Chapter Text
A devastating fear hung in the air as Sonic stared in the sky where Shadow appeared from the now vanished portal. His one ticket home slipped through his fingers and now he was stuck for good in Jump City with 'Mr. Sunshine.' Starfire broke the silence.
"Sonic, who is this with you?"
The Blue Blur rolled his head, more out of exhaustion with fighting his rival, in her direction. His glossy stare met her bright eyes. He could barely stand, let alone breathe, and his dead weight was supported on Shadow. All he wanted was a nice long nap to get his speed going, but his ego got the best of him and he straightened up a little to appear his normal self. His cocky grin showed and he looked to Shadow.
"Right, introductions. Shadow, meet the Teen Titans," he gestured to the group. "They're the heroes of the city." Then vice versa. "Titans, meet Shadow, the 'Ultimate Moody Life Form.'"
Beast Boy held back a snicker.
"That's Ultimate Life Form to you, Faker," the ebony hedgehog's snarl was heard. Shadow took a moment to observe the scenery around him. "So this is where you've been the entire time?"
Sonic gave a small shrug. "Yeah, tried finding the Chaos Emeralds to get back... but no such luck."
His dark rival sighed under his breath. "I can see how you FAILED," pointedly jabbing at Sonic's pride, "you in this condition."
Sonic leaned back on Shadow and chuckled, "Says the hedgehog who came without an emerald."
Wrong move.
Shadow stepped back and took Sonic's platform with him; the speedster ultimately (no pun intended) fell on his face with a thud.
"Ow!"
"Dude!" The green kid with elf-like ears stepped forward, "why'd you do that?!"
Shadow crossed his arms and looked down on the blue rodent. "Tsk. He deserved it."
Robin gave a long stare at the newcomer but finally softened his gaze; Sonic figured he connected the dots of this being an ongoing thing. The Boy Wonder packed his gear and faced the team. "We better head back to the tower." He turned back to Shadow and his tone was firm, "you'll have to come for questioning."
Shadow scoffed. "Like I'd go with you freaks."
Sonic tensed at his words; this wasn't going to end well. He pushed himself up on his knees and glared at his doppelganger. "Shadow..."
Cyborg marched up to the black hedgehog; his torso met Shadow's head as he towered over him. "Wanna say that again?" To Cyborg's surprise, Shadow turned away and walked on.
"I'm better off on my own."
Sonic shakily rose to his feet. "Uh, Shadow?" He'd seen this way too many times and knew it wouldn't end in Shadow's favor.
Shadow glared behind at Sonic, "I'll find those emeralds you've failed to recover." He crossed his arms and shouted, "Chaos... Control!"
A bright flash lit the streets and the Titans shielded their eyes. Sonic squinted through the white haze in hopes he was wrong; but sure enough, Shadow was still standing there. The explosion of light already dissipated and Shadow staggered around, holding his head.
"Ugh..." His swaying turned into a fall and Sonic lunged out to him.
"Shads!"
Somehow, the Blue Blur gathered enough energy to reach Shadow and stop his fall. He settled the dazed one down and tried catching his breath; this was taking too much out of him. Even with his hyper nature, his eyelids were practically pulling him to sleep. He heard Shadow's groans of fighting unconsciousness and approaching footsteps.
Raven's voice followed after. "What happened?"
Sonic glanced up at her; although her tone was dry, her eyes told another story. He turned back to help Shadow up but said hedgehog smacked the lending hand away and growled weakly, "I don't need your sympathy. I can get up myself." He stood up abruptly but immediately collapsed again.
This time, Sonic didn't have the strength to catch him and the air was sucked out of his rival as Shadow landed on his back. Sonic drew in a breath and sighed. "He's lost a lot of chaos energy." He stared at the Ultimate Lifeform with weary eyes, "unlike me, he lives off it."
Beast Boy piped in, "But didn't you say there's no chaos energy here?"
Sonic's blood froze over and he didn't move. He hadn't thought of it before, but Shadow wouldn't be able to recover like he could. No chaos energy meant no life source and no life source meant... Sonic looked up with cold, green eyes and answered Beast Boy. "Bingo."
The Titans took a moment to process this and Robin was the first to speak. "Then we better get him to the tower. We'll figure it out from there." He turned to the girls, "Starfire and Raven, help them out to the T-car." Starfire nodded and flew to Sonic.
She softly landed and propped him on her shoulder. "Come, Sonic," she slowly led him to the backseat, "we will heal your friend."
He didn't lift his head but a soft chuckle proved he was awake. "If that's what you call him."
Coincidentally, he heard Shadow's warning growl behind. "Don't even try it... I don't need your sympathy." Sonic didn't need to look to know who he was talking to. He heard Raven's voice afterwards.
"I can carry or levitate you." Her tone hardened, "you're coming with us."
There was a long silence as Starfire helped Sonic into the car and his head fell facing away and his eyes growing heavy. He could imagine Shadow's grumbling about being carried behind him; he was proven right when his rival's muttering about self dignity was heard.
Shadow's growls grew more and more distant as the sounds lulled him into a deep, deep sleep.