Chapter Text

Break Out

This time there was no excited chatter to fill the expectant atmosphere, instead the group was staring impatiently ahead, only waiting for the next movie to start.

They had already been waiting a short while, most of them just stuck in their own thoughts.

Sonic and Knuckles were still turning their image of family over in their heads. Especially the last scene right before the credits was making them ponder what could have been.

Tails was already brimming with nervous energy, thinking about what they were going to do after the projection. The voice had said that this was the last movie- would they just be sent back?

The kit had learned a lot… but he wanted to know more!

Internally he willed himself to pay extra much attention during this movie- who knows what kind of things they would learn?

Rouge was eager to find out how this movie was going to portray Shadow.

The black hedgehog was her best friend. She was probably the person that knew him best.

And she still had no idea what version of him was awaiting them.

Amy was looking forward to seeing more family moments.

Hopefully there were more moments of Tom and Maddie acting like parents.

If the trio was actually acting like siblings in this projection- she was just not at all prepared for the cuteness that would follow!

Shadow was honestly not sure what he was feeling right now.

On one hand he was actually sort of… honoured that whoever made these movies had chosen him to appear in the next movie. But on the other hand he really did not want to relive his past.

He already had been doing that enough in the past years.

…And it was not like the black hedgehog could actually leave once it became too much for him. He absolutely did not like that.

Shadow had to deal with this sooner or later.

The void around them finally darkened again, marking the beginning of the projection.

The white bright void around them darkened until the group was surrounded by pitch black darkness.

Once more golden rings flew towards them, illuminating with a soft light. The rings zoomed over a gigantic lake before stopping at the top of a snowy mountain.

They formed a semi-circle as large floating letters appeared inside, spelling ‘Paramount’. The scene faded back to black.

Music began to play as a pixelated Sonic running through Green Hills was shown. Zooming out more and more videos appeared, some of Sonic, others of strange and unfamiliar scenes.

The SEGA logo appeared before also fading out.

“You know,” Amy shook her head slowly, still staring at those small scenes shown. “At first I thought these videos looked kind of weird but I’m starting to get used to them.”

Sonic glanced at her for a moment, “What? The pixel thing?”

The pink hedgehog shrugged, “More like the ‘There are a lot of different worlds where a Sonic is running around’ thing. Kinda makes more sense now.”

“Oh.” Sonic nodded, frowning. “...I guess it does?”

White letters appeared, telling the group that the next scene was taking place on ‘PRISON ISLAND’.

Slowly the camera moved up, revealing a lone island in the middle of the ocean. It was dark and cloudy, clearly taking place at night. 

Thunder rumbled in the distance.

The camera panned closer to the island, the only building- a military base -was as big as the entire island.

Several new letters joined the former, spelling ‘Tokyo Bay, Japan’.

“Japan?” Sonic frowned. “Why are we in Japan?”

“At least we’re at a location that’s recognizable by name.” Rouge shrugged.

Knuckles interrupted, looking confused, “No, but actually- Why does it have an English name if it's in Japan?”

“Maybe it’s English based?” Tails guessed.

Shadow pinched his nose in frustration, “I have a feeling that we’re seeing my counterpart sooner rather than later.”

The group frowned at the black hedgehog but nobody said anything to contradict him, so the projection continued.

The scene cut to the inside of the military base, following a G.U.N. agent holding a tablet through the halls.

He walked past multiple soldiers at their posts, all armed with weapons as they stood guard before entering a room through a heavy door.

Inside the room the G.U.N. soldier walked up to a control panel where another agent was already sitting, watching something through the glass. The sitting agent was eating a doughnut.

The soldier put his tablet down, cheering, “Oh, yes! You got donuts.”

“I already ate all the Boston Cream.” The other agent did not look up from the glass to crash the soldier’s hopes.

Knuckles snorted, “Ah, yes. The real problems: Your favourite flavour is already gone.”

“You’re laughing.” Sonic shook his head, mock-serious. “But that happens to millions of people daily! Think of the children, Knux!” The blue hedgehog chuckled.

Stopping dead in his tracks, the soldier stared at the agent, annoyed, “Kyle!”

The agent in question, Kyle, shrugged sheepishly.

They both then turned to the glass, looking through at what was on the other side.

The camera moved over their shoulders and panned through the glass, moving into the room behind the glass.

“Oh.” Rouge frowned. “You were right, Shadow.”

On the other side in the center of the room stood a large tube, several pipes and tubes were connected to it, leading to all corners in the room. The tube was filled with some kind of see-through fluid, making the only inhabitant, Shadow the Hedgehog, float up and down in his cryogenic stasis.

The tube was lit up with red backlighting, making the scene look rather intimidating.

“Nothing against you, Shadow. But that red light makes everything look creepy.” Tails gasped, shaking his head.

Shadow flinched when the kit addressed him. Not noticeable, only enough for himself to notice and immediately he hated that he had done so.

The black hedgehog had been so busy staring at his on-screen counterpart, he had almost forgotten that he was in a void with… his friends.

This was going to be a long movie.

Amy nodded, “It doesn’t need the light. This whole situation is just… imprisoning someone who isn’t even aware of what’s happening? That’s just wrong.”

“I mean, the whole point of prisons is normally to think about your wrongdoings and do better in the future- so yeah, that’s a good point.” Sonic agreed.

“And they really made sure that Shadow is secure.” Rouge thought out loud, the frown from before still on her face. “There's an agent always watching the room, several armed soldiers are standing guard in front- we're in the middle of the ocean for Gaia’s sake!”

The bat pinched her nose, exhaling pure frustration.

“Imprisoning someone in the middle of the ocean is already cruel enough but you're right.” Sonic nodded.

Knuckles asked, “So this is GUNs work, right? They were the ones who found the Hedgehog and dragged him here?”

“Must be.” Tails agreed. “I’m more confused about this whole timeline thing. They said the location where they found Shadow is 50 years old, right? But GUN was only founded after Sonic made himself known on this planet… so, how could that be possible?”

Shadow sighed, “They’re good at lying, Fox.” The black hedgehog rubbed his temples, already feeling completely drained of all of his energy and they had barely started the movie. “They only told the Wachowskis that they were recently created but in reality, they’re decades old and were already working in the shadows. After all GUN is the reason why-”

He suddenly stopped, a pained expression on his face.

The others looked at him with a mixture between pity, expectance and worry.

Amy cleared her throat, drawing everyone’s attention to her, “Maybe we should continue watching?”

Sonic nodded, feeling just as awkward as the pink hedgehog looked, “Probably for the best, yes.”

The soldier glared ahead, “This place gives me the creeps.”

“At least I’m not the only one.” Tails joked but his attempt at lightening the mood fell flat when nobody laughed.

Kyle rolled his eyes, “Relax. That Popsicle hasn’t moved in 50 years.”

Shadow narrowed his eyes, glaring at the two agents, “...Popsicle?”

“Oh, come on, Shads.” Sonic grinned at the black hedgehog. “They just think you’re cool.”

“...Did you just… make a pun?” Shadow stared at the blue hedgehog, more confused than actually offended.

Sonic’s grin widened, eagerly nodding at the other hedgehog who only continued staring at him. After a moment or two, Sonic rolled his eyes, “Ice cold reception honestly.”

The others chuckled, all relieved that Sonic was always good at making things seem lighter.

Even Shadow had actually snorted, making the blue hedgehog insanely proud of himself.

The camera cut back to Shadow, so close to the tube that you could actually make out each individual bubble that floated to the top.

Shadow remained motionless.

“Do you guys remember Tom’s job of testing the speed of an empty road?” Knuckles chuckled. “I think this job is actually a contender for the title of most boring job in the world.”

Rouge snorted, “You’re saying this now.” She shook her head, “In a few minutes someone will break Shadow out and they will have the fight of their lives.”

“Also I actually don’t think it’s that boring?” Amy frowned. “It’s actually kind of calming.”

Shadow raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms as he waited for the pink hedgehog to elaborate.

Sonic stared at Amy, looking a bit amused, “Watching Shadow sleep is calming?”

She deadpanned, “I meant the tube, Sonic. The tube.” She rolled her eyes. “I think it’s the whole water aesthetic."

The black hedgehog frowned, “The calming effect of water is kind of ruined when you spend a few decades stuck in it.”

Amy sighed, nodding, “Yeah, I can imagine so. I probably wouldn’t like listening to water either after that experience.”

“Hey, just saying:” Sonic wiggled his eyebrows at Shadow. “If you’re ever looking for someone to hate water with,” He pointed his thumbs back at himself, grinning. “I’m your guy.”

Shadow snorted, shaking his head, “Thanks, Hedgehog. What a brilliant value you have.” His voice was dripping in sarcasm which just made Sonic grin harder.

The blue hedgehog mock-bowed, “Why thank you, Other Hedgehog.”

From out of nowhere, soft guitar music began playing, interrupting the group chatting.

“Uh…” Tails turned around, confused. “Do you guys hear that?”

“Is that… a guitar?” Sonic also looked around for the source.

Shadow stirred slowly, almost like he was dreaming.

Imagines played around the group, too fast to actually be recognized but the feeling that was meant to be displayed was obvious: Home.

Whatever on-screen Shadow was thinking of, was his home.

A blond girl was playing the guitar. Shadow was holding hands with said girl while watching the stars under the moonlight. Shadow and her running through a dark corridor, only lit up with emergency lights while alarms blared around them. Something was following them. The two were holding hands- until they suddenly weren’t anymore.

Shadow took a few steps back, already feeling himself hyperventilate.

It was her.

This version of himself also had a Maria. And he had also lost her.

Typical. What else had he been expecting? That this universe was some kind of wonderland where at least one version of himself was happy?

Stupid. He had to urge to hit himself- or did he want to hide? Why hadn’t those alarms stopped? And why where they still so loud-

“-dow. Hey, Shadow.” Rouge’s voice cut through the blaring alarms like a sharp knife through butter.

Suddenly everything was quiet. Too quiet.

He sucked in a breath, more gulping down air than actually breathing. His eyes looked for the bat- why was his vision so blurry?

Something squeezed his hands- no, not something. Someone. Rouge.

“Shadow, it’s okay.” Rouge’s hands were holding onto him tightly. Comfort. She ran her fingers over his hands while the black hedgehog was still trying to get his breathing under control.

Inhale. Too much air. Exhale. Inhale. Not enough- drowning. Exhale- how did normal people breathe again?

When Shadow’s breathing finally stabilized, he took notice of the others, all standing a short distance away from him and Rouge, trying their best to not look in their direction.

They had huddled close together, keeping a conversation going about- whatever they were talking about. On the other side of the room.

Great. Now Shadow felt even more like an outcast.

He felt the shame rise up in himself- they were only trying their best. They didn’t know what he needed- Damn. He didn’t even know what he needed.

Shadow rubbed a finger over his eyes, wiping away the remaining wetness and looking back at Rouge who smiled at him. “There you are. Hey.”

The black hedgehog squeezed her hands back, nodding at her once to let her know she could finally let go of him. She held the contact for a moment before slowly letting go.

He could breathe a little bit easier now.

Rouge and him slowly approached the group. As soon as they were noticed, relieved and reassuring smiles were sent their way.

Amy’s smile looked a bit strained. In fact her whole body language appeared tense.

Before he could open his mouth to comment on it, maybe ask her If she was feeling alright, the bat pulled him closer and whispered in his ear, “Amy scolded the voice for not warning us about… you know. She pretty much screamed at the ceiling- at first it seemed pretty much like a lost cause but after a few minutes of screaming-”

Shadow raised his eyebrows. Minutes? How long had he been throwing his tantrum?

“-the voice actually answered and promised us it would warn us If something like that was shown again.” Rouge grinned at him widely. “It was actually really impressive. I always knew that Blue had a lot of respect for Pink over there but seeing her in action, actually showed me why.”

Shadow blinked in response, “...Okay?” His voice still sounded a bit raspy- was it from his crying or had he actually been screaming?

…He should stop thinking about this.

Giving Rouge another nod, she turned around to the group, clapping her hands together and smiling, “Alright, back to the projection!”

The others nodded back at her, they all turned back to the projection just in time for it to continue.

The scene cut back to the tube where Shadow was still floating unconsciously.

He scowled, furrowing his brow. His head jerked from one side to the other like the memories were still haunting him.

Suddenly a beeping sound echoed through the otherwise silent room and a monitor flickered on.

The soldier noticed the beeping, he asked confused, “Is that normal?”

“No.” Kyle lunged forward, looking worriedly at the monitor.

Tails gasped, running up next to the agent, also looking at the monitor, “A heartbeat?”

Knuckles asked, confused, “Wait, did Shadow wake just from the-”

Kyle moved his chair to a digital computer, quickly typing something. He looked frantic as he explained, “Someone’s hacking the system.”

“What?” The soldier looked like he couldn’t believe what was happening.

“Hacking the system?” Tails frowned. “So someone is trying to help Shadow escape?”

“Didn’t we already know that?” Amy tilted her head, asking. “Eggman and Rouge freed Shadow.”

“Yeah but Eggman is ‘dead’” Sonic used his fingers to put an air quote around the word ‘dead’, rolling his eyes.

Tails nodded, finishing the thought, “And we haven’t seen Rouge yet.”

Amy frowned, “But that doesn’t mean anything- Knuckles’ appearance was also a surprise to us.”

“True.” Knuckles agreed. “She could still show up.”

The digital computer in front of them began glitching, flashing a ‘SYSTEM OVERLOAD’ and ‘ACCESS DENIED’ warning before a red Eggman logo showed up on screen.

Sonic groaned, rubbing his face in frustration, “Seriously?” He turned to the group, loudly exclaiming, “I told you guys he wasn’t dead yet.”

“Nobody doubted you, Sonic.” Rouge shook her head. “Besides, who else would free Shadow except for Robotnik?”

Shadow sighed, finally voicing one of the fears that had been on his mind since he had heard that this projection was going to be about him, “So basically my counterpart will spend this whole projection just doing the doctor’s bidding?”

The others gave him a blank look, not knowing the answer either which made Shadow groan.

Knuckles chuckled, more out of sympathy than actually finding humour in the situation, “Welcome to the club, pal.” He softly patted the black hedgehog on the shoulder which Shadow actually allowed, too annoyed to shrug the echidna off.

Kyle removed his hands from the keyboard, looking helplessly at the screen that was still glitching before them. “The containment tank is destabilizing."

He turned to the soldier, looking scared as he said, “He’s waking up.”

“And he is definitely not going to be in a good mood.” Knuckles shook his head.

The bat lightly punched the echidna on the shoulder, “He can actually hear you.” She rolled her eyes at him before frowning at the projection, “I’m actually more worried about what they’re planning to stop Shadow from leaving.”

“Whatever it is, I’m pretty sure Shads can get through it.” Sonic quipped, not seeming that worried for GUN after what they had pulled last movie.

Shadow was just watching the scene with a fixed frown on his face. He was pretty sure his counterpart was about to go on a murder spree- and there was not a lot GUN could do to actually stop him.

…That definitely wasn’t a good thing.

But his counterpart being free from GUN’s influence was. Even If said murder spree was necessary for his escape:

And it was not like he had ever called himself a good person.

The soldier’s eyes widened in shock. As soon as the warning had set in, he dashed to a wall and pressed a red emergency button.

Immediately searchlights turned on, alarms wailing loudly- even across the entire island.

The camera cut to a large group of G.U.N. soldiers. They ran up to a weapon rack, each grabbed a gun and then headed down the hallways and into the containment room.

The group of soldiers surrounded the tank, all aiming their weapons directly at Shadow.

“That’s a lot of soldiers…” Tails frowned, appearing worried. “...and a lot of guns.”

Knuckles whistled, looking around the room a little bit impressed, “Yep. That’s bad.”

“A welcome committee, huh?” Sonic shook his head, quietly chuckling to himself.

The blue hedgehog was not worried at all. He had seen Shadow deal with far worse.

The beeping in the background became louder as Shadow’s heartbeat sped up, increasing to its normal speed.

Inside the tank, Shadow clenched his fists and twitched, almost thrashing from one side to the other.

The heartbeat was still increasing, surpassing its normal speed until the monitor suddenly stopped, the machine flatlining.

Shadow’s expression calmed, his furrowed brows softening again.

Sonic raised an eyebrow at the scene. He turned to Shadow, asking, very amused, “Is your counterpart honestly playing with his prey right now?”

Shadow snorted, “I don’t think he’s awake enough for that yet.” But his lips were twitching like he was trying to keep himself from smirking.

“That’s just the calm before the storm.” Rouge smiled, looking almost fond of what was happening right now.

As Shadow’s self-proclaimed best friend (He totally loved her- he just wouldn’t admit it while anyone was in earshot) she loved seeing moments like these:

Shadow taking back the reins and standing up for himself.

The bat almost felt like a proud mother, giddily waiting for the amazing fight that was surely still to come.

One of the soldiers loudly exhaled, relief clearly visible in his face.

A bubble inside the cryogenic fluid slowly rose to the top, past Shadow’s face. As soon as the bubble had passed, Shadow’s eyes shot open.

He narrowed his eyes, orange chaos energy burning inside them- then the hedgehog made a fist and punched through the glass.

Glass shards in all sizes flew towards the group of soldiers, the fluid following close behind. Some drops hit the cables, making the machinery spark and ignite, causing steam to fill the room.

The group flinched backwards, dodging the flying shards more out of reflex than actual fear.

Shadow scoffed, crossing his arms, internally challenging his counterpart, ‘Let’s see what you got.’

The soldiers took a few steps backwards, clearly taken off-guard with the tube shattering.

When all the fluid had finally left the tube, Shadow calmly walked out of the hole. He scowled at the soldiers as once more orange chaos energy glowed in his eyes.

And then Shadow suddenly vanished.

The group stared at the spot where Shadow had just been standing a moment before, shocked and confused.

“Uh…” Tails blinked but nothing changed. “Did Shadow’s counterpart just use Chaos Control?”

Amy frowned, “I mean… what else could it be?”

“Okay… that isn’t so weird.” Sonic muttered to himself, slowly nodded before turning to the group, asking, “Did anybody see him have a chaos emerald?”

“No.” Rouge shook her head. “Why would he even have an emerald? He just came out of the tank…”

“There is no way he has one. The Master Emerald is probably still with my counterpart and the other chaos emeralds… they’re probably still missing.” Knuckles frowned, rubbing the back of his head.

"Weren't those the same thing in this universe?" Amy asked.

The echidna shrugged, "He had no emerald. That's what counts."

For a long moment the group stayed silent, until Shadow spoke up who had been quietly thinking the scene over in his head.

“My counterpart has no emerald, he didn’t even mouth the words ‘Chaos Control’.” Shadow pointed this out like it was a logical conclusion that was not still turning the others’ world views on their heads. “This version of myself is able to teleport without an emerald.”

“That’s insane.” Sonic shook his head, frowning.

“More insane than your counterpart stopping time?” Shadow shrugged, appearing nonchalant.

Internally the black hedgehog was just as freaked out as the others- If his counterpart was actually capable of teleporting without an emerald… What else could he do? And what could he do with an emerald?

Sonic nodded slowly, “...I guess… that makes sense.”

The soldiers tensed, some of them even looking around to spot the vanished hedgehog; All in vain.

Everything stayed quiet for a few seconds.

And then Shadow re-appeared behind one of the soldiers, kicking him in the face with such a force that knocked him across the room in the blink of a moment before vanishing again.

Amy winced, following the soldier fly across the room with her eyes. That had probably hurt.

She knew that Shadow’s counterpart was just defending himself and she didn’t blame him one bit for doing so- but ouch.

“Oh… that’s…” Tails trailed off, not knowing what to say.

He definitely understood now why Sonic and Rouge had not seemed worried before.

Knuckles chuckled, “They’re definitely in danger now.”

The echidna had felt slightly amused by the manpower they had sent against the black hedgehog- but he got it now: They probably should have sent more.

The group of soldiers faltered in their positions, looking nervously around the room.

Shadow appeared again- this time directly in front of another soldier. He uppercutted him before quickly teleporting to a different one, also taking this one out before vanishing again.

This went on for a little while: The black hedgehog appeared, quickly took out whoever he was targeting and disappeared again, leaving the remaining soldiers scared and panicking.

When only one soldier was left, Shadow suddenly took his time to re-appear.

“Oh, he’s definitely enjoying this.” Sonic chuckled, shaking his head with amusement.

Amy threw him a glance that screamed ‘Are you sure?!’, frowning, she replied, “He’s acting out of self-defense.”

Sonic snorted, “Yeah, sure.” He nodded, smirk on his face, “But he’s also enjoying the fight though.”

“To be fair, it does look kinda fun.” Tails admitted, immediately looking a little bit guilty when the pink hedgehog gave him a stern look. “...I mean… objectively…”

Rouge laughed, “He’s probably having the time of his life.”

She turned to Shadow, wordlessly prompting him to agree with her and after a moment he sighed, relenting, “...He’s doing okay.”

The bat rolled her eyes, making Shadow shrug. Did she honestly think he would compliment a stranger just because he was an alternate version of himself? Tough luck.

The remaining soldier looked around fearfully. He turned his back to the broken tank and faced the room, pausing to hear any noises that would give away Shadow’s location.

A popping sound came from behind him.

Visibly shaken, he slowly turned around- only for Shadow to punch him directly in his face once fully turned, flying so far he hit the observation window, cracking the glass.

Inside the observation room, Kyle and the soldier from before flinched back, staring in fright at the now cracked window.

“Wait. They’re still here?!” Tails gasped.

Knuckles shook his head, disbelieving, “I can’t believe they haven’t left yet.”

“And all they did was just watch the fight go down, huh?” Sonic chuckled. “That’s… quite a strategy.”

“Sonic, don’t be mean.” Amy sighed. “They had no idea that Shadow was this strong.”

“Or could teleport.” Sonic added gleefully. His voice then dropped a bit lower, sounding almost jealous, “...without an emerald.”

The pink hedgehog rolled her eyes, “...Or that.”

The two men slowly approached the cracked window again, peeking through apprehensively.

Kyle gasped, disbelieving of what he had just seen, “We need more guys.”

The soldier glanced at Kyle and back at the cracked window, “...That is all the guys.”

Shadow snorted. Seriously? 

About ten soldiers was all they got? At maximum fifteen people? Really?

He honestly wished his GUN was as incompetent as this universe’ institution. It would have made a lot of situations way easier to handle.

“Damn.” Knuckles muttered, looking extremely impressed. “They were either extremely underprepared-”

“Or Shadow’s counterpart is just that good.” Rouge finished, smirking.

Sonic grinned, “Either way: Shadow is free!”

“Yippie!” Tails cheered, smiling widely.

The soldier that had hit the broken glass, slowly fell to the ground.

Cutting to the outside of the military base, where a thunderstorm was raging on. 

Debris came flying when a wall exploded in a fiery fashion. From the dust emerged Shadow, calmly walking to the ledge of the island. He paused, staring ahead.

The camera turned, showing to the audience what the black hedgehog had been looking at: A city skyline.

Tails glanced at the city and back at on-screen Shadow, “Uh… so what’s the plan here?”

“Except for reaching land and getting off this island, you mean?” Amy raised an eyebrow at the kit.

The fox rolled his eyes, “I meant like: Does he want to go unnoticed? Because going to a city this big will probably cause him to get noticed pretty quickly.”

“Oh.” Amy frowned. “Yeah, you’re right about that…”

“On the other hand, Shadow instantly being spotted means that my counterpart will get here quicker.” Sonic shrugged.

Knuckles snorted, “So we can watch him get his ass kicked by Shadow’s counterpart. What a joy.”

“Hey!” Sonic glared at the echidna.

“What? You think your counterpart can take him?” Knuckles raised an eyebrow at the blue hedgehog. After a brief moment of silence, he added, “After my counterpart beat him in like- what- a few seconds?”

Sonic narrowed his eyes at the echidna who only stared back, challenging. He then relented, “...I’m pretty sure it was at least a few minutes but okay. You’re right.” He rolled his eyes. “I actually thought that maybe Shads and my counterpart are a bit smarter than us and will actually talk instead of fight.”

Shadow snorted, shaking his head in disbelief, “There is no way that that will ever happen.”

“Only in an ideal world, Blue.” Rouge agreed with the black hedgehog.

Shadow wasted no time, immediately teleporting himself off the ledge and straight onto the water surface. He then proceeded to hover skate over the water in the mainland’s direction.

The camera focused onto his face, displaying the determined look at a closer view.

“Am I the only one that thinks it is weird that Eggman didn’t stop him?” Tails pointed out, frowning.

Rouge nodded, “The fact he wasn’t there to guide Shadow from the moment he stepped out of that tank is really strange.”

“That is really not Eggman’s style.” Sonic agreed, “He usually loves to manipulate people one on one.”

“Maybe he’s doing something simultaneously and wants the distraction?” Amy guessed.

Shadow shook his head, “Or he wanted to see what my counterpart would do without any input. To get a feel for him first before meeting him.” He sighed deeply.

Shadow continued moving towards the camera, while the camera zoomed into his red eyes, still burning with the use of his chaos energy.

His red iris changed into a red whirl that turned until its colour changed to mostly black. The top of the whirl had blue highlights while the bottom glowed red.

The whirl moved further into the background as the title of the movie appeared, reading, ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’. 

‘Sonic’ was written in his signature blue colour, his spikes visibly forming the hole in the ‘c’. The other part was spelled with white letters except for the number that was coloured bright red.

“I have to admit: That transition was extremely cool.” Sonic nodded at the projection, looking impressed.

Tails nodded, “And Shadow charging directly at the camera was scary. Hope they don’t do that ever again.”

Shadow raised an eyebrow at the kit who rolled his eyes in response, “What? You’re intimidating- you know that!” The fox did not look even a bit embarrassed by admitting that.

The black hedgehog shrugged. He did like to make people fear him- but it was not like he was actually trying to intimidate people.

Often others would just look at him and be scared of what he could do- he had gotten used to that.

Rouge hummed, changing the topic, “I wonder If GUN will try to take Shadow’s counterpart down first or If Sonic will directly intervene?”

Amy shrugged, gesturing to the projection, “It’s not like we need to wait long.”