Chapter Text
It had been exactly three months and two days since Sonic convinced Shadow the Hedgehog to live with them. Not that he’d been keeping track, of course. It was just really cool having another hedgehog roommate!
Well, sort of.
He supposed he couldn’t use the term ‘roommate’ since Shadow had claimed the cramped hallway coat closet as his bedroom instead of the attic. But still! Sonic finally lived with someone who could keep up with him! Challenge him! Wear him out! He loved both his brothers, don’t get him wrong, but they could only go so fast for so long.
So, when Sonic woke up with fire bursting in his veins, he didn’t think much of it. It was probably the result of the race he totally won against Shadow yesterday. Which then devolved into a sparring session. Which he totally didn’t lose, by the way.
Without a second thought, Sonic reached up to drag a gloved hand across the burning itch on his arm. When he unexpectedly felt claws cut him, he yelped, snapping his eyes open.
Dark creeped in around the corners of his vision as he stared up at what looked like hanging jackets?
“What the-? Is this the coat closet again?” Sonic rumbled, briefly startled at the deep rasp to his voice.
Shaking his head, he blamed the odd sound on how tired he was. Sonic cleared his throat a few times before speaking again.
“Ahem, testing? Testing? Hello?”
But the deep scratchiness never left. Sitting up from the blankets surrounding him, Sonic went to claw at the burning itch again. Before he could however, he immediately froze when a wholly unfamiliar hand met his gaze.
Instead of his normal cotton glove, he stared at a pink speckled paw pad with coffee brown fur pooling around it. He fully stopped breathing when he spotted black and red fur encasing his fingers. A small squeak escaped him as he shoved the hand under the blankets.
Sonic felt his lungs start to compress.
“Ok ok, this is a prank, right? Tails and Knuckles must’ve done something, right? Just because my paw doesn’t look anything like it should and my voice still sounds like-?”
Looking down further, an undeniable crimson red stripe caught his attention. He stared at the highlight running its way just past an onyx stained elbow.
“No no no what the-? How? What?” Sonic gasped, suddenly breathless.
Blinking a few times, Sonic tried using the blanket to rub the coloring off. No matter how hard he scrubbed, nothing came off his arms, legs or hands. Sonic squeezed his eyes shut before carefully running a shaking bare hand through his quills.
“Alright, okay, alright Sonic, what’s going on?” He paused, his eyes snapping open. “I-um- I have no idea what’s going on actually. Woke up with my voice sounding weird, my hands looking completely different. I definitely had gloves on when I went to bed last night. Oh look at that, I also have Shadow’s weird roller skates even though he would never-”
Sonic forgot how to draw breath into his lungs once he glanced down at his feet.
“Wait. His shoes! I’m wearing his shoes! Oh no, no no no, he would never give me his weird air shoes! Am I actually in Shadow’s body? There’s no way! You know what? No. Nope! No, this is a nightmare, has to be. Uh-what did Knux say about scaring yourself awake? Surely a little poke from some sharp quills should wake me up, right? They’re nice and pointy and blue and- and- why are they pointing up? What is- ah!”
Sonic flinched away from the sudden harsh light flooding his narrowed eyes. Even with whatever was happening, he could never have prepared himself to directly confront his own snarling face.
Staring back at him with piercing green eyes, a death glare contorting his peach muzzle, and a curled lip showing off his tiny fangs could only be Shadow. Stuck in Sonic’s body. Somehow.
“Wait wait wait!” Sonic panicked, raising his gloveless, chestnut furred hands up in surrender.
Instead of listening however, Shadow unceremoniously grabbed him by the chest fur and threw him down the entryway. Sonic skidded on his back, feeling several quills break from the rough landing. Quickly ignoring the pain, he sprung to his feet.
“What did you do, hedgehog!” Shadow yelled using Sonic’s own voice, effectively alerting everyone in the house. “This is all your fault, I just know it!”
Sonic’s ebony and crimson brushed quills bristled when he rose to the challenge without thinking. “Me? I didn’t do anything! I’m stuck in the same boat you are!”
Sonic’s ear twitched at the sound of Maddie and Knuckles both coming out of the spare room upstairs. He quickly thanked whatever instinct possessed him to wear his gloves at night.
Even if he didn’t have control over his body at the moment, he still hated the thought of having his bare hands on display. Sonic heard Knuckles cautiously shuffle his feet along the ground, unsure whether to intervene.
Unfortunately, Shadow wasn’t backing down. Instead, he strode over closer to Sonic with squeaky red sneakers rubbing along the hardwood flooring.
“I don’t believe you! Every time you’re around me, disaster strikes! You will fix this! Now!”
Sonic momentarily forgot how strange it felt to argue his own mirrored image. Shadow was still the one who spoke behind the words.
Sonic quickly stood up, waving a hand out to point between furious emeralds staring back. “Oh that’s rich coming from you! Ya know, if I remember right, it wasn’t too long ago you were trying to kill me! If I didn’t know any better, I’d say your freaky powers did something to cause this!”
Shadow’s cobalt blue eyebrow twitched, the snarl growing larger across his face. “Why would I ever do something like this on purpose!”
“I don’t know! You tell me!”
“Maybe try thinking for once, you stupid hedgehog! I have no motive anymore!”
By this point, both hedgehogs were nose to nose, growling in each other’s faces. Before either of them could land the first punch, Knuckles barreled down the stairs.
“My brother! Superior hedgehog! The Guardian Mother has requested you not fight within these walls! Break up this nonsense at once!” Knuckles wedged himself between the two, grabbing hold of their shoulders and forcibly pushing them apart with his boxing mitts.
“Well it’s not my fault he woke up and picked a fight!” Sonic screeched, his ears flattening at the volume when his throat burned in protest. Clearly, Shadow’s deeper register was unused to such a high pitch.
“Don’t touch me, echidna!” Shadow slapped the spined hand off before taking a step back. “I am well within my right to fight him! Just look at me! I demand you fix this at once!” Shadow’s glare hardened, blue electricity dancing along his quills.
Knuckles huffed at the strange response from the blue hedgehog. Nevertheless, he put his arms down as Maddie made her way over to them.
“Boys! What is going on down here? Sonic, why are you picking a fight with Shadow so early in the morning? I haven’t even gotten breakfast started yet.” Maddie sighed, rubbing a thumb across her forehead.
Unexpectedly, the usually stoic, ebony hedgehog turned to her with wide eyes.
“What, you think I’m happy about this? I didn’t even do anything!”
“Shadow, you’re not the one in trouble here. Sonic, sweetie-”
Shadow reached over and grabbed Sonic’s upper arm. The sight of electric blue fur running down his arm caused Shadow to dig his fangs into his unsuspecting lip. He suddenly twisted the ebony arm behind his own beloved striped quills.
Catching Sonic completely off guard, Shadow slammed his own body facefirst into the floor. Pinning black and red arms down, Shadow loomed over panicked crimson eyes straining to look back at him. The sight only proved to piss him off even more.
“I said. Fix this, hedgehog!” Shadow threatened, attempting to deepen the annoying screech coming from his voice.
Sonic grunted from underneath him. “What am I, Doctor Strange? How am I supposed to fix something I have no idea about!”
Without any kind of warning, Knuckles lay a massive fist over Shadow’s scruff, hoisting him up and off of Sonic.
“My brother! You attack the superior hedgehog on sight! I must know why!”
Shadow saw red.
“Release me at once! How dare you touch me like this!”
A cotton gloved hand shot out to hold tightly onto Knuckles’ outstretched arm. Cobalt ears pinned to Shadow’s head when he realized how weak he felt in Sonic’s body. No matter how hard he tried, the echidna’s grip didn’t falter.
Thankfully, under the presumption that he held his supposed brother, the echidna let him drop with a huff. Shadow instinctively raised a hand to brush out his mussed blue quills. He’d been left reeling from how powerless he truly felt.
Beside them, Sonic slowly stood up uncertainly. Bright orange energy sparked down chestnut furred fingertips when he went to scratch his arm again.
“Gah! What is wrong with you! Why does my arm itch so bad!”
Shadow quickly focused back on Sonic. “You dare ask what is wrong with you? You should be asking what is wrong with me! I cannot stop twitching! I did not know you were so defective that you quite literally have to move!” A red sneaker started rapidly tapping the ground, his gloves spreading out against his will. “And quit scratching already! That only makes it worse!”
“Makes it worse? Makes what worse! I just want to get out of here! I didn’t- I don’t know what caused all this! Honest! All I know is I woke up this morning with itchy arms and- and no gloves and I don’t know what’s going on!”
“Shadow! Honey, you need to calm down. Just take a deep breath and tell us what’s going on.” Maddie stepped closer to Sonic, her arms outstretched.
“I am calm!” Shadow yelled, twisting his peach coated muzzle into a scowl.
Maddie paused, turning to give Shadow an odd look.
Shadow crossed cobalt arms over his chest, letting out a low growl. “Fine! I know what you meant!” He paused to breathe out harshly, firmly laying his quills down. “In this case, I must agree with Mrs Wachowski. Your energy is spiraling out of control, hedgehog. You need to control it.”
“It’s not mine! I don’t- I don’t know what’s going on! I just want to get out of here!” Sonic started to panic, spinning his metal heel towards the back door.
“Superior hedgehog! Don’t you dare!”
“Shadow, wait!”
Sonic felt his energy build up, sparking heat throughout his entire body. The only thought running through his head at that moment had been escape. He didn’t realize Shadow’s chaos energy would listen.
Suddenly, it felt like Sonic was being turned inside out while being ripped limb from limb. The burning fire in his veins roared. Amber colored energy started to revolve around him, creating a barrier between himself and the rest of the world.
He screamed, his ebony ears pinning as his dark quills puffed in defense. Before his vision went dark, the last thing he saw was a cotton glove attached to a cobalt arm grabbing him.
“Sonic!”
___
All too soon, the horrible burning sensation left completely, freezing ice water taking its place flooding Sonic’s arms. The sudden switch left him raw and aching, like he’d been run over by a few semi trucks in a row.
Once he regained a bit more of his senses, the first thing he noticed was the sound of howling wind as it beat across his face. Paired with the sound of his own voice echoing past the booming air.
“Sonic! Wake up!”
Two gloved hands shook him back and forth. Sonic’s eyes snapped open to find a pinched emerald gaze glaring back at him. Looking around, his heart dropped to his feet when he couldn’t see any ground beneath him.
He and Shadow were in free fall.
Sonic yelped, sinking his onyx claws deep into electric blue shoulders. “Whoa! What! What’s going on? Shadow! What is- where are we!”
“Don’t start panicking now, hedgehog! You need to activate my air shoes or else we’re going to-!”
Sonic’s grip tightened, causing the other hedgehog to wince slightly. But all he could focus on was the rapidly approaching dirt growing closer with each second.
“Going to what? Where are we! What’s happening!”
Dulled claws nearly pierced through cotton gloves when Shadow squeezed back. Sonic let out a surprised yip even though he couldn’t feel any pain. Good thing he kept his nails trimmed.
Shadow shouted over the piercing wind, gaining Sonic’s attention back. “Listen to me! Focus your energy down into the shoes and they will do the rest! Hurry!”
Trying to follow Shadow’s instructions, Sonic pulled on the familiar chaotic energy flowing down his ebony arms. He tried to think of it as his own body. Focus on controlling the scary blue electricity before it blew up in his face.
It should’ve been easy! He’d done this plenty of times before! Maybe not in the same life-threatening scenario, but it couldn’t be too hard!
“Hurry up, hedgehog!”
“Okay! Okay! Lemme just!”
Cycling his Chaos down to his feet was easy. He did it all the time! Sort of. Except for the little fact he forgot he inhabited Shadow’s body.
Once his air shoes registered the excess power, they instantly shot out a massive stream of fire. The kickback from suddenly free falling to boosting upwards nearly made Sonic puke. The recoil made his left shoulder twinge in pain as he held on tightly to the light weighted blue hedgehog wrapped around him.
Sonic quickly let the rocket boots take full control. Trying to push as much as he could into the shoes, they started to slightly slow their descent. Though they were able to break the speed in which they plummeted, both hedgehogs still slammed down into a forest of trees, hard.
Shadow and Sonic fell through countless branches, leaves, and trunks before they haphazardly slammed into the ground.
With a slight ringing in his ears, Sonic woke up not long after to light filtering gently through a bright green canopy above him. He slammed his eyes shut, trying desperately to focus. As the droning sound cleared, a cacophony of sounds invaded his senses.
“Definitely not the kinda rollercoaster I wanna try out again.” Sonic grumbled beneath his breath.
Sonic winced, trying to filter out all the noise. Leaves rustling above, various different animals either running or burrowing down beneath them. He could hear a stream nearby, the water pushing and pulling against a rocky bank. Then he registered the strained breathing of Shadow next to him.
Without much thought, Sonic pressed his gloveless hands to his ears, groaning loudly when he sat up from the forest floor. Scents from the rain soaked soil and smoke curling up from his shoes attacked his nose. Peeling his eyelids back, his gaze seemed sharper somehow?
Sonic found himself noting a small patch of moss on a stone, a tiny beetle rustling amidst the fallen leaves and to top it off, ebony fur and crimson stripes staring back. He supposed falling from such a height wouldn’t magically fix their situation, but a small part of him had hoped.
A drawn out sigh suddenly came from his left. Sonic perked his ears and whipped his head around to meet cobalt blue spines poking out from a bush. He cringed when he saw the state of his broken or otherwise bleeding quills. Shadow sat up with a grimace. Pained spring green eyes met his own, quickly understanding they had yet to escape each other’s bodies.
Shadow glared. “What the hell are you looking at, hedgehog?”
Sonic scoffed. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that? I don’t even know what happened! I mean- you make teleporting look so easy! I didn’t know it was so painful!”
Shadow sent him a piercing stare, curling his light tan muzzle into a grimace. “Typically when one masters a skill, there is no issue. You teleported us out of there, but you didn’t have a clear image in your mind. All you could think about was getting out of there, so my Chaos energy reacted accordingly.”
“Oh, great. That’s just great. News flash genius: I’ve never teleported before! Why is your Chaos so reactive!” Sonic threw his hands up, immediately wincing when his right shoulder protested the movement. “Aw jeez, I think I pulled something.”
Sonic tried to avoid looking down at bare, fluffy mocha hands as he kneaded the tightened arm muscle. Hearing Shadow’s usual calm, grumpy voice pitch up when he yelled made Sonic shake his head. This whole situation kept getting weirder and weirder.
Across from him, a head full of electric blue quills shook back and forth. Emerald eyes narrowed in suspicion when a cotton glove gently got pressed to Shadow’s right ankle.
“Did you get a concussion or something, hedgehog? Chaos energy is dependent upon emotion. It instinctively reacted when you started freaking out for no good reason.”
Sonic stared back at his mirrored image incredulously. “No good-? Seriously? I’d sure call this a good reason to freak out! I’m in your body! And you’re in mine!” He yelled, pinning his ebony ears and waving a hand out in front of him.
“Quit yelling, idiot. We need to focus on getting out of the open.” Shadow hissed.
Sonic pulled his lip back, growing irritated. “We’re overpowered alien hedgehogs. What’s gonna try and fight us out here?”
“GUN.”
Rolling scarlet red eyes, Sonic finally stood up. He brushed off whatever dirt and leaves clung to his dark smoky fur, not bothering to brush out his quills.
“Fine. Guess you have a point there.” Sonic walked over and stopped to face Shadow with his bare hands curled to rest on his hips. “Now turn around! You’re lucky I always carry extra gloves in my quills. It’s too weird that I’m not wearing any!”
Shadow predictably didn’t move, choosing to stay seated on the muddy ground. “Why are you so insistent about this, hedgehog?”
Sonic huffed in disbelief. “Why am I so- I just told you! It’s weird! That’s why I’m so insistent about it! Jeez dude, did you even grow up on Mobius? Everyone knows you always wear your gloves!”
“No.”
“No, what?” Sonic tapped his heavy metal boot impatiently.
Shadow growled. “No, I don’t remember growing up on- what did you say? Mobius? I don’t even know where that is. I was found with the gloves when I was pulled out of the meteorite. End of story.”
“Oh, that’s right. I forgot about your weird origin story.” Sonic closed his eyes and threw his hands up. “Listen, Shads. I literally don’t care. Just lemme grab my extras and I’ll leave you alone.”
“Don’t call me that.” Shadow pushed himself to his feet and turned so Sonic got a face full of his own blue spines. “Make it quick so you can quit your whining already.”
Sonic stuck his tongue out at Shadow even though the other wasn’t facing him anymore. Getting past the strange sight of seeing his own back on display, he quickly shoved his hands into the centermost quills in front of him.
Ignoring Shadow’s harsh flinch, Sonic swiftly grabbed his emergency pair of gloves out and shoved them on without thinking. An involuntary shiver racked his arms when he felt the cotton rub uncomfortably over his hands.
“Gah! Why do these- ugh- feel so weird? And how do you take these bracelets off anyway? It’s impossible to get them under the gloves!”
Shadow rolled his eyes, spinning on the heel of his red sneaker. “Congratulations, hedgehog. You have now become attuned to my sensory issues. What are you- stop doing that!”
Sonic paused in the middle of fiddling with the golden bangles around his wrists.
“Why? I’m just trying to get my gloves on all the way.”
Shadow huffed, smacking Sonic’s hand away. “They’re not bracelets, idiot. They inhibit my excess Chaos energy in case of-”
Sonic swiftly interrupted. “Dude, do you even know how to speak normally? I’m not Tails, I don’t understand whatever third language you guys have going.”
Shadow closed his eyes briefly, speedily tapping his foot along the ground. “It’s called science, idiot. Since you seem so incapable of believing there is a reasonable explanation for my choices, understand this then. Take those rings off and you’ll risk blowing us and hundreds of miles around us up. Got it?”
Sonic rolled his eyes, slumping forward and dangling his arms over an ivory fluffed chest. “Whatever. Didn’t know you were literally explosive, ‘s not like you talk to us at all. If you’re so smart, then get these things on without taking your fancy jewelry off.”
Shooting Sonic a sharp look, Shadow reached over and slid each of the rings up a crimson striped arm. He ruthlessly pulled the cotton material fully on without warning. Sonic yelped, jumping a bit when the sensation sent a prickle straight to his shoulders.
“Jeez, man! Give me a warning next time! What’s wrong with you? And stop doing that with my beautiful face! You’re gonna give me wrinkles already.”
Furrowing his brows closer together, Shadow swiftly backed off. Looking away, he sneered out towards the trees surrounding them.
“Whatever. We need to go back and fix this already.”
Sonic sighed, absentmindedly rubbing at his newly gloved hands. Trying to dispel the icky tingling from his fingers.
“Agreed.”
Shadow grumbled, fidgeting with the cuffs on his own gloves. “That damned fox. This has to be his doing somehow.”
Sonic stared at him incredulously. “Wait, whoa, hey. Why’re you blaming Tails all of a sudden?”
Pinning him with a spring green glare, Shadow gruffly replied. “Idiot. Think about it, the echidna had no idea what was going on. Neither did Mrs Wachowski. The fox on the other hand, was actively researching and documenting the Chaos emeralds last night. He and Mr Wachowski left early this morning for ‘supplies’ as Prower said. Ergo, he has to be the cause of this somehow.”
Sonic blinked, his ebony quills clicking together uncomfortably.
“Huh. That actually kinda makes sense.”
Shadow growled. “Do not sound so surprised that some of us know how to use our heads, hedgehog.”
Sonic waved a hand at him. “Oh, whatever. I’m sorry I don’t stalk everyone around the house like some hedgehogs but I still don’t see how that helps us right now.”
Shadow drew his cobalt brows together, a mean snarl marring Sonic’s face. “It is called being aware of one’s surroundings. You would be more prepared for any situation had you been versed in such a tactic.”
Sonic scoffed, rolling his crimson eyes.
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say.”
Without thinking, Sonic finally moved to detangle all manner of leaves, twigs and dirt caught in his ebony quills. No matter what body he found himself stuck in, the feeling of weighted down spines was never an enviable one. Unfortunately, he quickly found the task more challenging than he anticipated.
“Ugh! What is wrong with your stupid body! I can’t even brush my- your quills out without these stupid gloves sticking to them! Why is this suddenly so hard? I’ve literally never had this problem before! Why-!”
Shadow grit his teeth, his cobalt ears constantly kept on a swivel. He slapped his own cotton gloved hand over the other’s dark chocolate muzzle, muffling Sonic’s protests.
“Shut. Up. We need to keep a low profile until we get back to your house, hedgehog. The last thing we need right now is for GUN to catch us unaware, in a body you can’t control.”
Sonic bared his fangs, shoving the offending hand off his mouth. He barely stopped himself from biting the hand knowing he would have to deal with the pain himself once they swapped back. Regardless, he still lowered his voice when he spoke.
“Okay okay, fine, Mr Paranoid. So, what’s the plan then? I literally have no idea where we are.”
Shadow sighed, rolling his light green eyes.
“First, you need to learn how to properly use my air shoes before you send my body blasting off a cliff.”
Sonic laughed sharply in response, startled at the sound of Shadow’s vocal chords moving in such a way.
“Puh-lease. How hard can it be, faker?”