Chapter Text
Shadow had settled into a comfortable sort of routine. He still took G.U.N. missions when they came up and were worth his time, but now any time Sonic wanted or needed to go deal with a crisis Shadow was right by his side. Or rather, would have been right by his side if the base hadn't done some sort of weird shifting and distorting that separated him from Sonic and Tails. He didn't know if the two of them had been similarly separated, or were still fighting together but he'd have to trust they could take care of themselves. Tails he knew would keep his wits about him no matter what Robotnik threw at them. Sonic... was exceptionally good at getting himself out of whatever trouble he charged headfirst into.
Shadow was especially wary since he'd gotten a report that Robotnik had managed to hack into some of his own files at some point recently. Nothing that the doctor should have found particularly useful at least as the files he'd managed to get a hold of were mundane ones involving payroll and things like travel expenses and that he had a locker assignment. If Robotnik wanted to break into an advanced G.U.N facility just to steal his shampoo and spare toothbrush then he was even more unhinged than Shadow thought. Even assuming there might be DNA on the toothbrush, there were much easier and more violent ways to get it. Still, the fact they had been accessed at all meant Robotnik was interested in something to do with him, and that was never a good sign. Whatever it was giving him more time to plot and prepare didn't seem like a wise course of action and if they were lucky maybe they could stop his plans before they ever got off the ground.
Shadow was deep in thought and rounded a corner and immediately plunged knee deep into some kind of goop. The physics of it seemed to act like some kind of quicksand, flowing when he moved and then holding tight as he slowly sank deeper into it. Turning up the power to his airshoes backfired and the disturbance thinned the liquid and he started sinking rapidly instead of rising up and out.
"Nice try," Shadow snarled to himself. "But not good enough. Chaos Control."
He blipped out, reappearing back on solid ground on the other side of the trap. Only to immediately hit some kind of electric field. He felt himself convulse, pain arching through all of his nerves before even his body couldn't take it and everything went black.
Shadow came back to himself suspended in some sort of ring, energy cuffs on all four limbs that prevented him from moving. He snarled hearing an irritatingly familiar voice.
"My dear Shadow, you have been a naughty boy lately, haven't you? Here I thought you were kind of cool, only stepping in when it could benefit you. But you've become quite the little goody two-shoes lately. Such a pity." Eggman stared down at him from some sort of balcony overlooking the room.
Shadow growled, trying to rip his way out of the cuffs by brute strength, then convulsed again when electricity arced through his body.
"Ah ah ah, no leaving the party early I'm afraid. Thankfully you're just in time, I've come up with a clever way to make it so you're not nearly so much of a threat anymore. Who knows, maybe this time around you'll even make better choices... The device is unfortunately untested, which is a pity, but it won't be for long."
Shadow let himself hang limply in the cuffs when the electricity stopped, but he was awake and mind moving quickly. He could feel that his Chaos Emerald wasn't on him any more, unfortunately Eggman wasn't enough of a fool to leave that with him. Even without it though he had options. He could let his chaos energy build up enough to short-circuit whatever contraption Eggman had him in, and then he'd be free to get his emerald back and destroy whatever it was the doctor was gloating about. He just needed a little time, and...
"Eggman! What have you done with Shadow?" Sonic's voice rang out and Shadow twitched. He could handle this on his own, he didn't need help. But also fighting by Sonic's side was satisfying in ways he couldn't quite describe. He was glad he was there, and he was irritated that Sonic was seeing him temporarily inconvenienced, and both emotions swirled around in a way he couldn't quite pick one or the other. He loved him fiercely, but that didn't mean he wanted to have to be rescued by him.
"What have I done? Nothing yet, he's playing possum so I'll let my guard down. That shock was set to knock you unconscious, for him it was just a warning. You arrived just in time to see the show."
Shadow lifted his head, growling deep in his throat. Just a little more, he was almost recovered enough for an energy surge of his own... but then Eggman was pressed a button, some sort of ray-gun popping out of the wall aimed right at him.
"Bye bye Shadow. Or should I say, see you soon?" Eggman laughed and slammed a second button.
Everything seemed to slow. There wasn't enough time for Sonic or Tails to reach the ray-gun and destroy it, Shadow hadn't gathered enough energy to break free but he might have to try anywhere. And...
Suddenly there was a flash of blue between him and the device.
"Sonic no!" Tails yelled, and everything went white and then black for the second time that day.
"Shadow? Shadow are you waking up? I could really use your help."
Shadow groaned softly, trying to curl up with a soft whine. His whole body hurt and his head ached, even if both were fading quickly. What had happened? There hadn't been any tests scheduled for today. Still, the pain was fading as it was designed to do and he reluctantly opened his eyes to see who was calling to him.
He'd been expecting one of the scientists or doctors that he hadn't spent much time with, since he couldn't place the voice. Instead he found himself staring at an unfamiliar face that wasn't even human.
"Oh good, do you feel ok? I can't believe Sonic was so reckless as to try and shield you with his body. And then the whole thing overloaded! I barely got both of you out, I'm just really glad he was the only one affected and.... Shadow? What's wrong?"
"Who are you? Where's the professor? Is Maria ok? Where am I?" Shadow blurted out the questions in quick succession, looking around. He seemed to be in some kind of large room on a cot, but it didn't look like anywhere he'd ever been on the ARK. The machinery and metal walls looked rougher, dinged up and worn, where metal had been painted the paint was scuffed and stripped off in places. All the labs he'd been in were sleek and polished, and organized. People didn't just leave piles of tools and machinery laying around.
"Oh... oh no." The other person who looked more like him than like a human sat down heavily in a chair, staring at him in disbelief. He didn't really look that much like Shadow, he was orange and had much bigger ears, and looked softer with no quills to speak of. But it wasn't like Shadow had a great deal of reference to compare him to.
"Are... we on the surface?" Shadow asked. The professor had said there were more people like him on the surface. But how had he ended up here?
"Ah yes. We are on the surface. Ok! Let me try to explain. My name is Tails, and I think... I think you may have gotten swapped out with the you in your future? That's the best way I can explain it."
"Me in the future?" Shadow tilted his head, confused.
"The last thing you remember is being on the ARK, right?" Tails waited for the nod. "That means what you remember as yesterday is over fifty years ago."
"Fifty years..." Shadow felt his eyes widen at that. "Does that mean the professor... and Maria...?" Maria was so sick, had they been able to find a cure and save her?
Tails winced at that.
"I... don't exactly know for sure, but I do know that I'm going to be doing my best to fix this. To, uh, to swap you back. I just need a little time. Ironically enough." That last bit was muttered and Shadow's ear flicked, he wasn't sure if he was supposed to hear that. People talked a lot when they thought he couldn't hear them.
"Can I help? You asked for me help before, didn't you? When you thought I was the other me..." Shadow looked down, wrapping his arms around himself. Then he felt a gloved hand on his shoulder, giving him a reassuring little squeeze.
"I'm sure you'll be able to help. In the future we're really good friends, I promise," Tails said, giving him a smile.
Shadow hesitated, but Maria never minded and somehow Tails reminded him a lot of her, so maybe... after a moment he threw his arms around him in a hug.
Tails made a surprised little huff, but then he was wrapping his arms around him to hug back. He didn't seem to have any problems with his quills either, smoothing them down in a way that felt automatic as he hugged to keep from getting poked. That would make sense he would know to do that if they were friends.
"I'm going to fix this, and no matter what we'll still be friends, ok? Right now though I need to check on Sonic, I hope if you're awake he'll be waking up soon, but he's not quite as tough as you are." Tails pulled back, and Shadow let him go.
"That's because I was created to be the ultimate lifeform," Shadow said, getting a stifled laugh from Tails. "What is it?"
"Nothing, you just sounded a lot like your future self there." Tails smiled, and then he was turning to the second cot that was set up nearby. Shadow hadn't gotten a good look at it before, and what he saw surprised him.
If Tails looked a little like him, this Sonic looked exactly like him. Just blue, and so small He looked to be a lot younger than Tails, curled up on his side and gripping the blanket that had been tossed over him.
"Is.. is he ok?" Shadow whispered.
Tails reached out to touch over blue quills and then ran his finger over one of the ears. It twitched, but the young hedgehog didn't move.
"I think so. I couldn't find any injuries on either of you. He responds if I poke him so he's not that deeply unconscious, but he's not waking up. I think just whatever it did took a lot out of you. "
"My head hurt when I first woke up," Shadow admitted. "Like I used too much chaos energy all at once."
"Are you hungry? I could order food for us while we wait for Sonic to wake up," Tails offered. Shadow's ears perked up.
"I'd like that." Worry about everything that was going on and the fear of being put in an entirely unexpected situation far from home warred with curiosity. How many hours had he stared down at the surface of the planet wondering what it must be like down there? Now he was there, and he'd wanted to share it with Maria but maybe he would. He just needed to be patient.
"Pizza's here! Here you go, this is all for you. Anything you can't eat right away will go in the fridge for later, so no need to worry." Tails handed him a flat cardboard box and Shadow examined it curiously.
It smelled amazing. Inside was some sort of bread covered in cheese and some kind of round thing, and the whole piece had been cut into slices. He balanced the box in his legs, picking up a slice to take a careful bite. That got a startled happy sound out of him and he immediately took a bigger one, not caring if he burned his tongue. The pain was fleeting and he couldn't wait.
"It's really good! Better than anything I've had on the ARK. Everything up there is always so tasteless. Except the coffee, I like that." Shadow looked up at Tails and he was smiling, but he also looked kind of sad and Shadow didn't know why.
"I'll show you how to work the coffee maker later then, it's a little tricky," Tails offered.
"You'd let me just use it?" Shadow asked, surprised.
"I don't see why not?" Tails took out a slice from his own pizza box, blowing on it to cool before he took a bite.
"Thank you." Shadow smiled a little, and set to eating as much of the pizza as he could. Which was only about half, but that was ok. Tails had said it would keep for later.
"I was kind of hoping the smell of food might help Sonic wake up faster, but..." Tails said, and then his ears twitched.
Shadow could hear it too, the sound of the blankets rustling and when he turned he could see the kid Tails had called Sonic sitting up, one hand rubbing at his forehead.
"Sonic! You're awake!"
Shadow had never heard someone put that much energy in a quiet whisper, and Tails had set his pizza box down to rush over to the cot.
Sonic looked up at him and grinned, even if he still looked pained. And then confusion spread across his face and in a flash he was up, circling Tails and looking up at him, questions written across his face.
"Yeah buddy I know, time weirdness happened. You're in the future."
And now that Tails was facing away from him Shadow could see why he probably got that name, instead of one singular fluffy tail like he would have expected there were two behind him. That wasn't what caught his attention though, Sonic had moved so fast! He'd never seen someone else who could come close to moving as fast as he could. And then he got to see it again as Sonic peered around Tails, catching sight of him and zipping over to give him the same sort of circling treatment.
"Right, and this is part of the future. Sonic, meet Shadow. He doesn't look it, but I think you two are basically the same age now. More or less." Tails rubbed a hand over his face, muttering something Shadow didn't catch this time.
"It's nice to meet you." Shadow remembered what he'd been told to say when you greeted someone you didn't know. Not that it happened to him often in the limited population of the ARK. He stuck his hand out and Sonic eyed it a moment, then grinned and reached out to shake it.
"In the future you two are.... really good friends. I hope you can get along like this. That would make things a lot easier. Ah, now that you're both awake how about I give you the tour?" Tails asked.
"I'd like that," Shadow said, and Sonic nodded vigorously.
Shadow wasn't sure what he'd expected from a house planetside, but he decided he liked it. Everything looked... cozy? It wasn't the harsh metallic walls and floors and ceilings with large transparent windows that looked out to the dazzling darkness of space and the green and blue sphere below. It looked more like it had been designed to be comfortable and make the occupants happy first, and be functional second. There was soft fabric furniture, what looked like toys stacked on surfaces, things he couldn't identify right away. The clutter didn't get in the way, but it never would have been allowed on the ARK. He generally ended up standing in the middle of the room, taking everything in everything and a little afraid to touch. Meanwhile Sonic didn't have any such hesitations, moving around to examine and pick things up with obvious excitement.
"Here's the kitchen, Shadow you can come closer to see the coffee maker. The black colored mug is yours, but you're free to use any mug in here if it's clean." Tails started explaining the coffee maker, how to load the grounds and water in and set the brew time, as well as showing him the cabinet the grounds were kept. Shadow watched, feeling a warm sort of feeling in his chest that was hard to place. The casual way Tails had pointed out the black mug that matched his fur in contrast with the plain white mugs didn't sound like it was anything special to him. Which meant it was special, it was proof he was expected to be there in the future.
"Sonic, does your head hurt? Shadow said he had a headache when he first woke up," Tails asked.
The question distracted Sonic from tugging a chair over to check out what was in the other cabinets, a look of guilt flashing across his face before he reluctantly nodded.
"Here. I... don't really remember what medicines kids should or shouldn't take off the top of my head, or even if that would help in this situation. But this might help, hold it where it hurts." Tails got a soft ice pack out of the freezer, handing it over.
Sonic really was a lot like him, Shadow realized. He generally did his best to hide when something hurt, so he didn't disappoint anyone. Sonic probably did feel just as bad as he did when he first woke up, but he wasn't letting it show. Shadow had a thought cross his mind, and blurted it out before he could consider if it was rude or not.
"Sonic... can you talk?"
Sonic took the ice pack, pressing it to the side of his head and then looking at Shadow with a shrug.
"There's nothing physically wrong with Sonic's voice, when he's older he'll talk. He just didn't when we were both kids. It's not a problem, I've always been pretty good at figuring out what he's saying," Tails explained, not sounding annoyed by the question or like it was anything strange to ask. "I'd honestly kind of forgotten until I saw him like this."
Sonic rolled his eyes, but kept the ice pack tight to the side of his head so it was probably helping. Shadow hoped so.
"Alright, bedrooms! I'm going to show you mine first, but I'm going to ask that you don't go in there unless I'm in there, ok?" Tails asked, waiting for the nods. "If I'm in there and you want anything come right in though." Tails led them both in, Shadow didn't have any problem sticking by the door and not touching anything, but Sonic looked like he was showing great restraint not poking around.
"Ok now your bedroom, and... Shadow? Is only taking a quick nap every day something you only do when you're older? How much sleep do you need?" Tails asked.
"I don't think I need to sleep? But napping is nice sometimes," Shadow answered.
"Then you're welcome to nap in bed, or on the couch, anywhere you like really. Don't go outside at night or in the morning if I'm still asleep unless you already cleared it with me the night before, but there's comic books and games and TV as long as you keep the volume low. And at first when you do go out, try to stick with Sonic? Green Hills hasn't changed that much from what he remembers so he can show you around."
"We can go out?" Shadow perked his ears up, surprised. He wasn't even supposed to be here in the future and he could just... explore?
"I know better than to try and keep Sonic cooped up while I figure this out, and I know you won't get lost if you stick together."
Sonic shot Shadow a skeptical look, and then glanced at Tails and rolled his eyes.
Tails let out a startled laugh at that. "Oh right, Shadow is... wait actually I think this you two can figure out on your own. For now, do you want any pizza, Sonic?"
Sonic looked thoughtful at that, finally nodding.
"Then lets get you some. Don't push yourself if you still feel weird from the time stuff going on, but food might help you recover," Tails said.
Sonic ended up losing the battle to exhaustion once he'd eaten something, and Tails made sure he made it to bed. That left Shadow and Tails alone again.
"I'd really like to spend some time researching what happened to get a start on fixing this, will you be ok?" Tails asked.
"I'm used to spending nights by myself," Shadow said, a little surprised by the question. "Could I watch though? I'll be quiet."
"You can. Though I probably shouldn't answer too many tech questions since it's the future and all. I have no way of knowing how much you'll remember about this when you go home. Time stuff is a big headache," Tails explained.
"I'm sorry," Shadow apologized. He was at least half of the reason Tails was having to deal with this.
"You don't need to be sorry, it's not your fault it was.... someone else. Now lets go back to my workshop." Tails leg the way, Shadow following behind. The cots hadn't been taken down so he took a seat on one of them, tucking up to watch Tails work.
It was both familiar and new. Tails didn't seem at all like any of the scientists he knew, except maybe the professor. He was kind and patient and Shadow didn't feel like he was a bother asking questions. Even the rules Tails gave him were a small fraction of the ones he was expected to follow on the ARK, even assuming some were unspoken like not breaking anything or being sure to clean up after himself.
Finally Tails pushed himself back from the computer with a sigh.
"I think I'll pulled all the information on what might be relevant, but my brain's tired and it's been a really long day. I'm going to unwind working on the Tornado, and since what I'll be working with is all old tech I think you could lend me a hand. If you wanted to," Tails offered, and Shadow sprang up.
"Yes! I mean, I can assist you," Shadow said quickly. Tails motioned him over to one of the plane's propellers.
"I heard a belt squeaking the last time I took it out, so I want to replace it. Here, steady this while I loosen the bolts," Tails directed him and Shadow was happy to step in and help. Tails explained each step, sounding like he was enjoying himself, and when Shadow did ask a question then and there he was happy to verbally detour and explain. At first Shadow hadn't understood what he meant by unwind with even more work, but he felt like he was catching on. Tinkering with the plane was genuinely fun for him.
It felt like almost no time before the worn out belt was replaced and Shadow was holding the same piece he'd started with while Tails replaced the bolts, checking each one.
"Alright, bed for me. When Sonic gets up make sure you both eat something and then you can go out if you like. Just don't talk to too many people and stay in Green Hills, alright?" Tails waited for his nod and then heading to his bedroom, leaving Shadow alone.
That was nothing new, what was new was he had the freedom to quietly wander around what Tails had named the living room, looking over things a little more carefully. Finally he picked up one of the comic books to flip through it, curious.
That initial curiosity turned to silently moving throughout the house to collect all the other scattered books in the series so he could start from the beginning. Shadow was so engrossed in the story he didn't realize how much time had passed until a second head appeared, peering over his shoulder to see what he was doing. He jumped a little, and then smiled.
"Good morning, Sonic. We're supposed to both get something for breakfast, and then we can go out if we want as long as we stay in Green Hills." Shadow was going to trust that Sonic understood those limitations better than he did, since he still wasn't exactly sure much about anything beyond the home's walls. Sonic nodded enthusiastically at that, vanishing into the kitchen while Shadow closed the comic book and set it neatly back in the stack.
For all that the house had to be just as new to Sonic as it was to him, he seemed a lot more comfortable in it. Most likely he had experience in similar ones that Shadow lacked. Well. If they'd both ended up on a different space station it would have been a different story.
As it was Shadow was content to let Sonic take the lead, only stepping in to hoist him up when he started climbing on the counter to reach the cabinets. Sonic shot him a thumbs up and then came out with a box with a picture of some sort of brightly colored rectangular pastry on it. Shadow hadn't had a lot of experience with that kind of food, but he was optimistic. Neither Tails nor Sonic had acted like the pizza the night before was anything exceptional, so he was eager to keep trying new things.
Between the two of them and the instructions on the box the toaster was easy to figure out and Shadow's hopes were rewarded. No wonder the scientists always complained about the food if they knew what they were missing.
"I think that takes care of breakfast, do you want to go out now?" Excitement and a little nervousness pooled in the pit of Shadow's stomach at the thought. This was entirely new, he wasn't even supposed to be here, he had no idea what waited for them outside the door. But Sonic's enthusiastic head-nod and jog to the door did a lot to calm the nervous tension he felt and Shadow followed him out into the world.
It was bright, a different kind of light than the harsh lighting in the labs, and the light was warm on his dark fur. Shadow took a deep breath, inhaling a dozen new smells that he had absolutely no context for yet. It was exhilarating.
Sonic tapped his foot on the ground impatiently interrupting the moment and Shadow turned to him with a small smile.
"I'll follow you."
Sonic nodded at that, breaking into a jog. Shadow fired up his airshoes, skating leisurely behind him and a little confused. He'd seen how fast Sonic was moving around the hanger and the house before, this had to be painfully slow for him. Then Sonic looked back with an obvious smirk and accelerated a little. Shadow easily matched his pace, and then it suddenly clicked. His airshoes had a lot of advantages but the one place he could admit they lacked was in tight maneuverability, stopping and starting. He could compensate, but he still needed a little room to use the jets to brake. Zipping around in close quarters like Sonic had been doing inside risked knocking into and through things, so he hadn't even tried. Sonic had no idea how fast he was.
That thought made excitement bubble up in his chest and he couldn't help calling out.
"Is that all you got? I thought you were fast!"
That did it, Sonic shot away from him in a blue blur and Shadow gave chase.
It was intoxicating. On the ARK he ran on special treadmills or on enclosed tracks, and at someone else's direction. Speed up, slow down, increase energy output. This was entirely different. He pushed himself to close in on Sonic, eating away at his lead length by length and challenging Sonic to go even faster to keep him from overtaking him. Sonic seemed to know the trails and turns and Shadow trusted him not to lead them into danger.
At one point they zipped around someone much bigger than them and Shadow caught a quiet "Hey Sonic, hey Shadow... wait a minute..." and then they were out of range of even his sensitive hearing. It looked like avoiding talking to people wasn't going to be an issue.
Their path led them around and down and Shadow had enough time to realize the ground was turning to sand before Sonic slowed. Shadow put of the breaks as well as they emerged onto a sandy beach with water stretching out in front of them too far to see anything but horizon.
Sonic turned to look at them, and the expression on his face was pure joy.
"That was incredible." Shadow looked out over the water and then took a couple steps closer. "I'm guessing you don't normally have anyone who can keep up with you?"
Sonic shook his head, still grinning.
"Just wait, once I know my way around I'll be leaving you in my dust," Shadow bragged, caught up in the moment. That got rolled eyes and Sonic sticking his tongue out before he flopped down in the sand under one of the palm trees. After a moment longer Shadow took a seat beside him, leaning back on his braced arms.
"There's nobody like me where I'm from either. Not just the speed, I'm the only one who isn't a human," Shadow admitted, looking out over the calm impossibly turquoise colored water. So this was what the big patches of blue looked like when you weren't overhead.
"I'm really glad we're going to be friends in the future." There was a small pang though, Tails had said it was over fifty years into his future. How many of those would he have to wait? When did they meet? How old was Sonic normally? How old was Tails? He didn't seem very old, but he knew a lot so maybe he was and that's just how he looked. Those all seemed like questions he wouldn't be allowed to ask, even the fact he knew it was over fifty years was probably not ideal.
After the silence stretched on he felt a touch to his hand, looking down to see Sonic wrapping his own around it and giving it a squeeze and another smile.
"And we can be friends now, I think that counts too," Shadow said, getting another squeeze at what must have been the right thing to say. It felt odd to say it so flippantly, but there wasn't any reason he could think of that they shouldn't be friends while they could be.
Finally though, Sonic got up and shook the sand out of his quills, and Shadow copied him. The run back to Tail's home was slower, but still really nice. He could enjoy all of the green plants a little better, at higher speeds they were nearly as blurry as they were from space.
"Welcome home!" Tails waved to them from the doorstep, and he looked relieved. Even if he'd said they could go out he probably still worried, Shadow realized. "Did you guys have fun?"
Sonic nodded enthusiastically.
"I saw the... ocean? I think? And the beach. It was nice," Shadow added.
"That's great, if you want to come inside and get cleaned up I'll pick up something for lunch," Tails said. Shadow probably should leave it alone, but...
"Did we worry you?" Shadow asked.
"Not exactly, I saw on the weather report that a big storm is supposed to roll in this evening. I figured you both would be in before that, I just didn't want you caught out in the rain. Ah, do I need to explain rain?" Tails asked.
"I already learned about the water cycle," Shadow said, matter of fact, and getting a startled laugh out of Tails.
"Right. Good to know. I know this is really different than a space station and I'm trying to keep that in mind," Tails said, and Shadow nodded.
Showering wasn't all that different from the ARK. There were only so many ways to spray yourself with warm water, and the rest was aesthetics. He shook as much water out of his fur and quills as he could before he grabbed a towel to dry off. That took care of any sand that might have stubbornly stuck around even after their run and Shadow tugged his gloves and shoes back on, tucking the leather back under his inhibitor rings and letting them settle securely into place. that accomplished he went back out to look for Tails and Sonic.
A unexpected third voice in the living room peaked his curiosity and he looked in. The new person, someone dressed in a tight fitting jumpsuit and with white fur, huge ears, and wings of all things stopped talking at stare at him wide-eyed.
"Oh you were not kidding, I'm very glad you warned me," she said quietly to Tails, and then turned towards him with a smile.
"Hey kiddo, I thought I should come by and introduce myself, the name's Rouge."
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Shadow. But you already knew that? I think," Shadow said.
"Right on the money, we're going to be friends in your future too. Right now though I'm going to be helping Tails here with finding information and getting you two back to normal," Rouge said.
"Are you some kind of spy?" Shadow asked before he could stop himself, realizing that was rude. She just looked an awful lot like what a spy should look like. Thankfully Rouge just laughed.
"More or less. Tails here is going to be taking care of you two and I'm going to be looking into what caused this and see if together we can make something that gets you back to your own time," Rouge explained.
"What if you can't?" Shadow asked, feeling guilty. The question had weighed on him off and on since he first woke up in the future but he hadn't wanted to ask it and insult Tails' abilities.
"First I'm absolutely sure that as long as I can find out exactly how this happened I can reverse it. Second I'm pretty sure that even if I can't find out what happened there are other things I can try that will work. And finally I know no matter what even if nothing changes you'll have a home here. You're still my friend, Shadow, and so is Sonic. And if the two of you have to grow up all over again then that's alright, we'll get through it together," Tails said, and there was absolutely no doubt in his voice at all. Shadow found himself smiling, just a little.
"Okay."