Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A long time ago…

Two races ruled the earth: Humans, and monsters.

One day, for reasons that were eventually lost in time, a war broke out between the two races.

Eventually, the humans emerged victorious, and with a powerful spell they sealed the monsters underground with a powerful barrier.

And eventually, after hundreds of years, the existence of monsters became buried in history, passing as legend and tales you would tell a child, about creatures that lurk in the cloak of night, while the real monsters planned for decades their eventual return to a world that had all but forgotten them.

But where one legend is buried, another emerges to shine upon the world and shake it in its own way.

Sonic the Hedgehog, the fastest thing alive, appeared one day. No one knew where he came from or how a being of his kind existed, but he arrived, like a wind hitting people's faces without warning, as he traveled through the vast world that was, and always would be, his home.

But where monsters were condemned and judged out of fear of humans, the blue hedgehog was the complete opposite, his arrival always seemed to be a light in the darkest of times, when nothing but chaos descended upon the world, Sonic appeared, with power, skills and above all unparalleled dedication, they managed to rise up against every threat, all with a smile and not a trace of fear.

The world and humanity loved the hedgehog, they loved the savior in blue, the hero who appeared at their calls, responding to their pleas, fast, unstoppable, powerful.

Humanity saw him as a savior

But of course, there was much more to Sonic the Hedgehog than mere legends can tell, because sometimes, in pursuit of shining the fantasy of power and glory of someone who seemed unstoppable, the stories leave out even more important things.

___________________________________

The jingling of a bell announced to the local waitress of that humble restaurant the arrival of a new customer, and when the young woman behind the counter looked up her eyes sparkled as she noticed the blue-furred figure that had just arrived “Good morning Mr. Sonic!”

Sonic let out a small laugh as he waved his hand in greeting. “Good morning, and I already told you, just ‘sonic’ is fine.” He replied amused, sitting down at one of the many empty tables in the establishment, whose only customers were the hedgehog and a young man who was staring at him from a few tables away in shock, to the hedgehog’s mild amusement.

The waitress scratched her head in an embarrassed gesture, as she walked towards the hero in blue with notebook in hand. “The usual sir?” She asked, ready to write down the hedgehog’s seemingly common order.

Sonic nodded “The biggest sandwich you have and a strawberry milkshake please, I really like how they make it here” Now it was the hedgehog’s turn to scratch his quills with some embarrassment, which made the young woman smile amused and write down the order.

"Understood sir, it will be ready in a few moments" And with those words the young woman left to deliver the order, to which Sonic just settled into his seat to wait.

Although just a few seconds later the hedgehog felt a gaze fixed on him, which made him turn his head to see the same human from before with his phone raised in front of his face and pointed at him, clearly trying to take a picture of him, and Sonic's response to this was to simply wink while raising two fingers in a gesture of peace and giving a wide smile in the direction of the camera, almost instantly hearing a 'click' from the distance.

The young man lowered the camera and looked at the screen with great happiness, and looked at the hedgehog from his seat emitting a “Thank you very much!” Which Sonic reciprocated by laughing amicably.

Several events similar to this occurred in the minutes that Sonic was waiting for his order, several people looked through the huge transparent glass of the place, murmuring some 'It's him!' 'Mr. Sonic!' While they looked at him with a multitude of emotions that generally ranged from amazement, admiration and gratitude, and although many could only look at him and point at him from afar, some waved their hands in greeting as they passed, Sonic always responded to all of them with a gesture of his own and a kind smile, at no time feeling even remotely uncomfortable by the attention and returning each gesture and greeting casually, as if he were nothing more than a neighbor that people recognized when passing by.

Until finally the waitress returned, a plate with a very elaborate and steaming sandwich balanced in one hand and a pink foamy drink in the other, leaving both on the table in front of the blue hero.

“Sorry for the delay sir, the new employee was distracted today, that koala needs more sleep” She muttered that last part shaking her head, which earned a somewhat curious look from Sonic, although in the end he did not ask “Enjoy, the house invites as always!” She exclaimed kindly

Sonic looked at the plate as if it was the most magnificent thing he had ever seen in his life, and that said a lot. "I'm sure I will." The hedgehog exclaimed, but then turned to look at the young woman at his side and sighed. "And you really should let me pay for these things, there's no reason why I shouldn't pay like everyone else." The small smile on Sonic's face showed that he really appreciated the gesture, but the sigh indicated that it wasn't the first time he had said that.

The waitress looked at him and let out a sigh of her own, putting her hands on her hips and looking at the blue hero with a somewhat nostalgic look. “Sir, I don’t know if you remember because it was a long time ago, but one of those days when that psychopathic doctor invaded with his robots, you saved my life when one of them was going to shoot me.” The young woman looked away, but looked back at the young hedgehog who looked at her somewhat surprised and continued, “And the new guy told us how you saved him from an altercation on a train, damn, even the owner of this place won’t stop talking about how you saved his entire family at once from a collapsing building.”

The woman sighed again, but then a soft smile formed on her lips. “No one here wants you to pay for what we give you, because we are already paying you.”

Sonic looked at the woman, his mouth slightly open at the sincerity in her words, but after a few seconds the hedgehog smiled. “Well, what can we do?” He said with a sigh of exaggerated resignation. “I guess I have no choice but to enjoy this great sandwich then.” His words made the woman laugh a little.

“We would really appreciate it, Mr. Sonic.” And with that and a last grateful look, the woman returned to her post.

Sonic watched her leave for a few seconds before sighing and smiling again, no matter how many disasters hit the world, these gestures reminded him why it was worth getting up and moving forward despite everything, it never ceased to move him how grateful people were for what they did, although Sonic never did anything he did for fame or anything like that, but even so people never stopped thanking him.

They always reminded him of the good things in the world and its people.

Then the sound of an explosion and the earth shaking reminded him that there were also things… not so good.

“Good morning citizens of Station Square! Your days are about to get even better courtesy of your old friend Dr. Eggman, unless of course you resist! OHHHJOJOJO!”

Sonic just sighed as he stood up from his seat, watching outside the store as a crowd of people fled in terror from where the voice came from, and the hedgehog looked at a clock on the wall of the store "7:30 a.m, new record doc" He muttered to himself-

(One might wonder what the hedgehog himself was doing, relaxed and even occasionally lazy as he was awake at that hour, Tails' steaming workshop and a mini heart attack from the sound of an airplane engine explosion could answer that question)

-Then he turned to see the waitress who was half hidden behind the counter just as the explosion sounded. "That's my call, tell everyone else not to leave here, I'll take care of this." His tone was relaxed but serious at the same time, and the woman just nodded before running away.

Sonic watched her leave and then turned back to the entrance of the establishment, but then his gaze fell on his sandwich and drink on the table, which the hedgehog looked at doubtfully for just a second before pouncing on her in a blur, proceeding to devour the sandwich in seconds and drink the cold drink in even less time.

“(Yep, absolutely great)”

And after that the hedgehog disappeared, a blue blur shaking the door of the place after his exit and venturing into danger.

A horde of round-shaped humanoid robots with weapons ranging from arm-mounted cannons to laser guns marched through the city streets at a constant and synchronized pace, firing left and right at cars and buildings for no apparent reason other than to cause chaos.

But of course, the mastermind behind the attack, hovering over his creations and the destruction in his trusty transport, always had one or more motivations for his actions, and that was why when the blue blur appeared, alerted by the destruction and crashed into his horde of robots, passing through them like a missile, Eggman smiled anxiously.

“And good morning to you too, rat, it's always good to see you getting in my way.” The voice of the man with the prominent mustache came out with mockery and contempt directed at the blue hedgehog, who stood in the middle of pieces of metal and robotic limbs as if he hadn't just destroyed the horde of machines in the blink of an eye, something the scientist strangely seemed to pay no attention to.

Sonic just raised an eyebrow as he put a hand on his hip. “Isn’t it too early for this, doctor? I mean, you know I never miss a good chance to irritate you, but damn, did you even have breakfast today?” The question came out as a joke from the hedgehog, but the doctor’s brow furrowed in indignation.

“Of course I had breakfast, rat! Do you think I'm crazy to loose my ability to deal with your presence so early?!” Sonic just raised his eyebrow at that again.

“Well, some days more than others-“

“IT WAS A RHETORICAL QUESTION, BLUE PLAGUE!”

Sonic chuckled as his sworn nemesis glared at him with undisguised rage. “Well Doc, it’s always fun to blow your wires hehe.” Even though he couldn’t see it, Sonic knew Eggman was giving him a death glare from beneath his glasses. “But I think it’s best if we get straight to the show already.” The hedgehog finished, straightening his posture as arrogance returned to the doctor’s facial features.

“For once, I couldn't agree more, rat.” A huge grin formed on the man's face, and in an instant he pressed a button in his cabin with a loud thud.

From the ground, Sonic's gaze sharpened towards where his nemesis floated as if waiting for an imminent attack.

Luckily, he didn't have to wait long.

Danger, left, move

His senses rang with the easily recognizable signal of a warning, his ears picked up the sound of something cutting through the air ever closer to him as his keen instinct sent him a clear indication, and Sonic obeyed in an instant, jumping to the side and away from the impending attack, listening as he flew through the air to the sound of something breaking the concrete where he had previously been standing, turning his body to dig his feet and one hand into the ground to stop himself, and as he did so the hedgehog looked up in front of him to see what had attacked him.

Several meters in front of him there was a thin but at the same time enormous and sharp katana buried in the ground, several times longer than the entire body of the blue hero, but before he could see it better a huge object fell from the sky shaking the entire area, at the same time a huge metallic hand took the katana by its handle and unearthed it, revealing the bearer of said weapon as an enormous robot of robust build, its metallic body of mostly red and black color shone in the brightness of the sun, its body had a shape such that it made it seem like it was wearing armor, with multiple plates covered throughout the body and plates that extended outside of its body with a deadly edge and that seemed to be made of gold, in one hand he carried that katana previously thrown at the hedgehog, its deadly edge that threatened to cut the air without even being swung, and in addition to carrying on the opposite arm a shield with a pattern that reminded Sonic of the springs he used to see from time to time and used to bounce off, quite illustrative as to the purpose of the shield.

After taking a long look at the metal warrior in front of him, Sonic couldn't help but whistle loudly as he looked over to where the eggmobile floated just above the robot. "Ok, I admit it Doc, I understand why you'd want to come so soon to brag about this one." He said, while Eggman stroked his mustache from his seat looking proud.

“Hohoho, I see that even you can recognize the extent of my creativity and prodigious hedgehog.” Sonic just rolled his eyes as the doctor flattered himself. “Though of course that won’t make your destruction any more merciful.” In an instant the doctor’s tone of voice turned menacing, pressing yet another of the many buttons in his cockpit.

The eggmobile began to descend right above the robot, right in that empty space where a head was supposed to be, coupling perfectly with it while the machine rotated the ship to finish connecting, and when it finished a transparent armored glass covered the ship and its only passenger.

“NOW, TREMBLE, MY HATEFUL NEMESIS!” Eggman shouted dramatically, while the robot swung his katana with the fluidity of a true warrior “TREMBLE AT YOUR IMMINENT DOOM AT THE HANDS OF MY EGG SAMURAI !”

The robot moved just one step, the ground cracked under its weight and the earth trembled under its power, its blade swung as if it were hungry for blood, and the doctor's eyes sharpened to observe even the slightest reaction from his greatest enemy.

Sonic's response to this was to smile and rub his nose with his thumb. "Okay, doctor, let's test your new toy."

One of his feet dragged slowly and fluidly as if moved by the wind itself, putting himself forward, while one of his arms flexed in front of his chest and the other behind him.

"Let's Dance"

In one second, Eggman saw his nemesis ready to confront him, and the next his robot launched a horizontal slash without being ordered to, the sharp blade missing the hedgehog by centimeters in mid-air. The hedgehog dove out of the blade's path with barely any effort, flying right next to the robot and landing on the street, looking up just in time to see another slash from the massive katana aimed at his head.

Seeing the blade coming, Sonic just leaned back, the katana slashing harmlessly above him as his senses sharpened and he watched the blade from below, from his perspective it seemed like the weapon had stopped moving.

“Eh, a little slow for my taste.” The hedgehog spoke as if the doctor could hear him, tilting his head slightly from his position to see the frozen expression of anger that Sonic already knew every detail of, laughing a little to himself before finally retracting a leg towards himself, and with a grunt of effort his foot pushed up, a powerful kick pushing the katana and the robot's arm up and making him lose balance.

Sonic immediately turned backwards and leaned towards the ground, and then immediately wrapped himself up and began to roll at such speed that smoke began to come out of the ground, and while the mechanical samurai was still regaining balance, the hedgehog launched himself with the speed and power of a living cannonball straight to the robot's chest.

He crashed directly into the robot, a loud noise resonated from the impact against the metal, the force of his attack such that it made the robot retreat a few meters breaking the ground under his mechanical feet, but as the hedgehog flew backwards without wrapping himself up he saw the robot's free fist fly towards him, barely managing to turn back and get away from the blow, which was followed by another slash from the katana that Sonic dodged by jumping and letting the weapon pass under his feet, and already on the ground the blue hero's eyes narrowed towards where he had hit the robot.

A dent barely visible from where he stood adorned the samurai's chest.

“Huh, it’s tough” Sonic muttered a little to himself, but instead of feeling worried the hedgehog felt slightly excited “I’ll have to try a little harder then”

The hedgehog wasted no time in launching himself back at his opponent, being greeted with a vertical slash that Sonic dodged with a quick step to his left, not stopping to watch as the deadly katana cut through several meters of the street, jumping up as he wrapped himself around and shot out at the robot, his blow was followed by an even louder crash than the previous one as the robot leaned and Sonic rose above the robot, spinning again to try and connect another attack, but the metal warrior finally raised his shield and intercepted the blue ball, rebounding the attack with an almost cartoonish sound as the hedgehog was sent back

Sonic crashed and spun around in the street several times before finally turning and stopping his advance, shaking his head to clear himself of the disorientation caused by the rebound, returning his sight to his opponent only to find him pointing his katana at him from a distance but making no move to approach, but the hedgehog only had a second to wonder why before he was surprised by the blade of the katana literally lengthening and approaching him quickly.

Sonic let out an “Eeeik!” As he leaned back again, the sharp tip of the katana passing centimeters above his nose, then rolled back and ran towards his enemy, closing the distance in the blink of an eye and placing himself behind the metal warrior, wrapping himself up and launching another homing attack directly at one of his legs, moving between both of the robot’s legs without stopping rolling as it staggered, and with one jump another strong blow connected to the robot’s chest, and by that point Sonic could already see how the hard metal bent and damaged more and more under his blows, feeling a wave of confidence that made his next attack go towards the robot’s forearm that held his sword with the intention of disarming it.

Unfortunately this proved to be a mistake as the warrior's arm began to glow with energy as Sonic lunged to strike him, and just before hitting the arm a burst of electricity covered the arm and hit the hedgehog, cancelling his attack and making him grunt in pain in the air, also preventing him from noticing the doctor's sardonic laugh from his cockpit and how the samurai stepped back and raised his opposite arm.

Danger, forward, move-

His instincts kicked in again in the face of danger, but Sonic only managed to move both arms in front of his face and chest before the robot sent him flying with a powerful punch.

Sonic flew and crashed into the street for dozens of meters, leaving craters in the ground where he bounced, before crashing into an abandoned car at the opposite end of the road, the vehicle's material bending and breaking under the force of the crash as the hedgehog fell to one knee, grunting in pain and shaking shards of glass from the wrecked vehicle from his fur, watching the samurai robot in the distance.

The blue hero watched as the robot took his katana with his opposite hand and placed the hilt on his wrist, releasing it as the katana slid with mechanisms on the robot's arm until it reached the middle of his arm, then the blade of the katana seemed to split and slide to the sides of the arm and pointing outwards like a pair of blades, while the hilt began to glow with energy and opened as if it were a cannon, which thanks to the split blades of the weapon gave the impression that it had become a crossbow.

A crossbow that fired an arrow of electric energy at lightning speed straight to the hedgehog

“(Of course it does.)” Sonic thought about the milliseconds it took for the arrow to reach him, the arrow hitting the poor wrecked car and making it explode, but the hedgehog was already on the move, worrying about the succession of electric arrows that emerged as he ran and jumped between buildings approaching the robot.

Eggman for his part finally deigned to boast about his apparent advantage. “Is my new and powerful creation giving you trouble rodent?!” The man shouted mockingly at the hedgehog.

“I must admit, doc, creating a robot that lasts more than two hits is impressive!” Sonic replied without missing a beat, nimbly dodging arrow after arrow.

Eggman growled at the response "Why you little-!" and immediately the samurai launched himself to throw another powerful punch at his opponent that Sonic dodged by jumping back, unfazed by the jolt produced by the powerful blow while he rolled up again as soon as his feet touched the ground, a succession of 5 homing attacks hit the robot in a fraction of a second before it was repelled again by that shield, making it crash against the wall of a building, dust and remains of concrete stained Sonic's fur as he shook his head, then ducked and avoided the newly formed katana from cutting off his head

Sonic dodged a couple more slashes before finally acting, staring at the blade moving in a vertical slash towards him, the wind bending before the katana's edge, but Sonic watched it with a steely gaze as he retracted a hand.

And there, in the exact second before the blade touched him, his hand moved-

PARRY

-And the sword retreated with the robot, its attack completely nullified.

“What the-?!” Eggman screamed in shock, but he didn’t even get to finish when Sonic literally launched himself, charging head-on at the robot, a blue aura enveloping him and making him hit the robot like a missile, with such force that it sent him flying and crashing with a resounding impact against the ground.

But before the robot could even try to get up, the scientist's gaze went to where Sonic was running on a huge nearby building, watching the hedgehog take a huge leap that left him high hundreds of meters just above the robot, and from there the hedgehog rolled up and spun at dizzying speeds on itself again, but this time a spherical layer of pure energy in bright blue tones enveloped it, and from it emerged about 6 bright spheres that floated around the hedgehog, who stopped spinning and then with a movement of his hand sent the spheres towards the robot like projectiles, which descended at high speed towards the samurai who barely managed to raise his shield before the spheres hit him, creating an explosion and a cloud of smoke that completely covered the machine.

Sonic began to descend without taking his eyes off the smoke, but then his ears picked up a sharp sound as the smoke began to dissipate until it revealed that the samurai's shield now had a row of blades that rotated on it like a saw.

With a wave of his arm the now lethal shield flew towards the hedgehog as he let out an “Oh come on!” in a slightly irritated tone (and actively ignoring a sense of deja-vu) and proceeded to propel himself to the side, avoiding the deadly attack as he slid down another building, running until he landed back on the ground several meters in front of the robot that was waiting for him again on its feet.

The samurai raised his crossbow again, and as a new wave of electric arrows descended upon the hero, the doctor spoke out loud to his nemesis "I must admit, hedgehog, I forgot for a moment those new tricks of yours that you learned on the Starfall Islands, a pity that my dear sage informed me of your new abilities beforehand" The man exclaimed confidently.

Sonic, for his part, gave him a sidelong glance as he agilely dodged each projectile sent his way. “Speaking of Sage, how is she by the way?” He suddenly questioned, genuine curiosity in his gaze, before it was replaced by panic as he crouched down and narrowly avoided being cut in two by the saw-shield from behind.

An oddly cheerful laugh escaped the doctor's lips, stroking his mustache as he let his robot attack on its own. "Sage has adapted spectacularly to my empire! Her contribution to the production and coding of my army has been second to none." The doctor exclaimed with nothing but pride in his voice. "If only all my creations were this exceptional." The man lamented, giving his mustache a final touch as if it would console him.

“I guess Orbot and Cubot are still twitching at you, eh Doc?” Sonic asked jokingly, still dodging the robot’s constant attacks.

Eggman rolled his eyes as he growled, the mere mention of that pair of his creations seeming to age him another 10 years. “The only reason I still keep those buffoons around is for my own entertainment.” He replied, confident in himself, but then that resolve seemed to waver and be replaced by something… softer. “Though despite everything, Sage seems to like having them around, even if those pair of fools can barely answer her basic questions about nothing, but then again… she doesn’t seem to mind.”

“…Heh, sounds like she’s happy with you doc” Sonic spoke with a small smile sitting on the edge of the eggmobile

Eggman smiled, and for the first time in a long time the hedgehog saw no malice in his smile. "Of course she is, hedgehog. After all, she has a genious mind as her fath-"

Pause

“WHEN THE HELL DID YOU GET THERE?!” The man suddenly shouted angrily as he pointed at the hedgehog sitting casually right behind him leaning against the glass of his ship.

“Hehe, I made you go into dad mode doctor” Sonic laughed, touching the glass mischievously, proceeding to jump to avoid the electric wave that covered the cabin, remaining moving in front of the samurai robot.

Eggman, with his face red (whether it was from anger or shame it was something that would go to the grave with him), proceeded to have the robot wield his katana while raising the opposite arm, the shield already spinning with the blades deployed.

“No more games, rat! Time to end this,” the man exclaimed with a growl.

The robot swung its arm hard, and with a strong wave of wind the shield launched itself at the hedgehog, its blades spinning deadly waiting to cut its target.

Said target watched the blades coming as he pulled his hand back “I agree Eggman!” Sonic exclaimed decisively, watching the blades get closer and closer until-

PARRY

A powerful movement of the hedgehog's hand and the shield spun in the air above him, and in the blink of an eye Sonic was in front of the object, gently pressing both feet against the bouncing surface of the shield, and with a powerful push sending the shield flying towards the samurai, bouncing it in the opposite direction in the process.

With a resounding blow, the shield hit the robot's chest, the blades cut and tore the metal, the shield falling unceremoniously into the street, forgotten by a greater priority, because due to the impact the samurai's katana had come loose from his hands and was now spinning above it.

The metal hand reached above to try to retrieve his weapon, but a blue blur prevented it, the hedgehog launching a powerful kick that launched the katana higher into the sky.

“Miserable-!” The doctor was halfway to curse, before Sonic propelled himself towards the robot’s chest, planting both feet on it to take a huge leap, sending the robot crashing backwards into the concrete.

Sonic felt the wind blow through his fur as he soared into the sky, passing right next to the spinning katana, positioning himself just above it as the hedgehog himself spun gracefully in the freedom of the sky.

Then, his left leg extended, just as the katana's handle swung towards his direction, and with overwhelming force and a ferocious shout he brought his leg down, striking the weapon with a burst of wind, sending the weapon flying downwards and reaching the earth in a blur.

The weapon descended, and without the samurai warrior being able to prevent it, he was impaled in the chest by his own katana, leaving both embedded in the ground.

And if Eggman wasn't nervous about that chain of events, the glow in the sky announcing his rival's final move certainly did.

Sonic coiled up and spun around himself again, the air bending and dispersing from the speed at which he spun, and a wild wind seemed to swirl around his shape of a sphere of wild curves and sharp as its spikes

And for just a moment, tiny, almost imperceptible flashes of blue lightning emerged from that wind.

And Sonic launched himself, several sonic booms shaking the sky, falling in the form of what could only be described as a blue missile, at least to anyone who could see more than the blue blur that seemed to blur in the sky and in the path of his fall.

The katana shattered from its handle, bent before the power of the blue wind

And with a roar that seemed to shake the entire city, the robot followed his weapon, exploding in a burst of fire and shattered metal.

And there, several meters from that cloud of fire and smoke, Sonic fell, his head bowed, his legs apart and one arm extended backwards in an absolutely unnecessary pose but one that felt extremely cool to him.

The blue hero stood up straight and victorious as he stretched his arms above his head and sighed like someone who had just taken a light jog through the park (though perhaps that analogy didn't apply well to a creature that could circle the planet in seconds if he wanted to), while he glanced at the column of fire and smoke behind him, from which he saw the eggmobile emerge at that moment, miraculously still working despite being in the center of the explosion, although still in a very improvable state that matched the miserable expression on its pilot's face, on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

And of course Sonic saw that moment as the best opportunity to open his mouth. “And another round that goes to Sonic! Nice try today Doc, you almost made me strain myself hehe.”

Of course he was intentionally bragging, but those words were enough to make Eggman finally lose his composure. “MISERABLE BASTARD RAT!” The doctor screamed in deep rage as he frantically punched the cockpit and cracked glass.

Sonic turned around and his mocking smile grew. “Come on doctor, don’t be a sore loser, you’re almost running out of insults from losing so much.”

The only sign the scientist gave that he had heard him was the increase in volume of his screams and his subsequent words “YOU DAMN FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!”

The smile on Sonic's face died and was replaced by a bewildered grimace. “Ok, I take that last bit back…”

“HOW COME I STILL DON’T GET IT?!” Frustration mixed with anger in the doctor’s voice “How do you manage to keep getting more powerful every day?! How do you manage to overcome every weapon, every design, every machine I throw at you?!” Not even his deep blue glasses could hide the amount of frustration, rage and above all dismay in his eyes “How do you do it?!”

Sonic just watched him throughout his outburst, an unreadable look on his face like he rarely had as he looked at his nemesis, a man who had studied and analyzed him to obsessive extremes, a man who should know what he could do better than any other person, machine or being on the planet.

A man who, as far as Sonic was concerned, could not understand the most basic trait of the object of his obsession.

“Doctor, has it ever occurred to you that you are so obsessed with what I can do, that you simply don't understand that that's not what matters most to me?”

The question came easily from the hedgehog's lips, naturally, a question to which he already knew and was completely sure of the answer. "I'm just a guy doc, yes I'm cool and all, but I don't think it's worth your racking your brains just to try to understand how I do what I do, instead of why." His answer was firm and immovable, like an ideal of life, something that arose naturally.

But of course Eggman could only snort at the response “I am not in the least bit interested in any of the blabber you try to give me about your stupid heroism hedgehog.”

Sonic simply shrugged in response. “That’s the best I can give you, Doc. What you see is what you get. I really don’t know what else to tell you.”

Eggman just watched him, and Sonic could tell by the way his eyebrows furrowed slightly that he was giving him the very appropriate look of a scientist studying something that caught his interest. “You can ignore it all you want, hedgehog, but it will never change who you are, the ever-changing, unstoppable-growing force of nature that you know, deep down, you’ve always been.”

Sonic gave her another silent look, whether that answer affected him or not in any way, he didn't show it.

With a movement of his controls the eggmobile turned and began to rise with some difficulty into the sky. "I don't care how long it takes me and how many machines you destroy Sonic, I will figure out how to overwhelm that absurd well of power and luck that you have, and when I do, I will finally feel that I truly deserve to conquer this world." The man threw one last look back at his enemy who only watched him with one hand on his hip as if nothing had happened. Their gazes connected for a single moment, and the doctor's glasses shone with unmatched ambition and evil. "Just wait Sonic, just wait."

The hedgehog's eyes flashed in response, decisive, calm, a burning fire, an unstoppable lightning bolt, and a calm breeze, all at the same time.

“I'll be waiting, doctor, I'll be waiting.”

And after that exchange, the smoking eggmobile finally began to move away   from the battlefield.

But then Sonic smiled and suddenly shouted, “And tell Sage to give you a couple of sleeping pills, doc, they will do good!”

"SHUT UP!"

Sonic chuckled as the doc cursed him from a distance. “You always make it so easy, doc.” He said, though he knew the doctor couldn’t hear him, barely able to see him in the distance at this point.

Sonic then sighed again, the weight of the battle already leaving his shoulders, although it had not been the most tense confrontation he had had with the doctor, there were always those residues of his exchanges with the scientist, after all, each battle was a clash of ideals, sometimes silent, other times more verbal, but there was always a point to prove, even if Sonic did not usually think much about it.

How many times could he defend this world before his power, his strength, his will, collided with a wall he couldn't break down?

Was he really an unstoppable force of nature? Powerful? Relentless? Lucky? Unstoppable?

Determinated?

Sonic moved, a second later he was on top of one of the many buildings in the city, several meters from where he had fought with the samurai robot, he looked out at the view of the beautiful city of Station Square, although some would say that the city was prettier at night, when the casinos shone with the most colorful and extravagant lights imaginable and the city literally shone with life and movement, the hedgehog still thought that the daytime view had its charm, although in general he preferred the more natural environments obviously

But as he looked down, he saw groups of people leaving their homes after the confrontation, feeling encouraged by their victory even without having seen him, celebrating without even knowing he was in that building.

Sonic, contrary to what his act of mockery and arrogance might suggest, did not like attention and applause, he did not want anyone to put him on a pedestal, but the applause, happiness and genuine respect that people showed him certainly made him feel happy.

After all, the hedgehog reflected as the wind gently blew against his face, all he fought for, all he persevered for, was a better world, one in which running and exploring and living was safe and beautiful for everyone.

Eggman could say he was just playing at being a hero all he wanted, but Sonic would never stop fighting, he would never stop seeing a world to defend, and he would never deny a world the chance to feel the breeze of freedom, the breeze of a new day to live in.

And of course, I would never deny a call for help from someone in need.

“MR. SONIC!”

Sonic's ear twitched at the sound of an unfamiliar female voice calling him from a distance, and with some strangeness the hedgehog tilted his head towards where the scream came from.

On the roof of a building across the street from where Sonic was was an adult human woman, completely normal at first glance, and Sonic could see that the woman didn't seem to be in any danger either, but was still trying to get his attention from a distance.

Sonic's eyes narrowed, and it was then that he could see something in the woman's gestures in the distance.

“MR. SONIC, PLEASE, I NEED YOUR HELP!”

It wasn't the tone of someone fearful for his life, to which Sonic always used to respond by jumping into action and danger, or the tone of a fanatic desperately wanting to get his attention, to which Sonic would only say in a relaxed manner that it wasn't necessary to shout so much for that.

It was the tone of someone desperate, and they were calling him.

Sonic then saw how the woman's gestures became weaker, and a doubtful expression appeared on her face, almost as if she felt she was wasting her time by trying to ask him for help.

But of course, Sonic would never let anyone think that, not on his watch.

“Just a moment!” The hedgehog screamed, and barely saw how the woman looked at him in surprise before backing up in an instant until he was on the opposite edge of the building, and in the blink of an eye Sonic ran and jumped from the edge, crossing the street in the air and landing right on the roof of the building and next to the woman, who he vaguely heard squeal comically as she saw him fall right next to her.

Unfazed, Sonic stood up straight, turning to look at the shocked woman, and smiled friendly. “Good morning, miss, hear that you needed my help?”

Chapter Text

The woman, with brown hair, black eyes and a simple suit with a bag hanging on one arm, looked at him almost as if she didn't believe he was standing in front of her. "Y-you came..."

Sonic laughed lightly “Hehe, of course, you called me right?” He raised an eyebrow, although of course he knew she had called him and was just playing around, but the woman raised her hands towards him in a hurry.

“Yes! I-I mean, yes, yes, p-please don’t go.” The woman seemed torn between feeling embarrassed about her nervousness or rushing to prevent the object of her call from leaving due to lack of interest, although of course that didn’t even cross the hedgehog’s mind.

“Miss, I'm not going anywhere, just tell me what's going on and I'll be happy to help you in any way I can,” Sonic replied, his voice kind and calm, but then continued with a bit more of his usual humor. “Unless it's tax evasion, because that's illegal and I have no idea how to do it.” He finished with a wink.

The gesture seemed to be enough to calm the woman down, seeing her shoulders relax and the nerves leave her face replaced by a small smile, although there was still some doubt in her gaze. "S-sure, I..." She began, her face twisting into a grimace while Sonic just waited for the woman to find the words she wanted to say to him.

Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, the woman spoke again, " My name is kally” She finally introduce herself “And i really need your help Mr. Sonic, I really don't know who else to turn to with this, and I thought that with your... w-well, incredible skills y-you could..." The woman started to stutter mid-sentence, but just before Sonic tried to calm her down again, she sighed, and then her hand moved towards her bag, opening it and rummaging through her things under Sonic's curious and confused gaze, but finally kally found what she was looking for, a thin, small paper between her fingers that she held delicately in front of her face, looking at the paper with a deep sadness.

And when she handed him the paper, Sonic saw and understood why: “This is my child, their name is Clover.”

A photo stared back at the hedgehog, a portrait of a kid who looked no older than 10 years old, wearing black jeans and brown hair just like their mother, which was partially covered by a cowboy hat that the kid proudly tilted towards the camera, posing to show off and highlight their cowboy-like outfit, even carrying a belt with a holstered gun (a toy, Sonic thought somewhat absentmindedly).

The child looked so proud in the photo, so happy but also so firm, as if they really were a real sheriff.

Sonic felt his throat tighten a little, having a bad feeling about where this conversation was going.

“They disappeared a while ago,” the woman said, confirming the hedgehog’s fears. “Six months ago, I woke up one day to find only a note in their room, it s-said they were going to…” Kally’s voice trembled, almost as if she was weighing down her next words. “To Mount Ebott.”

Sonic's eyebrows furrowed. "Mount Ebott...?" He muttered, repeating the name several times in his head, but as much as he tried, the name was not familiar to him.

The woman seemed to notice her confusion, and after taking a few more breaths she proceeded to explain, “N-near the town where me and Clover used to live, a few kilometers away, is Mount Ebott, it’s a famous place in town, b-but not for anything good… Ever since I can remember, long before my child or even I myself were born, there were stories told about that mountain, stories of terrifying beings that stalked the mountain, they were used more for scary stories and jokes in town, but there were also rumors of… children who d-disappeared in the mountain and were never, ever seen again.”

Sonic listened, absorbing each word with all his attention as he watched worriedly as the woman's voice threatened to break and her eyes grew moist. "T-there were a couple of old posters in town of some kids who disappeared, and-and the last thing anyone knew about them was going to Mount Ebott, a-and Clover… one day they saw one of the posters and t-they seemed so… worried because no one had ever found those kids… I-I told them not to worry but… god, I remember well what they t-told me that day." Tears welled up and slid down the woman's cheeks, and she recited.

“ ‘No one has done justice for them…' “

Sonic's mouth opened, as if he was trying to say something, but for once, he didn't know what to say as he watched kally cry at the memory while trying to continue.

“T-the next day, I woke up and Clover w-wasn’t there, they t-took their suit and that toy gun a-and left a note in their room saying… t-that they w-were going to look for those t-kids on Mount Ebott… b-but they never com- they n-never-“ The woman’s voice failed her, the tears never stopped falling, and the pain could be seen etched into her face.

The woman's legs shook, and without warning she collapsed to the ground, or would have if Sonic hadn't caught her by the shoulders. "Wow! M-miss, calm down, b-breathe a bi-" Sonic tried to calm her down, but she interrupted him.

“P-please m-mr. Sonic…” The woman pleaded in a deeply desperate tone “I-I’m begging you to p-please find my child, e-everyone in the village is terrified of ebott a-and the police don’t w-want to investigate the mountain either… I-I don’t know who else I c-can ask for this, I don’t know what’s on that mountain, and I-I don’t know if Clover is even…” The final word refused to leave the woman’s mouth, but Sonic understood the message “B-but you could find them, I-I just need to know w-what happened to my child…”

The woman's hands squeezed the hedgehog's shoulders, and in the midst of her tears her forehead rested on the blue hero's chest, and although for a few seconds the pain of memories and loss clouded her, she suddenly realized who she was crying over, and in panic she was about to walk away.

However, a few simple words, spoken with pure sincerity and strength, stopped her.

“I will, I will go look for them”

The woman's head snapped up in an instant, and she was greeted by the hedgehog wearing a small, reassuring smile, which held in the seconds it took for the woman to calm down and process his words.

But when she did, the tears continued to fall, but now there was a small glimmer of hope in her eyes. “R-really? W-will you go find my child?”

Sonic’s smile grew wider, and something in kally’s chest seemed to lighten at the sight of it “Of course. If there’s someone out there who needs my help, how could I refuse?” This time it was Sonic who proceeded to place a hand on the shoulder of the woman in front of him, his face seeming to glow with a soft, calm light like the wind. “And I promise you, miss, that I won’t stop searching and running until I find your child.”

A second, just a second after saying those words, and tears once again welled up on the woman's face as she wrapped him in a hug, a gesture that made Sonic murmur again "Wow!" in surprise, but he smiled softly again, letting the hug continue as he listened to the woman repeatedly murmur "Thank you, t-thank you" with her voice still broken from crying, but sounding almost relieved.

Almost two minutes later, kally finally calmed down, breaking the hug to stand up awkwardly, looking at the blue hero who was still smiling kindly.

“God, I-I don’t know how to thank you or p-pay you back for this sir-“ The woman spoke while wiping her wet cheeks with the sleeves of her outfit, but Sonic shook his head before she finished.

“Don't do it miss, I'm the one who wants to help you, you don't owe me anything” He answered naturally.

The woman smiled gratefully at him. “T-thank you so much, Mr. Sonic. Thank you so much.” With that, she turned around to where the door leading to the roof of the building was. “I-I must get back to work now, a-although sometimes they suspend work days whenever Dr. Eggman attacks.” She commented, and then looked at him again, founding the strenght to talk with a bit of humor. “Not only do we owe you our lives, Mr. Sonic, we also owe you several half hours of sleep at the coffee table.”

Sonic laughed a little in response. “Always lending a hand,” he replied, and the woman laughed along with him.

So, she walked to the door, opening it and walking through it, but before closing it she smiled one last time at the hedgehog. “Seriously, thank you, so much.” And with that, the door closed, leaving the hedgehog alone on the roof.

Watching the door close, Sonic's smile slowly fell and was replaced by a thoughtful face. He had been completely honest when he said he wouldn't stop until he found something about Clover, but now that he didn't have the weight of past tension on him, Sonic realized that there might be several 'little problems' with his plan.

The first of all was that he didn't know where the much-mentioned Mount Ebott was, and that he had only just found out about its existence 3 minutes ago.

And the second was that Sonic had, actually, no plan and was just improvising while simultaneously thinking about how to come up with a plan at all.

Sonic sighed, placing both hands on his hips as he muttered to himself, “So, Mount Ebott huh?”

It turned out that Sonic was good at improvising and had already solved the previous second problem, coming to the conclusion that he should investigate the mountain, including obviously where it even was.

“Tails will surely know more, or at least help me find what I need.” Sonic smiled, and with a plan already in mind he prepared to shoot off in a blur towards his two-tailed brother’s house (which with a bit of luck wouldn’t be on fire by the time he got back)

But just before carrying out his improvised plan, the sound of an alarm from the streets caught his attention, and with some curiosity Sonic approached the edge of the roof, watching from there as a pair of police cars kept civilians off the streets, leaving the way for a row of dark-colored armored vehicles, all bearing a symbol that Sonic recognized.

The vehicles belonged to GUN, also known as the “Guardian Units of the Nation” or the guys with severe joint color blindness (Sonic laughed internally), who were heading to the place where the battle of the hedgehog against Eggman's brand new creation had taken place, a routine procedure they did of collecting the pieces of the doctor's robots after each battle that Sonic fought in the hopes of extracting information or designs for their own military weaponry.

Sonic had already seen them do that several times, so the sight itself didn't seem strange to him, but when he saw the vehicles, the blue hedgehog felt a metaphorical light bulb turn on in his head that made him smile.

It seemed that luck was smiling on the hero of blue.

_________________________________

“There are no brain matrices, only remote and automatic commands in its A.I program, take what is left of its energy unit in container 1, store the rest, you know how it is”

"Yes sir!"

The soldiers nodded firmly in agreement, dispersing without question to do as ordered, while the voice that barked the orders only sighed.

A gloved hand rubbed the slightly ruffled black fur on his head, scratching over the red marks almost unconsciously, his brown eyes watching the soldiers pacing back and forth with mangled pieces of metal in boredom, leaning against one of the several GUN armored vans.

Shadow was having a pretty boring day

The monotony at the agency he worked for usually wasn't a problem, because while GUN was dumb at many things in his eyes, they weren't dumb at taking advantage of his unique abilities at the agency, and they constantly had him taking on dangerous missions that made the hedgehog feel at least a little bit useful (not that any of those missions were any trouble for him, but it was always those more impactful missions that made him feel like he was actually doing something).

Today however was one of those very rare days where GUN had nothing important to assign him, nothing that wasn't paperwork for missions that could very well have made Shadow have a fit of madness and try to crash the Ark into the Earth again, and although for a moment he thought he would have something to do when he heard that his irritating and incomprehensibly lucky counterpart of blue was fighting Eggman, by the time Shadow arrived the battle was alredy over, leaving the dark hedgehog with a palpable irritation and looks that easily made even the strictly trained GUN soldiers sweat in their suits.

The hedgehog could only watch the soldiers do their work, dealing with the remnants of the many victories of the blue hero whose mental image alone made Shadow roll his eyes, while he dealt as best he could with that boring day.

“Slow day for you too, honey?”

A soft and naturally flirtatious voice brought shadow out of his irritable state, his entire posture seeming to relax as he stood in place, not even having to turn around to acknowledge the voice. “We could say, you speak from experience, Rouge?”

Finally his head turned a little to look at the female figure flying above him, the figure of a humanoid woman with bat wings and ears, still wearing her characteristic and provocative outfit during working hours that still continued to steal barely concealed glances from the GUN soldiers, even though shadow was sure that she had been in the organization for at least a couple of years.

Rouge dropped a hand to the side of the vehicle, her gloved hand brushing over shadow's quills without him resisting or moving away. "Those bores still won't give me my precious day off, a woman can't even plan her jewel take in peace." She exclaimed, her voice dripping with mock drama as she slowly touched the black hedgehog's fur.

Shadow let out something like a snort. “Paperwork?” He asked, rhetorically.

The mere word made the bat bring her other hand to her forehead as if she was suffering from dizziness. “You have no idea, I had to attend this dumb cleanup just to escape those hellish papers.” Rouge said, and Shadow found himself silently sympathizing with his partner, who then proceeded to let out a snort of indignation. “And they had the nerve to send Omega alone on another assault mission, without me!” She exclaimed almost in disbelief.

Shadow shook his head slightly. “He'll rub it in our faces when he gets back.” He said in the tone of someone speaking from experience.

Rouge snorted again, slightly amused. “I'm sure he will.” Was her reply.

After that, both went silent, and shadow forgot for a moment that she was still caressing his quills, without him rejecting it in the slightest and flowing with the bat's casual acts almost like a routine.

Her presence, contrary to what the woman's nature as a spy and thief might suggest, had always felt... right to Shadow to be with Rouge.

The aforementioned then broke the silence abruptly “Do you want me to bring you a coffee or do you want to scare the soldiers more with your death glare?” She asked in a playful tone that made Shadow roll his eyes, but against his better judgment he felt his lips curve upwards.

“I would appreciate it, yes.” He looked at her again, glancing at her, seeing her smile at him with a soft expression that she didn't usually put on with almost anyone, normally opting for her flirtatious and seductive attitude that made the conversations flow more easily to where she wanted them, but it seemed that she never needed to do that whenever she talked to the black hedgehog.

The thought made Shadow smile.

“Hey shadow, my old friend!”

Shadow's smile died “Oh motherfucker”

Shadow's head turned almost painfully to the side, and his eyes instantly caught sight of the most talkative blue hedgehog he had ever had the misfortune of meeting walking through the stupefied GUN soldiers directly towards him, with a big smile and waving his hand towards him.

From her position Rouge muttered an intrigued "Oh?" While Shadow silently cursed the gods who had punished him with losing hours of sleep for whatever Sonic had caused or was about to cause.

“Long time no see, buddy” were the first words Sonic said once he was in front of Shadow, and he already felt like he wanted to go to sleep. “And hello to you too, Rouge,” he added, waving his hand more briefly towards the bat.

“Hey bluey, it’s been a while” Although Shadow couldn’t see him he knew that Rouge had winked in Sonic’s direction, making him roll his eyes and jump into the conversation.

“What are you doing here sonic?” The black hedgehog got straight to the point, hoping not to extend this conversation any longer than necessary, but of course Sonic didn't help his growing state of stress.

“Come on old man, this is how you greet your best rival? We haven’t seen each other in months, sometimes I think you just disappear from the earth every so often” Sonic commented, putting his hands on his hips, then muttering something that Shadow didn’t quite understand but thought it sounded like “(And it’s always when I get into trouble and I have to save the earth)”

However, shadow ignored his murmur and crossed his arms in front of his counterpart in blue. “Yes, it's normal that you don't see me often, that's what happens when you have a real job and you don't sleep in the trees in public parks.” He responded in a sarcastic tone.

Sonic rolled his eyes. “For your information, it’s more comfortable than it looks, and you know, sleep is what normal people have instead of coffee to look less dead.” Was his slightly mocking response, and shadow felt his eye twitch as he was about to jump at the hedgehog in defense of the coffee, however he was interrupted before he could do so.

“As much as I enjoy seeing this guys-” Rouge began in an absolutely amused tone that made shadow feel almost embarrassed “I’m curious too, bluey, something tells me you didn’t stop by to say hello” She finished, her gaze showing a flash of curiosity

Sonic looked at her, and proceeded to sigh, the real reason for her appearance seeming to have finally reached him. “Of course, I actually didn't know you'd be here, but I thought you could help me with something-“

Shadow spoke before he could stop himself. “Help, huh?” His tone sounded amused at the idea, though internally he was also somewhat intrigued by the hedgehog’s mere words.

Sonic rolled his eyes again. “Yeah, yeah, rub it in my face later dude.” He replied, huffing a little, but then his gaze took on a touch of seriousness that almost caught Shadow off guard. “I wanted to know if you knew about… Mount Ebott?” He finally asked.

Shadow raised an eyebrow. “Mount Ebott?” He asked, his now fully awakened intrigue mixed with confusion at not finding anything familiar about the site the other hedgehog had mentioned.

Rouge seemed to share the sentiment. “Ebott? Dont ring a bell bluey, looking for a nice vacation spot?” She asked, but Shadow knew she was trying to get information out of Sonic.

The aforementioned grimaced. “Not exactly…” His reply came out through clenched teeth. “I was… asked to go to the place, but I’d never heard of it either, so I thought GUN could give me a quick hand with that.” He recounted, shrugging in an attempt to appear casual.

Shadow watched him, especially at the absence of any fun or jokes the hedgehog might be having, seeming himself really in need of information about that mountain, and if Shadow wasn't curious before, he certainly was now.

Without saying a word Shadow walked towards one of the nearby GUN soldiers, who had an electronic tablet in his hand and was trying horribly to hide the fact that he was secretly hearing the conversation.

Shadow walked over, making the soldier stand up straight almost instantly, and extended his hand towards the man. “I need that.” He just said, and fortunately the soldier caught his words.

“Y-yes sir!” He exclaimed, passing the tablet to Shadow without asking any questions, and in response the hedgehog just nodded briefly and returned to where Sonic and Rouge were waiting for him, giving several quick taps on the screen during his very brief walk.

Shadow stopped in front of Sonic as he silently and quickly searched the GUN database for everything related to Mount Ebott, and luckily for him it didn't take long to find something, although to the black hedgehog's surprise it turned out that there was an entire file dedicated to the mountain, in a section of "Unsolved cases due to lack of information/interest"

Now, that caught his attention.

“There’s a whole archive here dedicated to Mount Ebott, and it’s been around for quite some time, decades in fact.” Shadow’s eyes widened slightly in surprise as he spoke of the archive out loud, pausing only for a moment as he watched Rouge gently flap her wings to stand beside him, looking at the tablet over the hedgehog’s shoulder with interest, and then Shadow continued.

“The ‘Ebott case’ dates back long before the creation of GUN itself, with reports of disappearances of local people from ‘Hometown’, the town closest to the mountain. There is no data on the reasons for the disappearances, nothing indicates kidnapping or anything similar. As far as we know, the missing people all went to the mountain for their own reasons, but there don’t seem to be any connections between the missing people, not even in dates. There doesn’t seem to be a specific date, day, year, something like that, for the disappearances, the only connections are the place, Mount Ebott, and that…” Shadow paused, something in his gaze seeming to freeze.

Rouge was the one who finished the sentence “… All the missing were children” Even the bat herself had a look of slight sadness, while Sonic made an almost imperceptible grimace

Shadow noticed it “Sonic… why do you want to go to that place?” The hedgehog asked, when he managed to get rid of the lump in his throat

Sonic looked him in the eyes, and then sighed as he scratched the fur on his quills. “I… I ran into a woman moments ago, she called me and asked for my help, she… she said that her child also went to the mountain, and that she hasn’t seen them since then.” Sonic said, and looked Shadow in the eyes again, and when the dark hedgehog looked at him, Shadow saw something burning in the blue hero’s gaze. “She asked me to look for her kid, that’s why I need to go there.”

Shadow felt his throat tighten again, not being able to or even knowing what to say, not because he didn't understand the hedgehog's motives, but because... something else, something about all that seemed to make him feel conflicted, something about that mountain, something about the listed rumors of monstrous beings that seemed more like the delusions of some madman, the disappearances of those children, children who for all he knew could have died a long time ago (he wasn't sure if Sonic was aware of that and was just ignoring it or if his insistence was due to the belief that he would find at least the last fallen child before it was too late)

Children that the world seemed to have forgotten about, or didn't seem very interested in looking for.

As the black hedgehog swam and sank into his thoughts, Rouge was the one who spoke up. “Sonic, I really don’t want to sound pessimistic but… this mountain thing seems kind of serious, there are a lot of urban legends and people’s nonsense about what’s on that mountain.” She cast an analytical look at the tablet still in Shadow’s hands. “I’d say they sound like the crazy stuff of someone who drank too much, but we, and you more than anyone, have seen crazy things, and not even GUN knows entirely to what extent all of this is real or not.”

Then, the bat seemed to think her next words carefully, as if she was actually worried about how the blue-clothed hedgehog would take them. “Do you really… think you'll find them, any of those kids, even with whatever might be there?”

Sonic didn't even blink at the question. "Whatever is there, it won't stop me from going." The hedgehog didn't even pause for a moment to answer, determined.

Shadow looked at him again, for once not with irritation or anything like that, but with understanding, and after a few moments in which Sonic kept his gaze firm and Rouge watched her partner with subtle but palpable concern, the ebony-eyed hedgehog finally moved his fingers on the tablet screen, until a map was displayed on it with a jagged red line marking a path.

Shadow held out the tablet for Sonic to look at. “Here is the direction of the mountain, that is the route from where we are that you could folloe, I suppose it won't be a problem for you to get there.” He explained, putting something vaguely close to humor in his voice at the last part.

Sonic looked at the map with extreme attention, and Shadow could see his pupils recording every last detail of the map as if he were trying to mark it in his brain, although when you are a creature that sees the world as a blur and constant stains your brain learns to process everything at different rates, and in the blink of an eye Sonic stopped looking at the map and started to dedicate a smile to his rival.

“It definitely won’t be a problem, I haven’t won all of our races for nothing shads” Sonic reciprocated the dark hedgehog’s humor, winking as shadow rolled his eyes again

“I really hate that nickname,” he replied through gritted teeth, although he did not deny the blue hedgehog's statement, who only let out a small laugh.

“Well, this was fun, but I gotta roll now,” Sonic announced, and Shadow’s eyes widened. “Thanks for the help, you two, really.” The hedgehog thanked them, but while Rouge just waved her hand casually, Shadow-

"Wait!"

-He raised his hand towards the hedgehog, stopping him in his tracks and causing both him and the bat to look at him in surprise at his outburst.

Shadow would have time later to feel embarrassed for raising his voice like that (to Sonic of all people), but at that moment he just turned and extended the tablet towards the confused Rouge.

“Tell the commander that I will be absent for an indefinite period of time, if he insists too much, tell him i take an old case.” He placed the device in the hands of his partner who was trying to process his words, and then the dark hedgehog turned to look at his rival. “I'm going with you.”

Sonic's eyes widened in surprise, letting out a "huh?" at the sudden proposal, while Rouge just looked at him, a flash of worry shining in her eyes, such that only he could notice it.

“Are you sure?” She just asked, and Shadow just nodded firmly.

“I have a… feeling, about that mountain, I want to at least… know what is there,” he tried to explain, his words coming out with an unusual clumsiness as if he didn't know how to fully explain why, but even so, his eyes conveyed his decision to his companion.

She held his gaze for just a few moments longer, before finally sighing in feigned resignation. “Well, I know that look of yours well enough, I won’t stop you from going.” She shook her head, and Shadow found that gesture oddly endearing. “Just… be careful.” She added at the end, a little hesitantly, but genuine nonetheless.

Shadow nodded “I will” he replied, and she smiled

“I'll make sure to save your coffee then, I think you'll need it,” she replied playfully, and the dark hedgehog gave her another slight smile, then turned around and started walking towards Sonic, who watched the whole exchange with a sparkle in his eyes that Shadow didn't know what it was due to, nor did he want to know.

The blue hedgehog's smile remained, but something in his gaze softened a little when Shadow approached. "So, you're going to help me, huh?"

“Don't get used to it” Shadow tried to sound dry in his response, but Sonic just laughed.

“Of course not, I’m fine on my own normally.” He shrugged, but added a little more softly, “Though I don’t mind the help, of course.”

Shadow stood next to the blue hedgehog, both then looked into each other's eyes again and, although it was a fact that much of them seemed to clash with the other almost all the time, whether it was power, attitudes or ideals, at that moment both seemed to burn with the same goal in mind.

“Let’s go” Shadow exclaimed

And at the same time, both of them shot out, a strong wind shook the entire area and the GUN soldiers in the area, while a blue blur and another black and red one left the city a few seconds later, towards their objective.

Rouge only made a slight sound of disgust as she smoothed down her fur ruffled by the breeze, but after that she looked at the horizon where she could see the two fast spots leaving. "Good luck," she murmured, and with a flap of her wings the bat began to fly towards the GUN headquarters to report the absence of her partner.

With his departure, the soldiers finally ran out of excuses to pause their current task, resuming cleaning up Dr. Eggman's wrecked robot.

No one noticed how, inside the vehicle next to the one the hedgehogs and the bat were talking, the one with the door opened by a clueless soldier distracted by the other's conversation, one of the samurai robot's plates glowed red during the entire conversation, capturing every last piece of information, which proceeded to die inside the robot along with all the compromising information about its creator's designs.

No valuable information would reach GUN, that was certain, but as a result, it seemed that the least desired person had just received some very, very… interesting information.

_________________________________

The wind blew hard and the world was a blur of colors constantly changing and blurring in the sight of those two hypersonic blurs.

Sonic ran at speeds that for him were something very casual, the sensation of the wind was calming to him as always, but he did not allow that to make him forget where they were going and what they had to do.

Beside him, Shadow skated keeping pace with his rival, his rocket shoes glowing with energy as he kept his gaze focused ahead, ignoring the wind against his eyes, a sensation that, although it didn't bother him, didn't give him the same sense of peace that Sonic always seemed to feel. Perhaps, the hedgehog thought, it was simply one of the many peculiar tastes of his blue-clad companion.

Or maybe Shadow just wasn't designed to enjoy running like that.

He shook his head, and his lips pressed together to keep from grimacing. “(Not now)” He thought to himself, glancing sideways to his side, and luckily Sonic didn't seem to notice his momentary uneasiness.

“We're getting closer,” Shadow exclaimed out loud, as he had also memorized the path, and Sonic looked at him, nodding in response, and then they both increased their speed, leaving behind a sonic boom that fortunately no one heard, and in a few moments both hedgehogs were running through a forest, finally appearing before their eyes the object of their search.

Sonic was the first to stop, slowing his pace before pressing his feet firmly into the ground, only leaning forward slightly from the force of his movement, but he quickly recovered, standing up straight as he felt Shadow slow down beside him as well, and then both hedgehogs took in the sight.

A huge mountain rose before them, tall, ancient and powerful since a long, long time.

Mount Ebott

Both hedgehogs looked at the mountain in a heavy silence, as if the weight of the mountain itself was on their shoulders.

After a while, Shadow was the one who broke the silence. “Let’s plan this carefully. We don’t know what might be on that mountain or even in the surroundings. We need to think and then-”

A wave of wind interrupted him, and when he turned around Sonic had disappeared, a blue flash could be seen in the distance circling around the base of the mountain and even above it, the blue blur running up and down the enormous rock formation, all while Shadow watched from his spot with his right eye trembling.

5 seconds later, another gust of wind shook him announcing the return of the smiling blue hedgehog “Done, there is no danger nearby, or anything in general” This announcement, oblivious to the irritation of his colleague

Shadow let out a heavy sigh, physically restraining himself from bringing a hand to his face. “Did you find anything? Did you see anything out of the ordinary?” He questioned, pushing aside his irritation at his partner’s recklessness.

Sonic shook his head a little in a negative gesture "Nope, nothing and no one around and possibly for kilometers, there is a barbed fence surrounding the mountain, and on the mountain there is a path that goes to the top, but it stopped at a wall, for some reason" The hedgehog mentioned that last somewhat surprised "But other than that, there is nothing else on the mountain, except an entrance in it, right in front" The hedgehog then pointed forward, the fence that Sonic had mentioned could be seen from where they were and, after Shadow squinted his eyes, he could also see the aforementioned entrance, which was, from where he could see, a cave that led to the interior of the mountain

Shadow turned back to look at the hedgehog. “Let’s go then.” He said, then began to walk forward, followed instantly by Sonic, both hedgehogs choosing to close the short distance between them and the mountain at a more cautious pace and in silence.

“Sooooo…” Sonic spoke suddenly (because of course he couldn’t keep his mouth shut for more than 5 seconds, Shadow thought, feeling like he needed some coffee) “It’s not that I’m complaining, Shads, I was just wondering why you wanted to come with me here.” The blue hedgehog put both hands behind his head, giving the dark-furred hedgehog a curious look.

Shadow glanced at him, debating for a few moments whether or not he should respond sarcastically to the blue hedgehog's genuine question.

“I was curious,” he finally replied. “I guess I was just… wondering why GUN let this case go for so long, because I never heard of him or anything related to this place.” The hedgehog tried to explain, while trying not to say too much, not to Sonic at least (it wasn’t that he didn’t trust him, just-)

“I understand you, man,” Sonic replied, snapping Shadow out of his thoughts. “To think that this has been going on for so long, and we might never have found out about it.” He thought about it, and though he couldn’t be sure, Shadow swore he saw his rival’s fists clench. “Someone had to beg me to find their child to find out about all this…”

The fence was now in front of them, covered in barbed wire and with several danger signs attached to it, although both these signs and the fence itself were old, somewhat rusty and covered in plants and dirt.

There was also a hole cut into the bottom of the gate, although it was small, not big enough for an adult to get through.

But if a child tried, they might be able to cross it.

Sonic and Shadow didn't stop, jumping over the fence and over the spikes without problems.

"I don't think it's worth regretting what we didn't know, not now at least" Shadow just said, while both continued walking now towards the entrance to the interior of Mount Ebott.

“True,” Sonic said in response. “I guess what matters is that we’re here now and we can make a difference, even if…” He trailed off, struggling to say his next words. “…We dont find anything good in there, it won’t stop me from trying as hard as I can.” He finished, with complete firmness and confidence.

Shadow wouldn't admit it, but sometimes he wished he had the confidence, the strength in every action and decision that Sonic always, no matter what, seemed to possess.

He would never admit it of course, most likely that would only inflate the ego of the blue hedgehog, but it did not stop the thought from going around in Shadow's head a couple of times, while both hedgehogs walked in silence, finally passing through the huge entrance to the mountain cave.

“… Well, what a huge hole this is” Sonic commented, with complete seriousness, as he looked around, and Shadow had to use all his willpower and training to not show any visible reaction.

Shadow took a deep breath, wisely choosing to erase the previous 2 seconds from his brain before speaking. “Stay alert for anything that might come up.”

Sonic waved his hand casually “Relax old man, I’m ready for whatever-” Sonic was interrupted when Shadow put his arm in front of his chest, stopping him suddenly.

Before Sonic could ask what was happening, he saw his rival just look down slightly, and then the blue hedgehog did the same.

A few meters in front of them, there was a wall indicating the end of the cave.

And in front of the wall, there was a huge hole in the ground, a pit several meters wide so deep that the slightly scarce sunlight entering the cave could not illuminate it.

Sonic blinked, and his mouth dropped open before he could stop it. “Now THAT is a huge-“

“Don’t say it,” Shadow stopped him before finally losing the sanity and mental stability he still had left.

“Oh come on, I was just impressed okay?” Sonic complained, but after that they both took a deep look at the well, letting the weight of their existence finally settle on them.

“You…” Sonic began, hesitation in his voice as he stared into the hole. “You think… are…”

“… Most likely,” Shadow replied slowly, understanding what the blue hedgehog was trying to say.

Even with the obviousness of the matter, Sonic didn't seem to want to stick with that answer. "M-maybe I should look around again, something must have slipped my mind." The hedgehog was already turning around, and would have possibly shot away if Shadow hadn't grabbed him by the shoulder and stopped him in place.

“Sonic” The ebony-eyed hedgehog’s voice came out firmly, asking Sonic to pay him all his attention “We should stop for a bit, think about what to do”

Sonic let out something vaguely resembling a growl, but made no move to leave, turning back to look at the well.

“… You wanna jump?” Sonic proposed out of nowhere after they both fell silent again, and Shadow looked at him like he was crazy while the hedgehog genuinely waited for an answer.

“We are NOT jumping down there” Shadow said with a growl

Sonic rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. “Well, I don’t see you having a better idea, buddy.”

"I'm trying to figure out what options we have that don't involve throwing ourselves into the unknown like we're suicidal." The dark hedgehog growled again, this time a little louder, but Sonic didn't back down, looking somewhat frustrated.

“Shadow, we need to find something, anything about them! We can’t just hold back and wait for everything around us to kill us.” Sonic extended his arm, pointing at the well. “We need to know what-“

A sound made both of their ears twitch, both hedgehogs closed their mouths and turned their heads in unison to the source of the noise, which sounded dangerously close to them.

And then they both saw it, the sound that did not come from any intruder or creature of some kind, but from thin, small blue rays that formed around Sonic's outstretched hand.

They both observed the phenomenon, neither of them made any movement at first, but then Sonic slowly retracted his hand until he put it in front of his face, and simultaneously the rays stopped emerging, until they disappeared completely.

“… huh, weird” Was the blue hedgehog’s eloquent response as he stared at his hand

Shadow on the other hand had a slightly more elaborate response to what he saw. “What the hell?” The ebony-eyed hedgehog’s gaze jumped between the hedgehog’s palm and the aforementioned and absolutely not surprised blue hedgehog. “Sonic, what the hell-“

The blue hero just raised an eyebrow, genuinely confused for a few moments, which in turn made Shadow start to get frustrated, before his eyes widened as if remembering something. “Ohhh, right haha, I never mentioned that thing, don’t worry dude, the blue lightning thing is normal.” Sonic laughed as if he was talking about the weather (at the mental joke, Shadow wondered if he was already losing his sanity so soon).

“It started on the Starfall Islands, I think it was the energy from the islands that I was absorbing -long story- although I'm not sure, because even after I left I still had these ligthinings , at least Tails said that I'm not becoming radioactive or something hehe” Sonic explained, waving his hands as he talked about his seemingly new power.

Shadow, despite the confusion and the… slight annoyance that arose in him upon seeing a new power emerge from his almost unstoppable rival, accepted the explanation, although that did not remove the initial and more obvious doubt “And why did it activate now? It didn't seem like you wanted to do that.”

The comment made Sonic look at his hand again, his still strange look corroborating his colleague's words "I'm not sure, we were just talking and-" Almost by reflex, Sonic stretched his hand forward again, towards the hole in front of them.

The rays surged forth again, weak but still bright in the darkness, crackling against the wearer's skin and gloves without causing any real harm.

Sonic raised his eyebrow again, as he waved his hand in random directions, as if trying to find a pattern, while Shadow watched intrigued and still with questions.

But with doubts came curiosity, and suddenly, Shadow felt his own hand rise in front of him, which made Sonic stop and turn to look at him expectantly.

Slowly, the black hedgehog's gloved hand rose, his gold ring wrapped around his wrist without fail, glistening softly against the little light that entered the cave, but Shadow ignored it, as he almost practiced in his day, and waited.

And then he saw it, felt it, red rays, bright in the black of the cavern, just as weak as Sonic's, but still shining with life, with power, with...

Chaos “Chaos energy” Shadow muttered, but in the silence of the cave Sonic heard him, seeing the lightning bolts in the other hedgehog's hand and then his own.

“It’s similar…” Sonic muttered as well, a little more to himself, while Shadow looked doubtfully at his hand.

The doubt still persisted, and so did the curiosity.

Shadow moved his still extended hand upwards, the red rays became a little small and weak, then he lowered it again, and the rays became denser, Shadow retracted his hand, and the rays disappeared along with the power that he felt burning and releasing in his hands as if it were smoke filtering through his skin, and then he extended his hand again, straight to the hole.

The energy returned, responding, but not to his desire or will, but to that of…

Shadow took a single step forward, and felt the power seep in more, the rays shining a little brighter.

Her eyebrows furrowed, questions swirling on her face as she took another step. “The energy of the chaos emeralds is reacting to the hole.” -another step- “It feels drawn to it, emerging without being summoned, as if it were absorbing it.” -another step- “But why-” and another-

“Shadow!” Sonic appeared beside him in a second, and Shadow blinked as if he was processing where he even was “What the heck are you doing?!” Sonic frowned in a mix of confusion and worry, but upon seeing Shadow’s face his gaze turned entirely confused “And what the heck is wrong with your eyes?”

Shadow turned around “What are you talking about-“ And then he stopped again “Sonic, what the hell is wrong with YOUR eyes?”

Sonic blinked, bringing an arm in front of his eyes, being illuminated not only by the blue ligthinings that now emerged throughout his body, but also by a blue glow that came right from his pupils.

In turn, Shadow brought his right hand closer to his face, trying to ignore how, unlike with Sonic, the rays shone more intensely only in his hands, swirling in his palms almost as if they were fire.

Shadow looked down at his ring, and bright crimson eyes stared back at him in the ring's reflection.

Both hedgehogs turned to look at each other in unison, and then, at the same time, they looked at the hole.

... The ground around the hole had not been so steep just moments ago, and neither of them had noticed how their feet pressed and broke the stone floor beneath them both, while they clung to the ground that seemed as if it had changed in that instant.

“W-what’s going on?!” Shadow muttered under his breath, both he and Sonic becoming fully aware of how close they now were to the massive, dark hole.

“I-it’s… drawing us in” Sonic growled, a multitude of doubts and questions swirling in both of their minds, but they were silenced by the primary instinct of not falling into the fucking hole with no visible bottom.

But it was getting harder, the energy kept coursing through them both, the feeling of power flowing like a geyser trying to lift them both up was getting heavy, harder to resist with every second.

Something was drawing them, Shadow could feel it, something was calling them, and Chaos was responding.

Chaos wanted to make them fall

And so it did.

It was a second, no, a fraction of a second, but that was the instant when Shadow lost concentration, his feet slipped, and his body began to fall.

“SHADOW!”

The black hedgehog's body turned, his thoughts seeming to stop abruptly as his instinct made him reach back with his hand in an attempt to grab onto something as gravity and the very fabric of space seemed to drag him down.

His eyes met Sonic's flashing blue eyes, feeling him holding his hand tightly, with the consequence that now nothing prevented him from being affected by the strange phenomenon as well.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion for the two, their adrenaline-fueled senses made them see every second of their own fall, but the altered forces of gravity   and space themselves bent and altered in such a way that neither could resist.

And then, the energy in Shadow's still outstretched hand dispersed, and the rays touched and illuminated a transparent layer of energy that appeared right at the edge of the hole.

Both hedgehogs felt it at once, the sensation of chaos being pulled, pushing them with it.

And with two pairs of screams of pure dismay, both hedgehogs fell and disappeared into that surface of pure energy, which proceeded to emit a glow that covered the entire cave.

When the glow ceased, the ground around the hole became smooth again and the energy disappeared completely, along with the two hedgehogs it had just swallowed.

Chapter Text

Even in unconsciousness, thunders surged in the palms of the blue hedgehog

The deep blue ligthnings, remnants of the hedgehog's own energy, scattered and touched the ground.

A couple of the golden flowers that cradled the hedgehog's body were brushed by the tiny thunders, but they passed harmlessly over the flowers, and then more of those thin ligthnings shot out of the hedgehog's palms, straight toward the ground.

For a second, the chaos felt drawn again, this time not being pulled, but connecting to something, something in that field of flowers.

A second later, Sonic growled, as the fog of unconsciousness began to leave him, he slowly opened his eyes, seeing a soft glow above him, blinking.

And then he remembered and his eyes flew open, sitting up in an instant and breathing heavily.

“What the-?” Sonic asked to no one in particular, but cut himself off, in turn preventing himself from properly inspecting wherever he was now as another wave of memories from his now cleared head made him frantically look around “Shadow? Shadow?!”

Fortunately, when he looked behind him, Sonic could see his partner, lying on the ground looking up, which made the blue hero move quickly and kneel down, shaking the black hedgehog by the shoulder with concern. “Shadow! Come on, man, wake up-“

Sonic was interrupted when Shadow's eyes snapped open, letting out a gasp as he jumped to his feet, causing the other hedgehog to stumble back with a squeal.

Shadow looked around, alarmed. “What happened?! Where are we?! What happened to us?!” The hedgehog seemed on the verge of jumping at the first thing he saw.

“Wow, wow! Dude, relax!” Sonic raised both hands in front of him, trying to calm his rival down. “We’re fine, o-or at least I think so.” He exclaimed that last part awkwardly.

Oddly, that seemed to make Shadow calm down slightly, undoing his stance as he glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, sighing, and Sonic felt free to consider that an improvement.

Then Shadow started looking around, and Sonic did too, both taking in their new surroundings.

They were in a open room, with several stone pillars around them, cracked and covered in plants and dirt, in the center was a group of golden flowers on which both hedgehogs had been lying (quite soft to be honest, Sonic thought), the color of the flowers combined well with the faint glow of the sun that only hit them.

Then, both of them finally and in unison looked up.

The pillars stopped at a few meters high, but the rock walls continued higher and higher, until they came up against the edge of a huge hole.

“We’re in the hole of the mountain,” Sonic finally commented, something obvious in retrospect, but Shadow didn’t comment on it, concentrating more on the cause of his descent.

“The chaos energy… was being pulled through the hole, you felt it too right?” Shadow questioned, and Sonic nodded.

“Yeah, I felt the power as we got closer to the hole, but it wasn’t just that, the hole seemed to… alter space, pulling us in, not just the chaos energy.” The hedgehog mused, and Shadow found himself agreeing (much to his internal pain of having to accept that Sonic was, in fact, capable of saying logical things).

Whatever it was, the doubt persisted. “But how? And why? Why would this hole draw on the energy of the chaos emeralds? Why would it want us?” The dark hedgehog voiced his doubts, trying as hard as he could to make sense of something.

Sonic was about to say something, but then his gaze turned to the pit above them, and he proceeded to smile with a bold glint in his eyes "Well, there is a good way to find out." And with those words Sonic jumped, soaring several meters into the air, resting his feet against the rock walls as he jumped and climbed higher and higher.

The hedgehog continued to smile, as the hole seemed to grow larger as he approached, and with one last jump, Sonic gave such a boost that he would pass through the hole.

Then a white barrier appeared right in the hole a quarter of a second before, and Sonic saw in slow motion the transparent surface that was about to collide with his face "Oh godda-"

His face collided directly with the barrier, sticking to it for a second before, with a shock of energy, the barrier repelled him and sent him tumbling back to the ground, where the hedgehog's face proceeded to rest painfully against the golden flowers of the clearing with a loud impact that slightly shook the ground.

When the small cloud of dirt dissipated, the hedgehog's body was visible, face down on the ground with his face buried in the dirt.

Shadow just watched in silence, but then, slowly, his lips curved upwards until his teeth were visible, and his hands rose up and he proceeded to clap his palms together softly, repeating the process in what became the slowest, most condescending applause that had ever tormented Sonic's ears.

The hedgehog only turned his head enough so that only one of his eyes looked at his rival, his gaze completely dead which for Shadow automatically made it worth having gotten up early that day.

The blue hero muttered something that was drowned out by the hole in which part of his face still resided, then proceeded to get up and finally peel his face off the ground, standing up while spitting out dirt, rocks, and yellow petals at the same time.

The blue hero pointed at him with a finger, narrowing his eyes. “There was no way I could have known that was going to happen.” Sonic growled in irritation, trying to defend himself but failing, and Shadow was almost tempted to extend his embarrassment for longer.

However, the key word was 'almost', because although entertaining, his rival's antics had brought a new problem and a new wave of questions to both of them.

“It’s a barrier,” Shadow said out loud, both to Sonic and himself, both looking up at the hole in the sky. “It wasn’t visible until it came into contact with the chaos energy before we fell, nor was it tangible from the outside. It means it’s made to let us in, but not out, or at least in our particular case.” He mused, looking analytically at the spot from where they fell.

Sonic also observed the barrier, again with a thoughtful look, trying to deduce something on his own "I could feel for a few moments the power inside me surge as I approached, but it felt different, it wasn't pulling me this time" He said, being able to feel his rival's gaze on him at his display of information "I simply felt my energy react, but the barrier repelled me, and I felt it repel the energy of my power boost, rejecting it" he finished explaining, glancing sideways at the dark hedgehog

Shadow thought about that, but it didn't take long for him to raise more doubts. “First it pulls our chaos energy and us at the same time, then it repels the same energy that it actively called.” He looked over, bringing two fingers to the bottom of his snout in a thoughtful gesture. “What pulled us, that barrier, wants us down here, but why?”

That was the million dollar question, and both hedgehogs were putting their brains to work to find the best answer.

“We need more information,” Shadow decided. “Maybe it’s tied to the chaos emeralds, somehow? Maybe the place reacted because you have all seven together.” Shadow had felt the concentration of chaos energy ever since he met Sonic, so he was sure he had all seven gems stored away.

With that in mind, Shadow looked away, quietly going over his options with the knowledge they had, but as he did so he didn't notice Sonic's eyes widen in shock as if he had just noticed something. "We could try to see how the barrier reacts to the power of the seven, at least understand a little what it is and what purpose it ful-" Shadow turned to look at Sonic as he made his proposal, but as he did so he saw his rival with an expression on his face that screamed 'Oh shit'.

“… What?” The dark hedgehog questioned in confusion, and Sonic proceeded to scratch his quills in a nervous gesture.

“Yeah, about that… we might have another problem,” Sonic started, and Shadow, with no small amount of tiredness, decided to jump in and bite the bullet of new information thrown at him.

“Define ‘problem’, ” he asked, and the only thing that crossed his mind in those few moments was the question of how the situation could become more complicated and confusing than it already was.

The answer came and hit him like a metaphorical slap when Sonic raised his arm extending his open palm, and in a flash of light, one of the seven chaos emeralds was summoned from the pocket dimension where they both used to keep them when they used them, until the time was right to make them emerge, always with a blinding glow, almost magical even, but above all powerful and immutable before the will of their bearers.

What fell into Sonic's hands was a gray stone that looked even deader than the stones in the cave where they were both.

Shadow looked at the object in his rival's hands, a single drop of cold sweat ran down his snout, and a few simple words fell from his lips without conviction "You have to be fucking kidding me..."

But then, Sonic spoke out loud to the clear concern of his colleague. “Ok, now, surprisingly, this might not be as bad as it seems.” The hedgehog expressed in a tone almost completely devoid of concern.

Shadow finally felt a vein pop on his forehead threatening to explode. “It’s not that bad?!” An almost feral growl burst from the dark hedgehog’s lips. “The damn chaos emerald looks dead Sonic, DEAD, how the hell did this happen?! What caused it?! Are the other emeralds like this?! Has anything remotely similar to this ever happened?!” Shadow forgot how to breathe in the seconds it took him to release his frustration in his words, breathing heavily as he finished.

“Well, sort of…” Sonic didn’t seem affected by his rival’s outburst, instead grimacing as his mind swam through memories that would allow him to better explain what he was going to say. “A couple of years ago something similar happened, when Chaos used the emeralds and flooded Station Square, although you weren’t there of course, you were still… uuhhhh…”

Suddenly Sonic looked away from Shadow with a nervous expression as he tried by all means to avoid saying something that would offend his opponent. “… Asleep?” The hedgehog tried, looking at his rival as if asking him if he would try or not to kill him for saying that.

Surprisingly, Shadow boinked for a few moments before he let out a vaguely amused sound from his mouth, slightly taken from his earlier frustration at finding Sonic's clumsiness on the subject of his past entertaining. "You can just say I was frozen, Sonic." He finally said, after all, his stasis period was one of those things that didn't usually affect him too much from his time before he met the hedgehog and his friends.

(One of the few things in the sea of ​​horror and constant nightmares that were his memories that didn't affect him, at least)

“R-right, so while you were still… f-frozen,” Sonic continued, still slightly clumsily, and Shadow mentally thanked the interruption of that intrusive thought that came to him for just a second. “The 'Perfect Chaos Incident' happened, where he transformed into a giant monster using the Chaos Emeralds, and before you ask -because I see how you're frowning asking yourself this, dude- the reason I say this is because Chaos did something similar to, well, this.” Sonic waved the Chaos Emerald that was still in his hand, gray and lifeless. “When he transformed, he expelled the emeralds from his body after having drained their power, and after that the emeralds were left in this state, gray.” He explained.

Shadow's gaze narrowed at the emerald in Sonic's hands, understanding the relationship between the situations, but still finding holes between both connections. "But that's impossible, the emeralds are sources of infinite energy, you can't just drain them of all their power." Shadow expressed his confusion and apparent hole in Sonic's story, but it seemed the blue hedgehog had an answer.

“That's the thing, Chaos didn't drain the emeralds of their power, it was his transformation that was the problem, and the negative energy produced by his rage that he used to transform, the emeralds are not especially fanatics of producing negative energy, and when they do, in the enormous quantities that Chaos produced when transforming, or also, in the amount of energy that I produced in my super form and that Eggman inverted to negative to awaken Dark Gaia some time later, were the ones that, on both occasions, made the emeralds... turn off, we could say” The blue hedgehog explained.

Shadow thought about the information given by the other hedgehog. “So, that’s what’s going on, an energetic reaction of negative energy that made the emeralds turn off?” He questioned, feeling that they were finally both getting somewhere.

“… Actually, I don’t think so?”

“… Sonic I swear to God I feel more and more tempted with every second to break your legs-“

“O-ok, look, I just said it seemed to be something similar, okay? But I think it’s something else.” Shadow crossed his arms, waiting with the little patience he had for the hedgehog to elaborate, and Sonic happily took the opportunity to not make him bitter anymore. “Look, you can still feel the chaos energy right? It’s weak, but they’re still emitting it.”

Shadow's eyebrows furrowed, as the hedgehog concentrated for a moment. “… It's very weak, but I feel it, my body is still receiving the energy.” He said, nodding.

Sonic nodded as well. “Well then, that didn’t happen the other times. I think that strange barrier didn’t cause the Chaos Emeralds to turn off by themselves, or at least not completely. The fact that the emeralds turn off after producing negative energy is a natural reaction for them, they aren’t made to be used like that. Their nature is to convert thoughts into power, and that includes negative ones, yes, but these seem to be poisonous, corrosive and harmful to them by nature, that’s why they turn off by their own will. It’s not that they can’t create that energy, even though i dont actually know if the negative energy damages them somehow, it’s simply… that they don’t want to create it.” He counted, and it was there that Shadow realized how much Sonic truly understood the nature of the emeralds, on a level that not even he possessed.

“But now, because of the strange energy of that barrier, the emeralds seem to be more… blocked, they still expel power in response to our presence, they are still linked to me and even you in a way, but they are not awake, and they do not emit power naturally, as if they were being forced to remain sealed.” The hedgehog seemed to come to a conclusion, sighing after his long explanation, finally putting the emerald back in his hand making it disappear in a flash, while muttering under his breath “Uuff, damn, that's why I leave the explanations to Tails…”

They both stayed silent for a moment, seeming to settle on the idea and process it, and finally Shadow sighed again, putting both hands on his hips and walking around the flower bed with palpable frustration.

“Great, just great, we’re trapped here, drawn by a force we know nothing about that also locked the chaos emeralds, pulling us both in the process and leaving us with no means of contacting anyone-”

“Wait, did you try calling-“

“While you were talking earlier”

“Oh”

“-And with no way out the way we came.” After finishing listing the unfortunate chain of events that had led them both to that moment, Shadow stopped next to Sonic, giving him a dry look. “Did I forget something?”

Sonic stared back at him and opened his mouth, a sarcastic response about to come out that would possibly earn him a death glare from his rival.

“Of course you forgot something, you forgot to introduce yourselfs!”

Both Sonic and Shadow turned in a fraction of a second in the direction of the origin of the voice that did not belong to either of them.

Behind them was a short hallway with a stone-framed entrance that somehow neither of them had noticed until now, seeming to be the voice coming from the other side.

Both hedgehogs remained motionless, their bodies adopting a semi-fighting pose from the shock of the new voice, both looking at each other out of the corner of their eyes and then at the entrance several times without quite knowing what to do.

After a few seconds, Sonic doubtfully opened his mouth. “Hellooooo…?” He spoke out loud, only to receive an elbow from his rival that made him growl and look at him irritated, to which he gave him a disapproving look.

Before the two could verbally confront each other, the voice echoed again, “Howdy! Why don’t you two come over? After all, you’re missing out on meeting a new friend!”

Both hedgehogs focused on the voice, it had a high-pitched tone but seemed to be masculine, and had a very friendly tone of speech, innocent even.

Both hedgehogs instantly felt uncomfortable upon hearing that voice.

But even with that feeling that seemed to hit them both in the back of the neck making it difficult to ignore, Sonic, albeit with slow and careful steps, began to advance towards the entrance, but was quickly stopped by Shadow's grip on his arm. "What do you think you're doing?! We don't know-"

“Dude, relax, we can’t just stand here forever,” Sonic interrupted, glaring at him steadily “I will be careful” He finished, and though Shadow growled, he didn’t protest when Sonic broke free from his grip and began to move forward again.

Following his own words, Sonic advanced slowly, taking care that his shoes did not resonate too much against the stone floor, and when he was next to the entrance he stood with his back against the wall, glancing sideways at the entrance to the next room.

“Hey, just to clarify, you're not going to attack us or anything once you see us, are you buddy?” Sonic asked, still not entering.

The voice let out a small, melodious, and irritatingly innocent giggle. “Of course not! That’s no way to treat new guests!” Sonic didn’t know how, but he could almost imagine the faceless voice in his head winking at him as he finished his sentence, and it made him even more uneasy.

His eyebrows furrowed, his eyes sharpened, and with his guard up Sonic finally poked his head towards the entrance, looking at the bearer of the mysterious voice.

In the center of a small clearing of green grass, there was a golden flower

The flower had eyes and a mouth, and smiled at Sonic.

The hedgehog blinked about 3 times before slowly retracting his head, and when he turned around he saw Shadow stuck to the wall next to him, looking at him questioningly.

“It's a flower, with a face” was all that came out of Sonic's mouth, his words seemed to come out automatically as if he wasn't even thinking about them.

As usual, Shadow countered the feeling with palpable confusion. “What-?” He tried to ask, but Sonic was already turning around, finally making his way through the entrance despite his rival’s silent protests. “S-Sonic, Sonic, wait what the hell-?!”

The blue hedgehog crossed the entrance, stopping a few steps away from it and at a moderate distance from the flower, which he looked at expectantly and with slight suspicion, which still had exactly the same smile and expression.

“Hello again friend! I see you are confused about something” The flower said, tilting his head a little (or hisbody? Is that how it works? Sonic wondered in his head somewhat confused) “I must say, I have never seen anyone like you down here, nor anyone like your friend! Although I must say that you both look alike” The flower commented casually, and then Sonic heard footsteps behind him, seeing Shadow walk towards where he was.

The dark hedgehog muttered a “What the fuck?” as he stopped right next to the other hedgehog, and as seemed to be a regular occurrence that day several questions ran through Shadow’s head as he watched the flower, which was swaying slightly from side to side in an almost rhythmic manner and with that smile still stuck to his face.

Sonic for his part put his hands on his hips, raising an eyebrow slightly "We could say the same about you, buddy, talking flowers are not common where we come from" The hedgehog's response came out casual but also in a slightly cutting tone, which, for some reason, caught Shadow's attention.

The flower, however, didn't seem to notice, as he winked playfully. "You could say that I'm quite a unique friendly face." Was his response, still soaked in that overly friendly tone. "By the way, my name is Flowey, Flowey the flower, nice to meet you!"

Both hedgehogs blinked at the revelation, with varying levels of shock equivalent to someone watching an ant fall off a wall.

“ 'Flowey?' “ Shadow began, his tone dripping with dryness “ '''The flower?''' “ If looks could kill, Flowey would be a dried pile of dust from the gaze of both hedgehogs

He however didn't seem to be affected by their looks. "A good name for a good friend, don't you think?" Another wink, and another wave of awkwardness for both hedgehogs, but then the flower continued. "And I imagine that a couple of monsters like you would have some good names too!"

The flower's words seemed meant to be flattering, but both hedgehogs just blinked at the same time. "Excuse me?" Sonic spoke this time, looking and sounding offended, and Shadow didn't look much better.

For the first time in that conversation, Flowey's friendly face seemed to hesitate. "... I said, that a couple of monsters like you-" Flower was about to repeat himself, but he saw the gaze of both hedgehogs sharpen in his direction, and Flowey paused.

The flower's smile seemed to be plastered and unchanging on his face, but his brows furrowed as he backtracked on his own words, speaking in a tentative tone as if testing if it was safe to jump to a conclusion. “You… know what the word monster means, right?”

Sonic and Shadow looked at him, the former raising an eyebrow, though he didn't seem to question the meaning of the word itself and more as if he were asking with his gaze 'how old do you think we are, friend?', while Shadow looked at him as if he were trying to find some hidden meaning in his question.

Flowey stood completely still for several seconds, his friendly expression almost photoshopped onto his face and a small drop of sweat (how the hell did that work? Shadow thought bewildered) running down his face, but he finally blinked and started talking again in his usual tone. “I guess that’s a no, geez! You two are pretty lost, friends, it almost seems like…”

Flowey continue to smile

“You fell from the sky into a new world you don’t understand”

The room fell silent again.

Nothing in Flowey's expression changed at all after he finished speaking, but something in his voice seemed to fill with... something, as he made that statement that was suspiciously close to reality.

“… Excuse us for a moment, buddy,” Sonic exclaimed, approaching and putting a hand on Shadow’s shoulder, who gave him a somewhat confused look, but otherwise said nothing as he let Sonic turn him around, both of them turning their backs to the flower so that he couldn’t see their expressions or gestures, but neither of the two hedgehogs was foolish enough to let their guards drop and stop paying attention to the flower whose gaze they both could feel on their backs.

“I don’t like this guy,” Sonic whispered, and his direct tone made Shadow blink in slight surprise, but after recovering, he made a slight sound from his mouth as if he were amused.

“If you can feel it too, then that guy must be really screwed up inside,” Shadow said, and the slight humor in his voice also seemed to unsettle Sonic for a few moments, and although he smiled at the joke, Flowey's penetrating gaze on both of them reminded them not to relax.

“I just… feel an uncomfortable feeling around him, that something isn’t right.” Sonic grimaced, his lips pursed, showing his teeth a bit (slightly sharp, Shadow noticed) “I feel my body warning me of danger, but not danger as if an attack is coming, it’s more like… that at any moment he will do something very dangerous.”

Shadow looked at his rival, his lips dried and his eyebrows furrowed at the serious warning, as he had almost never heard the hedgehog so serious about anything, and then he glanced sideways at the flower which had not moved at all. “He knows things, things that could help us figure out how to get out of here,” Shadow said, and although it was said as if it were a fact, no one was completely sure of how far the strange flower's knowledge went.

Or if you would be willing to share it

“Excuse me, gentlemens~” Flowey’s voice called in a slightly sing-song voice that almost instantly became one of the most irritating tones of voice Sonic and Shadow had ever heard “I’m sorry to interrupt you, but I must say that I feel some…”

As both hedgehogs turned around, they both noticed how Flowey's smile, almost imperceptibly, widened. "-Curiosity about you two, and I'd like to try you both out."

The statement made both hedgehogs stand up straight, their gazes falling on the flower, as they instinctively waited for any attack that might come.

Flowey winked again, and that only made both Sonic and Shadow even more cautious, neither of them knew anything about the flower, nor his capabilities or way of acting, but they still prepared for what might come.

And then, in a small flash of light, a heart emerged from the chest of both hedgehogs, literally.

In front of Sonic, floating in the air right   in front of his chest, floated a heart that looked almost cartoonish, of a size that seemed like it could fit in his hand and a reddish color so deep but at the same time seemed to shine brightly, although it did not actually shine or emit much light, while in front of Shadow there was another heart with exactly the same shape and size, except that it was a pure yellow just as bright.

Sonic and Shadow looked at their respective hearts, and then at each other's, both taking that situation quite calmly.

“The hell-?”

“The fuck-?”

“Those, my dear and colorful friends, are your souls! The culmination of your being.” Flowey brought both hedgehogs out of their stupor, both looked up to see the flower looking at those hearts as if they were pure gold. “And oh boy! What impressive souls you have, if I were anyone else I would be going blind just looking at them!”

Flowey winked again, neither of the hedgehogs kept track of how many times he had done this throughout the entire conversation, but it was safe to assume there were more important things to ask at the moment.

“What are these things exactly? And why and how did they come out of our bodies now?” Shadow began, voicing what he considered the most important questions among the seemingly endless sea of ​​other questions his brain kept accumulating that day, while at the same time ignoring how he saw Sonic raise a finger to the red heart in front of him with the look of a child wanting to swallow a plastic toy.

Flowey spoke again “I alredy told you silly-“ Shadow felt like he wanted to vomit “-That is your soul, a manifestation of your will, of your feelings, of who you are in general! See it as another part of you” Flowey explained, and although his friendly tone still made Shadow's fur stand on end, he paid attention to the explanation

At his side, Sonic brought his finger closer to his soul with a curiosity that he didn't bother to hide, but as he moved his finger forward he saw how the red heart moved in front of it as well, keeping the distance from his finger, and seeing this the hedgehog moved his hand back, and saw how the soul did the same, which, combined with the explanation of the talking flower that he was actually listening to while doing all that, encouraged the hedgehog to move his hand in various directions in the air, and to his pride his soul followed each movement, eventually managing to move it much further than the distance that his hand could travel, becoming fascinated with each movement.

Shadow watched his rival's actions with wide eyes, and then felt the sensation of being left behind in his chest, proceeding to look at his own yellowish heart as he clenched his fist, and then threw it forcefully forward, and his soul imitated the movement with the same fierceness, as well as the brief shakes of Shadow's hand that followed, all done without fail and to perfection.

After that, Shadow focused his attention back on Flowey “… That doesn’t answer why they appear now”

The flower stood (Shadow felt very stupid) upright at the question, seeming to perk up. “Excellent question! You see, although your souls are brilliant, they start out weak, but here in the underground, your souls can become more powerful very easily!”

Both Sonic and Shadow looked at each other, and although their gazes connected by mere chance, they both seemed to have a similar feeling that the flower's words were a trick.

“Here in the underground, souls become more powerful by gaining LV, and what does LV mean…?” Flowey paused, but when neither of the two hedgehogs played along, he continued unfazed, “Well, LOVE, of course!”

Sonic raised an eyebrow, feeling his lips tremble to contain a snort of disbelief and amusement.

Shadow, for his part, felt that he was lacking sugar in his blood

Flowey continued oblivious to the thoughts of both of them “And down here, LOVE is shared through these-“

And then, floating above Flowey, out of nowhere appeared about 6 white objects barely the size of the flower's eyes, spinning in the air "Petals of friendship!" He announced, with much, much emotion

“(… Wow, this guy thinks we’re stupid)” Sonic thought, wisely choosing not to say it out loud.

“Now, catch as many as you can!” Flowey tried to instruct them, and then his ‘friendship petals’ floated towards Sonic and Shadow’s souls, at a rather slow pace even if both hedgehogs weren’t literally super fast.

Both hedgehogs acted at the same time with the same idea, and with a slight and almost lazy movement, they both moved their souls to one side, and then took a single step to their sides to let the petals pass harmlessly between them.

With his smile still present, Flowey blinked, and Sonic spoke in a slightly mocking tone. “Whoops, I guess we get wrong that on-“

Danger, behind you, move

Sonic's eyes widened as his instincts suddenly kicked in, and by that same instinct he moved in an instant towards Shadow "Watch out!" He just yelled, as he moved his hand to the nape of the other hedgehog's neck who was barely reacting.

Sonic made Shadow tilt his head next to his, letting a wave of the previous friendship petals pass over them both like bullets at high speed, but the attack continued, and both hedgehogs then turned to the left at the sound of something emerging from the ground, which turned out to be two huge roots with sharp red spikes adorning them, which launched themselves towards them, destroying the ground and shaking the room, but both hedgehogs jumped back, spinning in the air and using their hands to jump and land on their feet on the ground, both with serious looks that they threw in the direction of their attacker.

“Wow, wow! We have a couple of very awake players!”

The roots stirred menacingly, and Flowey smiled, his grin now showing a row of disturbingly realistic teeth complementing his almost maniacal grimace, and his eyes seemed to turn completely black “I like it!”

Sonic grimaced slightly “(Well, it took him quite a while)” He thought, looking at the flower's frankly terrifying expression, but fear did not reach the hedgehog, raising his fists in front of his chest just like his partner.

Flowey laughed, a long, loud laugh filled with sick amusement that put both hedgehogs on high alert. “I didn’t know what to expect from you two if I’m being honest! I half expected you to just be a couple of brats who didn’t know what they’d gotten themselves into.” His eyes scanned both hedgehogs up and down, especially their souls that were still floating in front of them afert their evasiveness.

“But this is better than I could have imagined! Two monsters from the surface, with two powerful human souls!”

Both hedgehogs looked at each other at the last term thrown by the flower, trying to understand what it meant, but Flowey didn't give them the chance "I would be an idiot to let this opportunity pass! After all..."

His face contorted, his teeth seemed to grow larger and his pupils dilated.

“In this world, it is KILL or BE KILLED”

The fists of both hedgehogs clenched, and the flower's words, which would have filled anyone else with terror, filled them with conviction and made them stand firmer.

“I have no idea what you're talking about,” Sonic began, his legs bent, his right arm extended back and his left arm extended in front of his chest, with a small smile and a firm look devoid of fear at the dangerous being in front of him. “But you made a mistake, pal.”

Shadow put a fist in front of his chest and the other on the side of his face, his legs also bent and his gaze hard as steel "A grave mistake" He continued with a growl

Flowey let out another manic laugh, also unintimidated “Then let me take back what I said earlier…”

And after that, dozens of those white bullets began to float above the flower, making the eyes of both hedgehogs open.

“YOU IDIOTS DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’VE GOT INTO!”

The wall of bullets began to slowly float towards them, but where before the slowness was insulting, with the huge amount of projectiles the slowness was much more tense.

Both hedgehogs took a step back, a single drop of sweat flowing down both their faces, their senses alert and their bodies tense to evade or even take the horde of bullets head on if necessary.

But it turned out that it wouldn't be necessary, as a huge wall of fire began to consume the wall of bullets heading towards them.

Everyone, including Flowey himself, watched the event in surprise, and then watched as the wall of flames vanished leaving behind a single concentrated fireball, which in a second was shot against the flower, which emitted a moan of shock and pain as it was thrown by the flaming sphere against the wall, and the instant he touched the ground the flower sank into it, disappearing without a trace.

Both Sonic and Shadow watched the event with varying degrees of confusion, but the sound of soft footsteps in the distance made them turn with their guards raised, thus coming across a figure standing in another stone entrance on the other side of the room.

“What a horrible creature, so savagely attacking two poor and defenseless monsters.”

A female voice spoke, with a softness that almost made it feel like her words could embrace them both.

The figure at the door took a couple of steps, a purple tunic with white details fluttered with each step and covered her entire body, only showing her feet, her figure extended quite a lot taller than both hedgehogs, and her face, hands and feet were covered by white as the snow fur.

The woman had a long snout and dark circles, and had a small, soft smile looking at both hedgehogs who were watching her attentively.

“Greetings little ones, please don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you”

Although his words were spoken as carefully as possible and completely devoid of any hostility, Shadow took a step that echoed in the room while maintaining his guard. “Stay where you are!” He growled.

The woman stopped smiling, but obeyed the order, and her warm expression did not leave her eyes.

Sonic watched her, his posture changing until he was simply standing, staring at the woman in silence, while Shadow kept his fists raised, the tension still present in his body “Who are you? What do you want?!”

The woman looked at him and sighed, bringing a hand above her chest. “My name is Toriel, I am the caretaker of the ruins, please let me help you if you are hurt.” She tried, her tone soft and almost motherly. “I promise not to hurt you.”

Her naturally soft tone and the kindness that still bathed her eyes almost made Shadow hesitate, but with another growl he stood firm, paying attention to every movement the woman could make.

But then, the hedgehog saw Sonic walk past him, casually walking towards the goat woman, despite Shadow's gaze on his back, being about to yell at him about what he was doing, but instead he watched what his rival was about to do.

Sonic stood right in front of Toriel, his face unreadable as he looked straight into the woman's eyes, who despite the silent act maintained her kind expression, both looking at each other for a few seconds.

Until Sonic smiled, proceeding to extend his hand towards the woman. “Excuse us, miss, I guess we were still a little paranoic back there hehe.” He laughed casually, still with his hand extended. “My name is Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog, it’s a pleasure.”

Toriel smiled gently again, extending her own hand to gently shake Sonic's. "The pleasure is all mine, little one." She replied, then let out a small, melodious laugh. "And please, you don't have to call me Miss, I'm a little old for that." She said humorously as she let go of his hand, making Sonic make an embarrassed face and awkwardly scratch his quills.

“O-oh, I-I’m sorry, I guess I just, ehhh, saw that you looked young and just assumed…” The hedgehog stumbled over his words, to which Toriel just let out small giggles at the sight

Behind them both, Shadow watched the interaction with slight conflict, but finally relaxed his posture slightly and began to walk until he was again next to Sonic, earning Toriel's soft but slightly curious look.

Sonic turned to look at him, and then at Toriel. “Oh right, and this bag of stress and caffeine here next to me is my friend.” The blue hedgehog exclaimed, waving his hand in the direction of the once again irritated Shadow, and although Toriel smiled in amusement, she reached out her hand towards the dark hedgehog.

“It’s nice to meet you too…” She paused, waiting for the hedgehog with a patient look.

Shadow kept eye contact with the woman for several seconds longer than necessary, but finally he let out a sigh, and extended his hand.

“Shadow, Shadow the hedgehog” He replied, shaking Toriel’s hand, who gladly accepted the shake for a few moments.

“Sonic and Shadow, some wonderful names.” She said with genuine sweetness, letting go of the dark hedgehog’s hand as she looked them both up and down. “I see you’re not hurt, thats really a relief.”

And with that the goat woman turned around. “Please follow me, although I don’t know how you reached this place, I will guide you through the ruins anyway.” She looked back, throwing them both another small smile, before starting to walk towards the other room at a slow pace, hoping that eventually both hedgehogs would follow her.

Sonic and Shadow looked at each other, the former looking optimistic and the latter looking extremely doubtful, though in the end the black hedgehog decided that they both had to start moving if they wanted at least some answers to their vast sea of ​​questions.

“I think we should follow her, for the moment at least, she could tell us about the place and any possible… surprises we might encounter” Shadow finally said, to which Sonic nodded.

“Well, it's not like we're going to stay here, certainly NOT after seeing that weirdo,” he replied, making an uncomfortable face that Shadow imitated, because although neither of them were afraid of that flower, his words and his mere presence seemed to be the emissaries of something much more… terrifying than either of them could imagine.

Although of course, no matter what might arise, even in the face of a world as new and mysterious as the one both hedgehogs had fallen into, and in the face of rules they still did not understand, they would still fight, if necessary.

With that thought in mind that both seemed to casually share without the other knowing, both began to walk towards Toriel, who was advancing at a slow pace until the two hedgehogs caught up with her, and with them, the three crossed the entrance.

Behind them, a room with purple walls and a wide ceiling greeted them, and although the room did not contain anything very interesting in itself except for a pile of leaves and a pair of stairs that went up to an access to another room, the change of environment made both hedgehogs blink and look around the room with amazement and curiosity, while Toriel continued to advance at a slow pace without giving a second glance to a room that had already seen her come and go countless times.

Sometimes was accompanied by others who followed her from behind, but generally she was the only one who walked through those empty rooms in the depths of the ruins.

The woman blinked to clear her mind of the memories and the sinking feeling in her stomach, walking towards one of the stairs, followed silently by the two hedgehogs.

A set of orange leaves rested on the floor in the middle of the stairs, their color contrasting noticeably but warmly with the purple of the rest of the room, but the three of them surrounded them, Toriel glanced at them as she passed, Shadow looked at them for a moment and then returned to following the steps of the goat woman with his gaze.

Sonic stopped

The moment he hear it shadow did so as well, he stopped moving and turned to look at him with a questioning look, which then turned confused as he looked at his rival.

Sonic stared at the pile of leaves, his mouth slightly open and blinking frequently as if he was witnessing something breaking the laws of physics, and the hedgehog followed with a murmur, “Ok, that's new…”

Shadow looked at the pile of leaves, scattered on the ground without grace, but in the end the hedgehog only saw that, leaves.

A few lonely leaves, abandoned in the middle of an empty room, with no meaning other than looking different between walls that would live longer than her, shining between walls that, when the leaves eventually lost their color and fell apart in the wind, would look the same.

… A reflection later, Shadow still just saw leaves

Toriel's voice brought the black hedgehog out of his intense philosophical and meta-narrative analysis of the leaves. "Is everything okay, little ones?" She questioned from the balcony at the bottom of the stairs, and it took Shadow a moment to formulate a response, but Sonic's voice spoke before.

“Yes yes! Excuse us ma'am, we just needed a moment to talk about something” The blue hedgehog exclaimed, and Shadow looked at him even more confused, but Sonic didn't look at him as he waved his hand in a carefree gesture towards Toriel “We'll be up in a moment” He finished, smiling

Toriel immediately returned the smile with an understanding look. “Of course little ones, I will wait for you in the next room, call if you need me.” She asked them, and after an animated nod from the blue hero, Toriel crossed the door.

The moment he saw her disappear, Shadow approached his rival with, as was customary on that day, several questions: "What's going on?"

Sonic raised an eyebrow at the other hedgehog. “What do you mean ‘what’s going on’? Aren’t you seeing this?” He asked in disbelief, waving his hand at the pile of leaves.

Shadow looked at him, quiet for a fee seconds, and then suddenly he feeled his left eye twitch again, inhaling sharply through his nose in an attempt to calm himself down. “Sonic, I’m aware that you have an uncontrollable urge to be a fucking clown constantly.” He began, barely containing his irritation. “But there are only leaves there.”

Sonic narrowed his eyes at him. “Ok, first of all, that was unnecessary.” Shadow opened his mouth, a sarcastic response about to spill out of his tongue like poison, but Sonic continued beforehand. “And second, there is literally a star floating above the leaves.”

Shadow stopped, his mouth hanging open as the previous words died within him, replaced by a very eloquent “What?”

Sonic waved his hand again, more insistently. “Yes, it’s literally there!” He exclaimed, his gaze still fixed on Shadow, waiting for him to react to what was, for him, an obvious sight.

Shadow blinked, realizing then that Sonic, actually wasn't joking.

Which left the options in his head that either the expository talk earlier had blown his rival's brain and he was now hallucinating, or, the hedgehog was simply genuinely seeing something the black hedgehog couldn't.

Shadow closed his eyes tightly, bringing two fingers to his forehead and rubbing them as if he had a migraine, the hedgehog having no choice but to accept all this shit that he didn't understand and that Sonic somehow kept making more complicated than it already was.

After a few moments the black hedgehog spoke to his impatient rival: "I can't see anything Sonic, there's nothing there, at least not from my perspective."

The tired but frank answer made Sonic look puzzled. “What? B-but I…” His gaze flicked between Shadow and the supposedly shining star, an act that lasted a good 15 seconds before the hedgehog finally accepted his rival’s words. “Ok, fine, then…” The blue hedgehog began, looking at the star that still floated in front of him.

His eyes watched her, his eyes captured her glow, in fact, his eyes were slightly irritated by the glow after looking at it for too long, Sonic could feel the glow.

The glow that, judging by Shadow's still confused look and the way Toriel continued on without even turning to look at him, only Sonic could see, although he could at least rule out the option that he was hallucinating (Apparently he was pretty good at noticing if something was real or a hallucination, Sonic thought in an unusually morbid joke...)

So, faced with a new mystery that loomed before him and apparently only for him, there was only one thing the blue hero could do.

“…I’m going to touch it and see if anything happens,” Sonic said suddenly, with complete sincerity and honesty in his words.

“W-wha- are you a fucking joking?” Shadow blurted out before he could stop himself, watching in disbelief as Sonic approached the mound of leaves. “You don’t even know what the heck is- Sonic stop walking towards th- Sonic you son of a-“

Sonic completely ignored Shadow's words and curses, walking slowly but surely towards the spot, feeling the warmth of its glow cover his body, causing a calmness to flood over him the closer he got.

The best way Sonic could describe it, the feeling of a gentle tug that the star's glow seemed to give him, it was as if a part of him, a part of his very being, was calling to him.

As if someone close to him, almost like a part of his own essence, of his own soul offered their help.

Sonic reached out his hand without hesitation, and then his gloved fingers brushed the tips of the shining star.

The energy ran through him, through his entire body, through his entire being, through his entire soul.

And then came the whisper

“ The leaves rustling against your feet as you set out on a new adventure fills you with determination. ”

Sonic pulled his hand away, slowly and calmly, and after that he took a single step back, looking at the point with an unreadable gaze, and after a few moments he turned just as slowly to see Shadow staring at him without blinking as if he was waiting for Sonic to explode in front of him after having touched the bright point.

“… And?” The dark hedgehog asked, looking at him expectantly.

Sonic blinked, almost as if coming out of a trance, and then simply said, “… Nothing, I think?” The hedgehog said it almost in surprise, but then added, “Well, I feel more energetic than before, although I wasn’t tired before touching the star, but now I feel more… lively!” He exclaimed, a smile appearing on his face as he looked at his rival arrogantly, “Who would have thought, I have good ideas sometimes.”

Shadow gave him a flat look as he rolled his eyes, feeling stupid for having been the least bit concerned about his blue counterpart (a fact that would, with no doubt, go to the grave with him) “With any luck, the next thing you touch without thinking will set you on fire” He replied sardonically, and Sonic just laughed in response.

“You do wish, Shads,” the blue hedgehog replied, walking up to stand beside Shadow, both of them finally resuming their pace to climb the stairs and meet up with Toriel.

But as they climbed the stairs, Shadow looked back at the pile of abandoned leaves on the ground. “Are you sure you weren't joking about that star thing?” He asked looking at the other hedgehog.

Sonic looked at him while shrugging his shoulders. “I really don’t know what that was all about, but… it felt real when I touched it, not like something my brain could form.” He said, a little more calmly on that last part, making Shadow observe him for a few moments, before simply nodding, deciding that, although that 'floating star' was another mystery that he eventually wanted to give meaning and reason to, there were many more that deserved more of his attention, settling, at least for the moment, for leaving that unknown behind.

But as the two hedgehogs approached the next room, Sonic cast one last, subtle glance back, unable to see the bright star from where he was, but remembering every last detail of the feeling of strength and energy that filled him when he touched it.

And that whispering voice, which, although it feeled like looking at a blurry silhouette in a thick fog, with Sonic could barely bring out any details about anything on the voice, the whispered phrase filled him with a strength that he could not explain, but that felt right.

Although the whisper that followed just before Sonic pulled his hand away from the star still filled him with confusion

“( 'File saved?' )” Sonic wondered in his mind “(What does that mean?)”

_________________________________

Toriel moved, stepping on the switches on the floor and pulling the lever next to the door as if she were just breathing, the simple pattern of the door memorized decades ago, and with that the door to the next room opened, a sight that made the woman smile and turn to look at her two companions.

“The ruins are full of puzzles, though none are particularly difficult and I've made sure none of them are potentially dangerous, but they are nonetheless essential to progressing through the place,” she explained, crossing into the next room, relieved to hear her two companions following her instantly.

Toriel walked down the hall followed closely by Sonic and Shadow, both hedgehogs observing the room with the same attention and fascination as the previous two, Sonic with a curious look at his surroundings and Shadow with an analytical look as if he were trying to find a defect in a prison cell.

If Toriel had noticed his gaze and had that train of thought, she would have thought it was a rather bitter irony.

But the woman continued to advance at a slow pace without worrying. “Although I suppose you already know this, you must have run into several of these while entering the ruins from… wherever you came from.” She finished, turning her head to look at both hedgehogs with clear curiosity in her tone and gaze, but without making any move to insist on getting information from them.

As the trio's footsteps echoed through the room and mixed with the soft sound of water running down the walls and under the small wooden bridges in the room, Toriel thought a bit about the hedgehogs following her. Although she wasn't exactly a reserved woman (some would say she was quite talkative actually), she didn't think she'd find herself being followed from deep within the ruins by anyone other than a human, let alone two young 'monsters' she'd never seen, not only not in the ruins, but never in her very long life.

Although, if there was one wonderful thing she could say about the underground (or something good at all), it was the number of unique and wonderful souls that inhabited it, and of course Toriel would do everything in her power to guide those two extremely confused (and a little adorable, she added in her head) hedgehogs.

That was another matter, even with the short time she had known them, the goat woman was quick to notice how fascinated both hedgehogs were by everything, even though it should have been obvious to her that both of them must have traveled a large part of the ruins to get to where she had found them, both of them still looked at the place as if it were the first time, as if those walls were not familiar to them.

As if they had never seen the ruins until now

As if they had appeared from… somewhere else

And toriel was well aware that there was only one room behind the one where she had saved both hedgehogs.

But it was absurd, to think that both would come from… above.

Toriel shook her head, her ears twitching and lightly tapping her head as she pulled the first lever in the room (and turning around she briefly noticed Sonic staring at the various yellow arrows drawn on the wall pointing to the lever in confusion, which made her smile in some amusement).

As they approached the second lever, Sonic broke the silence. “Whoever designed this place was having fun.” He commented with a smile at the actually not very complex but still remarkable puzzles.

Toriel nodded. “Indeed, while I don’t know who created the ruins puzzles, I must admit that I find them very charming.” She replied, walking over to the second lever (practicedly ignoring the other lever next to the one that activated the mechanism, as well as the lighter stain of paint on the floor beneath said lever; it looked as if that area had been recently painted and renovated…)

And with a movement of his hand the barrier of spikes that blocked the access to the next room fell with a metallic sound, and then the goat woman resumed her walk to the next room, and while the duo of hedgehogs followed her diligently, Shadow finally spoke.

“So, you didn’t create this place or any of the… puzzles that are here, correct?” Although the word ‘puzzles’ came out of Shadow’s mouth as if he had received a personal insult to his intelligence, Toriel responded by gently shaking her head.

“Oh no no, these ruins have existed for centuries, and I have been living here for much less time than that, although I have dedicated myself to taking care of the place as best I can” She replied

“How long exactly?” The black hedgehog asked again.

Toriel's lips pursed slightly at the question, though luckily none of the hedgehogs could see the gesture behind her back, mumbling a light "Mmh" as they entered the next room, which had a familiar doll with somewhat worn seams near the exit.

“I’m afraid it’s difficult for me to say,” she finally replied. “The ruins are isolated from the rest of the underground, so I’ve known little of the outside world, that includes how long it’s been since I… moved here.” She finished, trying to make her words not sound as sad as the implications of them.

Although it didn't seem like she had much success, because even without turning around she could feel the gaze of both of them on her, so she tried to lighten the mood a bit. "A-although I'm not complaining of course, after all I came here for my own free will and I remain for the same reason, it's not something I regret," she said (although perhaps, on the most boring days where her thoughts flowed further than normal, the goat woman still wondered what had become of the kingdom that she herself had left behind).

“And besides, the little monsters of the ruins are good company, they give some life to this old place and help me not to lose my cooking skills, a pair of mouths that eat the pies i let on the window its never bad” She commented, smiling brigthly at the end.

Sonic smiled at her laughter, almost following it with one of his own, but Shadow spoke up first. “There are more… monsters in this place?” He questioned, pausing briefly to carefully enunciate the word ‘monster’ as if afraid it would be misinterpreted (Toriel wondered a little why).

Still, and with some confusion, she answered as she passed by the training dummy. “Yes, a few who decided to make the site their home, didn’t you find any on your walk through the ruins?” She finally questioned them, turning her head to look at them, hoping that with a bit of luck one of them would clarify, although if the answer was negative she wouldn’t insist.

Toriel then watched as Sonic scratched his quills and made a mumbled sound, “Yeah… about that, we don’t actually-“

Any explanation Sonic tried to give died and was consumed by a pair of flashes coming from both hedgehogs that made Toriel turn around quickly in confusion, but the woman recognized the sound as that of a fight starting, and was about to reproach herself for not warning both hedgehogs that this could happen when passing too close to the doll.

But as she turned around, the sight that greeted her made a cold sweat run through her, before her and in front of the once again confused hedgehogs, were two bright, colorful souls, a stark contrast to the pure white souls of all the monsters.

A glow colors, values ​​and emotions only present in human souls

Sonic and Shadow blinked, and the latter growled, casting a glare at his own yellow heart. “And now why did they appear?”

Sonic looked at his partner and then at his bright red heart. “No idea, that crazy flower didn’t finish telling us why they appeared.” He replied, huffing a little, but then his eyes widened as if he had come to an obvious conclusion and he looked up at the goat woman. “Hey, Mrs. Toriel! Do you know why our souls-?” Sonic stopped talking abruptly, which made Shadow look at him, and then at Toriel.

The woman looked at them with her eyes wide open, her pupils jumping between looking at their souls and at them at great speed and without even blinking, noticing in her gaze a great amount of emotions that none of them could hope to tell.

They both remained motionless in their places as if they just have been catched in the middle of a crime, while their souls floated, moving slowly and lightly up and down with an almost innocent air as if they were not the objects of all that chaos.

Then, Sonic slightly tilted his head towards the dark hedgehog “Shadow, why is Toriel looking at us like we killed someone?”

Shadow replied with a grimace “I have a feeling than that would have been easier to explain that this…”

Sonic was silent for a moment, and then clicked his tongue with a resigned look. “Well, dang it.”

Chapter Text

Toriel opened her mouth, then closed it, looked away for a few moments, then looked back at them, opened her mouth again, but only choppy sounds emerged from it that the woman seemed to be struggling to make into coherent words, and then Toriel closed her mouth again. Sonic and Shadow looked at her, waiting patiently (because yes, indeed, Sonic could be patient if he wanted to) for the woman to say what she wanted to say, the blue hedgehog with an attentive and even slightly worried look trying to understand what had made the nothing more than kind woman react in such a way, and the hedgehog in black equally trying to understand what part of the whole situation had caused such a reaction.

But the amount of things Toriel wanted to say, as well as the things she did NOT want to say were swirling around in her head like a tornado tearing her brain apart, all because of the sight of the still exposed souls of both hedgehogs.

The woman couldn't even begin to count the implications of both monsters possessing what were undoubtedly human souls. For how could she choose one of the seemingly million doubts she now possessed for her mouth to utter and try to elicit an answer from the hedgehogs?

They had human souls, but… how was that possible?

Suddenly, his brain rewound the thread of thought he had a while ago.

Did the two hedgehogs really come from… the surface? And if they did, how had they gotten there? How had they crossed the barrier that had kept them all isolated underground for so long? And if that was the case, why did they come back, when they had the freedom of a world covered in the sun's rays?

Suddenly, Toriel felt a chill run up her spine due to a disturbing question.

Those two hedgehogs… had they stolen the souls that were now attached to them?

She, for a single, terrifying moment, considered the possibility that the souls floating in front of her had once been humans.

Innocent humans, humans whose lives were desecrated by serving monsters that she had dared to think were innocent by giving them help.

Innocent human children whose lives were cruelly taken away without even having the option to live because of a senseless slaughter ordered by that bastard of-

“Mrs. Toriel?”

The woman blinked, and then noticed her vision was slightly blurry and there was a moisture on her eyelids that she removed with her fingers.

She rubbed her eyes as gently as she could as she took a deep breath, releasing it in the most tired sigh she had let out in a long time.

Then she took her eyes off of her, and opened them to see the other two monsters in the room besides her (and the doll, she thought in a weak attempt at humor).

Shadow stood firm, his eyes sharp as he watched- no- as he analyzed her face, every detail of her expression and every bit of frustration and anger that had graced her just seconds ago, searching the woman's face for answers. 

That look made Toriel's palms almost burn for another moment. Her very soul yearning for an explanation to the possible horror that the floating souls in the room symbolized.

But then she looked at Sonic, and the burning sensation disappeared from her hands before she had even summoned it.

His mouth was slightly open, and the question in his voice was tempered by genuine concern as he looked at her, his eyes also scanning her expression, but strangely, Toriel felt that unlike the other hedgehog, Sonic wasn't searching for something in her expression.

He didn't seem to be looking for answers in her conflicted expression, nor for reasons for the pain in her eyes. He just seemed to be waiting for her to tell him what was wrong.

Seeing those emerald eyes, seeing that concern, seeing that sincerity, Toriel wondered how she could have thought even for a second that those two hedgehogs in front of her were murderers.

That were like… the

“M-my apologies little ones, I…” She raised her hand as if the gesture would reassure them, but stopped halfway, and with a sigh she let it fall. “I’m just… very confused.”

“…Because of our souls,” Shadow spoke. His words didn’t seem to be a question, though he didn’t seem to be very sure of his affirmation either.

After a pause, Toriel nodded slowly, taking a deep breath in an attempt to organize her thoughts and conduct this conversation as best she could. Even on the off chance that she might not like the answers.

“Those souls… where did you… get them from?” She finally asked, her throat tightening slightly in preparation for what was to come.

However, both hedgehogs just blinked at the same time, a shared confusion evident in their eyes, and after giving each other a quick glance as if they expected the other to have the answer, Shadow was the one to respond. 

“The flower said they were a manifestation of our being, but it didn't say how or why it made them appear outside of our bodies like this,” he said, vividly remembering the explanation as he looked at her radiant yellow soul, although at that moment he questioned how much of what that maniac flower had told them was true.

But then, Sonic remembered something, and spoke up. “He said we had 'human souls'.” He commented. “Whatever that means.”

Toriel blinked, feeling her brow furrow in confusion. “You don’t know what human souls are?” She questioned, even more confused.

Sonic scratched his quills again in an awkward gesture. “To be fair, we don’t know much about anything down here, we fell through a hole.” He commented, letting out a small laugh as if it was no big deal.

Shadow for his part ignored him, focusing on Toriel's question "Are we supposed to know what they are?" He questioned, in his insatiable search for answers about that new world.

Toriel bit her lip for a few moments, about to explain how all the monsters in the underground knew what human souls were and how they differed from monster souls, but a sudden thought made her stop.

…Were both hedgehogs even monsters?

For a moment she felt foolish with her own question, almost to the point of wanting to laugh. What else could those two hedgehogs be but monsters?

…Monsters who didn't know what human souls were, monsters who didn't even seem to know why their souls emerged at the signal for combat, monsters who didn't even seem to know the definition of 'monster' (thinking back to how careful the black hedgehog was when saying the word earlier)

It was also possible that they were just very young and had not been raised in those environments by whoever their caregivers were (which in itself would also worry Toriel and her impulsive mother instinct a little), but it was also possible that they...

They came from the surface

The blue hedgehog said that they had 'fallen down a hole' and she knew the hole above the small field of golden flowers perfectly well, and she also knew for sure that there was only one way in and out of the ruins (one that was useful at least). It was simply impossible that she had not seen both hedgehogs pass through and get to where she had found them.

And now that she looked at them closely, their souls were pure, there was no trace of a monster soul in the hearts floating in front of them. She had never seen the result of combining a human and a monster soul with her own eyes, but she was almost certain that the union would be visible.

But it wasn't, which could only mean... that those were the original souls of both of them.

That, somehow, those two hedgehogs with physical similarities close to monsters were born with those human souls and that, therefore, those two hedgehogs were souls completely alien to the world into which they had fallen, completely alien to what those souls meant to them.

A single drop of sweat ran down Toriel's face as the realization hit her like cold water, and in that very moment, the nature of both hedgehogs ceased to matter to her, at least for the moment.

Now, what mattered to her was the risk, the weight, the danger that now fell upon both hedgehogs, without either of them even knowing it, all for those hearts that shone with power in front of them.

And now, Toriel's mission was going to be to make sure it stayed that way, because, like the duty she had adopted decades ago, her priority was now the safety of both of them.

Her priority now was sonic and shadow

A firm decision emerged in the woman's heart and soul, taking a deep breath and letting the many realizations she had come to sink in, and for a moment she noticed how both hedgehogs continued to look at her expectantly, though despite everything they returned to waiting for her in silence, something she was grateful for (even as Sonic crossed his arms and his fingers drummed against his forearm impatiently, and even Shadow's eyes moved over her quickly, just a little less impatiently).

Toriel sighed, and proceeded to give both hedgehogs the sweetest, most reassuring smile she could. “Excuse me again little ones, I got a little carried away while thinking.” She apologized, hoping it was convincing.

Sonic just gave him a thumbs up with a smile, while Shadow just raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t answer my question.” He just said, and Toriel nodded.

“Of course, the truth is than that was my fault, I shouldn’t have expected you to know so much about how things work down here, I know that all of this is really new to you, overwhelming even” She said, speaking from her past experience with the other human children she had met (although all of them had taken it pretty well, some were just a little more cautious than others, but the fascination and curiosity of innocent human children was always something that shone through in them… for better or worse)

The intrusive thought left her when she saw Sonic wave his hand nonchalantly. “Nah, it’s not that bad actually, we’ve seen stranger stuff.”

Toriel blinked, suddenly feeling curious, perhaps at the thought of learning more about both hedgehogs. “Oh, really?” She asked, and Sonic nodded excitedly.

“Yep!” He replied, then proceeding to lean towards Toriel, bringing a hand to the side of his face as if he were revealing something secret. “Although between us, I’m the one who gets to go on most of the cool adventures, shadow misses out on a lot of them. I guess he just repels the fun like mosquito repellent.” He laughed somewhat mockingly, and Shadow let out a slight growl.

“The fact that I don't want to get into surreal situations that endanger my life every two weeks makes me someone with functional neurons, unlike you Sonic.”

(The day that Sonic casually told him that time he had been taken to a book by a woman who served him as a genie of a ring, while carrying a curse in the form of a flame that slowly killed him and that had been placed by Aladdin's genie, was the day that Shadow had broken his record of 14 cans of beer in a row.

Shadow had made Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy swear that they would never speak of that night again.)

Toriel blinked in bewilderment, and Sonic just rolled his eyes. “Maybe I’m just too tough to die so easily.”

“Or maybe in hell they don't want you either and they throw you back constantly.”

Sonic's mouth opened disproportionately as he brought a hand to his chest as if he had been shot. "Oohhh, o-ok, ok well, I see how this is..." The blue hedgehog's tone sounded almost betrayed, also tinged with an exaggerated thirst for revenge that screamed from miles away 'I'll hit you back later' which only made Shadow snort in slight amusement.

Toriel on the other hand had a nervous smile and a drop of sweat running down her face as she watched the two hedgehogs clash. “(They have an… interesting dynamic)” She thought, bewildered but slightly amused by the friendly interaction between the two hedgehogs (because, even though the black hedgehog gave almost no sign of it, Toriel could recognize the lack of weight and intentions to hurt in the words of both. It seemed that they simply clashed naturally, but not hurtfully, or at least the goat woman had that impression).

With that thought, Toriel proceeded to stifle a fake cough with her fist, causing both hedgehogs to snap out of their staring match to look at her. “Ahem, I think we should get going, my house is still a bit far away, but I’ll make sure to make the way as safe as possible for both of us,” she said, her gentle voice sounding as if she was trying to calm any worries they might have.

Of course neither of the two hedgehogs had any such concerns, but neither of them commented on it, both nodding in response, a gesture the goat woman returned as she turned away.

Although before she took a single step, Sonic's voice sounded with some doubt "Ermm, should we do something about this or...?" Turning around, Toriel saw Sonic wave his finger pointing at her soul and Shadow's, both hearts still present.

Toriel's eyes widened in understanding. "Oh, of course, I forgot to explain about the fights here in the underground." She began, noticeably catching the interest of both hedgehogs. "Down here, if the monsters seek conflict with you, they will drag you into combat, and in doing so your souls will manifest and it will become the main target of the monsters' magical attacks." She explained.

“To win a fight, you must act to appease your opponent, doing or saying something that pleases them, thus ending the fight peacefully.” Toriel smiled at the end, feeling happy to be able to instruct both hedgehogs in conflict resolution through pacifism.

With that, the woman turned around, not noticing how Sonic and Shadow turned to look at each other, both with the same strange and confused look. It seemed that they were waiting for Toriel to say something obvious about the fight that she had not added in the end, although before anyone said anything Toriel spoke again.

“Oh! And by the way, if you want you can also escape from the fighting, at a certain distance the tension will break and your souls will disappear into your bodies again” She added, starting to walk hoping that both hedgehogs would follow her. Both hedgehogs followed her after a moment, entering the next room, and just as she explained, the souls of both disappeared after they took a couple of steps.

Sonic looked at where his soul used to be. “Huh, they have some funny rules down here.” He just commented, although judging by his smile and the sparkle in his eyes, the hedgehog seemed to think that it was all amazing and exciting. A new perspective with new opportunities and amazing possibilities.

Sonic always liked the prospect of the world expanding, always showing him new things, sometimes when he was looking for them and sometimes when he wasn't. He was fast, very fast, but he was only one person after all, and the world was still huge and still had a lot to offer, a lot to discover. Sonic was almost certain that he would always find something new to see. Each new world, including this one, was a new adventure that the blue hedgehog would take on headlong.

Shadow, for his part, just walked in silence. His thoughts were far from the positive outlook fueled by his rival's curiosity. Many questions still ran through his head, and few answers had been provided. The hedgehog continued to keep his frustration and hunger for answers at bay, for the moment. 

With any luck, this sudden trip would show him the purpose of his forced descent into this world. It was still not the best situation, and the mere fact of not understanding what was going on (not being able to scratch that metaphorical itch that there was something he should know in this whole situation), but, the hedgehog thought somewhat sarcastically, it could have been worse. At least there was no time travel involved this time.

Toriel just nodded, continuing her guided walk through the slightly narrow corridors of that room. The corridors bent and advanced in a straight line. The sound of running water slowly flooded the room and resonated in the ears of the older woman and the young hedgehogs, finding the origin of the sound a few steps away.

The hallway opened up to reveal an open area, with a platform surrounded by running water around it and below the room itself. What was really striking, however, were the multitudes of stalls covered with several pairs of enormous metal spikes. The metal was slightly deteriorated by time, but its edge still remained lethal.

Sonic leaned to the side to look behind Toriel, staring at the sea of ​​spikes in bewilderment. “In my opinion, that's a bit excessive,” he said, raising an eyebrow. 

Past puzzles were at best fun tests for a child to watch in wonder at the moving mechanisms. This one, however, gave the impression that whoever had created it had gone through an ugly divorce and rejected any further glimmer of partnership and closeness.

(That line of thought belonged to Shadow, an unexpected glimpse of humor that almost made him smile in that situation. Almost.)

Toriel turned back to look at both hedgehogs, her gaze as always reassuring and motherly. “Don’t worry little ones, I told you that none of the puzzles in the ruins were dangerous at all, and this one is no exception.” She began. Sonic and Shadow looked at her with raised eyebrows in a skeptical manner.

In response, Toriel extended her hand towards the two of them. “Anyway, I would like you both to take my hand for this little puzzle, I don’t want to risk your safety in any way.” The woman explained, holding her hand out with a kind and patient smile.

Sonic looked at her for a moment. There was some doubt in his mind, which showed in his eyes for a split second when the goat woman extended her hand, but Sonic didn't vocalize his uneasiness. His first instinct, of course, was to reciprocate the woman's good intentions.

Shadow, on the other hand, had the same concerns as his colleague. But the moment Toriel extended her hand, the words flowed from her mouth unfiltered. “You can stop doing that, you know?”

Toriel blinked, her eyes connecting with the dark hedgehog's restless but also slightly irritated gaze. Sonic, as if he knew what the other hedgehog was about to say, threw a disapproving look at his rival, which he ignored as Toriel watched him in confusion.

“D-do what?” She asked.

“Treat us like we are children”

Toriel took a single step back as if the words had literally hit her. At her reaction, Shadow's eyes showed some of his irritation, almost as if he had regretted his words, or at least how forceful they were.

“Shadow…” Sonic half-growled, narrowing his eyes reproachfully at the other hedgehog. Shadow looked away, suddenly feeling scolded and mentally kicking himself for it, though before he could say anything the ruin guard spoke up.

“I-I’m so sorry, I-I guess I just… I assumed you guys would be also…” She trailed off. Neither of the hedgehogs missed the way her throat seemed to constrict, struggling to find a way to finish that sentence.

“(… 'also'?)” Shadow caught and repeated in his mind. Although the slight itch of guilt still lingered, he filed the reaction away to ask later.

Toriel shook her head. “No, you’re right. It was my fault for assuming your ages and thinking they would feel helpless here.” She apologized firmly. In retrospect, she really should have asked sooner. She had just assumed they were okay with her calling them ‘little ones’ in an affectionate way.

Shadow didn't say anything, and Sonic took the opportunity by stepping forward. "Don't worry, its nothing serious, and besides I guess we didn't really make it easy." He shrugged, smiling to lighten the mood as he placed a hand on his forehead and then extended it towards Shadow's forehead as if measuring their heights. Shadow slapped his hand away, but the point remained. 

Both hedgehogs were, in fact, comically short, reaching just above the goat woman's waist. Toriel, though she didn't comment on it for fear of being rude, found it somewhat adorable in itself.

Sonic, after rolling his eyes at his rival, continued, "And technically? I'm not an adult yet, I'm 17, crazy right?" The blue hedgehog smiled mischievously, tilting his head slightly towards Toriel, who smiled back as she nodded. Truth be told, not counting that presumptuous assumption from before, the guardian could easily see that the blue hedgehog was somewhat older, not old, but something in his voice, posture and most of all in his eyes, when she looked at them closely, gave her that feeling. The illusion of someone who had seen and lived through many things, both good and bad.

“Ooohhh, and of course, we can’t forget-“

“Don’t you dare”

Toriel was brought out of her little musing by the voices of both hedgehogs. Shadow looked at his companion with clear and barely contained murderous intentions, and Sonic raised his hands in front of his chest as if that would protect him from the sudden deadly gaze directed at him.

“You don't even know what I was going to say,” he said, and although his tone tried to seem annoyed by the accusation, in contrast there was an evident smile and mischievous sparkle in his eyes.

The look completely devoid of will to live that Shadow gave him indicated that he did indeed know what his counterpart was about to say. “We’ve already had this damn conversation, Sonic. I’m still giving you the same answer.” He growled, and while Toriel looked at the exchange in confusion, Sonic put both hands on his hips, looking at the other hedgehog with a mocking smile.

“For your information, my friend, my doubts are completely legitimate no matter how many times you answer them wrong.”

Shadow growled again, “I’m NOT over 50 years old, Sonic. I already told you that and you still can’t get it into that hollow skull of yours.” The black hedgehog growled again, finally bringing up the topic of conversation that Sonic had been childishly spreading since they had met.

Toriel let out a small “H-huh?” which was mitigated by a snort from the blue hedgehog. 

“I'm just saying we have no way to prove it-“

The dark hedgehog interrupted him, moving his hands back and forth rigidly as if he were explaining to a child that the colored putty was not edible. “My body was cryogenically frozen in a capsule for that entire time, freezing every physical and biological process in my body, along with my brain, leaving me in a coma. I did not age in any way, neither physically nor mentally, therefore the years I spent encapsulated do not count for me.”

Sonic proceeded to bring two fingers to his chin, pursing his lips and narrowing his eyes as if debating whether or not he should believe the claims of the dark hedgehog who was looking at him in exasperation and lack of sleep (obviously, he knew that what the other hedgehog said was true, but of course there was no fun in agreeing with him).

Ultimately, Sonic went with the obvious option of prolonging his colleague's suffering a little longer. “Convincing, although, as I recall, you also said that you couldn't age biologically, so your body is no proof.” He countered, and the genuine argument seemed to hit Shadow and make his eyes widen, and Sonic smiled as if he had him on the ropes. “And of course, your attitudes and above all your questionable health habits lead me to only one logical conclusion.”

The smile on Sonic's face grew, his fangs seeming to gleam in reflection of his overflowing excitement as he landed the finishing blow. “You, Shadow the Hedgehog, are an old man!”

“I'm going to kill you” The aforementioned only said, his voice hollow and devoid of life, but his eyes shone with bloodthirsty

Sonic just laughed, his laughter light at the atmosphere of rivalry that flowed easily with the other hedgehog, even though the latter acted as if his mere presence disgusted him (Sonic was only 'almost' sure that wasn't the case, but in his defense his rival's reactions were funny, and he was sure he would know if he ever crossed the line with a joke, not that he intended to of course).

A delightful laugh made both hedgehogs turn around, finding Toriel with a hand on her snout to mitigate her cheerful laughter a little. It seemed that, although a part of her did not approve of how, ahem, direct Shadow's vocabulary was (she wondered if she should try to correct him at the risk of upsetting him), the guardian found their interactions and the dynamic between the two quite entertaining.

(And, why not say it, nostalgic too…)

Toriel's laughter died down, but she masked the slight sadness that came with that momentary flash of memory, smiling softly at the two of them. “You two get along very well,” she commented jovially.

Sonic winked in response, walking over to Shadow and placing a hand on his shoulder casually. “You could say that.” He replied, laughing as he heard Shadow snort and lift his shoulder slightly to brush the hedgehog’s hand off of him.

But with that, Sonic suddenly looked back from behind the goat woman. “So, getting back to that…” His finger extended towards where the spike-ridden path still extended and which the trio had momentarily forgotten about.

The guardian's eyes widened as she turned around quickly. “O-oh! Of course, we still have to get through this puzzle.” She exclaimed, looking back. “You don't have to hold my hand if you don't want to, but I'd really prefer if you stayed close to me for this.” The guardian continued. Sonic nodded immediately, and after a few seconds Shadow nodded as well.

With their confirmations, Toriel began to walk, and the eyes of both hedgehogs widened as they saw that she was walking straight towards the spikes. "Madam-!" Sonic exclaimed, extending his hand out of instinct. He was moments away from rushing out to prevent the woman from getting hurt, but his instinct didn't jump at any potential risk, and they both witnessed how the spikes of the square sank into the ground as soon as Toriel's foot approached them, stepping softly on the ground and advancing without stopping her pace, approaching the next square, whose spikes sank just as fast as the first one, but when Toriel stepped on the third square, the spikes of the first one re-emerged, and at the sound the goat woman turned to see both hedgehogs.

“There is a specific path for this puzzle, all the spikes on that path will retract before you can touch them, it is completely safe as long as you follow me” She explained in a calm tone to the still motionless hedgehogs.

After a few seconds they both looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes, after which Sonic shrugged, moving forward until he took a tentative step towards the first square, and just as he did with Toriel, the spikes retracted before making contact with his shoes, which prompted him to continue moving, followed almost immediately by Shadow, and upon seeing them Toriel continued moving forward, occasionally turning around following the path of the retractable spikes, the path equally memorized in the older woman's head for decades.

(Shr had long since stopped thinking about how… monotonous the ruins could be. There was no point in that in her opinion and it only made her feel down and think of points in her life where purple walls and dying leaves were not all she knew.)

Eventually, Toriel crossed the last spiked square, letting out a sigh. A few moments later, both hedgehogs also completed the puzzle, Sonic with a small smile and Shadow with a neutral expression.

Toriel turned to look at them. Although her mind had already accepted her sacred duty to protect them both from a danger they both didn't know existed, the wave of memories that came back to her at the echo of their footsteps had her feeling conflicted. Her self-imposed duty hadn't changed at all, it was her responsibility to defend them from the danger that any of them setting foot in the rest of the underground would entail. Her role, on the other hand, the role of mother that she had strived to uphold for all the human children who fell into her care, the one she had formed as a pillar that would prevent the weight of the world and the thirst for revenge against humans from falling on those poor children, the role she had formed because it was… familiar.

The role she had already failed 6 times to carry out, of course, but at the end of the day, it was natural for her to only want to defend the innocence and life that those young souls had ahead of them, those who did not deserve to be taken away in the name of a 'greater good' and the remnants of a war.

But this was something different. For the first time in a long time, Toriel was dealing with something even more complicated than being an overprotective mother to some very curious children: Being the protector of a pair of teenagers.

Toriel still hadn't decided whether or not she should try to step into her motherly role with both hedgehogs. Sonic didn't seem to mind, he didn't deny her help and whenever she spoke, even when she wasn't explaining anything about the ruins, he listened to her, and in that moment when she had first found them, when she saw the hedgehog relax after observing her for mere moments and then stand in front of her, looking into her eyes. That moment was all it took for the blue hedgehog to trust her. One look into her eyes, and he reciprocated Toriel's kindness without hesitation.

Shadow… he was more complicated. He had been the one who had vocalized his disinterest in being treated like a child, as if he rejected 'that' kind of approach from the goat woman (Toriel's intention had never been to impose that role on either of them, but Shadow still vehemently rejected the gestures). Besides, it didn't take much observation to see how his eyes followed Toriel's every move as if he expected her to suddenly shoot a flamethrower at them both. He clearly still didn't trust her.

And then there was the detail that the hedgehog might or might not be over 50 years old, which could explain his verbal rejection of Toriel's care (if she was honest, she didn't know if the discussion a few moments ago had been an inside joke between the hedgehogs, something real and completely literal, or both).

But the main point remained. Both hedgehogs had different views on her and her attitudes, and whether they were positive or negative, the last thing Toriel wanted was to force both hedgehogs to accept her role as a mother in this way. 

But even with that, she couldn't help but let a now familiar idea form in her mind as the three of them entered the next room.

“Little- uh- ahem-“ Toriel began, stumbling over her words, though luckily her slip only earned her an amused look from the blue hedgehog and a disinterested one from the black hedgehog. After a few moments she corrected herself, “Sonic, Shadow, I would like to ask you something.”

Her words instantly caught both of their attention. She didn't miss how Shadow's gaze turned suspiciously in her direction, but she continued anyway. "I want you to cross this room on your own and without my guidance."

She didn't give them time to respond, she just turned her head to look at them out of the corner of her eye. "Im sorry for this."

And with those words, Toriel ran, as fast as she could, running across the vast room at an impressive speed.

Sonic blinked, watching in extreme confusion as the white and purple blur disappeared into the distance at what seemed to him the speed of an asthmatic man. "Huh?"

For his part, and although Shadow's eyes followed Toriel's movements with extreme ease, the paranoia contained in his mind made him stop in place, his teeth clenching and the fur on his body seeming to stand on end.

The blue hedgehog however, oblivious to his companion's tense state, could only scratch the fur on his head with his fingers in a puzzled gesture, though his lips still curved upwards in slight amusement. "Ok, I guess we'll follow her." The hedgehog placed his fist against his hip. The prospect of any possible danger after the goat woman's escape did not cross his mind, he simply found the act amusing.

Then Sonic turned to Shadow, and then his head tilted in a confused gesture. “And what's wrong with you?” He asked, at the sight of the dark hedgehog frantically looking to each end of the room as if it were someone's basement death trap.

Shadow's response came with a growl, without even turning to see the other hedgehog. "Are you blind? This must be some kind of trap."

Sonic raised an eyebrow.

The black hedgehog looked at him irritated. “She left the room in a hurry, there must be something she is waiting for to attack us and-“

Sonic rolled his eyes so hard it was a miracle they didn't roll all the way around his head. "Oh for the love of god dude" he said with slight exasperation, and then without warning Sonic disappeared in a blue blur and a gust of wind under the confused gaze of his partner
_________________________________

As she ran without turning to see the two hedgehogs' reactions, Toriel thought about what she was doing. It was a simple test, with no real danger behind it. She had done exactly the same thing with all the children who had fallen into her care, a 'test' that was actually closer to a prank on her part. She had even tried to scare one of the children by coming out from behind the pillar and making the scariest face she could muster.

(The boy in question, who was wearing bright orange gloves and a matching bandana on his forehead, had barely blinked when she jumped in front of him, in fact he had laughed a little. Toriel wasn't bothered in the slightest.)

But these hedgehogs were not children, they were not frightened by the world full of magical creatures into which they had been suddenly inserted. In the eyes of both there was only curiosity and intrigue, but not fear.

She knew it, but even with that, she couldn't help but fall back on old habits. Cling to something that was familiar. Something that would distract her from her fears and regrets, which with each new soul always seemed to come back and accumulate like spirits tormenting her.

Her feet turned after several seconds of rapid progress and brought her behind the ancient pillar at the end of the hall. Toriel sighed, not from lack of breath, but from the realization that hit her and that she did not want to accept.

She really did still see them both as helpless children. They were something familiar to her. A constant test.

An attempt to avoid failing again

She really wanted to protect them, to hold on to them. She had already lost so much, failed at so much already. And in her solitary confinement, she had nothing but memories to keep her company in the emptiness of her living room, in the silence of her kitchen, in the darkness of her bedroom.

Toriel just wanted to be able to protect someone for once.

She just wanted to be a strong mother. Not to break down over past losses, to be a strong pillar for the innocent souls who fell into her care, to be completely, absolutely, and definitively the best for the-

“Hey!”

Toriel squealed, jumping out from behind the pillar. Behind it, Sonic waved his hand, smiling and letting out a small laugh at her reaction.

The caretaker brought a hand to her chest, inhaling and exhaling frantically for several moments as she processed the presence of the blue hedgehog. Moments later, with her breathing calmed and the blush of embarrassment from her panicked squeal fading from her face, Toriel spoke.

“S-Sonic! I-I didn’t expect you to get here so fast.” Toriel’s calm voice faltered into a short stutter, reflecting the remnants of her shock and the bewilderment that came with finally processing that the hedgehog in front of her had, in fact, made it down the unnecessarily long hallway in record time.

Sonic couldn't help but laugh again. “Yeah, let's say speed is kinda my thing.” He replied, his finger pointing at her in a gun gesture. 

Toriel blinked in curiosity. And suddenly, she realized something she hadn't asked. Even with her theory that both hedgehogs might not exactly be monsters, it still didn't hurt to ask. "O-oh, so, you can use your magic to move at high speeds?" She asked, out of simple curiosity and intrigue. It wasn't the conventional use of magic she was familiar with, but it was plausible in theory.

However, Sonic just looked at her tilting his head in surprise. “Magic?” He questioned.

Toriel just looked at him, and then sighed. In retrospect, she shouldn't have assumed any of them followed the rules she was used to. "Don't you know what magic is?" She questioned, her voice drawing patience from some unknown place.

Sonic pursed his lips. “Well, I’ve seen several types of magic actually, but I have a feeling you’re referring to a different kind.” He commented insightfully. But then his eyes widened as if remembering something, turning to the end of the hallway where they had come from. “Oh right, HEY SHADOW, IF NOTHING HAS EXPLODED OVER THERE COME HERE ALREADY PAL!” Sonic shouted, his tone filling with feigned impatience as he spoke to the black and red blur in the distance that was Shadow.

The aforementioned hedgehog could practically feel the bags under his eyes as he heard his rival's calls. “(Can god please end my suffering already?)” He thought, sighing heavily.

Perhaps his reaction a few moments ago had been exaggerated, but that didn't mean he could trust in the unknown that was that world underground. Even if Sonic didn't do it for whatever reason, Shadow would remain alert.

(“In this world, it’s KILL or BE KILLED”)

…Shadow would be careful

After shaking his head slightly to clear his head, Shadow sent a light pulse of chaos energy into his shoes (the energy he had stored since they had fallen was still minimal, but the amounts of chaos energy he could create and boost on his own were enough). His hair shoes awakened and hummed, and with a movement of his feet Shadow disappeared in a blur, appearing in an instant next to Sonic and right in front of Toriel, who let out another shriek at the sudden appearance as Shadow turned off his shoes. 

“Hello,” Sonic greeted, smiling condescendingly.

“Asshole” Shadow said in response with a flat look. Sonic just laughed.

For her part, Toriel cleared her throat to try to hide her earlier shock and maintain the decorum she still had. She smoothed her long purple robe a couple of times before speaking again.

“Ahem, my apologies for doing such an action without warning you, but as you can see my intention was never to abandon you” She tried to explain, trying to smile kindly, although her expression was somewhat more awkward than usual “I just wanted to test what you would do without my guidance, but in retrospect perhaps it was a bit… childish of me” She finished, now in an apologetic tone.

In response, Sonic just waved a hand in the air, letting it pass easily, and luckily Shadow just looked at it for a moment before emitting a light "Hmp" with disinterest, to which Toriel smiled.

“Perfect, with that settled-“ The guard paused, her eyes widening at a sudden thought that flashed through her mind and hit her like a brick and nearly made her bring a hand to her mouth and gasp.

What a scandal! With all the emotions she had experienced with the arrival of both hedgehogs, she had forgotten her most basic manners. Her house was a mess (although she actually cleaned it at least every other day, one of her limited ways of killing time in this place), the guest room had not been tidied up (then again, she cleaned that one every other day too. At least the bed would be big enough for the two hedgehogs, although she wasn't sure if she could even propose before they both tried to kill each other)

And by the angel, Toriel hadn't prepared anything! Fortunately she still had ingredients for a good pie (unfortunately, she didn't have snails at the time), but she would have to get home to prepare it, but what kind of caregiver would she be if she didn't welcome them with a pie?

Toriel's mother and hostess instinct took over. She had to get home and give the two hedgehogs a proper welcome.

And hopefully give them a better impression of their new home (or at least that was what she hoped)

Though doubt gripped her a few moments later, doubt about leaving the two hedgehogs on their own while she got everything ready, it was gone almost as quickly as it came. They both seemed very reasonable, Toriel didn't doubt that they could wait for her while she got ready, and on top of that, she had a small feeling inside her that they would both be fine on their own.

But like that, Toriel, I prefer to be careful.

“Oh angel,” the goat woman murmured, catching the attention of both hedgehogs. Toriel turned to give them both another apologetic look. “I’m so sorry about that you two, I remembered there were some errands I left pending before I found you.” Toriel tried to make her explanation as convincing as possible. “I’m afraid I must attend to these as soon as possible, is it okay if you two stay alone for a while?”

At her question Sonic let out a small snort of amusement, though he didn't seem offended by the question. "Pff, of course ma'am, we'll be fine on our own." He replied. Shadow remained silent.

Toriel nodded with a smile. “Great, please wait for me here. I promise I’ll be back as soon as I can.” And with those words, Toriel turned around, but stopped before leaving the room as she remembered something else. From behind, Sonic and Shadow tilted their heads at the same time as they saw how the woman seemed to be searching for something in her clothes, and when she turned around, she had a phone in her hands. It looked quite old and outdated, but Toriel still handed it to Sonic.

“Here you go, my number is on that phone, you can call me if you need me” She explained, her warm expression making Sonic inevitably smile, taking the object in his hands

“Thanks, we’ll call you if anything happens,” he replied, winking at her casually.

Toriel nodded, but before she could leave Shadow, suddenly overcome with curiosity, spoke in a hesitant tone expressing a seemingly random doubt.

“…That robe doesn’t have pockets, where do I get that phone?”

Toriel was silent. Sonic was silent. Shadow was silent. The room itself seemed to empty of any kind of sound.

After a solid 10 seconds, Toriel spoke in a low voice, “Yes, indeed… this particular tunic does not have pockets…”

Sonic looked at her, and then slowly looked at the phone in his hand, the implications hitting him like a bolt of lightning. “Oh…” He muttered, his cheeks turning pink.

Shadow, for his part, silently cursed the morbid curiosity that had possessed him to ask that, using all his training and self-control to maintain a stony expression on his face that hid his misery.

(This was Sonic's fault. Shadow didn't know how or why, but it was.)

“J-just call me if you need me!” Toriel exclaimed with a shaky smile, and the next second she had already turned around and walked out of the room at a quick pace.

Both hedgehogs were left alone in the long hallway, and after a few moments of silence, Sonic turned to look at his companion with his eyes half-closed and his snout still slightly red. "Well done, genius."

“Shut the fuck up Sonic” The dark hedgehog growled, suppressing his embarrassment

Sonic rolled his eyes. Both hedgehogs then proceeded to try to forget that it had happened, Shadow shaking his head and Sonic putting the phone gifted by Toriel away in the pocket dimension of the emeralds, said phone disappearing in a flash of light. 

Luckily, the current state of the gems didn't stop him from using that limited variant of chaos control, the space-time control technique that used chaos energy (in fact, he hadn't used it for a while, Sonic thought, somewhat strangely), which they could use on a smaller scale with inanimate objects, safely storing them in the pocket dimension of the emeralds, a pretty good trick. 

(The blue hedgehog didn't use it much, except to store the abysmal amount of rings he collected on his adventures. The fact that Sonic was technically rich never registered or mattered too much to him, those rings ultimately only went to the daily lunch chillidog, materials for Tails' inventions and a few coffees for Amy...

Sonic's cheeks were still pink)

Before the blue hero continued daydreaming, Shadow began to walk silently towards the exit of that hallway, and after just a moment Sonic followed him.

They both arrived at a large room with two different paths, one entrance to the left a few steps away from them, and another to the right in the opposite corner of the room. A few piles of orange leaves were scattered around the room.

Before Sonic could take a better look at the area, Shadow spoke up. “I’m surprised you didn’t say anything about us disobeying what the goat woman told us.” He said. Instead of sounding accusatory, the black hedgehog sounded slightly curious.

At her words Sonic scratched his cheek with a finger. “Look, I like Toriel, she’s really good, but…” His voice lost strength in the middle of the sentence, as if he was carefully searching for what to say next.

“He still treats us like children,” Shadow tried to finish for him, showing himself somewhat irritated by that fact.

Sonic just sighed as they both walked towards the entrance on the left. “I think she’s trying, man, but… yeah, she’s not really my style.” He commented. Sonic didn’t dislike Toriel’s overprotective attitude exactly, it was more the… feeling of restriction, like a hug that felt too tight for the hedgehog’s taste.

Perhaps he should try to let the guardian goat know as soon as they saw her again, but at the thought the hedgehog's throat tightened, his lips dry, and a feeling of doubt invaded him.

The sensation felt alien, like something that had been thrown at him suddenly. Something that made him doubt going against Toriel.

It was a strange feeling, but Sonic eventually ignored it. Both hedgehogs walked over to the first entrance. “Let’s just see more of this place, I’m sure we’ll find Toriel soo-“

Left

The blue hedgehog's instinct made him slow down and stop Shadow's advance with his arm, who could barely emit a sound of confusion before a spherical white object flew right in front of them from the entrance to the other room. The object flew to the other end of the room, at a relatively slow speed that made the blue hero's senses warn him more lightly than usual.

Shadow's eyes narrowed immediately, his posture straightening up towards the entrance. Sonic did as well, but with a confused look after having taken a quick look at the thrown projectile. "Was that a fly?"

Something jumped out from the other room in front of them, catching the attention of both hedgehogs immediately, thus observing what seemed to be a living creature.

"Ribbit!"

A frog, with white skin and a look that seemed to be trying to be threatening (keyword: trying). And if its size, which in fact reached the chest of both hedgehogs in height, was not enough, between its front legs a shadow seemed to cover a second face, with only its eyes and mouth visible, which seemed to imitate the frog's expression on this one that was still trying to be threatening (note to highlight: It had not improved much in the 5 seconds that Sonic and Shadow stared at it)

Both hedgehogs blinked, motionless as they analyzed the being in front of them. After a few moments, Sonic spoke with his gaze still fixed on the frog “… Is it weird that I think it looks kind of adorable?”

Shadow sighed “(This is going to be fun)” He thought sarcastically. The day seemed to be just beginning for both of them.

Chapter Text

Another "Ribbit!" echoed through the hall like a battle cry, and in the blink of an eye, the two hedgehogs' souls floated before them. A battle

Shadow watched the frog as it lightly swayed its body up and down. Although 'threatening' wasn't exactly the word the black hedgehog would use to describe the creature, his guard remained high. With the deadly roots and bullets of the golden flower and the burning flames of the guard goat as a reference, Shadow wouldn't allow himself the luxury of underestimating the creatures residing there.

Sonic, for his part, put two fingers to his chin reflexively. "So, if I were Big, what would I say to Froggy to make him feel flattered?" He asked himself out loud.

Shadow looked at him like he was going crazy "What the hell are you doing?"

Sonic looked at him strangely. "Thinking about how to calm this frog?" He asked rhetorically as if it were obvious. Shadow didn't think it was so obvious.

A loud "ribbit ribbit!" caught both of their attentions. The frog's mouth opened, and out emerged a trio of tiny magical spheres with tiny wings that charged toward them like projectiles, making a "bzzzz" sound as they approached, as if they were indeed flies.

Despite the strange yet appropriate nature of the attack, the projectiles came one by one and at a considerably slow speed, giving both hedgehogs more than enough time to move their souls and bodies to the side, the projectiles vanishing into thin air as they passed by. The froggit didn't seem particularly bothered by his failed attack.

The frog began to swing calmly again, and Shadow took this as a sign to turn around and look at his rival, frowning. "In case it wasn't clear to you already, he's attacking us. He's clearly hostile and can't even speak. We must defend ourselves."

Sonic crossed his arms "First of all, you don't have to explain this to me step by step, you know?"

"Your lack of reading comprehension makes it necessary."

"But we're not reading anything"

"Precisely my point" 

The blue hedgehog looked at him unimpressed. "And secondly, Toriel said that we should avoid fighting with the people here, and she knows more about how things go down here than we do." He said with a shrug.

Don't be misunderstood, Sonic was no stranger to fighting when necessary. Some would say he even liked to fight, and the hedgehog himself would admit that, even in those situations where he was fighting for the fate of the world (or the universe, depending on whether or not Eggman decided to show off one of his 10 PhDs in archaeology), the thrill of a battle, one that made his blood pump and burn in his body and made adrenaline fuel his movements like a flare created by gasoline, was a sensation he liked.

That being said, Sonic wasn't hungry for that kind of excitement. He could take things easy sometimes. The dancing frog might agree with him.

The blue hero tilted his head in the direction of the very unintimidating monster. "Come on, tell me now that this little buddy is making you nervous." Sonic raised an eyebrow in a slightly mocking tone.

Shadow just let out a "Tsk" as he looked away from the other hedgehog. Sonic mentally laughed, knowing he had won that round, but his self-celebration was cut short when the frog's turn to attack arrived. This time, instead of the flies, a magically white figure appeared right next to the larger frog, having an appearance that made it look more like a normal frog, being even smaller than the larger frog although with no visible facial features. The summoned figure let out a "Ribbit" almost identical to its counterpart, and proceeded to jump towards the souls of both hedgehogs.

Although the appearance of the small frog surprised them, they both reacted to the impending attack, moving their souls to the side causing the small frog to fall to the ground in its tracks. The small summon emitted another "ribbit" After which it took another leap, which led it to crash against the wall, but surprisingly the small frog turned to plant its feet on the brick surface, after which it pushed off, attacking its opponents' hearts at a slightly faster speed than before.

Of course, both hedgehogs' eyes followed its movements effortlessly. Pulling their souls away from another movement, the little frog hit the ground again. This time, upon hitting the ground, the little summon disappeared with a flash, leaving a magical sparkle behind that vanished into thin air. Thus ended the froggit's turn, and he returned to shaking in place without a care in the world.

Shadow had a blank stare as he turned to look at the frog. He suddenly felt like punching himself in the face for being so alert in the beginning. Not even the lingering novelty of having to move his soul to avoid damage had made that fight something you could call, well, a fight. The frog didn't even seem to be trying.

Knowing it was difficult, but that didn't seem to be an impediment for Sonic to give the frog a smile "Hey, not bad buddy! Good tricks" He said friendly and completely honest despite being perfectly fine in every aspect

The frog stopped moving back and forth, but the next attack didn't come, and instead the monster's cheeks turned pink. It seemed the flattery had gotten through and had had a positive effect.

(Although Sonic had the strange feeling that the frog didn't understand what he said, despite feeling flattered anyway)

Sonic continued to smile at the frog's adorable expression, and felt that this was his chance. "That was really good, but I think my friend and I would rather move on. What do you say, pal? Are we good?" The hedgehog asked. His kind and inspiring tone came out naturally even though they were supposed to be in a battle.

The frog paused again for a moment. He seemed to be pondering, and even the shadowy face beneath him took on a thoughtful expression. Finally, the frog smiled, uttering a resounding "Ribitt!" that conveyed his joy surprisingly well, making Sonic laugh.

The froggit then proceeded to hop happily forward, passing by the motionless and bewildered shadow. The frog continued to emit several "Ribitts" as he left the room in the direction the two hedgehogs had come from.

The hero in blue watched the monster leave with his smile still present. "I guess I understand Big better now, who would have thought hehe." He laughed again.

Shadow could only blink, his eyes staring at the white blur that was the frog monster moving away into the distance, before finally sighing "I don't even know what the hell to think about that" He voiced out loud tiredly

The blue hedgehog proceeded to lean towards him with a playful look. "I don't know, maybe something like 'Damn, my edgy ass was paranoid because of a little froggit, I should have listened more to my awesome friend Sonic and been nicer,' I mean, as an idea."

Sonic laughed again, and Shadow growled, wondering if it would be worth it to suffocate his blue rival right where he stood.

Then he paused

"...Froggit?" The black hedgehog's voice asked, puzzled. Sonic stopped laughing and looked at his rival, equally confused.

"Hey?"

"You... you made up a name for that frog monster?" The black hedgehog raised an eyebrow in bewilderment.

Sonic blinked. For a split second, his mind seemed to be covered in a confusing fog as he finally caught up with the name his mouth had uttered almost instinctively and without thinking, but in an instant, the hedgehog cleared his own confusion and fell into step with the conversation. “Oh, yeah, I did. I guess it couldn’t hurt since the little one couldn’t seem to talk,” he explained. Surprisingly, the words came out of his mouth quite convincingly. “I’m pretty good at naming, if I do say so myself.”

The black hedgehog looked at his rival for a moment before snorting, turning his gaze towards the wide entrance to the next room. "Whatever you say, Sonic," he replied. He then began to walk followed by the blue hedgehog.

In the few steps it took them to enter the next room, Sonic thought to himself "(Huh, that was weird)", The confusion still lingered in his head, as well as that name that had escaped his tongue, 'froggit'

If Tails were there, he'd probably think it was a name only he could have come up with. The thought made him chuckle internally, snapping him out of his own confusion. Maybe it was just the memory of his carefree cat friend and his frog that made him come up with a name for that frog monster.

Sonic decided to stick with that and not give it much thought. And anyway, even though it was simple, the name felt right to say. He could roll with that.

Both hedgehogs entered a closed room with two pools filled with pure, clean water flowing between rooms, a group of vines growing on the front wall, and a stone pillar with a medium-sized bowl on it. On the pillar was a stone sign with an inscription carved into its surface: "Take one."

Sonic tilted his head and his lips pursed in curiosity, and of course he wasted no time in walking over to the bowl. Shadow stood in the doorway, giving a quick glance around the room and quickly noticing that the only remarkable thing in the room was being examined by his rival.

For his part, Sonic approached the pillar, which was only a little shorter than the hedgehog himself, who had to stand on tiptoe to observe the contents of the bowl. The blue hedgehog's eyebrows rose when he saw the contents: a small set of candies wrapped in papers of several different colors.

"Sweet! We'll need them down here," the hedgehog smiled, without hesitation putting his hand into the jar, pulling it out in a fistful and with a new addition to his inventory.

Then the blue hero turned to look at the other hedgehog, winking an eye "Hehe, do you understand? Sweet because in the bowl there was-"

Shadow turned around and proceeded to leave the room.

"Oh come on, that wasn't so bad!" Sonic exclaimed, following the black hedgehog's lead back to the previous room.

Sonic couldn't see it, but Shadow rolled his eyes. "Definitely falling down with you was a divine punishment of some sort," he replied, devoid of any amusement.

Sonic let out an audible snort. "Sure, whatever you say, man," was his reply. They both took about five more steps each before Sonic spoke again. "Oh, by the way, think fast dude!"

Shadow stopped and looked back in confusion, but in an instant he saw a small object fly quickly towards his face, which he managed to catch between his fingers. For a single instant the black hedgehog tensed, but the sound of paper crumpling between his fingers evaporated the tension in his muscles. The object in the hedgehog's hand was a candy, with a yellow wrapper and a logo of a star with badly drawn eyes glued in the center. Above said star was a speech bubble with a dialogue "Candywalker, the original                    candy."

The dark hedgehog looked at the bizarre image for several seconds, then looked at the other hedgehog with his eyebrow raised. "Really?" He asked, not at all impressed.

Sonic walked to his side, shrugging halfway through. “Just take it bro, it won’t kill you or anything.” The hedgehog joked, placing his hands behind his head, his fingers harmlessly brushing against his quills. Luckily, the hedgehog’s quills sharpened and softened at will like second nature to him, and what were once razor-sharp blades in combat were currently just fluffy tufts of fur, if Sonic could say so himself.

The unsuspecting hero's ears caught the brief "Hmp" from his companion, almost making him roll his eyes, but a faint yet familiar sensation interrupted him. Behind him, the candy previously in Shadow's fingers disappeared in a flash, saved by the black hedgehog with a small, easy-to-use chaos bending technique. Sonic grasped the power of the technique and allowed himself to smile.

"(Heh, you're slowly softening him up, Sonic)" He thought to himself with amusement, while both hedgehogs continued walking towards the southern entrance, which would hopefully allow them to continue their way through the ruins.

A clump of orange leaves, which had been swept away from the walls to form a clean path (well, as clean as the old, dusty ruins could get), crunched as they were crushed by the two hedgehogs' shoes. Shadow paid them no mind, his attention never having shifted from the path ahead. His attention was only diverted for a second when Sonic's arms moved and stretched out to the sides, yawning audibly in the process. Shadow nearly rolled his eyes again, proceeding to ignore his rival's antics.

Sonic's left hand brushed against the bright star. His gloved fingers passed through it as if it weren't there, but the warmth of its presence told him, once again, that it wasn't his imagination. Sonic continued walking, letting both arms fall to his sides in a gesture that feigned boredom. The hedgehog gave no sign of having even interacted with that bright point, and as he slowed his gait slightly, he let his companion fall in beside him. Shadow didn't even look at him, nor at the bright star that, unbeknownst to him, they were leaving behind.

For a few moments, Sonic allowed himself to mentally pat himself on the back for how well he'd concealed any reaction to the incident in front of the black hedgehog. It had only been luck that, when they'd first entered the room and Sonic had nearly tripped over his own feet upon seeing the star shining in the distance, Shadow hadn't noticed his reaction and had once again asked questions Sonic had no answers for.

And the whisper of the voice, which echoed again in the depths of his mind, did not help at all.

"The leaves rustling under the firmness of your steps, unstoppable in the face of any surprise or obstacle, fill you with determination."

Well, at least the phrase was motivating, somehow.

The blue hero's eyes glanced back, his brows furrowing almost imperceptibly in confusion, before the walls blocked his view of that small but enigmatic golden star. Two of them had revealed themselves to him (or were they the same one, and it was moving between rooms somehow? Sonic wondered briefly), but neither had revealed much of anything, and whoever that whispering voice in his head was, it didn't seem particularly conversational.

"(Heh, I suppose you're not going to explain to me what you and those floating stars are about, are you?)" Sonic thought, mentally raising his voice as if trying to talk to someone who literally lived in his head. The voice, still hazy and still distant, didn't answer him "(... Yeah, that's what I thought)" Well, it was worth a shot

The hedgehog looked at his companion's back. On the one hand, there was really no reason for Sonic to hide anything about the bright star and the mysterious voice from the other hedgehog (which remained invisible and silent to everyone except him, apparently), but Sonic actively tried to keep it a secret. Perhaps he believed he could solve the mystery on his own; after all, the voice wasn't directed only at him for nothing. Or perhaps it was that pull, like a calling, he felt every time he approached the bright star. Maybe he was supposed to figure out what the deal was. And besides, the star's warmth and power reenergized the hedgehog, even in the absence of any previous exhaustion. It didn't seem dangerous.

And the mysterious voice, although the hedgehog was still unable to distinguish too many details of it, didn't seem hostile either. At the moment, it almost seemed like it was simply following Sonic's progress and little else.

(For a second, Sonic jokingly thought that he might have a ghost following him around and narrating everything he did. The thought made him smile humorously.

That is until he remembered the last time he had a ghost following him around without him noticing, and the hedgehog felt a chill run down his spine. It had taken him hours to erase the lipstick marks that the ghost woman had left on him... Knuckles almost died of suffocation from how much he laughed at him that day)

The blue hero shook his head slightly. He pushed the embarrassing memory out of his mind and opened his mouth, intending to break the ice with his colleague with a random phrase. But before he could do so, he stopped. Just as Shadow turned around with a questioning look, Sonic extended his hand and gathered chaos energy. Space bent and shimmered, dropping the phone Toriel had given them into the hedgehog's hands. The instant the object materialized, a slightly catchy tune echoed through the room.

The blue hedgehog blinked, but quickly pressed the accept button with his thumb. He brought the phone to his left ear, his eyes connecting with the other hedgehog's expectant gaze. Almost immediately, a familiar, soft voice filled his ears. "Sonic?"

Sonic's right ear twitched as a smile appeared on the young hedgehog's face. "Toriel!" The kind woman's voice seemed to naturally raise his optimism even further.

The woman on the other end of the phone let out a laugh that sounded almost affectionate, before speaking, "Nice to hear from you, Sonic. I hope nothing happened to you or Shadow while I was gone."

The aforementioned, who was in fact able to hear the goat woman's voice from a distance, just shot a flat look in the direction of the old telephone "(She's been gone for barely 5 minutes)" The hedgehog almost growled, but thankfully refrained from saying it out loud

Sonic laughed, ignoring the irritated glances his partner was throwing at the inanimate object in his hand. "Everything went well, again, nothing we can't handle."

"That's good," Toriel's voice replied. "And please excuse my sudden call. I was just calling to see if you both stayed in the room with the pillar as I told you."

Sonic closed his mouth, his pupils seeming to shrink, and his lips pressed tightly together to prevent an "Oh" from leaving his mouth. In front of him, Shadow had the decency to imitate his expression, although feeling less guilty than his rival.

"Uuhhh..." Sonic mumbled eloquently in a low voice, although not enough for the woman on the other end of the call to hear him.

"Sonic...?" Toriel's voice asked. Her voice was tinged with slight confusion and what seemed almost to be a reproachful tone. "You didn't leave the room, did you?"

"...Is there still time to say no?" The blue hero muttered. Somehow, he managed to sound like a child who had been caught doing something wrong by his mother. 

A sigh resonated from the device, and Sonic almost grimaced. But before he could say anything, Toriel continued, "It's okay. Anyway, it seemed to me you guys weren't the type to stay in one place," she said.

Sonic gave an apologetic half-smile, though she couldn't see it. "Yeah, not really my thing."

"Just, please don't go too far until I get back. I promise not to be long," she finished. A click came from the phone, marking the end of the call.

The blue hero raised the phone in front of his face, clicking his tongue against his teeth. "Eh, that could have been worse," he said, shrugging and making the device disappear again. Almost immediately, the hedgehog began to walk, catching up with his companion, who looked at him almost scoldingly.

"She won't stop treating us like her children if you let her keep spoiling us," the dark hedgehog said, walking next to Sonic.

The aforementioned snort "Relax, it's not like he's keeping us prisoners down here" he replied nonchalantly. With the black hedgehog's gaze still fixed on him, Sonic took a few steps forward, raising an arm in a nonchalant gesture "Come on, it would hurt you to take it a little more caAAAAAHHHHH-" The hedgehog's reassuring talk proved to be a mistake when his feet touched a noticeably broken section of the corridor, which ended up crumbling beneath his feet and made him fall into the abyss

"Shit, SONIC!" Shadow exclaimed. Unfortunately, the chain of events left him in shock for the split second it took for the blue hedgehog to fall down the hole before he could jump in to save him. As he peered out of the hole where his companion had fallen, the ultimate life-form stared into the darkness below in panic. "Shit, shit, shit! Sonic, can you hear me?! SONIC-"

A blue ball interrupted him by emerging from a slot in the wall he hadn't noticed until now, and when he turned around, alarmed, he saw the blue hedgehog he had called in panic posing and wiping orange leaves off his head with a smile. "Don't worry! I'm still alive-" Sonic was interrupted again, this time by having to block a punch from his partner aimed at his nose.

Shadow growled "You damn imbecile, be more careful!" The hedgehog unleashed against his fangs that gnashed against themselves in fury

For his part, Sonic blinked, as if his rival's reaction had puzzled him, then smiled and raised his eyebrows mockingly "Awww, were you worried about me, Shads?"

The dark hedgehog's fist moved away from his open palm, and Shadow snorted in an attempt to dispel his annoyance. "Your nonsense is slowing us down, we're never going to get out of this place like this," was the hedgehog's evasive response. Sonic didn't buy it.

"I don't know, it sounded to me like you panicked when you saw me fall, you know I'm tougher than that, Shads." Sonic stood next to him, smiling but deliberately avoiding going any further. "Relax, I still appreciate it."

Shadow wisely decided not to boost his partner's ego with an answer.

________________________________

The next few rooms were passed without much difficulty. Although the oddities of that world continued to reveal themselves.

A room with an exaggeratedly fragile floor followed. Seeing the obvious fractures in the floor, Sonic's brilliant suggestion was launching himself again and seeing if there was another room below, but in the end, they both took the (much more boring, in the blue hero's opinion) option of just crossing the room at full speed, Shadow flying with his rocket shoes and Sonic running on the walls.

In the next room, a talking rock blocked their access to a mechanism that activated metal spikes along the path. The rock quickly declared its lack of interest in moving to lower the spikes, almost wanting to be urged to move.

Sonic and Shadow shared a look, before simply walking past the rock and jumping over the spikes without any problem, leaving the disbelieving and indignant rock behind to shout at them from a distance "(Hey you two! Come back here! I'm asking you to ask me to move! I'M VERY PERSUASIVE I SWEAR!!!!)"

And of course, more residents of the ruins came to greet the two hedgehogs. A pair of frogs greeted them on the way to the Broken Path Room, and right after, a small figure circled above Sonic and Shadow, making whining sounds until it finally stopped. It was a small, winged creature that Sonic couldn't help but briefly compare to a Chao, and although the little one in front of them could talk, it didn't stop the hedgehog from taking the initiative with a smile.

The creature was shy, and seemingly began a fight on instinct, but the sight of the hedgehogs' souls made the little one murmur in shock, before it began to attack them. There was no danger at all, especially given how clearly overwhelmed the creature looked just by having them in front of it (understandable, seeing as it was barely the size of both hedgehogs' heads), but a couple of reassuring words from Sonic worked their magic, and the little whinsum flew away with a small smile, being waved off by Sonic with a friendly nod.

Shadow kept to himself during these encounters. He wasn't the biggest fan of letting his blue companion do all the work, but it was clear that he was more adept at this new environment and creatures than he was. Shadow didn't feel threatened, at least not yet, but the small bits of information seemed to feed his mind and give him something to think about other than how to get back to the surface.

The two hedgehogs entered a hallway containing only a wooden table and a piece of cheese. A little scrutiny revealed a small hole at the bottom of the wall, like a mouse hole. The way things were going, Shadow expected a miniature human to emerge from the hole with two pills on his hand and explain them the matrix.

(Turns out in a 50 year period of time can be made some pretty weird movies, Shadow thought, remembering the times Rouge would drag him from the comfort of their sheets in the middle of the night to watch movies she dramatically insisted to not watch alone, even though Omega was always present at that same time of night in a corner next to the couch recharging his battery.)

The black hedgehog was brought out of his memories when he saw Sonic yawn again out of the corner of his eye while stretching his arms, which almost made him roll his eyes again. "You shouldn't go on sleepless adventures, Sonic."

"(Knowing that one day, a mouse will venture out and find the cheese waiting for it, fills you with determination)" The whisper came to Sonic's mind. His lips curved slightly upward, but other than that, he showed no reaction.

With his hands behind his head again, Sonic shrugged. "Tell it to the doc, he wanted to show off his robo samurai, I crushed his robo samurai, cool hedgehogs don't need sleep or replacing their blood flow with coffee." Shadow snorted in response to the other hedgehog, making him laugh, but then Sonic looked ahead, and stopped while blinking. "...Though I think that guy doesn't seem to need it."

Shadow looked ahead. Lying on the ground in a pile of leaves, was a ghost. Not the spectral figure of a person, be it human or mobian, no, the literal, cartoonish figure of a ghost, usually illustrated as a figure with a sheet and holes in it that simulated eyes, although judging by the fact that both hedgehogs could slightly see the leaves through the white figure of the ghost, it seemed that it was not a child doing cosplay.

...Though Shadow couldn't help but wonder if they were dealing with an infant anyway, from the low murmuring coming from the ghost that only consisted of literally "ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ"

"...He knows we can see him blinking from here, right?" Sonic leaned towards the other hedgehog to murmur in a low voice.

"However it is, we need to get through anyway," Shadow replied, and began walking towards the ghost, followed closely by the blue hedgehog. 

"Oh..." The sound made both of them stop a few steps away from the ghost, and they saw him slowly raise his upper body to look at them. White pupils stood out above his black eyes, and although at first it would seem difficult to analyze the ghost's almost empty expression, both Sonic and Shadow soon noticed a predominant emotion in this

Pure and hard social awkwardness

"I thought... if I whispered enough... they'd ignore me..." The ghost's voice was quiet, almost a whisper, but it sounded like any other person's, without any kind of mysterious filter behind it. He didn't seem dangerous at all, just very, very uncomfortable. "I know, it was a little silly..."

"Uhhhh..." Sonic scratched his quills, trying to think of a good comeback that wouldn't make the poor ghost sink into the ground. "I-it wasn't that bad, i think it was a... 7 out of 10! Yeah, I would have been convinced any other day." The hedgehog tried to smile positively, nodding in a way that was meant to be encouraging.

Clearly, it had the opposite effect, the ghost looked away "Oh... 7 out of 10 is not good...."

Sonic blinked, and started sweating "W-what?! No, 7 out of 10 is good-"

"You had to screw up by giving him a score, didnt you?" Shadow interrupted him in a flat voice without even looking at him.

Sonic looked at him frowning "Oh come on I just said it's good-!" Before they could lengthen that discussion, a glow in the chest of both revealed their souls to the world, alerting them and making them look at the ghost, who was now floating straight above the leaves, although any threatening intention that had formed in the hedgehogs evaporated when they saw small white tears form in the ghost's eyes.

"It's okay... you don't have to... boost my self-esteem..." The being said in the same tone as before, and then its tears floated forward, shooting towards them and their souls.

The projectiles were only slightly faster than those of the froggits and the whinsum, but both hedgehogs still successfully evaded the attack, although perhaps calling it an attack was a bit rude.

As it concluded, the ghost hovered silently in front of them, perfectly conveying his emotional state just by hovering in place. Sonic bit his lip and finally sighed.

"Ok... clearly we're off to a bad start here," he said, more to himself, but quickly gave the ghost a small but reassuring smile. "Sorry for the note, buddy. I'll try to be more... solid with my opinions, heh."

Shadow pursed his lips as he looked at his companion. Meanwhile, the ghost blinked slowly. "Oh... because I'm a ghost..."

And, for a mere moment, a small smile appeared on the ghost's lips "Heh..."

Sonic's smile widened at that reaction. "Bingo," he murmured triumphantly.

However, the ghost's hesitant and shy expression replaced his smile. "Oh, sorry... it's supposed to be my turn... I shouldn't waste your time..."

Shadow was about to say (with as much tact as he could muster) that, indeed, they needed to move on and stop wasting time, but unfortunately he was too slow (the hedgehog cursed himself for making that joke-) and Sonic spoke first, waving a hand casually "Don't worry, we're in no hurry, we're just visiting."

One might doubt whether falling down a hole due to an unknown attracting force that had bent space and seemingly altered the chaos emeralds could be counted as a "visit", but Sonic figured the ghost didn't need the details.

"Oh, I understand..." The monster muttered, finally reaching his turn.

Sonic and Shadow stared at the ghost, who just floated, staring at them both in silence. After a few seconds, the ghost looked away. "Sorry... I didn't feel like attacking right now..."

Sonic blinked, but then shrugged. "Fine with me, and I mean, it's not like we're going to pass out all of a sudden, right?" The hedgehog winked at the ghost.

Shadow rolled his eyes as hard as he could. "Wow, you're really outdoing yourself today, Sonic." If sarcasm could kill, Sonic would have been erased from existence by his companion's words, and while the hedgehog could admit that it wasn't exactly his peak comedic timing (that only seemed to happen when he and Rouge were together, much to the dark hedgehog's utter dismay), that wasn't his intention, and judging by the ghost's upwardly curved lips, Sonic considered it a victory.

"Heh heh... That was funny," the ghost muttered, still smiling, but then looked away again in doubt. "I'd like to... show you guys something too... if that's alright."

Curious, Sonic nodded immediately "Come in buddy!" He replied. Both hedgehogs watched as more tears formed in the ghost's eyes, and although Sonic was worried for a moment, instead of floating towards them the small drops floated towards the ghost's head, swirling and taking a cylindrical shape on top of it, and when the tears stopped rising, both hedgehogs saw the ghost wearing a handsome white hat.

"I call this one... 'dapper blook' “ The ghost spoke, and although his tone was difficult to notice, he seemed to want to sound confident.

Sonic smiled huge at the ghost and raise a thumb "Now that’s a 10 out of 10, mate! It goes with you without a doubt" The hedgehog said without hesitation, and his answer seemed to make the ghost happy, although the hedgehog froze when the ghost’s eyes fell on Shadow, who quickly noticed that the ghost seemed to want his opinion, although not wanting to say it out loud

The black hedgehog felt a drop of sweat run down his snout, struggling to find the right words in the face of the sudden spotlight. 

Finally, after a tough mental debate, Shadow just nodded and said, "It looks good on you."

Beside him, he clearly heard Sonic sigh with obvious relief. He would make sure to remind himself to hit him another time, but for now, the ghost seemed content with his response. Their souls disappeared into their bodies, ending the fight, if you could call it that.

"I... came to the ruins to be alone... almost no one from outside comes through here, it's nice..."

Instantly, Shadow raised an eyebrow in interest. "Outside?"

The monster nodded slowly "Yes... I live outside the ruins but... I'm too shy to talk to... other monsters... I don't bother anyone here" He replied, but looked at both hedgehogs, and his lips curved upwards again "But you two... don't seem bothered by me... and you're very nice" 

Sonic smiled, rubbing his nose with a finger at the compliment, and Shadow allowed himself to soften his gaze toward the ghost a little. Still, his mouth opened, questions about the world outside and what might await them as they set out toward the ghost, but he spoke first, his awkward expression returning.

"Oh no, I'm still in your way... sorry, I'll move now... sorry for the inconvenience," he said apologetically, and before either of them could say anything, the semi-transparent figure of the ghost began to fade away, disappearing into thin air as if it had never been there.

They both remained silent for a moment, before Sonic broke it by clicking his tongue. "Well, at least I think we made his day." He shrugged, and patted the other hedgehog on the shoulder with a hand. Shadow looked at him, but immediately started walking. The leaves crunched as they both passed over the place where the ghost had resided. Another peculiar encounter had passed by both of them, and Shadow still didn't know how to feel about all this.

Sonic, of course, wasn't worried at all. It was clear he was enjoying his time getting to know the place. The unknown always attracted the blue hedgehog; not understanding something didn't usually bother him. Some would call it ignorance, lack of caution, naiveté, things of that nature. Sonic simply believed that fear and paranoia were meaningless to him; after all, why reject something new the world has to offer?

Unless they tried to kill you, but even then, Sonic could let certain things slide. He didn't judge. The black hedgehog inspecting one of the entrances next to him was proof.

Sonic walked in the opposite direction from the other hedgehog, watching out of the corner of his eye as the latter stopped to wait for him. The hedgehog was glad that his rival wasn't fed up with him enough to leave him behind. 

Upon entering the next room, Sonic came across a closed room containing a wooden sign. Unlike the previous ones, which looked old and dusty from a distance, this one looked cleaner and more well-kept. Behind the sign, stuck to the wall, were two spider webs, one larger than the other, where a pair of small bugs were perched. Sonic glanced at them, and then at the sign.

For his part, Shadow waited for the other hedgehog standing near the entrance to the next room. There wasn't much to see where he was, except for the path to continue and a pair of frogs that seemed happier just watching him from afar than anything else. Shadow would ask, but he figured it was better if he didn't cause any trouble.

Just as he was wondering what the other hedgehog was doing, Sonic appeared walking towards him, holding two donuts, one in each hand, one of which was already half eaten by the blue hedgehog. Shadow raised an eyebrow, and at the unasked question, Sonic swallowed the food in his mouth before answering.

"Dude, you won't believe this, some spiders sold me these donuts, they have quite a business, and luckily they accepted a couple of rings" Sonic explained casually, instantly offering the second donut to the black hedgehog once he was close.

Shadow stared at the donut for a moment, then at the hedgehog's nonchalant face, before sighing and reluctantly taking it. He would ask questions later, because unfortunately, seeing the donut with its surprisingly neat purple icing had whetted his appetite. He took a cautious bite, not knowing what to expect from something apparently made by spiders, but as he bit into the donut, a sweet taste flooded his mouth, and Shadow let out a surprised murmur.

Sonic smiled upon hearing it. "Well?" He asked, already deducing the answer.

Shadow gulped, and looked at the hedgehog for a moment, before closing his eyes. "Not bad," he said, taking another slow bite of the food as if trying to hide his enjoyment.

Sonic laughed "I thought so" He said, and Shadow rolled his eyes, walking while tasting the sugary flavor of the donut, while Sonic continued talking nonchalantly "I mean, it's sweeter than I expected it, for being made of spiders and all that"

Shadow froze, the chewed-up remains of the donut still in his mouth. He could have sworn his heart had stopped, as if he'd just ingested a potent, deadly poison.

"...What?"

"Oh yeah, 'enjoy food made by spiders, for spiders, of spiders'. I don't know how good of a marketing that is but-" Sonic stopped mid-sentence as a gust of wind blew past him, and he watched Shadow sprint back into the room they'd come from. Sonic tilted his head in confusion, absentmindedly popping the remaining piece of his donut into his mouth. "Huh, didn't think it'd be a big deal... I hope Toriel doesn't notice."

(Shadow came back walking almost 10 minutes later, presenting a completely haggard expression and his face covered in sweat. Upon entering, his dead gaze fell on Sonic, who had two more donuts in his hands, recently bought. The blue hedgehog chewed the food letting out sounds of satisfaction, and then looked at Shadow

"Oh hey man, are you done throwing up?"

"I hate you"

"The spiders also sold cupcakes if you want."

The black hedgehog didn't speak to his companion for the next ten minutes)

________________________________

During that period of time where Shadow remained stubbornly silent to Sonic (exaggerated in the opinion of the blue hero. He had saved one of the donuts for later, they were very good), both hedgehogs managed to explore a large part of the old place without major complications.

The following rooms were blocked by spikes (seriously, if he didn't know any better, Sonic would think Eggman designed this place, although the lack of flamethrowers and bottomless pits eliminated that possibility). Both hedgehogs jumped over the first group without problems, but when they reached the second one, a room with colored switches, Sonic decided to stop for a bit. Skipping all the puzzles would be easy, but not fun, and despite Shadow's silent protests, the blue hedgehog quickly set about activating the corresponding switches, unlocking the path that seemed to go upwards due to the shape of the terrain between rooms.

On their way, more monsters stopped them, and obviously Sonic stopped to take a look at them, offering them all a friendly smile with his soul shining. 

Moldsmal, a jelly-like creature, easily prompted the hedgehog to show off his best moves. And boy if that was a challenge sonic tackled. Shadow's dismayed look showed he didn't understand where Sonic had gotten that conclusion, but the hedgehog got to work without hesitation. He didn't just shake, he danced, he slid, he let a short melody play in his head as his feet moved skillfully. He planned to stop after a few seconds, but the arrival of more monsters made him continue moving, letting himself be carried away more and more until he eventually pulled a real stereo with a chaos control that played some music. Very soon there was a small but lively crowd cheering him on, lining up around a very uncomfortable Shadow who didn't know how he had ended up in this situation. Smiling and letting out sounds of excitement, the hedgehog fluidly bent over and let his hand plant on the ground, pushing him and carrying him into the air, finishing with a quick spin in the air and some breakdancing moves on the ground. Sonic posed, his soul and smile shining brightly for the audience. The Froggits croaked, the Whinsums clapped, the Moldsmals shook with bubbling sounds, the Looxs' huge, unique eyes shone with admiration, the Migosp danced alongside the hedgehog, and a single Vegetoid peeked out of the ground in a secluded corner.

When he finished, the crowd quickly dispersed, murmuring and throwing farewell glances and gestures at the blue hedgehog, who returned each of them. Shadow could only blink, fearing for a few moments that if he moved any further, he would invade his personal space again, but they eventually get back on track

And speaking of invading personal space, Shadow thought with a grimace of mild annoyance. From several rooms back, Toriel had been making constant calls, intrinsically inquiring about both hedgehogs. Sonic would stop, make the phone appear, respond naturally to the goat woman's unnecessary concerns, raise an eyebrow at random questions about his taste preferences (Sonic had answered that he preferred caramel, and after a staring contest with his companion, Shadow had reluctantly replied that he preferred cinnamon), and after that, Toriel would end the calls, always saying a fond farewell to both of them, even when Shadow didn't speak at all. 

Sonic found it endearing. Shadow found it annoying. With any luck, the woman would calm down a bit when they reunited with her and managed to find their way out. The ruins were immense, too much for the small, loose monsters living there, and according to what Shadow had managed to get out of some of them when they'd gathered to see Sonic’s little show a moment ago, they'd all been living there for a while, almost their entire lives.

None of them had gone beyond the abandoned walls of the ruins. It wasn't that they couldn't; they'd figured that out quickly; it seemed to be relatively easy to get out, and they just preferred being there. When Shadow asked why, he only got a casual, "It's quiet here. Boring, but peaceful."

Shadow had no idea what that was supposed to imply. The ghost had said it came from outside, and, despite his insecurities, hadn't described it as a dangerous or chaotic place, but the black hedgehog simply couldn't be sure. Unfortunately, the crowd had gotten too wild from the blue hedgehog's show before he could question them about the exit, but he figured if it was common knowledge, they could handle it—or just ask later. Hopefully.

While the dark hedgehog was thinking and the blue hedgehog was whistling a carefree melody, they both ended up running into another intersection marked by more scattered autumn leaves. They both looked to the left, and Shadow immediately started walking to the wider hallway on the left without saying a word, while Sonic took the entrance in front, still whistling. However, before they could separate any further, Sonic stopped again, and immediately the phone reappeared in his palm, the musical tune that flooded the room made Shadow stop in his tracks and let out a long sigh, turning to look at his colleague with a look that said 'What does she want now?' and that Sonic ignored, answering and answering with a smile that seemed playful.

"Maurice speaking. To whom do I owe the honor of this call?" Sonic spoke. From the other end, he could clearly hear Toriel contain a snort before answering.

"Greetings, I was hoping to get in touch with the young man I gave this phone to... his name is Sonic, I don't know if you've seen him, Mr-pffft, Maurice."

Sonic smiled wider, putting a finger to his chin. "Sonic huh, let me see... Was him a handsome, fast, blue hedgehog with a sourpuss companion following him around, by any chance?"

"Hmm, in fact, the young man I'm looking for is short, adorable, fast, and had a just a little grumpy hedgehog following him. Also, I'm afraid he was a cat." Toriel's voice responded, presenting both a tone of slight reproach for her comment towards Shadow and the amusement of her conversation with the other hedgehog.

Sonic snorted. "Well, ma'am, I'm afraid I haven't seen your cat or your grumpy, murderous-eyed hedgehog. Sorry for the inconvenience. He sounds like a troublemaker cat, and extremely hilarious."

"Oh, you're speaking from experience, Mr. Maurice?"

"Oh no, if I had a cat I'd be a complete cat-astrophe."

"Absolutely cat-astrophic indeed!”

Shadow brought his hands to his face, his fingers trembling as if resisting the overwhelming urge to tear out his eyes and ears to stop himself from feeling any more pain. Sonic burst out laughing, and from the phone, Toriel joined in, her loud, cheerful laughter making Sonic feel strangely happy. Seriously, the goat woman was laughing so hard it almost seemed like she was in the same room as the-

Both hedgehogs' ears twitched and pointed towards the source of a sound louder than the one coming from the device, turning out to be none other than Toriel herself, who walked down the hallway with her eyes closed and still laughing, so much so that she didn't notice both hedgehogs while wiping a few tears from her eyes. When she finished doing so, the woman had a big smile and her eyes seemed to shine in a unique way that made something in Sonic's chest heat up, although when he made eye contact with the goat woman she stopped smiling to let out a gasp of surprise.

"Sonic, Shadow! Y-you are here, that was-"

"Fast?" Sonic finished, putting his phone away and placing his hands on his hips in amusement. Toriel looked at them both for a moment before letting out a small laugh.

"Yes, indeed. I'm very glad you arrived, and safe, I see." She walked over, looking both hedgehogs up and down. Shadow felt his brows furrow in discomfort at having Toriel's motherly eyes scanning him, but she quickly stopped doing so, and when she looked at Sonic, she did so for a longer time and moved closer to him, which didn't seem to bother him.

"Not a single scratch," the blue hedgehog assured the woman, who after looking at him for a couple more seconds sighed and gave them both a warm smile.

"I understand. Please follow me then, my house is in the next room," she revealed, turning around to walk back the way she had come, followed by both hedgehogs. Sonic glanced briefly back at the room he hadn't been able to explore. His eyes narrowed; that mystery wouldn't escape him forever.

The duo followed Toriel past a dying black tree surrounded by more leaves (the only one in the place, despite the entire place being covered in them. Had Toriel done that, trying to add some more color to the old place?). Both hedgehogs circled around the tree and blinked in surprise at the more than decent-sized brick house in front of them.

When Toriel reached the door frame, she turned to see her new guests (in a long time) with a soft smile "Welcome to my home, young ones"