#let her look like a hedgehog why do sonic shadow and silver kind of look like a different species from her

[sonknuxadow]

god its always so weird seeing a shot of amy from behind and seeing that her back just has nothing on it. put some spikes on that beast

[arahdow]

WHO?! pt. 1

Pairing. Sonic x reader. Shadow x reader.

Content. fem reader. they mention another girls name as a prank. insecurities, angst but most of all hurt to comfort bcs in this house we appreciate aftercare after a sad moment. mhm humor.

Word count. 1.7 k

A/N. this is a two part post!! the reason i divided it was bcs i’m having a lot of trouble writing for silver and knuckles (i’m thinking on adding scourge too) 😫 so i’m trying to give myself some more time BUT in the meantime please have this and forgive me for not posting something of mine in a while 🤧 i assure you i’m working on different requests and ideas, so pls be patient and wait for the best!!

+ no beta read anddd a lil too ooc maybe

Sonic was always a prankster, but his prank backfired? That’s new…

Another tiring day at work, helping her coworkers get their job done even when she had her own work, doing extra hours, even walking home felt like a burden. She only wanted to lie down for at least the whole weekend. 

Sighing, she opened the door of her shared home with the blue hero, Sonic the hedgehog. He called himself a hero, something along the lines of ‘blue justice’ and she always laughed at his antics. She wanted nothing more than to hug him and sleep in his embrace.

As she walked to the kitchen, she heard Sonic humming and washing the pots he used to make dinner. He wasn’t used to cooking, but he liked to treat his girlfriend, especially when she went overtime.

“Hello.” She greeted, her voice weak as she noticed the delicious smell of the food he made.

Wiping his hands, he turned to his girlfriend, kissing her on the forehead. “Go and change, I'll be waiting darling.” 

The girl nodded with a sleepy smile and went to their room, before she could enter, Sonic yelled: “Be sure not to get asleep, Amy!” 

And it’s like her whole world crashed. Feeling like a cold splash of water running down her body, she soon felt her stomach drop. Amy? Why Amy? Was Amy there before? Why was he mentioning her? What?

A whole world of ‘what’s’ and ‘why’s’ ran through her head. Still, it wasn’t enough for her to stop feeling hungry, so, even if she wanted to stay by herself now, she knew if she didn’t eat she'd probably pass out in their shared room. 

Feeling a sting on her chest and throat, the girl changed herself and walked to the kitchen again. Her appetite forced her to meet her lover, but was he really tough? Was he still… Hers?

In silence, she sat beside Sonic starting to eat. The man looked at her confused but followed her movements without a word. She always thanked him for the food and let him have the first bite. It was a cute tradition between them and now she just went straight to eat. He couldn’t blame her, so he accepted it and kept on eating.

Sonic almost forgot the prank. Honestly, he was expecting some kind of teasing back, as his lover always had a callback, but now? She seemed too tired to add something of her own so he left it at that. 

He was ready to talk about something else when he noticed tears staining her face. “Dear? Wha-” He hurriedly went for a napkin and gave it to her. “What is it?”

The girl refused the napkin and turned away from him, her tears running free. Then he stared at her barely touched food. “Lov-”

“Why Amy?”

Sonic bit his tongue, looking at her. Amy?

“What’s with-”

“Do you love her? Again?!”

The man flinched a bit at her broken voice. His chest constricted with pain. 

“Listen, I-”

“I don’t…” The girl scoffed and braced herself. “I don’t want to know the details, just, have you fallen in love with Amy again?”

He reeled back, inhaling with insight. Oh. He. Fucked. Up.

“No, love-”

“Then why mention her? Why is her name in your lips when I’m the one you swore to spend your life with?” Sonic was already panicking inside watching the meltdown his girl was having. 

“It’s not like that!” He managed to say, stumbling on his words to prevent her from cutting him off again. “Love, it was a prank.”

The girl looked at him, her tears suddenly stopping, it almost looked humoristic if it wasn’t for the whole reason she was crying.

“I’m sorry you’d thought I could do that to you,” he explained, standing up and wiping her tears by himself with the napkin she refused to grab. “I was trying to be funny like we always are but… I guess it wasn’t the right timing.”

“No shit.” She replied, a sarcastic tone in her voice as she sighed, the weight on her shoulders disappearing. “Ah, thank chaos.”

“I mean, how could I do that to you when I already have an engagement ring somewhere in my room?”

“Yeah,” She nodded. Wait. “Wait what?”

“What?” He echoed, the atmosphere in the room changing completely as he winked at her. They were in for a long night, but first, he had to make it up to her, and he knew exactly how.

Sonic told him about it and said it was funny, so Shadow mentioned it while his partner was venting because he thought it was good timing. spoilers: it wasn’t.

“Can you fucking believe it, Shadow? My sister wants me to attend this stupid gathering, I told her it was fucking useless, I don’t give two shits about them because of what they did in the past, they never… They’ve never even fucking apologized! I’m just so mad right now, how can they be so stupid? Idiots! But you know what’s worse? The fact that…”

Shadow looked at his partner, listening intently at her venting. His gaze went in between her and her hands folding the laundry. His mind somewhere else as he recalled a conversation he had in the morning with his blue copy.

“This is a good way to cheer your girl up! Believe me! I’ve tried it before and it totally works.” Shadow looked at him, a skeptic look in his eyes. 

“Are you sure pranking her is the best way to cheer her up? But why if it’s something vulnera-”

“Naaah, I don’t think anything is that bad that you have to care too much about it.” Sonic explained while munching on his fifth chili dog of the day. “And besides, it’s just a simple harmless prank, she’ll laugh and it’d be alright.”

“...And I was like, ‘You remember what auntie said the last time I was there, why do you want me to go so fucking bad?’ ugh, it’s like a nightmare, I can’t wrap my head around it, really!”

He knew it was something serious because she was cursing a lot, or maybe she felt kind of free now that she was letting it all out? Was it a great time to do that prank? Maybe she’ll stop running in circles and just give herself some time…

“That sounds hard, Sora.”

Silence.

His face was stern, his position sitting on the bed seemed relaxed, but on the inside he was gauging her next words or actions in response to his words. Pressing his lips, he waited for her reaction, but it seemed like the world just stopped, did he stop time unconsciously? No, because the ceiling fan was still moving over their heads. 

“What did you just say?”

But he didn’t reply. More like he couldn’t. He already wanted to say it was a prank, but he stopped himself. Maybe if he waited a bit more… He could hear the sound of her cries.

Her cries?

His mind shifted violently, attentive to the sound of distress coming from the girl. Shadow took a step, horrified at the scene. She covered her face with her hands and dropped to her knees as she kept on crying.

That was his sign. Kneeling in front of her, Shadow took her by the wrist, relieved that she didn’t push him away instantly. 

“Shh sh, it was a prank, I'm sorry, I wasn’t being serious.” He said, trying to reason with her. That seemed to make the trick as she stopped for a bit, head still on her hands as she seemed to take a deep breath. The calmness didn’t last long as the girl shook her head and kept on crying, her face still fully covered.

He tried getting her hands away from her face, trying to get a glimpse of her eyes, wanting his point to come across, but she wasn’t budging.

Shadow just stared at her, his capacity of dealing with emotions almost close to none as he tried to find a way to solve this situation he himself caused. Lucky for him, her cries started to die down, not because she was less sad, but because she was tired from crying.

Being able to see her eyes eased him for a bit, but something still pulled at the strings of his heart: what would she say now?

The girl got up from the floor, walking out from her room straight to the kitchen. Shadow followed silently, afraid of her next move or word. She took a bottle of water from the refrigerator and drank. Two, three gulps and then she stopped, closing the bottle again. Shadow felt his heart beating hard against his chest with suspense, when she turned at him, her red eyes from crying staring deeply into his. 

And then she smiled.

“Damn,” she said, sighing. “I needed that.”

Shadow blinked a few times trying to register her words. “What?”

The girl chuckled and wiped the tears off from her face, staring at him. “Yeah, you think I believed you?” a sarcastic laugh fell from her lips. “Chaos, you seemed so nonchalant trying to convince me you really had another girl, that was so funny!” 

“Wait, you… You faked it?” He asked, still not being able to wrap his head around the entirety of the situation.

“Yeah! Woah, I really needed to cry, I feel lighter now, thanks for the push, Shadz.” She said, winking at the black hedgehog, walking past him to their room again. “And, I recommend you practice your facial expressions, you seemed scared even before I started crying, if you plan on pranking Sonic, you’ll need to try harder.”

The man stood there, shocked as he then turned and questioned. “What the- Why did you do that?”

“Do what?” She asked, stopping before entering the room, turning her head at him.

“That! I-“ He suddenly felt the weight of everything on his chest, making him almost suffocate from the whiplash of emotions he just experienced. “I almost had a heart attack.”

With a playful glint on her eye, she nodded before turning around and keeping on walking. “Suits you right.”

[kaylatoonz]

Amy meets everyone but Sonic

I think it would be funny/interesting if Amy doesn’t meet Sonic until the end or near climax of the movie.

From what I can remember from the games, Amy would almost always do something small within the sideline of the story that becomes impactful in the main story. Best example of this is how her interaction between Silver and Shadow both play a part in them switching from antagonist to friends/allies to Sonic and his friends.

If the SCU introduces Amy in the third film I think this would be the best way to go about it if she doesn’t get as much screen time. There could be a side plot where Amy is trying to find Sonic but she meets everyone that has some connection to him instead. Each person she meets she helps/supports them in a small but impactful way that helps Sonic and friends in a big way by the climax or end of the film.

They could give us a taste of Amy’s strengths and feisty nature by showing her teaming up with knuckles (maybe give them a dynamic similar to Sonic X or IDW). Then they can establish her kindness and determination to help those who have been wronged, by showing her helping tails at his lowest point (maybe Amy helps tails in his SA2 arc or help him break sonic out of prison island). Finally, by the climax of the film Amy indirectly helps Sonic in the biggest way possible by reminding Shadow of his promise to Maria which encourages him to aid Sonic in saving the world.

Bonus points if throughout the film there this running gag of Sonic and Amy keep just missing each other.

Amy just left after helping knuckles and wade defend citizens from strange creatures (black arms?)

Sonic: sorry I’m late to the party, I heard from tails that you guys might need some back up

Knuckles: no need little brother we have defeated our new foe with the help of a valiant new ally.

Sonic:?

Wade: yeah your pink girlfriend was a lot of help 😄

Knuckles:*look confuse then thoughtful*

Sonic:… Wade i don’t have a girlfriend why would you assume

Wade: oh she is a pink hedgehog like you and she got really excited when she found out that we know you so sh..

Sonic: Wade you can’t just assume we’re together just because we’re both hedgehogs I don’t even kno… wait! She's a hedgehog too?! And she’s on our side!

Where is she? I gotta meet her! * starts dashing round the battle field*

Wade: as I was just saying you just missed her and she was actually looking for yo..

Sonic: dang it! Maybe I can catch up to her, we could use all the help we can get if we’re fighting that faker. Contact tails for the deets gotta go! * runs off*

Wade: wait sonic she was look for.. and he’s gone

Knuckles: she could be a good partner, they’re both strong and reckless 🤔

Wade: I know right 😄

Amy get held up fighting off /distracting the guards while helping tails break sonic out of prison island

Sonic: thanks little bro I didn’t think I could broke out here on my own.

Tails: your welcome but I can’t take all the credit I had some outside help

Sonic: let me guess pink hedgehog

Tails: yeah you’ve met

Sonic: nope but I’ve heard great things. I seem to just miss her everywhere I go

Tails: *smirks* so the fastest thing alive can’t caught the girl

Sonic:*roll eyes* hardy har har, very funny… is she still around? I really like to meet this new heroine, maybe team up.

Tails: yeah she holding back the guards I can put her on speak if you insist 😏

Sonic: tails😑

Tails: ok ok Hey Amy do you copy?

Amy: yep still here though my hands are a bit full at the moment. How are things on your end? Did you find him? Do you need help?

Tails: yeah everything great I found him , we’re safe and he really interested in meeting you😏 (sonic: tails it’s not like that😠) so we were hoping we can make our escape and meet back at..

Amy: *wham!* That sounds great I.. *fzzzz* I can meet you guy at *fzzz* HEY! You better stay down or I’ll get my hammer and! *fzzz *wham!*

Tails and Sonic: hammer?

Amy: *fzzz* oops…

Tails: what do you mean oops…

* An explosion can be heard from the other end and the build shakes*

Tails: AMY! ARE YOU STILL THERE! ARE YOU OK?!?! AMY PLEASE RESPON-

Amy: I’m ok! I’m ok there’s just a lot more exits then we originally planned so I’m just gonna take one of those * awkward giggles* I’ll meet you guys at *fzzz* *line cuts*

Tails: * sighs in relief* well better luck next time Sonic I don’t think you’ll be catching miss rose any time soon.

Sonic: dang I was really hoping to catch her this time she sounds like a fun gal.

Tails:😏

Sonic: *lightly punches tails shoulder* welp we better make use of Amy’s specially made exits and get out of here.

After Amy reminds Shadow of his promise to Maria and so Shadow joins Sonic in facing the final threat of the film (black arm, bio lizard, metal sonic?).

Sonic: hey shads come to join the party? What changed your mind?

Shadow: your pink friend reminded me of something important…

Sonic: *looks confused for a second before realizing who he’s talking about*

Sonic: no way… she really is something special…😊

Shadow: she is…😌 now let get this over with this only one time thing got that faker😈

Sonic: whatever you say faker😈 now let’s kick some butts.

[autisticshadowthehedgehog]

It’s Sonic Gang Disney Movie Night! And it’s the Unstoppable Forces vs Immovable Objects! Let’s meet our competitors:

Knuckles “the last of his kind on a noble quest to protect a gem with trust issues, badass fighting skills, and a water-based spirit most of his lost culture was based around who wants to live out his fantasy of his people coming back and enemies turning into friends via continued applied trust” the Echidna who wants to watch Raya and the Last Dragon

Tikal “the curious and empathetic chief’s daughter who was really close with her now-dead grandma who yearns to return to a culture her people once had but have now abandoned and works to make peace with the dieties of her culture while being best friends with sentient water who wants to live out her fantasy of resolving her daddy issues and bringing her people and gods to peace” the Echidna who wants to watch Moana

Blaze “the heir to an entire kingdom with a lot of huge expectations placed on her by her deceased parents desperately trying to keep her deadly and dangerous powers under control which is an issue because they burst out when she’s emotional and she’s been repressing quite a bit of emotions only for an energetic, bubbly person to bring her out of her shell and prove that she can be herself without hurting anyone else” the Cat who wants to watch Frozen

Elise also wants to watch Frozen so two points for Blaze

Shadow “an alien scientifically created to be a living weapon meant to destroy who ends up befriending a little girl who teaches him to have humanity, after which he begins to appreciate life on Earth and fights to protect both it and the found family he’s pieced together for himself” the Hedgehog who wants to watch Lilo & Stitch

Sonic who wants to watch Wreck-It Ralph because he’s in it and things go fast

Amy Rose who wants to watch Sleeping Beauty because it’s “romantic” and “beautiful” but also so she can wait until the dragon scene and then start blasting “What I’m Made Of” and scare the shit out of everyone

Silver “was left alone in a barren wasteland for far longer than he wants to admit and honestly probably longer than he can remember who ends up finding one last bit of hope and who wants to live out his fantasy of bringing life back to his planet and seeing society grow around him as he finds a family of his own” the Hedgehog who wants to watch WALL-E. he’ll also settle for Lightyear he guesses

Cream who wants to watch Snow White because pretty princess sing to animals and spin around

Sally “the heir to an entire kingdom with some severe dead dad issues who ends up on the run as a child only to return and find her kingdom decimated by someone she once trusted who now has to raise a rebellion with her childhood sweetheart to dethrone the usurper and retake the land before he can destroy the entire environment” Acorn who wants to watch The Lion King

Vector who wants to watch The Great Mouse Detective and say “that’s what we do. we do that”

Shahra who wants to watch Aladdin. do i even have to

oh and Jet wants to watch Aladdin too but that’s just because he thinks stealing things is funny

Merlina actually does not want to watch Sword in the Stone it makes her uncomfortable however she will BITE someone if they don’t watch Coco next

Marine who wants to watch Finding Nemo because oooh water ooh australia oooh look at the fishies go. no she doesn’t have abandonment issues why do you ask

alternatively, Marine will make everyone watch The Pirate Fairy

Tekno who wants to watch Big Hero 6 because look at those robots go

Omega who wants to watch The Black Cauldron cause it has the most death in it

Rouge who would rather watch everyone argue than see any movie

Mighty and Ray just wanna watch Bambi guys

Big who wants to watch Fantasia because it calms him down. Omega does a quick ecosia search of Night on Bald Mountain and immediately likes this plan

Belle who wants to watch Pinocchio for obvious reasons

Charmy who wants to watch Peter Pan just to point at the tv when Tink is onscreen and look Belle dead in the eye and say “that’s you”

Espio who wants to die

Miles “Tails” Prower who can’t decide if he wants to watch Dumbo or Meet the Robinsons or if both will just bring up a lot of traumatic memories

and finally, Sticks the Badger, who wants to beat the TV to death with a wooden club and then burn Disney HQ to the ground

who will win!! vote now on your phones

[the-sinful-voice-witch]

SONAMY ongoing evolution

I've been playing Sonic frontiers and I watched Sonic prime and I read the IDW comics... Omg where's do I start???

Sonic frontiers is just a work of art in general, but the sonamy inside is just beautifully portrayed, I can say that Ian Flynn totally ships them 😌😌. I'm just so utterly happy how things had changed even if it took so many years

Sonic changed a lot his perception of Amy! 🥲🥲🥲 Also the detail of the umbrella line, remember that sonic was created in Japan, say fellow anime fans what does usually means when two characters share an umbrella? What does it mean when students in Japan draw an umbrella in the blackboard with two names written under it? It is clear that Ian Flynn totally knows the meaning and the MUSIC! Seriously those scenarios with Amy and that music felt like it came right out of a shojo anime😖😖😖💗💗

But also the feels... THE FUCKING FEELS!! The way Amy is kind of too calm with her situation but Sonic is just so worried and you could tell how worried he was even if he tried to play it cool... His expressions girl... Look at him with his cute ears dropped 🥲🥲🥲 Guys this game fed us good stuff... We shippers finally got what we had always wanted.

Next topic: Sonic Prime.

So I'm a bit conflicted, cause i only liked one of Amy's different designs and that was Thorn Rose, I'm obsessed with her hair but dude Rusty Rose? That could have been better... Also why Rusty Rose and not Metal Rose? Cyborg Rose? Badnik Rose? Mecha Rose? Robot Rose? Rusty sounds a bit degrading... It is because she was made like that by the Egg council? Pff also her robot appearance is just so ugly! What with that eye? But I love the dark concept and I love her SASS 🤣🤣🤣🤣Anyway my problem with Rusty Amy and Sonic is that it feels like the situation is not treated nearly as serious as Nine situation and boy ok you are a hurt loner with bully victim issues but Amy is basically dead, like there's no flesh or organs in her, she literally has a Birdy as a source of life and what is the outcome of that? Is there another outcome different from Gamma's fate in sonic adventure? Because the second Amy gets back her emotions she will want to release the bird... But more importantly... I can't wait to see Shadow react to her... This is the girl that reminded him of Maria, i really shouldn't but I really have high expectations for what kind of interaction will they have, we really need to see Shadow and Amy interact more let's be honest. As for the other Roses, there's no much to say about Black Rose but with Thorn we got good stuff too:

But I have to say one thing... Ok I know Amy is a strong power character but... It's a bit ridiculous that she could fight off characters like Rouge and Knuckles THAT EASY is just...🙃🙃🙃 Well i loved the part when he tries to reason with her all like: you liked me... A bit? Remember? And she is just so irritated and done with him already 🤣🤣🤣 but then... We also got this:

Actually touch her cheek you COWARD!!😤😤 Also when he was about to smash her and but stopped because he has a flashback of his Amy 😭😭😭, it's curious that Thorn Rose seems to be more impactful in Sonic than Rusty Rose which is ok but is odd plot speaking, after all Rusty is the one in the worst condition and is the one hunting him down, I'll just wait for next season and see what happens

And last but not the least I Shall say something about THIS!!

This illustration hit me right in the kokoro, date with hands holding and Sakura petals... is pure shojo manga energy!! I'm so blessed 😭😭💗💗

And of course the important reminder that Amy is a POWER CHARACTER and that's why she and knuckles make a good POWER SIBLINGS team as I stated in their own post about them... And dear Silver fucking gave her a COLOSSAL hammer 😂😂😂do not mess with the pink hedgehog buddy, and of course Sonic knows exactly how awesome she is as it should be, seriously she is really getting better and better, i really hope we'll see her in the next movie

[tenebraevesper]

Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer, Issue #59: Urban Warfare (Part 3)

Finally, it’s here! You guys have no idea how much I had been looking forward to this Issue, and for a good reason, but let’s first admire the art by Nathalie Haines, which was actually drawn like a classical painting. It’s magnificent!

*clasps hands*

Anyways, Urban Warfare (Part 3); what is there to say about it? Holy Hell, what isn’t there to say about it? Honestly, I had been losing my mind the moment I read the summary for it, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. But, before I start, a little recap since it has been a while.

Sonic and the Diamond Cutters (Tangle, Whisper and Lanolin) arrived at Eggperial City to figure out what is going on, and have found out that the city is expanding by itself. As they plan their next move, the Diamond Cutters end up in a different dimension due to one of Eggman’s portals featured in The Test Run Arc, while Sonic calls for reinforcements. Tails, Amy, Blaze and Silver show up and as they progress through the city, they run into Team Dark destroying Badniks left and right.

So, I’m not even one page into the story and I’m already picking up Sonadow energy from this moment. Trust me, I had a field day with this one.

Sonic is genuinely shocked to see Shadow... and only Shadow. I can’t blame him though, considering how their last encounter went.

Yeah, I’m not sure how many of you remember, but Shadow’s last appearance was in The Chao Races and Badnik Bases Arc, where he made some rather questionable decisions, but not as bad as what happened during The Crisis City Arc (aka the Zombot Fiasco), based on how SEGA wanted him to be written in the story. Fortunately, regarding the writing, we had actually gotten some good news in the weeks leading up to Team Dark’s, and especially Shadow’s, reintroduction to the comics.

To keep it short, all that talk about Shadow having a bunch of locks and chains placed on him to keep him in line with their vision... well, they started to break. From what I understood, SEGA gave more workable guidelines for him that allow for more liberties with writing his character - or in other words, Vegeta!Shadow is finally gone!!! As a matter of fact, while reading through the story, the improvement in his character was remarkable. Admittedly, it might not be for everyone, but goddamn, I’m loving it!

Not to mention, this is the first time since The Crisis City Arc that we see Team Dark working together once again. Also, Rouge, why are you calling everyone else kids when you’re only 18? (And yeah, I know SEGA removed the ages for all the characters, but let’s be honest, who pays attention to that?).

Sonic quips how he’s flattered that they’re here to rescue him, but they’re late to the party and... Silver, what the hell are you doing with Blaze?

*laughs* Even Tails and Amy have noticed that Silver is holding Blaze upside down, while he didn’t register any of it. I suppose Silver is too focused on Team Dark’s reappearance to realize what he’s doing.

Shadow just leaps off the scrapped Badniks, replying to Sonic how he has no idea what he’s talking about, nor does he care. Sonic, on the other hand, looks a little disappointed with that answer. I suppose he had been hoping for some banter.

Rouge then quickly brings him up to speed, explaining how she called in “her boys” (I see this as another win for everyone who say Team Dark are friends!) to see what they could do about Eggperial City - aka destroy everything in their path, foil Eggman’s plans and maybe steal some kind of treasure.

Sonic figures that makes sense, but I’m still convinced he’s disappointed they (or rather Shadow) weren’t here to help him out.

Cue Amy shoving Sonic away to talk to Rouge. I saw people saying how she’s just being overprotective of her crush, but I was questioning where Amy’s line of sight is. Amy notes how this is awfully altruistic of Rouge, but as I said above, she’s in because she wants to raid Eggman’s private vaults for a handsome reward.

Tails and Silver are hyped up to work with them to destroy the city though.

Omega notes how the conversation is irrelevant to their mission, and Rouge notes how Team Sonic would just slow Team Dark down and they’d be going off on their own, with Omega also promising to not hit anyone in the crossfire. Honestly, I think this is the nicest thing Omega could tell them.

Meanwhile, Sonic looks so done with everything. We don’t get annoyed Sonic often, so it’s neat to see him like that, and it makes sense, considering how in a (I assume) very short time-span (depending on when Scrapnik Island takes place), he had discovered Eggperial City and was chased by Metal Sonic while keeping Tails, Kit and Belle safe and having his leg injured, fought Surge at least three times, discovered what Starline had done to them, got separated from the Diamond Cutters and is now trying to foil another of Eggman’s plans while being on his territory and having to deal with Badniks.

That, and Rouge said they were slowing Team Dark down.

Never tell Sonic he’s slowing you down. Never.

Oh, and as the cherry on top, Eggman decides to make an announcement. But instead of talking about how he’s gonna blow up the moon, he decides to explain to everyone how the Eggperial City works. It is a self-replicating and self-repairing metropolis. Anything they destroy, dozens more will rise to take its place. Eggman also figures that this would be a nice time to rise the stakes a little, so he calls in for a little surprise.

IT’S THE SHADOW ANDROIDS!!!

To note, we haven’t seen these guys since Whisper’s backstory way back in the Tangle and Whisper Miniseries and before that, we haven’t seen them since Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog.

Going by Shadow’s reaction, he’s clearly shocked to see them again, and Eggman’s obviously going to use the Shadow Androids to their fullest potential.

Hell, Eggman has already the popcorn ready, all to happy to watch the carnage unfold. He calls it a stroke of genius in regards of building robots that mimic Shadow’s skills and holding onto them for the right moment (and that’s not even accounting for the mindscrew Shadow had to deal with when he encountered one for the first time).

Metal Sonic, though, is not happy about the Shadow Androids being dispatched. I’m certain that he wants to be the one on the battlefield.

While this is happening, the Diamond Cutters have infiltrated the control room, Lanolin and Whisper sneaking in, while Tangle just strolls inside like she owns the place, much to Lanolin’s chagrin, and points out how no one’s gonna spot them as she places her hand through Metal’s head. Lanolin just sighs, figuring this should make checking the room out easier, while Whisper stares in the screen in pure shock, realizing that the past is about to repeat itself.

She breaks down, and honestly, I really love the backgrounds in this page. We can see the darkness surrounding Whisper as she tells them how everyone’s going to die. However, the moment Tangle reaches for her and comforts her, the darkness slowly fades away, replaced by a ray of light. Tangle hugs Whisper, promising her how things will be fine, and even Lanolin joins in on comforting Whisper. While these three are still learning, they do make a great team.

Speaking of the Shadow Androids, we see Team Sonic fighting them, everyone being clearly in shock to what they are, with Tails being unable to get clear readings about them as they’re too fast. Even Blaze’s fire is not enough to keep them back and they’re strong enough to deal with Amy’s hammer.

Now, I’ll stop here to put a reminder. On the heroes side, no one but Shadow, Rouge, Omega, Whisper and Tangle here knows about the Shadow Androids. Whisper’s encounter with them is obvious, and Tangle saw footage of that, while Shadow, Rouge and Omega ran into them in Sonic Heroes, and Shadow had another (dubiously canonical) encounter with them in Shadow the Hedgehog.

Realizing just how dire the situation is, Sonic calls Silver for help so they can escape. Silver, being the awesome psychic he is, lifts the ground into a ramp and with Blaze frying the Shadow Androids that are after them, Sonic grabs everyone to get away from the robots in pursuit (also, nice Sonamy moment with that little blush).

Team Sonic finds Team Dark after the groups have been briefly separated, with Blaze grabbing Sonic and Amy’s hands and rushing over to help Team Dark. Yeah, there is an error in the panels, as both show Blaze grabbing hands with rings around them, suggesting she was grabbing only Amy’s hand. I suppose the artist forgot to erase the ring to make it clear she was also grabbing Sonic.

Back with Team Dark, Shadow assesses how Eggman’s trying to overwhelm them with sheer numbers and how there’s no strategy to their movements, meaning they can be easily manipulated. He figures that, once they move to a better position, they can take them out.

Cue Blaze throwing Sonic and Amy (another error, both are blue instead of being blue and pink) with Sonic spin-dashing and Amy smashing the Shadow Androids that were about to attack Shadow.

With a nose flick, Sonic is right back to quipping, asking Shadow whether he had some cousins he never told them about, while Shadow responds with “Please. These cheap copies don’t deserve to wear my place.”

Have I told you how much I love these two together? (≧◡≦)

As the battle continues, Shadow explains how the Shadow Androids are cheap copies created by Eggman, and how he’ll pay dearly for this insult. Unfortunately, Omega loses his footing and is being brought down by the Shadow Androids, but he keeps on fighting. Realizing how things are getting dire, Rouge asks Shadow to use his own powers against the Shadow Androids, but he responds how it is impossible without a Chaos Emerald (makes me wonder what happened to the Chaos Emerald Rouge stole in the Sonic Annual).

Tails rushes in, telling Shadow how the crystals are also generating Chaos Energy, with Shadow agreeing, but notes how the energy is distorted.

“Fake Emeralds... I hate to stoop to using such a pale substitute, but... it will do.”

Okay, can I say that this panel is absolutely amazing, and what’s about to happen is jaw-dropping!

I swear, this was my reaction to seeing this page:

Not only is the art absolutely gorgeous, but it finally shows Shadow as a pure badass who has the skills to support his title of The Ultimate Lifeform! Honestly, words cannot describe how much I love this! Bow your heads low, all hail Shadow!

And to add a cherry to the top of this moment of awesomeness:

Absolutely badass! It’s really great to see Shadow let loose from time to time. Hell, even Team Sonic is amazed!

Tails, Amy and Silver are starstruck, Rouge is proud of her boy, Blaze is... stunned, to say the least (I suppose she never saw what Shadow was truly capable of), while Sonic figures he should too give it a try.

And yeah, I saw the Dark Sonic jokes floating around. Are you guys forgetting that Sonic was the first to use a Fake Chaos Emerald for Chaos Control back in Sonic Adventure 2? He knows how to handle them.

Shadow then points out that they’re not done yet and goes for another Chaos Control, only for something to happen...

A giant crystal shoots out of the ground, throwing everyone off, while Rouge asks Shadow what’s happening. Shadow is crackling with Chaos Energy, warning her that it’s too much and...

Holy frigging Hell! Shadow unleashes a blast of Chaos Energy, nuking everything surrounding him. Everyone escapes, and when Rouge tries to get back to Shadow and Omega, she’s stopped by the crystals, which are now shooting out from everywhere.

Eggman quickly attempts to regain control of the situation, figuring Shadow would cause trouble. Tangle wonders what happened, with Whisper answering how it was Chaos Overload (how does she know that?). I suppose Shadow used to much of the surrounding Chaos Energy and it was too much for him to handle since the Fake Chaos Emeralds were spread out all over the city. He may be a Master of Chaos Control, but even this would overwhelm someone like him.

Eggman activates the emergency limiter, rebooting the system, noting how it’ll take more to take out his city.

Team Sonic and Rouge observe the destruction Shadow had caused, with Tails figuring it was some runaway feedback loop. Rouge is worried about Shadow and Omega, but Sonic, Silver and Blaze assure her that not only are the two tough, they also know what they’re up against and they can deal with Eggman. Rouge is cheered up, while Sonic looks forward to Shadow’s expression when he saves him.

Yeah, Sonic will never let Shadow live that down.

Back with Eggman, the power has returned, the system got rebooted... and Eggman lost Sonic and co. Lanolin points out how the power surge nearly crippled the entire city, so if they trigger another bigger one, this should destroy it. But in that moment, all three of them become suddenly visible, with Eggman spotting them.

In two magnificent panels, we get an Eggman obscured by shadows, really creeping me out, as he figures they ran into his spatial-displacement trap. He explains how they almost got out when the power dipped, but he has a way of dealing with them, summoning another model of the portal and telling them how this will scatter their atoms into oblivion.

Whisper takes the shot, and honestly, if she still hadn’t been trapped in that other dimension, she would’ve killed Eggman then and there. The blast went right through his chest. Like, this was probably the fourth time she attempted to kill someone in cold blood (first Mimic, followed by another attempt at Eggman’s life, then Surge and now Eggman again).

What’s even more chilling is how calm Eggman is, well aware what his trap had done. It then surrounds Whisper.

Tangle screams for her as Whisper is trapped inside the device, and then spots another one flying for her, only for Lanolin to ram her out of the way and tell her to tell everyone what happened and what to do before getting captured herself.

Tangle is cornered, but she suddenly phases through the window, falling out of the command tower. The story ends on a literal cliffhanger.

Holy Hell, I absolutely loved this Issue! It was beyond awesome for all the reasons I already talked above, but there is one specific thing I wanted to discuss in the ending of this analysis - Shadow’s portrayal.

Honestly, I had absolutely no complaint with how he was written in this Issue. People might not agree with me, but I think Urban Warfare really redeemed him, as rather than being prideful and arrogant, he was more business-like and focused on the mission, pragmatic and patient in explaining to everyone what is going on, as well as having his moments of banter with Sonic.

As for him being taken out of the battle, alongside Omega, I’m actually fine with it, as it’s the manner with how he was put out of commission.

Seriously, compare this:

To this:

It’s not about pride, it’s about saving everyone with his own power, and that’s what I had been missing from IDW!Shadow for so long.

I really hope we’ll see more of this in the future.

Links:

#Previous Issue

#Next Issue

#Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer (Masterlist)

[suna1suna1]

Hello, Tumblr! It's WIP Wednesday!

I think I'm gonna switch some stuff up because I haven't been getting much interaction with my WIP Wednesday game for a while, which is understandable. After a while of the same things, it isn't as exciting anymore and just gets boring.

So for this week, I'm gonna start a (no pressure) tag game! If you don't like participating in these, you don't have to, and if I tag you and you don't want to, PLEASE feel free to let me know. I don't want to be that annoying moot in your activity every week.

That said, here are the rules.

If I tag you, you can send 500-1000 words if your current WIP if you're a writer, your current WIP or WIPs if you're an artist, or both if you're both!

Then, once you're done, you can tag as many or as few people you want! Once again, NO PRESSURE! You can do or not do this as you please! ^^

Gonna get the tags out of the way first

@deadrabbithq @killingthecringe @nodulemodule

Starting with the art WIP, I have Silver's ref that I'm working on for To Catch a Hedgehog (as requested by the poll I put out)

And underneath the cut, here's about 500 words from To Catch a Hedgehog (if you don't like sonadow, no need to look under this cut. Ik at least one of the people I tagged isn't too big on it so yeah, no need to read if you're not into it lol)

"Informant. Now, why haven't you moved yet?" 

Sonic: "SO YOU WERE STALKING ME! GO AWAY!" 

Shadow: "I told you, it's not stalking. And I'm trying to save your ass."

Sonic: "After trying to take me out? Nah. I'm good." 

Shadow: "Look, I get it. But if you don't get out of the city, Robotnik is going to fire me and sick somebody else on you, and I doubt they'd be as merciful as I have been." 

Sonic: "Huh... 'have been'... interesting word choice. Okay, I'll bite. Why do you want to save me so bad when it's obviously putting your job at risk? I'm literally the person trying to wake people up and get Butt-nik out of power. Why are you turning on your boss?" 

Shadow didn't respond for a while. Why was he doing this? Sonic was right. He was putting his job, hell, maybe even his life on the line for a random guy. But this random guy was the only person stubborn enough to pull the kind of stunt he did. But if Robotnik wanted him dead so bad, then maybe it was because it was working. 

Besides, while Shadow had a job, it wasn't pleasant. It had never been something he wanted. He remembered wanting to help people, help Maria. He remembered saving up for medical school... before Ivo took out the council. Now he'd ended too many lives with his own hands.

Maria would have hated the person he'd become. He sure did. 

Her face flashed in his mind's eye. Her smile, encouraging. 

He swallowed. Then he typed out his reply.

Shadow: "You're not the only one who's lost people you loved to that monster." 

Sonic didn't reply for a bit. Shadow wasn't sure if he was going to, if that was a good enough reason to listen to him. 

Several minutes later, there was a new reply. 

Sonic: "I guess everyone has. But then why have you gone along with it for so long?" 

Shadow: "In the moment, I guess it beats starving." 

Sonic: "...Yeah, I still don't trust you. How do I know you're not gonna come here and murder me in my sleep anyway?" 

Shadow: "If I were going to do that, I already would have."

Sonic: "Sure... Anyway, is that all? Because I'm hungry and I can smell my roommate making chili." 

Shadow: "No. I want to know how you got those paintings up so fast. And you said you'd seen it when people become completely cybernetic. How?" 

Sonic: "Question numero uno, trade secret. Question numero dos, you don't want to know." 

Shadow: "I work for the government and even I don't know. I didn't even know that could happen." 

Sonic: "Oh, it does. All the time. Not pretty." 

Shadow: "How do you know?"

Sonic: "...Alright, look. I'm gonna set up a more secure account (and probably burn this one). I'll message you on the one condition that you don't tell anyone who I am. We can go from there after I've eaten." 

Shadow: "Fair enough."

[bread--quest]

im not making a fancy ask for this because its technically not even dashboard based. sonic

ok uhhh lets see. now this is partially based on what ive absorbed from you and partially based on what ive absorbed from my friend leo who is also really into sonic

so like sonic is a hedgehog except not really because he is blue and doesn't look anything like a hedgehog and is actually an alien from space. specifically a planet called morbius or something. he goes really fast. i'm not even going to try and recap the plot of it because theres like. an entire video games and a movie and several comic runs so i think trying to recap the plot would be a fools mission. instead i will discuss the characters.

sonic: the hedgehog. blue. very fast. the protagonist so he has to be just some guy so that he will be easily relatable. kind of like spiderman i think.

tails: sonic's little buddy. fox. actually named miles prower (per hour). has several tails. can be a helicopter. deserves the world. your favorite <3

amy: also a fox?? the world's PRETTYEST PINK PRINCESS and she's going to KILL YOU with her HUGE FUCKING HAMMER

rouge: or rogue??? bat. known for not being drawn sexily by doctors. on tumblr dot com. rarity energy i think

shadow: the hedgehog. emo before there was emo. created in a lab by a mad scientest and his best friend maria died. dave strider/zuko avatar for little kids who are going to be furries eventually

silver: shadow's friend i think? gnc swag honestly. they and shadow and rogue/rouge are sort of like team rocket maybe

knuckles: the echidna. no idea what he's doing here

dr. robtonik/eggman: may or may not be the same person?? villains. very weird looking. hate this fucking hedgehog soooo much for some reason

chaos emeralds: important for unclear reasons. maybe whoever gets all of them can do a magical girl powerup? part of why sonic and the egg robot men fight so much.

elise: in at least one video game (?), kind of the princess peach of it

[shadamyheadcanons]

Headcanon #272: Shellshock

This is the sequel to that headcanon with Blaze, Silver, Shadow, and Amy at the pizza place. They’re cross-posted as a set on AO3.

It’s such a shame that so many people only know Silver from Sonic ‘06 when he’s usually such a cute, lovable dork:

Shadow teleported to Seaside Hill, bringing Amy along with him. He held onto her hand as long as he felt he could without being too obvious about it, then let go and took a look around the empty beach. “How long do you think it’ll take Silver to get here?”

Amy checked the time on her phone. “Not too long. He’s punctual like we are. It’d be pretty ironic if the chronic time traveler always showed up late, right?”

Shadow’s heart fluttered at her charming smile. Secretly, he didn’t mind if Silver took his time, as he cherished every moment he got to spend one-on-one with Amy; he’d even shown up at her house a little early that morning just so he could spend a few extra minutes with her.

Oblivious to Shadow’s thoughts, Amy wandered off to take a look around, then made a small sound of excitement when she spotted something at the base of a cliff. Shadow followed her over and examined the plants she was admiring.

“These flowers are so pretty! I was in such a rush last time I was here that I never noticed them.” Amy grinned brightly, stooping down to inspect the plants more closely. “What do you think they are?”

“Rosemary,” Shadow replied easily. “It’s lucky that we’re here now. They only bloom for a couple months in the summertime.”

Amy turned her brilliant smile Shadow’s way. “You sure know a lot about plants!” She hopped back up and dug her toes into the sand, almost looking shy. “I’d love to stop by and see your garden again, if that’s alright. You take such good care of it!”

“I’d be honored,” Shadow answered immediately. He cleared his throat and tried to rein in his excitement. “I’m free this Sunday. If you want to, that is.”

She nodded. “I’d love to!”

Shadow considered leaving it there at the small victory, but he packed up his courage to add, “I’ve been growing some red roses lately. They made me think of you.” Suddenly afraid he’d spook her, he hurriedly added, “You know. Because of your last name.”

Any fear that he’d gone too far vanished when Amy beamed and playfully shoved him. “You’re too sweet!” He couldn’t hide his own smile.

After that, though, her expression turned distant. “You know, that actually would’ve fit my dad’s name better.”

Shadow’s ears perked up. Amy rarely spoke of her late parents. “So...your dad’s name was Red Rose?” Unexpectedly feminine, but I guess I don’t have much room to talk when it comes to unusual names.

“Mm...kind of. His first name was actually ‘Swift.’”

Shadow frowned in confusion. “’Swift’ is a fine name for a hedgehog. Why did he go by ‘Red?’”

“Because ‘Swift’ was also his dad’s name, and his grandfather’s, and his great-grandfather’s,” she explained. “It’s kind of a tradition at this point. They go...went...by their fur colors to clear things up: Red, cousin Crimson, Grandpa Vermilion, uncle Copper...heh. I even had an uncle Blaze. Threw me off when our Blaze turned out purple.” Amy’s smile turned sheepish. “It’s a little silly, isn’t it? You’d think they’d just pick something else! It’s a weird tradition, but...” She fiddled with her fingers. “If I ever have a son, I...kind of feel like I might do that, too. Just...to feel a little closer to them. Is that weird?”

“Not at all. I think it’s very meaningful that you have a way of connecting with your family.” He averted his gaze. “I wish I could have something like that. It sounds nice.”

Amy gazed at him for a moment, but then her sympathy made way for a grin. “So make one!”

“Huh?”

“When you start your own family someday! You’ve said you want kids, right?” He nodded slowly. “Then you’ll be able to start your own traditions. I’m sure you’ll do great!”

Shadow’s heart pounded. “...Thank you!” She nodded. He bit his lip. “That means a lot coming from you, because I’ve always thought...that you’d be...”

Silver appeared in a bright green flash, temporarily blinding Shadow. “Hi, guys!”

Damn it.

“Morning, Silver! You--” Amy gasped. “Oh, no!” She stepped forward and took his face in her hands. Shadow’s eye twitched. “Silver, you look exhausted! What happened?”

“Oh, I’m fine!” Silver brushed aside her concern. He grinned despite the bags under his eyes. “Tails showed me this game called Creature Crossing, and I’ve been playing it nonstop! You can grow plants, go fishing, dig for things, talk to these cute animal characters...”

You mean like in real life? Shadow thought, unimpressed.

Amy put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot rapidly. “I’m glad you’re having fun, but you need your sleep, Silver!” she scolded. “I know you get headaches when you’re tired. It could affect your powers. I don’t want you getting hurt!”

“Pfft, I can handle it. Today won’t be too tough!” She didn’t look convinced. He changed the subject. “I’ve been trying out those new quillstyles you showed me last weekend. Did I get it right?”

He gestured to his quills. The ones in the back looked the same as always, but he’d side-parted the ones in the front to frame his face.

I have to admit he does look better, Shadow thought. At least they’re actually doing something instead of just sticking up like usual.

“Hmm...” Amy scratched her chin. “Almost. Let me see...” Just as she had a few days ago, Amy ran her fingers through Silver’s quills to tweak them a bit.

“Amy, you don’t have to! I can do it!” Despite his words, Silver didn’t sound particularly upset and even leaned his head forward to give her more access. He was grinning fondly down at her.

“I won’t hear it! I know what this is like,” Amy reminded him, standing on her tiptoes as she worked. “I want to help you look your best!”

Shadow looked away pointedly. He scratched his chin, silently contemplating the possibility of purposely leaving his quills messy when Amy stopped by on Sunday in the hopes that he could enjoy her attentions, too. The concept warred fiercely with his compulsive need to keep his quills pristine at all times, and it worried him that the dumb idea held so much sway over him.

“Okay!” Amy’s peppy declaration snapped Shadow out of his silly thoughts. “Does everyone remember the mission?”

Shadow stayed quiet, secretly admiring Amy’s cute energy and trying not to look as smitten as he was. Silver raised his hand and stood on his tiptoes excitedly, looking just as excited as Amy. “I do!”

Amy giggled into her hand. Shadow tried to ignore how charmed she was by Silver’s antics. “You don’t have to raise your hand, Silver.”

Silver dropped his hand and rubbed his upper arm, but he didn’t stop smiling. “Sorry, I’m just excited. I’ve never seen a Seaside Sunshell turtle before, let alone a whole bunch of hatchlings.”

A hint of sadness crossed Amy’s face. “Not many people have. They’re critically endangered, after all.” She shook it off and brightened up. “But that’s why we’re here!”

Shadow nodded, and Silver pumped his fist in the air. “Yeah!”

“So what’s the plan, Amy?”

Her face turned serious. “We need to make sure as many of those hatchlings get to the water as possible. The conservationist I’ve been in contact with said the turtle nests are over there at the base of those cliffs,” she explained, pointing to a spot halfway down the beach. She pressed her fingers together. “Now...Sunshells are fragile and need to imprint on this sand specifically, so they have to make it to the ocean on their own. We can’t just pick them up and bring them to the water. And that is where you come in, Silver!” she said, turning to him. “You can use your psychokinesis to clear obstacles and help protect them on their way to the ocean!”

“Hmm.” Shadow glanced in the direction of the nests and eyed the soaring seagulls warily. “That’s a good idea. Baby turtles are prey for just about everything.” He turned back to Amy. “So what about the two of us?”

“You see the cracks on those cliffs?”

Shadow narrowed his eyes and spotted the crevices she was pointing to near the top. He nodded.

“For some reason, these cliffs have been weakening and crumbling in recent years, and no one’s sure why. It’s degrading the turtles’ habitats, and the rocks fall and crush them sometimes, too. It’s one of the biggest threats to their survival.” She clasped her hands in front of her sadly.

“What can I do to help?”

Shadow’s bluntness set her back on track. “There’s not much we can do about the crumbling, but I figure you can use your Chaos Spears to break up and deflect any falling rocks. You can also help scare off any predators. Just aim carefully, okay?”

“Hmph.” He waved off her concerns. “That won’t be an issue. I was built for precision.”

Amy giggled. “’Built for precision?’ You’re spending too much time with Omega!” Silver’s laughter joined hers. Shadow just shrugged, seeing no reason to feel insulted.

“So what’ll you be doing, Amy?” Silver asked after a moment.

“I’ll be keeping a lookout from the peak. Someone needs to redirect people away from the site.” She narrowed her eyes and scratched her chin. “And I’m hoping I can figure out what’s going on with the cliffs, too.”

Shadow’s heart sank as he examined the height of the cliffs and realized he wouldn’t be able to talk to her. She caught his look and pouted. “Is that alright?”

“Of course it is!” Silver answered for him. He threw an arm around Shadow’s shoulders. “Shadow and I can handle this!”

Shadow looked down at the arm around his shoulders and fixed Silver with an unimpressed look, the kind of blunt stare that would scare off most people. Silver kept beaming brightly at him, seemingly oblivious to his disapproval. Shadow sighed. “We’ll be fine.”

Amy’s bright smile tempered his disappointment. “That’s the spirit! We can do this!” She marched down the beach, and the other two followed her.

She scanned the ground as she went, clearly looking for something. “My contact couldn’t be here this morning, but she said she marked the locations of the nests so we could...aha!” She jogged over to a small shrub with a length of blue twine tied around its base. She knelt down beside it, holding up her arm in warning. “She said you can tell the hatching’s about to start when the sand collapses down like this,” she explained, gesturing to a sunken patch of sand about two feet in diameter. “And the other nest should be riiiight...there!” she added, pointing to another shrub a little ways down. She wrinkled her nose sadly. “I wish we could’ve found that last one...the conservationist said there were supposed to be three nests, but she could only find two.”

“What happened to the last one?” Silver asked, drooping noticeably in disappointment.

Amy crossed her arms. “I don’t know, but I’m not going to stop looking. And in the meantime, we can still help out the rest of them!” Silver perked up and nodded along.

Past them, Shadow heard a soft noise. He angled his ear toward the nest to listen more carefully. It was low and muffled by the sand, but he could hear it. His eyes widened. “Huh. So it is true.”

“What is?”

“Turtles vocalize to communicate with each other even when they’re still in their eggs,” Shadow explained. “They coordinate their hatching times so they can all come out at the same time. There’s safety in numbers.”

Amy and Silver both made intrigued noises. They bent down low to the ground to try and listen as well. Shadow shook his head. “You won’t be able to--”

“I can hear it!” Silver chimed in immediately, sounding excited.

Shadow remained skeptical. “You must be hearing something else. It’s way too quiet for normal Mobians to pick up on it.”

“What does it sound like?” Amy asked.

“It’s like a low chirping sound. It’s kind of cool!”

Shadow stopped and uncrossed his arms, baffled. “I have enhanced hearing. How can you hear it?”

Silver stood back up. “Just runs in my family. All our senses are off-the-charts for some reason.” Upon seeing Shadow was still staring at him in surprise, he shrugged and half-smiled. “It’s kind of overwhelming sometimes, isn’t it?”

Shadow hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah. It really is.”

Amy glanced between the two of them and grinned. “Well, so long as you two are bonding, I should get going to do my part.”

A part of Shadow ached at the impending loss of her company. He only felt sadder as something occurred to him. “If you leave now, you won’t get to see any of the baby turtles.”

“Oh...yeah, that’s right,” she realized, deflating. After a moment, though, she recovered. “It’s okay! This is more important than my desire to see baby turtles! Even if it would be adorable...” she lamented, pouting.

“If you want, I’ll switch places with you,” Shadow offered. “I’ve seen you break rocks with that hammer of yours.”

Amy’s eyes shone in gratitude and indecision. It warmed his heart. If she says yes, she’ll be spending time alone with another guy who’s clearly head over heels for her...but if it’ll make her this happy, it’s definitely worth it.

But she shook her head furiously instead. “No, no. It’s alright! Your Chaos Spears are much more precise than my hammer, and precision is essential here! I’ve got my role, and you two have yours.” She nodded definitively. Shadow’s heart softened further at her dedication.

“So selfless!” Silver gushed, echoing Shadow’s own thoughts.

Amy snorted good-naturedly and lightly punched his arm. “Don’t patronize me!”

“I wasn’t!”

She tried to wave it off, but Shadow was having none of it. “I agree with Silver. It’s generous of you to stick to the original plan.”

Despite her best efforts, a genuine smile spread across Amy’s face. She pulled the two of them into a quick, tight hug. “Thanks, guys.” She pulled away.

Shadow thought for a moment. “You could always stay for the first few and then get going,” he suggested.

Amy shook her head. “No can do. All it takes is one unsupervised dog off-leash for things to get out of control.”

“Very well.” Shadow looked back down at the sunken sand, then added, “I’ll take pictures for you.”

“Thanks, Shadow.” Her smile returned, and she clenched her fists eagerly. “Alright. It’s time. Good luck, you two!”

“Right!” Silver agreed, matching her enthusiasm. Shadow just nodded. Amy turned and started to leave, and Shadow watched her go. When she was about twenty feet away, though, she froze, as if remembering something. “Shadow! C’mere!” she called out.

Shadow glanced at Silver and exchanged a curious shrug with him. He jogged over to Amy.

When he got there, she took out a radio. “I almost forgot! I brought these so we can keep in touch.” She pressed it into his hand, but she didn’t let go afterward. After casting a furtive glance over Shadow’s shoulder, she took his upper arm to pull him closer. He ignored his heightened heartbeat as she spoke. “This is kind of silly, but...” she started, murmuring so they wouldn’t be overheard. “I know Silver’s older than me and he can look after himself, but I always kind of worry about him. It’s stupid, but I can’t help it for some reason. Do you think you could, um...” she trailed off.

“That’s not stupid.” He looked over his shoulder to see Silver was gazing dreamily around the admittedly scenic beach, not paying attention to his surroundings at all. Shadow scoffed. “Don’t know what it is, but I feel the same way sometimes.” She was looking up at him hopefully, so he added, “I’ll make sure he doesn’t try to make friends with a crab or anything.”

Amy sighed in obvious relief. “Thank you, Shadow. I know I don’t have to worry about you!” Pride swelled in his chest, and his stomach flipped when she grinned warmly and squeezed his hand in both of hers before dashing off. He gazed fondly after her for a moment, then turned back to Silver, who was grinning expectantly down at the nest, the very picture of innocent enthusiasm.

Maybe I’ve been too harsh on this kid lately. It’s not a crime to have great taste in women.

Silver gazed after Amy as well, then smiled up at him. “She’s the best, isn’t she?”

Shadow held back his feelings of jealousy and examined Silver’s expression more closely. “You really like her, don’t you?”

Silver’s smile turned sheepish. “Is it that obvious?”

Dammit. Dammit. Why did I have to say that? I don’t want to have this conversation! Shadow nodded in response, doing his best to hide his inner turmoil.

Silver scratched the back of his neck self-consciously. “This is a little weird, so don’t tell her, but...”

How should I react? Am I supposed to tell him I like her, too? What should I--

“She reminds me of my mom.”

Shadow’s thoughts ground to a halt. “What?”

Silver chuckled shyly. “It’s a little embarrassing.”

Shadow barely heard him as the pieces fell into place. She does act kind of motherly towards him, and he never seems to mind. Have I been stressed over nothing all this time?

Silver looked uncomfortable. “Is that weird?”

Realizing he’d been staring intensely at nothing, Shadow snapped out of it. “No, that makes sense. What is your mom like?”

Silver stooped down in front of the nest and gazed absently at it. His face was impossibly fond. “She was...amazing. I’ve never met anyone quite like her.”

Shadow winced in empathy. ‘Was?’ So he’s already lost his mom?

Silver’s affectionate smile didn’t fade as he spoke patiently of his lost loved one. “She was as compassionate as anyone I’ve ever known, but it was a fierce kindness. She wouldn’t just sympathize, she would fight for you. For anyone who was hurting.” He laughed softly. “Dad always said she was too forgiving, but she never let up. She always said that everyone--everyone--deserves a second chance.”

Shadow thought of his own history with Amy, and his heart softened with affection. That sounds exactly like her.

Silver picked up a stick and started drawing aimless patterns in the sand. His brow wrinkled in slight pain. “I was so young when I lost her. I wish I’d gotten to know her better.” His lips quirked into a half-smile. “I know I’ll never really have her back, but when I spend time with Amy, it makes me feel closer to her again.” He chuckled. “She even has the same soft green eyes Mom had.”

Shadow’s heart clenched. He squatted down opposite of Silver. “She sounds wonderful. I won’t tell Amy, but for the record, I think she’d feel honored to be compared to someone like that.”

Silver beamed up at him. “You might be right. My dad always told me I was a lot like her. It was the best compliment I could ever think of.”

His dad ‘told’ him? Past tense again? Don’t tell me this poor kid’s already lost both of his parents. Shadow was afraid to ask, so he just responded with a solemn nod and waited to see if Silver would add anything. He did.

“When I was really little, she used to sing this song to me when I couldn’t fall asleep. I wish I still remembered it. It was kind of sad but hopeful, if that makes sense...?” Shadow nodded, and Silver frowned in thought. “It was something about the stars and constellations, and how I’d always be okay...”

Shadow’s eyes lit up. Could it be...? He started to sing softly, experimentally.

“As the stars start to align I hope you take it as a sign That you’ll be okay Everything will be okay

And if the seven rings collapse Although the day could be my last You will be okay--”

Shadow stopped. “Silver? Are you alright?”

Silver had been staring at him with wide eyes. At Shadow’s words, he snapped out of it. He wiped a tear off his cheek and looked down at it in surprise. “Oh! Ah, sorry! I just haven’t heard that in a while, is all.” He laughed nervously and averted his gaze, hurriedly wiping off his face. Clearly embarrassed, he kept the topic moving. “How do you know that one? I’ve never heard anyone else sing it.”

“Professor Gerald taught it to Maria, and she sang it for me on the ARK whenever I was upset. It always calmed me down.” Silver was smiling again, but it still looked a bit strained. It tugged at Shadow’s heartstrings. He hesitated before adding, “...I don’t get to sing it very often. If you’d like, I can sing it for you some other time.” Maybe sometime when we both feel comfortable crying.

Silver’s grin turned sincere. “I’d really like that.” Shadow nodded.

Just then, the little squeaks under the sand grew louder, drawing Shadow and Silver’s attention. They spotted a bit of movement on the ground between them. The sand sank and shifted just slightly at first, then made way for a tiny, wrinkled head. The baby turtle lazily blinked its eyes open.

Silver gasped. His eyes went wide. His gaze snapped briefly up. “Shadow, it’s happening!” He looked right back down as the turtle started pushing its way up, sluggishly trying to shake off the sand as it went. “This is incredible!”

Shadow kept quiet, though he couldn’t help but agree. Remembering his promise to Amy, he took a few pictures as more tiny turtle heads pushed their way up. Flippers emerged to drag the turtles up through the sand, and the turtles started working together to fight gravity. Soon enough, ten or fifteen turtles had escaped the nest and were dragging themselves determinedly toward the water as one, aside from one or two confused, misdirected stragglers. Shadow peeked over his shoulder and found a few turtles were escaping from the other nest, too. Silver was completely captivated by the sight, but Shadow focused on the challenges ahead.

“We should clear some of the rocks and vegetation if we can. It’ll give the turtles a clear shot.”

At his words, Silver snapped back to the task at hand. “Right!” They worked together to shift boulders out of the way--Silver with his psychokinesis, Shadow with his strength. Shadow looked back at the cliffs behind him when a low hum emitted from them. He frowned as he felt a slight vibration.

“Do you hear that?” Silver asked. Shadow didn’t answer. He was too preoccupied with the crack that grew along the top of the cliff. Soon enough, a large hunk of rock fell. Shadow gritted his teeth.

“Chaos Spear!”

Shadow flicked his wrist as he hurled the projectile, making it curve to smash through the rock and hook away from the fragile cliffs at the last second. He threw a few smaller spears in the same way to break up the larger chunks until only harmless dust fell to the beach.

“Wow, nice job!”

“Stay focused,” Shadow shot back, brushing off the compliment and pointing to some seagulls that were swooping in. Silver turned around and quickly projected a barrier to deflect them, keeping it malleable to push the gulls away without hurting them with the impact. Shadow relaxed and activated his radio.

“Amy? You there?”

“Yup! Any turtles yet?”

Shadow sighed in relief. “Yeah. They’re safe so far, but the cliffs are crumbling, just like you said. Avoid the edges if you can.”

“Aww, thanks! I’ll be careful,” she replied, sounding endeared.

Shadow opened his mouth to say something along the lines of ‘I wouldn’t be able to stand it if something happened to you’ or ‘I’ll always be there to catch you if you fall,’ but he lost his nerve and instead opted for a simple, “Good. Shadow out.”

With the excitement out of the way, Silver squatted back down to admire the baby turtles as they scuttled toward the sea. He held up a hand to maintain the forcefield above his head, while he leaned his free elbow against his knee and rested his chin in his palm. He smiled dreamily at the cute, determined little creatures, each adorned with the vaguely sun-shaped pattern on their backs that gave Sunshells their name.

Shadow rolled the remaining boulders into place to block the turtles from going the wrong direction. He snapped a few more photos before addressing Silver. “You’re really fond of them, aren’t you?” Silver nodded absently. Shadow’s expression grew concerned as he kept working. “I can tell why you want to help them so much. They’re still rare in your time, aren’t they?”

Silver’s smile barely changed. “They’re extinct.”

Shadow’s head whipped over to him. After a few seconds of silence, Silver looked up at him and panicked. “Oh--oh, crap! Sorry! Uh...pretend I didn’t say that!” He hid his face in his hands and groaned. “Man, Blaze is right. I really am going to break something, aren’t I?”

Shadow shook off his surprise. “That’s...uh...” He paused, then asked, “What do you mean, ‘break something?’”

Silver looked back up. He was cringing. “Yeah, as in, breaking the timeline. She’s always stepping in to keep me from telling people things they’re not supposed to know. It’s really hard to let everyone make the mistakes they need to make, you know?” He let out a laugh that was half affectionate and half embarrassed. “I sometimes say that I’m useless without her. It’s not entirely a joke.”

Shadow wasn’t so sure about that, but he shifted the topic out of curiosity. “If they’re extinct in your time, why are you bothering with this now? You know it’s pointless.”

At that, Silver stood back up and squared his shoulders. “’Pointless.’ People always say that, and I’m tired of it. They say one little misstep can ruin the whole timeline, but they never believe that good deeds can do the opposite!” Shadow blinked in surprise at the switch in his demeanor. He stayed quiet while Silver continued. “If I can mess up the future with just a few words, then why can’t I fix things just as easily?” Silver noticed that one turtle had gotten flipped over onto its back and was flailing its flippers uselessly. He made a hill out of sand with his psychokinesis to flip it back over. “I’ll change the future with my own two hands!” He lifted more sand behind the turtle, making it slide down. The turtle flailed for a moment, but then it used its momentum to resume its scramble to the sea. Silver put his hands on his hips and nodded proudly.

Shadow just gaped like a fish for a moment, thrown off by the powerful, optimistic message--coming from the mouth of such a normally goofy hedgehog, no less.

He really is a good kid.

Oblivious to Shadow’s feelings, Silver scratched his chin, then grinned. He started pulling the waves farther up the beach to meet more of the turtles halfway, helping them into the ocean. Shadow took a step forward and watched him work.

“You’re well-suited to this. You could probably handle the whole job by yourself.”

Silver beamed, flattered, but his smile turned sheepish. “Thanks, but...no. I’d get way too distracted. I can never get over how beautiful nature is from your time period.” A soft noise on the sand nearby drew both of their attention, and they turned to see a hermit crab scuttle over toward the turtles. Silver’s eyes lit up. “Oh, how cool!”

He held out a finger and tried to get closer, but Shadow stepped in front of him. “Hmph.” He carefully threw a small Chaos Spear near the crab, aiming it just in front of the animal to startle it without actually hitting it. The scared crustacean scurried away.

Silver looked heartbroken. “Why’d you scare it off?”

“Crabs are one of the worst predators of baby sea turtles,” Shadow replied, crossing his arms.

“Oh.”

Shadow examined Silver’s slumped shoulders and disappointed expression. He shook his head. I was kidding about you befriending a crab. I really can’t leave you alone with this job, can I?

Silver scratched the back of his head. “I don’t like working alone anyway,” he admitted, mirroring Shadow’s thoughts. “I get too lonely. I’ve spent way too much time fighting by myself.”

The way Silver held himself after he said that called out to Shadow, prompting him to respond in a way that surprised even him.

“I can understand that.” Silver looked up in confusion. Shadow looked away and smoothed down a lump of sand that a few turtles had gotten stuck on. “Nature on the ARK was practically nonexistent. When I first came to Earth, I was floored by every plant and animal I came across, and I hunted down every scrap of information I could find about them.”

Silver’s eyes widened. “You, too?!”

Shadow nodded. “My past and your future aren’t so different.” He paused. Before he could stop himself, he added, “I tend to a garden at home. It’s pretty expansive. Amy’s visiting me on Sunday to take a look at it. You can join us if you want.”

Silver smiled wider than he had all day. “You mean it?!�� Shadow nodded. “I’d love to!” He sprang to his feet and jogged in place in excitement.

Inwardly, Shadow nearly facepalmed. Hums and vibrations emitted from the cliffs behind them, alerting Shadow to more falling rocks, and he welcomed the distraction of shattering them once more.

I can’t believe I just did that. I gave up a chance to spend time alone with Amy--and in a romantic setting, no less! He looked back to where Silver was pumping his fist, still giddy over the simple invitation.

Why am I being so nice to this kid? Do I just feel bad for him? He watched as Silver hurriedly re-conjured the forcefield he’d accidentally dropped in his delight, blocking a rogue seagull in the process. I guess it’s kind of hard not to. He acts like a lost puppy, and he probably hasn’t ever seen half the flowers I look after. Shadow sighed in sympathy. I think I’m starting to understand why he likes “Creature Crossing” so much.

“Thanks again, Shadow!” Silver enthused, having run over to stand close to him while he was distracted. Shadow took an automatic step backward at the proximity. “Hmph.” He roughly ruffled Silver’s quills to distract him in response.

“Hey, Amy just fixed those!” Silver laughed as he tried to preen them back in place himself.

Shadow heard a giggle over the radio before Amy chimed in. “Did you know you two groom your quills exactly the same way?”

Shadow blinked in confusion, then realized he’d been subconsciously mimicking Silver’s motions. He took his hands away, then smirked as he replied. “Can’t take your eyes off me, can you?”

Amy laughed again. “I can’t help it! There’s nothing to do up here. No one’s come by at all,” she whined.

Shadow grinned at the opportunity. “Come down here.”

“Hmmm, I dunno...”

While she hemmed and hawed, Silver jogged over to Shadow, taking the radio from him to reply, “I can help! I’ve been working on a new skill lately. I can sense the presence of other life forms. I can pick up on anyone passing by for you!”

Amy squealed in excitement. “Oo, that’s so cool!”

Shadow glared and snatched the radio back. “Yeah. How useful.” Would’ve been nice to know that twenty minutes ago. We could’ve been spending time with Amy this whole time!

“That settles it, then. Incoming!”

Shadow was confused until Silver pointed up at the cliff. Amy leapt off of it. Before Shadow could panic, she whipped out her hammer and spun, using it to glide down slowly. She landed gracefully in the sand at the base of the cliff. Shadow relaxed, at least until he felt the hum and bizarre vibrations once more. The rocks above Amy started to crumble, then fell.

“Amy!” Shadow and Silver cried out in alarm.

Shadow instantly hurled a Chaos Spear, neatly splitting the biggest boulder in half. “Silver!”

“On it!” Silver constructed a hasty, wedge-shaped barrier over Amy’s head. It redirected the rocks to land on either side of her with blunt thuds in the sand.

Amy looked on with wide eyes. She then vanished the hammer she’d planned on using to defend herself and dashed toward them. “Wow! Thank you! You two make a great team.” Silver beamed proudly. Shadow responded with a simple nod. Amy pouted. “I wish we knew the source of the crumbling, but we’ve got nothing to go on.”

Shadow rubbed his chin. “What about those weird hums and vibrations that always happen beforehand?”

Amy cocked her head. “What vibrations?”

“I can feel them, too,” Silver chimed in. “It happens every time.”

The three of them thought for a moment, but then Shadow frowned. Wait a minute... He looked up. “G.U.N. sent us on an underground mission not too long ago--literally underground--to investigate minor recurring earthquakes that were damaging Sunset Heights. We found out Eggman was using this new, updated, more mole-shaped version of his old Burrobots to drill around down there, undermining foundations and generally wreaking havoc.” He growled as he remembered the pests. “Every time we got a lock on one, it just burrowed back into the ground, and more would pop up. It was hell trying to eradicate them without weakening the ground further.”

At this, a fire lit behind Amy’s eyes. “I’ll take care of this!”

“Are you sure you don’t want help?”

She shook her head furiously and conjured her hammer, posing proudly. “No need, Shadow. I've got the perfect weapon!”

Shadow hid his disappointment. “Can’t argue with that,” he admitted fondly. Amy nodded and ran back toward the cliffs. Shadow raced after her and kept a wary eye above her.

Amy ran her hands along the wall. “If they’re drilling around in here, there’s gotta be a way in...” She slid along the wall, lightly tapping her knuckles against the rock as she went. Her ears perked up when the rock emitted a more hollow sound. She excitedly wound up her hammer, then stopped when Silver put a hand on her shoulder.

“Ah...that might be overkill,” he pointed out. “Let me...”

Amy stepped back. He lifted his hands and levitated the boulders that had just fallen and set them aside, revealing a small crack that had appeared in the wall, leaving a tiny crevice behind. “Alright!” Amy exclaimed.

Shadow was more apprehensive than she was. “Are you sure you feel safe doing this alone?” Silver nodded in agreement.

Amy crossed her arms, clearly unimpressed. “Shadow, if there’s anyone who’s equipped for this, it’s me. You guys have been doing all the work so far, so it’s time I do my part! Besides, there’s no way you two can fit through that hole, and we can’t risk widening it with another hit.”

Shadow examined the crevice. As much as he wanted to argue, he couldn’t; with her petite frame and lack of back spines, Amy was clearly the only one small enough to fit. He sighed reluctantly. “Alright. Radio us if there’s anything we can do.”

“Don’t worry, you two. Have no fear, Amy Rose is here!” All three of them couldn’t help but laugh at her cheesy old catchphrase, even Shadow. She turned toward the wall and stooped down as if to crawl into the hole, then paused and peeked over her shoulder at them awkwardly. Shadow looked down at her dress and caught her meaning. His ears reddened. He took Silver’s arm and hastily turned him back around. “Let’s get back to work,” he insisted. The oblivious look remained on Silver’s face, but he shrugged and let Shadow lead him back to the turtles.

Their gazes immediately landed on a raccoon that had hopped over the rock barrier into the path of the turtles. It had picked up one of the hatchlings in its tiny paws. Before Shadow could react, Silver cried out, “No!” He swung his arm forward to shower the raccoon with a array of green sparks, leaving it dazed and disoriented. It dropped the hatchling and looked around in confusion. Silver took hold of the clump of sand under the raccoon with his psychokinesis and rapidly swept it away, sending it down toward the far end of the beach. Silver slumped and sighed in relief.

Shadow looked between Silver and the distant raccoon, impressed. “That was pretty fast.” For you, at least, he thought wryly. He kept that part to himself.

Silver crossed his arms and nodded proudly. “Swift’s my name and my game!”

Shadow stared at him blankly. “Your name is Silver.”

Silver cocked his head, then laughed. “Oh, right! I guess you wouldn’t know, huh? Silver’s just a nickname. My real name is ‘Swift.’”

Shadow froze, then slowly looked back at Silver in trepidation. “What did you just say?”

“Yeah! It’s actually ‘Swift.’ Weird, huh?” he replied, oblivious to Shadow’s turbulent thoughts.

“Why do you go by ‘Silver’...?” Shadow spoke slowly.

“Because ‘Swift’ was my grandpa’s name, and my great-grandpa’s name, and a bunch of my uncles’, too,” he explained, counting off his relatives on his fingers as he spoke. “We just go by our fur colors to clear things up. It’s a little silly, isn’t it? You’d think they’d just use a different name, but it’s tradition at this point.”

Shadow stared off into space as the pieces fell into place. She’s just like his mom. They have the same quill-line. They both have psychic-based powers. They’re both naïve, optimistic, and passionate about justice...dear Chaos, they even have the same smile, now that I think of it! How the hell have I never noticed this before?!

“Uh...Shadow? You okay?”

Silver’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He opened his mouth, deliberated, and then said, “...Don’t ever tell Amy your real name.”

His nose wrinkled in confusion--exactly the way Amy’s always did, his brain pointed out. “Why not?”

Shadow gritted his teeth. “Because you’ll break something.”

Silver kept frowning, but then he lifted his shoulders. “I guess asking why would defeat the purpose, huh?” Shadow nodded. Silver sighed. “Will I at least know in the future?”

“I’ll tell you someday.”

“Are you sure you won’t forget?”

Shadow let out a sudden bark of laughter, startling them both. “Trust me, I will never forget this.”

Silver still seemed curious, but he chuckled and set it aside. “Honestly, I’m fine just being called Silver. ‘Swift’ doesn’t really fit me. It’s kind of embarrassing to be a slow hedgehog.” He rubbed his arm shyly.

“I don’t know about that. Amy’s a hedgehog, too, and you’re about the same speed as her.” Shadow flinched as he felt the similarities continue to pile up. Of course they’re the same speed...

“Yeah, but it’s not like my whole family is like that,” Silver pointed out. “My grandpa Blue was as fast as they come! He could’ve given you and Sonic a run for your money.” He winked cheekily.

Shadow barely noticed. He felt his heart shatter. “Did you say...‘Blue?’”

Silver nodded happily, not picking up on Shadow’s pain. “Yup! I have a few blue relatives. Grandpa Blue, Uncle Cobalt, my cousin Sky...you get the picture!”

Shadow clenched the fur on his chest tightly. Of course she’s going to marry Sonic. Everyone knew that would happen.

Shadow heard sounds of metal clashing from inside the cliffs. When he felt vibrations again, he welcomed the chance to smash more rocks, throwing much more aggression into his Chaos Spears than before.

Everyone knew that...except for me.

Evidently spooked by Shadow’s sudden anger, Silver laughed nervously and tried to diffuse the tension. “You know, my family was actually relieved when I turned out silver. They were starting to run out of synonyms for blue and black.”

Shadow froze again. His head snapped back up. “Wait...you have black relatives, too?!”

Silver tilted his head. “Uh, yeah! There was my Great-Grandpa Black...my Uncle Pitch...heh. I even had an Uncle Jet. I was thrown off when I met present-Jet for the first time and he was covered in green feathers--”

Shadow rushed forward to grab Silver’s upper arms, startling him with his intensity. “Were there others?”

Silver snorted, thrown off by Shadow’s uncharacteristic enthusiasm. “Actually, my mom was black, too. She just didn’t need a nickname.” He chuckled again. “My dad always got the impression that her family was relieved when she married him because he was a white mink so we weren’t adding more blue or black to the family, but they never actually said it out loud because you can’t just say ‘Thank Chaos you married a white guy,’ haha! You know?”

Blue...and black...what does that mean? Do our kids marry each other somewhere down the line? What if she doesn’t marry either of us?! It could be anyone who’s blue or black...but I’ve never heard of any other blue hedgehogs...but what if it’s not a hedgehog at all?! Is there any chance in hell that it’s me? How can I win against him?!

“Uh, Shadow...? This is starting to hurt...”

Silver’s strained voice brought him back to reality. He realized he’d been staring intensely at him and gripping his arms too tightly. He immediately let go of him and stepped away. “...Sorry.”

“Are you okay?”

Shadow held Silver’s nervous gaze with his own for a moment, then sighed and looked away. “I’m fine. I just spaced out.”

If I keep interrogating this kid about his genetics, I’LL probably break something.

Shadow was spared the burden of explaining himself fully when a triumphant cry erupted from the cliffs.

“HAHAAAAAA!!!!!!!”

A boulder was effortlessly hurled aside. Amy stepped out of a hole in the rocky wall and thrust her arm above her head in a dramatic pose. She was holding a metal object in her upraised hand. She whacked it away with her hammer and let out a satisfied cackle of victory.

The object landed at Shadow’s feet. He recognized it as the disembodied head of one of the mole robots. Silver recoiled at the morbid sight. “Eugh!”

Shadow’s heart thumped a little faster as he looked between the head and Amy’s proud stance and smile.

She’s incredible.

Amy strolled over to them. “I hope you guys know you just missed the best game of whack-a-mole in history. I was on fire!”

Silver shuddered, most likely relieved he hadn’t been there. Shadow didn’t feel the same way. “I wish I’d been there. No one fights Badniks like you do.”

Amy held her hammer behind her back bashfully. “Aww, thank you! I do wish I could’ve found that last nest, but at least we solved one mystery!”

“I wish I could’ve been more help in finding the Badniks, but I can only sense organic beings, not robots,” Silver lamented.

Amy paused. “Wait...” She placed a hand on Silver’s shoulder. “What beings are you sensing on this beach?”

Silver pressed his first two fingers to his temple and squinted one eye shut. His tongue poked out of the side of his mouth endearingly as he concentrated, just as Amy’s did whenever she was focusing on something. “Well, there are the baby turtles,” he started, nodding to the few determined stragglers. “I can feel you two, plus the seagulls, hermit crabs, and that one raccoon...and there’s one spot farther down the beach where there are a whole bunch of little ones! I’ve been wondering about that all morning.”

The other two exchanged a look. Shadow facepalmed. Amy partially covered her face and sighed. “Silver? Sweetie?”

“Hm?”

Amy dragged her hands down to address him. “Why don’t you bring us over there?” Her smile held all the patience only a mother could have.

Or a great-great-great-grandmother, Shadow thought wryly.

Silver glanced over his shoulder. The last few turtles seemed to have things under control. “Alright! Why not?”

Silver led the way down the beach, pressing his fingers to his temple for guidance. He stopped at the base of a cliff just in front of some large ferns. He knelt to the ground and squinted. “I can feel it! They’re right in front of me, but they’re...underground...?”

Shadow and Amy looked at each other, dumbfounded. Amy pulled the ferns aside, while Shadow carefully removed a few boulders that had fallen. Thankfully, they’d landed in such a way that they’d propped each other up instead of falling directly at the ground, sparing the dip in the sand and its residents from damage.

“Wait a minute...” Silver pressed his ear to the ground, and his eyes widened. “I can hear it again! The–” He gasped and looked up at the other two. “No way!”

Amy giggled, and Shadow fixed him with a blank stare. This kid...

Soon enough, another set of turtle heads started poking up from the ground. Amy squealed, happy that she’d get to see some turtles hatch after all. Her enthusiasm was contagious.

--

With the late start, it took until the afternoon to get the rest of the turtles to their destination. The later time brought more predators, but with the cliffs standing strong and all three of them working together, they didn’t have much trouble. The conservationist showed up just as they were finishing escorting the last of the turtles to the sea.

“Oh, you three have done wonderfully! I knew I could count on you, Amy!”

Amy hopped forward and shook the human’s hand. “All in a day’s work, Myrtle!”

Silver poked his head around Amy to lock eyes with Myrtle. “How do you know it went well? Was Amy keeping you updated or something?”

Myrtle looked confused. “Oh, no! I was keeping up with the livestream on my way back here. The way you used your powers to save the cliffs and escort the turtles safely was a sight to behold!”

Shadow and Silver gaped and exchanged a nervous look. “’Livestream?!’” they chorused.

Amy giggled. “Sorry, guys! I never told you because I was afraid you’d get camera shy if you knew.”

Silver cringed. “You’re probably right. I don’t operate well under that kind of pressure.” Shadow had to agree. His eyes flicked around the beach, wondering where the cameras were hidden.

“We’ve been trying to raise as much awareness as possible about the Sunshells lately, and this year, I think we’ve finally done it!” Myrtle took out her phone and opened an app showing the tail end of a livestream. The last few turtles were dragging themselves to the sea. There was no sound from their location, only ambient music, and Shadow breathed a sigh of relief that their conversations hadn’t been broadcast.

Myrtle scrolled down to show them some of the comments.

“OMG, this is so. Cool!” “Aww, they’re so cute!” “Those hedgehogs make such a good team!” “The pink one’s cute--oh, God, did she decapitate that robot?!” “Awesome!” “Adorable!” “Amazing!” “I can’t believe Sunshells are endangered. They’re incredible.”

Myrtle beamed and closed the app. “Between the cuteness of the turtles and your dedication, you’ve inspired people to support us more than ever. Donations and volunteers have been pouring in! We’ll finally have the support and funding to give the turtles the resources they need!”

“You can thank Silver for that,” Amy said, taking one of his hands in her own. “He’s the one who found the third nest!”

“And he protected the turtles better than anyone else could have,” Shadow added, placing a hand on Silver’s shoulder. “No one else could have done this the way he did.”

“Aww, you guys are making me blush!”

Myrtle bent down to shake Silver’s free hand. “If that’s true, Silver, then thank you. I can tell today is the turning point for the Sunshells. We’ve got all we need to bring them back from the brink now!”

Silver, Amy, and Myrtle all smiled brilliantly. Even Shadow wore a small grin.

I guess you were right, Silver. One kid really can make all the difference.

--

Silver waved goodbye and teleported away with Chaos Control. Shadow took Amy’s hand to do the same, warping them both to her front doorstep.

Amy squeezed his hand instead of letting go. “Thanks for all your help today, Shadow! And it was really sweet of you to invite Silver to join us on Sunday. I can’t wait!”

“It was my pleasure. I’m looking forward to it as well. I...”

When he trailed off and didn’t let go of her hand, Amy frowned in confusion.

Shadow deliberated for quite some time. Silver’s sentiments from earlier echoed in his mind, enriched by the possibilities he now knew existed. He took a deep breath.

Time to shape my own future.

“Amy...I’ve...developed some feelings for you. Romantic ones.” He knew she could feel his hands shaking in hers, but he persevered, keeping his eyes shut solemnly. “I’d like to take you out sometime on a date, if you’d be interested.”

He slowly opened his eyes again. Her soft green eyes shone up at him in genuine surprise. It was several seconds--the longest several seconds of Shadow’s life, he’d later decide--before a casual smile spread across her face.

“You know what? Yeah! Why not?”

A wide grin spread unbidden across Shadow’s face. He pushed down the light, elated feeling in his heart long enough to say, “Yeah! Great! Um...can we figure out the details later?”

Truth be told, the confession was spur-of-the-moment and he hadn’t expected her to say yes, so he had nothing prepared. Luckily, she didn’t mind. She nodded, and he contained his excitement long enough to make sure she got into her house. He teleported back home and celebrated properly, mirroring Silver’s own jubilation from earlier in the day.

--

For those who need more proof:

Semi-edgy bois *almost* swearing to keep it E-rated. Like father, like son...kind of.

The song Shadow sings is “You Will Be Okay” from Helluva Boss. @w0lp3rtinger introduced it to me ages ago, and it still makes me cry.

[bettabythesea]

Some Thoughts About A Possible Connection Between Sonic, Shadow, and the Robotnik Family 

First, let me start by saying I don't think this little theory is by any means the intention of Sonic Team, but it's something I noticed and I wanted to share it! 

So, something that's always interested me is the in-universe explanation as to why Shadow and Sonic are so similar in their abilities. Because unlike IRL… Shadow came first, created as the Ultimate Life form 50 or so years before the plot of SA2. 

Created. Like he was specifically engineered to have the abilities he does, after a ton of trial and error. (See: Biolizard)

Sonic, as far as I know, is a natural occurrence. He just happens to be a really fast hedgehog that is capable of using the power of the chaos emeralds to do things like...perform chaos control and access a super form. Which I would think was just a hedgehog thing, given Silver's abilities, but neither he nor Amy have that innate superspeed that Sonic and Shadow do. 

Given this, one can assume that Sonic and Shadow just happen to look a lot alike and have many of the same abilities. But it being just a coincidence seems...really convenient, right?

Putting a pin in that for a moment… another thing that stuck out to me is a certain line of dialogue.

"Sayonara… Shadow the Hedgehog"

It's said twice...once by Maria as she lay dying, and then again by Sonic at the end of the final story, as he leaves the space colony ark. And while it's pretty bittersweet… it's also kind of strange that Sonic says it.

Like… that is a very specific phrase… and in Japanese the line is "Adios...Shadow the Hedgehog" so it follows the pattern or "[Farewell in another language], Shadow the Hedgehog".

This sticks out because, and my memory is a bit fuzzy… but i don't think Sonic ever even got a chance to know Maria said that...and it's sort of atypical to his usual manner of speaking, which makes it all the more curious.

Putting a pin in that as well… to talk about Maria for a moment. The poor kid wanted nothing more but to go to Earth and see it for herself...but she had an illness that prevented her from doing so. NIDS, or 

Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome, likely meant that if she ever were to fall sick, it would be fatal. So she was confined to the Ark where research was being done in way of a cure and where her environment could be controlled to keep her safe in the meantime. 

What this boils down to is: without a cure, fulfilling her dream to go to Earth would likely kill her. 

So imagine what Shadow meant to her. Shadow, who was not only her friend and companion, but was created as part of the efforts to find a cure for NIDS. It's likely part of why she was so adamant that he was a hero… he was hope for the future manifested. 

But with the project canceled...this meant Maria hadn't been cured by the time of the G.U.N raid. So when she and Shadow were running to the escape pods...even before she was mortally wounded at the scene, I don't think she was planning on leaving. I think her goal at that point was to save Shadow, even if it meant being alone again. (Adding to this point, in the SA2 cutscene he is already by himself in the pod when it's all playing out, and it gave me the impression that Maria pushed him in there and shut the door.) 

So with all of that out of the way… here's what I think about how these points come together.

•Maria, despite how unfair her circumstances were, had a hero's heart and was ultimately able to save a life before hers was cruelly taken.

•However that isn't the end of her story, because her bravery was rewarded and her wish to freely explore the earth was granted.

•But for that to happen, she had to be reincarnated, so although her love of the earth and drive to help others remains much intact...the memories of that life are gone.

•...And yet, some of that story remains in this new form, as there is now an uncanny resemblance to Maria's hero, Shadow the Hedgehog.

•After all… the strength to fight and protect, the endurance and speed to run for miles...across the world, even!

•Maria was reincarnated into Sonic the Hedgehog himself.

[classicdaisycalico]

Fictober Prompt #1: "I Need You."

Fanfic type: Fanfiction Fandom: Sonic the Hedgehog Pairing(s): Sonamy, some Silvaze mentions Triggers/Warnings: Implied nudity references, brief choking mention, slight murder threat (Don't worry, it's pretty SFW but I'm not taking any chances w/ warnings here)

***

She just grabbed a necklace to wear with her dress, when she suddenly heard a knock on the door, followed by an uncertain, “Hey, Ames?”

Amy froze. The voice was a bit muffled from the other side, but the pink hedgehog recognized it instantly. What was Sonic doing here? Shouldn’t he have been with the other boys in the other room down the hall getting ready with Silver? And didn’t they know the girls would have been even busier still with Blaze?

Getting those two ready for their wedding, with 15 minutes to go, was serious business, and as Blaze’s maid of honor, Amy needed to make sure everything went off without a hitch. This was a ROYAL wedding, after all; every little last detail had to be perfect.

“I need you…”

That voice again. That nervous tone of voice was rather uncharacteristic of her blue hero. He hadn’t said he NEEDED her before. Not like that. What was going on that shook him up like this?

“Can you help me out, please?”

Her curiosity clearly getting the better of her, she was left with no choice but to open the door and meet him there. “Hey…”

“Hey, Amy, I--whoa.”

What she noticed first was Sonic himself, a total mess in his unbuttoned, untucked white shirt and black jacket, complete with a matching set of pants. Even his signature red shoes were nowhere to be found, replaced by a pair of black ones. Clearly, he was not used to wearing these sorts of clothes at all, and despite how uncomfortable he seemed, she still found him undeniably handsome, as always.

Still, she had to stifle back a laugh at his wide eyes and slacked jaw upon watching her walk through the door. Clearly, he liked what he saw, and who could blame him? Amy and the rest of the bridesmaids agreed that the lavender dresses with the lace-up backs that Blaze picked out for them were gorgeous. “Uh...Sonic?”

It took waving her hand in front of his face for him to finally realize what he was doing. Laughing nervously as he calmed down, he held up one of his hands in front of her, which contained a silver necktie. “Sorry,” he answered, a slight tinge of pink spreading across his face as he looked away sheepishly. “Silver wanted us to wear these, and I have no idea how to put this thing on…”

She looked at the necktie, and back at the blue hedgehog before her. So THAT’s why his suit is so messy. “Have you asked anyone else?”

“I would’ve asked Tails, but he didn’t know, either.”

“Okay...um...” She shrugged. “What about Silver? He could help you with his psychokinesis, right?”

“He’s busy helping Gardon get ready.”

“Knuckles?”

“He’d have even less of a clue than I do. And Shadow? Forget it.”

She raised an eyebrow, smirking. “You mean to tell me the Ultimate Life Form doesn’t know how to tie a tie?”

“Oh, he knows. I just don’t trust him to tie mine. He’d probably try to choke me or something.”

“Well, we can’t have that, can we?” she chuckled, as she held out one of her hands. “Okay, I’ll help you.”

The blue hedgehog handed her the tie. As she straightened it out, she noticed the wrinkles in it, coming from the way he was gripping it before. “How many times have you tried to do this?”

His eyes narrowed. “You don’t want to know. The point is, it was annoying. See why I never wanted to do these kinds of things back when we were kids?”

“Yet here you are, a groomsman for Silver and Blaze’s wedding.”

“Listen, it was the right thing to do to say yes when he asked me,” he answered. “Didn’t think he’d make us wear neckties, though. Why not bowties? At least bowties are sorta cool…”

“Hey.”

She put a finger to his lips. “Don’t overthink it. It’s just ‘over, under, pull’. Let me show you.”

All that was left for Sonic to do was watch Amy start wrapping the tie around his neck and let her fingers fiddle around with it. “Over…”

As he watched her fold one end over the other, he had to wonder: where did she learn to do this? Did Vanilla teach her how? Or had she taught herself? “Under…”

She’d sure grown a lot since that day they met at Never Lake all those years ago. She was only 8 years old then, and he was...what, 11? Back in those days, she would chase him around non-stop and hug him so tightly he felt like he would explode. Now, they were 20 and 23, respectively, and HE was the one running to HER so she could (gently) fix his tie.

Standing so close, there were a few things about her that Sonic noticed. Her fingers still remained as small and slender compared to his throughout the years, that ear-to-ear smile on her face still just as charming, those jade eyes still so bright and full of wonder. He wouldn’t have minded her staying here for the next hour, watching her do something so simple, so intimate as helping him put on something fancy to wear, like a silver necktie. Or, perhaps, her off-the-shoulder lavender dress with the lace-up back that perfectly accentuated every curve that Sonic didn’t even know she had until today. Still, it looked like the back wasn’t laced up the right way, and from the front, the dress seemed a bit too plain. Perhaps a necklace could spruce it up a bit...

“I hope I didn’t pull it too tight.”

He looked down only to find that her hands were gone, but a perfectly tied necktie lay in their place. “It’s perfect! But...” He looked back up at Amy. “I think there’s something else that needs to be done…”

“Like what?”

He blushed once more as he asked, “Can you turn around? Oh, and...you might want to hold still for a minute.”

Slowly, she did as she was told. “...Okay?”

The pink hedgehog stood there for a few seconds, turned toward the closed door, waiting for something to happen. Suddenly, she felt the back of her dress loosen as a pair of hands adjusted the ribbon. To her shock, she gasped as she put two and two together:

Sonic the Hedgehog, her only crush since she was just 8 years old, had bent down to his knees and was loosening the back of her dress. “What are you doing?!” she whispered harshly, her own face turning a very deep shade of red.

She could practically hear the smug little grin on his face as he answered, “Returning the favor. Who laced this thing up, anyway? Was it you?”

How much more embarrassing could this get? “Yes,” she replied, begrudgingly. “But don’t even think about loosening it all the way. You let this dress slip off me, and you’re a dead hog.”

He simply laughed. “Ames, relax. It only got wonky about halfway down. That’s as far as I’ll go.”

She breathed a sigh of relief. Meanwhile, the blue hedgehog started tightening the purple ribbon as he finally re-looped it through the right places, until he suddenly let them loosen again. “Hm.”

He suddenly stood back up right behind her, still holding the ribbon in one hand. Looking back up at Amy, he smiled, and pressed his free hand against her lower back, where the ribbon hadn’t crossed. “It works better if you stand up straight,” he said, his voice a little quieter this time.

If her face could get any redder, then it certainly did. “...Okay,” she whispered, less harshly.

He laughed softly. “Good.”

They stood there, wordlessly, as she felt his fingers brush lightly against her back every so often, weaving the purple ribbon back and forth. After some seconds, she heard him mumble the word, “Over…”

She should have seen this coming. He had cleverly used her own words against her back from when she tied his tie. Sonic from 12 years ago would have never done this. He was too shy to even talk much back then. “Under…”

Before long, she felt the ribbon tighten as he tied the last of it into a neat bow. “That tight enough?”

Amy turned back around, swishing the skirt of her dress back and forth, spinning around a few times to see how it held up. The blue hedgehog in front of her couldn’t help smiling as he watched her do a few twirls. “Much better,” she said, her hand reaching for the door handle. “Thanks for--”

“What’s that in your hand, Ames?”

She froze as she remembered the little silver accessory in her hand. “Oh. Right. My necklace. I almost forgot--”

He held out a hand. “May I?”

As quickly as it left, that warm, flushing sensation that effortlessly spread across her cheeks had returned for the third time today as she handed over the necklace. “Sure, why not?”

She turned back around, holding up some of her quills for his hand to place said piece of jewelry around her neck. As soon as she felt the clasp fasten, she heard him say, “Okay, turn around one more time? I wanna make sure it doesn’t look bad.”

Slowly, the pink hedgehog turned around to face him. The distance between them was miniscule, a few inches, at best, but neither of them seemed to mind. All she could look at was Sonic, grinning from ear to ear. “Why are you smiling like that?”

“I know it’s bad to say something like this, but if you ask me…’

That smile only grew bigger as he leaned his head forward for a closer look. “...I think Blaze might not be the only girl at the wedding with all eyes on her today.”

Amy was stunned by this last remark, looking up at him with wide eyes. Was Sonic the Hedgehog saying that she was pretty? In a stunned whisper, she asked incredulously, “You do?”

He nodded, his own green eyes never leaving hers. “I do.”

The distance between them slowly grew smaller, their eyes closing as they inched forward to meet each other halfway, eagerly anticipating what was to come next, when suddenly:

“Sonic!”

Their heads immediately snapped toward the source of the voice shouting out for the blue hedgehog in question. It was Espio, Silver’s best man. “We’re headed down to the courtyard. Let Blaze and the other girls know so we can meet them there for the ceremony.”

He sighed, clearly annoyed by the interruption. “We’ll be right down,” he yelled back, his eyes briefly glancing across the hall before returning back to Amy’s. “Back to business now, huh?”

“Yeah. You go down there,” Amy said, shooing Sonic away. “I’ll rally the girls and we’ll see you all there.”

“Hey.”

She felt his hand grab hers one last time. “Save some slow dances for me at the reception?” he asked. “Pick up where we left off?”

He winked. For once, Amy didn’t blush. Instead, a knowing smile crept across her muzzle as she replied, “Wouldn’t miss it.”

[crusherthedoctor]

Sonic Heroes: Sweet or Shite? - Part 1: SILVER

There are some heroes I like. And there are some heroes I don’t like. But why do I feel about them the way I do? That’s where this comes in.

This is a series in which I go into slightly more detail about my thoughts on the heroes in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, and why I think they either work well, or fall flat (or somewhere in-between). I’ll be giving my stance on their designs, their personalities, and what they had to show for themselves over the course of time. Two things to keep in mind:

1. These reviews will be focusing mainly on game portrayals. Though alternate media will occasionally be mentioned, it'll be for the sake of adding onto a point if a portrayal is similar enough, or to compare and contrast if a portrayal is different enough.

2. These are just my own personal thoughts. Whether you agree or disagree, feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions! I don’t bite. :>

Anyhow, for today’s installment, I decided to challenge myself by starting off with a complicated one. Born from the future, and never content to stay put in said future, it's the saviour whose debut came from the most unfortunate game... Silver the Hedgehog.

The Gist: Once upon a time, in the distant future, there was an idealistic young hedgehog named Silver, gifted with the power of telekinesis for reasons unknown. With his amazing potential, he was truly destined for a wonderful, prosperous li-just kidding, it was shit.

“All two of us.”

For as long as he knew, the world was forever plagued by Iblis, the terrible Flames of Disaster. Cities stood in ruin, flames stood high, the floor was lava... it was a bitter life to be certain, all thanks to Iblis. Not even defeating the titular creature did much good, since it would simply come back to be a shitty boss fight another day. What was he - and his friend, Blaze, a character we definitely never saw before and definitely didn't have a completely different backstory before - to do?

Trust the first person he sees, of course. Even if they look like they might be related to the same Flames of Disaster that he fights so constantly.

If he had eyelids, he'd be winking at the camera.

This mysterious fellow, Mephiles the Dark, informed Silver that if he were to wipe out Iblis for real, he would need to take a trip into the past, and eliminate the root of the problem... Sonic the Hedgehog? That was what Mephiles claimed, yes. What was his proof? There was no proof.

That was good enough for Silver.

Oh look, it's Fleetway Sonic.

After an elaborate series of events, which should sound exciting but really isn't because it was just Silver going “Iblis Trigger grrr” in varying tones of voice, he was finally able to corner the blue hedgehog... twice! And despite having less fighting know-how than the hero who saved the world plenty of times, he effortlessly came close to killing the blue hedgehog... twice!

This looks like a jobbing for...

Why twice? The first time was halted by Sonic's friend Amy Rose, who Silver had met beforehand after she mistook him for Sonic, an understandable mistake that even the keenest of eyes would be forgiven for making.

The second time was also interrupted, this time by Shadow the Hedgehog. There's only room for one controversial non-blue male hedgehog in this franchise, sonny boy. Actually, his reasons were more benevolent than that: he wanted to show Silver the truth about what was going on, by time travelling to the incident that gave birth to Iblis. Why was one able to to this, so long as more than one Chaos Emerald was present? No one knew.

That was good enough for Silver.

“I challenge you to a dumb-off.”

As it turned out, Iblis was one half of a sun god called Solaris, the other half being the aforementioned Mephiles. The Duke of Soleanna wanted to reunite with his late wife by harnessing Solaris' power, which succeeded from a certain point of view since he's dead now too. The resulting blunder split Solaris into two halves. One half was all brawn, with little capacity for intelligence. The other half was Iblis.

Understanding the error of his ways, and after making peace with Sonic, Silver went back to the future to try something different, which consisted of doing the same thing he always did. Luckily for him, the script decided it would work this time, albeit at the cost of Blaze sacrificing herself... Maybe? Sort of? It’s not entirely clear what happened to her, and it’s not like this was the last we ever saw of her.

~La laaaaaa, la laaaaaa, la laaaaaa, heading to a better game, la laaaaaa~

But ohhhhh nooooo, turns out THAT didn't solve anything either! In the present, Sonic was killed by Mephiles, after the latter realised he should probably do that already if he wanted to make any progress at all with his plan. This incident led to Iblis being brought into the present, and they fused to become the omnipotent Solaris once more. Such power... such divinity... such devastation...

Actually, he was really easy. The antlion from Underground Zone was harder.

Manchild robots - 1, god of time - 0.

With their super forms in tow, Silver, Shadow, and the revived Sonic joined forces to defeat Solaris, with Sonic in particular going the extra step in retconning Solaris out of existence entirely. Since time itself reset, meaning Iblis was no longer a memory, Silver's timeline was given a second chance. What was he to look forward to in this new, promising future?

Shit.

The Design: Let's take a closer look at Silver's appearance, shall we?

Or rather, a certain thing that's wrong with it.

He's holding up fifteen fingers.

Yes, you all know what I'm pointing to: the hairstyle. Let it be known that I'm very aware of the intention behind this design choice. It's supposed to be based on the Japanese Red Maple Leaf, which holds a lot of relevant symbolism for Silver's character. This is a fine idea in theory, and I can respect the intent and the creativity.

But here's the thing: If it looks like a ganja leaf, people are going to say it looks like a ganja leaf. I know some fans will gnash their teeth at me saying this, but the fact of the matter is that intentions and ideas, no matter how good they may be on paper, don't always translate well into the final product. Unleashed Secret Rings Black Knight Sonic '06 in general is certainly no stranger to showcasing examples of that, and Silver's hairstyle is no exception. There are ways to incorporate symbolism in a character’s design without making them look like meme bait in the process, and no amount of “umm ackshually” will change that, I'm afraid.

That said, there's another reason why I'm staying clean of Silver marijuana: it doesn't work for a hedgehog character. With the other hedgehogs, their hairstyles are simple and get the point across: Sonic's goes without saying, Shadow's is more angular to befit a slightly rougher hero, and Amy's is a cute bob cut of sorts. But Silver? Even without the ganja, you've still got the two tentacles making up the back of his head.

I'd rather not be reminded of hentai quills, thanks.

“I thought Crusher-san would like it :’(”

I do find it hilarious that they went through numerous designs for Silver, and this was what they chose to go with. Some of his prototype designs may have fared better had any of them been used instead... but we didn't end up with any of those ones. We ended up with this one, therefore I'm judging this one.

But don’t worry, it’s not all bad with Silver...

The Personality: As far as actual character goes, Silver's personality is as straightfoward as most characters in the series, yet it's no less interesting, because it took a while for it to fully evolve to what it currently is. The seeds of his character - a good-natured yet awkward and rather insecure kind of guy, who doesn't fully understand how the present time works - have always been there, but it was often downplayed in earlier titles due to him being hungry for Iblis Trigger blood... or being an arsehole for no reason.

Although to be fair, everyone in Rivals is an arsehole for no reason.

Eventually though, after the writers gave him a Snickers, these traits got more opportunity to shine. Mostly in side media admittedly, but it's been noted in the games as well. With no Iblis to angst over, he's proven to be a surprisingly bubbly chap, who just wants to know how you're all doing, fellow anthro kids. And whereas his naivety was previously used for intended tragedy to benefit the evil plan of a guy who thought taking the -istoph- out of Mephistopheles would make him inconspicuous, now it's been used for a bunch of low-key contexts that do a much better job at endearing him to the player.

Finally, something I can relate to.

Hell, he even seems to have learned from the Mephiles incident, as he was quick to make it clear to the next shadowy deep-voiced anthro with demonic eyes he met that he wasn't gonna fall for any of them fibs no more, ya hear?

“YouTube and Twitter don’t count.”

All in all, it works well enough, in my opinion. His personality does pave the way for some funny and wholesome moments, and since they’re no longer trying to build him up like he’s Shadow 2.0, he's nowhere near as much of a tool as he was before. So I guess you could say... I like it?

Does this mean I can say that I like the character as a whole then, design and '06-induced idiocy aside?

Well, not quite...

The Execution: This is where the complication part comes into play. We know now that I like his personality, not so much his design, but that's only the half of it. It would be more accurate to say that I like his personality... and dislike everything else.

Aside from that, obviously.

For starters, the creation process for his character and story was summed up with, in their own words, “Think Trunks from Dragon Ball Z”. So he comes off as rather lazy and uninspired. Now I'm not expecting my Sonic characters to be 100% unique, there's always going to be similarities to other franchises no matter what you do, even if subconsciously or by complete coincidence. Taking inspiration in itself is no big deal at all.

But... was that it? Copying a DBZ character to such a blatant extent? Was there no other thought put into it?

Naturally, this ties into an overarching problem: the franchise's mid-00's habit of trying way too hard to be the anthro Dragon Ball Z. Sonic has had DBZ influences since the early days, with the Chaos Emeralds and Super Sonic, but it didn't assimilate itself into every waking aspect of his universe. It was merely an additional flavor that added to the complete package, in the same way that a Death Star with a moustache didn't mean the franchise was suddenly Star Wars the Hedgehog.

But come the turn of the millenium, nearly every main title in the series ended with Super Sonic and/or Super Shadow saving the day, while everyone else either stood around being useless, or only helping in ways that no one actually cares about. Including the in-universe President apparently, since only Sonic and Shadow were featured in the photo on his desk.

Amy smiled. “I guess the rest of us can go fuck ourselves, huh?”

This reached its peak with - of course - Sonic '06, with Silver in particular being an obvious result of this then-ongoing trend. And yes, it would be unfair to use him as a scapegoat, considering it was already a problem long before he turned up. But moreso than even Shadow, it's an era that Silver is forever a relic of, for better or for worse.

But it doesn't stop there. Since Silver is considered a mainstay character, his gimmick of being from the future also creates problems of its own, because in order for him to make further appearances, he keeps turning up for little explained reason, and thus he suffers the Deadly Six problem of being shoved into places where he doesn't belong, for fanservice's own sake. Take Sonic Colours DS for example, where he went back in time JUST to check out Eggman's theme park... Okay...?

On one hand, I’d visit it too, since it's made by Eggman. On the other hand, I’d stay clear of it, since it's made by Eggman.

And when there IS a justification with more weight to it? It's just recycling the '06 routine of trying to avert his ruined future, which isn't much better. The cause may differ depending on the story, but if his future is a permanent shitehole for one reason or another, he might as well cut out the middle man and stay in the present altogether, since that's where his friends are anyway. But they seem intent on not doing that, despite the future schtick being a noose around his neck at this point.

In hindsight, maybe this was a hint to how the rest of the arc would turn out.

And then there's his dynamic with a certain purple cat... No, not Big. The other one.

“I’m here, by the way.”

Simply put: I don't like this dynamic. At all. Or rather, I don't like how they keep milking it. Blaze's backstory was radically changed to justify her presence in Silver's future, and it really shows, since she barely even shows up half the time, as if the developers themselves forgot she was in the game. But her backstory has since been restored to her original alternate dimension interpretation, so hanging around with the grey hedgehog is all good now, right?

To be brutally honest, I probably wouldn't care for this dynamic regardless. But I would be more willing to tolerate it, and I'd refrain from groaning every time they're seen together... if they weren't intent on playing it up so much in spite of '06 being wiped out, sometimes with a bit of commentary involving their thoughts and memories, which only succeeds at making things more confusing. If Blaze is around, Silver will be nearby, and if he's not at first, he will be soon enough. This franchise does have a problem in general with restricting who's allowed to interact with who (I personally believe Sonic Heroes may have led to this, or at least it accelerated it), but I'd argue it's at its most insufferable here, with Blaze's potential and her entire world taking a backseat to being the sidekick of Ganja Man.

And you might say “Well, it's part of the franchise now, so you'll just have to accept it”. To which I ask: Have you accepted Two Worlds? Have you accepted Solo Sonica? Have you accepted Sonic's friends not doing much as of late?

Yeah. That's what I thought. “It’s just how it is” doesn’t mean you can’t criticise it.

Meanwhile, Marine is lucky enough to get so much as a shout out.

So yeah, I have quite an extensive list of grievances involving poor Silver. But... very little of it has to do with him, right? They're all indirect problems that he just so happens to be linked to, as opposed to someone like Chris Thorndyke, who is genuinely a shit character through and through. This is more comparable to Tails being bitchy in Lost World, or Amy being manipulative in Chronicles, or Sonic being a smug dumbass in IDW, or Shadow not wearing a Hawaiian shirt in Boom. Frustrating, regrettable, but not really the character's own fault.

Yet even after all that, there's one last kick in the teeth... How do you fix all this? And how do you fix it when he's since gained a sizable fandom, many of whom like him for these very attributes? If you leave it as it is, you're stuck with this big, awkward mess that everyone pretends to ignore. If you try to do something about it, you'll get complaints about disrespecting the True Silver Spirit, and you’ll get questions about why you didn't create a new character instead... And if you did use a new character for the sake of a clean slate, THEN you'd get complaints about not using Silver.

It's a tough call to be sure, and it's such a shame because like I said, I do appreciate his personality, so I can't say he's bad outright. But with all this... clutter, I can only put him in the average category. So, in he goes.

Crusher Gives Silver a: Thumbs Sideways!

Well, I'm glad this one's out of the way. Putting my thoughts into words with Silver was harder than it should have been. I do slightly regret starting this series off on a rather downer note, but rest assured, it's a lot more positive from this point onwards, since while I have higher praise for some heroes more than others, the hero characters as a whole fare a lot better than the majority of villains not named Eggman.

I guess you could say that I hope to show why Sonic's friends aren't as shitty as the haters would suggest. ;)

[beevean]

How was Infinite better than Mephiles in your opinion? I think Infinite had a bit of potential but Pontiff ruined what little there was.

Is Forces a Pontaff game? It doesn’t look like one, and I think they just translated/collaborated? No seriously, I remember reading the credits and being confused. Anyway.

Let’s get out of the way the most shallow reason I prefer Infinite: design. Infinite’s design is damn cool, he’s so edgy that it’s obvious he’s meant to be a caricature, with his clawed gloves and boots with his own friggin’ symbol on it, but he’s still appealing to the eyes. Before you finish the game, the mask also adds intrigue: why is he wearing it, and why is he blind in one eye? It motivates you to get to know more about him. It also helps that he’s a canid, a family that is quite rare in the series - I can only think of Tails and Chip - and it makes him unique but not in a special OC way. (this also means he even has some cute features like big ears and a fluffy tail, which add delicious contrast to his “I'm the toughest of terrors I am the darkest of days” design)

On the contrary, Mephiles has two designs: Multiplayer-Mode Shadow...

And Nightmare Shadow.

And sure, the crystallized form is pretty cool to look at, but he still Shadow. I get that he was reborn from Shadow’s shadow (some writer felt very clever that day), but I kinda would have preferred to see him take other forms. Well, it’s not like the devs had the time to add a third model...

(also, both of them have awesome voices so I can’t put one above the other)

As for the rest, here’s a rundown:

- Mephiles, along with Iblis to a lesser extent, overshadows Eggman. He’s yet another villain that takes the stage and reduces the good ol’ doc to a miniboss, more preoccupied with stealing the McGuffin... I mean, Princess Elise, than to do some interesting villaining - this has the ripple effect of making Sonic the Hedgehog, in a game called Sonic the Hedgehog, nearly useless to the main plot until he’s killed. I have little tolerance for villains who want to be more “dangerous” than Eggman at this point, and Mephiles was only one of the last ones that played this overused trope seriously (wish he was the last one, but Dark Gaia is a smear on an otherwise beautiful game... but that’s another story). By contrast, Infinite is always Eggman’s weapon, and the game never implies you’re supposed to think less of the scientist - Infinite may be an arrogant buffoon, but he never leaves Eggman’s side. The two work on a tandem, and basically Infinite is terrifying raw strength combined with Eggman’s superior intellect. Took him long enough, but Eggman has essentially tamed a powerful beast like he’s been planning to do since Chaos.

- Mephiles is meant to be this master manipulator, a 4D chessmaster moving pieces across time and space to get to his goal. I love the idea, really: he’s the raw intellect of a god without any of the strength of a god, so he has to play dirty and play on mortals’ emotions. The problem is that the game isn’t competent enough to pull such a feat, so everyone basically has the IQ of a brick - everyone who has even watched some videos points out at least two things:

1) how can Silver, even if he grew up in a destroyed city, trust some random guy without a mouth and reptilian eyes who suddenly tells him “here’s the cause of your problems, now go back in time and kill him” and Silver is just like “okie dokie” without even asking “excuse me, and whomst the fuck are you”

2) Mephiles can travel in time anywhere he wishes AND he can apparently conjure the Emeralds at his side. There is literally nothing stopping him to go to Silver’s future and rejoin Iblis there, or even prevent the incident that split them. The game set no limitations to his powers, and so we’re free to think about the most obvious solutions, and so his overly complicated plan that hinges on a boy killing another boy 200 years in the past after he bonded with the Iblis seal to make her cry in grief, plus triggering Shadow’s trauma on the side... even more hard to follow, because it’s all useless.

Infinite, to be fair, has a similar problem with his powers: the Phantom Ruby’s potential has never been specificed, but it seems to be a strong reality warper that can even teleport people (Mania) - and yet we only see Infinite conjure clones and spikes with it, which is boring. However, one thing he has over Mephiles is that the guy’s blatantly an idiot. Like, the story doesn’t shy away from showing how his arrogant, sadistic mistakes like “lol i’ll leave you alive because you’re not worth my time” have serious repercussions to Eggman’s plans, to the point that the guy at the end is like “you know what, I’m sick of your shit” and kills him. And you may be like “how does that make him better than Mephiles” - well he’s more believable, and more human (relatively speaking), and Forces’ story was written with feet but no one got their IQ divided by itself so there’s that.

I get the feeling Infinite is meant to be both intimidating and a parody of overly edgy and cool villains like Mephiles himself, and for me it works. Mephiles... he’s kinda like ShTH: he takes himself way too seriously. Except ShTH is funny, at least.

To be kind to Mephiles, his backstory is at least more precise, and definitely more interesting: as I mentioned, I love the idea of a god that was split into powerless intellect and mindless strength. In a better game, Mephiles would have been an interesting villain, completely ineffectual in a physical battle and maybe in constant pain, but omniscent and with a streak of sadism.

Infinite, on the other hand, clearly went through a shift in backstory: the main game hints at the fact that he was made in a lab, but then Episode Shadow comes in and he’s just some guy who was bullied too hard. I... okay.

Anyway, Infinite is more appealing to me and he doesn’t break Forces’ already fragile plot like Mephiles does. also he cute. there :V

[moralitas]

I've been inspired by @solar-socks TLOU2 au and with their permission will be writing out tidbits! This is just a short drabble, very soft and not too angsty. Hope y'all like it!

Just Last Night

Despite the years that passed, Sonic could hardly call the end of the world ‘quiet’. Sure, it didn’t go out in a blaze of glory (some blazing yes, but little glory) and the metallic sheen of infected bodies made him sick to his stomach, but it had all tumbled down rather… smoothly.

The cicadas screamed far off in the woods beyond the cabin. In the dewy grass, Sonic stretched out, eyes half lidded as he stared up into the velvet black of the night sky. This was something he hated to admit sometimes, but he loved being able to see the stars. On a clear night, they sky could take up your whole field of vision. It was like seeing only beauty.

“There you are.”

Speaking of beauty…

Fighting the smile that threatened to curl on his lips, Sonic closed his eyes and patted the space beside him.

“The grass is wet.” Shadow muttered, already lowering himself to stretch out beside him. 

“How’s Silver?” Sonic turned slightly to look at the dark hedgehog beside him. He hadn’t been out here that long, was everything okay?

“He’s fine.” Shadow sighed, and Sonic could see him rolling his shoulders. “Tired from today. I told him to wash up and head to bed.”

“Mmm. Very responsible of you.”

“Shut up.”

Sonic let out a huff of laughter, but it was subdued. He returned his attention to the twinkling lights above. Despite everything, they remained unchanged. Sonic wasn’t too sure if there was bitterness or comfort in that, but he hoped for the former.

Beside him, Shadow reached out, settling a dark palm over his own.

Immediately, Sonic felt the tension he’d been holding in his body dissipate.

“Everything alright?” Came the quiet question.

This… thing between the two of them was new. But felt like a dance they’d been in for longer than either of them knew. It didn’t feel awkward or fumbling. Sonic had truly never felt anything like it.

“What gave it away?”

Shadow hummed thoughtfully. “Well, you excused yourself from dinner after only your second helping.” Sonic rolled his eyes at that, the familiar grin playing at the edge of his mouth. “And… It’s the anniversary.”

Quick as it came, the gentle smile slid of Sonic’s face. A deep weight settled itself in his chest as he remembered why he’d come out here to see the stars in the first place.

A kind, comfortinf laugh and a sure hand who taught him how to play the guitar. Green eyes stared pleadingly at the stars above, trying to chase the images away.

“Do you know much about stars?” His question was little more than a broken whisper. Yet he knew Shadow would never think less of him for it.

“I do. My sister… she loved the constellations. Looked up at the sky every day.”

Swallowing his grief, Sonic paid attention. It wasn’t often Shadow talked about her. “Will you tell me?”

Squeezing his hand ever so gently, Shadow scooched closer so they were shoulder to shoulder. He twined their fingers together, pointing upwards towards the inky night.

“Do you see those two largest stars? Well, if you follow the trail…”

Shadow’s voice was a soothing river that Sonic wanted to drift down. It was still hard to talk about...him. It was hard enough to think about him. But Shadow never pushed, never demanded. Only asked that Sonic be there.

Please stay. He’d asked him, long ago. 

And Sonic had.

And Sonic would.

[cutegirlmayra]

Oh here's a prompt idea: Movie!Sonic meets Game!Sonic and they marvel at how different they both are. Amy finally catches up after chasing Sonic and is heaven seeing two Sonic's. Movie!Sonic having never met another hedgehog let alone one as forward and open as Amy is enamored and Game!Sonic is conflicted if he's happy a version of himself is loosening up but worried Amy will take too much of a likening to him. So like a sprinkle of jealous Sonic but we know where Amy's heart lies.

PROMPTS ARE CLOSED DO NOT ASK FOR MORE PROMPTS, MY CUTIES I LOVE YOU, BUT YOU MUST WAIT.

You’ll find my response to this prompt here: The pajama blogs 24:25

Prompt:

After a dimensional rift is created by Game!Eggman, the game counterparts are flung into Movie!Sonic’s world.

After some zany fun and shenanigans', the two finally realize the ‘double-ganger’ wasn’t ‘Shadow’ or ‘Metal Sonic’ at all, but actually a different Sonic!

“Woah!” Before Game!Sonic could even say anything, mimicking Game!Sonic’s actions a second as they both think they’re staring in a reflection behind a fountain’s waterfall effect, Game!Sonic is the first one to to actually say something. “You’re-! The other me! Oh, this is awesome!” Zips to his other side, as Game!Sonic is amazed but kinda used to these things by now?

So he simply smiles, opens his mouth to say something but then Movie!Sonic continues to zip around him and lift different parts of him up.

“I saw you save that rich Chris kid from falling off that tower. I also save people from towers, long story, quick spark notes, they’re now kinda my mom and dad. Oh~ Buckles! Shiny, but why a buckle? Do you not know how to tie shoes? Me neither. Do slip-ons exist in your world? What’s your world like? Never really knew mine. Were buckles ever in season? Trendy? Why are your arms the color of your skin and why is your quills a solid form, do you compact them with gel? That’s a lot of gel. Why is your blue darker than mine but my fur tanner than your... again, skin? Why do you shave? Also, you look a little like a two-eyed cyclops-HEY!”

Game!Sonic, rolling his eyes at the young energy, swipes the Chaos Emerald from Movie!Sonic’s quills and moves away from him, waving a finger.

“Thanks, that’s cool, weird. Buckles are always cool. No, okay, yes but no, exciting and beautiful, that’s a shame. Always and forever, because they are, no gel, all natural, I guess I get more sun while you get more bleach, and nice joints, stick-figure.”

Game!Sonic waited a second... looking a bit confused and/or offended... before giving off a goofy grin and simply stating, “Touche.”

“Do you know what this is?” Game!Sonic pointed to the Chaos Emerald.

“No idea, but it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.” Game!Sonic teased and hugged himself, “But in all seriousness, that weird, pudgy Eggman with the wild stache has been trying to snatch it from me like Chilifries!”

“Always the chilifries.” Game!Sonic shook his head and looked up as though relating hard with that, “Well, It’s important. I need 6 more of these... and wait, was Eggman ever NOT fat?”

The two stared at each other a second, and then Movie!Sonic looked away and puckered his lips back as though not wanting to say anything to the look that Game!Sonci gave him.

“Soniiiicc!!!”

Turning around, Game!Sonic winced and spread his mouth back, showing his teeth and an expression of ‘uh oh’ at the voice and figure coming towards them.

However... when Movie!Sonic turned around...

‘I know a girl who's tough but sweet She's so fine, she can't be beat Got everything that I desire Sets the summer sun on fire.’

As the song played, Amy’s quills swished around as she ran, her dress also scooted to one side and her smile lit up the world. She winked, but it was really just her ducking from the reflection of the water glaring her eyes and then jumped into a starstruck Movie!Sonic.

Game!Sonic looked down at them.

‘IIII~ Want candy~ I~ Want candy~’

“Oh! I’m so glad I was able to find you again, Sonic! Hehe! You can’t separate two fated lovers!” She squee’d, nuzzling in as Movie!Sonic’s eyes were a bit loopy but he shook himself free of the music and looked greatly conflicted.

On one hand, this is totally awesome.

On the other hand, fated lovers?!

“What just happened?” Movie!Sonic gently tried to get her off but her grip was ferociously strong. “Emm! Lady! I-It’s very nice-! Ah! To meet... you...toooooo!” He finally gasped for air when he got her off of him, but Game!Sonic just snickered into his hands.

“Amy, meet Other Sonic from this dimension. Then meet again.” Game!Sonic introduced them before giving a sarcastic look to her when he pointed back to himself.

She had to study them a second but then flew her hands up by her face, getting up off the ground she was sitting down on. “Oh my rings! I’m so sorry! Are you alright?”

She leaned over Movie!Sonic, “Wow! Now that I look at you... you really do look young!”

“And I’m fluffy too.” Movie!Sonic zipped back up, shaking himself off as he suddenly turned poofy from the friction in his quills.

“Ah! Haha!” Amy pointed and got lightly zapped, then clapped as though easily-amused by his antics. “He’s so cute!”

Game!Sonic had to do a double-take, folding his arms as she said that...

“You’re even taller than Sonic!”

Then pouting.

“And you’re uhh... As pink as a gumball!” Movie!Sonic thought fast, scratching behind his head in his nerves and leaning one foot out and up towards her, then skidding it on the ground to then move closer to her, where he had placed it. “N-not that I like gumballs.” He saw Game!Sonic’s expression and immediately grew nervous, shaking his hands out in front of her, “They get stuck in your teeth, but the sugar is nice.”

Amy just giggled, “Amy. Amy Rose.” She offered him her hand and instead of taking it... though reaching out for it, he looked over his shoulder at Game!Sonic and stood back, bowing to her instead.

“You must be a secret princess or something from your world, right? Is he here to protect you or something?” Movie!Sonic threw a thumb back towards Game!Sonic as she giggled into her hands, then swayed back and forth as her hands intertwined and laid at her front.

“Hehe, he’s a charmer... for sure!”

She then noticed the Chaos Emerald in Game!Sonic’s folded arms as he groaned at how sweet they were being to one another.

“Oh! A Chaos Emerald! I almost forgot! I was trying to tell you I found one, but I lost it to that Metal silver robot...”

“That’s gotta be Metal Sonic!” Movie!Sonic suddenly stated, “I saw him come through the portal when you guys did!”

“Two Metal Sonics? Oh no...” Amy cupped her face, worried about their own world’s Metal Sonic... “But it definitely looked funny...”

“Yeah, Dr. Robotnik is a funny sort of fellow.” Movie!Sonic thought she meant the doctor...

“Umm...” Amy looked confused, about to correct him but Game!Sonic stuck out his arm.

“It’s nice to stay and chat like old pals, Amy, but we could use a direction on where he went with that Chaos Emerald.”

“Oh, right!” Amy immediately gave them the locations, and as they sped off, Movie!Sonic kept showing off for Amy instead of actually trying to get the Chaos Emerald.

It was annoying Game!Sonic, “Hey, focus, man!” he cried out as Movie!Sonic was too distracted to realize that the robot was shooting straight at where he had dived to catch the Chaos Emerald.

“Oh no!” Amy covered her eyes, but then threw her hammer, “Just kidding~” she jumped into the battle and saved Movie!Sonic.

He was deeply embarrassed after that, and found he was becoming lamer and lamer the more he tried to impress her, being clumsy and the like.

With all the flattery too... Game!Sonic started to worry about Amy.

“Hey, ease up, will ya?” He finally told Movie!Sonic. “You’re making me look bad here...”

“Wait, really?!” Movie!Sonic shook his head pretty quickly, “I thought you were being cooler than me! That’s why I tried so hard to make a good impression!”

“What? Dude, I know you haven’t known Amy for very long, but she’s not someone to judge that fast. She’s got a good sense of character, and she knows you’re just nervous, loosen up and quit trying so hard. You’ve gotta be naturally cool to be a Sonic.” he dusted himself off and gave him his typical Sonic smirk and wink, pointing out his thumb and index finger and tucking it up under his chin. “If you believe it, then you are it.”

“Ohhh... Attitude. Got it!” Movie!Sonic stopped trying so much to impress Amy and went back to the mission, only concerned about his image looking pathetic around her.

Later, it was clear Amy was favoring Movie!Sonic, trying to get his attention in normal ways again, but he absent-mindedly disregarded her each time.

Feeling ignored, Amy went to Game!Sonic, asking if she had insulted or hurt Movie!Sonic on accident, and wanted to make things right.

“Gee, you’re really worried about how he sees you, huh?” Game!Sonic was pitching up a tree-tent to sleep under, tying a rope below the tree as Amy nervously fidgeted.

“I just don’t understand! I didn’t do anything to make him feel like I wasn’t be polite or kind enough...” she twiddled her fingers, but then, just as Game!Sonic was gonna tell her the truth, she embraced him from behind.

“I’m glad you’re not like that Sonic... at least, when I talk to you, you hear me out, right?”

He suddenly had a crooked smile on his face, and all honesty went out the window.

His ears curled as though horns and patted Amy’s arm. “Oh, of course, Amy! I would never treat you so poorly...”

She sniffled, and he beamed even more.

“Tell ya what, maybe you should stick with our universe for a while... make you feel better.” He patted and stroked her head in a condensing way, smirking at his own devious plans.

Amy was now very dismissive of Movie!Sonic, causing him to wonder what he did wrong. She was a bit vicious in her absolute disregard for him, not like his unintentional way with her.

Discussing it with Game!Sonic, he put two and two together and realized he had turned her against him.

It sparked a rivalry, a figurative tug-o-war before Amy finally saw them both work together to help her when she was surrounded by Eggman’s robots, threatening to make her a lab-experiment.

“This Dr. Robotnik is nuts!”

“Wasn’t he always?” The two said at the same time, fist-bumping and chuckling, as Game!Sonic let Movie!Sonic carry her back to camp.

After that, they didn’t let Amy get in-between their fun, and they sort of bonded over it.

Amy... was still confused, but was now fighting for both their attentions, as they led her on thinking they were ‘just too busy’ but secretly just liking her work for their attentions instead of the other way around!

Oh, but she got back at them!

By the end, they had two nasty bumps on the head to prove it!

“Phew! That was fun, but maybe... I don’t think I’ll be seeing her again.” Movie!Sonic lightly rubbed his large bum on his head before... “Oh great...” His eyes shrunk as a yellow fox he now knew was ‘Tails’ arrived and with him... a new rosy pink hedgehog...

And the hammer thumping on the head never ceased from then on in~<3

[solalunar-eclipse]

Scars You Can’t See - Chapter 4

Chapter title: Infiltration

Word count: about 3100 words

Author’s Note: Aaaand this is where everyone finds out that I’ve watched the first three Mission: Impossible movies.

First | Previous | Next

Shadow had learned about emotions early on during his time on ARK. Maria explained them to him as they came up- happiness, sadness, anger, fear and all the rest.

But Shadow really felt that there was no good word to describe his feelings at the moment. Everything was just...strange.

He and his friends were still trying to keep a low profile, since G.U.N. would absolutely have put out a search warrant by now. The team was planning to commit a second heist, with even larger consequences for everyone involved than the first one. They were going to do this with absolutely no backup and no supplies, equipment, or up-to-date inside knowledge.

And he was watching Rouge eat multiple pancakes drenched in syrup as though everything was completely normal.

Omega wasn’t with them, having been told to wait in the car (again). He didn’t need to eat, though, so he wasn’t too irritated this time. 

Shadow had barely touched his waffles, only able to poke at them quietly with his fork. Any time he considered eating even a small piece, he would remember the mission and lose his appetite immediately. He pushed a small piece around in the sticky mock-maple syrup, staring at the golden square.

“You need to eat something, hon,” Rouge told him around a mouthful of food. “Get your strength up for the mission- don’t want your body giving out on you.”

He groaned, eyeing the food with distaste. “I know, I know…”

“Shadow. Do I have to tell you again?” she asked, her voice becoming more stern- almost parental.

The hybrid ate a forkful reluctantly, forcing himself to swallow. He barely tasted it at all, the sticky sweetness only vaguely registering.

Every few seconds, Shadow’s hand drifted to his phone, dying to turn it on and see what texts were being sent. Was Silver searching for clues accidentally left by G.U.N. in the news? Could Knuckles be drafting battle plans he knew would never be used? Was Sonic cracking jokes to lighten the mood?

Or were they even thinking about this at all?

How he wished he knew…

“Hon. Stop it.” Rouge said, dragging him out of his reverie. “I know what you’re thinking, and I’m sure they’re fine and talking about all sorts of things, including us. I promise.”

“I just hope that we got our message across and they’re being careful. At least half the members of the other teams only have a single brain cell.” Shadow muttered.

The bat laughed. “I will bet you an all-you-can-eat meal that Tails has knocked out either Sonic or Knuckles at least once, and that Silver is pitching wild conspiracy theories to Blaze while Amy tries and fails to maintain her sanity.”

Shadow smirked, before cringing as the reality of what they were about to do crashed back onto him with all the force of a tidal wave. This mission could very well be their last.

Rouge must’ve seen his expression shift, because she took his hand and smiled at him gently.  “It’s going to be fine. We’ll get the evidence, send it to a couple newspapers, get G.U.N. to finally do something about...well, everything, and then we’ll all be fine. You’ll never have to touch a gun again, we’ll never have to worry about people getting hurt, and then we can go to that movie night, alright?”

The hybrid smiled faintly, feeling his weakened resolve start to return. He was fully aware that his friends were the only reason he was maintaining his sanity at this point. He hated to burden them this way. That was why he was really looking forward to the end of this wild experience. Then they wouldn’t have to worry about him anymore.

Thankfully, before long, they were back in the car and on the way to the G.U.N. storage building, and Shadow was able to force himself to push such thoughts to the back of his mind. Now that they had begun, this kind of distraction could be downright deadly.

The team had to make a stopoff first, though. Specifically, at the uniform warehouse for G.U.N.’s main electrical repair company- the perfect excuse to get into the facility. Omega drove the sedan up to the security gate, but everyone knew to let Rouge do the talking.

“Hi there!” she said brightly. To anyone else, the bat would’ve appeared to be the picture of sincerity. Shadow knew better, though.

He had enough experience to see the calculating glint in her eyes and the steady size she held her smile at. Not meek, but not crazy either. Just outgoing enough for the guard to quickly wave them through after she offered up an apology: “So sorry, mister, we seem to have misplaced ours and we’ve got a big job coming up, you know?”

Shadow was incredibly thankful that nobody questioned the two of them as they walked through the warehouse, either. He snatched two uniforms in their sizes (hopefully) from the near-endless racks, trying to look busy while Rouge covered for both of them. Nobody ever even thought to wonder who that bat and that hedgehog were, or why they were there.

They walked out with no trouble, the two uniforms, and even a polite wave from the security guard.

The hybrid felt nothing but a small hint of relief as Omega drove their car out of the industrial area where the warehouse was. They headed down the winding dirt roads towards the G.U.N. facility, and he busied himself with struggling into his outfit. He worked his way into a navy blue jacket and loose matching pants, pulling down a company-issued baseball cap to complete the look.

Shadow glowered over at Rouge, noticing that she had completed the entire process both quickly and effortlessly, not even messing up her hair in the process.

“How in the name of chaos did you manage that?” he growled.

“What?” she asked innocently, smiling at him.

“Your hair.” he snapped.

“Oh, it’s all experience, Shadow! I’m used to quick costume changes- it comes with the job, you know.” Rouge replied pleasantly. 

Shadow was certain that she enjoyed torturing him like this. He scoffed, irritated, and chose not to dignify that statement with a response. Instead, he stared at the rear view mirror and pushed his skewed quills this way and that until he was satisfied.

The team was there within the hour, parked a ways down the road. They didn’t get out, though- they just...stared at it for quite a while. The structure was situated in the middle of the fields with no other buildings for miles around. Perfect for a place people shouldn’t know existed. Shadow silently thanked the stars that Team Dark had needed a high level of clearance to do their job- and for Omega’s pride.

The facility was made of cold, dark steel, shaped like a perfect rectangle. It had no guard towers, no large, automated weapons systems, yet it still appeared incredibly large and imposing. The few guards visible were stationed at the gate and patrolling the perimeter. 

It almost seemed like G.U.N. didn’t expect an attack.

The apprehension in the car was suffocating. Shadow got out first, forcing himself to move. If he didn’t, the hybrid doubted he’d be able to go through with the plan at all. “So where to now?” he asked, checking his appearance one last time in the reflection on the car door. It still didn’t look like his reflection. That was good.

“Through that big door.” Rouge said confidently, pointing it out. She’d gotten Shadow to slice two slits in her shirt, making sure her wings were available at a moment’s notice. “Then we let Omega in at the side- I’ll be the one to disable the camera.”

They walked cautiously towards the door, but there was no need for worry. The guards waved them right through. Shadow forced a small smile onto his face, despite the motion feeling incredibly fake. He had to sell it for this to work.

The moment the two got through the door, they rushed through a maintenance hall to the side door. Rouge took a deep breath and let it out quietly. “Game face, Shadow.”

He acknowledged her with a nod, pushing his thought processes fully into ‘mission mode’. He couldn’t remember exactly when he’d learned how to do this, but his suspicions were that having to steal a Chaos Emerald for a supervillain had played a pretty big role.

Rouge flew up to the camera and disconnected it from behind, with a practice that revealed her many years of experience as a thief. Omega was difficult to spot, but Shadow saw him hunched down in the long, golden grass. The robot looked both ways before blasting across the field to the opening. 

Once he was inside, the three headed back towards the main corridor. “Let’s go.” Rouge whispered, her voice utterly serious.

Team Dark made their way through the halls slowly, ears (and auditory receptors) searching for any kind of noise. They made sure to avoid all the security cameras, too, moving slowly but staying out of sight. 

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps made all three freeze. Low chatter reached their position, the words unintelligible but signifying danger all the same. The noise was getting closer.

And closer.

Shadow shoved Rouge and Omega roughly into a nearby supply closet and shut it silently- there wasn’t enough room for him too. He jumped up to the ceiling and clung to the ducts there, making sure to hide in one of the darkest parts. As the voices approached, he felt incredibly thankful for his strength.

The guards appeared at the end of the hallway, and he held his breath, not daring to move a muscle. They spoke loudly, utterly unaware of their secret audience. 

“Ugh. I hate it when these lights short out,” one said as they walked through a dark patch of the hall. 

“I know, right? This is like the third time this week.”

“...”

Shadow waited, bracing his feet further against one of the larger pipes….

“I like it better in the security room. These walking shifts suck.”

“Yeah, you can just chill and eat there. We’ve got that shift later, did ya know?”

“Oh, sweet. Then I can finally eat this sandwich. Got it off that new restaurant…”

“...”

Evidently, they were too wrapped up in their conversation to notice the hybrid’s presence in between the lights. Once the guards were long gone, all three sighed, relieved.

The next set of patrollers were much easier to avoid, thankfully. All they had to do was hide around a corner out of sight, and then it was a straight shot to the video storage rooms.

Each entered a separate room, making eye contact one last time before heading in. Shadow turned the cold handle cautiously, slipping around the corner of the doorframe and staying in the darkness. He allowed the lock to slide silently into place, looking around for security cameras. There were none...interesting. He supposed that G.U.N. didn’t want any record of what was stored here, either.

Shadow stalked amongst the shelves for a minute, but froze in place when the handle rattled and the lock clicked open. He stood utterly still, holding his breath again as the guard shone his light around the space. When they left, he remained still while they checked the other storage rooms, only letting himself move once they were gone.

The hybrid began to walk again, his face blank and cold. He scanned the shelves methodically, gaze flicking among the white plastic boxes stacked row by row. He couldn’t afford to waste a single second, so he moved quickly.

Perfect Chaos...the Master Emerald...Big the Cat?

There.

Shadow spotted the box labeled ‘ARK Files’....but it appeared that there were multiple of these. He pulled them out and onto the floor, searching for the right dates. There were tapes stretching all the way back to the construction of Space Colony ARK, in ‘39. After an agonizing minute, Shadow found the tapes from ‘51 in the third box, so he returned the other two and exited the room as silently as he came.

He tapped out the team’s special code on the wall: one, one-two, one-two-three. It was, of course, based on Omega’s series numbers.

Rouge and Omega left their rooms, and the bat smiled darkly at him once she saw the container in his arms. Good, she mouthed. Now out.

They were nearly caught as they hurried through the halls, since carrying a decent-sized box significantly limited Shadow’s maneuverability. When a pair of voices started up again, he was the one shoved in the same closet as last time, along with Omega. Rouge, too, chose to hide on the ceiling, but hooked her knees around a duct first; after all, she was a bat. Hanging on tightly to another pipe with her hands, she watched as the guards passed right underneath her with no trouble.

Nobody ever thought to look up for people hiding. 

Team Dark finally made it back to the hall they’d started in, and the two ‘organics’, as Omega put it, removed their uniforms and left them in a pile on the floor. The E-series robot himself, meanwhile, added the box to his ever-growing stash of G.U.N. blackmail inside his compartment. 

Shadow pushed open the door carefully and the three rushed outside. They pressed themselves against the building (or made a valiant attempt to do so in Omega’s case) to hide from any potential guards.

As they began to make their way across the tall fields of grass, Rouge’s ears flicked up. “Guards. Four o’clock. Get down.”

Shadow’s special agent training kicked in and he hit the dirt, turning his head to see Omega doing the same. One last rush of adrenaline flooded his system, his body shaking slightly with energy and almost numb at the exact same time.

He fought for control of himself despite this, refusing to give in to his exhaustion. Shadow wasn’t out of danger yet, and he couldn’t afford to let anything slide.

The guards passed by quickly, honestly, but it seemed like hours. The location of the team’s car was in the front of his mind, almost pinging as though he had a radar system inside his head. The hybrid practically felt each individual step of the two humans, even as he ached to get up and sprint away as fast as possible.

As soon as the guards were gone, all three blasted across the fields, jumped into their car, and reversed out of there at top speed.

They couldn’t return to the motel- of that everyone was certain. Shadow would have to be extremely careful about using his alias again, too, since G.U.N. would be onto them in a matter of minutes. The team was already preparing to find a new place to stay. But they had the files, and they had each other.

They were close now.

…

Back at G.U.N. headquarters, the commander returned from vacation to find about twenty different memos on his desk, as well as hundreds of emails demanding to know what was going on. 

He sighed, looking at the mess. “What is going on?”

The words rogue agents and secrecy compromised caught his eye, making the commander sit up a little straighter in his seat. This kind of situation could be downright dangerous for the organization as a whole, depending on who the agents were and how big the breach was. He continued reading.

Agents Shadow, Rouge and Omega removed classified files from the premises and evaded capture later that day…

The commander swore under his breath, significantly more worried than before. Rogue agents were one thing, but rogue agents with superpowers and incredible resources on their side? That was another entirely. But why would they want to betray G.U.N.- he’d thought that they were committed to working on the right side of the law now!

Files stolen: Personal File on Maria Robotnik.

Oh. 

He supposed that this made a little more sense. After all, the commander had acted rather rashly based on his memories of her as well. But what in the world could have set Shadow off so badly that he’d act against G.U.N.? Especially if he knew the commander’s past….

He called in a squad leader on the spot. When the middle-aged woman appeared at his desk, he looked her straight in the eyes. “I presume you’ve heard about the security breach.”

“Yes, sir.” she replied.

“I need you to send out two of our best recon agents. If Team Dark really has decided to betray us, then I need to know everything about why and what they’ll do next. Do everything you can to get some time with Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles Prower. They’re close with the team, and they might have some answers for us. Got it?” 

“Understood, sir!” she said crisply, before turning to leave his office. 

Once he was alone again, the commander heaved a sigh and stared at his computer screen, preparing to type out an email sending the entire organization into a Level 3 Alert. What in the name of Chaos was going on here?

…

If the commander had followed his subordinate, he might have begun to understand what was happening.

He was not an unjustly cruel man- for the most part. The Shadow issue had been an emotional time, and that was an anomaly. However, this violent tendency was not an anomaly in and of itself.

In the end, G.U.N. was a military organization. They did have a history of resorting to violence too quickly (Maria’s death was a glaring reminder of that for the commander). They had jurisdiction that was far wider than most would expect. And they were often called in first during uncertain situations, before any other government agency.

So when the squad leader returned to her team’s office, she told them about their mission: to get as much information as possible about Team Dark’s motivations, behaviors, and potential future movements….with full authorization, from her, to do so by any means necessary.

After all, this was a security breach, and a danger to the entire organization. It had been classified a Level 3 Alert, and was likely to go up at any moment. 

They had authorization to do whatever they needed. 

What could go wrong there?