glowing cyan and moving in eerie sync with each other as they used their powers to fight whatever force was dragging Sonia and Manic away. "Grab them!"

Nicky gaped for one precious instant, but the panicked cries from Sonia and Manic dragged his attention back forward. The young hedgehog ran after them, struggling not to trip over his own feet as he ran.

He ran as hard as he could… but he could see Sonia and Manic move further and further away. The force taking them away was faster than he was.

A flash of light heralded Sonia turning her pendent into a musical keyboard, which she dug into the pitch-black ground she was soaring over, Manic grabbing onto her legs. Their flight slowed… but not enough.

Sonia held out a hand desperately. "Nicky…!"

She sounded so much like Tania just then that Nicky's heart leapt into his throat. He somehow found the strength to speed up, and leapt forward desperately…

His fingers passed within centimetres of hers.

Her eyes met his, and he knew that the image of her despairing face would haunt him forever, as he watched her and Manic zoom off into the distance.

"Oh no you don't!" A furious voice seemed to come from somewhere behind Nicky. "It's juice and jam time!"

The world went fuzzy for a moment –

– and then suddenly Nicky collapsed back into the floor of the van, colour returning to the world. His eyes spun in circles as he fought off a bout of nausea.

"Everyone alright?" The exhausted, croaking voice of Silver came from somewhere behind him.

For a moment there was no answer, and Nicky's heart raced…

…but then Manic groaned, and Nicky leapt to his feet so fast it felt more like he'd somehow fallen up.

"Yeah bro." Manic groaned again from his position laying on top of Sonia. "…I think."

"I saw Sonic for a moment there." Sonia held onto her head with one hand, slowly shaking her head back and forth. "Did anyone else…?"

"Yeah, just for a moment." Manic chuckled. "Looks like he saved our butts again, huh? Could'a stuck around though, that would've been nice." He finished with a grumble.

Nicky chuckled as well, collapsing bonelessly back onto his backside, legs splayed out.

"I guess…" Silver looked at his hand, turning it over to examine it from all sides. "I must have absorbed some of the energy from the Paradox Prism while it was breaking. I… I think we somehow… convinced the world to leave you in?"

"Uh…" Manic stood up and off his sister, looking down at his not-glitching hands. "Can we, like, do that again? For, y'know, other people?"

"I… maybe?" Silver grimaced. "Not right away, at least… I'm drained. I just don't have the energy to do that again." Indeed, he sounded exhausted.

"Okay, so now the problem is that we don't have enough energy… right?" Sonia prompted, a fire suddenly lighting in her eyes.

"Y-yeah?" Silver blinked, heaving himself off the floor and onto the bed he had been sitting on before. He sounded just about ready to fall asleep on the spot.

"Manic, get on the radio." Sonia ordered. "We need to contact every member of the Resistance we can contact, and any groups from other worlds that might help us."

"The Freedom Fighters." Silver contributed, his eyelids fluttering shut. A wave of glitching passed through him, and his suddenly jolted upright. "Uh, I mean the Restoration!"

"Right, them." Sonia noted the names down. "We need to hunt down the Chaos Emeralds."

Silver chuckled wryly. "It always comes back to them, doesn't it?"

"U-um…" Nicky shuffled his feet, feeling really stupid asking for this in the middle of this really serious discussion, but… "Can we also let my parents know where I am? T-they live in Hedgehog Town…"

Manic flashed him a thumbs up, already putting a radio headset on.

Sonia sighed. "Sorry mother… looks like that prophecy is on hold."

Silver chuckled again. "A prophecy, huh?"

"You don't believe in prophecies?" Sonia asked teasingly.

"Nah." Silver shook his head, closing his eyes and smiled. "Changed too many futures to take them seriously."

Silver fell asleep to the sound of Manic's radio calls and the sound of Sonia starting the van's engine, with Nicky's worried eyes watching over him.