Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Today was NOT a good day for Shadow. First, he was haunted by his blood donor Black Doom causing him to realize Doom was most likely alive hiding from him. Then he goes to his old home, the space Colony Ark, which itself brought back painful memories and dreams with Maria.

Shadow found himself where he first woke up and staring at the window where he and Maria looked out of so many times, then he quickly found what he had wished wasn't true, Black Doom, Alive and ready for round two. Chasing after him, he found the fake chaos emerald from when he and Sonic fought, which he had a nagging suspicion it would come in handy for later.

Then all chaos broke loose. He found himself in a time anomaly where all of his past was there, including his sister Maria and father Gerald. While this was not unwelcome, it made Shadow's mission that much harder having to keep them safe while taking down Black Doom, especially since he would most likely have to say goodbye, never to see his family again. Fight after fight he triumphed, gaining more power, even his fight against Sonic while technically was a loss was a win since he tricked him with the fake chaos emerald.

When the time came to fight Doom, he spoke with his family, promising to fight not with his anger, but with Maria's wish and justice. He was ready and after a long battle Shadow was flying victorious over Doom's defeated and dying form. As Shadow started to fly away Doom launched a desperate attack to at least kill Shadow. Shadow easily dodged and sent another chaos spear ensuring Doom's Death, Shadow turns around to he see the blast headed towards where Maria and Gerald was. Without a thought he threw himself in front of the blast, and everything went dark.

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Shadow felt himself falling, sideways, which he knew was not at all how gravity worked. Soon he went flying onto a street he'd never seen before. With a grunt he gets up and looked behind to see what looked to be a portal made by a ring closing, sighing with frustration as he looked down and gasped. His shoes, while having a similar look to his, were much more detailed, with black threat and much sharper angles. His rings which were simple rings now had carving and details on them.

The professor never would have added these to either of his ring or shoes because it would hinder the functionality and take away from Maria's own design for them. Then it clicked, he had somehow ended in an alternative world's body of himself. Having a similar experiences when Sonic destroyed the paradox prism. As well as with the crystallized hedgehog, being from a destroyed timeline, he knew there was no other explanation.

“I've taken on a new form.” testing his voice, which was not as gravelly and deep as his voice, but was in its own way. Light flooded the area, as Shadow put up his hands up to block it, shouts from all around him could be heard. As he looked around, Shadow swore under his breath, it was G.U.N. which most likely meant this version of himself had just woken up, so that left him with one option, run and quickly find a way back to his own world.

"Walk away, before you get hurt." He growled at the rapidly approaching G.U.N. soldiers. "STAND DOWN, YOU ARE SURROUNDED!" Shadow sighed, of course it was going to be like that. Shadow quickly gathered his chaos together, and released a chaos blast. Red light is all he could see as a boom rang in his ear.

As soon as the light cleared he could see all of the soldiers out cold with most having some sort of injury all surrounded in red fire. Shadow swore again not realizing how much more powerful his blasts were, he looked at his hands to see Doom power swirling around them. He then realized that due to his new Doom powers, his still had his original powers, which were much stronger, even in a different body.

"Ok, no chaos powers for the time being, looks like I'm using other methods to fight." After checking to make sure none of the solders' wounds were life threatening, Shadow took a blaster of sorts and motorcycle and prepared to leave. Just then a whoop of excitement could be heard from above, Shadow looked to see Tails, Knuckles, and Sonic. Looks like this G.U.N. wasn't as dense as his was, and they got Sonic and his friends to help take him in, wonderful.

Chapter Text

Sonic was confident that whoever they would face, Team Sonic could easily defeat them. What he didn't expect was a hedgehog that looked similar to him walking up a broken and burning car. They were so similar in fact, that he could be mistaken for the new hedgehog, or vice versa.

“Woah, Are you seeing this?”

Tails looks up at the hedgehog, worry clearly seen on his face “He looks just like you.”

“Impossible”

The hedgehog looked them up and down and said something that he didn't expect.

“You're children. G.U.N. sent children to fight me, how much more corrupt can they get?”

Sonic did a double take, corrupt? Sure G.U.N. wasn't the best, in fact they had tried to capture him and Tails. However they stopped after they saved the world, twice for him. What did G.U.N. do to make him hate G.U.N.?

“Um, excuse me. Why do you look like me?”

“How should I know, if anything you look like me, I can guarantee I'm much older than you are. How old are you anyway, 14?”

Sonic gasped in shock, “I am not! I'm 16 and Knuckles here is 18!”

“I rest my case, children. Legal age is 21. Do you even know anything about me? Or were you just told to fight something?”

Sonic was going to respond, but hesitated. They were only told about there being a threat. Why not tell them about what the hedgehog was capable of, G.U.N. clearly had tried to fight this hedgehoge by themselves.

“So I assumed right, you need to leave now. This is G.U.N. 's fight not yours.”

“Hey now! If you're trying to hurt people then we can't just stand by, and let you!”

“Then why is it only G.U.N. that I fight and I leave the civilians alone? I am no enemy to you, G.U.N. is.”

Then there was a flash, the hedgehog was gone.

“Where did he go!?” As an engine revved from behind. The hedgehog was on a bike, holding a blaster.

“I refuse to fight children, however if you insist on fighting and follow me I will defeat you.” The bike zoomed away in a red blur, faster than any bike should. Sonic knew he needed answers, and wanted them from the source.

“Sonic, I know that look, going after him is a bad idea.”

“When has that ever stopped me? He knows something we don't and I want answers.” Quickly running after the hedgehog, Sonic was determined to learn the truth.

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Shadow had a feeling Sonic would follow him despite the warning, because that is exactly what his Sonic would do. He looked at the blaster in his hands, considering shooting warning shots to see if Sonic would get the hint. He quickly decided against it because if this younger Sonic was any like his, and from what he's seen that was most likely the case, the shots wouldn't make him leave, just make him more determined to follow him. He also should save it in case it had a limit to how much it could shoot.

“I gotta ask, one hedgehog to another, who does your highlights?”

Shadow groaned in annoyance, of course Sonic would say something like that, heck he wouldn't be surprised if Soinc called his “highlights” gay to get a reaction.

“Listen Sonic, I don't want to fight you or anyone, however if you think that means I won't defeat myself you will be sorely mistaken.”

Sonic looks at him in shock, “Ok, first, how do you know my name? Second, I don't want to fight either, just the truth.”

Shadow turns around to look at Sonic. He was so caught up in trying to see if a portal back was around somewhere, that he forgot he isn't supposed to know Sonic's name.

“I am the ultimate lifeform, and as such my hearing is beyond any other allowing me to overhear your conversation with what I assumed to be allies or friends, learning your and the other's names.”

This wasn't technically a lie, he had heard the conversation and learned their name from that, officially confirming he was no longer in his own world.

“Well someone's got an ego. But I call myself the fastest in the universe, so I can't fault you there. Then again I'm just telling the truth. Which is what I want from you, why can't we trust G.U.N.?”

Shadow looked at Sonic, he didn't think he would listen to him, let alone come to learn the truth. Should he tell him? On one hand his story might not be the same one as this version, on the other if it was the same, then G.U.N. didn't have anyone to knock humanity back into them like he did with his, which meant they would be corrupt and want the child Sonic's powers, along with his friends. Then he had an idea,

“Ask someone from G.U.N. first, then I will tell my story.” He could spy from a distance and look to find this world's version's story. He use chaos control and was back at where he first appeared. He decided it was best to ditch the bike, as much as he would like to keep it, like his own Dark Rider. Putting the blaster away, he went to leave when a helicopter flew overhead heading towards Sonic and most likely the others went.

Shadow narrowed his eyes, “Suspicious, I should follow.”

Shadow ran after the helicopter, with a gut feeling that Sonic would be in trouble if they found him. One thing he knew for certain, is that his gut was never wrong.

Chapter Text

If there's one thing Shadow enjoys doing, it's running. The adrenaline, the wind, even the smell was comforting, reminding him of when Maria would be in his arms as he skated around the ark. Keeping up with the helicopter was no problem, what was, was finding the radio frequency and unscrambling it to hear what G.U.N. 's plan was.

Having a Spy as your best friend, not that he'd ever tell Rouge that, and teammate he was bound to learn how to hack into the most secure systems. That's how he was able to force G.U.N. to pay for the cruelty and get rid of the corrupt authorities. All he needed was irrefutable evidence.

“*static*-Where are the aliens?”
“The blue one ran after Project Shadow, the others are following for backup.”
“I see. Are we ready to contain all the aliens and not just Project Shadow.”
“All is going to plan Director Rockwell.”
“Good the sooner these freaks are contained, the better. The researchers will be able to make better defenses against earth from their kind.”

Shadow was, although not surprised, disappointed G.U.N. was no different than his own. Those kids had no idea about the double cross G.U.N. was planning on, as soon as Sonic’s team caught him they’d be in the same boat. He had to take the helicopters down.

“I found Project Shadow!! It’s behind me!”
“Open fire! Do Not let it escape!”

Shadow scoffed, maybe he gave them too much credit, G.U.N. was just as dense as his, just not in the same way. He ran into a train yard, hoping it would discourage G.U.N. from firing and causing damage. Jumping from train to train he heard his communicator ring out.

“The Project is in the train station, I cannot open fire without causing damage, send in support.”
“G.U.N. drones will arrive shortly to intercept and more helicopters are on the way.”

As promised G.U.N. drones blocked his path, Shadow sped forward to destroy them before any damage was caused. As he smashed through them he saw an opening to an underground construction site. Deciding that was the best place to go to avoid people, he boosted himself down right on top of another G.U.N. drone. Boosting himself once again, he ran right through the G.U.N. drones without problem. Continuing to destroy and run away from G.U.N. in the construction sight didn’t seem to help, deciding to go topside to take down the helicopter as the new plan, he jumped out of a hole in the ground and back onto a street.

As soon as he was viable the helicopter launched missiles at him, dodging them he ended up on top of a moving passenger train. Once again he hears his communicator go off.

“It's On Top Of A Train, what should I do?”
“Open fire, the Project will take the hits to protect the innocent on the train.”

Now Shadow considered himself good at controlling his emotions, but the fact that this Director Rockwell was so willing to do anything for his capture was the last straw. Shadow saw the missiles head towards him, using his teleportation, he blitzed around and caused all but one missile to miss the train completely. He kicked the last one and grabbed onto it and used his airshoes to steer the missile to get him close to the helicopter, letting go of the missile he summoned a chaos spear and hit the tail rotor causing the helicopter to spin out of control. He used his air shoes to get him the helicopter to rip off the door and get the pilot to safety, just because G.U.N. was willing to kill to get to their goal doesn’t mean Shadow had to as well.

Soon he jumped away from the helicopter he watched spin into the path of the missile and explode, taking both out. As he fell, he saw the other helicopter come into view and as soon as he was on the ground G.U.N. drones were there to greet him as the helicopter opened fire as well. Dodging and weaving through the chaos he quickly ran to what was most likely a monument and grinded up the structure with the helicopter not far behind. Launching missiles, Shadow jumped from beam to beam to avoid them, before using his air shoes to fly when the beams ended. He growled at the helicopter as it launched more missiles. He curled up into a spin dash attack, destroying the missile as he went to the helicopter, and broke the main rotor causing it to fall as he landed on top of the landmark.

Shadow stood and pondered for a minute, G.U.N. was clearly going to hurt this Sonic and his friends for their own wants, just like him. That thought alone made him sick, it took him years after his release to realise how G.U.N. treatment was down right wrong. He wasn’t about to let some kids go through that as well, but that meant staying in this world and fighting G.U.N. until they either were shut down or those who were corrupt were removed, either way he would have to stay until G.U.N. was no longer a threat to anyone.

Just as Shadow made the decision to stay, three G.U.N. helicopters flew up and launched missiles again. Shadow ran and boosted himself into the air and away from the landmark. Teleporting behind the missiles, he pushed one away and into one as the rest followed. Deciding enough was enough, he teleported on top on a missile and shouts,

“Chaos Control.” Making quick work of the missiles, he teleports into the helicopters and adds his communicator to this world’s G.U.N. database. Before teleporting away to where he saw the missile go off causing the helicopters to crash into one another and go down. Parachutes could be seen going up as he heard his communicator go off one more time.

“The Project had decimated our forces, I repeat the Project had decimated our forces.”
“Return to the base, we will discuss what to do from there.”

Shadow cut the connection to the radio, and made sure his communicator recorded the conversation, sure enough it did like all of his past communications. The important thing was he was in the G.U.N. database and with the helicopter destroyed, no way of tracing him ever doing so. Now he could learn all he could and be prepared for his next confrontation, but first he had to find Sonic and his friends before G.U.N. did.

Chapter Text

Shadow looked down at the city he appeared in, Tokyo it was called. Lit up with beautiful lights and now bustling with people going about their day as if the fight had not happened. Shadow had to hand it to G.U.N. they knew how to cover their messes. Which lead him to his, or in reality the Shadow of this world whose body he somehow ended up in, situation. Given the fact that he couldn’t feel a similar chaos signature to his own anywhere, he was sure that he was in this world’s body. Finding the files on Project Shadow wasn’t hard, well to others it would be nigh impossible, but since he knew what to look for and that this world’s G.U.N. database was almost one to one with his G.U.N.'s database it was a breeze.

He found that his counterpart wasn’t created in a lab for immortality or to cure all diseases, but found in a meteor that crashed in Oklahoma. After finding him, his counterpart was experimented on and his chaos power harvested for weapons. Gerald was in charge of the project, so no change there.

What was a change was the lab was on earth in a G.U.N. base, because Maria wasn’t sick. Shadow ended up shedding a tear at that, there was a world where Maria was able to live her life on earth, happy and healthy. In the reports, G.U.N. wanted Shadow for themselves, wanting more energy, more weapons and more experiments done on Shadow then Gerald would allow. This was due to the harm it would cause Shadow, and Gerald seeing Shadow as a grandchild like Maria.

The head of G.U.N. order for his capture at all cost, including executing those who would be loose ends. The incident happened the same, Shadow, Maria and Greald running for their lives and freedom while G.U.N. hunted them down. The only difference was that Commander Walters defended them, and kept Maria from being shot. The shot instead hit a container on Shadow’s power causing an explosion that killed Maria instead.
After everything that happened at the base, Walters threatened G.U.N. to reveal what they had done and it was because of this Shadow was placed in stasis, G.U.N. high ups wanted experiments on him, while Walters wanted Shadow’s freedom. So the next best thing was putting him away so he wouldn’t be experimented on, but he wouldn’t be free. Shadow had mixed feelings on this on one hand the Commander was on his side, which was nice for once. One the other side, the rest of G.U.N. wanted him and from what he found Sonic, Tails and Knuckles for experiments and power for weapons and were working behind the Commander’s back. The best course of action was to find the Commander, get him and any G.U.N. members he trusted to follow him out of G.U.N. and to safety as well as Sonic and his family.

That had been the biggest surprise looking through their files, Sonic had been adopted by a married human couple known as Tom and Maddie Wachowski. They also adopted Tails and Knuckles after a fight for the master emerald against eggman. So Shadow had to make sure the Wachowski couple was also protected, and seeing that their hometown was open and more than willing to defend the Wachowski’s he decided it would be the best place to hold down the fort from G.U.N..

Having enough knowledge, to be able to operate in this world as this world’s Shadow to fool G.U.N. Shadow started his plan, tracking down the G.U.N. commander and getting him to safety.

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Sonic had his ear lectured off by his little brother, for his heroic effort to find the truth, this was hero abuse. Okay, so maybe he deserved it for running off when they are supposed to work together, but can you blame him? A HEDGEHOG just like him showed up, claiming that G.U.N. was an enemy, but told them to hear G.U.N. on their side first? That was just confusing, but after telling his team what he was told they all decided to talk to Commander Walters since he was the one to ask for them.

Tails sent the commander a message on where to meet at, which they were going to now. A brightly lit building with the words Chao Garden on the front, and when they entered they were greeted with loud music and a similar sign above a stage as they walked to their table. As soon as they sat down mascots surrounded them as a picture was taken.

“Ah! It's an ambush! You'll never take us alive, fowl beasts!”

“Calm down Knuckles! This is Chao Garden, one of the top ten must see spots in all of Tokyo. It's the perfect place for us to blend in.”

Just then a group of girls walked up to the table. “Are you Detective Picahoo?”

I smiled, there was no way I could pass this opportunity up. “ Yes he is.”

Knuckles burst out laughing, “He does look like a Pokémon! Pica, Pica!”

Tails gave Knuckles a dead-pan look of annoyance. As the group of girls left, Commander Walters walked up to the table and sat down.

“Commander Walters, you owe us an explanation.”

“Sonic, thank goodness you're all ok. You are right, and I'm sure you have questions.”

“Uh yeah I do, for starters who is black and red guy, and what exactly did he do that you needed us for?”

“Shadow’s story is a lot like yours, Sonic. But where you found friends and family on this planet, Shadow found only pain and loss. It began over 50 years ago, with a meteor crash in a quiet corner of Oklahoma. Inside the meteorite contained a lifeform, the ultimate lifeform. Shadow's power, his chaos energy, went far beyond any living creature. The scientists who discovered him believe this power would usher in a new Era for humanity, but Shadow’s power proved too dangerous. A terrible accident destroyed the lab, taking human lives with it. The Project leader was blamed for the incident and imprisoned. With the program canceled, Shadow was a loose end no one knew how to deal with. Too dangerous to be walking free, too valuable to destroy. So I had him placed into stasis indefinitely.”

Sonic felt his anger rise, “So let me get this straight, because of an accident you had him locked away simply because he was powerful? Is that what you had planned for me and Tails last time you tried to capture us?”

“How dare you, dishonor! I refuse to hunt down the more impressive hedgehog if you want to imprison him once again for his power.”

“I understand, but I have little say on this. I was barely able to convince the higher ups that you are trustworth allies to keep you from that fate. They haven't changed their minds about Shadow for the 50 years he's been imprisoned. In reality they wanted to experiment on him, this was the kind thing I could do for him.”

Just as he finished speaking the light went off, looking around, Sonic couldn't find what caused the lights until the stage lit up.
“A live Show? Yeah!”
Sonic sighed in relief, the last thing they need is to be attacked. He then hears a low hum from behind, turning to see where the sound came from and sees Robotnik’s drones aimed right at them.
“GET DOWN!”

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Shadow’s luck must have decided he needed a break, because he found that the Commander had gone to meet up with Sonic and his friends, who were now in deep conversation. He figured the commander had some kind of bug on him, so he decided to cut the bug off from G.U.N. and connect it to his communicator to see just what they were talking about.

“*Static* …Shadow’s power proved too dangerous. A terrible accident destroyed the lab, taking human lives with it. The Project leader was blamed for the incident and imprisoned. With the program canceled, Shadow was a loose end no one knew how to deal with. Too dangerous to be walking free, too valuable to destroy. So I had him placed into stasis indefinitely.”

Shadow was not surprised, he was blamed for the very same thing, G.U.N. was bound to want an excuse to sweep up their mess without taking responsibility. He would have to explain the whole story to Sonic and show the evidence of said truth if he wanted to gain Sonic’s trust.

“So let me get this straight, because of an accident you had him locked away simply because he was powerful? Is that what you had planned for me and Tails last time you tried to capture us?”

Shadow ears perked up at that, sounds like G.U.N. seemed to be more sloppy here. They must have had to back off Sonic and the others to not look bad so they didn’t get searched. He hadn’t realised he had started to tune out the conversation until he heard the Commander once again speak.

“I understand, but I have little say on this. I was barely able to convince the higher ups that you are trustworth allies to keep you from that fate. They haven't changed their minds about Shadow for the 50 years he's been imprisoned. In reality they wanted to experiment on him, this was the kind thing I could do for him.”

Shadow felt relieved, this proved that the commander was most likely trustworth. Now, to figure out the best way to convince them he was here to help.

“GET DOWN!”

Shadow head snapped to the building to see oval shaped drones with missiles heading towards them. Shadow pulled out a Chaos Emerald and went into action before he could blink.

“CHAOS CONTROL!” The world froze, as Shadow went to work. He teleported into the building and turned over all of the tables to create barriers and put people behind them to protect them from the oncoming blast. Then he got to work at destroying the missiles and the drones. Teleporting behind the table as soon as time started up again, shouts of shock and confusion could be heard with explosions ringing out.

“Konichi Whaaat?” Shadow snapped his head around to see the table he hid behind was where Sonic the Commander and the rest of the team was behind. He sighed, well that was one way to prove he wasn’t a threat, and hopefully gain some trust.

“Hello again, I think it’s my turn to explain my side of the story. However, I think we should go somewhere else to talk, any suggestions, besides any G.U.N. facility?”

Chapter Text

Sonic could only look at the dark hedgehog, who was apparently called Shadow. The hedgehog was not only right in front of him, but a second ago they were about to be hit with missiles from drones which were now nothing but scraps and leftover heat.

“Konichi Whaaat?”

Ok, not the best thing to say to the guy who just saved them, but can you blame him!? He took them out at a speed he couldn’t achieve so suddenly, he knew the hedgehog was fast but not faster than him.

“Hello again, I think it’s my turn to explain my side of the story. However, I think we should go somewhere else to talk, any suggestions, besides any G.U.N. facility?” 

Sonic blinked, the hedgehog just took out an attack and acted like nothing happened.

“Ah, the more impressive hedgehog you have returned and have saved us from a surprise attack. You have no reason to do so as we tried to attack you, might I ask why?”

“Like I said before, you’re children and G.U.N. can’t be trusted, so I wasn’t going to let you out of my sight until you were somewhere safe. However, there is now an unknown third party that tried to attack you. Do any of you recognize the model of the drones?”

Tails walked up to the hedgehog, “Yeah, those are Doctor Robotics drones. We fought him about a year ago, but we were told by G.U.N. that he had died.”

The hedgehog then turned to the commander, “Was a body ever found, or did you assume that he didn’t survive whatever happened to him.”

The commander looked guilty, “We assumed, but he fell from over twenty stories on top of a giant robot-mech, no one has ever survived a fall like that.”

The hedgehog sighed, “Unless you have the body, never assume they are dead. Commander, you need to cut off all communications with G.U.N.. They have gone against your orders and are hunting the kids and me. They even bugged you so if you came in contact with them again they could ambush the kids and take them for experimenting.”

Before anyone could even respond Shadow walked up to the commander and pulled off a piece off of his suit and gave it to Tails.

“From what I have seen so far, you are well versed in technology. You can check this to see if my words are true.”

“That wasn’t on my uniform before…Shadow are you sure, I know you have history with us but to accuse them of such a thing…”

“He’s right Commander Walters, this is a bug, and it traces right to the G.U.N. base outside of Japan’s port.”

“I have more evidence I can show you, but G.U.N. will be here soon. Walters, if there are any soldiers who you trust contact them and get as many as you can to where they live. With what happened last time, I highly doubt that they are more than willing to stain their hands with blood once again to get what they want.”

Sonic felt as if his brain was going to explode, G.U.N. was betraying them? G.U.N. had killed people before, and from the sound of it, to get the hedgehog? How did he know so much?”

“Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa! Hold on, I’m usually all for going fast but think we need at least a bit more explanation.”

“Sonic like I just said we don’t have time, we need to leave. I will explain everything you need to know as soon as we are safe. Now, where do we..”

Just then, a man on a motorcycle crashed through the window and looked around. Sonic saw that he was looking at the drones on the ground, and seeing them destroyed quickly left.”

Shadow glared at the man, “He’s connected to the attack, he knew the drones were here, I need to follow him.”

“Hang on, new hedgehog, you shouldn’t go alone, we’re coming with you. Walters, take the ring and picture Green Hills, then throw it and a portal will open. Once you're there, talk to Tom and Maddie and give them an update on how we’re doing, and do what the new hedgehog said to do. If he’s right, we're going to need a lot of help.”

Walters nodded, threw the ring and walked through the portal. The new hedgehog sighed and ran after the bike, with him and his brothers following after. They continued to go after the biker and they quickly caught up to the man. They followed him to one of the docks and surrounded him making sure he couldn't escape. Sonic stepped towards the man,

“Alright Tokyo Drift,who are you and tell us why you were looking for those egg drones.”

The biker takes off the helmet to reveal Agent Stone. 

“It's the goat milker!” Knuckles cried

“It's the goat milker!” Stone mocks. “Relaxe, I'm not here to fight.”

Sonic stepped closer to ho. “Then why are you here?”

Tails stepped towards the man “And why did you set Shadow free, to manipulate him like you did with Knuckles.”

“You kidding? The last thing we want is more superpowered hedgehogs running around. The doctor had nothing to do with Shadow or the attack on you, and I can prove it.

Stone held up a key, and pressed a button causing something to chirp in response. Suddenly a red glow was seen in the water as a mechanical crab rose up and walked onto the dock.

“Please, join me in the crab.”

____________________________________________________________________

Shadow wasn’t sure what to make of the situation. Clearly someone was pretending to be Robotic to get his attention and lure him to wherever the imposter was hiding. However, Shadow had no idea who would be able to hack Robotnik’s machines without alerting him. 

The only one he could think that might be able to accomplish such a feat is Tails, but he highly doubted that he had anything to do with it. He wasn’t anything like Nine, he simply met Sonic later in his life.

Walking onto the mechanical crab Shadow could hear what he believed to be…a soap opera? 

“HmHmHmm, Let that be a lesson to you, Juan. Family is a field of emotional claymores that leave you abandoned, betrayed, and weeping while you eat cake. Which creates copious amounts of adipose tissue, or what some callus individuals refer to as  ‘Man Boobs’.”

Shadow heard something being squirted from something, and then music. What he didn't expect to see is Robotnik slapping his exposed belly fat, and spinning the chair around as if dancing to the music.

Shadow’s hand flew to his snout being overwhelmed by a horrible stench. Trying his best not to hurl, he realized that probably wouldn't matter considering how messy the floor was.

‘I have never been more disappointed and disgusted in my entire life. I hate that the world insists that my life is nothing but suffering.’

A scream snapped him out of his thoughts. Looking up he could see Robotnik with his shirt pulled down and robe pulled over as if he could hide what he just did.

“Doctor, we have visitors.”

“Really? I thought I was having an anthropomorphic nightmare. Where the only person I could trust in the world showed up with all my worst enemies and more. While I was in a bathrobe, playing congas on my BIG FAT BELLY!”

“Sorry, Sir.”

“I disown you, Eggman. You are a disgrace to all Robotniks, I cannot believe you’re my cousin.”

The room went dead silent before erupting into shouts of “WHAT!?!”

“What gives you any right to disown me or even be related to you, you flee ridden rat!”

Sonic opened and closed his mouth before setting on “What do you mean you're related to him!?!”

“I was adopted as Greald Robotnik’s grandson, and younger brother of Maria Robotnik, Ivo Robotnik’s cousin. I know for a fact they would be disappointed in attacking those like me when one is family. But also, they would be absolutely disappointed with how disgusting you are. I could smell you before even coming into the room, and I thought a rat or something died, but clearly it was what little was left of your pride. So yes, I am absolutely disowning you as my cousin.”

‘I know I'm not this world’s Shadow, but I have a feeling that he wouldn't mind that I disowned Eggman, Chaos he might even be grateful.’

“So you're saying I have family.”

Shadow raised an eye, “I know for a fact that you know you do. However your cousin was killed by G.U.N. and your Grandfather imprisoned on the same day I was taken from them and placed into stasis for 50 years. So I don't think Greald is alive, but who knows humans have been able to live past 100.”

The room once again went quiet, until Tails broke it. “You were in stasis for 50 years? What, is that why you called us kids?”

“Yes and No, my body is physically 16 years old because I'm immortal, as well as being in stasis. I'm mentally over 23 years old, but I've existed here for at least 53 years. So if anyone is the “new hedgehog” it is you Sonic, so I would appreciate it if you actually used my name, and I know you know my name because Tails called me by my name.”

“But, what about Knuckles?”

“I don't mind him calling me something that is a fact.”

“Of course more impressive hedgehog, I speak nothing but the truth.”

“What is this? Pick on Sonic day?”

“No, like I said Knuckles and I are only telling you the truth. Plus you'll probably give me a new nickname to tease me with.”

“OK, as nice as this has NOT been. Why, Stone, did you bring them here? I doubt it was because the emo one is claiming to be my family, before disowning me.”

“Right, we have a big problem. There's an imposter out there using your technology.”

““Imposter” that's imposaWHAT?!? No, my sweet mechanized spawn. Whomever did this party pooping posy is looking for has stolen my precious babies from my eggsack. Well, I'll so eggxact my revenge, see what I did there?”

Stone nodded and Shadow just shook his head.

‘I will never complain about my Eggman ever again, I hate every second next to him.’

“It's time for the dramatic soap opera twist, where this Pablo reveals himself! By cross-referencing the coordinates of each drones’ energy spike, I can track my babies to the imposter’s base of operations. Right about there!”

“Sonic, this can help us figure out who attacked us, and maybe the person who freed Shadow. I hate to say it but I think we need to work with him.”

Shadow saw Sonic about to argue, “Tails is right, we need to team up with them to make sure nothing happens. Whoever is behind this is smart, smart enough to hack Eggman undetected. They probably counted on him doing this, whether it is to trap him or try and gain an alliance we can't let them out of our sights.”

“Uuggghhh, fine. Alright Eggman, I hate to say this, but it looks like we're partners.”

Eggman turned and walked up to him, “On one condition.”

Sonic's face looked disgusted, “Dude, you have serious problems.”

Shadow watch as Sonic pulled out a quill cracking with energy. Confused Shadow watching as he LICKED THE QUILL!?! 

‘I suddenly am extremely grateful for my Eggman, why must I witness this? What could I have possibly done for the universe to decide this was necessary to see?’

Eggman sighed, and grabbed Stone pulling him right up to his face and screamed, “LET'S DO THIS!!”

‘Let's get this over with so I can go home and wash everything bleach.’

Chapter Text

Shadow was now standing off to the side with the rest of the team as he watched what he could only describe as one of the most gay thing to ever have happened in this universe, maybe even in his universe as well, between Eggman and Agent Stone. Sonic shuffled his feet and did everything he could to look everywhere but the two. Knuckles jabbed at the air to prepare for the upcoming confrontation as well as distract himself from the two as well and Tails used the coordinates to pull up a picture of their destination so they knew what they were walking into.

“Hey, Guys, I think you might want to take a look at where the coordinates are too.”

Shadow walked over to the screen and froze, he immediately recognized the symbol, it was a G.U.N. base, an abandoned one at that.

“Tails, where is the base located again?”

“Somewhere in Oklahoma, why?”

“Wait, weren’t you found in Oklahoma?”

“Yes Sonic, it was, that's the base that was made when they found me. It was where everything happened and where I lived until G.U.N attacked and captured me. So, whoever is there now must have known about me and most likely was the one to release me from stasis.”

“So are they an ally, more impressive Hedgehog?”

“I don’t know, just because they know about me doesn’t mean I’ve met them. Even then Maria and Gerald were the only ones who ever cared about me, so most likely they're not an ally.”

*BANG!* 

Shadow turned and got into a defensive position in front of the kids narrowing his eyes looking for what caused the noise. Seeing that Stone was looking at a room with eggman’s symbol and the words occupied on it, he quickly realised that Eggman caused the crash and relaxed his stance.

“HHHNNNGGG! Stuff it *grunt* in! *SLAM* Tinker Tailor, I need room. Think Elvis, Circa 1976.”

“But Sir, I don’t have the proper materials.”

Eggman then reaches over and grabs Stone’s shirt. Eyes widening Shadow flung out his arms to cover Sonic,Tails, and Knuckles eyes from what was about to happen. In one quick motion, Eggman ripped the shirt right off the man.

“Found some.” Handing the shirt to Stone and closing the door.

“Resourceful.”

Shadow shook his head and sighed, “Yes, yes, you two are gay for eachother, good for you. Now, go find a new shirt to put on, or if I have to I’ll get you a shirt. I will not let the two of you scar the children more than you already have.”

Stone’s face erupted in a blush as he ran to a different room in the crab. As Shadow turned around sighs of relief came from the kids.

“Shadow, you are now my favorite, care to join Team Sonic? We could always use another teammate, and your experience would help out a lot.”

Shadow gave them a small smile, “We’ll see after everything settles down with G.U.N. and the third party. Until then we’ll work together, at least until you're safe.”

Shadow saw the look of disappointment on Sonic’s face, but he knew he couldn’t say yes. He wasn’t this world’s Shadow, and he didn’t want to make a promise on the other’s Shadow’s behalf. He didn’t even know how they would react to him being from an alternate universe, and the only reason they weren’t suspicious of him was due to them meeting “Shadow” today. Shadow hears Agent Stone walk into the room and thankfully he’s wearing a shirt. With the altered suit  in his hands he knocks on the door and quickly passes it through the door to Eggman. 

Shadow turns back to Team Sonic, “So do we have everything we could need to get into the base?”

“Yes, I have my titanium handcuffs, my other gadgets and rings to get there and leave quickly in case we need an emergency getaway.”

The door to the bathroom opens as Eggman Steps out, “Alright enough yapping, let’s go and take down this imposter and take back my babies.”

Shadow rolled his eyes and turned to Tails, “Tails, if you would be so kind.”

Tails smiled and grabbed a ring, Shadow's eye widened as he threw it and it expanded to become a portal.

‘That's the same ring I fell out of when I came here. That must be my way home, but that means telling them the truth.’

Shadow watches as Eggman and Sonic enter the portal and start bickering as soon as they were on the other side of the ring portal.

‘Well as soon as we're away from them, I'll tell them everything they need to know. They've proven they're trustworthy and then they know to help this world’s Shadow when I eventually leave.’

Shadow followed behind the rest as they walked up to the doors of the abandoned G.U.N base. Eggman put his ear to the door and tapped the door listening.

“This door is six inch thick solid steel and a pressurized latch. I’ll need a moment to calculate the molecular density and invert the venting mechanics.”

Knuckles walked up to the door and delivered a quick punch to the door causing it to fall down inside the base.

“I unlocked it”

“Subtle as always…fists  for brains”

Dhadow sighed “Well there goes any element of surprise we might have had, whoever is here definitely heard that.”

Shadow walked into the base and the others followed him. As he started to look around, he could see the walls were covered in faded burn marks and the ground covered in various sizes of debris.

“Nobody has been here for at least 40 years, maybe even for the whole 50 years, but I can’t be sure.”

“I wonder if it’s haunted.”

“Haunted?! No one said anything about being haunted.”

“What’s the matter? You afraid of g-g-ghosts?”

“Nothing scares an echidna warrior.”

Sonic and Tails immediately tensed up, all Shadow could do is sigh.

‘Looks like some things never change, can’t blame him though, ghosts can be terrifying.’

“Uh, yeah, do you remember what happened last movie night?”

“There’s no such thing as a friendly ghost.”

As they continued down the hall, they soon came across three different hallways. Shadow looked at each one, closing his eyes to see if he could sense anything chaos power wise. Feeling a tug of power down the right hall, Shadow knew he needed to go down that hall.

“Sooo, which way do we go?”

“I know, we should split up. Everyone with hideous brightly colored fur and highlights take the left and the middle, Stone and I will go right.”

“No, no, no, no, no I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

“Sonic is right, just because we are working together doesn’t mean we will trust you. However, Sonic I will go with him right like Eggman wants, I refuse to let you be alone with the man that has tried to kill you multiple times. You and Knuckles will go down the middle hall, and Stone and Tails will go down the left hall.”

“By all means, we could use some time together, to work on your trust issues.”

Sonic rolled his eyes, “You’re right, I should be more trusting. I mean you’ve only tried to KILL ME TWICE!”

“Alright, enough, I’m going with Eggman and that’s final. Keep the coms open and alert us if you find anything.”

Shadow walks down the right hallways as Eggman runs to catch up and walks in front.

“I refuse to let some lower life form lead over me.”

“Fine, you can take any hit or attack that might happen. No skin off my back.”

Eggman stopped and Shadow walked ahead, “Well, I suppose you can go first so you can take any hits. I will not die for an edgelord rodent claiming to be family.”

They continued down the hall, as they checked the rooms Shadow opened a door to a room full of toys and a blanket fort walking around. Walking into the fort he could see spilled popcorn, a guitar, and a picture frame. Shadow quickly picked up the frame to see this world’s Shadow and Maria with bright smiles holding each other close. Hugging the fame gently to his chest he continued to look around the room, finding an old record player with disks all in their cases.

“This was Maria’s room…I can’t believe anything is still left, I thought G.U.N. would have gotten rid of this to hide what they did.”

“Is that what I smell? The stench of domestic harmony?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t want what was here yourself Eggman, it’s easy to tell your acting out of jealousy for not having family in your life.”

Shadow decided to gather together as much as he could from the room and use his chaos space to store it away. He knew for a fact that this world’s Shadow would want every piece from his past as he could. He certainly wished he had some things from his old home, but he was grateful he had at least the picture of his family together. After he put the last thing away, he walked around and saw shoe prints in the dust. He glanced back to see Robotnik now talking about himself and his family. Shadow rolled his eyes, he was in no way a therapist, he needed one for himself for Chaos Sake, he certainly wasn’t about to become Eggman’s! Quietly he followed the footprints into a lab with a broken tube in the center.

‘This must be this Shadow’s room, especially since it’s connected to Maria’s room. Why would this third party go into Maria’s room then my room?’

Walking up to the tube, he was suddenly overwhelmed with emotions. He remembered when he and Maria would place their hand on the glass to comfort each other when they had to be separated. He closed his eyes and took a breath to calm down and rein in his emotions.

‘Now’s not the time to get emotional, the kids need you to be strong and there’s a threat that will take any vulnerability I have to use against me I..’

Suddenly footsteps came, not from Maria’s room, but what was most likely a observation room. Whipping around, quickly shifting into a fighting stance, Chaos and Doom energies crackling together. His eyes went wide as he came to face a man he would have never thought he would see again.

“Professor…”

“It’s good to see you, Shadow. I knew you would come home, I didn’t think you would bring my grandson and those others with you. Oh well, it doesn't matter.”

“How…How are you still alive? You're over…”

“110? Yes, but thanks to you and your power I was able to age much slower than I would have.”

Gerald pulled out a red glowing quill and licked it, causing him to twitch from the shock of power, causing Shadow to shutter.

‘Well, I guess Eggman gets that gross habit from him…but if this Gerald is anything like mine was after Maria…I have to try and convince him to stop.’

“Why are you looking for me?”

“Because Shadow, you’re the only one who understands what we lost to G.U.N., and that is why we have to punish them. Them and every single selfish being on the failed experiment of a planet, to get revenge on those who are cruel, and justice for Maria’s death.”

‘Just as I thought…Please Chaos please, let me get through to him like Sonic and Amy did to me.’

“Professor, revenge isn’t the answer, it doesn’t change anything. Maria loved the earth and believed in the people of the earth, you really want to destroy what she held so dear? She wouldn’t have wanted this.”

“The question isn’t what Maria would’ve wanted, it's about what THEY deserve. Remember what she meant to us, remember what they took from us.”

Shadow tensed up, as flashes of running, flashing lights, and gunshots rang in his ear, he shook his head to snap him out of the memories. ‘He’s clearly trying to manipulate me to help him get revenge. Please don’t make me choose, please listen, Gerald.’

“I do, which is why I am honoring her memory by taking down those in G.U.N. who are corrupt and protecting those who are innocent. G.U.N. 's actions do not make everyone who work at G.U.N. guilty, especially since Walters tried to help us, he let you go, and kept me safe from G.U.N. to the best of his ability…If you wish for revenge, then you can do it alone, and I will stop you if necessary despite being family.”

“Oh Shadow, you would’ve been so useful to me, but you are wrong, I’m not alone.”

Chaos snapping away, he saw where he was standing, scorched. Drones flew in and fired at him, Shadow quickly took down the drones, but by the time he had finished Gerald was gone.

“Dammit! Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, come in. Where are you?”

Getting no response Shadow ran down the many hallways looking for the kids, until he came to a room where they were tied up with a chain. As he ran over he sensed a wave of chaos energy, and looked to see a device cracking with red energy, his, or rather, this Shadow’s energy.

‘Gerald must have harvested some, either that or G.U.N. did and he took some when he left. Whatever that thing is, it's dangerous.’

“Shadow! You’re Okay!”

“Shadow, there’s two Robotniks now, and the new one is..”

“Mine and Eggman’s Grandfather, I know. We need to leave now!”

The machine exploded into a black hole and suddenly the tower in front of them was gone.”

“Tails! RING! NOW!”

Grabbing a ring from Tail’s hand he quickly thought of the outside flower field he saw on the map and threw the ring at the black hole. It opened right in front just like planned, and they were sucked right into the ring. They landed and turned and watched as the whole base disappeared within a minute.

“Yikes. Somebody better call Google Maps.”

“Sonic, I think it’s time we regroup with your parents.”

Chapter Text

Commander Walters sat awkwardly watching as Tom was putting the finishing touches on a wooden structure of Taj Mahal, lowering the last piece on top.

“...and done! Masterpiece, look at that.”

Maddie ran in with her tenth loaf, which was cooked perfectly, unlike the last 9 loafs, which were either burnt or didn’t rise right. “Yay! It’s really been great having time to ourselves.”

“Right? Absolutely, I just feel so relaxed, ya know? Clear-headed.”

“Mhm, look at all these new interests we found.”

“Yup, so many hobbies.”

“So many.”

“After the action and adventure of the last few years, well, I could get used to this.”

“Same.”

Suddenly the room began to shake, as many of the hobbies fell. Shooting up and grabbing his taser gun from his belt he pointed it around the room, until a portal opened and team Sonic jumped through, tied together with Shadow following behind.

“TOM! MADDIE! WALTERS, we need your help on a super…Knuckles, do you mind?”

“Oh, excuse me.”

Knuckles turned so that Sonic was facing forward. “TOM! MADDIE! WALTERS, we need your help on a super dangerous top secret mission.”

Walters stared at the couple, who looked at each other and stood up.

“Thank God.”

“Let’s go”

“We’re in.”

Team Sonic's eyes went wide, “Really? You're in? Just like that?”

“Yeah”

“Yes, it was getting so boring without you guys here, so no offense.”

“No, none taken, I mean whatever crazy plan you’re cooking up, the answer is yes.”

“Great, but first things first…what is THAT?”

“OH! This is ~little Tom~ innit he great?’

Walters shuffled awkwardly, and saw that team Sonic and a weirded out look on their face, while Shadow looked on curiously.

“I told you to get rid of that, it's very creepy.”

“~I told him to get rid of you~ OKAY that’s crossing a line.”

“You are in so much trouble.”

Shadow chuckled and stepped around into view. “Well, you sure are some of the most interesting people I’ve met. Hello, my name is Shadow and you must be the children’s parents, it’s nice to meet you.”

Walter watched as Tom's and Maddie's eyes went wide.

“Um, Sonic, do you have a twin brother you didn't tell us about or...”

“No Tom, I’m not Sonic’s twin brother. If anything, I would be the older brother for the three of them that has to make sure they don’t get themselves killed.”

“Hey! We were doing perfectly fine before you came here Shadow.”

“From what I've learned, you were nearly killed at least twice and Tails and Knuckles were nearly killed at least once. Also do I need to remind you that we just escaped being killed by a blackhole machine? There was also the attack at the Chao Garden as well. You three are death magnets from what I've experienced in the last 24 hours of meeting you.”

“Excuse me, WHAT! Boys, what happened?”

“The Robotniks’ happened, they captured us except for Shadow.”

“Sonic’s right, but Shadow, why weren't you captured?

“The professor wanted to convince me to join him, to get revenge on G.U.N, and everyone on the planet for Maria’s death. I told him no, and tried to reason with him because Maria wouldn't have wanted that. You can probably guess how well he took it, and he left while I was busy fighting off the drones. Then I ran to find and save you because no one was responding on the coms, and you know the rest.”

“Okay, first things first, Sonic isn't he who you were sent to stop? Can we trust Shadow?”

“Absolutely Donut Lord, it G.U.N. who can't be trusted. They had Shadow locked up as a prisoner and were planning to not only lock him up again, but us as well.”

Walters cleared his throat, “I can confirm that he's telling the truth. Captain Rockwell and the higher ups went behind my back with their plans. I had Agent Randall and Rachel look to see if what Shadow told me was true, and he was right.”

“Thank you for trusting me Walters, I know it's probably hard to learn about that. How many agents were you able to get into contact with and recruited for help?”

“I have a good 5,000 agents on my side, 100 are coming here with supplies to protect Green Hills. I couldn't send more without it looking suspicious.”

“That's fine, the last thing we need is a fight. Right now, we need to take care of the Robotniks’ and whatever their plan is. Commander, do you have any idea what they are trying to do, they must have attacked you for a reason.”

Sitting quietly the commander went pale. “The Eclipse Cannon, a weapon space station the higher ups had Gerald make to go free. It can deliver a blow to anywhere on the planet, and I have one of two keys to launch it. The other is in G.U.N. headquarters in London.”

Shouts went up around the room, while Shadow was quiet. The commander watched as Shadow grabbed the chain tying team Sonic, and with one quick tug, broke the chain releasing them and causing the room to go quiet.

“Alright, so good news, even if the Robotniks get the key from London, we have the other here and they can't do anything without it. Commander, I need you to get anything you can on the Eclipse Cannon. Blueprints, semantics, any and all notes on it, we need to know how to disable it if they get the second key.”

Shadow turned and looked at Tails, “Tails, I want you to look at whatever we get regarding the Eclipse Cannon with me as soon as we get it. I also want you to look at the key Walters and create fake keys to trick them with. If we can, we can create a kill switch as a key so the weapon can never be used.

Shadow then turned to the rest of the team, “Knuckles, Sonic I want the two of you to look for a safe and well hidden place to put the real key. NO one is going to keep it to themselves to guard, the last thing we need is someone getting killed over it, like what nearly happened to Walters. It’s better to lose the key than lose a life, especially since we can plan for how to stop them if they do get the key.”

“Any questions?” Everyone just stared at Shadow.

“Well done Shadow, but I am still confused on why you didn't join Gerald? You have every right to be angry at G.U.N. and Gerald is very important to you, not to mention Gerald is very convincing to others.”

Shadow turned and gave him a sad smile, “Because that will not change what happened, nor would I feel better afterwards. And I know for a fact, that Maria wouldn't have wanted me or Gerald to do what he's planning, she loved everything and everyone too much to ever wish harm on anyone, even those who caused her death.”

Walters could only look at Shadow with admiration, ‘despite everything he's still the same kid I watched play around the base. The poor kid didn't deserve to be thrown into a fight right after he escaped. He deserves to grieve and yet, he marches on. I’ll talk to Maddie later and see if she can help him.’

“Thank you Shadow, I'll get in contact and get what you asked for.”

Walters walked out of the room before stopping, “Shadow, I'm sorry. For putting you in stasis for 50 years, and for not doing more to protect you before and after what happened that day.”

Shadow looked at the Commander, “Thank you for the apology, I accepted it. I hope after everything settles, we can talk and catch up.”

Walters smiled, nodded and left the room to make the calls.

_________________________________________________________

Shadow was spent, and he needed to get away from everyone. He just about had a panic attack when he finally knew that him and the kids were in a safe space. He could still feel it crawling in the back of ready to strike the moment he either hesitated or let his guard down even for a second. In fact, the only reason he was still there was everyone talking and keeping him grounded. But, Shadow knew that it wouldn’t last any longer, he needed to leave. Preferably somewhere without walls, so he wouldn’t get flashbacks to the escape pod he was trapped in on top of everything else.

“Excuse me, is there somewhere I can go to be alone for a while? Preferably somewhere in or close to the house.”

Sonic’s eyes lit up, “Yup you can hang out on the roof, we go up there all the time. I’ll show you the window to get up.”

Maddie gave them a look of concern, “Sonic…”

“It’ll be fine Maddie, I even tell him the roof rules before I leave with Knuckles. Knuckles I’ll see you outside to help look for a hiding spot as soon as I help Shads”

Shadow turned and looked at Sonic with a surprised look on his face, “Shads?”

“Yup, my new nickname for you. You’re lucky I’m so kind and came up with a new one instead of just using my first one I came up with and I'm not choosing anything else.”

Shadow chuckled and shook his head, “Shads it is then, lead the way Sonic.”

Sonic ran up the stairs and Shadow walked after him, feeling the looks of concern from Sonic’s parents on his back as he left.

‘It's okay, just a little longer. Then I can focus on processing everything that’s been happening and keeping myself from having a panic attack for the third time this week.’

Walking up the ladder, Shadow saw that the attic was the room for the boys, each had a vehicle theme bed. Looking up he saw a sky window and lights around the roof of the room for light. Sonic then dragged a small ladder over and climbed up it and out of the window.

“Come on, Shads. The roof is all yours.”

Shadow shook his head to clear it and went up the ladder.

“Okay, this is the best place for privacy and close enough that we can come and get you if we need. That being said, don't be afraid to ask for something. Tom and Maddie are super chill when it comes to helping us with whatever and I'm sure they'll do the same for you.”

With that, Sonic jumped back down into the attic and ran out front with Knuckles following close behind.

Shadow took a deep breath and let himself think about what had happened in the last 48 hours, and that was the last straw on his mental state.

He felt the panic rise in him, and despite how he fought it off, the constant repression of his emotions finally caught up to him. He felt his chest tighten until it was unbearable to breathe. He wasn't on the roof anymore, he was running down the Ark with Maria right behind him running as fast as she could. Gunshots rang from behind as the bullets grazed his cheek. Soon he was in the room with the escape pod, with Maria shoving him in the pod and sending it to earth. He felt himself falling, he couldn't stop, he couldn't see, he could only hear.

“Remember what she meant to us, remember what they took from us.” Gerald hissed

“It's futile, the world will betray you. Why fight at all? Why risk your life for those who will persecute you later?” The hedgehog looking creature from the lost timeline scoffed.

“This will remind you of what the humans did to you. Never forget that horrifying image.” Doom

“Shadow! Remember!” Maria cried.

The Ark, the moon, Gerald, visions of the past and Doom all blurred together yet he saw it all happened with perfect clarity.

Then he saw the kids, heard them scream and beg for help. Doom laughed behind him.

“You cannot deny what you are, what WE are. You are the ultimate lifeform, the perfect weapon, soldier and destroyer. The Black arm's heir, you may have a hedgehog DNA and have this unassuming form, but you will never get rid of the Black arm's blood in your veins. As long as you exist, I will never die! I will destroy everything you hold dear with your own hands! WE WILL BE ONE!!!”

Shadow could feel a burning on his back similar to when his wings ripped out of his back. "No again, NO! I will never be you I,”

Suddenly a hand fell on his shoulder, “Shadow can you hear me? I need you to try and focus on something, anything.”

Shadow focuses on the voice that was talking comforting nonsense and the gentle hand on his shoulder. ‘Maria? No, someone like her.’

As he focused on the hand and voice the images of his past and the screams faded away to a quiet hum, still there but not overwhelming everything else.

Shadow slowly opened his eyes which he hadn't realized he had shut tight and looked to see who had helped. He saw Maddie with a gentle smile as she started exaggerating her breathing.

“In and out, good job Shadow. Just follow my breathing, we got you.”

Shadow followed her instructions until he was able to shake off the cobwebs of what was left of his panic attack.

Shadow cleared his throat, trying to get rid of the dryness “Thank you for your help, I didn’t think it would get so bad. No one was hurt, correct?

Tom walked and kneeled next to Maddie. “Yeah bud, but uh, are you supposed to have giant wings coming out of your back?”

Shadow's eye went wide, and snapped his head back to see that the burning sensation he felt wasn't him reliving what had happened. Flexing and flapping them, Shadow focused on his Doom powers and forced the wings away.

“I guess it's time to tell my story…”

“Shadow, you can tell us later. Right now, let's focus on making sure that you're okay.”

“I would suggest not fighting Maddie's on this, she is a vet, and has been taking care of the boys through their own panic attacks and trauma, not even Knuckles escaped.”

Shadow nodded, not having the energy to fight back. Panic attacks always left him more drained than any mission, training, or even battle he has ever been through. Maddie gently searched and bandaged any wounds she found, including a scratch on his cheek which he most likely gave himself when lost in his memories.

“Alright, you're clear. If you want you can go to the bathroom to clean yourself up before you come downstairs. The bathroom is the second door on the left from the ladder. We'll come check on you in five minutes.”

With that, Tom and Maddie left without a word, letting him be alone and giving him space to compose himself. With a sigh, Shadow got up and walked to the bathroom.

‘Well, there's no more avoiding it now. I just hope they actually believe me.’

Chapter Text

Shadow walked into the bathroom and quickly closed the door, put his back against the door and sighed. He knew for a fact that he trusted the family and the commander enough to share who he was. However, he definitely didn’t plan on explaining due to his new powers acting up due to his emotions. After what felt like an hour passed, he pushed himself off the door and walked to the sink. Looking up into the mirror, he saw how exhausted he looked and sighed, turning on the faucet to cold water and splashing water onto his face. Shadow then shook his head and combed his hands through his quills, looking back at the mirror to make sure that he was at least somewhat presentable, sighing once again.

“Well that’s the best I can do for now, let’s get this over with.”

Walking out of the bathroom to the top of the stairs he could see Commander Walter, Maddie and Tom quietly talking in a corner of the main room, while Sonic and Knuckles were on either side of Tails as he typed away at his computer. Walking down the stairs altered everyone as they looked over to him. Immediately after he reached the bottom of the stairs, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles ran over to him. What he wasn’t expecting was for Sonic to pull him into a hug, with Tails and Knuckles joining soon after.

Sonic sniffled and looked up at him,
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have left you alone. I…”

Shadow stepped back from the hug, placing a hand on Sonic’s shoulder and gently squeezing it, “Sonic, you didn’t know, I didn’t think I would break down as bad as I did. However, I believe I owe you all an explanation, especially the wings.”

Walking over to the couch, with Sonic and Tails following and sitting on either side of him while Knuckles sat with his parents on a different couch, with Walter standing off to the side.

Shadow took a breath and sighed, “I know you all have questions about everything, but I think the best way to answer any and all questions you have is to tell you the truth. First things first I am Shadow, however I’m not your Shadow.”

Everyone gave him a confused look, before Tails spoke up,
“Uh, Shadow? What do you mean?”

“What I mean is that I’m from a different dimension. I came here through a ring portal that appeared, similar to the one used to escape the G.U.N. base. I first arrived in this dimension at Tokyo and was quickly cornered by G.U.N. soon after. I used my power to defeat them, however, my powers had been strengthened as well as new powers that awakened less than 24 hours ago. In fact, one of those new powers are the wings that Tom and Maddie saw just a little bit ago. Due to that, I underestimated my own powers and caused more destruction than intended. After I quickly made sure none of the G.U.N. soldiers were in critical condition, and right as I was going to leave, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles arrived on the scene.”

“HOLD ON, HOLD ON, HOLD ON...So are you saying that Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was right all along, and you're a variant of Shadow?”

“Sonic, you're gonna have to explain what you just referenced, because I have never heard of it before.”

Tails eyes lit up in excitement,
“It’s a movie about a hero who has different versions of himself pulled into his world due to a villain in his world, and he had to get the different versions of himself back to their worlds so that they don’t die. I love that movie! It inspired so many of my multiverse theories, and now you’re saying that the multiverse is real?”

“Well, from what you described, my situation is pretty much the reverse of the movie, without the worry of death as far as I can tell. I had just defeated a villain for a second time, right before he died for a second time he sent me here. To answer your question Tails, yes, the multiverse is real. I've had a similar experience with the multiverse where I met alternate versions of friends, allies and foes. I, however, wasn’t able to enter the different worlds, my Sonic could though.”

Suddenly the three boys erupted into excited chatter.

“Woah! Really!?! That’s awesome!”

“You did!?! What was it like? How come Sonic could go, and you couldn’t? What are the worlds’ like? Can you…”

“A second time? How were you able to defeat and kill an enemy twice? Is it possible for me to defend fallen enemies as well?...”

“Alright, calm down you three. I will answer as many questions as I can to the best of my ability, but I want to tell you the truth first. *sigh* In my world, I wasn’t born, I was created by Gerald Robotnik to cure his sick granddaughter, Maria Robotnik, through my immortality.”

“Hold on! You’re immortal!?!”

“Yes Tails, in every sense, I cannot get sick, I have never aged, and I have survived things that no one would have ever been or should be able to. This is due to my D.N.A. donor, who was also the villain that sent me here. He is known as Black Doom, and technically I am his son, but the only thing I share with him now is his D.N.A.. He had reached out to Doctor Gerald Robotnik in the past, who had just exhausted all of his own resources and knowledge of chaos energy and was very desperate at the time. With desperation comes risks and Gerald made a deal with Black Doom in which Black Doom gave Gerald his D.N.A. to the ultimate lifeform, in exchange that I would one day become a vanguard for him and help him to take over earth.”

Maddie gave Shadow a look of concern, “Sorry to interrupt Shadow, but is that something we have to worry about happening here?”

“I would say you should prepare for it in the future just to be sure. I don’t know if it will happen to your Shadow since he was either created or born before he got here. However, I’m sure that if he is part or even full black arms that he will want nothing to do with Black Doom and will want to protect the earth from him should they come.”

“Hold on, so you're like Luke Skywalker? No, no, no, no, I feel like you’re more like a male version of Princess Leia. Man, how much cooler can you get?”

“Sonic, I still don’t know who you're referencing, should I feel honored or offended?”

“Absoultily should feel honored, Leia is an absolute badass! She’s from one of the greatest movie series, STAR WARS! In the movies, she’s one of the greatest leaders of the Rebels and was even a founder of the Resistance. She’s also the sister of Luke Skywalker and their father was a villain known as Dark Vader. She fights with a blaster pistol, which I feel like would be something you would use, and always knew what to do.”

Shadow then chuckled, ‘Just like my Sonic, always making some kind of pop-culture reference that I have no idea what it's about, only this time it’s due to being in a different dimension with completely different movies and not me being 50 years behind.’
“Well, Sonic, if this Princess Leia has such high praise from you, she must be impressive.”

Sonic grinned, “Well of course, I'm one of the coolest hedgehogs there is, so naturally I can tell when I see or meet cool people.”

“Well back to my life story, I grew up and was raised by Gerald alongside Maria on what was known as the Space Colony Ark. During that time, I grew close to both to the point of becoming family, with Maria as my sister and Gerald as my father. During this time I was tested and experimented on by orders of my world’s G.U.N. who not only wanted me to be a weapon for them, but to also be the key to immortality, which the man who was president at the time wanted for himself. Both G.U.N. and the president were funding the project that created me, and they weren’t exactly happy that they weren’t getting what they wanted.”

Shadow took a deep breath and braced himself for what was to come next, gripping the cushion he was sitting on, “Eventually, G.U.N. got tired that they weren’t getting the results they wanted and attacked the Ark. The soldiers were ordered to take me and Gerald into custody and destroy all evidence, including everyone who knew.”

A sharp intake from Walters caused Shadow to stop and looked to see that Walters’ eyes were wide. Shadow then looked at Tom and Maddie to see both of them with pale and horrified faces. Knuckles had a solemn look on his face, that clearly showed that he understood.

Sonic gave a nervous laugh,
“They didn’t really kill everyone did they, I mean you said Maria was your sister so you both must have been kids.”

“I’m sorry to say that they did, Maria even sacrificed her life so I could escape. The only survivors were me, the professor and Towers, who was the only other kid on the Ark and he even became the commander at G.U.N. later on. However, G.U.N. captured me when I got to earth before I could run. They tried to use me as they had planned but I refused to cooperate with them to be their weapon. Due to this they had me put into stasis for 50.”

Shadow felt arms wrap around him from either side of him as Sonic spoke,
“I’m so sorry Shadow, that should have never happened.”

After letting Shadow go, Tails furrowed his eyebrows in thought, “So how did you get out of stasis, from the sound of it, G.U.N. wasn’t planning on letting you go ever.”

“They didn’t, my world’s Eggman released me after learning about Project Shadow. However, just before I was put in stasis, Gerald went mad and altered my memories of the last moments with Maria so I would want revenge for Maria. So, instead of remembering my promise to give humanity and everyone a chance to be happy, I remembered the false memory of promising her revenge on everyone on earth for her death. I’m not proud of what I did when I was seeking revenge, but I was able to remember the truth thanks to Sonic and his friends' help. I then helped Sonic to save the world from being destroyed by the eclipse canon that was part of the Ark."

Shadow watched as Knuckles stood up and walked over, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“You are a great warrior, to have the strength to let go of your anger in honor of your sister’s wish. I too was overcome with anger and wanted revenge for the loss of my tribe, but Sonic, like yours, showed me a better path.”

Shadow smiled, “Thank you Knuckles, I appreciate it. When me and Sonic saved the world, I ended up sacrificing myself to keep the world safe. While I survived, I lost all of my memories, and had to search for who I was. During this, Black Doom came and invaded earth with the rest of the Black Arms. He took advantage of my memory loss to try and manipulate me into gathering the chaos emeralds for him. However, Sonic and his friends, as well as my own teammates I had made before, made sure Doom couldn’t. When manipulation didn’t work Doom tried to take over my mind, through the hive mind that all Black Arms are a part of, including me.”

Looking around, Shadow could see how disturbed everyone was.

Sonic decided to be the one to break the silence,
“Ok, first off that's super creepy. Second, did you get out of the hive mind, or are you still a part of it?”

“Apparently long before the Ark raid, Gerald and Maria left a message which helped me regain my focus and was able to break free from the hive mind. After this I fought and defeated Doom and the rest of the Black Arm's. I then worked with my team to expose the corruption of G.U.N. and were able to help get rid of the corrupt authorities while building G.U.N. back up to be what it was always meant to be. After that I was more willing to work alongside G.U.N.. Which gave me access to all the resources and information I could need to help protect the earth.”

Tom let out a low whistle,
“Well I guess that's the best you can hope for in your position. Tell me they at least pay you for the work you do for them.”

“Yes they do, and I now live comfortably with my teammates, I have had enough of being alone after everything. About a week ago, I started to get strange dreams with my memories being jumbled like before Black Doom. This caused me to be suspicious that he could be alive, so I started looking for clues. This eventually led me back to the Ark and there I found Black Doom had been reborn through a Black Arm's larva that was on the Ark and he wanted revenge.”

Tails hummed,
“I guess that makes sense, since Black Doom is the leader of the hive mind and can take over the minds of the hive mind. It is not that far-fetched that Black Doom could take over the body of someone part of the hive mind and make it his own.”

“During my confrontation with Doom, Eggman had also released a monster that controlled time to trap Sonic’s and I's friends. Eggman’s plan was to team up with his past self to be able to defeat Sonic once and for all. However, due to the monster’s power, Doom was able to take control of its power for his own purpose of remaking his army as well as try to take over my body.”

Everyone tensed at that, with Sonic blurting out.
“Um, okay, WHAT! What do you mean he wanted to take over your body? Like possession or like a fusion between the two of you or whatever he did with the larva?”

“The new powers I got were forced on me by Black Doom. This was because of our shared D.N.A., so when I became stronger, he became stronger as well. I have a feeling the power I received would have come on its own eventually, but it doesn't matter now. Black Doom used the power of gain over time to make me revive my past as well as bringing Gerald and Maria to where I was to break me. However, it only caused his downfall. Just before he died he set out a blast of power towards Maria and Gerald to destroy them, but I took the hit and it sent me here. Which leads us to now, alright I’m done now, what are your questions?”

The room went silent after he finished, looking around Shadow saw that everyone was processing what he had told them before the boys erupted into questions once again.
“Okay, so I gotta ask, what am I like? Is the other me fast, and how fast is he? Has he ever gone Golden God mode? Does he swim? OHMYGOSH! Why didn’t I ask the most important question? What’s his opinion of Chillidogs?”

“This still does not answer my question if I can challenge those who are dead to a fight. As an echidna warrior I must know, is the master emerald being guarded in your world? How many echidna warriors are there in your world? Does your knuckles like grapes or cool ranch Doritos?...”

“This is incredible, would you say the portal was the exact same as the one we used? Could you tell any differences between them? Do you think that if you used a ring, it would open to where you were before being sent here or this world’s version of where you were?...”

“ALRIGHT! Boys calm down and let Shadow talk! I get this is all super exciting, but Shadow can’t answer your questions if you just rapid fire them at him.

“Thank you Tom, I will answer what I can. For my Sonic, not only is he older but he’s gone on many different adventures through the years. Sonic is fast and oftentimes we are equals in speed, Sonic had gone golden before calling himself Super Sonic in that form, no he cannot swim but he has ways around it, and yes Sonic eats Chillidogs everyday. Knuckles, because of how Black Doom was the leader of the black arms as well as the hive mind was the only reason he came back, he wasn’t truly dead until anything connected to him was dead. So no you cannot fight someone who is dead unless you time travel or you fight their ghost.”

Shadow saw Knuckles tense up at that, “My world’s Knuckles is the last of his kind and guards the Master Emerald well for those who would use it for their own gain. I don’t know if he likes either of those foods, I don’t know him or see him enough to know. Tails, the ring I came out of to come here was too much longer to go through, however that might be due to how I was sent here. I did feel a difference in energy when crossing over, but that is most likely due to the worlds being different, which could mean a difference in Chaos Energy in the areas. As for the last ones, I’m not sure, I hope that it does because my Sonic needs the Chaos Emerald I have on me to go Super to defeat the time monster.”

All three of the boys went wide with Sonic blurting out, “Why do you have a Chaos Emerald? What happened to the Master Emerald?”

“Nothing is wrong with the Master Emerald as far as I can tell. Why are you so surprised by me having a Chaos Emerald?”

“Wait, does the Chaos Emerald? Not make up the Master Emerald?”

“No it doesn't, the Chaos Emeralds are their own thing, while the Master Emerald can cancel out the Chaos Emeralds powers. With questions like that, that means you Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald are one in the same?”

“Yup, when the Master Emerald breaks apart, the Chaos Emeralds come out. In fact, it is the Chaos Emeralds that make the Master Emerald and its powers.”

‘Well that’s one huge difference,’ Shadow reached into his quills and brought out the Chaos Emerald. “This is a Chaos Emerald from my world, I use it to boost my Chaos abilities like Chaos Control to be able to perform them longer than I would on my own.”

The boys looked on in awe, “You're Chaos Emerald is way bigger than ours, how big is the Master Emerald?”

“It’s about the size of a small car, and its power is the reason Angel Island is a floating island, which is where the Echidna lives. Which is why I hardly interact with him, we both are busy doing our part to protect the earth. Often when something big happens, or Sonic is involved, do we see each other.”

Knuckles looks like he was going to ask a question as Tom interrupted, “Okay, as fun as learning all of this is, Shadow needs rest to recover from his panic attack. Shadow, are you okay with sleeping on the couch or would you rather sleep with the boys upstairs?”

Shadow looked away, feeling his face warm with a blush, “Upstairs, I will not get any sleep alone after an episode like that.”

“Alright, Maddie and I will set up somewhere for you to sleep. We’re going to order pizza for dinner because I’m pretty sure no one wants to cook after that. After dinner we’re going straight to bed since I have a feeling you didn’t sleep yesterday. With that said, boys no more questions for Shadow tonight, you and write them down to ask later but Shadow needs a break.”

The boys groaned but agreed with their parents. After that the adults, minus Shadow, left the room to talk and order the pizza while the boys booted up a gaming system to play a racing game. Shadow stayed on the couch and watched as the boys played, the exhaustion finally getting the better. Shadow didn’t even feel himself fall asleep, being lulled by the music from the game and excited chatter from the boys.