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12:40 PM

The general did not respond to this. "..."

Sonic and Shadow glanced at each other silently.

Then, they both closed their eyes with a smooth exhale. This was definitely the craziest thing they were ever told in their lives, but it wasn't anything they weren't used to. They were kind of tired of being shocked by things at this point. Sonic spoke first. "I'm guessing you can't elaborate on that, either. The things Zonic was mumbling back on Angel Island make a lot more sense, now..." His tone shifted with a little sympathy. "They're threatening you guys too, right?" If Zonic and Zhadow were being threatened too, they couldn't blame them for how dodgy they were acting. And it explains how apprehensive Zonic was in even letting them be here. He didn't want them here in the first place, but he was forced to. They both were. Both Sonic and Shadow could tell that these guys were strong, really strong. Not just in strength, but conviction. These were militant soldiers, their willpower was second to none. And yet, they were bending the knee at some unforeseen force that wasn't even physically here.

They were scared of them.

Scared of what they can do.

And if powerful people like this were scared, then...

"...I cannot confirm nor deny that."

A pregnant pause wafted through the room with more silence. The blue hero decided to slightly change the subject. "Zonic said something about Shadow technically not being Chaos Born?"

Zhadow nodded easily. "Yes, not by blood relation. All Sonic templates are Chaos Born by blood, but all Shadow templates are recognized as Chaos Born only after they create some semblance of a relationship with their respective reality's Sonic, regardless of the level of intimacy. The moment that reality's Sonic and Shadow begin to bond, the spirits judge whether or not to authorize that Shadow in the 'family', sort of speak." In other words, it was like a bunch of affluent in-laws legally accepting their child's spouse and or close family friend. "Then, that Shadow becomes recognized as a Chaos Born. It's why most Sonic and Shadow templates that are both recognized as Chaos Born are in a romantic relationship." Thank goodness that's how that worked, because it'd be really weird if all Sonics were blood related to all Shadows. The prime Mobians were not interested in incest of any degree. "Zonic and I have been together for a long time, so naturally, I was officially recognized as a Chaos Born myself. That is the purpose of being Chaos Born—'To spread out as much of our lineage as we possibly can, even without blood.' At least, that's how Zonic explained it to me."

"And you're sayin' Infinite messed with you guys, too?"

"Yes, we believe he," The commander hesitated to find a good word for it. "'Influenced' former warden Zobotnik into causing the mess we have currently."

Shadow wanted to clarify this one last time. "You mentioned there were other realities effected. Meaning that all of us, including you and Zonic, are being given an ultimatum to restore this reality and stop this version of Robotnik, before moving on to the next and doing the same thing?"

"Yes."

"...Right." Sonic rolled his eyes and stood up while stretching his arms over his head. "Welp, I've heard enough."

Shadow nodded while crossing his arms. "I agree. That was a damn headache to listen to, but it cleared up some things at the very least...with hundreds of more questions that I'm sure won't be answered anytime soon."

"Well," Zhadow paced over to the back of his desk. "What say you? Will you go back home, and await your demise at the hand of one of the spirits as retaliation for not aiding us? It may not be immediate, you know. They may allow you to live most of your lives in peace without ever harming you, as they did before." He spoke with a tranquil tone, as if there truly wasn't that much of a consequence to just walk away. "Never influencing you, never visiting you unless you summon them via transformation. Of course, the spirits are incredibly unpredictable as well, but you could risk it. Live life how you used to, continue your relationship without outside strife to worry yourselves about. Pretend this conversation never happened, and just be happy. It's the easier path, one I'm sure plenty of people would rather take. There's no shame in turning away from this, as this is a hefty objective. Because even if you're successful in helping us, you'll just have to do this again in other realities. A lot of hopelessly capricious things could happen, including finding Infinite and dying. Again. And you may not be able to come back this time, never to see your friends and family ever again. Not only that, but we're not even allowed to tell you the whole truth of Chaos Born, so you're still in the dark about a lot of things. It's a lot to take in and gamble, too much for some to accept. If you choose to shut your eyes from this little bit of truth and retreat," He closed his eyes with acceptance, as he knew there was a high chance of the two running away from it all. "I won't shame you."

Sonic walked around Shadow's seat, and looked down at him. He met Sonic's gaze quietly, the two never interrupting Zhadow.

"Now," The general said as he turned his head to them, his dark red eyes glowing with impatience. "I'd like to hear your decision."

A decision?

A decision right now? After all that?

"The odds are astronomically stacked against you," Zhadow reiterated with a foreboding stare, placing his shades on the surface of the desk. Those eyes of his were beyond freaky. Why did they look so strange? So...Beastly? His pupils...They almost looked like a demon's. "Frankly, it'd be a mercy if you both stayed dead." He abruptly said coldly. "It's only the three of us here, no one back at home would ever blame you for turning your back on such a ridiculous demand. You don't even have to tell them, they'll never know. You won't be ridiculed, and no one here will blame you either. It'd be better for the both of you if you gave up now and left our reality." He fully turned to them, his irises peering down on them. The moment they focused on the two Mobian hedgehogs, a huge pressure of weight suddenly befell them. Sweet Chaos, was that his aura? Why was it so massive, and why did it weigh so much? It felt like they were being crushed in their seats. "Just give up already, who the hell are you two even kidding?" Why...did his voice sound like that? "Not even I would send the most capable soldier on a suicide mission like this. Joking yourselves is cruel, and a waste of time." Why did his stare look so intense? Why was his voice so calming, but his face so wrinkled with anticipation and judgement? Shadow glared at Sonic angrily many times in the past, but never once did he ever make him feel this shaken up with a mere stare. And as for Shadow, nothing ever made him feel this way, not even in the presence of his own alien father.

Why was this version of Shadow so God damn intense?

His irises sharpened. "Just go home where it's safe already."

...Maybe Zonic was right: Don't mess with the General of No Zone.

...

...

...

...Slowly, Sonic started to chuckle nervously.

"Dude," He chuckled a little more lightheartedly. "You are so freakin' gnarly, its givin' me goosebumps over here." He then nudged Shadow's shoulder from below. "Amiright? Guy's totes fierce. 'Guess he's the general for a reason, huh? I almost saluted."

Shadow scoffed with a small smirk. "I suppose so. I have to admit, you almost made me nervous there, general."

The hero then bent down to lean his elbow against the top of the white sofa, his chin in his palm. "Yeah I mean, it's not like we're not used to being told that literally all the time."

"Every time, actually."

Sonic dug his pinky in his ear. "Whateve's, not like we got anything better to do. Eggman's locked up now, and that's boring. The only thing that'll give me nightmares at night is boredom. Plus, I ain't one for runnin' away like a coward." His voice grew a little more serious, as some hidden anger was concealed in his words. He had unfinished business with the jackal, after all. "Infinite's a colossal douchebag who needs to be stopped and stomped. That's it, end of story. I could give a damn about super scary Gods and my own bloodline, but I really don't. The dickhead's hurting people, that's all I need to get an adventure goin'. Besides," A cruel grin curled on his fawn lips. "That little asshole still hasn't said my name yet, and we made a promise that he would before I beat him for good. And I can't wait to force it outta his nasty ass mouth." One of his longer quills was suddenly pulled from below. "O-Ow!"

Shadow gave him a glare from the sofa. "Excuse you, 'before we beat him'. Did you forget I still have a mission to do? And I will see it through, hedgehog. I've got gripes of my own to settle with the bastard."

Sonic took his quill away and rubbed it pitifully with a pout. "Okay, but you don't gotta be an ass about it! I'm sensitive there."

"I will when you exclude me from the equation." Shadow countered.

"I wasn't excludin' you!" Sonic said defensively. "I'm just sayin', I call dibs..." He mumbled while looking to the side.

"Screw you, no you don't."

"Yeah, I do!"

Shadow narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Sonic-"

Sonic narrowed his own right back. "-Shads."

"Heheheh..."

Loud, booming laughter and applause suddenly echoed from behind the desk, causing the two hedgehog to look at the No Zone general.

"Hahahaha." He was laughing so hard, he had tears budding in the corners of his eyes. His claps were so loud, so thunderous, it was even making the desk and any item on top of it shake. "Ahaha, hahahahahaa!" He made a toothy grin that almost caused them both to flinch. That sneer, looked way more menacing than it was supposed to. And those eyes of his weren't helping. His expression was dark, and they noticed his teeth were way sharper than a normal Mobian's. What was up with this guy? He then picked his sunglasses up from the desk, and placed them back on his face where they belonged. "Ahh," He sighed with an unnerving smile. "Rookie severely underestimated you two, and I believe he should personally make it up to you for this grave mistake. As for my eyes," He already knew that's what they were uncomfortable about. "I'm normally not supposed to take these sunglasses off, makes people very frightened. Some of my own soldiers run away from me when I don't have them. I have a condition you see, one that's affected my body in various ways over the years. And yet," He stroked his own chin curiously. "You two stare at me like it's no big deal. Even as I look at you, the entire time I explained to you what you are and what might happen, you never caved. You knew I was telling the truth, and you knew I didn't exaggerate either. I never saw genuine fear in either of you. Of course, my own counterpart, I already expected this. You Sonic prime, I thought I'd see some weakness. But no, there was none at all. My sincerest apologies for showing bias, I see now that I was wrong."

Sonic just made a flat frown. "I swear—The moment anyone sees us together, they think Shadow's better than me or something."

"Well," Shadow interjected with a shrug. "I can see why they'd think so. I'm stronger, faster, smarter...Not to mention my limiter rings hold me back. I'm the Ultimate Life Form, after all. I can't help that I'm-" And now his quill was being pulled, very painfully. "Ghk...! Get off!"

"Take it back and I won't rip it off your skull." The hero replied with a sweet and yet very threatening smile.

Shadow hissed. "Sonic, I'll murder you-" He suddenly saw Sonic lean his face very close to his own over the couch, his lime green eyes now neon and sparking. "...!"

"Take it back." He squeezed his striped quill harder, Sonic's voice deepening. "We keep count of how many races we've both won and lost, and I'm freakin' beating you by three out of four hundred and seventy-one. You'll probably always beat me in the physical department, nobody can deny that. But I can easily fold your ass in speed, and we both know that. We also both know that the second I take things seriously, you're screwed. Oh, but I guess we'll just ignore the times I've beaten the absolute shit outta you when you got in my way in the past."

"Excuse you? You only beat me once-!" The grip on his quill tightened even more. "B-Bastard...!"

Sonic's voice became ever so slightly aggressive. "And let's not also forget the fact that I'm way more experienced in this relationship than you, and can very easily make you regret your shit talkin' at any second. Don't make me ask you again, faker. Take. It. Back."

Shadow instantly fell in love with him all over again. Holy shit, that was so hot-Err, annoying! Totally annoying and not at all something Shadow would dream about late at night. Blushing a little, Shadow pushed Sonic's face away with a growl. "T-To hell with you! You think I'm scared of you or something?"

"You're the one blushin' like a little girl, Ultimate Shithead!" Sonic snarled back.

Shadow immediately stood up and shoved his finger into his fawn chest. "Do we need to take this outside!?"

Zhadow laughed again at this, causing them to momentarily realize that they were bantering in front of company. They couldn't do that again, that was a little embarrassing. "You're more like us than I thought. Zonic likes to claim Shadow prime keeps you on a leash, but you two are much more equal. How poetic."

Sonic chuckled sheepishly, instantly let go of Shadow's quill and scratched behind his head as his boyfriend glowered at him. "Ahahaaa, you were listenin' to all that...? My bad."

"If you're done being an idiot," Shadow grumbled at the blue one before crossing his arms over his chest. "What do you want us to do, general?"

He was using his title respectfully, meaning that Shadow had his honor, for now. Zhadow showed far more grace than Zonic, so it was only right in his mind. Zhadow took notice of this and smiled a little. "Before I get into that, I must ask of you both one last favor. And I promise it's not as demanding or lethally threatening as the prior."

"Yeah?" Sonic asked. "What's up?"

Zhadow sat down in his desk chair once more. "I understand that you and my rookie got off on a bad start and he's obviously not helping with how he's acting right now. I humbly ask that you excuse this behavior. You see, while I love seeing his adorable irritated face, there is a reason why he has such a sour attitude." His smile fell, and his tone became a little solemn and even disappointed. "In the last three years, he's...seen some awful things. Terrible things he is forced to keep only to himself, and occasionally me. That kind of mental negativity does a lot of damage to strong people, as I'm sure you can imagine."

Yeah, the blue blur was very unimpressed by this. "'Kay that's cute, we both literally died though. So I could give a shit, I really could. Shame I don't."

Zhadow chuckled at this. "I like you, Sonic prime."

"Thanks, I guess." Sonic shrugged callously. "I just don't like smartass Napoleons who think they're better than everyone else, especially not ones wearin' my face."

"Fair enough." The general conceded. "I only ask that you attempt to remain civil with Zonic, so neither of your objectives are made more difficult. Don't directly engage with him unless necessary to make your mission a little smoother. Otherwise, ignore or don't answer him."

Sonic sighed while rolling his eyes. "Okay look, I'll level with you." He said with an indifferent tone. "I'll do you a solid and be more chill on my end, unless provoked. I'll respect you at the very least. One, you look like Shadow so I guess I'm a little biased too. Two, bein' petty won't get us anywhere, even I know that. Plus, you're not as big of an asshole as Captain Try-Hard is, so I can work with that."

"Ah, much appreciated." Zhadow nodded. "As you get farther in your objective, I'd like for you to report directly to me. If I'm not in, I'm afraid you'll have to report to Zonic, so please keep that in mind."

"Yeah yeah," The hero flagged this off with an annoyed expression. "Figured as much...Whatever. The faster we get this over with, the faster Shads and I can blow this joint. Not like we're welcome here anyway..."

"That's actually not true."

"...?"

Zhadow lightly turned in his spinning desk chair from left to right and right to left, almost childishly. He had this near playful, small smile on his face. If anything, Shadow could sense that he had a similar careless attitude like Sonic did, while Zonic had a more intense and stoic demeanor like Shadow. It was like the roles were somewhat reversed. "Our citizens and our soldiers know who you are, as I announced your arrival before you showed up, and before Zonic made you both look bad in the corridor. By the way, I promise I'll reprimand him for this and relay your importance to our soldiers with less negative opinions soon. To make your stay here more enjoyable, I personally instructed my citizens, vendors and politicians to treat you both very well," He trailed off with a smirk. "If you catch my drift."

"Yo..." Sonic squinted his eyes very, very tightly while speed walking over to Zhadow's desk. He then leaned forward and tilted his head with his hands on his hips. "Are you sayin' we can get free shit?" He whispered. "Like...Discounts? All expenses paid? Free food?"

"Basically."

1:05 PM

Zhadow could see the hero really liked that. "As for discounts, as long as your money is held in some kind of digital wallet, you should be fine."

Sonic then made a relieved smile in knowing that Zhadow was way more cool than he initially thought. "And just like that you're my favorite person ever. Besides Shads, obviously." He walked back over to the biohog. "Well you're both Shadows so...Huh, makes sense. Anywho," Sonic leaned against him like an upright armchair, causing his lover to scowl at him from the added weight. "Tell us whatcha need us to do, and we'll get it done in a jiffy or your money back guaranteed."

The commander continued to chuckle at the blue hero's antics. "Heheh. To begin, our main target is the former Warden Zobotnik. However," He turned his chair around to the windows. Sonic and Shadow walked over and looked out as well, and they almost immediately saw exactly what he was looking at. In the far off distance, many kilometers away from the main city and high up in the sky, was a ginormous metallic base floating within the stratosphere and nearly touching the mesosphere. It was trapped within a circular forcefield, the same light red one they saw on the battleship earlier today. "That, is a problem. He fortified himself in that base, and that forcefield is impossible to cut through. We've tried everything from bashing it with cyber energy, to utilizing Primal Mode on several soldiers at once, but nothing gets through. From there, he sends out his little toys to attack the HQ. He knows he can't attack my city, Parallel City, as it is heavily protected by a similar forcefield with an approximate amount of strength. The HQ however, has a weaker one, and it's only a matter of time before he destroys it and ruins my building."

Shadow didn't like the sound of the other things he mentioned. "Cyber energy? Primal Mode...?"

Zhadow flagged this off. "Bah, not important at the moment. The point is, we don't know how to bring the thing down and infiltrate his base. Zonic has worked closely with our hackers here in No Zone HQ, and has found that Zobotnik is literally stealing the energy from my city to empower his forcefield. He's doing this by using something that's disrupting the flow of power within the city's electrical grids. We see that whatever he's using is destroying the currents of cyber energy. It's transferring it all the way to his base, while the city loses its stored power." He made a soft sigh and tapped his finger on the desk as he gazed at his home. "Soon enough, we'll all fall into a permanent blackout. It's already happened to other cities, and they've been forced to use Parallel City's emergency supply of stored energy as well. Parallel City is the largest city in our world, but it is far from indestructible. Even worse, we can't fix it. Every time someone makes repairs, Zobotnik just steals it right back. We don't have much time before that happens, I say maybe three weeks at best."

The hero cringed. "Oof, three weeks, huh? Damn..." He then realized how calm Zhadow sounded about all this. "Wait," He looked down at the general. "Aren't you like...worried? You're super nonchalant about this."

The commander only shrugged his shoulders. "Mmn. I'm concerned for my citizens yes, but I can't worry about what 'might' happen. Who knows?" He glanced at Sonic through his shades. "Maybe you'll stop him before that happens, maybe you won't. I can't worry about hypotheticals, they do nothing for me on the battlefield. I only work with concrete facts. The fact is, something bad will happen if we don't do something. And as of now, my men can't do anything. That's," He pointed at the blue blur. "Where you two come in." He lightly kicked his feet back and forth. "I have a theory, or a hypothesis, rather. I believe whatever Zobotnik's using to steal power, is chaos energy."

The biohog blinked. "Chaos energy? But, do you not have chaos energy in this reality?"

Zhadow shook his head. "Not at all, this entire realm is void of chaos energy. The world runs on cyber energy, a type of power that is weaker in strength but stronger in structure and innovation. It is made purely of digital and technological power, and can do almost anything. It's easy to learn to use and is incredibly useful. Cyber energy is why our reality is so advanced, it's the very crux of everything we make or do. Chaos energy would disrupt and destroy whatever is made from cyber energy, it's like a polar opposite. The only chaos energy that exists in this world is in Zonic's biology due to Chaotic Blood, and he has a very tiny amount of it. Even less than a regular Mobian of your world. I think I might have some myself since I was made with it along with some grade-A bio-engineering, but it's microscopic at best." The hedgehogs' ears perked up at that. So Zhadow was created like Shadow was, just with way less chaos energy. "None of us can use chaos energy, some can't even touch it. Our bodies are naturally far weaker than a Mobian's, and thus, it would kill us instantly upon contact." He then leaned back in his seat. "Of course...if you're weak. Zonic, myself and my soldiers are anything but weak. Even the lowest private has the strength of a hundred men, so we can tolerate being exposed to chaos energy. After all," He smirked. "We're not just regular soldiers, we're an intergalactic, multidimensional law-enforcing army that arrests the very worst of all realities. Which includes arresting those that can use chaos energy."

The two Mobians were taken aback. Sonic whistled at this. "No way, you guys are a huge police force and military? And you go outside your reality to make arrests, too?"

"Indeed," The general concurred with pride. "And now you see why Zonic being an Overseer of Chaos Born is so important. He's not just watching over you, he's watching over other realities through other Chaos Born. It's his job as both an Overseer, and a No Zone officer. We travel to other dimensions and realities to fight, arrest and neutralize many dangerous adversaries that pose too great of a threat in their own world. In No Zone Prison, you might see some people who look scarily similar to your familiars in Mobius. Different versions of your allies and enemies are all there, rotting away and serving their life sentences for awful crimes. And we've been doing this long before Zonic became a soldier, and long before he was even born."

Sonic made a thoughtful expression. "This might sound rude but," He was too curious. "How old are you? Zonic said y'all were older than us, but you seem way beyond just a couple years older than Shadow."

"Oh, I lost count." Zhadow mused. "Hmm, maybe somewhere after one hundred...? I can't remember, Zonic usually keeps track of that."

"One hundred!?" Sonic repeated in shock. "Holy crap, you're a whole century!?" He grinned. "That's freakin' crazy." He then looked at Shadow suggestively. "I guess us Sonics are into nothin' but old guys. Wait," He paused. "You guys started dating when he was of age, right?"

Zhadow snorted at this, because it wasn't any of their business. However, he saw no harm in telling them. "If you must know, Zonic first enlisted himself into the corps when he was fifteen, but we first met when he was nineteen. I didn't feel anything for him until he was twenty, and in that same year, we began dating. It's been four years since he gave himself to me, we took it slow at first." He then lowered his shades and raised a brow at Sonic. "You two however, move very quickly."

The two Mobian hedgehogs blushed, with Shadow personally trying to understand how and why he would even know that. "How do you even know that? Even Zonic told me to confess to Sonic already, yet you two weren't in Mobius when we first felt something for each other. How did you know about us being together? How do you know anything?"

"As Overseer, Zonic is granted the Room of Realities." Zhadow explained casually. "It's a room filled with thousands of monitors that show us live footage of different realities, with various micro cameras planted all over your world that you are unaware of. It's how we knew Infinite was causing damage to other realities, we saw it happen. We had one on the Phantom Ruby on Christmas Island under the guise of GUN's encryption. It was planted by the former Overseer less than a century ago, but Eggman prime destroyed it. In other words, Zonic's literally been watching you this whole time. If anything, Robotnik prime destroying the encryption is what alerted us in the first place, it was only a fail-safe for the surveillance of the gem itself since we had other cameras. Once Zonic saw the monitor's feed glitch from this, he knew something was wrong. At that point, he began physically keeping watch on all of you as a spy."

Shadow realized that this was why Tower had no idea what the biohog was talking about that day. He wasn't alive when the camera and encryption was planted on the ruby. Plus, GUN didn't even know about the ruby in the first place. They never knew that they needed to protect something they knew nothing about to begin with. Eggman was so intelligent in hacking through it, and using the bomb scare was a perfect distraction. But why didn't the spirits let Zonic stop Eggman or Infinite the moment they got their hands on the ruby? Curious...

Meanwhile, Sonic almost looked terrified. Zonic watched them the whole time? Everything? "Oh God, since when?" He asked with a stammer.

"The Overseer before him has watched you since you were born. Zonic began his training as Overseer at age five, and took over in watching your reality instead ever since."

Sonic made a ghastly expression. "Oh my fucking God, no."

Shadow was almost too scared to ask. "And me...?"

"Well you're much older than Zonic," The general said matter factly. "So he wasn't able to watch you then, but the Overseer before him watched you since your creation on the Ark. If it makes you feel any better, he can't watch you in your own homes and he turns the channel whenever things get too..." He smirked more at their reactions. "...Spicy. Every Overseer is to keep an extensive log of all major or peculiar events they see per reality, so that the next Overseer can take notes and study from-Honestly gentlemen," Zhadow said with a bored frown. "That's a whole other can of worms that I am not well versed in. You have to ask Zonic about this to truly understand how being an Overseer works, but we're getting very much off topic. In summation," He finally said. "I think Zobotnik is using chaos energy to steal my city's power. Where he got it from, I haven't a clue but I assume it's because of that jackal's little visit. I surmise that whatever he's doing must be happening in the Power Sewers, since anything involving the city's power originates from there. If he wanted to steal energy, he'd have to tamper with that first. Therefore, I want you two to travel to the outskirts of Parallel City, find these sparks of chaos energy where the city's power cores are stored, destroy them, and stop him from stealing anymore power. I don't know if that'll weaken the forcefield enough for us to purge it, but it'll at least give my city more time to survive. Hopefully, whatever you find can help us figure out how to get inside the base and kill-Err," He blinked at his own wordage. "Oh...Huh. Where did that come from?" Zhadow asked aloud as the other hedgehogs in front of him made a concerned stare. "Um, neutralize Zobotnik. Sorry," He looked to the side and readjusted his collar with an unsure tone. "I don't know where that word came from..."

"Okay cool," Sonic said with a lopsided frown. "'Cause I don't wanna kill anybody unless I really have to, soooo..."

"Oh no that's fine," Zhadow didn't mind that. "I want him to rot in No Zone Prison, solitary confinement to be exact. He needs to live with what he's done, pay me no mind."

"Sure..." He glanced at Shadow, who just shrugged. He didn't know what that was about either. There was no malice when he used the word "kill," which was odd to say the least. It was almost as if he was too used to using that word, so it slipped into his regular vocabulary. That was interesting to note, for sure. Sonic didn't like that, but he'd brush it off for now. "This city of yours is huge, like mondo-Tokyo level huge. We might need some help getting around."

The commander nodded. "But of course." He pulled open some drawers under his desk and pulled out some items. "You two have smart phones, yes?" He saw them nod. "Give them here." He held his hand out, and the two hedgehogs dug in their quills to get their phones. After they placed them in his palm, he began typing on their touchscreens with both hands at the same time. It seemed he was very much ambidextrous. "Did you take your world's chaos emeralds with you?"

"Yeah," Sonic said. "Shadow has them all in Chaos Control. Figured we'd need 'em just in case."

"Excellent, a good move on your part." He paused and placed the phones down, before revealing two very tiny microchips on the pads of his fingers. He slipped—more like phased—them within the phones. "Just be sure not to transform near any cyber energized highways or homes." Zhadow commented as he returned both phones back to the two hedgehogs. When they got them back in their hands, they noticed the layouts of their home screens were very different. Shadow looked painfully lost, while Sonic looked rather giddy about a new toy. "I put new software on your phones, software that'll make your devices more synchronized to our reality's advanced wi-fi without them blowing up. You'll be able to keep in contact with your friends back home, however, I advise you not to tell them about your bloodline. The spirits want to keep that info classified only to us and you. Your phones may look a little intimidating at first, but I'm sure you'll get the hang of it in no time. There is a full map of both my city and the rest of the entire reality downloaded on your devices, along with an updated clock since our reality moves exactly five minutes faster than yours. Also," He handed them two black...studs? "Here, you'll need these." One for each person. They were small, but weren't these earrings?

Shadow squinted. "These are gaudy."

The hero wasn't that mad at the idea, honestly. "Nah, I think you'd rock 'em pretty good. 'Sides, they're tiny. Nobody'll notice unless they get right in your face."

"Heh..." Zhadow snickered under his breath again. What was he so giggly for? It's like he saw everything as a game. "They're not just earrings, they're earpieces. They're what's installed into our suits and helmets, and help us communicate with each other. Some soldiers specifically wear these when they're working undercover. Since you both don't wear clothes and I highly doubt you'd be willing to wear our uniforms, this will have to do. Your earpieces work under my own, and Zonic's personal frequencies." He watched the hedgehogs poke the miniature devices against their ears, and flinched when they punctured through their skin. "You'll have direct contact only to us, and vice versa. And Sonic prime," He gave him a look. "I advise that you set your frequency to mine to avoid any conflicts with you-know-who. I'd like you both to wear them twenty-four seven, but you can easily turn them off and on at any time. Just remember to turn them back on when you're progressing in your objective, and off when you're done for the day."

Sonic scoffed. "Geez, I didn't know we were signing ourselves up for service. What, do we get a medal too?"

"Hmm," The general hummed a sound of interest. "We'll see if you work hard enough to earn one, and I'll get back to you on that. For now," He pulled out his own super thin smartphone from his coat pocket and tapped his thumb a few times on the screen. Their phones suddenly vibrated against their quills. "I just sent you the specifics of your mission and what we talked about today. There is Chaos Born software Zonic designed himself some time ago, something I think you might be interested in. But you'll unfortunately have to ask him for it, as I don't have access to those files. Nevertheless, I will update you personally on what we find, and I expect you both to do the same. I won't bother you to write detailed reports, as that's not your job, it's ours. Please, ask for assistance from Chief Master Sergeant Zespio of No Zone Airforce, or Admiral Zector of No Zone Navy. Or, should things change, you could always ask Zonic-"

"Got it, so one last question." Sonic paid that last part no mind and just continued, which only made Zhadow snicker even more. "This is super cool an' all but um," He referred to the elephant in the room. "Where are we sleepin'? I mean, I used to be a huge vagabond back in the day, but I'm getting way too old for that and I like cuddling with my man in a bed." He got roughly elbowed by Shadow in the arm. "What? It's true for you, too."

"Will you shut up?" Shadow scowled.

Zhadow slid over one last thing across the desk. "Here, it's yours."

Shadow picked up the item, which was a pair of key cards. "What's this for...?"

"Those are the keys to a two-story apartment on the top floor penthouse of one of our No Zone military dorms, located in Acute Square. This dorm in particular is the most extravagant, because only the highest ranking soldiers live there. All apartment groups come in duos, so you'll be living next to Zonic and I." He saw Sonic's face become very scrunched, making him grin. He tried to hide it as best he could. "As much as he didn't want this, he needs to have you in his sights at all times while you both are here. For what it's worth," Zhadow tried to lighten Sonic's downcast spirits. "It's a penthouse. I'll pay for your rent, and we have an outdoor bar and a pool on the roof."

"Oh great. Awesome..." Sonic deadpanned while walking away from the desk. "I cannot wait to get this shit over with..."

Shadow scoffed. "Relax, faker. The quicker we find those sources of chaos energy, the faster we can find this Zobotnik person and we can go. Besides," He added. "We've been given great hospitality. We get discounts in any store we approach, free food services and a paid off luxury apartment. You can't complain about that."

The hero continued to pout. "Yeah, yeah..." He glanced at Zhadow. "Thanks, I guess. You didn't have to do all that."

Zhadow just spun himself in his seat, the back of the chair facing them. "I'm only doing what was asked of me."

"Oh, the spirits told you to do this too?"

"No," Zhadow said. "Zonic did. He wanted you to be taken care of while you were here."

Sonic frowned. "You're messin' with us, right?"

That's when Zhadow slowly turned his chair back in their direction, his shades slightly uncovering his dark glowing eyes. "Do I look like the kind of person to joke around?"

The hero blinked. "...Uhh, yeah." He was no longer put off by this, because he could tell he barely meant to be intimidating in the slightest degree. "Kind of. You're way too chill to blow a gasket. Kinda like me, which is super weird since you're another version of Shadow." He sneered at Shadow. "I didn't know you guys were capable of joking." His boyfriend flipped him the bird silently.

"Hmm," Zhadow made a small smile as he readjusted his eyewear. "I suppose. Well," He simply leaned back and planted his boots up on his desk again. "I've already contacted Zespio and Zector, they'll be waiting for you outside the HQ." He gave them a two finger salute. "Good luck."

Sonic grasped Shadow's hand and pulled him along to the entrance. "Rodger dodger, see ya!"

...

...When they exited the office, Zhadow simply pressed his hands together in his lap.

"...I can't sense any ill-will. They're different."

43 - END - 43