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~•~
Sonic and Tails are hanging out on Angel Island, helping Knuckles protect the Master Emerald. Tails is fixing his plane, and Sonic is doing laps through the island, running by every few seconds. Knuckles is standing atop the Master Emerald, arms crossed.
Then a rocketship launches next to them. Knuckles grabs Sonic on his next lap and points up at the rocket with an alarmed expression. Sonic looks up at it, then back at Knuckles, winks, and gives him a thumbs up. He takes off to get Tails, and they start making their way up to space again.
When they figure out where the shuttle is going, they're confused. It's not another Death Egg. This is a smaller thing that doesn't have Eggman's logo on it. But why would an Eggman ship go to a place like this?
Sonic and Tails look at each other. Tails lands their stolen shuttle right next to Eggman's.
They arrive on the space station to a maze of dark hallways, some with a white light at the end. Not trusting the dark ones, Sonic gives Tails a nod and leads them towards the light. The halls have strangely intricate designs that flash past them as they speed by, dodging boxes and capsules.
Sonic skids to a stop at the entrance to a brightly lit laboratory. Tails takes the lead, guiding and lifting Sonic around the large room, intrigued at the surrounding technology. To Sonic, it just looks like a medical lab with some of those capsules attached to the walls, but then Tails drops him back to the floor and points to a specific capsule. Inside this one is a dark hedgehog.
Sonic looks to Tails for permission and receives a nod. He revs up into a spindash and blasts into the capsule, raining pieces of glass and metal that fall away to reveal a scared black hedgehog. Sonic holds out a hand and smiles, watching them open their eyes and take their own hands away from their face to look at Sonic. When they see him, their eyes sparkle and they smile back, taking Sonic's hand. Happy to have another friend, Sonic grins and pulls them out of the capsule.
With both of them standing on even ground, the resemblance between them is more obvious. Sonic blinks and lifts his other hand up to the black hedgehog, who does the same, and they compare hand sizes. Their proportions are exactly the same: hands, arms, height, and quill style. They look at each other with surprised expressions. The only major difference is their colors: this hedgehog’s fur is mostly black, with a circle of white fluff on their body where Sonic’s fur is short and tan. Their shoes are also black, with white tips and socks. Around their wrists and ankles are pretty golden bands, like jewelry. Other than that, they could be twins.
The black hedgehog blinks and holds up a finger, getting an idea. They reach up and fluff their quills, smoothing them into an upturned style, gently swooping upwards. Sonic grins and nods. He'd never thought to do that before! It looks so cool! His new friend puts their hands on their sides and poses, smiling. Tails flies around the both of them happily, and the dark hedgehog looks at him curiously.
Tails lands next to them and holds out a paper, glancing between them. The black hedgehog takes it, then hands it to Sonic immediately after reading it. Sonic's eyes squint as he reads it.
“Looking for: Hedgehogs who can use the Chaos Emeralds. Trading for: 5,000 Rings.”
Shocked, Sonic jumps back. Five thousand rings? Someone could be immortal with that many rings! He looks up at the dark hedgehog, who nods sadly and points at themself. They must have been kidnapped or bought by Eggman! That's what he was doing on that shuttle! But why? Sonic tilts his head, and the dark hedgehog walks to a specific table in the lab, bringing back another paper. This one says “Project Shadow” and details plans to create an immortal creature. Surprised, Sonic looks at the other hedgehog, but they shake their head and point at the word “Shadow,” then at Sonic. Oh!
While Shadow takes the paper and hands it to Tails, Sonic looks at him closer. He hasn't met any other male hedgehogs, but he and Shadow look extremely alike, even with the upturned quills to set their silhouettes apart. Perhaps all hedgehogs look similar.
Their time is up as Eggman runs into the room and presses an alarm on the wall, sending red light sweeping around the room. He then runs away, but Sonic knows he's just hopping into his Eggmobile and finding the nearest mech. The doors to the room close, locking them in, but Sonic can try spindashing the door later. He turns to Shadow, who looks scared, and Tails, who looks thoughtful.
Sonic points at the door, but Shadow shakes his head, pointing to his bracelets and anklets. He mimes running and a handcuff motion, and Sonic jolts, realizing these aren't intentional decorations, but some kind of blockers that prevent Shadow from running. Tails flies closer, gesturing to the bracelets. Shadow offers his wrist and Tails examines the band, fiddling with the mechanism. Sonic stands guard. Eggman will just have to wait until their new friend is free.
While Tails unlatches the first bracelet, Sonic wonders if Shadow can run as fast as him. It seems likely…. Sonic will have to make sure no other hedgehogs get kidnapped for this “Project Shadow” experiment. Sonic's foot taps on the floor as he thinks. It's weird for Eggman not to put his name and face on everything, but maybe this place was meant to be a secret.
Once Tails opened the first bracelet, the others opened the same way, and Shadow happily bounces up and smiles at Tails, who smiles back. Shadow excitedly runs circles around Sonic, who is delighted to find someone who matches his top speed. Sonic points at the door again, and Shadow nods. They both roll into a ball and slam into the door, but the thing is so thick that they only make two dents in it. All three of them could probably wear it down eventually, but Shadow gets an idea and steps closer to Sonic, putting both his hands together and giving Sonic a challenging smirk. In response, Sonic grins and tackles him, rolling them into one ball, then smashing right through the door, leaving a gaping hole that Tails flies through.
Uncurling and hopping back up, Sonic braces for a race and returns a challenging smirk. In response, Shadow takes off running. Annoyed, Sonic chases after him and quickly catches up, putting a surprised look on Shadow's face. Maybe he also hadn't met any super fast hedgehogs. Tails flies above them, snickering. Sonic rolls his eyes. Yeah yeah, there are two impatient hedgehogs now.
Sonic grins, jumps over a box, and rolls into a ball, speeding down the hall. Shadow mimics him, catching up quickly, looking at Sonic with more curiosity. Smirking, Sonic shows off his moves – jumping, spinning, and dashing through the hall without losing momentum. Shadow does seem impressed, but as they're nearing the goal, Sonic is knocked off balance by a spindash. As he rights himself and kicks back into gear, he sees Shadow executing all his moves perfectly. Sonic has never seen what his movement looks like from another perspective, and he finds himself staring at Shadow more than focusing on the goal. He moves so fluidly and skillfully… Maybe imitation really is the highest form of flattery. Sonic is feeling pretty flattered right now.
Shadow crosses the goal line first, and while Sonic is slightly annoyed at being half a second late, he's more excited about his new friend. Shadow strikes a proud pose, but immediately accepts Sonic’s high-five and returns his grin. Tails flies in, having lost them halfway through the race, and lands next to Sonic.
Eggman, the centerpiece of the room they just entered, slams a metal boot into the ground, shaking the area. Inside the giant robot is his Eggmobile, where he is clearly irritated that they put more focus on their race instead of his robot. Sonic and Shadow quickly get into fighting position, and Tails does too, waiting to provide support.
When Eggman launches a robot hand at them, they all scatter. Sonic runs up the arm and spins into the robot’s shoulder joint. Shadow aims for the Eggmobile and rolls into a ball, hitting the robot's chest. Tails, not detecting any traps in the room, provides a distraction, then latches onto the other arm and starts messing with the hand, keeping that one occupied. Sonic successfully buzzes through the shoulder and the wires inside, rendering that arm useless. Shadow is hitting a weak spot that might be the power source, and Tails deconstructs the hand, letting the pieces fall to the floor.
Shadow spins into the chest one more time, going right through it, and the robot powers down as Shadow lands on the other side. They regroup in the center as they high-five and strike poses.
From within the scrap of his busted decoy, Eggman presses a single button.
A transparent tube descends around the trio, trapping them in the center of the room. Shadow starts spinning into the walls, repeatedly bouncing off and trying again, refusing to be contained like this. Some strange device in the ceiling scans each of them. With nowhere to go, they can't stop it from scanning. When Sonic looks at Tails, the fox shrugs. Yeah, Eggman could be scanning them for tons of reasons.
But apparently, that's all he wanted, because then the three of them are launched through the floor and into space, with only the capsule to protect them. Shadow is thrown into the top – or bottom? – of the tube as they're sent down to Earth, but reaches for Sonic, who grabs Tails' hand and pulls him closer. The next time the capsule spins, Shadow kicks off and grabs Sonic, fitting the fox between them. Like this, their quills protect them and the fox from damage as their capsule hurtles through the atmosphere. Tails tucks into Sonic, Shadow twines his limbs with Sonic’s, and they all brace for impact.
The capsule lands with a massive quake and a boom. Part of it shatters on arrival and they roll out in one ball, quills digging tracks in the dirt as the hedgehogs aim for somewhere far away from the smoking crater.
When they come to a stop, Sonic and Shadow relax their hold on each other, spilling out a fox kit, who hops up and worriedly helps both of them stand. The two hedgehogs blink and shrug. That wasn't so bad! Sonic gives Tails a thumbs up and a reassuring smile. Tails exhales a puff of air in relief, then looks at their surroundings. Sonic follows his lead, and hops in excitement. This is Green Hill Zone! They landed somewhere familiar! They can definitely get back to Angel Island from here.
Sonic turns to gauge Shadow’s reaction to this, and finds him rolling around in the grass. Sonic smiles and puts a hand on his side. Shadow must be glad to be back in nature. Sonic hops into a ball and joins him, rolling in circles. They race around each other in random patterns until Sonic bumps into Shadow and uncurls, drawing him out as well. Sonic beckons Shadow towards the loops of Green Hill Zone, heads for the starting line, and braces for a race. Shadow lands in position next to him, and Sonic takes off, showing Shadow the best route through Green Hill. They're gonna have so much fun together!
~•~
Aboard the ARK, Eggman laughs, celebrating his victory. He finally got rid of that bothersome blue hedgehog and two of its friends! If they survive that, it'll take them ages to get back up to the ARK. That's plenty of time to enact his next scheme. Eggman rubs his hands together and grins wide.
Slipping his Eggmobile out of the wrecked robot, he flies down the hall, arriving at his true base of operations. This room contains a massive machine with a capsule in the center that's currently full of liquid. Along the top are three screens, with arrows leading between the two outer screens to the center screen. It's a marvelous creation, but not as astounding as what it will soon create.
Gleefully, Eggman calls Metal Sonic to the base, and it arrives within the second. Eggman holds out a hand, and Metal Sonic obediently offers the white Chaos Emerald. And then the yellow one. Each Chaos Emerald floats into the Doctor's hands, until all seven float around him, ready to be weaponized. He laughs maniacally as he inserts each one into his glorious machine.
The data he collected is displayed on the two screens: on the left is a picture of Shadow, and on the right is one of Sonic. Eggman continues laughing as he flicks the switch to charge the machine. His father really had the right idea with this genetic engineering stuff. With the power of two fast hedgehogs and the Chaos Emeralds, this new creation will be unstoppable. The arrows pointing to the middle screen ripple, and an image in the center appears. Eggman hits the biggest red button with a fist.
In a blindingly bright flash of light and a hum so loud that the floor vibrates, the process is completed. Inside the capsule is a white hedgehog. Made with the code of his strongest adversaries and pure Chaos Energy, Eggman's newest creation opens its eyes. Rainbow light swirls in them before fading into black.
The capsule glows turquoise as it shatters, spraying glass outward. Silver floats out and lands on the floor, taking a curious step forward and stumbling slightly. Eggman claps his hands and coos – it took its first steps! How adorable! Silver will be demolishing their enemies in no time at all!
Silver continues walking, getting accustomed to the feeling of moving a body. He's stiff and clunky at first, but he learns quickly, and starts experimenting with how he can move and bend this physical form. He can control it with his mind, of course, but to control himself with his body is a very complicated idea to execute.
Eggman pats Metal's head in thanks. Metal Sonic was designed to outclass Sonic's speed, but not power. That was the goal behind Mecha Sonic, but those bots were beat so badly that Eggman didn't bother bringing them back, not like Metal. He continued the Mecha line to improve on the previous editions, but none of them truly surpassed Sonic's speed and power. Eggman will keep trying, of course – mass producing robots more powerful than Sonic will be an easy ticket to Eggmanland – but in the meantime, Silver will do very well.
~•~
On the other half of the ARK, behind several decontamination doors, Professor Gerald Robotnik watches through the cameras. Perhaps his son was right to choose a hedgehog. On that floating island, powered by the gem of ultimate power, was a mural depicting two great beings. His attempt to create a creature of Chaos led to a failure, but as he watches this hedgehog, created out of Chaos energy, take stumbling steps, the Professor considers his next Project.
Maria is asleep in her room. His granddaughter’s chance of living a full life rests on this Project.
As promised, the code is sent to his computer. Complete information on two hedgehogs, and how their code was combined into a third. The Professor’s theory is confirmed: hedgehogs are able to withstand immense amounts of Chaos Energy – cosmic amounts, enough to rival a star. He stares at the data in shock, then gets to work. He must make Project Shadow as fast as possible. For her sake.
~•~