°○•Çìřćümśțăñçěş ○•° \\REWRITTEN//

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"What do you mean they're gone!" Amy exclaimed in terror. Her eyes widened and focused on Tails, who was tugging on his ears. She couldn't blame him, his adoptive brother and Shadow had not only trashed the laboratory the group found themselves in, but they had also managed to activate a rough mock up of a machine and break it hard enough to be transported into a new dimension.

Amy ran a hand through her quills, adjusting how they sat, as she stared at the destruction the two had left in their wake. The odd spark errupted from bare, snapped wires and small dents decorated the metal contraptions. At the very end of the destruction was the remains of a doorway. It sparked and juttered occasionally amongst the darkness. Amy couldn't help but find it eerie - it looked almost supernatural.

Knuckles walked forwards and picked up a small piece of metal of the debris. "Couldn't you just rebuild the portal?" Tails shook his head like a mechanical toy - except an anxious face replaced the creepily happy one the toys often adorned. "It could take me months!" His voice was shaky and almost watery - as though he was holding in tears. Amy examined the small fox, he was on the verge of crying.

She engulfed the small fox in a hug instantly. He trembled in her arms for a few moments before strained tears left the fox's eyes and muffled wails escaped his mouth. "It's okay Tails." Amy reassured. "We will get Sonic back." She rubbed his back with her hand in a soothing manner. "We will do whatever it takes." She smiled. The fox pulled away and looked into Amy's eyes deeply. "You sure?"

Amy smiled in determination, holding up her pinky. She knew the eight-year-old was far more mature than his years, however it often provided comfort for the poor twin-tailed fox. Reluctantly, Tails interlocked his pinky with Amy's and flexed out his thumb. "Lock it." He added. Amy chuckled, brighing her free hand to her mouth before flexing her thumb to allow it to touch Tails'. She had to admire how childish he could be.

"Just tell us what to do and we will do our best!" Knuckles called. He had began to clean up the destruction while Amy honed her attention on the emotional fox. Atleast he was making himself useful.

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Shadow bristled his quills, unsure of what to do. Sonic very quickly jumped up and readied himself in a fighting stance. The sudden movements seemed to have pulled the other two out of their thoughts. They seemed oddly calm in eachother's presence, and extremely close.

"Transmitter incident I suppose?" The unfamiliar Shadow grumbled to the other Sonic. Upon closer inspection, the seemingly older Shadow was more or less the same height as the other Sonic. That was a welcomed difference. "Probably. Tails' went rogue." The older Sonic responded. The two then finally turned their attention to Shadow and Sonic.

"Welcome to the multiverse." The older Sonic sarcastically said, rolling his eyes. "I can take a guess and say this was accidental, huh?" He added. Sonic gasped. "Wait- we're in another dimension?" He muttered. Shadow's entire body stiffened. He instinctively raised his arm and opened his touch-screen watch. He had no signal and no location on any map. "This has to be some sort of trick." He muttered to Sonic. Sonic nodded in response, helping Shadow up before resuming his fighting stance.

"Well, this is multiverse 901 to be exact, and we name this area Bygone Island." The older Shadow explained, pulling up a map on his own touchscreen watch and holding up his arm to allow the other two to see. There was no way that could have been faked, connection wasn't selective and maps couldn't be faked so easily - especially on a budget like Eggman's. Shadow turned go Sonic and glared. The blue blur turned his head hesitantly and gave him a small nervous smile. "Everytime you get involved in things we end up in these sort of situations!" Shadow reprimanded. He flicked Sonic's nose and groaned. Sonic yelped quietly and rubbed his nose. "Not my fault Tails is a genius." He whined.

The older Sonic chuckled, leaning against the other Shadow. The ebony hedgehog smiled at the other in what Shadow could only interpretate as awe. It made his skin crawl, to see a variant of himself and Sonic so close and harmonious. "Excuse me what?" Sonic asked dumbfounded. The other hedgehogs quickly straightened their posture. "You just remind me of us when we were younger." He chuckled, raising a balled fist to his lips. "That's nice, but what about the leaning and the looks?" Sonic asked. Shadow looked at the other. His face was almost disgusted yet confused. It was nice to know Sonic felt the same way.

The taller two turned to one another and exchanged whispers. The older Shadow ensured he had his hand raised to ensure either of the two couldn't read their lips. Shadow could tell it was about Sonic and him, the periodic glances towards them and the easily decipherable hiss of 'Shadow' - something Shadow had heard many times when talking to Rouge - echoed.

Eventually, the two turned back. "We just grew up I suppose." The older Shadow muttered passively. "We?" Shadow repeated in confusion. The last thing Shadow needed to do was grow up. He was the most composed and mature of the group - if he would even consider himself a part of the team - unlike Sonic, who was comparable to an impatient, stroppy and immature toddler. The older Shadow nodded. Shadow felt his blood boil. He didn't need to mature in the slightest. He growled and tensed his shoulders, raising his hand to prepare a chaos speer.

Before he could, a hand held his arm and pushed it down. "My point exactly." The older Shadow smugly explained. "I had anger issues and you clearly do." Shadow rolled his eyes, looking to his right to see what he deducted to be Amy. She had pink fur, slightly longer quills and a dark magenta dress and boots. It didn't really suit her in all honesty, Amy's green eyes and pink fur often clashed with pink tones and alienated dark colours. It was being readily put in display before his very eyes. He suddenly thanked Rouge for her incessant need to comment on outfits.

"Dysfunctional." She remarked to the other two. "Yup and plagued with anger issues." The older Sonic added. Sonic nodded in response. "I have a scar to prove that." He joked. "Do they have a way back to their universe or should I set up the guest room again?" She asked. Shadow rolled his eyes with a scoff, trying to break his arm free from her impenetrable grip. "If we had a way home we wouldn't be here in the first place." He remarked. Sonic sighed. "We have to stay until our Tails comes and gets us I guess." He laughed nervously.

With the use of a kick, Shadow freed himself from the taller pink hedgehog's grip and sent her tumbling into the sand. She huffed in frustration, drawing her hammer from a strap on her back. Shadow raised a brow and adjusted his ring. She was challenging him. He drew his gun from his quills and brandished it threateningly, cocking it in warning. Amy merely laughed. "Guns don't scare me." She smirked.

Shadow raised the gun, however before he could shoot a warning shot he was quickly tackled by Sonic. The weight forced Shadow's finger down on the trigger as he twisted his arm, shooting himself in the ribcage. He felt the bullet hit his rib, vibrating. Pain overcame him almost instantly, worsened as sand entered the wound when he hit the ground. The ebony hedgehog groaned. All he could smell was blood

"Shadow!" Sonic shouted in panic. The blue blur quickly got off of Shadow and allowed him to get up. Shadow used it as an opportunity to examine the wound. It definitley wasn't the worst wound he had ever had. Didn't lessen the pain however. He pressed his hand against the wound for a moment and lifted it, examining the blood.

"Shadow!" Sonic panicked as he saw the blood. "Oh my gosh- do I get bandages? Im so sorry!" Sonic continued to ramble as he seemingly cycled through the five stages of grief, apologising profusely for the gunshot. Being too pained to argue, Shadow merely walked away into the foliage. He needed time to calm down - and sort the wound out.
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1433 words
Published: 28th April, 2024
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