Chapter Text
One second, he was pushing the eclipse cannon away from Earth. With a power, he had not known was possible. Shadow knew that he wouldn’t come out of this alive. Perhaps it is his punishment, for what? He doesn’t know. For not being strong enough to save Maria? For trying to destroy a world full of innocent people just like her? Maybe it’s just his destiny. His mouth curved upwards even though the ark was beginning to implode on itself. Now they were safe, he only hopes that the blue hedgehog and his friends made it to earth safely. And that the human, Tom would be okay. That they would all be okay. Shadow felt the power leave him, slowly dissipating as the ark pulled him in closer. His fur shimmered one last time before the gold became black.
The ark imploded in on itself with the light of star. An extremely beautiful sight for those unaware of what could have been. Of what was about to happen to them. A sight that Shadow didn’t see, the black and red hedgehog was aware of feeling, which didn’t make sense. He was supposed to be dead. This pain was supposed to be over. But it wasn’t, he still felt the pain of loss. Also, the pain of being sucked through a black hole as he felt like he was being simultaneously squished and stretched. He couldn’t even open his mouth to scream. And just when the pain reached a fever high, it stopped. And he was floating. Shadow wondered If he landed in the ocean. But the liquid was to thick to be water. It felt almost like…
No. That couldn’t be right. He was just… But the liquid around him left no room for questioning. He knows it, spent the last 50 years in it. With a rare feeling of dread, he opened his eyes. He was back in the capsule, with G.U.N soldiers all lined up and their weapons pointed up at him. It’s impossible. Did they recapture him? But how? He went through a black hole. Shadow needs answers and he’s not going to get them by being in this tube. With his mean look on, he felt the chaos energy run through him and stopped at his fist before he shattered the tempered glass with a punch. The liquid flowing past him and onto the floor. He picked up on the hesitation and fear in the guards’ eyes. Good. He was going to make them pa-. Shadow clinched his fist as he remembered what Sonic had said about revenge. Here he was, in the same situation as the blue hedgehog. He could get revenge, but would that make him feel better? He took a deep breath and powered down. He would be better than G.U.N. “Stand down.” Shadow had tried to reason with them.
“Open fire.” Well, he tried. The guards never stood a chance. Before the bullets could even come close to him, Shadow teleported away. He incapacitated one guard with a kick to the head. The rest soon followed, but as he made his escape the same way he did earlier. There was no damage, not even a hint. Which should be impossible. Shadow came to a stop before the undestroyed wall. With a frown he turned back, there had to be someone he could squeeze the information out of.
The two soldiers in the control room looked at the aftermath of the carnage that had just happened. “Uhh. We should probably call this in.” When his coworker didn’t respond, the soldier turned around.
“Boo.” Shadow had already taken out the other guard. He did get a satisfying scream in response from the remaining one. Maria would be proud. At the thought of Maria, Shadow’s ‘playfulness’ was stomped out. He grabbed the guard’s hand and twisted it until they were on equal level. “What happened.” Shadow’s voice was low, almost a growl.
“I-I-I don’t know. It’s-It’s impossible. You shouldn’t have woken up.” The guard let out a cry as he was shoved back. Shadow is not in the mood for games. Shadow advanced towards the guard but out of the corner of his eyes, he saw something on the computer. He completely forgot about the human as he fully turned to see what it said. His eyes widened ever so slightly. It’s not possible. It couldn’t be.
The date was 6/10/2020. The feeling of dread that had disappeared during the beatdown, had come back in full force. It had to be a trick. With a snarl, Shadow turned back to the soldier. “What is this!” Shadow was in front of the, reasonably scared guard before he could blink.
“I-I don’t kno-“ He was cut off as Shadow’s gloved hand wrapped around the front of his neck. The hedgehog’s hand didn’t reach all the way around, but he didn’t have too. Shadow slowly squeezed, but all he saw was panic, not deceit. The human’s hands came up to Shadow’s wrist but was unable to pry the hand off.
“Pathetic.” Shadow said as he released the neck from his grip, causing the guard to take deep breaths. If he really was in the past, then he needs an ally, at least until he can is situated. And since he’s done with the male Robotnik’s. That only leaves one option. He grimaced slightly. On second thought, did he really need an ally? He doesn’t even know where the blue hedgehog and his allies are. And he doubts causing destruction will make them listen to him. But, the talk on the moon. He needs to know when the pain will fade away. Sonic had said it doesn’t, but Shadow just can’t accept that. So with a newfound resolve, he turned to the G.U.N personnel. “Where is the blue hedgehog and his allies?”
“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Shadow again, didn’t see any deceit. “You’re the only proje-“ A crack filled the room as Shadow’s fist collided with the man’s nose and broke it. Also leaving the man knocked out.
“I’m not a project.” Shadow left the dark room and base, standing on the edge of the island. A calmness was out tonight. The ocean’s waves were calm, and a gentle breeze blows through his fur. A stark contrast from his past? Future? He wasn’t so sure anymore. The salted air more noticeable to his enhanced senses. Shadow… had a theory. He noticed, previously, that there was a certain energy around the hedgehog and his friends. Chaos energy. The same as him. It didn’t occur to him, because it wasn’t important, but he wonders if he can use that energy to track him. Moonlight reflected off his velvety fur as he closed his eyes and concentrated. He feels it, a energy like his own, but weaker, way weaker. Shadow couldn’t exactly pinpoint the exact location, but he knew it was across the ocean. The Pacific Ocean based off of his lessons at the base. He stared at the seemingly infinite amount of blue, and smirked. Maybe if there were 100 oceans then it could be a challenge. A crackle of orange energy ran through his eyes before he disappeared in a flash and reappeared on the water. Orange lighting crackled against the water as Shadow made his journey across the Pacific. Like a orange marbles rolled against a blue carpet.
While he’s skating across the water, Shadow thinks that whatever Sonic had that made him turn golden would come in handy right now. Nevertheless, Shadow finally made it, and the energy signature was much closer, and the day was much brighter. In the back of his mind, he noticed he only felt a single signature, but Shadow chalked it up to the distance distorting it. He was a line of orange as he traveled across the American northwest. He came to a stop where the energy felt the strongest. His brows furrowed slightly when he looked around. He was in the middle of the woods. Perhaps the blue hedgehog was out for a run. Shadow looked around and noticed wear and tear on the forest floor. “Where are you?” Shadow’s ears twitched when he heard a slight crunch but when he turned to face where the sound came from, it was just a squirrel. It didn’t make sense. The way Sonic had reacted when he had injured his human, had Shadow thinking he would find them both together.
Shadow not seeing anything, but the energy not disappearing, had him looking around. The ‘trail’ had become more noticeable, so he followed it. Which lead to a drop into a cave. With orange eyes slightly narrowed Shadow jumped into the cave. He was not expecting what he saw. There was a bunch of stuff just laying around, mostly junk, but still stuff. Could this be Sonic’s base of operation? It makes sense, having a separate base means a less likely chance of being tracked home. While Shadow was pondering, a battle cry pierced the air.
“Intruder!!!” Shadow would never admit it, but he startled just a little bit before he teleported to a better position in the cave. A position that had him hidden as he watched, a blue form land where he just was. “Haaa-Yaah.” Shadow tilted his head in confusion as Sonic, who looked way different, spun some nun-chucks around. This… is not what he was expecting. Where was the rest of his team? “Whoever is there. You picked the wrong hedgehog to miss with.” Sonic held his arms out like an L. nun-chucks dangling from his hands. “I know 10 styles of Kung-fu and all ten include nun-chucks!” He then started to spin them around once more, but ended up hitting his head. Knocking off the bandanna he was hearing. ”Oww.” The irritation in Shadow grew to alarming levels. Did he just waste his time with this? How was this… child supposed to be an ally? Perhaps Sonic’s friends were better suited for his needs. Sonic sat up and shook his head, quills bouncing around. “Must have been my shadow. Hahaha-“
“Sonic.”
“-AHHHH!!” Shadow grimaced at the high-pitched scream, as his target turned to face him. He watched the blue hedgehog go through multiple expressions and emotions. Fear is what he noticed first, which is odd. Sonic didn’t seem the kind to scare easily. But the raised quills and slightly puffed out fur said otherwise. It looked like his face was 50 percent eyes with how wide they were, and he looked like he was about to bolt any second. Which would be unideal, while he would have no problem catching Sonic, Shadow would really like to make this as easy as possible. “Relax, I’m not here to hurt you.”
“What! Who! How! Huh?” Sonic took a couple of steps backwards. But really watched Shadow with wide eyes. Shadow took Sonic not running as a good sign. But he was also a little perplexed, Sonic didn’t show any signs that he would defend himself. Instead, he looked posed to just run. A stark contrast to the future, where he had actively tried to fight. Shadow’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. He has only gained new questions from this. Shadow didn’t answer any questions, as he was to busy coming up with his own. But he did see Sonic take a couple of tiny steps forwards. Then moved his arm up and down.
“Uhmm. Hello? Mr. creepy hedgehog?” Shadow’s fist tightened into a ball, but he knew he couldn’t just hit the other hedgehog. Though, it would probably make him feel better, but Shadow isn’t too sure on that himself. This Sonic was clearly weaker and smaller. Shadow supposes he is 4 years from where he first met this lookalike, but still. Sonic must have been 5 inches shorter than him, and he looked like he could be moved by a breeze.
“Where are your friends?” Shadow expected a different attitude, perhaps a slight spirt lift up, but no. All he got was a wide eyed look then the hedgehog put his head down for a second, before he popped back up with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
“My friends? They’re everywhere! Everybody in town is my friend. We hang out and have such good times.” He watched the hedgehog fiddle with his gloves. A habit that he always got in trouble for.
“Stop that.”
“Sorry.” A pause then Sonic looks up at Shadow. “Wait one second. You can’t tell me what to do. This is my cave, and I will not be told what to do.” Sonic puffed up his chest and stood on his tippee toes but even then, he still missed Shadow’s eyes. My cave? It was weird, but Shadow got caught up on it. He gazed at the increasingly unsure Sonic, whose chest became not puffed out. “Wait. Who even are you? This isn’t a stranger danger thing, is it?”
Ignoring the terrible attempts at humor, perhaps an introduction to ease the tension, “I’m Shadow, Shadow the Hedgehog.” Shadow can’t say that he was 100 percent unbothered by the fact there was zero remembrance on Sonic’s face. The blue hedgehog shook a little, and before Shadow realized what was about to happen, Sonic was already laughing.
“Hahhaha. So, your name is Shadow? That’s- haha That’s so Batman. In fact, you look like you came straight out of a Batman comi-OOF.” What ever Sonic was going to say next, was cut off by Shadow grabbing the younger hedgehog by the neck and teleporting him against the wall. Sonic’s hands tried to pry Shadow’s hand off, while his legs uselessly kicked out. Shadow was done with this. He is the most dangerous thing in the galaxy and since this Sonic didn’t know that. Shadow would make sure he would learn. Shadow just held him by the neck, not completely blocking out airflow, but squeezing enough to get his point across. He stared deep into the green eyes, and saw fear. Good.
“Do you think this is a comic now?”
“P-Please.” Sonic’s terror didn’t make Shadow feel good. There was no vindicative or warm fuzzy feeling. Just a empty feeling. He should be angry, he is. But this isn’t making the anger go away. Sure, the blue hedgehog was annoying, but he was innocent. Shadow’s inner conflict showed on his face in the form of a snarl, which only scared Sonic more as he redoubled his effort, “I-I’m sorry, Okay? Just- Just let me g-“ Shadow dropped Sonic, the blue hedgehog then took multiple deep breathes. Which Shadow thought was a bit melodramatic because he only choked him lightly.
“I… didn’t want this to happen. I-“ Shadow breathed out, Sonic had taken multiple steps away from him. “I just-“ Might as well rip the band-aid off, “I’m from the future where you and I team up to save the world.” He did leave off the fact about how he was the reason it was in danger in the first place, and how he did try to kill the blue nuisance with a blackhole. The fear left Sonic’s face and was taken over by confusion. Shadow watched Sonic open his mouth a couple of times while head shook a little.
“Okay. I believe you.” Well, that was easy. Shadow is not to surprised as he is a master of negotiating... And he’s gone. Shadow didn’t really consider that Sonic just said that so he could ‘escape’. Now he faced a choice. It’s clear that Sonic would be no help. He seemed way to immature and inexperienced. It seems like not much changes in 4 years. But on the other hand, Shadow lost everyone. He wants someone to talk to. And with Sonic being an alien like him, and being almost as fast as him, means he wouldn’t slow the black and red hedgehog down too much. He also needed more questions answered. And just maybe, what was said on the moon had merit and by making Sonic an acquittance. Perhaps the ache in his chest would dull a little.
So with that in mind, Shadow teleported outside of the cave. If Sonic thought he could escape from him. He has another thing coming, as Shadow locks unto Sonic’s energy signature. And faster then a bullet, he’s off. A small smile at the thrill of the hunt.