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Metal Sonic grew uneasy at the sight of Shadow’s uncharacteristically worried expression as met his gaze.
“The portal’s closed,” Shadow murmured. “Now we have no way back to our own world.”.
Metal watched slightly alarmed as Shadow walked over to a cliff, but relaxed once the hedgehog simply sat down and crossed his legs.
“Don’t worry, Metal. We’ll figure something out.”. He waved to the robot, before resting his chin in his hands.
Metal Sonic hesitated, before following the other and choosing to awkwardly stand next to him.
Shadow paid him no mind, too lost in thought to bother.
Metal studied the world that they were trapped in. Not another living organism in sight. Dead, burnt grass everywhere. Below the cliff they were standing on was an ocean of lava. It was so hot that he could see the heat waves in the air.
A thought then came to mind. How was Shadow coping with this heat? He did have dark fur after all.
Metal Sonic snuck a glance down at the hedgehog next to him, and immediately began to grow concerned.
The black hedgehog had seemed almost unaffected by everything they have encountered previously, but right now the hedgehog looked as if he was struggling to keep his eyes open, not to mention how sweaty he appeared.
Metal Sonic squatted down and gently shook the other’s shoulder. Causing Shadow to suddenly flinch.
“Sorry, Metal.” Shadow looked over at Metal Sonic with bleary eyes.
“I wish we had a Chaos Emerald or something so I could just warp us out of here. I can’t think of anything else.”.
Metal grew thoughtful, and with a sudden realization, he pressed a hand to his chest.
He had a Chaos Emerald.
Only, it was trapped within him.
Shadow could use the Chaos Emerald he had to get them out. But he had to be holding it, and there is only one way that can happen.
Metal Sonic felt almost reluctant to do what he was about to do, but after glancing back at Shadow’s sickly state, he made his decision.
Metal Sonic took a step back from where he was standing, and without missing a beat, shoved his hand through his own chest, and began to dig for the Chaos Emerald.
The action caught Shadow’s attention instantly.
“What are you doing, Metal?!”
To Metal’s surprise, Shadow seemed almost frantic, immediately rushing to his feet in order to stop the robot. “You’ll destroy yourself!”.
Metal Sonic held out a hand to hold him back, then he finally managed to rip the gem from whatever was holding it in place.
Metal Sonic then presented it to his companion, and grew proud when Shadow’s face lit up.
“So that’s why it opened,” Shadow mused before an eager grin overtook his expression. “Come on, then. Let’s get back to our own world!".
Metal Sonic almost stumbled as he handed Shadow the Chaos Emerald. But instead of just grabbing the Emerald, Shadow reached with his other hand to grab Metal’s.
“Chaos, Control!” Shadow announced, and the two were gone in a flash of bright light.
Hours after they made it back to their own dimension, Shadow found himself curled up in Eggman’s computer chair, juice box in hand with a fan aimed at him.
Metal Sonic was sitting nearby on a table, looking almost bored as Eggman trifled through all the damage he had done to himself.
“How did you even mess yourself up this badly?” Eggman chided with a frown as he prepared to open Metal’s chassis. “You even cracked your head!”.
Metal Sonic’s only response was to give a half-hearted shrug, causing his creator to sigh and shake his head.
“What about you, Shadow? We still breathing over there?”. Eggman looked over at the black hedgehog.
“I’m not sure.” Shadow blinked lazily at the Doctor.
“Will Metal be alright?” He redirected.
Eggman didn't even seem surprised by his question. “Oh please, this one’s been through worse. I’ll probably be done with him before the end of today.”.
Shadow finally felt relief after hearing those words, and allowed himself to relax in the chair.
As Eggman focused on repairing Metal Sonic, the robot turned to look at Shadow before tilting his head.
And since the Doctor wasn’t looking, Shadow sent him a smile.
The robot didn’t have a mouth of his own, but Shadow was sure that if he did, he’d be smiling back.