Chapter 11: The Time Machine
While the Shadows were off fighting Black Doom, Sonic and his brothers were actually having a good time.
(And trying very hard not to worry. Shadow asked them to trust him, so they would.)
Well, until the world around them kinda… broke.
One second, they were in the white void, bringing color back to all these cool places the other two Sonics had been to. The next, the white was gone, replaced by swirling purple clouds and giant floating golden clockwork gears.
Even the ground had vanished, forcing everyone to either stand on floating debris or on said giant gears.
"What happened?" asked Amy, looking around in confusion.
"Aw, and we almost got all the color back, too," complained Charmy.
"My bad!" called Vector, who'd had the last challenge, which had been particularly difficult and was left unfinished.
"Perhaps it would have been best to pass on our business card another time," said Espio.
The Chaotix had been trying to network their detective agency with the Wachowskis from the moment they heard their dad was the local sheriff, and doing their sales pitch had been pretty distracting.
Silver, meanwhile, seemed to sense something they didn't. "This isn't good," he said. "The timeline is getting more damaged as we speak!"
"Wasn't it already?" asked Taller Knuckles.
"Yes, but that at least felt more controlled. Like someone was able to pick and choose what small points were affected," Silver explained. He then gestured around them and said, "Not this. This is like someone is throwing the whole timeline into a blender."
"That sounds bad," said Cream worriedly.
"It seems we've run out of time to delay," said Blaze, gazing around them with a concerned expression. "We need to stop this now before the barriers between dimensions join the timeline in that blender."
"I AM READY TO DESTROY THE CREATURE RESPONSIBLE!" crowed Omega, flexing his guns.
At that moment, the Time Eater swooped overhead, and Omega had his chance. "DIE SCUM!" he said, shooting at the monster with everything he had.
Only the bullets didn't even faze the creature as it swooped through another portal, then another, then another, eating away at time right before their eyes in an uncontrolled frenzy.
"Sorry, Terminator," said Sonic, watching this all happen. "Looks like we need more than ammo to take that thing down."
"I WILL BE REQUESTING AN UPGRADE THE SECOND WE RETURN!" Omega grumbled, clearly insulted that the Time Eater was so unaffected.
Smaller Sonic reached behind his head and pushed some of his quills so they tipped upwards.
"He's right," Taller Sonic said, nodding to his younger self. "What we need is that last emerald. We need Shadow."
"But how are the more impressive hedgehogs supposed to locate us in… this?" said Knuckles, unable to find the words to describe their current location.
"I'll find him," said Rouge, who, with her wings, was one of the few able to travel the newly shattered void easily. "Be right back," she said as she swooped away.
"Maybe we should look too," suggested Tails.
"Better we stick together," said Taller Tails. "We'll be easier for Rouge and the Shadows to find that way."
"But what even happened?" asked Taller Sonic. "Why is the Time Eater acting like this all of a sudden?"
"Oh, if it isn't the consequences of your actions, you nasty little pincushion," said a new voice that was somehow both screechy and a deep gravel at the same time.
Everyone turned to see two nearly identical human men standing atop a gear that was slowly drifting towards them. Both were wearing red, with round spectacles across their large noses, and sporting massive mustaches, though one man was clearly older than the other.
Sonic probably could have guessed who they were from that alone, but the fact that the two men were also standing beside a pair of very familiar hover-cars only sealed the deal.
"Whoa, Dr. Eggman's never looked worse," whispered Tails beside him, coming to the same conclusion.
"I'll say. He let himself go, and then just kept on going," said Sonic.
"CAN I SHOOT THEM?" asked Omega.
"Not yet," Blaze replied. "Let's see what they know."
"THEN I CAN SHOOT THEM?" asked Omega.
"Sure," said Silver.
"Eggman!" said Taller Tails, oblivious to the conversations behind him. "I wondered where he went!"
"What, no concern for me?" asked the younger of the two Eggmen. "Last you saw, our Time Eater was carrying me off."
Smaller Sonic scoffed and made a rude gesture with his hands that had Sonic slapping a hand over his Tails' eyes, and Amy and Vector did the same for Cream and Charmy (Taller Sonic didn't bother, his Tails had seen him do worse).
"Sonic says the Time Eater can have you, Dr. Robotnik," said Smaller Tails, his polite tone in sharp contrast to Smaller Sonic's sass, but the smile on his face showed he agreed with it wholeheartedly.
The younger Eggman gasped in offence. "Nobody calls me that anymore," he said. "If you would be so kind as to explain, gentleman genius Dr. Eggman from the future."
"It would be my pleasure, most excellent and efficacious Dr. Eggman of the past," agreed the older Eggman.
The older doctor launched into a story about being lost in space after Taller Sonic wrecked his interstellar amusement park (His what?), he'd stumbled across the Time Eater while floating in space, and took advantage of it to control the monster and recruit his younger self to turn the timeline into their personal playground.
There was just one problem…
"Okay, but if this was your plan, why is your pet monster currently turning the time into Swiss cheese? You didn't feed it after midnight, did you?" asked Sonic once he'd finished his story.
Both Eggmen jumped, as if noticing him for the first time. The two of them did a quick head count, then a second one to be sure, and then both let out long groans.
"Sonic, why are there three of you right now?" asked the older Eggman with a voice like he was fighting off a migraine.
"Shouldn't you know why, considering this is your plan and all?" Taller Sonic quipped back, but it was a valid question.
"If I knew I wouldn't have asked!" the older Eggman snapped back.
"Huh, guess the Time Eater is even stronger than even they knew," said Taller Tails.
"Then the Time Eater brought them here?" asked the younger Eggman, before shaking his head and saying, "No, never mind that now. You've been gathering the emeralds, haven't you? Why aren't you trying to stop that thing?"
Smaller Sonic just gave them a look and let the emeralds they'd gathered float around them, showing just why they hadn't.
"Six?" said the younger Eggman after a quick count. "You're one short of a super."
The older Eggman perked up as he realized what that meant. "Wait… then that means… you LOSE!" he crowed, jabbing his finger in their direction, before bursting out laughing.
"CAN I SHOOT THEM NOW?" asked Omega.
"In a minute," said Vector.
The younger Eggman didn't seem to quite agree with his older self. "Wait, hold on, they might lose, but we've still lost control of the Time Eater."
"Then that vicious beast is no longer under your command?" asked Knuckles.
"Yes," said the younger (and seemingly saner) Eggman. "Those pesky energy surges kept shutting down our machines. Including the ones we used to keep the Time Eater under our command. With our equipment broken, it's now free to run amok on our timeline."
Everyone gasped, and Sonic and Knuckles shared a guilty look. "Our bad, guys," he said softly.
"My sincerest apologies," agreed Knuckles.
"Eh, Eggman has a long history of messing with forces beyond his comprehension and then getting burned by them," Taller Tails said with a shrug. "Chances are he would have lost control of the Time Eater anyway."
The Eggmen missed that little conversation, as the younger continued to glare unimpressed at the older. "Did you hear me?" he asked. "We're doomed as well."
The older Eggman, who'd still been laughing this whole time, choked on his own chortles and coughed. "That may be," he said once he'd cleared his throat. "But at least this way we've beaten Sonic for once!"
The younger Eggman raised a brow upon hearing that. "We really never win against him?" he asked. "Ever?"
"No," said the older Eggman, making the younger wilt. "So even if we go down now, we at least go down knowing we finally! Beat! Sonic!"
The younger Dr. Eggman considered that and nodded. "Well, at least there's some comfort in that."
"Wait, so you're not even going to try and fix this?" asked Silver, aghast.
"We already tried," said the younger Eggman. "All our equipment is too damaged to repair."
"And I don't know if you noticed, but there isn't exactly a hardware store nearby to build a new one, and any slap-dash solution we throw together will be useless without power," added the older Eggman sarcastically. "So yeah, the damage to the timeline is quickly reaching critical failure. Unless something changes soon, we're doomed."
Everyone exchanged a quick, worried look. The Shadows were on their way, no doubt about that, but there was no guarantee they would find them in this mess before the timeline got too damaged to repair.
With that thought in mind, everyone began yelling at the two doctors to do something!
But the Eggmen just shared a look and seemed to decide to spend their final moments enjoying their desperation.
Seeing their smug grins, Knuckles leaned over to Tails. "Fox," he whispered solemnly. "The time has come to put your training to use."
"What training?" asked Tails, looking confused.
"You know," Sonic hissed out of the corner of his mouth. "The 'special way' Aunt Rachel taught you to ask for things."
Tails' eyes lit up in understanding. "Oh! Got it," he said with a wink.
No one else heard this exchange, their attention focused solely on the two Eggmen and the giant monster wreaking havoc on the timeline.
"So here it is, the end of everything," The older Dr. Eggman said, sneering down at the other two Sonics. Hearing their pleas and taking great pleasure in rejecting them. "But you can at least be erased from existence with the knowledge that I beat you!"
"We beat you," the younger Dr. Eggman corrected.
"Yeah, sure, whatever," said the older one dismissively.
Everyone was still shouting protests and insisting that the Eggmen do something to stop this, but the doctors just gloated over their pyrrhic victory.
At least until one voice cut through the crowd like a knife.
"Wow, I never realized a version of Eggman could be such a wuss!"
That wiped the smirks off the doctors' faces. "What!" they shouted in unison.
The entire crowd parted to see who had spoken, and everyone was shocked to see Tails.
Tails paid their shock no mind, and stalked forward with a dark look on his face that had several taking a step back in fear.
"You heard me, Loser!" Tails sneered. "You two might be ready to roll over and die like a weenie, but unlike you, I've got a life to get back to, and I'm not done living it!"
"What? Hey!" shouted the older Eggman.
"That was uncalled for," protested the younger Eggman.
But Tails didn't care. He leaped up and landed on one of their Egg Mobiles and got right in their faces. "So here is what you're going to do!" He snapped as he stared them down so fiercely that both promptly shut up and shrank back. "You're gonna prove you earned that phony doctorate you bought on eBay, and CLEAN UP YOUR MESS! Or so help me, I will shove my gravity disks down your throats, and then we'll find out what happens when they go off!"
He pulled out a pair of said gravity disks and held each up like he was going to force feed them to the doctors then and there. "Now get! To! WORK!"
Now suitably cowed, the Eggmen scrambled to do as he said, and everyone else just stared on, gobsmacked.
Seeing them doing what he'd demanded, Tails nodded and said, "Uhhhh-huh, that's what I thought," before jumping off the Egg Mobile back to the ground.
While everyone else was still coming to terms with what they had just witnessed, Sonic and Knuckles were quick to come and congratulate him.
"Whoo, Tails, that was terrifying, I got goosebumps," said Sonic, beaming and holding up his arm to show off his hair standing on end. "You have definitely spent too much time with Aunt Rachel. I almost thought she possessed you for a minute there. You channel her so well."
"Our mother's sister has taught you well," Knuckles agreed with a proud nod. "Only the fiercest of warriors can end a battle before it even starts.
Tails just smiled sunnily back at his brothers. "Thanks! I like being like Aunt Rachel," he said.
Around them, the others slowly started to come out of their shock.
"I want to be that Tails when I grow up," Smaller Tails said to Smaller Sonic.
Smaller Sonic did a double-take and looked horrified at the thought.
"Hey!" protested the taller Tails, who was actually Lil'Tails grown up, but… he didn't really disagree.
"You said your Aunt taught you to do that?" Blaze asked, impressed.
"Yep," said Tails.
"Aunt Rachel when she's angry is the scariest thing you will ever meet," Sonic said, to which Knuckles nodded in agreement.
"Do you think she'd teach me?" Amy asked.
Taller Sonic choked at the idea and zipped so he could stand between her and the Wachowski brothers. "Whoa, whoa, let's not be hasty, Amy, you're scary enough already!" he said.
"What?" Amy asked slowly, with a dark look on her face and a hammer in her hand that only proved Taller Sonic's point.
"I said we all like you just the way you are!" Taller Sonic amended quickly, making her smile.
"And you're the last person to need lessons like that," Taller Knuckles muttered under his breath.
"Could I get lessons?" asked Cream innocently.
Everyone felt a chill down their spine at the mere thought.
"Better not, I don't think any of us would survive," Vector said.
"CAN I SHOOT THEM NOW?" asked Omega again.
Espio shook his head. "Unfortunately, they are currently being useful-"
"For once," Charmy cut in.
"-So no," Espio finished.
Omega drooped in disappointment.
Between the Eggmen and all three Tails (the doctors giving the foxes a wide berth), it didn't take them long to fix the Egg Mobiles in everything except their power source.
"They're completely dead," Younger Eggman griped. "Nothing we did could get them to stop shutting down whenever those energy spikes occurred." He glanced at Taller Sonic and Smaller Sonic and asked, "How did you do that, by the way?"
No one replied, but several amused smirks were shared.
"Then we're stuck," said Older Eggman. "Without a power source, we're dead in the water." He then sent a side-eye towards the blue hedgehogs, and added leadingly, "Unless, of course, you'd be willing to lend a Chaos Emerald…"
Smaller Sonic scowled and tapped his foot, and Taller Sonic rolled his eyes, "Keep dreaming, Egghead."
"Really?" asked Older Eggman in disbelief. "Not even to save all of time and space?"
"He said no," Tails said with a look, shutting the older doctor up.
"But if you don't share an emerald, how will we activate it?" protested Younger Eggman.
Everyone else exchanged a glance at the question. They all knew how Tails had repaired and even improved their electronics to work even with the dimensional travelers' power bursts. But installing their quills also had the added bonus of making things work even better with seemingly limitless energy. Did they really want to give that kind of power to Eggman?
Tails, however, didn't show any doubt as he waved his brothers over.
The Eggmen watched in confusion as Sonic and Knuckles walked over to each of the Egg Mobiles and placed a hand on their metal surface.
"On three," Sonic said to his brothers.
"One," Tails said, holding up a finger.
"Two," Knuckles said, his eyes glowing.
"Three!" said Sonic as light shone through his quills.
In unison, Sonic and Knuckles poured their power into the Egg Mobiles, and the doctors jumped as the machines surged to life.
"IT WAS YOU!" shouted Older Eggman in outrage and jabbing his finger in their direction. "I KNEW IT!"
"No, you said your Sonic was to blame," Younger Eggman reasoned, pointing at Taller Sonic, who was laughing at their reactions.
"I said Sonic did it, who cares which one it was!" snarled Older Eggman.
The doctors were too busy bickering to notice anyone else's relief that the brothers hadn't given him their quills.
"Charging them like that will wear off eventually since there's no actual quill powering it, but it works just fine for now. However, doing it like this is a bit more volatile if anything disrupts the energy," Tails whispered to reassure them some more.
"Should we tell them that most of the energy mess was Shadow and not me?" asked Sonic quietly.
"I am also here and responsible for the Chaos Energy outbursts," muttered Knuckles, as if miffed to be left out of the Eggmen's outrage.
"It won't make any difference, trust me," Taller Sonic whispered back.
"For them, when in doubt, blame Sonic," agreed Taller Knuckles.
Smaller Sonic, however, was tapping his foot with increasing impatience as the doctors continued to squabble. Finally, he stomped his foot and picked up a pebble off his floating rock, and chucked it so it ricocheted off the younger Eggman's bald head and smacked the older Eggman in the nose.
Both doctors clutched where the rock had struck them and squawked.
"Hey!" shouted Taller Sonic, agreeing with Smaller Sonic's sentiment. "Aren't you supposed to be stopping that monster! We're waaaaiting!"
With a dirty look at all hedgehogs of the blue variety, and a simultaneous grumble of "I hate that hedgehog," the Eggmen started up their respective Egg Mobiles and flew in the direction of the Time Eater.
"The fate of time and space left in the hands of Eggman," said Amy dryly.
Taller Knuckles let out a derisive snort. "Hopefully, Shadow gets here soon."
The two doctors flew their Egg Mobiles towards the Time Eater, swerving through its multiple arms and its gnashing teeth.
"Chrono controller primed," said the younger Eggman, tapping away at the buttons in his pod.
"Stasis shackles at the ready," the older Eggman replied, doing the same.
"Docking procedures engaged," said the younger as he pulled a lever.
"Try not to die," the elder said. "I don't want to deal with the paradox."
The younger doctor snorted. "Oh, I don't plan to. On the bright side, if you die, I know not to ever come up with this plan."
"I have no intention of becoming a cautionary tale," said the older doctor.
"Too late!" shouted several people behind them.
The Eggmen ignored them and sped their vehicles directly at the monster, aiming directly for its head. The Egg Mobiles locked themselves into a pair of spots on the Time Eater's head with glass forming around them like a set of marbles. It roared in outrage at the intruders before going limp in mid-air. Robotic parts spread across it's body like a suit of armor. Then it seemed to wake up, but its parts were now all twitching in a more clockwork manner.
"Okay, so they stopped it," said Silver. "What are the odds they'll actually fix the timeline?"
"Astronomically low," said all three Tails in unison.
"Dishonor," said Knuckles as he readied for a fight.
Sure enough, the second the Eggmen seemed to gain full control of the Time Eater, they immediately turned it on the group.
"Then why did you let them do it?" asked Cream nervously as it started to close in.
"Because at least under the doctors' control, they will focus the Time Eater on us and not let it continue devouring the entirety of existence," said Blaze, standing protectively in front of her.
"We just need to buy a little more time," added Taller Knuckles.
"CAN I SHOOT THEM NOW?" asked Omega.
"YES!" everyone else replied.
Omega wasted no time opening fire on the Time Eater, but unfortunately, bullets didn't seem to phase it, though the doctors did make sounds of outrage at the noise they made when they bounced off the glass surrounding their Egg Mobiles.
"FURTHER UPGRADES REQUIRED!" Omega complained, but kept his aim at the doctors' bulletproof bubbles just because it made them mad.
The Time Eater had gotten close enough to loom over them at this point, with both doctors chortling from their driver seats. "Hohoho, you handed us certain victory on a silver platter!" laughed the younger Eggman.
"Say your prayers, hedgehogs," said the older Eggman with a wicked grin. "Before I destroy you once and for all."
While some looked daunted, Taller Sonic wasn't phased. He just smirked up at the doctors like they'd just told a funny joke.
"Destroy me?" he asked cockily despite the odds. "In your dreams, Eggman! I beat you all the time by myself, and now there's three of me!"
Hearing this, Sonic and Smaller Sonic stepped up to stand beside him, and everyone else followed suit.
"Then I'll have thrice as much fun defeating you," said the older Eggman, rubbing his hands together gleefully.
"You sure about that? Because I can tell you my Eggman sure didn't have fun getting his butt whooped by me, and so far we've been beating you without even trying," Sonic called, not one to pass up a chance at trash talk.
Smaller Sonic nodded in agreement, before giving the Eggmen a thumbs down and holding his nose with a disgusted expression. The meaning was clear.
They sent them some dirty looks for that before the Time Eater prepared to attack.
Everyone tensed, knowing they still needed to buy more time. Or so they thought…
"Aw, are you starting without little ol' us?" came a voice, interrupting them before any fighting could begin.
Everyone turned to see Rouge swooping towards them with the two Shadows following behind her, using their air shoes to navigate the void-like space.
"Urgh, there's two of him too," groaned the older Eggman at the sight of Shadow.
"Who are they?" asked the younger Eggman.
"Who are they?" Sonic's Shadow echoed as they approached, looking at the men in confusion.
"What!" screeched both doctors, too shocked that Shadow didn't know who they were to attack.
"That is the villainous Man of Eggs!" Knuckles called back.
"That annoying person you kept complaining about this whole time?" asked Shadow, looking at the villains with a judgmental stare.
The Eggmen were left too busy sputtering in indignation at only being seen as 'that annoying person', that it gave time for Shadow #2 to get close enough.
"As promised," he said, holding the yellow emerald out to him from a chunk of floating rock a few yards away.
Taller Sonic grinned and held his hand to catch it as Shadow #2 tossed it to him.
Only for the emerald to be snatched out of the air midway between them by a giant metal hand appearing through a portal.
"YOINK!" cheered the older Eggman as the giant hand vanished through the portal, and the emerald was deposited into his pod.
Everyone started forward to try and get the last Chaos Emerald back, but Shadow #2 warped to appear in front of them, and silently waved for them to wait.
The doctors missed that fact as they were already too busy celebrating.
"There's no way you can win now!" said the younger Eggman, jumping for joy in his seat.
"With this emerald in my possession, there will be no Super Sonic," sneered the older one. "In fact, it will be the final instrument of your demise." And with that, he reached to install the emerald into his control panel.
"Shadow, what are you doing?" asked Amy.
Instead of answering directly, Shadow #2 said, "Before coming to this void, I was on board the ARK, where I happened to find that an old creation of Tails was still there, and thought it would be best if it fulfilled the task you made for it back then."
"An old creation of mine? On the ARK?" asked Taller Tails in confusion. Then his eyes widened as he seemed to catch on to what Shadow #2 meant. "Wait, you mean-?"
"Yes…" said Shadow #2.
Above them, Dr. Eggman the elder inserted the yellow emerald into his console and grinned as its glow lit up his face.
"... your fake Chaos Emerald," said Shadow #2 with a smirk
The grin quickly fell off the older Eggman's face as his pod began to sizzle and spark as the fake emerald failed to read as a real one and clashed with the energy Knuckles had provided to power his pod. The opposing energies began to wreak havoc on the systems he'd only just prepared, and he scrambled to pull the phony emerald back out as the Time Eater screeched below him.
"Wow, look at you," said Rouge to Shadow #2 appreciatively as they watched the doctors scramble to fix their machines. "The old bait and switch. As a professional jewel thief, I approve."
Knuckles side-eyed her hard when he heard that, before glancing at his counterpart.
Taller Knuckles rolled his eyes and nodded to confirm whatever suspicions he now had.
The two men scrambled, but while it seems the older Eggman's pod was now damaged and he was forced into a spectator role, the younger's was still functioning enough to control their monster. Something the elder Eggman was very salty about.
"Don't worry," the younger assured him. "I'll be sure to destroy them for both of us!"
"I've heard that one before," said the older Eggman with a grumble, scrunched up in his seat and pouting. "Let's just get this over with."
"Why are you acting like they already won?" asked the younger one, miffed.
The older Eggman just jabbed his finger in the Sonics' direction, and his younger counterpart followed his gaze.
With a savage grin, Shadow #2 pulled out the real final Chaos Emerald and held it out to Taller Sonic.
Taller Sonic beamed and accepted it. Immediately, it and the other six emeralds began circling around him and his younger self, just waiting to be used.
"Thanks for the birthday gift, Shadow," Taller Sonic said with a grin.
"Oh no," said Eggman the younger, dread already filling him.
"Hey, Blue, wanna go Super?" Taller Sonic asked, glancing over at his counterpart.
"Me?" asked Sonic, taken by surprise.
Smaller Sonic bounced and nodded.
"Well, yeah, you were nice enough to give Eggman that energy," said Taller Sonic with a wink. "But since he's being so ungrateful, it looks like that gift needs to be returned to sender."
Sonic hesitated for a moment and reached out to the emeralds. He remembered what it was like to use the ones in his world. The all-consuming power that would be so easy to get lost in. There was a reason he vowed only to use them again in the most dire of circumstances. Then again, this is darn pretty dire.
To his surprise, the emeralds' energy was casual, as opposed to imposing. As if they were ready and willing to be used at any time. The user-friendly energy made it clear that they would be willing to help him if he chose to use them.
With a grin, Sonic joined the other two Sonics in the circle of emeralds. "Gotta go fast," he said as he got ready to go god-mode again.
"Now you're speaking my language," agreed Taller Sonic as the emeralds spun around them faster.
Smaller Sonic punched his fist into the air, ready to go as the gems' colors blended together around them, and Sonic felt power as he'd only felt once before coursing through him.
He looked down to see his fur once again glowing gold, and he tugged up the cuffs of his gloves and got ready to go.
In their pods on the Time Eater, younger Eggman was rapidly turning pale, while older Eggman just looked resigned.
"I HATE those hedgehogs!" they both said as the three golden god-mode hedgehogs rocketed towards them.
Despite the odds, the younger Eggman was still willing to try to put up a fight. "I-I've still got the power I siphoned off the odd Sonic out! It's nothing like we've ever seen before!" he shouted, blasting at them using said power. "I can still win this!"
Unfortunately for him, Knuckles heard that.
"The power controlling that beast is your energy, Hedgehog!" he called out to them. "It is a part of you! You can reabsorb it!"
Sonic flashed his older brother a thumbs up, then darted between the other two Sonics and the energy, and in the millisecond it took to reach him, he worked out how to reabsorb it, giving him a tingly feeling.
Did he mention he loved being in god-mode? He knew it wouldn't last, but it was fun while it did.
It seemed to finally sink in to the younger Eggman that his goose was cooked. To be fair, he still tried, and the Time Eater itself put up a heck of a fight, but between three Super Saiyan hedgehogs, it was no good. Between Sonic reabsorbing his energy, Smaller Sonic's relentlessness chasing, and Taller Sonic's homing attacks, the battle was soon won.
With a final burst of speed, the three of them shattered the core holding the monster together, and the Time Eater faded away with a flash of light and a screech.
In the space of one blink, Sonic found himself no longer in god mode, and instead found himself standing in a field dotted with trees, next to a buffet table of food, complete with a cake with a frosting picture of his head on it.
Taller and Smaller Sonic were there too. Taller Sonic seemed to at least know where they were, as he casually held out his hand, and a chili dog with a bow on it fell from the sky and landed in his palm. He took a bite and grinned.
"Still warm," he said with a laugh. "Time travel!"
Smaller Sonic hurried over in hopes of getting his own chili dog, but Sonic looked around in concern. "Wait, where are the others?"
He then clapped his hands over his mouth. That was not his voice that came out of his mouth.
Taller Sonic glanced over at him and raised a brow. "Huh, wonder why you look more like me now?" he asked. "Well, more so than usual."
Smaller Sonic cocked his head and looked confused.
Sonic looked down and saw his fur was a lot flatter, and the color of his arms now matched his stomach. If he stood next to him, Taller Sonic was still taller, but the differences between them were much harder to spot otherwise. Even his voice sounded more like Taller Sonic's.
"Well, your Shadow looked like mine in our world. Maybe it's just a dimension jumping thing?" Sonic suggested with a shrug.
"Must be," said Taller Sonic, he and Smaller Sonic exchanging a glance, then shrugging back.
"Seriously, though, where are the others?" Sonic had to ask, getting back to his original question.
As if waiting for him to ask, everyone else suddenly popped into existence around the table, none the worse for wear (including a massive purple cat Sonic hadn't seen before, who looked just as confused to be there as Sonic was to see him).
There was a beat as it sunk in that it was finally over, and some confusion that those from Sonic's world suddenly looked different, but then the cheering began.
While the other two Sonics bantered with their friends, Sonic hurried over to check on his brothers and Shadow once he picked out which ones they were.
"You guys alright?" he asked.
"We're fine," said Tails with a grin, and Knuckles nodded in agreement.
"A little disoriented," Shadow admitted, looking around. "Where are we?"
"Taller Sonic's birthday party, I think," said Sonic. "The cake has his face on it, and everyone from his time seems familiar with this place. Plus, now we look like them."
Sure enough, Vector was already pulling out presents, and Charmy and Cream seemed to know right where the party poppers were.
Taller Sonic waved the four of them over. "Hey, you guys have time to stay and party?"
"Of course," Knuckles replied immediately. "It is tradition to have a feast to celebrate victory!"
And so party they did.
Shadow had never been to a party before. The grown-ups occasionally had them in the office parts of the underground lab, but he and Maria had never been allowed to join. Professor Gerald and Captain Walters had claimed it was because they were too young. Maria hadn't been happy to hear that, and roped Shadow into helping her dye all the lab coats and GUN uniforms in the facility pink in revenge.
Being at a party wasn't terrible, but it was a bit overwhelming. He was almost glad when one last Time Eater portal appeared, signalling it was time to go.
"That's our portal home," said the youngest Tails when it appeared.
"And I've run the numbers, and it should be safe for us to piggyback off that portal's energy and use a ring to get home, too," added Tails Wachowski.
Seeing it was time to go their separate ways, the oldest Sonic turned to his shorter counterparts. "It was great teaming up with you, er, me. Maybe this will fast-track you to learning some new tricks in the future. Wait, I mean the past. Ugh, time travel's a chore, not to mention adding dimensions on top of it."
"We get what you mean," said Sonic Wachowski with a grin. "I know I saw you do some moves I'm dying to try."
The youngest Sonic nodded in agreement and took a running start to attempt to dash in the air like they'd seen Taller Sonic do. He fell a little short, and didn't quite stick the landing, and hit his head.
Seeing this, Sonic Wachowski did his best attempt too, but while he did the midair bit slightly better than Smaller Sonic (in his opinion), he also managed to run into a tree.
The tallest Sonic clapped supportively for both of them. "Dudes, sweet, and you're only going to get better," he cheered.
The youngest Sonic grinned, and after sharing one last high five with both of them, he raced towards the slowly shrinking time portal. The youngest Tails did a flip in mid-air and did double high-fives with both his counterparts before he followed to do the same.
"We should go too," said Tails Wachowski as they left. "Tom and Maddie will be worried."
Sonic Wachowski nodded and pulled out a small golden ring. "Check out this trick-shot!" he said, before jumping up to flip-kick it. It bounced off a tree, the food table, and popped a balloon before hovering in the air before them and expanding into a portal, showing a lakeside forest at dusk beyond it, with a campfire crackling in the distance.
Another round of high-fives later (well, in Shadow's case, he and the other Shadow just shared a respectful nod), the four of them headed home as well.
"Hey Sonic! Enjoy your future," The taller Sonic called after both of his counterparts before they entered their respective portals. "It's gonna be great!"
They all gave a final wave before crossing through the portal and ending up on the other side.
Everything since Shadow woke up in that GUN prison had been surreal. If he wasn't so sure he was wide awake, he'd wonder if he was still dreaming in his stasis pod.
There was a sort of rightness that settled over him once they returned to their own world. This was where they belonged, and their appearances returned to normal to reflect that.
But was being with the Wachowskis where he belonged? The question troubled Shadow and made him hang back.
Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles certainly seemed to think they belonged as they went on ahead of Shadow into a campsite, but only found a golden retriever lying by the fire.
It took a little looking to find their parents. They finally spotted the couple a short distance away from the camp, staring up at the sky over the mountains.
"Tom? Maddie?" Sonic called out as they approached, and the two jumped and spun around.
"I- What- Sonic?" The man who was likely Tom sputtered when they saw them.
"You just took off in a GUN helicopter," said the woman who was apparently Maddie in bewilderment and pointing at the sky. "How did you get back here?"
That had just happened for them? But that had to have been hours ago, if not days. Did that mean there was currently a past version of the four of them meeting in Tokyo at this very minute?
Sonic exchanged a glance with his brothers, and they all shrugged.
"It's a long story," Tails told them.
Tom still looked confused, but seemed to roll with it. "Well, in that case, it'll be exactly the kind of story you should tell with s'mores around a campfire."
Everyone perked up hearing that, and Shadow didn't blame them. He'd never had a s'more, but Maria had sworn to him they were one of the best things ever.
However, it was then that Sonic noticed his parents hadn't reacted to seeing Shadow, and he looked back to see the other hedgehog still lingering where their portal had opened, using his dark coloring to blend with the evening shadows.
He quickly zipped back over to him.
"Shadow, come on, I want you to meet them," he said eagerly.
But Shadow still hesitated. It was one thing for the brothers to claim they wanted him to join their family, but it was the parents who would have the final say.
"I don't want to impose," he said.
"You're not imposing," Sonic insisted, holding out a hand for Shadow to take. "Come on, have a s'more, enjoy the view, help us tell Tom and Maddie what happened. I totally want to know how you and Shadow #2 beat that creepy alien dude. And we can all go stargazing after the sun fully sets. It'll be fun!"
Shadow looked at Sonic's hand, then back up at his face, and saw nothing but sincerity.
Unbidden, he remembered what the other world's Maria had said when they'd met and Shadow had begged her for a purpose. Asked her what he was supposed to do without her.
"I want you to live, Shadow," she had said. "I want you to see the beauty of the world like we always said we would. I want you to try lots of yummy foods. I want you to make friends who care about you. I want, more than anything, for you to be happy. And I know your me would have wanted that too."
Now here Shadow was, in a beautiful forest, being offered good food by someone who had offered a home and risked his life for Shadow's without hesitation. All that was left was to be… happy.
For her, he had to try.
And so, Shadow took his hand and let Sonic tug him over to the campfire and have a seat.
He saw the moment Sonic's parents registered that he was there, and both gaped as they looked back and forth between Sonic and Shadow, no doubt taking in their similarities.
"Sonic," said Tom slowly. "Did you guys really leave for five minutes just to find your- is he your long-lost twin?"
The two exchange a glance at the question. They both knew of their fifty year age gap, but they'd also just played hopscotch with the very fabric of time itself, of which Black Doom, Shadow's supposed father, had displayed some influence over, and given their similarities and how neither of them knew much about their origins before coming to this world…
"I have no idea," Sonic replied with a shrug.
"Unlikely, but not impossible," Shadow admitted.
Sonic then threw an arm around Shadow's shoulders, and added, "But this is Shadow, and he's our new bestie. So he'll be sticking around, if that's okay."
Shadow tensed slightly under his arm, waiting to hear their verdict.
Tom and Maddie exchanged a glance and once again decided to roll with it.
"Of course," Maddie assured them. "The more the merrier."
"It's your earthday-birthday party, Sonic. Invite who you like," Tom agreed.
Sonic whooped, Tails beamed and clapped, and Knuckles pumped his fist into the air with a shout of, "Yes!"
Shadow, meanwhile, sat stunned for a long moment at their easy acceptance, and only came out of it when a stick with a marshmallow at the end was placed in his hand, and Tails went into a lecture about the 'proper way to make s'mores', which he listened to with only half an ear.
The adults accepted him even faster than the brothers had. Were all Wachowskis just that instantly welcoming?
Even as he wondered that question, he heard Maddie whisper to Tom, "Did-did we just get a new kid?"
Tom shrugged and muttered back, "I mean, if he really is Sonic's long-lost twin, wouldn't that make him ours already?"
Maddie rolled her eyes at him. "That's not how adoption works, but good point," she said back.
It seems they were.
Shadow gave a small, barely noticeable smile.
'Maria,' he thought to himself. 'I think I'm going to be alright.'
In a dusty abandoned lab, Professor Gerald Robotnik beat his fist on the table when he saw through his grandson's stolen drones that Project Shadow and the other aliens followed a Shadow duplicate through a portal and disappeared.
This was not in his plan! He had accounted for all variables, but rando lookalike hedgehogs just showing up were not in his equations. He'd have to be sure to add them in from now on. Likely between the calculations for spontaneous human combustion and surprise flash mobs.
Still, even if he didn't account for this, his plan should still proceed as, well, planned. With Shadow's incredible power, he would surely soon dispose of the other aliens and come back to the only home he'd ever known, even if there was nothing left of it but dust and memories.
But hours passed, and none of the proximity alarms he'd set triggered. No energy fluctuations registered in the area. Finally, after a full day of waiting, the professor had to conclude the Ultimate Lifeform wasn't going to show.
Much of what remained intact in the lab ceased to be so when Professor Robotnik came to that realization.
After setting the place that had once upon a time held such good memories for him ablaze for a second time, the professor watched it burn in disgust.
"Oh, Shadow," he mused to himself, knowing that the hedgehog would be horrified if he were here to see this. "I see you've chosen betrayal. And you could have been so useful to me."
With that, the professor turned and walked away, his stolen drones flying along beside him.
As he observed their shiny white surfaces, an idea struck him, and a smile worthy of the Grinch spread across his face.
Well, if Shadow wouldn't cooperate with his plans, then Professor Robotnik would just have to recruit someone who would. It would take a few extra weeks of planning and preparation, but it would all be worth it in the end. He waited fifty years to watch the world burn, he could wait just a little bit longer.
Time to go back to the drawing board, and then track down a crab.
He had a family reunion to initiate.
A/N And that's the final chapter. All that's left of this fic is the epilogue next week. But don't forget, I've also written a sequel, and that will begin posting a week after that.
As for this chapter, I had fun with this. The Time Eater boss fight in the game was always confusing to me, so I had fun with the drama before the fight started instead. The bit about them not finishing all the challenges, and it being Vector who fell behind, is a reference to when I first played Sonic Generations. I completed EVERY challenge except the one Vector had over Rooftop Run. The stupid rhythm homing attack one. I tried so hard, but I could never beat it. I was honestly a little disappointed they kept that challenge in for the re-release. I was hoping they'd at least lower the difficulty, but it didn't seem like they did.
I had a fun idea that Movie Tails being Rachel's favorite means she taught him how to be intimidating, and it was too funny an idea not to use. Coming up with his insults and threats was a treat.
Since Modern Sonic and Game Shadow actually talked during their meeting in the void, I needed something else for the fake Chaos Emerald to do, and then I thought it might be fitting if it finally fulfilled the purpose Modern Tails made it for back in Adventure 2. For Eggman to try and use it and it blows up in his face.
Movie Knuckles telling Sonic to reabsorb his powers is mostly based on the Knuckles show, where the Buyer seemed to drain Knuckles of his powers, but then Knuckles did an uno reverse and took his powers back.
I almost forgot to have the movie characters look and sound like the game characters while in the game world. I figured it only made sense since Game Shadow was basically identical to Movie Shadow while in the movie world. If you look closely, they still look younger than their counterparts, but not by much. Maybe picture them having the voices from the Adventure games to show they're younger. Also, Big got invited to the party.
Tom and Maddie adopt Movie Shadow on the spot. They adopt him even harder when they hear his backstory. GUN better watch out. Meanwhile in the shameless sequel bait, Movie Gerald Robotnik remains at large and is going back to the drawing board for a new plan. And since Shadow is already firmly on team good guy, that means Gerald isn't going to be pulling any punches when they meet again. This is a problem because Gerald KNOWS Shadow. He knows everything about his powers and insecurities and will use that against him. How? Well, you'll just have to read the sequel to see.
SSSSS
Movie Tails: I told you I was Aunt Rachel's favorite. THAT IS A THREAT!
Modern Tails: Note to self, find Aunt Rachel and start getting lessons.
Classic Tails: Yeah, me too. I'll get a head start.
Classic Sonic: *Holds up a sign like in Looney Toons that says, HELP*
SSSSS
Rouge: What's wrong, Omega?
Omega: I never got to shoot him.
Rouge: *Pats Omega's shoulder* There, there, you'll get him next time.
SSSSS
Tom: Okay, so I bought Shadow his new bed, there's just one problem.
Maddie: Aw, it's a little rocket ship. What's the problem?
Tom: This is our fourth kid. We're running out of attic space.
Tom and Maddie:...
Tom: Bunk beds?
Maddie: Bunk beds.
SSSSS
POVs Movie Sonic, then Movie Shadow
SSSSS
Nicknames:
Movie Sonic- Sonic Wachowski, Blue
Modern Sonic- Taller Sonic
Classic Sonic- Mini-Me, Mini Sonic
Movie Tails- Tails Wachowski, Miles
Modern Tails- Taller Tails
Classic Tails- Smaller Tails, Lil'Tails
Movie Knuckles- Knuckles Wachowski, Red
Game Knuckles- Taller Knuckles
Movie Shadow- Stripes
Game Shadow- Shadow #2, The other Shadow
Classic Eggman- Younger Eggman
Modern Eggman- Older/Elder Eggman