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solalunar-eclipse · 1 year

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Sonic Boom - S3E12

Chapter title: Schrödinger's Hedgehog, Part 1

Summary: The final mystery about Shadow begins. Who is he, really? Why has he always stayed distant from others? What is his story?

This four-part special will answer all of those questions and more.

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[Scene opens on the six heroes playing volleyball. Sonic, Knuckles and Tails have formed one team, leaving Amy, Sticks, and Shadow on the other.]

“Knux! Knux! I’m open, let me spike it!” Sonic shouted, leaping into the air. The echidna obligingly passed it to him, helping their team score a point as Sonic smashed it into the sand. Shadow teleported in front of the ball before it could roll into the forest and carried it back, shooting Sonic an absolutely deadly look in the process (whether for scoring a point or for making him go get the ball, it wasn’t entirely clear).

“Come on, guys, we won’t lose to them, will we?” Amy insisted, doing her best to inspire her teammates. Carefully, she served the ball, giving Sticks an opportunity to set it over the net. After a few more minutes of tense play, Tails stumbled in the sand, giving Shadow a perfect opening to spike the ball himself. He smirked, making direct eye contact with Sonic as his palm connected with the volleyball.

Unfortunately for him, the angle of his hand turned out to be just ever so slightly off. He realized this quickly, only seconds before all the others, and his expression shifted into one of mild horror before his hand had even left the ball. It was obvious enough that the moment he landed, everyone else automatically turned towards the water, waiting for the splash of an out-of-bounds shot.

Instead, they all watched, mildly stunned, as it sailed over the horizon.

The moment Shadow landed in the sand, they turned back to him, staring incredulously. He winced. “I guess I hit it harder than I meant to.” he said nervously into the silence.

Suddenly, the entire team exploded in cheers and laughter. “Man, that was awesome!” Sonic cried.

“I just wish I’d gotten it on video.” Tails sighed wistfully.

Sticks walked up to the group, smiling one of her rare genuine smiles. “This’ll be one of those stories we’ll talk about for years, won’t it?”

“You know it!” Knuckles cheered excitedly.

Meanwhile, Shadow just smiled awkwardly and wished with all his might (despite all of the positive attention he was getting) that he hadn’t done it at all.

…

[The same intro sequence plays as last time, but Shadow is slightly less irritated. He still refuses to play along with the others, but is no longer outright angry. If anything, he looks slightly amused by the others and their antics.]

[There is no villain reveal in this episode, however, and so Dr. Eggman is introduced like an ordinary character (since he is one of the main characters of the show, as he himself would inform anyone at the slightest provocation).]

[The intro then continues on, before ending with the title of this week’s episode.]

…

After the abrupt ending to their volleyball game, the team decided to wander around town and see if there was anything else interesting to do. In Shadow’s opinion, the simple fact that the other five existed was entertaining enough to count as ‘interesting’ all on its own, but they didn’t seem to agree.

Approximately two and a half seconds after they stepped across the town’s border, an extraordinarily loud shriek of “My baby!” was heard, and everyone except for Shadow (who hadn’t experienced this enough to get sick of it yet) groaned.

“Not this again!” Sonic complained, even as the entire team headed in the direction of the shout to investigate.

“Does this woman know the first thing about childcare?” Amy sighed. “You’re not supposed to keep your eyes off your child for any extended period of time!”

Once the six made it to the scene, they discovered that this time, the baby in question had somehow managed to clamber up to the top of the highest building in town. They were currently attempting to climb the spire at the very top, but kept on slipping each time.

Sonic sighed. “Can someone else keep the baby from falling today? I’m just not feeling it right now.”

“I got it! I’m great at climbing!” Knuckles said, immediately digging his spikes into the side of the building and hauling himself onto the roof. He was just in time, too, as the baby’s most recent attempt to clamber up the extremely thin spire ended in a near disaster. They completely lost their grip on the metal pole, and began to slide down the roof towards the edge—on the opposite side from Knuckles.

Just as the baby was about to slide over the edge, the echidna dove across the roof, caught the baby in one arm, and then rolled off the side before catching himself on the gutter with his other hand. Gently, he dropped to the ground and handed the baby back to their delighted mother…who immediately wandered off to resume her shopping, not even bothering to give him the praise he deserved.

Thankfully, his friends were there to do that for her.

“Ohmygosh, Knuckles, that was actually so cool!” Tails cried, his eyes wide. “Where’d you learn tricks like that?”

“Oh, you know.” Knuckles said, and then didn’t elaborate.

“No, we don’t, actually.” Sticks replied, giving him a slightly bewildered look.

“I mean, living alone in the wilderness for most of your formational and adolescent years means you learn all kinds of cool survival stuff.” Knuckles explained. “Have you…oh right, you guys have always had houses! I forgot that not everyone is new to this house thing like me.”

“You…forgot?” Amy asked, frowning.

“Yep!” Knuckles smiled cheerfully, clearly unaware that it was abnormal to have spent most of one’s life on this island without a house.

Now that the latest crisis had been averted, the team continued throughout the town in search of something at least as exciting as a baby almost dying.

“Oh, wow!” Tails gasped when they passed the movie theater, running up to the front doors. He pointed at a poster excitedly. “Look at this, guys! I can’t believe the theater is actually getting the new Tommy Thunder movie! It’s coming out next week, and see, it’s called Rise of the Robot Overlords! It’ll be so cool to see someone fighting robots on the big screen just like us!”

Shadow twitched, his legs slowing down automatically. The poster depicted Tommy Thunder (obviously) stabbing one robot through the chest with a massively oversized sword and shooting another robot’s head off with an equally massively oversized gun.

Shadow wrenched his eyes away from the image with great difficulty, staring at the ground instead.

Amy shrugged. “I’m glad you’re excited, but we fight robots every day! What’s so special about these ones? They’re all just there to get destroyed in battle or blown up anyway.”

The striped hedgehog opened his mouth to speak, before shutting it again.

“They’re made with really cool special effects, that’s all!” Tails said, his eyes sparkling. “Plus, I always like to see if I can figure out what’s a model and what’s CG.”

Sticks’s eyes grew so wide it was a surprise that they didn’t take up most of their face. “Wait, hang on, why is nobody talking about the title of the movie?! Rise of the WHAT? They’re not even hiding their plans anymore! Everybody! Find food and shelter while you still can!” they screamed, running around the town at top speed.

[Their shrieking is still faintly audible for most of the rest of the scene.]

Shadow winced again, before doing his best to mask it as something brought on by Sticks screaming.

Knuckles frowned. “I dunno, Tails…your robots are cool, but I don’t trust any of the others. Most of them are either made by Eggman or don’t do what they’re supposed to. Or both!”

Tails folded his arms. “What about FriendBot? Or Q-N-C and MAIA?” he asked, not noticing the way Shadow outright flinched. “They were helpful!”

“Oh, are you guys talking about robots?” Eggman asked, strolling up with his arms full of grocery bags.

“Yeah!” Tails said. “Knuckles thinks that most robots are bad, and Amy thinks they’re boring.”

“Wait, where did you come from?” Amy asked the doctor suspiciously.

“I heard someone talking about robots—which is my specialty, in case you hadn’t noticed—and decided that the conversation would undoubtedly be improved by my input!” Eggman said proudly. “Also, I came from the grocery store. Could you not tell that by the fact that I am currently holding groceries?”

Amy sighed, pinching her brow, and refused to dignify that with a response.

Eggman rolled his eyes, returning to the original conversation. “They’re plenty helpful! All you have to do is keep reminding them that they’re replaceable, or else they’ll start getting all high and mighty about ‘wages’ and stuff like that. I mean, do you remember that time mine went on strike? It was a disaster!”

“They are not replaceable!” Amy cried. “Bea is absolutely unique, and I love her very much!”

“So are you saying that not all robots are boring, then?” Tails replied smugly.

Amy huffed. “Not all of them! I’d never generalize like that. But look at all of the ones in this movie! They’re faceless and boring, like those Sentinel things. Bea has much more personality than this!”

Shadow cringed at the sound of the word ‘Sentinel’. He began carefully moving towards the side of the movie theater, hoping to escape this conversation.

“Hey Shadow!” Sonic called, making him freeze in his tracks. The hero had bought a box of popcorn and was leaning against a wall, watching the others as they argued. “What do you think of robots?”

“I…don’t have much of an opinion on them.” he said, measuring each word carefully. “Lyric’s robots were awful for the most part, but the doctor’s are less so.”

Sonic ate another handful of popcorn before replying. “Fair enough! I just figure, if they’re cool and can help us, then sure, they’re great! But otherwise, I’m happy smashing them. Tails is the one with all the gadgets—I can live with or without ‘em.”

“Oh. I suppose that makes sense.” Shadow said quietly.

[The camera cuts to show him clenching his fists at his sides, tightly enough that his claws begin to pierce the fabric of his gloves.]

Suddenly, a violent rumble shook the ground, making everyone reel and struggle to keep their balance. Sticks skidded to a stop next to the rest of the group, dropping down to all fours immediately. “Earthquake!” they screeched.

The moment that the first wave had passed, the heroes sprang into action. “Alright!” Sonic cried. “Everyone, get into a doorway or under a table! You’ll be safe there until this thing is over!”

He and Shadow began to rush around the village, helping the people who were stuck outside with nowhere to go. Meanwhile, the others began rapidly to get those closer nearby to safety, switching into ‘hero mode’ with ease.

Except for Eggman, of course. He just leapt into his Eggmobile and flew away to his island (though he did help one or two people before leaving, and immediately swore them to secrecy on pain of death).

Sonic dashed back to the movie theater, tucking himself under the ticket counter with the others just as the second wave began. They all linked hands as quake after quake passed through, riding it out until the very end.

The moment it ended, the hero checked on Tails first, making sure his little brother was okay. “I’m fine, Sonic!” he insisted, waving the hedgehog away fondly. “I was right here with you, wasn’t I?”

“Everyone else alright?” he asked, checking in on the rest of his friends.

“All good here!” Amy replied, smiling at him. “Sticks and Knuckles seem fine to me too. How’s Shadow?”

“Shadow?” Sonic frowned. “Wasn’t he with you?”

“No, the last time I saw him was when he was running around with you.” she insisted.

Suddenly, they all realized the same thing at once. “Then…where is Shadow?” Amy whispered.

Sonic turned pale. “Oh, no…”

[cut to commercials]

[…]

[fade back in]

When the show returned, the entire team was already rushing all over the village, searching for Shadow. Tails was busy scanning for life signs from above, while Sonic sped throughout the streets as quickly as he could, hoping to spot Shadow safe and sound anywhere at all. Amy asked around, searching for clues as to where he’d been seen last, and Sticks and Knuckles took the more direct approach of simply digging through rubble at random in hopes of stumbling upon him.

After several tense minutes, including more than a few futile calls of his rival-turned-friend’s name, Sonic stumbled upon the little pink porcupine who had been a fan of his in times past weeping on the ground.

“Mister?” she sobbed. “Mister, please, get up…”

Sonic felt his body go cold. “Hey there, kiddo.” he said softly, forcing his face into a noticeably false smile. “What happened?”

“That hedgehog, he—he saved me,” she whimpered, “‘cause the big house was gonna fall on me but it fell on him instead!” She began to wail openly, and Sonic hugged her, his body moving on autopilot. He sent an SOS to the rest of the team, calling them to his position.

“Oh my…” Amy whispered, the first to arrive.

Tails and Knuckles held each other quietly as they appeared on the scene, and even Sticks found her usual energy vanishing as she saw what had happened. However, she was also the first to step forward and take charge, since she was (somehow) the most no-nonsense of them all at times.

“We should start by clearing off all of…this.” she said, gesturing at the house covering Shadow.

Immediately, all five of them began to clear away the ruins of the house. At first, the porcupine girl helped a little, but they soon returned her to her mother, not wanting her to see whatever might lie underneath. Sonic dug frantically until Tails pulled him back for a quick hug, which he silently accepted. Sticks worked more methodically, Amy smashed bigger rocks into easier-to-lift chunks, and Knuckles hauled the biggest rocks of all out of the way. Tails mostly showed them where to dig without making the rubble collapse and crumble any further than it already had.

Soon enough, Shadow was exposed, and Knuckles carefully lifted his limp body out of the ruins of the house. Tails leaned over to listen for a moment, before sighing with relief. “I can hear his heartbeat.” he announced, letting the entire team relax for the first time in nearly an hour.

The fox flew with Knuckles as he carried Shadow back to the workshop, while the other three stayed behind to clean up a bit of the mess. It was very clear that they were struggling, though—Sonic couldn’t seem to stop tapping his feet, even when he was working, and Amy clutched her hammer like a lifeline. Sticks figured it made sense. They were two of the most exuberant and friendly people on the team, and they’d been the first ones to befriend Shadow. Of course they’d be the most nervous about him now.

As soon as the three were done fixing up what they could, Sonic dragged them back to the workshop as quickly as he possibly could. He burst through the doors frantically, looking everywhere for a glimpse of Shadow.

“Is he okay?” he asked fearfully, rushing over to Tails.

“I think so.” the fox replied. “I just can’t make sense of these pulse readings!”

“Does he need CPR?” Amy asked. “I’ve taken a couple of certification courses, just in case.”

“It’s not that…his heart’s beating just fine.” Tails explained. “It’s just that—you know how our hearts beat twice per cycle? Like this.” He tapped out a double rhythm on the table. Tap-tap. Tap-tap.

“Yeah?” Sonic said. “What’s this have to do with Shadow, pal?”

“His heart isn’t doing that. It sounds more like this.” Tap. Tap. Tap.

“Is that safe?” Knuckles wondered nervously.

“I…I just don’t know.” Tails muttered, disappointed. “It’s like whenever I try to scan him for injuries, something stops my machines from seeing what’s inside him. Like, they say the scan is finished and then a blank image of his insides pops up.”

“Maybe he doesn’t have any organs for you to scan.” Sticks’s eyes darted from side to side suspiciously.

“Sticks, that’s downright impossible!” Tails exclaimed. “There’s no way anyone could live without organs.”

“Maybe no one on this planet.” Sticks whispered. “But aliens could.”

Tails sighed, shook his head, and went back to recalibrating his machines.

Hours passed, and Shadow still didn’t stir. Amy, Knuckles, and Sonic had gone into the house to eat, even though none of them seemed particularly hungry. Tails suspected they just needed a break from worrying about their friend.

Sticks was still standing there, watching the prone hedgehog carefully. “It doesn’t make sense.” they murmured to themselves at one point. “If he was strong enough to break through my defenses, then he should be strong enough to deal with a house…”

Suddenly, while Tails’s back was turned, they crept up to where Shadow was lying. They’d never trusted machines before, and these scanner failures were just proving them right. Whether Shadow was an alien or not, he was still their friend, and they were determined to help however they could.

(Though they thought it would be very exciting if he was an alien.)

Carefully, they held his wrist and took his pulse themself. It did feel strange, but it was very faint and difficult to read through the glove. Despite that, though, Sticks was certain that whatever this was…

…it definitely wasn’t a hedgehog’s heart.

Determined to learn more, they began to carefully slide off his glove, feeling a tiny bit guilty but pressing forward anyway. If Shadow’s survival depended on uncovering his potential secrets, then a single glove couldn’t stand in the way of that.

They closed their eyes as it slid off, before peeking quickly. What they saw made their eyes widen and their fur stand on end.

“Tails?” they said weakly.

“Yeah? What is it, Sticks?”

“You, uh…might wanna come over here for a sec.”

“Did you find something new? Is—”

The moment he noticed what Sticks had seen, he froze.

“Oh, Chaos.” the two-tailed fox breathed, already reaching for his communicator.

[screen fades to black]

[Sticks complains, “Seriously? A cliffhanger now?! The government is trying to silence me! Don’t let them win!”]

[roll credits]

#sonic boom #sonic the hedgehog #miles tails prower #knuckles the echidna #amy rose #sticks the badger #shadow the hedgehog #sonic boom: ancient secrets #sol's fanfiction #hope you all enjoyed!#i'm going to repeat what i said over on ao3:#the next chapter is mostly done #BUT #i'm trying to build up a bit of a posting buffer so the next chapter may not appear for a couple of weeks #however i can absolutely promise you all that this will not be left on a cliffhanger for a year #i wouldn't do that

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