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Shadow, the Ultimate Life Form, sat with his back to a large rock. Built-up walls of earth stood around him, getting taller as they turned into a large cliffside. It felt closed off from the world, yet the open air above him prevented feelings of claustrophobia. It was a perfect place to be hidden while remaining above ground, in contact with the environment.
His eyes were closed. He heard only the sounds of nature. The occasional gusts of wind, the leaves from the trees, the faint propeller of a plane engine.
Hmm? Noticing the engine getting closer, he opened one eye. It was behind him.
Just pass by...
Nope, it was definitely getting closer, to ground level now.
He tried to ignore it. What were the odds they would stumble upon him? Not high, surely.
The plane landed somewhere outside the walls, near the open entrance to the small canyon. He heard some movement. Multiple individuals getting out.
"You can see the difference in the soil, right? Compared to the sample?"
"Hmm, I guess I can see it now."
"...I'm not seeing anything. But if you say you see it, I believe you."
He identified the voices easily. They didn't know he was there yet, but they were approaching. He stayed in his spot, but prepared to move.
"I know it's not much, but there's a distinct clay pattern here. The different sediment here could mean that there was some body of water right in this area long ago!"
It was the fox speaking.
"Wow, it's neat that we can look into the past just by looking at the environment!"
"Huh, yeah, that is cool, I guess."
Two non-Sonic companions. Mildly surprising.
"I promise this will be a short stop," Tails said. "Just a few notes, pictures, readings..."
A few moments of silence. The rock Shadow was sitting behind kept him out of sight. Perhaps they would go away without disturbing him.
He heard some footsteps. He tried to remain still. For a little while, there were no disturbances.
"So..." began Knuckles, after a minute. "Is there anything we can do to help you finish?"
"Sorry, I'll only be a bit longer," said Tails, who was now significantly closer to Shadow's rock. "A map is only as good as it is accurate!"
"Yeah, but it's not like we'll be navigating in the past..."
Shadow suddenly felt uncomfortable in his posture leaning against the hard rock. His ear twitched. He shifted slightly, trying to remain imperceptible.
"It'll be worth it. The history of these hills deserves to be known. You never know what insights we could find."
The fox was too close now; he was going to be noticed. Gritting his teeth, he shut his eyes and tried to find the right volume.
"Excuse me."
Tails jumped back.
From a distance, he heard Amy. "Who is that?"
Shadow waited, but Sonic's friends made no immediate movement. He sighed, and brought himself to his feet.
Appearing from behind the rock, he stood in front of the three of them in silence. Emotions ranging from moderate shock to general displeasure appeared on their faces. Shadow only wore his trademark frown.
"Shadow?" Amy exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
It wasn't a threatening question.
Shadow gestured to the rock. "Resting. I figured I would be away from any interruptions here."
"Well..." Amy sputtered a bit. "We...we're just here for a pit stop. We won't be here long."
"In fact, we were just going," Knuckles added, with some antagonism. "Ain't that right, Tails?"
"...Uh," Tails started. He shook his head and blinked, finding the confidence. He held a notebook in his arms. "I mean, I'm just recording a few things about the environment here. I'm almost done."
Shadow tried to let himself relax slightly. "It's fine," he said. "You can take your time."
"Oh...okay, then."
Tails knelt down again with his notebook. He glanced up at Shadow, who was continuing to watch him.
Nervously, Tails chuckled. He looked back down to the grass. He took his pencil out of the rings of his notebook, then fumbled with it, and dropped it.
Amy's hands whisked behind her back, and Knuckles scratched the back of his neck. Shadow kept staring.
Tails picked up his pencil and his eyes briefly flickered to Shadow. He then looked down at the ground, presumably trying to make observations, but it was clear he was unable to fully focus.
After a moment, even Shadow started to feel the awkwardness.
"I'll just go," Shadow said.
He turned to dash away.
"Wait!"
It was Amy. He stopped, looking out of the corner of his eye as she took a few steps towards him.
"We haven't seen you for a few weeks...You know, when you took the paradox prism."
Shadow's frown hardened. "And?"
"Well..." she kept approaching. Knuckles followed behind. "What happened with it? And why did you step in like that?"
Shadow glared at them. "Why do you need to know? I took it away so no one could find it. Somewhere it would be safe."
Knuckles and Amy drew even with Tails. Shadow folded his arms.
Amy wasn't satisfied. "Yeah, but something happened, didn't it? Between you and Sonic?"
Shadow continued to glare.
Amy continued, "Normally, you two can't agree on anything, but when we asked Sonic about whether he, you know, trusted you with the prism, he said not to worry about it."
Knuckles nodded. "Kinda odd to hear Sonic sound so trusting of you."
"And I wouldn't have thought anything of it, but I know for a fact that you two were fighting just before we came across the prism. But he didn't mention you two making up after the fight," said Amy.
Shadow stood rigidly. "We didn't."
Looking like she expected some more information, Amy spoke again after a second. "But something changed between you two, right? Sonic seems to be a little more...friendly-sounding when he talks about you now, I suppose. Like you have more of a history."
Shadow now looked away. Sonic really hadn't told them anything. Which was his decision, of course. But they knew something was up. And he was getting the feeling they were going to bug him until he told them something of interest.
"Maybe you should ask Sonic...or maybe you should respect that he doesn't want to tell you."
He hoped this would be the end of it. Arms still crossed, he dared them to ask another question.
Amy exhaled. "So it's true, then..."
That was not the reaction he wanted. He harumphed.
"I guess we shouldn't intrude," Amy said. "But...it would be pretty nice if you two were on better terms. We'd all be happier!"
Knuckles stroked his chin. "Why wouldn't Sonic want to tell us about that? Seems like a pretty good thing."
Shadow looked away, towards the walls of earth around him. He extended his senses outwards. The gentle breeze, the silhouettes of clouds passing above, distant waves on the shore.
"Maybe he feels it doesn't need explaining..." he said, bringing himself back in. "Besides, what you don't know can't hurt you."
He felt like distracting himself from their reactions, so continued avoiding eye contact. A moment passed. Then, he glanced back in their direction. Everyone was slightly shocked.
"You can't just say that and expect us not to be curious!" Amy said. "Why would it hurt us?"
Frustrated, Shadow grimaced. He would have to tell them something.
"Has Sonic ever mentioned anything about the prism to you?"
The three of them shook their heads.
"Nothing about shards, or shatterspaces?"
They shook their heads again.
"Wait," Tails said. "He may have said something about saving the shatterverse, if that counts. He was just rambling a bit. It sounded like a dream he had, or something."
"Is that all?" asked Shadow.
"I can't remember anything else. He was going off about another topic so fast I couldn't tell where one thought ended and the next began."
Tails tried to rack his brain. "He did hug me extra tight before mentioning the shatterverse. It was the morning after that whole prism fight. In addition to the whole Eggman-giant robot fight that afternoon."
Amy put a hand on her hip and another in the air. "He hugged all of us that morning. I thought he was just proud of us all after putting Eggman in his place, but he said he missed us, too."
"Which was weird, because he hadn't left our sight that whole day!" noted Knuckles. "At least, not after he ran into you."
Flipping her hair, Amy looked questioningly at Shadow. "Are you saying you and Sonic did something with the prism?"
Shadow sneered, unable to help himself. "Oh, Sonic did something with the prism, alright."
The three of them looked on, eyes begging him to continue. Shadow knew he was entering the point of no return, but maybe he could tell them a little about what happened, just enough to slake their curiosity. Plus, it would give him the chance to talk about Sonic's many flaws to his friends.
"If it weren't for me," he said in a low voice, "Sonic wouldn't even be here."
A moment of silence for shock and awe.
"What do you mean?" Tails asked. "He would be...some...place...else?"
"Dead."
No need to dance around it. It was true.
Amy put her hand on her mouth. Again, a few moments of silence passed.
Then she exclaimed, "Don't just scare us without telling us what happened! Go on!"
Shadow's eyes narrowed as he thought back to where it began. With Sonic refusing to listen, of course. He rewatched Sonic shatter the prism in his mind. Reckless.
"Sonic destroyed the paradox prism. It fractured our universe into several universes. None of you know about it because Sonic and I jumped through time and space to just before it happened, to prevent it from being shattered. That's why I took the prism away, and why no one can know where it is."
He silently seethed at Sonic for endangering everybody. Maybe if he had connected with a few more punches beforehand, he could have slowed him down enough to stop his actions...
Suddenly, he thought he saw he saw a silhouette twitch somewhere in his vision. Though he couldn't be sure, he felt he had seen something. Or someone.
"How long have you been here?" he asked the figure dangling upside down from an overhang, blending in with the shadows.
Rouge unfolded herself, then jumped and landed feet first on the ground. "Long enough that you can just keep going. No need to backtrack over minor details."
She walked over and scooted in between Knuckles and Amy.
"Why do you feel the need to do that?" Knuckles asked.
"I simply didn't want to be left out," she responded, half-teasing.
Her tone shifted to become a little more serious. "And like everyone else, I want to know why Sonic has been acting just a little...different recently."
The four of them now looked back at Shadow, expectantly.
"Hmmph." There was a lot to cover. "As soon as Sonic shattered the prism, our universe split into multiple universes, shatterspaces. Each with its own shard from the broken prism."
He stopped for a moment, to see if they were processing it. Shadow noticed Tails scribbling something in his notebook.
"I managed to escape being shattered. I used my chaos emerald to protect myself."
"Hold on," Tails said, looking up from his writing. "How do we know that all this is true? You make it sound like it was all Sonic who shattered the prism and it had nothing to do with you, but it's a little suspicious that you and him both made it into the new shatterverse, while the rest of us were there and none of us remember that."
It was just one question, but Shadow was already annoyed. Was this kid going to grill him over every little detail with that silly notebook of his? Make him tell everything?
Shadow realized it might not be best to tell everything. There were some potential dangers, consequences of the knowledge that would be difficult to predict. For instance, maybe Sonic would be upset with him. And even though he was perfectly capable of dealing with an angry Sonic, it would be rather exhausting.
But it was also a matter of not knowing how any of Sonic's friends would react to the full truth, the fox in particular. There was no preparing yourself to hear the kinds of actions an alternate version of you had taken, in another universe.
Luckily, Shadow could be very forthcoming in this case.
"Is it really so hard to believe Sonic was being reckless? And that only I had the power and speed to take appropriate evasive action?"
The four of them looked at each other. Nobody could object to it.
Shadow turned slightly. "Believe me, I wish it wasn't true. That I'd had time to do something else."
He continued, "Between each shatterspace was the void. That's where I spent most of my time. Sonic could visit the worlds of the other shatterspaces because within him was extra prism energy."
Clenching his fists, he added, "His...unfocused mind made our task much more arduous, which is why every universe was threatened."
Knuckles spoke up, "Is this why Sonic didn't want to tell us? He didn't want to scare us with this?"
Shadow took an extremely long breath. "Perhaps..."
He realized most of them could understand that there were more reasons. He shook his head and kept going.
"In each of these alternate universes, there was an alternate version of everyone on this island, except for Sonic and me."
He waited to let them take this in. They all had similar realizations, looking around at each other.
"Wow..." Tails marveled. "Other versions of us."
He then connected the dots one step further. "And Eggman!"
Shadow nodded.
"Ugh," Amy grumbled. "Why do we always have to run into him?"
"Does that include Big?" Knuckles asked.
Shadow nodded.
"Huh...and Froggy?"
Shadow nodded again.
"What were we like?" Rouge asked.
Shadow pondered this. "Well, I suppose many of your key traits stayed the same. Appearance and temperament were largely unchanged." He tried not to let his eyes linger on Tails. "However, some environmental differences changed other traits. It was as if you had all grown up to your current age in a whole new world."
Electing to keep it concise, he said, "One world was a large city. Another world was an open sea. And a third was a dense jungle." He looked them over. "Imagine how you would be if you had grown up in those places."
He left them to think about it for a moment.
"So, are you telling me there's a pirate version of Eggman?" Knuckles said with a chortle. "I would have loved to see that. He was probably extra goofy."
"Not exactly," Shadow said. "There were actually five versions of him, all of them local to the city. They ruled over it with an iron fist...or five."
"Weird," Tails said, now sitting on the ground and continuing to take notes.
Shadow glanced at him again. "Of course, they knew about harnessing the power of the shards. They used their own universe's shard to power the city. Once they knew of others, they traveled to the other shatterspaces to get them. Before Sonic could."
"That sounds horrible," Amy said. "Five Eggmen? Can't they just leave everybody alone?"
"They were known as the Chaos Council," Shadow stated. "And they made it difficult for us to track down the shards. But Sonic had some help, too."
"From us?" Rouge said with a small smile.
Shadow had to set the stage. "In some way, versions of you all helped Sonic, and opposed him at various points in his journey."
"Why would we oppose him?" Amy asked.
Shadow couldn't help his sneer. Were they all so short-sighted?
"Because," he growled. "None of you knew him. You weren't you at all. Each version of you had all lived their whole life without him."
He rolled his eyes. "Of course, he was quick to try and enlist all of your versions to help, with mixed results. I tried to tell him not to put too much trust in these other versions of you...but it was clear that when he looked at one of them, he saw each of you."
His listeners considered this.
"Well," Tails said with some optimism. "that's Sonic for you. If it's as you say, that these versions of us were just ourselves if we had grown up in a different environment, it's nice that he would immediately think of us as friends. In a way, it really would have been us, just on a different path of life."
Shadow wondered whether he should shoot down this notion. If he truly needed to tell them everything, it would probably be better if they didn't identify with their alternate versions...
But, the concept of their identities was a complex one. There was some truth to the idea that they were the same people, in some philosophical sense. The versions in front of him now were like the trees from which their other versions branched out from. Plus, he could find a way to tell them just what they needed to know, nothing more.
"Still," he went on. "Sonic was too quick to trust those who he didn't really know. Worse..." He couldn't help clenching his fists again. "...his placement of friendship above all else nearly cost us everything..."
Shadow felt his anger rising at how difficult Sonic had made things. He briefly flashed through all those times in his mind when he told Shadow everything was fine, and under control, when it wasn't. He thought back to Nine's veiled threat, There's still some prism energy missing, that Sonic didn't even realize. Sonic was lucky to have Shadow there, or else he would have never escaped.
He suddenly blinked and noticed he was staring right at Tails. He quickly looked away.
"I know Sonic can be frustrating," said Amy, gently. "But I bet you're letting your thoughts get in the way of things. I know that no matter what world he was in, Sonic would look out for others, and help them. It may take time, but friendship is usually worth it."
"Yes, very noble of him..." Shadow said, devoid of emotion.
They stood in silence again.
"Uh, we've kinda been all over the place here," said Knuckles. "So we were there, which is cool. And there were these different worlds, and they had shards? And you had to...get them, right? Before the Eggman - er, the Chaos Council?"
"Correct."
"Then...how did you travel between worlds?"
"And you said you were in a...void?" Rouge piped up.
"Yes, I was in the void. I could only travel to one shatterspace, this place...Green Hill. But as a hollowed-out shell, a ghost of itself, with no shards."
Shadow remembered something.
"Do any of you have a recollection of seeing that version of Green Hill?"
They thought about it. "No," they all murmured.
That wasn't too surprising. They had only been conscious momentarily, when the shards briefly were all put together in the right spot. But then they were sent back, stuck in their immaterial, frozen forms. The jump back through time to fix things had probably erased their memories, if they had even been lucid enough to form them.
"Sonic could travel between the worlds with his extra energy. Once there, he had to find the shards before the council did." He stopped, then added, "And along the way, there were versions of you working with him, and against him, like I said before."
He again let silence fill the air, though his audience was growing to understand that they needed to keep prodding him.
"Did the council, or...anyone else...ever come close to stopping him?" Rouge asked.
"In some ways," Shadow shrugged.
The four of them were somewhat unsure how to take this. Shadow sensed their uneasiness.
"Unlike Sonic, I know the difference between you and your alternate versions. None of your actions in other universes affect my perception of you all."
He thought this would be a slight comfort. But after a second of seeing their faces, he realized that this opened up new, uncomfortable questions in their minds. Shadow needed to tighten up his responses if he wanted to avoid further interrogation.
"So..." Tails started. "Sonic and you got the shards, then?"
"It wasn't easy, but yes." Maybe it would be possible to cut the story off right here.
"And you put the prism back together?"
He nodded.
"How did you know where the shards fit?"
Shadow sharply exhaled through his nose. "There was a template, an outline of sorts, back where the prism originally stood in Green Hill. We followed that."
Successful response. Just the right amount of information.
It was Amy's turn to inquire. "So if you succeeded...the other versions of us eventually helped Sonic? He wound up as friends with us?"
Shadow slowly untensed himself as if to wrap things up. "Yes, by the end, all versions of you were on his side, on our side."
"From what I can gather, you and Sonic disagreed on how to get things done regarding working with us," Rouge said, looking to him for some confirmation. Shadow blinked.
"But if you're still here," she made a general gesture. "Then I guess it worked out."
That was a nice bow on things. "Yes. Sonic acting like he had been lifelong friends with all of your alternate versions put us in difficult situations, but we overcame them. And as I said, everyone was on the same side by the end. That brings us back to the present."
He waited to see whether he could escape further questioning.
"Now hold on," Knuckles said. "You said Sonic would be dead if it wasn't for you. When did you save Sonic?"
"And how?" Amy added.
Oh, right. He shouldn't have led with that.
Shadow stared into space for several seconds. He considered how to play this. As always, the most direct way of telling the truth was the most logical conclusion.
"Sonic had to give away some of his energy to complete the prism again," he said, looking back to them. "Once that happened, he was incredibly weak. He was fading from existence, literally."
His audience waited, gripped with suspense.
"I had to hope that returning him to our world would save him. I dashed through the void as fast as I could, but I wasn't sure it would be enough..."
He took a breath. "Luckily, it worked. We were all immediately back to the point in time where we had been just before Sonic broke the prism. And then I stepped in, as you saw."
Another satisfactory answer, it seemed.
"Wait. There's something that I still don't get," Tails said, poring over his notes.
Shadow stood like a statue. He hoped that this kid wasn't going to force his hand, but he had a sinking feeling that he would.
"If you put the paradox prism together using the template at Green Hill, why did you say you needed to take Sonic back to our world?"
Damn. Shadow made a grunting sound.
Tails now looked around at his friends. "It sounds like you put the prism together somewhere else. Why?"
This was going to be tough to dodge. He had three options. He could lie. He could leave.
But the other option was the right option, he knew. He could make the truth work.
"When we put the shards back together, we were in another world...a whole new one, molded by the energy of the shards. We...got some help there in putting the prism back together and setting everything right."
He tried to add the minimum amount of detail. "It was one of the versions of you all, that helped...well, you all helped in some way."
He worried his truth-shielding was becoming more apparent.
"A world, molded by the shards?" Tails remarked, twirling his pencil. "Wow, that prism must be really powerful."
"But why were you there?" Knuckles asked.
Shadow took his time in answering this one. He again had to find the right way of telling the truth.
"We were attacked by the Chaos Council, the versions of Eggman at Green Hill. We...had to leave to avoid being destroyed along with that shatterspace."
A good response. He hoped that this was the last thing he needed to explain.
They seemed generally accepting of this answer. All except one.
"There's still something you won't admit. That fact couldn't be more obvious," Amy huffed.
Shadow glared in her direction. "What?"
"You clearly have something unresolved with Sonic. It made you upset just thinking about it," she said, finger in the air. "I take it you didn't want him becoming friends with us because it would distract from getting things back to normal. Yet you said by the end, all of our versions were on his side, and we helped fix things. And you were probably mad that he got to have all the fun traveling between worlds, and you couldn't."
She was spot on, but he kept his thoughts contained.
"Unless there's something else you're not telling us, it sounds to me like you needed the help of our other versions. You're just mad you couldn't do it your way."
His silence remained, though it was getting more difficult.
"You keep hesitating, and choosing your words so carefully. I think I know why."
His glare was hard. Stop talking while you still can.
"You can't admit you were wrong," she said. "You want so badly to be proven right, but you weren't."
Anger was rising inside of him. Why were Sonic's friends so annoying?
"Can you tell us when Sonic was proven wrong for valuing his friends? Just one example! Now's your chance!" she goaded, arms open.
Shadow was practically shaking. He closed his eyes and looked down, an involuntary scowl emerging on his face.
"I think you'll feel better if you say it," she smirked. "Just admit it: Sonic was in the right the whole time."
"He was not!" he snapped.
Fine, if they wanted to know so badly.
"You really want to know everything that happened? How close we were to losing everything? How Sonic's need to make friends nearly resulted in the destruction of reality?"
Amy's grin faded into seriousness at his voice. Rouge had her mouth agape. Tails stopped twirling his pencil. Knuckles looked perturbed.
"Maybe Sonic had a reason for not telling you...but that's fine. If you think you can handle it."
He took a moment to compose himself.
"Do you think you can handle it?"
The four of them glanced from side to side, seeing whether or not they were in agreement. With varying levels of vigor, they nodded.
Shadow paid close attention to Tails. He didn't seem to be totally certain that he wanted to hear it. But if everyone else wanted to...
Shadow's annoyance with their pestering questions overrode any other feelings. They could have stopped asking at any time if they didn't want to hear the full story.
"As I said, I don't let the actions of your other versions influence my judgement of you right now," he stated.
This comment only proved to worry them some more. But the time for caring about their reactions was over.
"When Sonic met the versions of you, he acted like he was already friends with them. Instead of winning their trust naturally. Over time, he did earn their confidence."
He now looked at the horizon. "But some of these versions of you all had their own goals, their own ideas for the shards..."
Everyone was wide-eyed and still.
"As I said, versions of each of you opposed Sonic at points...but there was one particular version of someone here...who betrayed him, and nearly destroyed the universe."
The four of them looked at each other, and themselves, with some terror and distress.
The fleeting thought of how they would take the news again crossed his mind. He didn't know what it would do to their psyches - in particular, the psyche of the one whose version was responsible.
No, it doesn't matter. He wasn't one to pull punches.
"Sonic felt he had to work with someone to get the shards and reassemble the prism. Someone trustworthy, and clever," he said. "An ally against the Chaos Council."
His audience was in rapt attention, anxious.
"Of course," exasperation coming through, "his trust was misplaced."
He closed his eyes.
"Sonic counted on someone named Nine to help us get the shards and put them together, but Nine took the shards and abandoned us while the Chaos Council was attacking at Green Hill. We were left to die."
He was careful to avoid revealing identifying information just yet.
"Rather than use the shards to restore our worlds, Nine used the shards to build a personal world. One where no one else was welcome. Sonic and I survived, and went there to see if we could get the shards back, but it was clear we needed more help. Nine, already god-like in power, harnessed the shards to build an army, but also needed Sonic's remaining energy to complete the world. It would drain him of the prism energy physically holding him together...leave him to die, again. I knew I had to buy Sonic some time. I used everything I had to get Sonic out of there, since he was slow on the uptake. He still couldn't believe one of his so-called 'friends' could be so cruel and selfish."
The walls of earth around him reminded him of the canyon he had found himself stuck in, back in the grim.
"I was stuck there, fighting to stay alive against an endless army, not knowing when Sonic would be back, or if he would be back at all..."
He paused for a moment, just to give a slight sense of the amount of time he had been stuck there, not knowing his fate.
"Eventually Sonic came back, with all his friends...including the Chaos Council."
His audience was beyond shocked at this news.
"Sonic worked...we worked with Eggman?" Amy blurted.
Shadow gazed into space. "Nine's use of the shards was destroying the other universes. We all had a common enemy."
In the back of his mind, there were still nagging misgivings about telling them the final piece of the puzzle. He would see if they really wanted to know, after what he had said.
"Every other world destabilized the longer the shards were used to create and defend Nine's world. Finally, faced with the prospect of all the worlds collapsing as more and more prism energy was drained in the ensuing fight, Nine...had a change of heart, and used Sonic's extra prism energy to restore things, including this world."
It was a lot to take in. A near minute of silence followed.
That would be the end, if they would let it be. He would give them one more out, one more chance to avoid hearing the last detail. He wondered what they found scarier: knowing, or never finding out.
Shadow thought about how it had all unfolded. Sure, they had ultimately saved reality. But if only he could have traveled into the shatterspaces...Sonic's friendship was only an impediment to their goals, proven by Nine's betrayal. The mission would have been cleaner. No unnecessary drama.
Although, Nine's restoration had enabled them to preserve all the shatterspaces, so it seemed. If Sonic had only communicated properly with him, maybe he wouldn't have been betrayed in the first place.
"So..." it was Amy talking, timidly. "...who was Nine?"
It seemed curiosity was more powerful than anything else. The unknown was the most frightening prospect of all.
The time had come. Shadow inhaled deeply. He held it for a few seconds.
He had a thought. He knew how he could let them know who Sonic would have gone to for help.
"If Sonic tasked you with harnessing the energy of an unknown source..." he said. "How would you do it?"
He finished the sentence by looking straight at Knuckles. He held his stare for a while.
Knuckles began taking the hint. "Are you...am I...supposed to answer that?"
Shadow gave him the subtlest of nods as he stared.
His eyes darting from side to side, Knuckles gave a wobbly shrug. "Well, I mean...depends on what we're dealing with. Uh...I guess you said it's unknown, so..." he struggled for a solution. "To be honest, that's not my strong suit..."
Shadow continued to stare.
"I guess..." Knuckles was mentally flailing. "Assuming it's like the prism, I would...see if it glowed more when it was near some other thing! Like another source. Or something that attracted it. You know...like a magnet?"
Knuckles looked around to gauge whether this was a decent answer or not. Reactions were unclear.
For Shadow's intents, this answer more than sufficed. He turned to Rouge, and held his stare on her.
Rouge noticed Shadow's shift in attention, and pointed to herself, questioningly. Shadow kept staring.
She turned her eyes up as she thought. "Well...I would probably want to see if anyone else was familiar with it. I have some contacts I could call. The black market often turns up results for things that others didn't know existed..."
She searched for something more to say, not knowing if this was the type of answer Shadow wanted. She wasn't finding much.
"And...we'd go from there," Rouge finished.
She gave a nervous smile in hopes her answer was acceptable. To Shadow, it was.
He turned to Amy. She knew it was her turn, but she was still thinking.
"Huh," she said, quietly. "I would probably see...uh...if I could find any information about it in a book! Or some database. Find something similar to it, and see if we can figure out how it works."
She looked around for approval. Then she looked to Shadow.
"I mean, really, what else are you supposed to do?" Amy said with some irritation. "It's not exactly an easy question."
Shadow said nothing to this. He held his stare for another moment, then shifted his gaze. His eyes settled on Tails, sitting on the end.
Tails looked around to make sure that the floor was his. "Well..."
He turned to Shadow. "I would first want to test what kind of energy the source was giving off. What kinds of light waves it was emitting, and what kind of magnetism, if applicable. Then, I would run a few imaging scans, maybe with some X-rays. That would better help me understand the composition of the source."
Shadow could see him visualizing it in his head.
"Depending on the results, there would probably be a clear path to take next. If it was compatible with some of the batteries I have, I would test whether energy could flow between them and the source."
He now looked at Shadow, as if to ask whether he should continue. Shadow raised an eyebrow.
Tails took the indication to keep going.
"If the flow wasn't working, then there are a few more tests I'd have to run so I could construct a more compatible conduit. The density, resonant frequency, and brittleness of the source are just some of the factors that I would have to consider."
Everybody else was beginning to get lost. But Tails was only getting started.
"Building a more compatible conduit wouldn't be so bad. There are a few materials that stand up well to any form of power - known power, I should say. I would just have to make sure that the source remained stable under a variety of circumstances. A few tests on whether or not it remained stable upon changes in pressure, temperature, or even something like getting it wet would be in order. We wouldn't want to risk a huge release of energy based on some small environmental factor."
It had been a while since he had taken a breath. He stopped to do so, but then immediately sprung back into it.
"Once I've assessed the risks such as those, I would build a new conduit, if necessary. By this point, it would already be compatible with some of my existing tech. Then I could get a good reading on precisely how much power we were dealing with."
Rouge was hit with the realization first. What exactly it was that Shadow was showing them. She made a small gasp and brought her hand to her face.
Completely in his element, Tails went on. "The readings would help me further stabilize the power. Under control in a conduit, it would be far easier to examine. Oh, the things I could study! I'd love to know whether it was renewable or non-renewable. I wouldn't want to immediately start using all the power if it wasn't renewable."
Amy had sensed something was up by Rouge's reaction. Now, the full realization hit her as well.
"Once I know the composition and the types of waves it gave off, I could pretty easily make some kind of detector, tuned specifically to search for other instances of the source elsewhere. In fact, I could make it pretty long-range if there were only a few different wave forms required to identify it."
Knuckles was the last one to have the realization. But now, seeing the reactions of Amy and Rouge, he had it.
They all knew. They all understood.
Except for Tails, who was still talking. Shadow's gaze on him became harder, but he didn't notice.
"The fewer specific points to hit, the better. Now, some potential problems with the source. If it really is too unstable for large discharges of power, I would have to examine the structure to see if it could be safely partitioned, a way of dealing with power in smaller quantities. Hitting it with certain compounds could do the trick. Assuming I know the composition of the matter, I would know what compounds would best work to weaken it, while also being reversible under controlled..."
He trailed off. Everyone was staring at the two-tailed fox.
Shadow's gaze had become exceptionally hard. Just a bit harder than it needed to be. Tails saw his expression, and his face lost color.
Shadow broke his stare, and half-turned away. His work was done.
Tails' eyes glazed over. After a moment, he broke partway into a sob, but just restrained enough so that there were no serious waterworks. His breaths were shaky.
Nobody said anything. Nobody knew quite how to process the chilling information.
Tails now buried his face in his hands. He shook his head, over and over and over.
This was exactly why Shadow didn't want to tell them. Proven right, as usual.
Amy bent over and gave Tails a hug.
"I would never...no...Sonic," he quivered.
"I know you wouldn't," Amy said, softly.
Rouge and Knuckles were standing together, one arm around each other's shoulder, looking at the scene, contemplating.
Shadow just looked towards the sky. His drawing out of the story had apparently resulted in maximum emotional impact. That was their fault, though, for making him tell a story he clearly didn't want to tell.
They were taking this the wrong way. They should understand the differences between them and their alternate versions. Hadn't he made that clear?
But as he heard the whimpers of the fox kit, he felt compelled to do something. It wasn't Tails who deserved to be feeling like this - if anyone did, it was Nine.
He looked over to see Tails still with his face in his hands, Amy still hugging him. He was definitely crying now, just trying to keep it as quiet as possible.
Shadow gave it a few more seconds. Then he started walking over.
Knuckles and Rouge watched him intently.
He got to his destination and bent down. Amy noticed him, and looked at him a bit confused, but said nothing.
"Hey," Shadow said.
Tails' hands were covering his eyes. Slowly, he spread his fingers to peer out at Shadow, trying to hide his quick gasps for air that gave away his sobs.
Even though comforting kids wasn't his specialty, Shadow felt he knew just what to say.
"Did you betray Sonic, threaten his friends, world, and other universes?"
He pointed his finger right at him.
Tails looked down at his finger, then back to Shadow. He dropped his hands, a bit taken aback by the question, with his mouth open in shock. His befuddlement distracted slightly from his tears. Amy was equally befuddled, though some anger bled into her expression at Shadow's extraordinarily pointed inquiry.
Still visibly reeling from it all, Tails looked to be considering how Shadow wanted him to answer this. Trying to see if there was some right or wrong answer, some hidden intention Shadow had.
But he couldn't seem to figure out anything.
"No..." Tails rasped, trying to stifle further sobs.
He curled back slightly into Amy's arms, covering his face once more. Amy looked from the trembling boy back to Shadow, perhaps wondering if she needed to intervene somehow on Tails' behalf.
"Exactly," Shadow said.
He stood up.
"So you haven't earned your guilt."
Without giving time to see how he responded, Shadow slowly walked back to where he had been standing, next to the rock. He stopped, but didn't turn back to Sonic's friends.
"Everyone has the capability for selfishness, cruelty. Just like everyone has the capability to protect the world."
At this point, there truly was nothing more to say on the matter.
With the hopes that his final statement would clear their minds, he figured it was time to give them some space. Now they knew, and it was up to them to choose how to go on living with the information. He had even gone the extra mile and gave some guidance.
Stretching, Shadow turned so he could see everyone out of the corner of his eye.
Everyone was still mostly where they had been before. If the fox was still crying, it was quieter, and more controlled now.
Should he say something else? It was a strange note to end on, but he didn't know what else to say. Nothing but time would make things better.
"Shadow..."
It was Rouge. He turned a quarter rotation.
"...Do these versions of us still exist?"
He was, for the first time, met with a query he was unsure about. On one hand, given that the prism had only created the other universes after being shattered, and in the current timeline, the prism had never been shattered because Shadow and Sonic had traveled back through time to prevent it from happening, it seemed like the other universes shouldn't exist. Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Rouge, and Eggman were never in the vicinity of a shattering prism - at least, not anymore.
Yet Shadow had seen the prism reassembled by Nine, in the grim. Gone were the shards that created each universe. They were now just one stone. But, all the other versions of them were still alive last he had seen. The restoration of the prism had not closed their shatterspaces. It hadn't caused them to fade from existence. It hadn't reduced them to immaterial ghosts.
Maybe that's why it was called the Paradox Prism.
"I can't say for sure," Shadow said. "Perhaps, perhaps not."
He thought a little more about the best way to ease their concern. Was it more or less concerning if those other universes still existed?
"If they are indeed still in existence, then there's no need to worry," he said. "This world is inaccessible without the prism."
"And, of course..." he started. He didn't really want to finish the thought. But he saw everyone's faces, in need of reassurance.
"...Sonic made friends with everyone, and brought all versions together, so everyone there would be getting along fine."
Okay, maybe Sonic's methods had their benefits. Just a few.
It was really time to go. Without another thought, he dashed off.
Shadow teleported into a small cavern. There sat the prism, half-buried in dirt.
He walked over to it. Chaos emerald in one hand, he brushed some of the dirt off the rock with his free hand. He knew how to be careful around it.
The multicolored shards reflected the minimal light in the area. They gave an otherworldly glow to the small enclosure.
Peering into the crystals, Shadow watched carefully for any signs of life. It might take a while. That was fine. He had time. He stood and waited, staring.
Minutes, maybe hours went by.
Suddenly, he saw something drifting through one shard. It was Rouge, Batten Rouge.
Unable to see where she was, Shadow paid close attention to her movement. She was simply fluttering, seemingly at ease, wherever she was.
She was gone a few seconds later.
Shadow looked away. That answered his question.
But he wanted to know more. He glanced at the emerald in his hand. He had all the time in the world.
So, he gazed into the prism once more, waiting.
He was unsure how much time had passed. His focus slowed everything down, yet also made it possible for hours to pass without processing them.
But he suddenly saw movement in the shards again. He took a closer look. It was Renegade Knucks. He seemed to be in New Yoke. He appeared to be walking the streets, casually. Who was that with him? A civilian? Nobody distinctive.
Shadow leaned back as Renegade Knuckles faded from the prism. But this time, he didn't have to wait long. The prism now showed more signs of life. It was the Rose sisters, piloting a ship.
He nodded. They all seemed to be doing alright.
He could go now. Who knew how long it would take to make sure everyone was accounted for? There was always some other day.
But, he couldn't move himself from his position, for whatever reason. Why wait even longer to know what you could find out in short order?
So he waited. And waited.
The rainbow of colors around him dimmed, and brightened slowly as the shards revealed their worlds to him. Not every area was occupied, the spaces random. But he saw the other shatterspaces just the same.
His focus was still razor-sharp, even as he knew that much time had gone by.
Finally, he saw who he was looking for. Nine was sitting in a chair of some kind. Taking in more details, Shadow saw that it looked to be the cabin of one of the Chaos Council's damaged ships.
Nine was working on fixing something on the panel. Shadow watched for a while, as the shard held his image there for a long period of time.
Shadow had seen what he needed to see. He turned and slowly walked back from the prism.
He took one more glance in the direction of the prism. As he did, he realized his angle had changed, and there was more to the scene than he could first tell.
There behind Nine were Sails and Mangey, fixing other areas of the ship.
It was almost enough to bring a smile to Shadow's face. Almost.
Perhaps if the fox needed some additional therapy, he could bring him here in secret. He'd have to blindfold him on the way here, but it would otherwise be feasible. Sonic might also like to know, but there was no way Shadow was letting him near the prism again. Somebody could just tell him.
Shadow turned away from the paradox prism, emerald in hand.
In a blink, he was gone. The image of the two-tailed foxes from other universes faded from the shards, ready to reveal them again when the time came.