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e-vay · 8 months ago

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My In-Depth Review of Sonic X Shadow Generations (Spoilers!)

I completed Sonic X Shadow Generations so I'm ready to talk about it! Remember, these are just my personal opinions about the game, so don't take this review as me saying that my opinion is "right." I'd hate to accidentally spoil the game for you, so all my thoughts are below the cut:

Did you mean to click "Keep Reading"? I warned you, there's gonna be spoilers here! One last chance to back out...

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Okay here we go!

THE SHADOW PORTION

Let's start with what we've all been hyped about: the Shadow portion of Sonic X Shadow Generations. If you single out the Shadow story of this game, I think it is an absolute masterpiece! Everyone who worked on it gave it their all, and it clearly shows. I'd give it a 9.75/10.

THE GRAPHICS

The visuals of this game are STUNNING. These new models for Maria and Gerald Robotnik are perfection! I am so glad they went with the more 'cartoon' style for the human models, similar to what we saw in Sonic Unleashed. They feel like they belong in this world among these peculiar looking anthropomorphic animals, but they aren't so odd looking that they feel goofy. They found a perfect balance and I couldn't be happier with them. Speaking of character models, to see all the bosses throughout the years in this new high definition was a sight to behold! Though I do feel nostalgia for the lower-poly version of the Biolizard, it was great to see it as the creators originally envisioned. It went from this loveable (and admittedly silly-looking) salamander to a truly intimidating and disturbing looking beast. The animation is superb. The characters move so fluidly and the poses are dynamic and striking! The frame rate makes everything look and feel fast and smooth which is exactly what you'd hope for in a Sonic game. I also appreciated the variety of poses/animations even just for the different stage ranks. I found myself purposely replaying stages to get different ranks just so I could see the different animations Shadow had regarding his "performance" evaluation. That really adds to the replay value! I am a graphic designer for a living, so of course I have to gush about the design, too! The graphic elements that appear before, during, and after each stage are straight up BADASS! I love the 2D animated flame that appears along the stage name and the color scheme and sharp lines are so appropriate to Shadow, and are a very strong contrast to Sonic's graphic elements that are colorful and round in shape. These are small details that most people might not outright notice, but it really enhances the overall aesthetic of the game.

THE STORY

LOOOOORE! Sweet nectar of the gods, we were given so much more lore with this game! Even though the Shadow portion of this game was fairly short, they jam-packed a ton of information and I am forever thankful for it! If you didn't do so while playing, I highly recommend playing again and talking to the NPCs regularly for little nuggets of lore. I was initially worried that this was going to be a rehash of the same 'origin' story we've heard a dozen times already, but that was not the case! Instead of focusing entirely on the tragedy that happened on the ARK, we got to learn what life was like on the ARK while times were still good! Learning that Shadow didn't used to be confident at all, to the point where Maria basically doesn't recognize this confident version of him that we've all known him as. And that Shadow never did his homework??? HA! I loved the confirmation that yes, Maria WAS INDEED the person who gave Shadow his name, and the meaning behind it was EVERYTHING TO ME! (Also works so well for my my AU. IYKYK hehehe) Plus all the Robotnik family history?! MARIA HAD A LITTLE SISTER?!?! She'd be old now, if she's even alive, but will we ever meet her? Will Shadow ever meet her (and would he even want to, or does he feel like that chapter of his life is closed now)? What was she like, and how did Maria's death impact her and her parents??? I hope we'll find out some day! Plus getting to learn a little bit more about Gerald's sons was exciting too. Will more Robotnik family members make appearances down the line? What do they think of Eggman's misdeeds? I'm so curious for more! It was heartbreaking in the best way for Shadow to get to interact with Maria and Gerald again, especially knowing he can't do anything to change what will inevitably happen to them. His sense of desperation paired with the growing affects that Doom's powers were having on him really had me worried about what was going to happen to Shadow's state of mind and overall well-being. It was amazing to see the toll it was taking on his body and his mind. In particular, I'm thinking of the scene where Shadow goes to fight Sonic and you see him having to actually restrain himself and go easy on Sonic. I thought it a great scene to demonstrate how easy it would have been for Shadow to just give in to the rage and take Sonic out without hesitation, but his willpower was able to win in the end. I have heard some people saying they're disappointed that Shadow lost his Doom abilities by the end of the story, but I think it made complete sense for the story. Black Doom is insistent that Shadow isn't 'complete' yet and he has to be more like him in order to be 'perfect.' But that isn't true! Shadow is already the ultimate life form, especially because there's more to him than his Black Doom DNA. By rejecting Doom's influence in the end, that was Shadow's true evolution. He's perfect as he is. Obviously I could gush forever and ever about all the Shadow and Maria scenes, but words aren't going to do it justice. It was just so moving to see how different he is when he's with her. In fact, at the end of this game I believe this is the first instance we ever see a true, genuine, heartwarming smile from Shadow and it DEVASTATED ME! We are used to his smirks, but when he's trying to reassure Maria that everything's going to be okay, we get to see him truly smile and we aren't seeing Shadow the Ultimate Lifeform or Shadow the Destroyer/Weapon, we are seeing Shadow the Brother and it felt like the warm embrace of a security blanket. God bless the writing in this game.

THE ACTING

The acting in this game is incredible from a visual and auditory performance. The animators really pushed the acting of the character models and you can feel Shadow's transformations throughout the game and the toll it's taking on his body. The emotions are cranked up to the max and they didn't pull any punches. In the past, Shadow was often limited in his portrayal of emotions, but that wasn't the case in this game at all. We saw anger, we saw resentment, we saw panic and sadness, and affection. There was so much thought put into the shaking of his hands, the gritting of his teeth, the shrinking and dilating of his pupils, all to show what's going on in his head without even resorting to words. SO MUCH ATTENTION was put into how these characters moved and interacted with each other and it truly tugged at my heart strings. There were too many wonderful moments for me to break down, so I will just single out one for now and applaud the creative direction and the animators for these scenes as a whole. There's this moment right near the end of the story, when Shadow is trying to stop Gerald and Maria from disappearing for good. His gestures are wild and panicked, his pupils and irises are small due to fear, but then Maria simply frames his face and rests her forehead against his. It's subtle, but Shadow's eyes widen and then return to their regular size and everything from his stance to how his shoulders fall show what a calming presence Maria has and how she helped (and will continue to help) him find his inner piece. Those performances are going to stick with me forever! Mike Pollock as Gerald Robotnik was truly *chef's kiss* MP is such a fantastic actor with great range. Though his voice is easily recognizable, the manner in which he speaks as Gerald is so different compared to Eggman, that you couldn't mistake the two characters even just by listening. We have been so used to only hearing from the angry, driven-insane-by-grief Gerald that it was so refreshing to get to see and hear the calm, brilliant, caring genius that created The Ultimate Life Form. P.S. I'm going to be crying over hearing Gerald call Shadow "son" for the rest of my life, thank you very much. I don't care about the future crimes he commits, we got to witness Shadow's father in this game and I'm weeping. Kirk Thornton is not my favorite Shadow. That being said, he really gave it his all and I was pleasantly surprised by what he accomplished. One of the performances that surprised me the most was Mephiles! This is a credit to the writers as well as the voice actor. The sense of wild desperation in his voice as he fights to even 'exist' in this timeline was so visceral and terrifying. Sure the other villains had their "I'm the best, this world belongs to me" lines, but Mephiles' voice lines were on a completely different level to me. What a treat! Lastly, if you can, please replay the game in Japanese! Kōji Yusa's performance is STUNNING. Ooh I'm getting shivers just recalling his voice lines while you're playing through the stages. I don't mean to discredit the English voice actors, but I think this game is even better when listening in Japanese. Give it a try yourself!

THE MUSIC

This is a Sonic game we're talking about, of course the music is going to be fantastic! The score did not disappoint one bit. It was great to hear all the callbacks to songs in the past as well as new tracks that were catchy and enjoyable even after playing the stages several times. "All Hail Shadow" has always been one of my favorites, but the new instrumental version used for majority of this game was so haunting and eerie. It was a delight to my ears as well as my emotions.

THE BOSSES

I loved the chosen bosses for Shadow's story. It was great fun to revisit some of the more iconic baddies throughout Shadow's history, and even though some of the gameplay was the same, the battle would then shift and offer the player something new. However, it's actually the boss fights where I dock the game a few fractions of a point. The boss battles were far too easy to defeat, and I actually found them easier and easier as the game progressed. I beat Mephiles and Devil Doom so quickly that I didn't realize their fights were over already. One could argue this was intentional by design. After all, throughout the story Shadow is evolving more and more into the 'perfect' killing machine. It would make sense that the more Doom Abilities he acquires, the weaker these bosses would seem. Still, as a life-long gamer, I appreciate when I have to actually work to achieve the ending of a game. I would have liked more of a challenge.

OVERALL GAMEPLAY

Whether you're roaming about White Space or you're actually playing through stages, the Shadow portion of this game is an absolute blast. Even having played the Shadow the Hedgehog game (which I'm a fan of, btw), I feel like this game really gave you a better feeling of what it's like to be Shadow. I LOVED that I got to use Chaos Control way more than ever before in previous games. If you had the ability to stop time, wouldn't you take advantage of it every chance you could??? The opportunity to use Chaos (and Doom) Spear as frequently as you wanted and Chaos Control almost constantly really shows how formidable of a character Shadow is and just how different it is to play as him compared to playing as Sonic. I loved the 'free-roam' aspect of White Space compared to the 2D version in Sonic's story. Hunting for rocket parts or figuring out how to unlock collectibles was a lot of fun and let the player really explore these new Doom abilities to the fullest. I'll admit that I struggled with navigating some of the Doom abilities, but even so I still had a ton of fun. I already mentioned replay value, but before you even have to go about replaying the game, there is SO MUCH to this portion of the game! The amount of stages, challenges, collectibles within stages, FINDING the unlockables USING the collectibles you obtained from stages, even the mini challenges available AFTER you've completed the key challenges (I'm talking about the bell that's located above the challenge portal), all of it made for a ton of opportunities for play. I found myself wanting to take on every quest instead of begrudgingly going through it just because I'm a completionist.

My biggest gripe is that the game was too short. Am I greedy for wanting more? Probably, but I can't help it. The developers gave us a ton of content in the Shadow story, but I still would have loved to have a full length game of just this gameplay. I managed to complete the Shadow portion in a few hours, and that was even with me leisurely taking my time to get collectibles and get S ranks for stages before progressing through the story. I miss the days where games took much longer to complete. But hey, I'm a nostalgia-prone 33 year old, so I guess that's to be expected of me haha.

THE SONIC PORTION

Here is where Sonic X Shadow Generations loses more points for me, which is a shame because I think it's a great game overall. Admittedly, I was disappointed when I first learned that the Sonic portion of the game was just a remaster of Generations. I had really hoped we were going to receive something new to help elevate SXS Gens as an entirely new game, instead of just "Sonic Gens + Shadow DLC".

Don't get me wrong, the stages in Sonic Generations are fun to play. However, when you go from playing Shadow's story to Sonic's story, Sonic's side drastically pales in comparison in my opinion.

My other complaint is that for a remaster, they really didn't improve Sonic's portion of the game significantly (at least from what I can recall, as I haven't played the original Sonic Generations since it first came out in 2011). This was a missed opportunity to correct more of the drawbacks of the original game. However, I will admit there are some minor changes that were made that I was thankful for. Let's start with the positive before I point out some of the negatives.

THE STORY

As mentioned earlier, I acknowledge that Sonic Generations is just a remaster so it makes sense that the story didn't change much. That being said, there were some small changes that I did really appreciate and helped improve the story. One of the things that always bothered me about the original Sonic Generations was how indifferent/annoyed Sonic was regarding his friends. I mean, the story is about time being erased! His friends and home are literally getting removed from the fabric of time and Sonic seemed more inconvenienced than concerned. In more recent games, the writing has really focused on the value Sonic finds in his friendships and found family. He always has his signature cool, aloof attitude, but I think the writers in recent years have successfully showed just how much he cares about his group, whether the games were serious (Sonic Frontiers) or silly (The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog). The story wasn't drastically changed for Sonic X Shadow Generations, but some altered dialogue and blink-and-you-miss-it edits helped to cut that jackass attitude from the original and gave him more realistic reactions. Especially by having him respond when he rescues everybody this time! It never seemed right when Tails was first rescued and he's trauma dumping on Sonic about how awful the experience was and Sonic just sits there in silence haha. At least in the new version, Sonic reassures Tails that he's safe now. Also, huge kudos to whoever decided to alter that scene where Sonic is shoving Amy away by the face. I always hated that. Ship or not, you don't treat your friends like that when they're throwing you a bday party!

This is me getting nitpicky, but there were a few things I had really hoped they were going to improve, but remained untouched:

THE GRAPHICS

I was never happy with the visuals of this game outside of the stages (the visuals within the stages are great!). The colors are extremely oversaturated and the characters are way too intense and some are even off model (ex: Amy is so blindingly vivid magenta in this game instead of her signature blush pink. What the heck?!). What's worse, the cutscenes during the birthday party scenes are SO GREEN. The light bounces off the neon green landscape and reflects onto the already oversaturated characters, giving them an unappealing green glow. I get that the Sonic world is not realistic, but it felt like the scenery in these cutscenes made it look like we were watching a bunch of toys interacting on a playset instead of characters living in their world. Sure the visuals during the levels are great, but it's a real disappointment when I'm specifically not looking forward to the cutscenes in a game. I wish they would have tweaked that.

THE ANIMATION/GAMEPLAY

I have zero complaints when it comes to Act 1 (the "Classic" version) of the different stages. These look great, play great, and if you've played classic Sonic games then you can appreciate how identical the map of the level is compared to the originals. The issue for me lies in Act 2, aka Modern Sonic's gameplay. For the most part these levels are good, but there were a couple of small things that always bothered me that I was sincerely hoping they'd fix (and they did not). There are portions of Modern Sonic's gameplay that is SO. SLOW. I'm referring to when you are jumping from one Grind Rail to another, or when you are sliding under an obstacle. These animations are so bizarrely slow and make absolutely no sense when your character is running blindingly fast. I don't understand why they didn't use this opportunity to fix those animations. When you're playing the Shadow side of the story, his animations are constantly fast moving and appropriately paced. Why wouldn't they apply these physics to the Sonic side?

As a whole, the Sonic portion of Sonic X Shadow Generations is still a fun game, but I think it could have used a little more attention to help it feel more balanced compared to the Shadow portion.

This game also has some notably fun DLC and the promise of more DLC in the future! I have my Sonic side of the story set to the Sonic Adventure Legacy skin and Sonic Jam Legacy skin and they are so CUTE! They win all the nostalgia points! I'll be honest with you, I have never been a fan of Terios' design hahaha. BUT! I love that they made a Terios skin for this game so players have the chance to play as him if you choose and we get to see how he was intended outside of the initial sketches we've all seen. (Still, y'all can keep your Terios skin. I won't touch it LOL!). And I am OVER THE MOON ECSTATIC for the upcoming Movie Shadow addition to the game! I still can't believe they got Keanu Reeves to voice lines for it! I'm sure it will be a small thing, but I am on the edge of my seat to see what that will be like.

Overall, I'm super happy with the game as a whole and I enjoyed every minute I played of it!

If you read all of this, thank you for reading! Again, my opinion isn't fact and if you disagree with what I had to say, that's totally fair. And if you haven't played the game yourself, please go play it and see what you think for yourself!

#sonic x shadow generations #game review #my thoughts #sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #sonic trash #review #spoilers #sonic x shadow generations spoilers #my rambling

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miaxwrites · 2 months ago

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My Heart Shaped Sunglasses

002 | We’re Getting Drunk and Driving Fast on Cherry Wine

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CHAPTER TWO "we're getting drunk and driving fast on cherry wine"

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Locked up.

Shadow wanted to be hidden away from the rest of the world with the key tossed into a gutter, never to be seen again, so he could escape the embarrassment that ebbed at his being every time he stepped outside of his house. Even passing by the window was too much, prying eyes latching onto his frame and making a mockery out of his existence. He couldn’t stand it.

Ever since they had met, Shadow has been doing everything in his power to avoid Sonic. By extension, the Wachowski’s were also bearing the brunt of that decision as Shadow made sure he was scarce anytime one of them showed up or was near.

He didn’t know how else to deal with the situation. After making himself look like a fool in front of Sonic them, avoiding the whole family seemed like the only logical thing to do moving forward. Those moments spent hanging upside down from Maria’s arms had permanently engraved themselves into Shadow’s brain, forcing him to remember the embarrassment he had felt every time he dared to close his eyes.

Avoiding the Wachowski’s didn’t strictly correlate to Shadow teleporting away whenever one of them was near, no. The gift basket that Maddie had made for them went untouched by Shadow—though he couldn’t say Maria hadn’t been enjoying it—on the kitchen countertop, the curtains of his window overlooking the Wachowski’s household had been left indefinitely pulled shut, and worst of all, Shadow had refused to leave the household despite how ‘safe’ Gerald and Maria claimed it to be. Especially after the incident on night one.

It’s how he found himself sprawled across his window seat, engulfed in a room of darkness while he loosely held a copy of Alice in Wonderland in his lap, some pop song that Maria had downloaded playing from an old iPod Gerald had fished out for her. The days seemed to stretch on further with every passing hour when he spent them like this, making Shadow both long for and dread the night as even then he was concealed within his room’s walls.

The only difference then was that Shadow could slip away into an undisturbed slumber. Sometimes, his subconscious would be nice, allowing him to get through the night without ever stirring or having any thoughts cross his mind. Others, Shadow was left trembling, concealed within a damp layer of sweat as he thrashed back and forth, never quite able to escape as he was forced to wait until morning, his silent pleas never making it far.

It’s why the first night Shadow and the two Robotnik’s spent in Green Hills, he had tried to avoid this endless cycle of torment, making a grave mistake in the form of going for a late-night run. Waiting until he was sure that everyone had fallen asleep before he slipped from his bare room, only a few boxes littering the floor where they had been pushed up against the walls and the fairy lights that still twinkled dimly.

Even now, when the streets were left empty and a silence enveloped the town, Shadow wasn’t confident enough to blast through the town, aware that one misstep would result in their cover being blown with everything Maria and Gerald had worked towards going up in smoke. So he took to the vast forest that made up their backyard.

At first, he started off slow, just attempting to get a feel for the forest as he weaved his way in and out of the trees, keeping an eye out for any unruly roots that tried to escape from the earth and hook onto him. But as much as the run was to stretch his legs and get out of the house after being cooped up inside a car for days on end, it was also to scope out the perimeter and ensure that it was secure. To make sure their blanket of safety didn’t consist only of a few thin walls.

Not stopping until every tree, bush, and rock was accounted for, Shadow didn’t rest until a blur of blue flashed past him, moving at a much greater speed as an ease of familiarity danced around it as it held not a care in the world.

The sight of the blue streak had Shadow coming to an immediate stop, head whirling towards where the blur of colour had disappeared to, a flurry of steps trying to put even more distance between them as Shadow stumbled backwards until he almost crashed into a tree.

There was no stopping it, Shadow realised, watching as the surge of glowing blue power trickled through the trees and as the world slowed down for him.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that it had been Sonic who shot past him. Since moving to Green Hills less than twenty-four hours ago, the oddities that resided there had taken it upon themselves to come forth and reveal themselves, making it clear that Sonic and his two friends–brothers?–possessed similar abilities to Shadow, as what other earthly creature would be able to move at such speeds? Though it did raise the question, just what could Sonic do? What limits could he surpass?

When a few harrowing moments had passed with Shadow keeping his back pressed up against the tree he had bumped into with no sight of Sonic returning, Shadow peeled himself away from the bark digging into his fur, letting out a sagging breath as he did. A few cautious steps forward were taken, Shadow wondering if his mere presence would bring unwanted attention barreling into him as he contemplated waiting out the blue hedgehog or making a quick dash for it.

In the end, Shadow begrudgingly began sneaking his way past trees, choosing not to move any faster in case that alone alerted anyone to his whereabouts.

He couldn’t say he was completely displeased with the outcome for the night, though he still wished he could shake off the rest of the excess energy he had been storing for too long. He had made good work in familiarising himself with the expanse of land behind his house; even if Shadow craved for nothing more than to stay out for a little while longer, this being the freshest air he had ever gotten, he would rather play it safe than sorry. He couldn’t risk it.

Boy, was he not ready.

After taking all of five steps through twigs that crunched under the metal rims of his shoes and through dirt that kicked up with every step, a gust of air came slapping into his back, rustling his quills as fallen leaves went dancing into the sky. Shadow didn’t need to look up from where his eyes had previously been trained on the floor to realise who was standing in front of him.

“Hi,” came the startled voice of one Sonic the Hedgehog not even a moment later, a shy edge almost making itself known as he stood fidgeting in front of Shadow, surprise lacing his features as it was clear he wasn’t expecting to find anyone else out so late, especially someone of Shadow’s calibre. Eyes fleeting up for only a moment before darting away, Shadow’s narrowed ones met Sonic’s wide ones that were so keen on staring into his soul, scanning and taking note of every minuscule detail that he discovered and deemed worthy of remembering, which was all of them. “I didn’t think you’d be out here.”

As much as he wished he could’ve, Shadow knew there was no avoiding Sonic forever, especially not when the hedgehog was standing directly in front of him like he was now. It was unfortunate that, just like last time, Shadow found himself at a loss for words, willing the earth to split open and swallow him whole. Despite that, he forced the words out even though his throat felt dry and ready to close up. Shadow murmured, “I was just leaving.”

“You can talk?” Sonic sounded genuinely surprised as he said those words, the sentence coming out and framing itself more like a question than the statement it was intended to be. It seemed Sonic only realised what he said when he noticed the soft frown that was beginning to crease Shadow’s face, pulling at his features. “I mean, of course you can talk. I don’t know why I thought Maria was your interpreter.”

“What?” Shadow muttered astounded, staring at Sonic as if he had lost his mind.

“But, hey,” Sonic rushed out, trying to amend the conversation as he skipped through topics, running his mouth and not allowing either of them to ponder on his mistake for too long. “What’re you doing out here? I almost didn’t recognise you with how fast I was going and how well you blend in. Good thing you have those highlights.”

“Highlights?” The word sounded foreign on Shadow’s lips as a subconscious hand reached up to run through the red lining of his quills.

“Oh, no, it’s not a bad thing, Shads. I can call you that, right?” Planting his hands on his hips and leaning forward slightly, Sonic forced Shadow to look up at him as the space between them only got narrower. Even during the dead of night, Sonic’s cobalt fur stood out among the darkness, a beacon that demanded attention. “It goes well with your whole dark and mysterious act. Same with the glaring, though you might get wrinkles early if you keep it up.”

Whatever unease that flowed through Shadow whenever Sonic was near seemed to wear off, leaving nothing but a farce hedgehog in front of him. Stalking past Sonic and continuing his walk home with a slight hunch to his shoulders, Shadow ignored all of Sonic’s attempts to stick with him; the blue blur sprang up next to him, arms swinging by his sides as he walked in tandem with Shadow. “I don’t have time for this.”

“Come on, don’t be like that, Shads,” he tried, words falling on deaf ears, Shadow carrying on as if he wasn’t there. He had already wasted enough time that night listening to Sonic’s nonsense instead of memorising every nook and cranny of that forest, and there was no use wasting any more. Quickening his pace until he was in front of Shadow, Sonic turned so he was still facing Shadow, walking backwards as he tried to reason, “I was just-“

Shadow didn’t bother listening to the rest of Sonic’s sentence before he was teleporting away, leaving Sonic behind as he slipped into thin air and reemerged in his room, a blanket of warmth wrapping itself around him from where the heating had been left on.

That same warmth attempted to surround him now, forcing its way into his fur and adding a layer of pressure to his skin. It was suffocating, but it was the only thing keeping him company when Maria was away.

Slipping his book shut with a sigh after staring at the same two pages for the past twenty minutes, Shadow set it down next to him before ending the steady stream of music, the constant wave of noise that he wasn’t even listening to starting to give him a headache.

For a few seconds all he could do was stare off into space as the silence hung heavily, a stark contrast to what had just been.

It was only when the slam of the front door rang through the house did Shadow break himself out of the trance he had seemed to fall into for the better part of the day. His head turned towards the noise as he listened out for who it could be.

Light, pillowing footsteps skidded across the hardwood floor downstairs, the smack of socks muffling its owners' otherwise loud stomps; Maria made her way through the house, seemingly looking for something as a series of drawers opening and cupboards shutting sounded out throughout the house.

Pushing himself up from where he sat, Shadow abandoned any means of solitude. He left his room and made his way down the stairs, looking for the older girl as she continued to make a racket. By the time he reached the bottom of the stairs, Maria seemed to have found what she was looking for; she held a half-torn open box in her hands, about to begin making her own way to Shadow.

“There you are.” Maria’s head startled up even as she said the words, eyes creased and glinting with something Shadow had seen on so many occasions in the past. “I was hoping I’d find you, not that you’d be anywhere else.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Shadow asked accusingly.

“You just haven’t left the house yet, which I’m planning on changing today,” Maria stated, already sure of herself as she shifted the box so it was planted on the ground next to her feet. Tucking a stray strand of blonde hair behind her ear before standing back up, Maria came face to face with Shadow’s accustomed, annoyed stare, his lips curling downwards as his face pinched together. Rolling her eyes playfully, Maria scoffed, “Don’t give me that look, Shadow. You can’t hide in here forever.”

“I’m not hiding,” he quickly denied, his shoulders hunching as he crossed his arms over his chest. Shadow hadn’t been hiding per se, just keeping his public interactions to a minimum for numerous reasons. Just because G.U.N knew of the energy signatures that resided in Green Hills, it didn’t mean they wouldn’t recognise his. “I’m just trying to draw as little attention to us as possible, so we can blend in.”

“Well, I’d rather we have some fun instead of constantly being wary of everything,” Maria mused, despite what she was asking Shadow to do; to reveal himself and not care what consequences might follow. “Besides, I think the Wachowski’s have that sorted for us.”

Shadow rolled his eyes at the mere mention of the Wachowski’s, one of them blaringly sticking out to him.

Eyes squinting upon his reaction, one of Maria’s blonde brows arched upwards, confusion and interest blurring together as she took in Shadow. Immediately Shadow tried to school his features, not wanting to deal with Maria’s questioning, but it seemed it was already too late. Teasingly, and without giving Shadow any time to backtrack, Maria asked, “What was that?”

“What was what?” He attempted to play dumb, head tilting slightly to the side. If Shadow could look innocent enough, he was sure Maria would partially drop the topic, storing it away in her brain where she could ambush Shadow at a later date. As long as that date wasn’t today though, he would be fine with that.

“I know what you’re doing,” Maria said, despite Shadow’s best efforts, some sort of ‘Big Sister Telepathy’ as she liked to call it, coming into play. Shadow had never believed in it before, but as he stood trying to force his face to relax, banishing the scowl that was determined to settle there, he might as well just have to start. “And you’re not getting out of talking about this, but I really want to go and look around the town, so we’re pausing this for now.”

“I still don’t know what you’re talking about,” Shadow feigned ignorance as he gave a small shrug, now more than ever interested in the box Maria had brought with her at the mention of looking around town.

“Sure you don’t,” Maria was able to grit out one last time before seemingly letting go of the conversation altogether, focusing on the box on the ground like Shadow as she crouched down towards it. Pulling back the cardboard flaps that acted as a lid and reaching both of her hands in, Maria pulled out a pair of skates, showing them off to Shadow with a grin lighting up her face. “Look what I was able to grab before we left.”

“No,” Shadow shot out as soon as his eyes landed on the skates, ready to turn around and suffer alone in his room again. He hadn’t seen those things since he and Maria had crashed into a tray of confectioneries, the sludge of icing matting his fur. Without needing an explanation for what Maria was hoping to use the skates for, Shadow blandly stated, “I’m not dragging you around town by a piece of rope again.”

“But it was so fun last time,” she whined out quickly, shifting the skates so she could hold them tightly to her side with the squeeze of her arm. Her two hands came clapping together in a begging motion, pleading eyes darting Shadow’s way. Only shaking his head in response, Maria’s fingers interlocked as she considered dropping to her knees. “Why not?”

“Because it’s embarrassing,” Shadow bit sharply, ears flattening against his quills as his nose gave an annoyed twitch. His hostile tone seemed to have no effect on Maria, years of growing up alongside each other and putting up with the other when they were at their worst desensitised her to his sudden outbursts. Turning his head to the side in embarrassment at the little display, Shadow refused to look at Maria as he finished, “I don’t want to have to be seen dragging you around town by a piece of rope like a dog.”

“Okay, I can hold onto your shoulders then,” Maria easily amended, hands dropping to her sides after abandoning her skates by letting them fall back into the cardboard box they had been stored in. A look of somberity crossed her face as she tried to catch Shadow’s eye, her lips thinning together as she was repeatedly avoided. “Now, what’s the real reason?”

If it were possible, Shadow’s ears flattened further into his skull, shoulders hunching over as he attempted to make himself look smaller. His arms came up to wrap around his abdomen, tucking his hands close to his body as he faltered.

What was the real reason? It was the reason he wore inhibitor rings around his wrists and ankles; the reason why he kept his air shoes glued to his feet; it’s why he tried not to teleport, or discover new abilities; it was why, for as long as he could remember, he would be met with scientists, and doctors, and lab equipment. It was why he had to be locked away. Why he had to hide.

If he got carried away, someone could get hurt again. Gerald would have to clean up his mess while Maria would be shunned by her own kind. Or worse, he could ruin all of this for Maria and Gerald and bring G.U.N knocking at their door, separating the three of them for good; Shadow would go back to that cursed lab while Maria and Gerald would be shipped away, never to be able to reach him again.

It’s why it had to be like this.

“I don’t want to accidentally hurt you,” he whispered, words impossibly quiet and almost going unnoticed by Maria. When he finally looked over at her, there was a glossy sheen coating his eyes, the often vibrant red of his irises turning to a syrupy brown. In a voice that threatened to tremble and crack, Shadow tried to express, “If I run too fast or turn around a corner too sharply, I might fling you off, or we could crash again. But this time it could be worse than simply getting covered in pastries.”

“You don’t have to live your life consumed by worry anymore.” Maria’s own voice was wobbling as she spoke, forcing herself to keep it together as this wasn’t about her. It was about Shadow and finally getting him comfortable in his new life after years of hating his own body. “The constant fear and stress, it must be exhausting.”

“But if I don’t, something might happen,” Shadow said, worried. His hands balled into fists and his claws threatened to rip past the fabric of his gloves and sink into the palm of his hands.

“Yes, might,” Maria stressed, catching Shadow’s eye when he finally looked back over at her. Reaching a hand out, Maria let it hang in the space between them as she offered it to him, not grabbing onto the hedgehog or forcing him to take hold. Even when Shadow didn’t take it, she kept it there for if he ever wanted it. With an air of calming authority, Maria demanded, “Shadow, what did I say earlier?”

“That the Wachowski’s are loud and stick out like sore thumbs?” Shadow almost answered with his usual air of certainty, quirking one of his brows as he thought back to the relevance of that conversation.

“No, the other thing,” Maria prompted, rolling her eyes at the statement, though she couldn’t deny the truth behind it.

Hesitating, Shadow seemed more unsure of himself than he had ever been before. He knew what Maria was looking for, what she wanted him to say, but it was almost as if saying it would make it impossible. Just another intangible notion that was too good for Shadow to clasp onto. “To have fun.”

“Exactly.” Maria almost breathed out a sigh of relief. She was halfway there. Shadow knew what the goal was; now she just had to make him see it was possible within their conditions. “Leave some of the worrying to Grandpa and me. We wouldn’t be here unless Grandpa was sure it was safe, and even then, he has a few escape plans tucked under his belt.”

That seemed to be news to Shadow as he mentally recoiled, face scrunching with confusion. He momentarily looked past Maria and out of one of the house's large windows, eyes scanning the area and looking for any evidence of said plans. Distantly, Shadow asked, “He does?”

“Yep,” she confidently announced, popping the ‘p’ as she spoke. It had been a whole process trying to work out the kinks of their escape plan, but with Shadow on stasis for three months, it gave them enough time to set everything they would need up before making a break for it. “He has it all figured out with cameras lining the house and sensors surrounding all of Green Hills, so nothing comes in or out of here without him knowing. I think he even said something about satellites when you were asleep in the car.”

“So we’re safe?” The words sounded foreign to Shadow, not something he ever thought he’d be muttering as he looked to Maria for approval.

“We’re the safest damn thing on this planet.” Maria cracked a grin, hardly being able to conceal her laughter as she put into perspective even to herself just how well they had hidden themselves, something she had never expected in life. “Now, let’s put on some skates, explore town, and have some fun.”

“Okay,” he relented, voice still small but eyes filled with something Maria would dare call hope. With a hand that threatened to shoot backwards at the smallest sign of movement, Shadow reached out to Maria, taking a hold of the limb she had originally offered and kept outstretched between them no matter what.

At the contact, Maria laced their fingers together, letting them intertwine and become one before tugging Shadow over to her side. She didn’t try to hug him like she would’ve preferred to, instead she settled for bumping her hip into Shadow’s, jostling the other before she reached down and grabbed onto her skates.

Shadow made a grab for the rope that had been neatly coiled up and placed within the box despite his earlier distaste to the idea of tying it around his waist to pull Maria along. His other hand was still clasped tightly in Maria’s before the girl was dropping it to instead shoot out and halt Shadow’s offending limb. Turning to her with furrowed brows, a wordless question being passed between them, Maria said, “Leave it, we won’t need it this time.”

A small, microscopic quirk of Shadow’s lips was all Maria needed to know she had made the right decision. Shadow tried to hide his smile, half burying his muzzle in his shoulder as Maria kicked the almost empty box out of the way, the cardboard skidding against the hardwood floor and off to the side.

“Grandpa said we have to be back by lunchtime,” Maria started. She made her way to the couch with Shadow in tow, sitting down on the edge of the seat where she undid the laces of her blue Converse before toeing them off, only dropping Shadow’s hand when it came time to put on her pink skates. “And that we’re not to waste any money on food since he’ll be cooking for us.”

“So just a stroll around town?” Shadow questioned, watching as Maria went through the motions of tightening her skates and tying them up. He felt the instinctive need to check his own shoes, momentarily activating each of them and watching them spark to life, even if he knew they would respond in kind. “Some sightseeing?”

“Exactly,” Maria proclaimed as she shot to her feet, gliding around the coffee table to make sure she still had it in her. When she was confident in her abilities, twirling around and jumping over invisible obstacles, Maria beckoned Shadow to follow her as she made her way to the front door, shoving it open to make way for them. “Maybe some light shopping if anything catches our eye.”

A soft snort rang out from Shadow’s nose. “I doubt it.”

“You never know,” she sang. She let gravity run its course and pull her down the soft slope of their driveway until she hit the end of the footpath, toeing her way onto the road. She looked both ways before skating to the centre and turning to Shadow expectantly. “You can lead the way and go wherever your heart desires since you haven’t gotten to explore yet.”

“Wow,” Shadow feigned gratitude, a hand splayed over his white chest fur as he stepped onto the road after Maria, coming to a stop just in front of her. Waiting for the blonde to plant her hands atop his shoulders, Shadow took a couple of testing steps forward, seeing how well her skates followed after him. “I feel so honoured.”

“You should-” Maria started saying, her eyes slipping shut as she flipped some of her hair over her shoulder. That’s why when Shadow activated his air shoes, rockets fueling to life and letting out a soft puff of energy, Maria was none the wiser until her hair was slapping against her face and she was clutching onto Shadow as if her life depended on it. “-BE! Shadow!”

“Whoops,” he called over his shoulder, a rare cackle bubbling from his chest as he caught sight of Maria trying to fight against the wind, eyes squinted because of its assault. Dryly, and lacking any real remorse, Shadow offered, “My bad.”

“You’re not sorry at all,” Maria proclaimed as Shadow’s head whipped around to put his eyes back on the road, hearing the subtle rumble of a car’s engine not too far from them. Slowing down in preparation for the corner coming up, Shadow’s ears swerved on top of his head, hearing the vehicle approaching before he saw it.

Not moving fast enough to breeze past the car, Shadow pulled the two of them as far over to the other side of the road as possible as they went gliding past, some sort of shout ringing out from inside the car that Shadow chose to ignore.

“No,” Shadow absentmindedly agreed, solely focused on memorising the route they were currently on as he swerved across the road, still attempting to make the ride fun for Maria. “I can’t say I am.”

Turning down corner after corner, Shadow took it all in at a slower pace than he would’ve wished. Though it wasn’t unlike the one he had used to explore their backgarden forest on the first night of being in Green Hills, back then, he didn’t have to worry about having a passenger clinging to him.

For the most part, Green Hills seemed to be everything Gerald and Maria told him it would be. It was quiet, only seeing a total of five people and three creatures such as himself since he moved here, which included Gerald and Maria. The town was also quite small, more so than Shadow had expected. If he were to run across the whole town, going door to door, back and front, he suspected it would take him less than twenty seconds to complete.

Though they hadn’t been there long, nothing irreversible or disastrous had occurred yet, excluding every interaction Shadow had encountered outside of his own house. For what it was worth, Maria seemed to be right.

“Wait, Shadow,” Maria coughed out, one of her arms snaking around Shadow’s neck as she practically climbed onto his back. Her free hand was pointing at a store that had already long since disappeared from their vision after racing past it. Snapping her head around, Maria demanded as her eyes locked onto the store she had found, “Go back.”

Wordlessly, Shadow did as he was told and he turned them both into a small arch until they were heading back in the direction they came from, this time far slower so Maria could spot and point out the store when they came across it.

“That one,” she exclaimed, finally releasing her hold around Shadow’s neck, she threw herself off of the hedgehog, skates catching her and wheeling her towards the store while Shadow was pushed towards almost having a heart attack at her recklessness, hand clutching at his chest where he could feel his heart hammering. Oblivious to Shadow’s stress, Maria murmured to herself, “I thought I saw something about milkshakes.” “Milkshakes?” Shadow spluttered, eyes bugging out of his head as he watched Maria casually roll over to the convenience store that she had forced them to stop at. Smoothing his hands along his quills, the action did little to calm Shadow, though it often didn’t. Attempting to grasp at what Maria had just done, Shadow asked apprehensively, “You just jumped basically off a moving vehicle because you wanted a milkshake?”

“You’ve never had a milkshake, right?” Maria asked calmly, ignoring Shadow’s fretting. She paused outside of the small corner store, one of her skates propped up on the stopper whilst peered in through the window and tried to make out what was lining their shelves.

“No,” Shadow said, exasperated, bunching his hands into tight fists. “But that’s not the point. Next time, just wait for me to stop before doing something like that.”

“I think you’d like chocolate,” Maria mused, pushing herself away from the glass and backtracking over to Shadow. Pausing a few steps away, she reached into the pockets of her denim overalls until she pulled a small purse out, peering inside and counting the different coins and notes left scattered together. “I might get a strawberry one, though. I’ll have to see what flavours they have when we get inside.”

“Maria,” Shadow groaned, getting ignored again. Stepping forward, Shadow tried to duck his head into Maria’s line of sight to catch her attention; the girl was seemingly an expert at ignoring all things related to Shadow as she didn’t even bat an eye. Hands thrown up next to his head, he asked, “Can you take this seriously?”

“I am! It’s really important what flavour milkshake I get,” she gasped, head snapping up as she placed a hand to her chest in feigned shock, taking personal offence to Shadow’s comment. The action only seemed to tick Shadow off further as his eyes narrowed dangerously at Maria. “I also knew you were going slow enough that I’d be fine, so stop whining and come here.”

“That’s not the point,” he huffed out, face scrunching as he prepared himself to teleport back to the safety of his room and leave Maria in the quiet street alone.

“Okay, I’m sorry,” she finally sighed, relenting after playing her little game with Shadow and being difficult. “I know this is probably a lot for you, and I should’ve considered that before acting so brashly. It won’t happen again, but can we please get milkshakes now? I actually really want one.”

Staring at Maria accusingly, Shadow didn’t seem to believe her; he silently shook with his posture straight, clearly irritated, and with his arms crossed over his chest. When Maria could only splay her palms faced up in front of her in retaliation, her purse haphazardly balancing in one of them, Shadow hmphed in what must’ve been agreement. “You’re paying.”

“Of course, I am,” Maria scoffed, already expecting and prepared to cough up whatever the total amount of money would be once they were done browsing the small store. “What are big sisters for?”

“Hardly my big sister,” Shadow quickly snorted, shaking his head to himself as if Maria had said something funny.

“What? Yes, I am,” she spoke, confused as she looked at Shadow, trying to figure out why he wasn’t on the same page as her. They both saw each other as siblings, G.U.N practically officiating it once Gerald became lead researcher and Maria was able to keep Shadow with her when he wasn’t being used or put on stasis. So what was the problem? “I’m older. And your sister.”

“You're only older because I was put on stasis for so long,” Shadow concluded, clearing some of the air for Maria. She pushed her way into the small store, skating straight to the back of the store where some sketchy milkshake machines were planted on the wall. “If I had grown up normally, I’d be older.”

“Doesn’t matter, it still counts,” she announced as she pulled two small cups from the rack and placed one of them under the strawberry-flavoured lever, handing the other one to Shadow for him to pick. Without a second thought, he placed it under the chocolate-flavoured one and began filling it up, listening to Maria’s earlier suggestion. “And if you want a milkshake, you’ll say I am.”

“I think I’ll be fine without,” he decided, only letting go of the lever once his cup was filled and had grabbed a lid and a straw, assembling his drink properly before raising a brow at Maria.

“What? No,” she snapped, conflicted as she finished her own drink and hurriedly put it together, shooting around to make sure Shadow still had his in his hands. “You’re not getting out of trying one like that. You need to experience the awesomeness of a milkshake.”

“I don’t think a convenience store is going to emulate an amazing experience,” Shadow drawled, looking around at the state of the small corner store as he slowly brought the drink up to his muzzle, giving the liquid a quick sniff before bringing it to his lips to take a sip out of after he’d decided it was safe to consume. The artificial flavour and overly sweetness of the drink hit Shadow all at once, though it didn’t stop him from going in for a second sip.

“It’s a start, then,” she decided with a firm nod of her head, watching as Shadow stuck close and eyed the store with caution, taking in all the oddities that lined the shelves and had never been seen by him before.

Leading the way as she often did, Maria began to look around the store, Shadow sticking close to her as she browsed through the different snacks she had only ever dreamt of trying and the random knick-knacks that seemed out of place nestled between everything else. It was only when she came across a small rack of sunglasses, Shadow barely sparing it a second glance, did she come to a proper stop.

“We should try some of them on,” Maria proclaimed, almost infatuated by the different types of glasses all laid out in front of her. Hand instinctively reaching for a pair of pink star-shaped sunglasses, she pulled them from the mini shelf it was resting on and easily slotted them to her face, checking herself out in the mirror supplied with items. Smiling at her reflection, Maria turned to Shadow with a swoop of her hair, striking a pose with her hands fanned out around her face as she asked, “How do I look?”

“Ridiculous.” Shadow wasn’t even looking at her when he said it, eyes trained on a middle-aged man dressed in a tacky police uniform that looked straight out of some poorly made TV show as he entered the convenience store. Offhandedly, Shadow murmured, “You should put them back before you break them.”

“I’m not going to break them,” she scoffed, rolling her eyes as she still didn’t seem to have Shadow’s attention on her, instead watching as the man browsed through the different brightly-coloured doughnuts left on display. Her eyes briefly skimming over the rack again, they landed on a similar pair to hers, only they were heart-shaped instead of stars. Plucking them from the rack, Maria turned to Shadow with them outstretched in her hands. “Here, you try these ones on.”

“Hold on-” Maria didn’t give Shadow a moment to refuse or even comprehend what she was doing before she was pressing the pink glasses into Shadow’s quills, digging the small curve of the glasses’ temple there since they wouldn’t be able to sit behind his actual ears.

His eyes fastened shut, Shadow refused to open them and look through the shaded lenses, not sure what he’d find if he did. Unbeknownst to him, Maria was admiring her handiwork, looking over how the glasses sat on his face, grinning once she was satisfied with the turnaround.

“You can open your eyes, you know,” Maria remarked, waiting to see Shadow’s reaction, but stopped by the small holdup. “They’re not going to hurt you.”

“I know that,” Shadow quickly murmured, shaking out his quills to try and settle the defences that had risen as he slowly peeled his lids back. Turning to see what all the hype was about, Shadow made eye contact with himself in the mirror, staring at his reflection with a small amount of horror as he took in the pink attempting to blend in with black and red. “I look stupid.”

“You always look stupid,” Maria supplied with what most would call a charming grin. Grabbing onto Shadow’s shoulders, she used him to help her balance as she leaned down until their heads were resting side by side in the mirror, getting a proper glimpse at how they looked next to one another.

“Well, these don’t help then,” he concluded, not being able to look away from the monstrosity he was staring at, an unfamiliarity with his own face washing over him. It didn’t matter that his sister was standing right next to him the whole time, her ever-present smile shining through and trying to absorb his desolation.

“I think it’s rather cute, actually,” she decided on saying just as Shadow’s lips thinned together and his head turned away from the mirror, unable to look on any longer. Fixing the frames to Shadow’s face before he could tear them off, Maria admitted, “And that I’m going to be buying these for us so we can match.”

“You don’t have to,” Shadow blurted out, shaking his head as he backed away from Maria, though he made no move to remove the pink glasses.

“But I want to,” she quickly reassured, grabbing onto Shadow’s wrist and tugging him towards the counter as she raised her drink to her lips, finally taking a few sips out of it. The two of them got in line behind two others, another shortly making their way behind them and waiting patiently. “So let me do this, Shadow.”

“Shadow?” An unknown voice asked from behind the pair, making the hedgehog in question’s head snap around to face whoever had called out to him. Coming face to face with the same policeman who had been ogling at the doughnut display not too long ago, making one of Shadow’s brows arch up in confusion. “Like, Shadow and Sonic the Hedgehog?”

“No,” Shadow immediately hissed at the mere mention of the blue creature, teeth bared as he glared up at the man. A soft snort startled its way out of Maria at the question, quickly coughing into her elbow when Shadow trained his gaze on her for a few short moments. “Not like Sonic the Hedgehog.”

“But you know him?” the man pressed on, eyes flicking up to Maria briefly, seeming to fit together the pieces of a puzzle as realisation continued to dawn on him.

“Yeah,” Maria answered for him. “We’ve met him.”

“Unfortunately,” Shadow couldn’t help but mutter to himself.

“Wow,” the man murmured to himself, clearly bewildered as he took in the alien hedgehog. He seemed to have to hold himself back from inspecting Shadow and trying to figure out every little detail about him, on the verge of stepping closer. Speaking lowly, as if no one was meant to hear him, the man said, “I didn’t think I’d ever actually get to meet you.”

Taken aback by those words, Shadow quickly propped himself in front of Maria, demanding an answer, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, it’s just that Sonic’s told me so much about you,” the man announced as if it was nothing, almost hugging the doughnuts he was planning on buying to his chest. “It’s kind of been nonstop, actually. Every time I go to pick up or drop off Knuckles, or come around for some lunch, Sonic has something to say about you. Do the two of you see each other often?”

“No,” Shadow shot out, disgust climbing up his spine and settling in his quills as they threatened to flare up and stand on edge. With every passing second, the conversation being shared between them only got weirder and weirder, making Shadow itch to get away. With a scoff though, Shadow kept up his harsh exterior and snapped, “I couldn’t get far enough away from him.”

“Oh, that’s a bummer. I’m Wade, by the way,” ‘Wade’ said, sticking a hand out for Shadow to take, only to be blatantly ignored, the hedgehog only staring at the offending limb in disgust. When he didn’t seem to spur any reaction out of Shadow other than the sour frown that seemed to be etched into his skin, Wade turned to Maria and tried his luck with her, “Wade Whipple.”

“Maria,” the blonde supplied, grabbing onto Wade’s hand and giving it a firm shake, even if the action felt a bit out of place. Shadow watched the interaction closely, following the way both humans’ hands flexed and wrapped around one another. Tilting her head down towards the hedgehog, Maria mused, “Shadow’s sister.”

“I thought you would be,” Wade murmured, eyes flickering between the pair as if he could almost spot some similarities between them. “Sonic mentioned you as well, saying how sweet you were.”

“Seems like we’ve made quite the impression then,” Maria proclaimed, taking her hand back. What they had done to garner such a reaction out of a stranger who had only heard stories of them, Shadow would never know. He had only interacted with Sonic twice, both occasions holding nothing to report on, so it was beyond Shadow what Wade had been hearing about them.

“Oh, yeah,” Wade said, astounded, nodding his head rapidly as he fiddled with the box in his hands. There was a soft squeak of shoes behind Shadow, making him look back to find the line they had been waiting in had disappeared. He crossed the tiled floor and stepped up to the counter. Wade’s eyes angled back down to Shadow as he said, “You definitely have.”

One of Shadow’s brows shot up at this, gaze sceptical yet unimpressed as he became a silent observer of this exchange.

“Well, it was nice meeting you, Wade,” Maria concluded once she had noticed Shadow was no longer by her side, doing a small spin on her skates until she spotted him at the front of the store, sunglasses and milkshakes already resting on the counter for the clerk to scan and ring up the price. “But we should get going soon.”

“Right, that’s totally fine,” Wade said, waving Maria off as she skated backwards slowly, stopping only when she began to feel Shadow’s quills poking into her back. “I need to get back to work soon anyway. Tell Sonic I say ‘hi’ if you happen to run into him later.”

“Will do,” Maria smiled before turning around and setting her own cup down on the counter. She reached a hand up to pull her glasses off as well, putting her purse on the counter.

“No need,” the boy, who was probably no older than seventeen, behind the desk said, holding a hand up to try and get Maria to stop the action. He pushed the drinks back over to the two of them, then picked up the glasses Shadow had taken off to try and situate them back on his face, but the hedgehog easily avoided it by ducking behind Maria, who took them for him. “You guys are with Sonic, so it’s on the house.”

“Really?” Maria tried to keep the excitement from her voice. She was still ready to hand over the couple of dollars this would all total out to be if the worker changed his mind and requested it, though she was already pocketing her purse in preparation to leave. “Yep,” he said, sure of himself. “Can’t have a hero or his friends paying for cheap stuff like this when you’ve saved the world more times than I can count.”

“But we aren’t with that-” Shadow began to say, top lip curled as he got ready to spit out a rebuttal. “Thank you so much,” Maria cut in before he could ruin this for them. Picking up their drinks and shoving them into Shadow’s hands, she planted her own on his shoulders, shoving him towards the door as she shot the clerk and Wade a fleeting smile in goodbye. It was only when they stepped outside and were well out of earshot that she leaned down and whispered into his ear, “Dude, free stuff. Just accept it.”

“I don’t care,” Shadow groaned, shaking Maria’s hands off of him before handing over her strawberry milkshake. She tried to hand him back his own glasses, only for Shadow to turn away in favour of walking away from the convenience store and taking a sip of his own drink. “I don’t want to be associated with that imbecile whenever I meet someone.”

“Jeeze, did something happen between the two of you that I don’t know of?” Maria asked. She rolled after Shadow at a relaxed pace, trying to ambush him and push the glasses back into his quills. “Because last time I checked, you were a bit starstruck when you first saw him.”

“I was not,” Shadow whirled around as soon as those words left Maria’s mouth. His face pinched as he almost spat out his milkshake, almost choking on it a second later as Maria propelled herself forward and situated the pink heart-shaped sunglasses onto his face. He didn’t even bother to try and push her off, allowing the item to be buried into his quills as he corrected her, “I was just… surprised. I thought I was the only one like this, so meeting him came as a shock.

“Mmh, whatever you say,” she hummed, unbelieving as she scooted back, fiddling with her own glasses for a second before pulling out a small bag from another one of her pockets. Undoing it, she brought out a small silver camera, digital, as Gerald was still unsure about giving them any modern technology. “Now, let’s get a photo for the scrapbook.”

“Not now, Maria,” Shadow grumbled, half wondering what else she was keeping in the pockets of her overalls.

“But now’s the perfect time,” Maria whined, trying to reach out and grab onto Shadow so she could pull him closer and into frame, only for the hedgehog to keep sidestepping her. “We’ve got our milkshakes and matching shades. What could be better than this?”

“Relaxing somewhere that isn’t here?” Shadow offered, looking around the side of the street the two were currently on, and not finding anything of particular interest that screamed ‘fun’ at him.

“Don’t be like that,” Maria said as she finally sprang her way over to Shadow, wrapping her arm, which was currently holding her half-finished milkshake, around Shadow’s neck and pulling him in close whilst her other hand lifted into the sky with the digital camera pointed at them. “Just hold still and smile for a few seconds.”

“Maria,” he groaned, though he still looked up at the camera, flashing a glare of his bared teeth as she snapped down on it, capturing the moment that would unfortunately be printed out and glued into a book Maria insisted on keeping.

“See, all done,” Maria insisted, flipping the little camera around so she could show Shadow the shot. “That wasn’t so hard now, was it?”

“What wasn’t hard?” came a squeaky little voice that had Shadow’s head instantly snapping towards the source, shoving Maria off of him in the process and leaving her to stumble back a few steps as she fought to balance herself on her skates. Finally landing his eyes on who the voice belonged to, Shadow was met with two light blue irises staring up at him, followed by an endless expanse of yellow.

“Who are you?” Shadow couldn’t help but find himself asking, the words escaping his mouth before his brain could realise what he was saying. The yellow creature, which Shadow now recognised as a fox, blinked up at him a few times, the question unexpected, his two tails whirling back and forth behind him.

“Shadow,” Maria quickly gasped. “Don’t be rude.”

“No, it’s alright,” the short fox seemed to giggle, unbothered by Shadow’s confusion. “We never got to officially have a conversation when we first met, so I understand.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Shadow butted in, arms moving to cross tightly over his chest as he stared down at the smaller creature. Stepping forward and putting himself between the fox and Maria, Shadow made sure he didn’t pose as any real threat while he assessed the situation and what the fox had on him. “Who are you?”

“Everyone just calls me Tails,” the fox happily exclaimed. The two tails that had been mindlessly thrashing behind him quickly came wrapping around Tails’ legs, allowing him to grab onto them and fluff them up a bit. “I bet you can guess why.”

Shadow only grunted in response, eyeing the appendages that the fox held in his hands.

“Tails?” A second voice joined the party, this time one that Shadow had familiarised himself with; it made his teeth grit together while his ears pivoted on the top of his head, facing the direction the voice was coming from. A blue blur came speeding out from around a corner at the end of the street, pausing there as it looked around and called, “Where’d you go, buddy?”

“I’m over here, Sonic,” Tails quickly waved over the other hedgehog, fingers stretched wide into the air to make up for his short stature and to ensure he was seen.

Whipping his head around at the sound of Tails’ voice, a beaming grin took over Sonic’s face once his eyes landed on the fox, that smile seeming to only grow when his gaze skittered over to Shadow and Maria. It seemed to only take Sonic half a second to race over to them, dusting off his hands as he came to a stop next to the fox.

“There you are,” the cobalt hedgehog mused as he ruffled the fur atop of Tail’s head. Planting his hands on his hips, Sonic snorted to himself as if he had thought of something funny, taking a brief look around the street the four of them were currently parked on. “Knux isn’t going to be happy I beat him to you, but I guess that’s just what happens when you snooze.”

“You guys could’ve just waited at home,” Tails giggled as he stared up at Sonic, admiration clear in his eyes as if he was meeting his hero for the very first time. “You didn’t need to come looking for me.” “And miss out on all the fun? No way,” Sonic said, puffing up his chest as he grinned to himself. Shadow watched the exchange in boredom, trying to catch the corner of Maria’s eye so he could make a hint at trying to sneak away. Or just flat out leaving, he didn’t mind. Instead of catching Maria’s eye though, he caught Sonic’s, the speedster turning to him with a vexatious glint in his eyes. “Besides, if I did stay home, I wouldn’t have had the chance to say ‘hi’ to our lovely neighbours.”

“Hi,” Maria cheerfully replied to that, raising a hand to wave excitedly over at the new addition. Sonic returned the action with a small chuckle, copying the motion, albeit a lot calmer than Maria.

It looked like Shadow’s hopes of getting away just flew right out the door.

“Hey, Shads,” Sonic said as he came striding over, attempting to throw an arm around Shadow’s shoulders, only for the hedgehog to shove him back by the face, making sure he was kept as far away from him as possible. Not deterred in the slightest, Sonic cooed, “It’s been a minute. I like your glasses by the way.”

“Not long enough,” Shadow could only grumble, taking a miniature step away from the blue menace whilst eyeing him with disdain, not bothering to comment on that last part.

“Ouch,” Sonic yelped playfully, a hand sliding up to settle over his heart, the other laying against his forehead as he leaned back slightly, creating a whole ‘woe is me’ scene. “And here I thought we were beginning to become buddies, going on little night strolls together.”

“Since when have you been hanging out with Sonic?” Maria accused, their earlier conversation flaring to the forefront of her mind as she looked to Shadow expectantly, waiting for an explanation.

“I haven’t,” Shadow said defensively, trying to soothe Maria while glaring at Sonic as he seemed to enjoy the mess he was making. “I was just patrolling the area when he came out of nowhere and started bugging me.”

“You don’t need to hide it, Shads,” Sonic mused, dropping his over-the-top act as he tried to saddle up to Shadow’s side again, this time not getting close enough to be assaulted by the cranky hog. Any and all proximity seemed to get on Shadow’s nerves, however, and his teeth gritted together. “I know you enjoyed our time together.”

“You’re insufferable,” Shadow scoffed in response, rolling his eyes as he turned his nose up at the other creature.

“Is that the more impressive hedgehog I hear?” A third voice joined. It seemed as if all the intergalactic space creatures were having a little meeting in the middle of Green Hills on a random Tuesday afternoon, as a red echidna came stomping over to the group, standing far taller than the rest of the anthropomorphic beings.

“Ugh, not this again,” Sonic groaned, swiping a hand down his face as he turned to face the newcomer. Vaguely, Shadow knew he should’ve known who this was, just like the fox, but he couldn’t find a single name to pair with the echidna; it must have flown right over his head whenever it had been uttered to him. “Knux’s, what have we said about names?”

“That people have them for a reason?” he droned out, seemingly a little defeated by the response as his shoulders slumped.

“Yes,” Sonic said, cheerful for a moment. raising a hand to high-five the echidna, only for him to grab onto it and squeeze as tightly as possible, a pained gasp shooting from Sonic’s lips despite trying to seem as casual as possible. “So let’s use them.”

“You could learn something from that,” Shadow huffed, mumbling the words to himself, though he wouldn’t mind if a certain someone were to catch wind of them.

“It doesn’t apply to me,” Sonic quickly shot out, responding with half a mind as he turned his head slightly to address Shadow while keeping his eyes glued on Knuckles.

“Oh?” Shadow asked, sounding less than impressed. “And why’s that?”

“Uh, duhhh,” The proud grin on Sonic’s face wavered as he fought back the furrow of his brows, fully abandoning his little teaching moment with Knuckles to instead face Shadow. It was only then, with Sonic leaning into his personal space, that Shadow realised the slight height advantage that Sonic held over him, eyes just above his as his quills steered higher. “Because I just make everything better.”

“Sure you do,” Shadow scoffed with an unbelievable grin, which seemed more like a flash of his teeth, shining through on his features.

“Is that a challenge?” Knuckles questioned with an excited lilt to his voice as he eyed the space between Sonic and Shadow, seemingly preparing himself to watch a fight. “Does the more impressive hedgehog wish to challenge the last hedgehog I fought to a duel?”

“I wouldn’t mind that,” Shadow said, shrugging. He unfolded his arms and straightened his posture, stepping towards Sonic with the full intent of bringing Knuckles’ wish to life.

“No,” Maria quickly interjected, a hand swooping around Shadow’s waist. She yanked him back, almost sending the two of them sprawling to the floor as the wheels of her skates gave a short spasm. When she was able to finally stabilise herself, leaning heavily on Shadow to do so, Maria declared, “None of you are fighting Shadow.”

“Don’t mind Knuckles,” Tails tried to help, placing a hand on one of the oversized oven mittens he liked to wear and call gloves. “He’s just like that.”

“I’m the last warrior of the Echidna tribe,” Knuckles claimed, raising a fist to the sky. Shadow covered the snort he let out with a poorly timed cough, having to look away from the display momentarily. Paying him no mind, Knuckles carried on, “If it’s a duel the more impressive hedgehog wants, it’s a duel he’ll get.”

“Perhaps they can just come over to dinner instead,” Tails suggested when he noticed Maria coil her arms tighter around Shadow’s waist, a protective streak coursing through her that he was all too familiar with. Being the youngest in a house where they seemed to be encountering world-ending threats, Tails was familiar with seeing the emotions Maria was outwardly expressing. “On Friday.”

Face scrunching, Shadow tried to refuse, “Absolutely not-”

“We’d love to,” Maria announced, overshadowing him. She shot Shadow a pointed look that told him to pipe down, so Shadow bit his tongue and waited for this all to be over.

“Great,” Sonic cheered, uncaring as to whatever was going on between the siblings. “It’s a date!”

“Yes,” Knuckles agreed without much thought, clapping his hands together with a wide smile on his face. “Your eating contest will be legendary.”

“We should probably head back now, guys,” Tails interrupted, choosing not to say anything on the matter of contests or sparring; he didn’t want to indulge the topic of conversation any further, instead being the responsible one of the group. “Tom and Maddie will be wondering where we are.”

“Bummer,” Sonic groaned, head cranking back as he slumped forward. It reminded Shadow of a toddler throwing a short-lived temper tantrum. Just as quickly as it had started though, Sonic was back to normal and sprinkling around. “We’ll see you two on Friday then.”

“Yep,” Maria confirmed, nodding along with her words. She waved a hand up as the three brightly coloured creatures began making their departure. “See you then.”

Shadow chose to stay silent as he watched them leave, all of them breaking off at different speeds as they zipped away from the convenience store they had all been parked in front of. He only reacted when he saw Tails take to the sky and follow after the two older creatures, a soft furrow taking to his brow.

When she was sure they were all well out of earshot, Maria asked, “What just happened?”

Master List | Prev | Next | Can Also Read Here

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cyanferret21 · 2 months ago

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Hey guys, do you remember this London scene from Sonic 3?

Okay, so I’m rewatching the movie once again, and something clicked for me this time.

I alway associate this moment with one reaction channel that was reacting to the trailer for the movie. While watching it the guys pointed out that the position of everyone in the shot looks odd. Like if somebody is missing there! Trailers likes to omit some moments and details that are only gonna be present in the release version. They hid Shadow’s super form in the trailer, for example, while still showing the scene itself. So, the missing character is not that big of a stretch in this situation.

As we all now know, there were actually no character there. Later when they were reacting to the movie itself they even noted that “wow, guess there were no hidden character in that odd spot after all, huh”. And they left it on that.

But now I’m watching the movie again, remembering that reaction, and still thinking: why is that odd blank spot there?

And I think I have an explanation!

It’s a cool visual representation! You see, by this point, we have a few conflicts on our hands. On one side, the main plot of the movie - with Sonic and his team versus Robotniks. But we also have the conflict of found family vs blood family - Agent Stone vs Gerald Robotnik. Both of whom dragging the blanket of Ivo’s attention on themselves.

We already saw the scene where Ivo and Gerald spend their “quality time” together in VR. And we saw how hurt it made Stone. Although, he can’t be mad at Eggman about wanting to spend time with his previously presumed dead grandpa-

-but he’s not obligated to be happy about being ignored either. Stone is not used to being forced to share Ivo’s attention with anyone else, and it shows.

And so now we come back to scene I started this whole discussion from. And what we see?

A literal GAP between Agent Stone and the rest of Robotniks!

Yeah, I did on purpose called all the three of them Robotniks. Despite everything, Shadow was like a brother to Maria. We see from the flashbacks that in the past Gerald too cared for the alien as for his own kid. “They’re trying to take Shadow away from us, Maria!” HE CARED! So Shadow I can count as technical Robotnik, alongside Maria Robotnik, Gerald Robotnik and Ivo Robotnik.

And they all stand on the left side of the shot, leaving Stone standing alone far to the right corner. The closest standing to Stone is Ivo, and even he is “one human-sized gap” away from him. (The gap that Gerald can and want to fill in to achieve his goal)

It might also be that Stone himself has chosen to separate himself from the group here, feeeling as if he’s not part of it. Not part of Ivo’s family! And isn’t it sad!?

The scene hurts even more when you remember that at the start of the movie, in the first scene where Eggman shows up, he calls Stone “the only person in the world I could trust”

Stone: Doctor, you have visitors.

Eggman: Oh, really? I thought I was having an anthropomorphic nightmare, where the only person I could trust in the world shows up with all my worst enemies…

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donelywell · 1 year ago

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Does Eggman still make robots?

Yep! Okay- I'm gonna show a doodle page, it's kinda difficult to read so bare with me.

Ivo Robotnik owns a theme park called Robotnik Land, it's filled with rides and attractions that you could only dream of. But the main event is the Train ride that literally goes around dimensions.

Ivo was deeply affected by Maria's death, but unlike the canon Eggman, he wasn't neglected. Robotnik strived to make the world as whimsical and clean as Maria hoped it was while she was stuck looking down from the Ark. While also mixing his passion of making everything fun, he made Robotnik Land, one of the cleanest and most fun places on Earth/ Mobius. His rides and attractions are operated with the express purpose of not ruining the environment.

Robotnik and Sonic seem to have a history together, because the small hedgehog is the only one allowed to call him Eggman and he seems to be able to walk into his workshop whenever the blue blur pleases.

When Robotnik Land started, he made Belle to be his personal assistant, to help him work out new ideas and solutions. Over time he became a father figure to her and she took spotlight next to him when the theme park is open. He made Orbot with a Cubot AI assistant to help manage the business side of the theme park as Ivo didn't want to waste his time in meetings instead of tinkering and constructing. He finally then made Sage to entertain the masses as the Theme Park grew too big for Ivo and Belle to be the only ones to be center stage.

With the wealth that the Theme Park has generated, he uses it to fund his other projects to help clean the world and help people.

He has his robot family (with Belle included). The metals are there too, they perform and operate some of the rides. Sonic told Robotnik about Amy, Knuckles, and Tails through messages and photos. So Robotnik made Metals of them too to give Metal Sonic some friends.

#RoadTrip!Sonic AU #dr robotnik #dr eggman #belle the tinkerer #Sage the ai #Orbot and cubot #Robotnik is everyones Dad/ Grandpa I swear to Gaia

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iggyshippingcorner · 3 months ago

Note

Stone finding out about the OG Omegan Agent…

If it’s the O/O timeline, I think Stone WOULD be the OG Omega Agent, actually.

If it’s the O/A timeline, a bit jealous/possessive maybe, but ultimately, he owes them some type of thanks because without that horror story they cooked up he would have never been assigned to the doctor in the first place. (Also I would love to toss in the idea of a bit of canon divergence from S2 here. The best place for them to hide from everything and everyone is a place where no one would think to look right? So Rob gives Stone OAs current address before passing out and they show up on their doorstep and shack up with them for a bit. OA is either banging their head against a wall cursing themselves for ever asking for his help or weirdly glad that the doctor has recovered from disappearing, and oh, you never told me you found yourself a mate! We really need to catch up once you’re doing better!) -OG a/b/o

AW WAIT THATS CUTE. Setting up temporary safe house with the former agent while Robotnik��s health is unstable, while they hover awkwardly in the background like “this is the second strangest thing to happen to me” (the first being employed under Robotnik all those years ago)

Gosh I like that a lot�� I’m taking notes :3

#stobotnik #iggy fic tag #ask answered #abo #(-)

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ut-poppy-askblog · 11 months ago

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5th Anniversary Preparations

As some of you may or may not know, this year, Poppy's Story turns 5 years old next month! We're very excited to celebrate with all of you. That said, we have a few things coming in. And also give all of you a heads up on what we're doing.

Firstly...

Omega Timeline: Poppy's Story Art contest!

We're doing an art contest for Poppy's Story! Submissions will be open for a month. The theme of the contest is naturally Poppy's Story. There will be prizes ranging from art to a pat in the back!

It starts TODAY, and will end in AUGUST 14th!

To find out more, check the rules and guidelines!

The winners will be showcased in...

That's right! We're doing an anniversary livestream in the same day as the anniversay! (Because it is on a saturday, as opposed to the other years where I streamed...)

It'll happen in August 17th!

We'll be doing a lot of things- like showing the winners- among which, are the following:

ChristmAUs 2023 dev playthrough + QNA!

We'll finally do the long awaited dev playthrough of ChristmAUs, and if you have any questions, we'll be here to answer them!

If you'd like your questions answered before everyone else's, be sure to send a question here!

Dr. Robotnik's Ring Racers Online!

We'll be doing roughly 8 races of Kart Krew's Dr. Robotnik's Ring Racers with the Omega Timeline's Ring Racers + other character packs. (the OT:PS character pack will come out this month!)

Make sure to download the latest version of Dr. Robotnik's Ring Racers- there'll only be 16 slots, first come first serve.

And that's all for right now. But keep an eye out! Other things may be afoot.

And, hey, while you're here, did you know we have a discord server- if you want to keep up, or discuss, everything poppy-related, that's the place to go!

#undertale #undertale au #undertale oc #ot poppy story #omega timeline #core frisk #dr robotniks ring racers #anniversary

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ficsinhistory · 4 months ago

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Gun and Stones

So, I was thinking about Stone these days and some small thoughts came to mind, especially thanks to @shitposting-for-the-soul

Many people think that Stone will become the big villain of Sonic 4 and while I want this man to go through the very valid crash out that he needs to have… I don't believe that this will translate into villainy.

Not against Earth and the team of heroes at least.

Stone is evil. But he also has standards. Are they only relevant to him? Yes, but he does. We've already seen that he's not xenophobic, not caring about Shadow's world domination because he considered him an ally and treated him as such, regardless of the hedgehog being an alien. He took control of a café in Green Hills through shady means, but only because he followed Ivo's manifesto and it didn't even cross his mind to dominate the world without the Doctor.

And that's the thing, Stone wanted to dominate the world with Robotnik. To be his right hand man.

And with Eggman presumed dead, I don't believe any plan to enslave humanity would even cross his mind.

You ask me: Stone has already started a posthumous plan for Ivo once, why not start over?

And I answer: Because of the way Ivo died.

Robotnik sacrificed himself to save the Earth, since he couldn't save it. Not only that, he made that very clear in his final message. And I doubt Stone would want to attack humanity after the most important person in his life sacrificed everything to keep it.

Taking over the Earth would not only be empty without Ivo, it would tarnish the Doctor's ultimate sacrifice. And Stone would never act against Eggman's wishes.

But Stone is also grieving, and that pain and sadness needs to go somewhere.

And I believe it will be directed in two ways, although both end up on the same target: GUN.

The first is that Stone's anger and sadness is directed at GUN from the beginning.

He was once part of this organization and Stone knows how insidious it is. It was because of them that Gerald went crazy and built the Eclipse Cannon. It was because of them that Ivo was discarded without further ado. All this chaos happened because of them.

And Stone wouldn't let that go unpunished.

Maybe he plans to act against GUN alone or when Sonic and the others inevitably face them - especially since Rockwell will probably be the new leader - they need Stone's help, who will be more than happy to help.

Add to that the possibility that Stone will become Shadow's new guardian and this man's anger will triple.

The second is more complicated: Stone will try to get revenge on Sonic and company… because he thinks they were responsible for Ivo's death.

Yes, yes, we know that Tails and Knuckles saved Eggman from his despicable grandfather… but not Stone. Sonic already tried to kill Ivo once and was disappointed when he realized he hadn't succeeded. He has no reason to think that this wasn't what happened again.

Stone would blame them…and that's where GUN would come in.

With Rockwell in charge, the Wachowskis are already on thin ice. With Metal Sonic and Amy Rose showing up? Nah, they're going to be on a witch hunt for all the aliens. And they took advantage of Stone's grief by claiming that it was Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles who killed Robotnik in an attempt to bring him over to their side. Is that a blatant lie? Absolutely, but it's not like GUN plays fair and has any morals anyway lol.

Of course, this would only work if Shadow isn't under his care.

But assuming he isn't, that's quite likely. As is the truth coming out.

My best guess is that Amy would bring Stone to his senses with a speech like she did with Shadow in SA2, perhaps using her temporal powers to show him what really happened (Amy and Stone would get along well in general in my opinion since both characters have caring and unconditional love as a big part of who they are).

We also have the possibility of the team or even Shadow himself telling what really happened.

And Stone would be livid with GUN using him. Again. And tainting Ivo's memory and wishes.

Anyway, I can't wait to see Stone back and terrorizing GUN! Thanks for reading!

#sonic movie #sonic movie 3 #sonic the hedgehog #sonic 3 #sonic movie 4 #sth #sonic 4 #agent stone #ivo robotnik #eggman #doctor robotnik

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coffeecat1983 · 4 months ago

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Robotnik x Stone: "As the song says" pt 1

(apologies for any inconsistencies etc, this is set roughly after the second movie and I still haven't seen the third) (note, small dialog change to one of Robotnik's lines to correct a term used)

The wilderness of Alaska holds many secrets. Travel to a small waterfall tucked away in a pine forest and carefully make your way past the icy waters into a nook carved out in the black rock. Search carefully and you will find a panel hidden behind a false rock cover. Should you manage to enter the correct code and get past the voice recognition, a large panel would slide away to reveal an elevator. Take this down and you are now at a long hallway lined with metallic doors. The rock walls and ground are replaced with sleek tiles that light up from within, giving an almost eerie appearance to the place. The doors are all closed except for one at the end of the hall. It's cracked open and a driving beat echoes out.

Robotnik leaned back in his chair, foot tapping along to the pulsing beat. The table near him was loaded down with papers, sketches of new robot designs, and three computer monitors glowed brightly. Two showed various documents while the third was pulled up to show a media player, the visualizer throbbing to the music. Robotnik spun in his chair to the melody before slamming a foot down to stop the movement. He moved the controller on the arm of the chair, floating over to the table. "Ahh, you may present yourself as a deceased Mus musculus, but your melodies are definitely alive." he said, picking another song and adding it to the playlist. Reaching over blindly to where his afternoon coffee should have been, he grasped empty air. Turning, he stared at the vacant spot before glancing at the clock. It was just past four in the afternoon; Stone should have slipped in and placed his drink on the table by now. Pausing the music, he got up and entered the hallway. "Stone?!" he called out. A faint click and the sound of fumbling came from behind the closest door. It whooshed open and Stone rushed out, looking like a deer in headlights. Robotnik raised an eyebrow at him. "You're late." he said bluntly. "Sorry sir!" Stone darted into his room and back out before taking off for the kitchen. "I'll get that done now!" Robotnik tapped his foot again, taking note of the original room Stone came out of. "The medical bay. Strange." Glancing down the hall towards the kitchen door, he slipped into the med bay. The overhead lights came on as he entered, revealing the bright, sterile room. Everything seemed in place. Reaching up, he snapped a finger. "Yes, Lord Robotnik?" a computerized female voice responded to the trigger sound. "What device was just used in this room?" he asked. "Record indicates the medical diagnostics was used last by one Lee Stone." "And what tests were run?" "My apologies, due to HIPAA inclusion in medical programming, I am unable to provide that information." Robotnik grumbled. "I knew including that would be a mistake." "Not that I'm suggesting you search for this," the robo voice spoke up, "but medical diagnostics always include a paper printout with the analysis." "Of course! And Stone was holding a paper when he left here." Robotnik smirked. "Glad I thought of it."

Entering Stone's room, his sharp eyes took everything in. He had never ventured into his henchman's private quarters before. The room was tidy, bed neatly made, a bookcase full of carefully arranged books and a desk with a laptop and some writing tools. The one thing out of place was the crumpled-up paper that hadn't made it into the waste basket beside the desk. "Well, well, what do we have here." He picked it up and smoothed it out, reading over the rumpled printing. He paused, rubbed at his eyes, and read it again. 'Possibility of prolonging lifespan with treatment: 5% - 12%' 'Known cures: 0.' The word 'terminal' in bright red ink glared back at him. Crumpling the paper back up and placing it back beside the basket, he quietly went back to the lab. As he entered, the lights came on and the media player resumed. 'Did I tell you, I loved you, today?' the sweet, smokey vocals echoed out. Something in the words hit him and he froze, chest tight. 'Did I tell you, I loved you, today?' His fist slammed into the monitor, cracking it. He hunched over the desk, panting as the song finished playing. Feeling a tickle on his cheek, he reached up, his gloved fingertips coming away wet. "Sir?" Robotnik yelped, nearly spinning around but stopping himself on time, not wanting Stone to see his face. "What is it?!" he snapped. Stone peered past his boss at the broken and sparking monitor as he set the steaming latte down. "Er, I was just wondering if you had any requests for tonight's dinner." This made the other pause. "That's right, it's Sunday, isn't it?" he muttered. While Stone usually laid out plans for weekly meals, Sunday was random and Robotnik would pick from a list of his favorites. "Yes, sir. So," Stone glanced at the monitor again. "Any requests?" "You pick tonight." Robotnik said, still not looking at him. "I...Sir?" Making sure his eyes were dry, Robotnik turned, tugging on his coat to straighten it. "You heard me, Stone, you pick something. And not something you'd usually make for me. Make it," he hesitated at the strange words, "something you would enjoy." Stone's face lit up. "Yes sir!" he turned to rush out but stopped at the door, looking back. "And don't worry! I'll make sure it's something you'll like too; I promise!" he looked behind the scientist. "Did, did you need any help with..." he pointed. Robotnik glanced back at the monitor which had started to smoke lightly. "Ah, that. No, no, that's nothing. Just a disagreement with a brainless moron, as usual. Claimed Einstein was a 'genius'. One of the Badniks will clean it up." he said casually.

To be continued....

Part 2 is here

#fanfic #angst #stobotnik #ivo robotnik #agent stone #stay tuned...#part 1 #sonic the hedgehog #sonic movie universe

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autisticshadowthehedgehog · 4 months ago

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A Cluster of Burning Stars - Chapter Five

in which Rouge fistfights an Eight-Year-Old

{ao3} {tumblr}

Tails was good at sneaking around. He’d had to do it a lot growing up, when he wanted to swipe food without a hassle or get from Point A to Point B without running into any of the other kids. Then, once Robotnik destroyed his island, he’d had plenty of practice with breaking in-and-out of all kinds of places, as well as staying hidden under intense pressure. He was always a fast learner, and just one or two mistakes that ended in close calls or charred tails were enough for him. He was working on holographic projection technology to work as a disguise, or perhaps a temporary invisibility, but they weren’t ready yet. It didn’t matter; GUN was not hard to sneak around in. The problem with the military was that they desperately needed everything to be in order all the time. All their soldiers uniform, all their movements predictable. Maybe it made organization easier, but it also made them easy as hell to exploit. Just a quick hack into their systems taught him all their camera movements, for instance. And he could always tell which of the cameras was perched highest, so he could carefully, very carefully, edge his way over to that one, moving his tails as slowly and silently as possible, keeping to the shadows and narrowing his eyes to bare slits so the whites didn’t shine against whatever lit his way.

He didn’t have to stay slow during this mission, at least. Robotnik wasn’t subtle in his attacks, and so he could hide inside clouds of smoke and bounce from hall-to-hall without worrying about making sounds over the blaring alarms. Chaos, he wished he’d brought earplugs. Probably not a good thing to wear during an attack, but for temporary relief…

No. He didn’t get to have “temporary” relief. Not when half the world was on fire at any given time. Not when he could do something about it.

He came to a forked hallway, and perched atop the highest camera. Not that he needed to bother; Robotnik had probably shot them all out anyway, if the shattered glass on the floor meant anything. Tails glanced down the three routes, considering. With his luck, they probably each chose one path to go down. He just hoped that when Knuckles showed up, he’d figure out which one to follow Robotnik through… who was he kidding, Knuckles absolutely wouldn’t. He’d take a random option and go for it. Which only gave him a one-in-three chance of following through with the plan.

Okay, Tails, think. That’s what you do best.

After a moment, Tails went over the layout of the base in his mind. The left hall would lead to the cargo bay, where he needed to go. But which direction would Robotnik…

Whichever direction has the most damage going down. He didn’t know much about Shadow, but he didn’t seem like a messy guy. There was quite a bit of wall damage down the right hall… so that was where the Doctor had gone.

Tails leapt for that hall, grabbing a pipe from the ceiling and yanking it down. He wasn’t quite as strong as Knuckles, but it was already quite weak from whatever the Robo-Walker had done, and it bent with a loud creak. A decent signal that Knuckles would understand. Probably understand. He was a bit of a doofus sometimes.

Still, Tails had his own job to do. He flew down the left hall, this time having to actually pay attention to his camera-hopping and shadow-chasing, as the area was significantly less damaged. When he heard a pounding of footsteps, he spun himself flat up against the ceiling, pushing into the shadows as deep as possible as several GUN robots tore down the hall. They completely missed the fox above them; while it gave Tails a nice boost of confidence, he was realistic enough to know that meant they could’ve missed quite a bit while heading this direction. Which would mean more trouble for him down the line.

He also noted to himself, as he started off again, that with the lack of humans in the area, they must have evacuated last night. Good. Now he could crash whatever he wanted without anyone yelling at him about “casualties.”

But after a few hall turns, he managed to make it to the cargo hold. He waited beside the doorway for a while, listening carefully, until he heard a whooshing pass through the air. Some kind of hovercraft? Or maybe a flying mobian. Whatever it was, it just passed, so Tails took the opportunity to poke his head in.

Giant boxes, most of them bigger than he was, lined the walls, and several metal squares and large cages held a pillar towards the back of the room, above multiple podiums and the occasional churning floor-fan. Multiple tracks pushed through the center pillar, rolling boxes back and forth; right near a top track was a white-and-purple shape. Definitely a winged mobian, the purple shapes were flapping in turn with an expected hovering pattern. After a moment, it flew over to a hangar claw, grabbing onto it as it pulled the figure upwards through the ceiling.

Tails narrowed his eyes, before immediately leaping outwards and circling his tails, getting ready to follow. When he heard a huff, though, he dropped beneath a track, pushing up against the metal until he saw the figure fly down past him, something shiny and red in her hands.

Bingo.

He only saw the figure for a moment, but he marked all observations in his head, jostled them for a second, then put them in order: White fur. Large ears. Bat. Female. Teenager, maybe young adult. Her eyes were too focused on the emerald to notice him. That was her mistake.

After a moment of glancing around, she flew up into another doorway, and Tails wasted no time in following. He peered up into a second hangar, where she was already dropping onto a wooden box, throwing herself down with a forceful enough kick to shatter the wood. With nothing inside, she moved onto the next box, and the next, until the lavender emerald spilled out.

“Finally,” she said, eyes glimmering.

But as she reached for it, Tails catapulted himself forwards, gripping tight onto the shining gem, before spinning and using his free hand to steady himself against the floor as he skidded several feet away from the shocked bat.

“Thanks for the find!” Tails said.

“Give that back, kid!” she jumped for him, and he ducked and spun, landing against a large barred wall, which he quickly scampered up. He reached back into his tails, depositing the emerald in his fluff and pulling out one of his blasters. He shot towards her, but she swiftly dodged and flew into the air, letting out a growl.

“You snooze, you lose.” Tails shrugged, before launching himself off the wall. “Now hand over the other one.”

“Sorry,” she rolled her head back, and then cracked her knuckles. “I don’t deal with toddlers.” In response, Tails shot at her again. She swiftly dodged, and then shouted, “Okay, what is wrong with you?”

“I don’t have time for games.” Tails shrugged. “Emerald. Now.”

“Okay, technically,” the bat sighed, dramatically gesturing and flicking her ears, “It’s red, so it’s a bixbite. Nobody ever gets that right.”

“Nobody cares. Now hand it over. The good Doctor’s lost his gemstone privileges.”

She put her hands on her hips. “What makes you think I’m working for the Doctor?”

“You walked in with him.”

“...okay, fair. But I have my reasons.”

“Wanna explain, or should I shoot you again?”

“Right.” her eyes narrowed. “Guess we’re doing this.”

She turned, spun, and kicked him in the back of the head.

---

Tails’s direction to Knuckles worked wonders; soon as he saw the heavily-damaged hallway, he presumed that was where Robotnik had gone, and took off running at top speed. He sure wasn’t as fast as Sonic– he laughed at the idea as he turned a bend– but dodging badniks for the last couple years had really kept his leg strength up. After just a minute or two, he heard the loud crashing and zapping of GUN bots, and he dropped low, listening closely to the sounds of the fight. It sounded like it was heading this way… but wouldn’t Robotnik be heading farther inward? To get the emeralds? Why would the fight be coming closer to him?

No, that was definitely Robotnik. He heard his voice, shouting something at the robots. He shook his head to clear it, then listened again.

“Go ahead and set them off. Fifteen minutes should be quite enough time.”

Fifteen minutes for what? Didn’t matter. Knuckles could take Robotnik down in five.

Probably.

He slid out past the bend, cracked his hands, and said, “Hey, Doc! Causing problems without me?”

Robotnik, standing among several GUN-walkers, glanced back at the echidna. He groaned, and spoke into his communicator, “Hold on, delay that action.”

“Too late.”

“Fine. I’ll have to deal with this quickly.”

Knuckles didn’t wait for another quip before leaping into the fray. He jumped atop a GUN robot, punched down into its head, and used it to push himself farther towards the Robo-Walker. Robotnik managed to dodge him, annoyingly, but he just spun and kicked off the wall before going for him again.

With most badniks, Knuckles could punch through them easy. He knew the robo-walkers would be harder; Robotnik liked to make sure anything he himself would be inside of was as sturdy as humanly possible. But that just made attacking it all the more fun.

---

Tails did a spin mid-air before turning and firing again. He and the bat had spent most of their fight darting around the top of the hangar, but eventually had started darting down halls, as the bat seemed interested in getting out of the building. Tails would prefer to stay inside, actually; he could fly long-distance, yes, but not as well as a winged mobian. He liked having his opponents in a closed space, where it was easier to see and hit them.

The first time he’d fought back against a bully, it’d been the Armada. They were looking for the chaos emeralds, and ripping up the land around them as they did. Tails had preferred the forest to the villages, so he took personal offense to that and started using those bombs he’d been figuring out how to build. The birds were easier to hit when they were enclosed, he’d found. And then when Robotnik appeared, he found that the badniks weren’t very good in small spaces. They needed a lot of room to move, but Tails was small, and all he needed was enough room to shoot or stab or claw. Knuckles liked fighting in the open, so Tails would take most of the “indoor missions.” Which meant he was in his element here, and he would like if the bat didn’t manage to get outside the building.

He must’ve been too lost in his thoughts, because the bat managed to get a solid kick in, sending him several feet back. She flew at him again, and he ducked, spun, and grabbed onto her back, crashing them both onto the floor. The bat kicked up, slamming against his tail with her heel, and he flinched back, giving her the opportunity to roll over, knock the gun out of his hands, and pin him down.

“The hell is wrong with you, kid?” she hissed.

“Right now? My main problem is I don’t have enough bombs.” he smirked.

“Tracks with what I know about you. Battle Bird Kid?”

“Aw, is that what people are callin’ me?”

“They’re calling you a lot of things.”

“People always have.” Tails kept eye contact with her, smirking and trying to draw her attention away from his left tail, which was reaching upwards towards her wings. “But I’m afraid I don’t know any of your names.”

“Just one. Rouge.”

“Nice to meet you,” Tails said. “Now get off.”

His tail hooked around the base of her wing, yanking it back hard enough to make her shout. Tails let go, kicked her in the chest, and reached into his tails to grab a second gun. The bat recovered extremely quickly, and was in front of him just as he raised it, grabbing the barrel and pulling it down. For a moment, they tried to wrestle over it, but Tails could quickly surmise that the older bat would probably overpower him here. So instead, he let go, stomped on her foot, and tackled her. They landed hard on the ground again, and she kicked him up into the air, slamming his back hard against the ceiling. As he started to fall, he spun his tails and whooshed up to position himself atop a camera. She flared her wings, and he immediately began flying farther back into the building.

She followed him for a minute or so, attempting to pull him down or knock the emerald out of his tails, but after a second, she hissed. “I don’t have time for this,” and started to turn around.

Now, Tails wasn’t about to deal with that. He side-checked her, knocking the two of them through an open doorway and into another hangar. She grabbed his bangs and yanked him back, before throwing him forwards. Tails spun to look at her, which was a mistake; he didn’t realize what she was throwing him at until he landed hard against a barred wall. He hissed as a jolt of cold pain shot into his back, one of his tails instinctively curling around the bar to try and steady him. Rouge did a spin and a kick towards him, and he barely got out of the way before landing with a thud on the ground.

As soon as he landed, both fox and bat heard a piercing addition to the alarm join in the cacophony. Rouge threw her hands up to her ears, screeching, but while Tails flinched, his immediate instinct was to run. The second alarm seemed to be coming from inside the room, considering the excruciating volume, so he catapulted himself off the ground and out the doorway they’d just come through.

And just in time, too.

With a slam, a thick metal door jolted from the ceiling, blocking the path between the opponents less than a second after Tails had leapt.

The sudden muffling of the second alarm combined with the loud crash of the door disoriented Tails for a second. He shook his head, slamming against its side with his hand, until he was able to process what had just happened. As soon as he did, he stared at the door for a solid few seconds, and then let out a piercing laugh.

He scrambled to the door, pressing his ear against it. It just made him smile wider when he heard a furious pounding from the other side; it seemed like the bat was repeatedly kicking it.

“I wouldn’t do that,” Tails called, a bit smugly. “That’ll be solid steel.”

“I know what GUN makes their doors out of!”

“Then you probably should’ve guessed the second alarm would be a lockdown due to unauthorized presence.” True, he hadn’t guessed that, he’d just wanted to get away from the sound, but she didn’t need to know that. He pulled his emerald from his tail and flipped it in his hands. “Wish I could’ve gotten that gem from you, but I should probably get out of here before GUN shows up to deal with you.”

“Wha– wait! Wait, kid, you don’t understand–”

“I understand I’m gonna have to break in again. Thanks for that, by the way.”

“No! This place is going to blow!”

Tails blinked. Had he heard her right through the alarm? “It’s what?”

“This place is rigged with explosives. We’ve got ten minutes tops to get out of here.”

Tails jumped, his hand instantly reaching for the door. As if he could push it open. He stopped himself short of grabbing onto it, and reprimanded himself. Come on. Get it together.

“Well,” he said, very slowly, “Good thing the emeralds are indestructible.”

“Kid, wait–”

“I’ll just track it once the island blows. Nice knowing you.”

He took off running before he could hear her response. Honestly, he didn’t want to. He wouldn’t be able to pretend he didn’t care if he heard her scream or beg. But he really shouldn’t care. She was working for Robotnik. She’d been trying to beat him up only a minute ago. What was important was the emerald wouldn’t get to the Doctor.

And what was important was that he get to Knuckles and get them the hell out of there.

When he finally slid down a hall, ducking under Robotnik’s fleeing Walker and tackling the pursuing Knuckles, he shouted, “Let him go! This place is about to explode!”

“What did you do?”

“Not me this time!”

---

Shadow was halfway across the forest. Once he’d finished planting the bombs, he’d immediately teleported a safe distance before heading for where the Doctor had planted their escape shuttle. He probably could have teleported directly there, but long-distance jumps were tiring. Not that he’d ever admit that to anyone. The Ultimate Lifeform shouldn’t get tired.

He had to admit, though, he’d considered just running out of the building without teleporting. Just to wreck some extra GUN robots on his way out. Sure, they were all going to be destroyed soon enough, so it would’ve been pointless, but maybe breaking some of the stupid agency’s tech would’ve been cathartic. But, well, the uncomfortably familiar interior was something he’d wanted to get away from as soon as possible.

He heard a buzz coming from his quills. He reached back, pulling out the radio the Doctor had insisted they all take for communication. “This is Rouge!” came the static-garbled voice. “I’ve got a small problem?”

Shadow rolled his eyes to the skies, as he continued to stalk his way over the roots and leaves. The leaves made a weird crunch under his feet that he wasn’t sure if he liked.

“I may be… trapped inside a locked hangar with a chaos emerald.”

Shadow almost hit the button to tell her to chaos control out, before remembering how long it took Sonic to figure out how to work that himself. And he was a chaos creature, like him. He wondered if it was possible for any normal mobians to even do such a thing.

“I guess I won’t be able to call myself a treasure hunter anymore…”

Against his will, his mind flashed towards the thought of her locked in the room of a GUN facility. It was probably her stupid voice, the tone she had of wondering if she was about to die. He’d heard that fear before, in confused whispers of his name, and then the quiet, “We need to get to the pods.”

He should’ve recognized the determination in her voice then as something dangerous. He wasn’t thinking, then. He should’ve been thinking. But the second he saw the blood pooling on her dress, any and all rationality had vanished. If he’d paid attention to the look on her face, he would’ve known she didn’t want to use the escape pods for herself. Even though that would’ve been the right thing to do. She was injured, and she was a civilian. The projects were what the soldiers were after. They wouldn’t have cared if a child had slipped through the cracks, right? At the very most, they would’ve just imprisoned her once finding her on Earth, but kept her alive. She would’ve had a chance.

“It’s going to be okay.” she’d said that to him, instead of the other way around. He should’ve known then.

But she’d pushed the others into pods, slamming the doors before Shadow could even react. Her hand slammed on the button to activate, and he’d run to try and stop her. She’d hugged him, so tight, her hands clinging to his quills like a lifeline, before throwing him hard and fast at a third pod, just as the other two froze and fell…

It took him a moment to realize he’d stopped walking. He looked down at the radio, swore, and turned around.

---

It had taken Sonic several minutes to recover from what the initial explosion had done to his psyche. And then he’d had to crawl his way out of a bush. He’d squirmed his way through vents, obstacle courses, and wire-filled backrooms before, but somehow the bush was particularly annoying. Maybe it was the fact that the leaves were supposed to feel nice. He’d always liked the leaves in the greenhouse, and the ones on the trees earlier had been just as neat. But here they were attached to little branches that kept trying to poke his eyes out. So that was fun.

Still, he eventually gave up and rolled out of the bush with a spin-attack. He didn’t like to do those. Well, okay, he did, but it was an uncivilized move. Too animalistic for the sophisticated attacks that were expected of them. He’d heard that so many times that he felt he could recite the entire lecture from memory. And that meant something, because Sonic forgot most of the lectures he’d been given. His mind tended to wander, and now he really wished it hadn’t. He’d love to have to sit through a history lesson again.

Man, never thought he’d say that.

He tried to make his way to the GUN base, but even seeing the thing made him shake so bad that he just turned around and started farther into the forest. He eventually collapsed against a tree, holding his sides and trying to ground himself.

This was stupid. His new friends were in there, all alone. Were they friends? He hoped they were. But the important thing was that they were alone in a GUN base. They said they knew what they were doing, but did they? Did they at all? Did they know what could happen to them? And there was another party in there trying to kill them! Another party that looked just like…

Maybe it was a good thing he wasn’t going in. He didn’t want to look at that man directly. Didn’t want to have to look at the image of the Professor and think about him doing the kinds of things Tails and Knuckles had talked about. The Professor would never. He was even reluctant to do tests that might cause discomfort on the subjects. Even if it would help. He’d been there when things were bad. He’d been there to stop…

Sonic hugged himself so tight it started to hurt. Well, he’d been there.

With all the noise around him, and all the thoughts rushing through his mind, a simple rustle of leaves shouldn’t have attracted his attention. Especially not one so far away.

But he heard it, and he recognized the pattern of footsteps. Another second, as his ear flicked in the direction it was coming from, and he recognized the pattern, too.

For a second, his chest nearly caved in on itself. He for sure couldn’t breathe for a moment, though nothing had hit him.

Come on. You’ve been apart for one day.

…okay, fifty years and a day, but it’s not like either of us were conscious for that.

He had to force himself to breathe in and out. Then he slapped the sides of his head, in a get it together, idiot sort-of way.

That’s my mission. Find him. Get him to understand what’s really happening. Then we can find Amy, and then…

He didn’t know what they’d do after that. But they’d figure it out together.

He shut his eyes tight, listening closely to the footsteps as they drew nearer. Still quite a long while away, farther than the average person would be able to hear. Maybe it was mobian instinct, maybe it was the chaos flowing through his veins, or maybe it was just the fact he could recognize his Shadow’s movements anywhere.

He got a direction, and took off running.

He’d thought that maybe the forest would be hard to run in. After all, getting there the first time, he’d had to maneuver all these new obstacles while dragging two other people along after him. But he was surprised how good it felt. For the ground to be uneven, for all these new sounds to rush past his ears, for the wind to be real. For him to be racing alongside it. Despite the urgency already building within him, he gave himself a second to enjoy the feeling of his quills being pushed forwards, of the unexpected leaps he’d have to take whenever a rock or bush came out of nowhere, the ducks and slides when a branch was too low.

This. This is what he’d wanted for so long. It wasn’t worth it, to trade everyone he knew, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t his now.

While it was hard to keep track of the skating steps while he himself was running, he eventually caught them again as he got closer. He could tell now that his Shadow was sliding down a hollow loop, scratching his shoes against the bark. He was heading in the direction Sonic had run from, back to the facility. But the closer Sonic got to his destination, the less he was thinking about the giant metal prison, and everything it stood for. And the more his eyes were darting around, desperately searching for that flash of black-and-red that would mean everything was okay.

He finally saw a figure slide to a stop atop a fallen tree. And all of the sudden, his feet planted firmly in the field, and the world around him completely stopped.

The other hedgehog was facing away from him, trying to get his bearings back after what must have been a quick turn. He didn’t seem to be paying attention to what was behind him, which was strange for him, but he had a small radio in his hands that he was fiddling with, clearly being the cause of his distraction. The trees around them were huge, towering, but even still, light filtered its way through the curtains of leaves, and the dapples of sunlight made his red stripes look like they were glowing.

The dark figure seemed to figure out where he was going, as he turned slightly right and braced his body. He was preparing to run, to take off, to leave.

For a moment, Sonic was scared he wouldn’t be able to speak. But seeing him move, the threat of him disappearing from his sight coursed adrenaline through his veins, and he let out a loud, desperate shout.

“Shadow!”

Now it was Shadow’s turn to freeze.

Then his head snapped back, eyes wider than Sonic had ever seen them, locked on the blue hedgehog on the field beneath him.

They were still several feet from each other, too far for Sonic to clearly see his face. But he could already see his ears laying back in shock, his unsteady back foot scrambling to get himself back to a steady position. The radio fell from his hands and clattered, forgotten, onto the mossy floor. Neither of them looked at it, or even noticed it land.

It could’ve been a minute, it could’ve been an hour, where they just stared at each other in stunned silence.

Shadow finally let out a whisper, barely audible under the wind and the distant, muffled alarms.

“Sonic?”

Just hearing his voice, hearing him say his name, some kind of life rushed back into Sonic that he hadn’t realized he was missing. His ears flicked, and he straightened himself, a grin breaking across his face.

“I found you, faker.”

{ao3} {tumblr}

#sonic the hedgehog #sth #sonic fanfiction #a cluster of burning stars #mine #connie writes

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