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sairenharia · 2 months ago

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A Tale From Two Hedgehogs

So just thinking about Sonic 3 and depending on which Hedgehog you're following, the movie is so very different, its hilarious.

Many spoilers ahead.

First is Sonic's perspective and yeah, you would think its obvious the movie he's in, except this whole movie and his actions are HELLA informed from his experiences and Sonic makes that clear in the when he decides that no, they are NOT working with GUN until he knows what's going on.

The movie, for Sonic, starts with GUN asking for help in a presumed deal with GUN where they leave his family alone in Green Hills (thus why Knuckles leaving in the minseries is granted as an opportunity, Green Hills is considered a containment zone of sorts), where Team Sonic helps deal with big threats. (And also probably are providing rings to GUN since Knuckles and Tails would have the information on how to get more.)

So Sonic gets recruited to help save the world and he's fine with that! He likes helping the world and it could be fun fighting aliens. Sure, GUN isn't giving him any details, seriously what is UP with their communication, but that's fine. If he can restrain the threat, he can see if there's a problem and decide from there, for now, time to meet a new alien!

And then he sees another alien hedgehog and while he knows other alien hedgehogs should exist, its the first one he's seen in a long time, perhaps the first one he's ever actually REMEMBERED seeing, and he sees all the GUN agents on the ground and vehicles all over the place so he knows the Hedgehog is dangerous, but he just wants to keep Shadow still and TALK to him.

Sonic doesn't want to fight, but then Knuckles starts it and well, now he just has to go with momentum and oh shit, he's fast and strong and does the same sparky thing as Sonic and he gets away, but notably, he doesn't do any permanent damage to them.

Sonic finally has to slow down with the handcuffs and he has to take stock of what happened and he wants answers because he has a lot of questions and doesn't have a threat to deal with in front of him, so he talks to Walters.

And Walters tells him his name is Shadow, he's been on Earth for FIFTY YEARS, and he only found pain where Sonic found family.

And Walters says Shadow was too dangerous to let walk around, but too valuable to destroy and boy, the CHILL that must have sent down Sonic's spine.

Confirming for Sonic that his seven years AVOIDING the government was absolutely the right fucking call.

Because that is the thing to consider throughout this whole movie. The reason why Sonic chose to live in a cave alone for seven years. I've seen people comment on Sonic's paranoia of GUN and how interesting it is that he was the one making certain tactical decisions before Tails whose undoubtedly smarter than Sonic, but that's the thing about THIS Sonic. This Sonic has a whole lot more justified paranoia he's been working under.

So he hears Shadow has been in cyro and he picks up someone had to have let him out.

Sonic sees the writing on the wall already, especially after the Knuckles miniseries where he already knows there's some agents who really don't see the aliens as people and will use them for their own profit.

Someone freed Shadow. That someone is associated with GUN and wants to use Shadow. Because that is what Sonic is used to watching out for. People to use him for his power.

Then Egg Drones show up and he's being handed a key to a superweapon that, AT THIS POINT, he has no reason to think as important for what he's dealing with.

Like okay, Walters, he'll hold it and protect it, but he has a hedgehog to hunt down. He'll talk to GUN later about handing it over after he knows what's going on with SHADOW because he has no his priorities THANK YOU.

He already doesn't trust GUN. GUN didn't see fit to mention the alien he was dealing with was another hedgehog. GUN didn't tell him they had another hedgehog they had for FIFTY YEARS on ice. Shadow hadn't done them any serious harm. Shadow told Sonic to not follow.

Shadow had been RUNNING AWAY and frankly he has zero reason to want to stop Shadow from doing so.

Maybe Shadow is dangerous, but I think at this point, Sonic has zero desire to capture Shadow. His concern is whoever FREED him.

Then he meets Robotnik and he has to deal with THIS GUY, but someone has stolen his tech, thus proving this person has some serious knowledge and connections with the government and GUN and he doesn't trust Robotnik at all.

But he wants to find Shadow because someone absolutely wants to use him and he doesn't want that to happen.

So FINE, he agrees.

And they go to the GUN base and look around and oh hey.

No, it wasn't that Shadow didn't just found pain. He DID have someone who cared about him. Who treated him like a person. Like family as he sees a picture with a smiling girl.

And Sonic likely wonders how much that Incident Walters mentioned was at all Shadow's fault. After all, Shadow is the valuable asset. Shadow was the science experiment. Shadow is the one who has a friend he cared about. Shadow is the one who just wanted to run away. What set off the incident and how much was it Shadow wanting to cause harm and how much was it other people using him.

Sonic has little reason to believe GUN was in the right for whatever the incident was. GUN, so far, has done very little to earn any of Sonic's trust. So far the only thing they have done in canon is try to offer some aid in dealing with Emerald Robotnik after TASING him and refusing to give Tails MEDICAL ATTENTION as he begged for it.

He had to save the world to be given the grace to live his life in Green Hills.

GUN is not to be trusted, and as he sees the laboratory, and the solitary room with signs of a home. There was a home. But it was a carved out oasis in the middle of Sonic's darkest nightmares.

Her name is Maria and he picks this up from a drawing on the wall. (According to the novelization and well, we don't know where else he could learn her name. Sonic is A+ at reading environmental storytelling.)

Then Shadow appears, and talks about being tired of giving him warnings and there is confirmation, Shadow was WARNING him. Shadow wasn't trying to kill them at first, he wanted them to BACK OFF.

And then he wakes up and OF COURSE Robotnik is betraying him, he can't say he's surprised, but there is a second one and NOW he finds out whose using Shadow.

Oh.

And GUN after him to design a superweapon and then LET HIM GO.

After keeping him imprisoned for fifty years.

And you know, expected Nothing Could Go Wrong with THAT.

The amount of mental screaming Sonic is doing at how much grace GUN offers up HUMANS versus HIM, the alien who SAVED THE WORLD.

And Shadow blames GUN for whatever happened to Her, presumably the girl, Maria, and yep, yep, okay, so GUN got her dead and either it was the incident they blamed Shadow for or it CAUSED that incident.

Oh, also that key? MATTERS RIGHT NOW apparently,

He should have given that thing more attention, how was he supposed to know the superweapon Walters was concerned about would be the same thing the person who freed Shadow wanted, WHO EXPECTS TRYING TO GET TWO SUPERWEAPONS AT ONCE.

And then he almost dies from a black hole and FUCK.

Shadow is being used, he is still Concerned about that, but now there is a superweapon to be worried about and Sonic has to shift priorities.

GUN's already let Gerald go, they clearly don't think he's a threat and don't know Robotnik is alive and they are a whole other kind of threat than Team Sonic because again.

GUN gives grace to HUMANS.

Not the ALIENS.

Sonic doesn't even know Rockwell blames him for Walters dying, he just knows that without Walters, he's unlikely to get GUN to LISTEN to him about Gerald and Robotnik and he knows they're going to be moving fast, so they have to move FASTER.

If they can get the key, they can keep the superweapon from being used and that gives them time to either get Shadow or talk to GUN, he can smooth over things with GUN when there isn't a potential cataclysm about to happen.

BUT APPARENTLY ROCKWELL EXPECTED SONIC TO COME FOR THE KEY?

He still doesn't know he's being blamed for Walters death.

He doesn't know why Rockwell expected him here right now, but he chocks it up to the usual 'he's an alien and isn't trusted' and yeah, FINE, but he is NOT interested in being captured, and he knows Shadow and Stone are still free and both are far too dangerous. He needs OUT.

Thank you Knuckles.

And less thank you Knuckles.

He needs to escape, he needs to figure out a way out, and-

His family is in danger.

Nothing else matters in this moment. His family is in danger and he can't move he can't move he can't move and he HAS TO MOVE.

And a power he so rarely uses, not his speed, but the power to short out machines and he pulls up the strength to MOVE and his family is saved.

And he's shaken. He almost lost his family, but there is-there is the KEY. Shadow and Stone are still out there, he can't trust GUN to keep the Robotniks contained, they still needed the key and to protect it.

Tom has an idea and Sonic watches him go and there is fear around his heart, but his dad his capable. His dad has managed all the other drama before. He will be fine, even if he did almost lose him.

He would be fine.

He got the key. So see! He's fine!

Except then he wasn't.

Tom was trying to help Sonic, and then he was put to the ground.

Like Longclaw protecting him as a child.

Like Tails on the mountain.

Now Tom was on the ground and the one who did it was Shadow. This hedgehog who had wanted to run away.

This hedgehog who had been pulling his punches until Gerald got him and pulled him into whatever he wanted to use him for.

This hedgehog who had a family and lost them.

This hedgehog who had suffered the fate Sonic had desperately hid from for SEVEN YEARS.

And now this hedgehog may have just taken the first person who Sonic had been able to connect with since Longclaw.

His DAD.

And before this moment, Sonic is doing what Sonic does. Sonic who offers empathy and sympathy to everyone he meets. The Sonic who offers his hand and understanding even to those who have tried to hurt him if he gets even a hint they might be receptive.

Shadow is Sonic if Sonic hadn't hid away. Shadow was taken in and treated as an experiment, a resource to use, and asset. Too dangerous to let walk free, too valuable to destroy. Who can say what kind of horrible experiments were done to him. Maybe they were fairly mundane. Maybe they were terrible. The only hope of mercy Sonic could have that they weren't the worst was Maria's existence. Surely there must have been SOME restraint if they allowed a child to interact with him.

But Shadow was never a person to most of those people. He was a subject.

Shadow had just wanted to be free. He wasn't looking to kill, he was only seeking peace for himself and had no option, but to try and escape GUN for it. GUN who didn't accept no, as he knows, he hid from them for MONTHS and they didn't back off. He was someone who had bonded with a girl enough to take pictures with her. He had family and lost it and at first only wanted to be away from those who hurt him.

He doesn't know if it was easy for Gerald to manipulate him or hard, but he's sure there was manipulation. After all, Ivo did the same with Knuckles. Sonic may not always be the smartest, but he's proven in the movie series, time and again, to be a fairly good reader of PEOPLE. He's never been wrong when he's decided to offer trust.

Then his dad is on the ground and he throws away all that understanding because he hurts and he doesn't WANT to feel anymore sympathy.

He wants to hurt the person who might have taken away someone so important to him. Who he owes his whole life too.

He outright rejects the idea they might be the same because he knows they're the same. He's spent this whole movie knowing it, but he doesn't WANT to be the same because he knows how he is when he empathizes and he wants to be angry.

The smart thing would have been to focus on the cannon.

He already flew through it once. Sure, Shadow can teleport, or manipulate time, but Sonic is moving faster than he can normally, and Shadow can only be in one place and a space station will only have so many contingencies for breaches in the hull. A few more passes through the thing and he could have wrecked it before it was done.

Now maybe the explosion would have still be dangerous.

But Sonic isn't thinking about the Cannon.

All he wants is to hurt Shadow for what he did, so he goes for him.

And SO FRUSTRATINGLY, they hit the Earth and Shadow knocks out the gems and then the gems are between them and he knows he can't fight Shadow and win on his own, he needs them BACK and for a moment, he thinks he has the power he needs.

But then Shadow also has it.'

....and Sonic decides that no. The fight is still going to happen. He doesn't care. He doesn't CARE. He just wants Shadow to HURT and PAY for everything he did.

And then he's losing steam and Shadow is talking about how he's being a poor hero and Sonic is still too angry to listen even as some part of his words are getting through, digging at his heart, until he says TOM and all that rage surges back and then they're on the Moon and never before has Sonic has truly wanted to KILL.

Debatably he's done things that risked people's lives, with San Fransisco and letting Robotnik fall with the robot.

But he's never wanted to END a life ON PURPOSE.

And he has Shadow and he could do it. Shadow's down, he's won, and he has the power to do it and Shadow-

Shadow is basically begging for it. has been provoking Sonic to do it.

Because Sonic is good at reading people and he understands this Shadow so well and even if he's never so acutely wished for death, there has almost certainly been moments where he's wished for an end in those seven long years.

A realization that breaks momentum as he looks to Shadow's heart and remembers what Tom told him, what Tom would want, what Longclaw would want.

What HE wants.

And he understands that even if Tom is dead in the hospital, killing Shadow will not do anything for him. Shadow is already following through on his revenge plan and its done nothing for him except make him want to die.

And Sonic lets go of his want for revenge, sitting on the Moon as he realizes his anger has gotten him nothing. Even as Shadow demands he take his revenge, to win, he knows it wouldn't be a win.

He's silent, not sure what he wants in that moment, until Shadow finally speaks.

And the thing Sonic had been wanting until Tom was on the ground, they finally talk.

Shadow speaks of pain and not knowing what to do and Sonic's empathy hits him full force.

A lonely soul who had been unfortunate enough to be found by the wrong people, but got lucky enough to have one shining light. Just to lose it again.

Just like when Sonic lost Longclaw and was lost in the pain and loneliness, but no target to take it out on. Only able to find a way to move on so he didn't die alone in that cave.

And he offers Shadow the thing that kept him going. That Longclaw and him had loved each other and let it shine brighter than the pain.

And Shadow speaks of stars and light and Sonic sees it. He sees Shadow opening up the door that had been shut tight since Tokyo and Sonic feels hope that Shadow could be helped.

He WOULD be helped. Sonic would do it.

And then they remember the cannon and they have to go and this time, Sonic is all too happy to share the power and its frankly amazing how in synch they are. They don't have to talk, its just easy to fight with each other.

The new hedgehog is even sassy and he loves it.

And they stop the cannon, even if his plan is just hold the laser. There isn't more, other than hope. That either Tails and Knuckles are making up for his reckless actions as they usually do, or who knows, maybe Robotnik. He knows the mad genius isn't for the destroy the Earth plan and surely he knows the deal by now. Luckily the cannon is starting to move away from the Earth, but its getting drawn out and Sonic can feel it. He's losing his grip on the god form and he tries, he fights to hold it.

But he can't.

And the next thing he knows, he's on Earth, looking at the sky, and hears Shadow and Robotnik had sacrificed themselves to stop the cannon and all he can remember is there is always a choice.

Shadow had made a choice to do the right thing.

A choice Sonic pushed him into being able to make.

Because when people help Sonic, they end up getting hurt.

And that definitely isn't becoming a worrying trend.

He focuses on apologizing to his friends, trying to not make the team so him focused and maybe that will change things, but he still mourns the hedgehog who was him if he had been caught earlier.

By the end of the movie, while Sonic is missing some of the details, he knows so much about Shadow, knows how alike they are.

And then there's Shadow.

Who is having a very different experience and knows basically JACK SHIT.

He arrives on Earth in a meteor. Spends who knows how much time in a tube, being experimented on, boy doesn't even know how to emote most of the time. (The autism vibes so strong in this boy.)

He does what he's told most of the time, sits for the tests, runs the tracks, doesn't know any better.

Then Maria comes in and decides he's friendshaped and they are gonna have SO MUCH FUN because Shadow is a KID and he deserves to be a kid. They get into hijinks and watch movies and see stars.

Also maybe have a misadventure where they go see a bowling tournament, IS THIS WHERE SHADOW LEARNED HOW TO DRIVE A MOTORCYCLE.

Anyway, its honestly probably the best case scenario for the scientists because other than Maria dragging this boy into games, he's obedient and cooperative because Maria is here, he loves Maria, so any discontent or rebellion he was feeling is easy to quell by letting him spend time with her.

And then some higher ups decide that they're not getting ENOUGH out of Shadow, or they think Gerald is doing something shady, whatever the reason, they want to take Shadow away from Maria and it honestly would probably be hellish for Shadow because they were already getting PLENTY out of this boy so if they were unsatisfied, anything more wouldn't be a great time.

All Shadow knows is despite him being SUCH a good boy for them, they wanted to take him away from them and he didn't want that and they try to run and then there's an explosion and he realizes that Maria is GONE and he's in pain.

And I don't think he fights, even then.

If Shadow wanted to get away from them, he could have, but when we see him corralled into the tube, he just looks defeated. He's lost. He doesn't know what to do.

Maria is gone.

The Professor is carted away in cuffs.

The soldier who had been most patient with Maria and his shenanigans is giving orders for him to be contained and Shadow wonders when the experiments will start again as he's still getting over the shock.

And then he realizes they're just going to put him to sleep.

Indefinitely.

They took away Maria and then they were going to put him to sleep and that's when he starts to recognize his rage because the soldier who had been kindest to them was giving this order.

Its that agent that recognizes Shadow will no longer cooperate with them.

That is when he recognizes the feeling of betrayal.

But its too late. He's in the sleep, stuck in dreams of that horrible day. Because even with potentially terrible experiments, nothing compared to the memories of losing his family.

Then he wakes up and if he stays, if he STAYS, he will be stuck in those dreams and so he escapes. He runs as fast as he can so he doesn't have to experience those dreams anymore and then he finds out its been FIFTY YEARS of those dreams.

And again, GUN soldiers show up and he just wants them to leave him alone, let him try and deal with the pain instead of being trapped in it.

And he's not even fighting to kill. He is just fighting to make them STOP. So he can run.

He's fighting, he even sets off an explosion and he sees another GUN helicopter and more agents are coming down and WHY. Why won't they leave him ALONE and he throws a car because maybe these new guys will just get the DAMN MESSAGE ALREADY.

He's surprised when there's no crash and he climbs the pile to see what happened and-

For the first time ever-

He sees someone who looks like him.

And Shadow doesn't remember anything before the meteor. He doesn't know there's more of his species. He's only ever known humans, and now there's a coloful bunch and he has NO IDEA where they came from.

And one looks like him.

But they came out of a GUN helicopter and that means he can't trust them.

Because he had trusted GUN, had listened to them, did everything they wanted, and then they tried to take him away from Maria and then killed her and put him to sleep to suffer his dreams.

Nothing good could come from someone associated with GUN, even if one looked like him. For all he knew, this could be some cloning program or something.

Either way, he wanted to escape, but he's not looking for a fight, so he just tries to walk away and one attacks him and despite sending the red one flying, he is still able to get up.

They're hardier.

So he makes a fucking POINT in his beatdown of them and tells them to not follow him.

And they're definitely hardier as the blue one is back on his feet and KEEPING UP WITH HIM ON A MOTORCYCLE?

Clearly he needs to go for shots that would kill humans because this guy would NOT back off and keeps TALKING and from his perspective, its been hours since Maria died and an eternity of watching her die and he wants this guy GONE.

And still.

He doesn't want to actually kill him.

Even if he goes for a big hit, he knows Sonic is capable of taking a lot of punishment just from the chase, and so just locks him to the railing when he has him down for a moment and he leaves under the cover of darkness.

The blue one has chaos energy like his.

But any curiosity he has is second at best compared to his need to escape and try and process his pain.

He ends up at the lab. He doesn't know why, exactly. Probably because its the only place he's ever known.

He sees it abandoned and its a relief in a way. He could see the place that had once been home without agents on him and maybe that would let him escape the hurt.

Maybe some part of him hopes that maybe, just maybe, he will find out his nightmares were wrong and there was some evidence she survived, though that is a foolish hope.

He explores the halls and his memories, he starts to let himself mourn.

Then the Professor shows up, the only other person who would at least sometimes treat him as a person, or maybe even most of the time. At least enough to address Shadow as a kid and that was better than subject or asset.

And he may not even realize him being so old is weird.

Either way, Shadow trusts this man and he asks for help. Help with the pain. Help to find a way to move on.

And the Professor speaks of revenge and justice and its what Maria deserves and what reason does Shadow have to question him?

He has none, so he listens to the plan. Seeks out an end to pain and justice for Maria.

And then there's another family member to arrive.

AND THE COLORFUL BUNCH.

They're persistent and he's to capture them.

And you know....

He has a little fun with it as he looks for an opportunity. The red one is afraid of ghosts? He's seen ghost movies before.

He says boo and takes him down.

The fox and the...other guy? He's not the grandson so who cares. The fox was the least combat able of the three, so he's not concerned. Listens to them talk.

The fox talks about them being a team and best friends. So the colorful bunch are close.

He waits, let's them notice him and get scared.

Its kind of fun to pretend to be ghost.

And then there's the MOTOR MOUTH.

And he can't play the same game with this guy. He's too fast. If he gives him a chance to react, he'll be a lot harder to capture, so he IMMEDIATELY jumps him and throws him around, he HAS to focus on disabling this one as QUICK as possible.

He's the most frustrating to contend with. He warned him. He WARNED THEM not to follow and now they're here and whatever little curiosity existed about the other hedgehog is nothing compared to his pain and the relief that the Professor has promised.

He supposes it doesn't matter. The blue one would have been gone anyway, its no different if its earlier.

He doesn't even know his name.

After all, the only one to say his name was in a whisper, asking to fight. All he knows is there is a blue hedgehog.

It doesn't matter. He will at least let them know this is for his loss, but he leaves the black hole generator behind and leaves with the only person alive he trusts.

There are no life signs as his old home is erased. The first step in erasing everything to end his pain.

He tells himself he doesn't regret it. That this is right. This is what he should do.

His home is gone.

The only other being he's seen who looks like him is gone.

There is revenge. He will focus on that.

He hates being left behind for the heist, but the grandson's assistant talks of Guac and a food would probably be good with revenge.

Its even served cold, he finds out. Fitting.

He watches telenovelas, keep himself distracted. Watches a woman be treated as a prize and he hates it.

How long had he let GUN treat him as an object? How long did he do what he wanted, and it just resulted in his happiness taken away?

Really, Gabriella could do better.

The assistant talks of ruling.

He might wonder if the Professor told the grandson the plan was to die. Was it just the assistant in the dark, or was it both of them?

Then the Fox is on the screen and THEY'RE NOT DEAD?

He has no idea how they got away. If they could teleport, they would have done it while chasing him, wouldn't they?

Much like Sonic's name, he'll never learn of the rings.

They are set down the sewers and Shadow leaves the assistant behind. If he doesn't know of the plan to die, this is better. He would just be in the way.

But if the colorful bunch, if the blue one, are here, they could be a problem. the Professor and the grandson believe they're dead, they wouldn't be in the calculations.

He heads to GUN headquarters, but he's patient. He tries to take stock of the situation, see if the Professor and the grandson have been fully compromised.

There is a sudden explosion as something hits the building and was it the red one?

Why is he attacking GUN headquarters????

Doesn't matter. Shadow watches the building, looking for some sign of the Professor, some sign of the key, and the Ultimate Lifeform has some great eyes because through the window, he sees someone familiar.

He's older. A lot older, but his face had been burned in his face for fifty years, the traitor. Because he wasn't surprised in that hallway.

He's on the move.

He doesn't see when the disguise flashes down, bursting through the ceiling as Tom puts it back up.

He gets his first taste of real revenge, and he gets the key. Maybe he even feels some kind of satisfaction for those few moments.

Then the disguise lowers and he's confused. That wasn't Walters. Why was someone disguised as Walters? Another thief?

And then that VOICE.

Calling for Tom, saying they had to go and Shadow sees the blue hedgehog whose focused on him at first, until he sees the figure that's now on the ground.

Whose Tom.

And when that's all the blue one can focus on.

Shadow is processing what he sees. This Tom was stealing the key, thus the disguise. The blue one was trying to steal the key, that's why the red one attacked the building.

Were they...not apart of GUN?

But before he could really process that, he watches the blue one begging for Tom to wake up. Holding him with love and utter desperation.

Just like he had when Maria would no longer move.

Except this time, he was the reason why the person was no longer moving.

The blue one looks to him, demanding what did he do.

For the first time, Shadow sees it. Every other time the blue one and him had faced off, there had been no true hostility. Determination, challenging, but there was no rage, no personal desire to cause harm.

He knows because he can see the rage and hate in his eyes now.

Now he wanted to cause harm.

Shadow looks to the key and he tells himself its for Maria, this is what he had to do and its the only answer he can give the blue one before he runs.

But he can't stop thinking about it.

He had caused his pain in someone else.

He has no idea what relationship the colorful bunch has with GUN, but they were trying to steal form them. Likely to stop them from getting the superweapon.

Tails spoke of them as a team, as friends.

Tom was clearly in that vein.

He took that away.

He asks the Professor if this is what Maria would have wanted. He can't imagine Maria would ever want to cause the harm Shadow was suffering. To separate a family like that.

But the Professor doesn't speak of Maria's wants. Just what those who took her away deserve.

And it hurts.

It HURTS.

He remembers his own pain. What he lost. The anger he saw on the blue one's face, the hate he must feel now. Its just what people do who hurt like this.

The hurt will end soon enough, at least. For him. For the Professor.

For the blue one.

He charges the cannon.

Ah, the grandson didn't know after all.

That seems unkind, but at least it would only be for a few minutes.

And then there is a streak of gold coming for the cannon.

And its the BLUE ONE, now gold for SOME REASON and a hitting a whole lot harder and he has no idea where THIS came from or how.

The blue one yells about Shadow taking his family.

Oh.

The colorful bunch aren't just friends.

They're family.

He took his family away.

The gold one doesn't even pay the cannon any mind. This isn't about saving the world, this is about hurting Shadow.

After all, this is what people who are hurt DO.

He calls out the blue one even as he tries to deny it, but that's fine. He knows the truth.

The blue one just proves his actions right. If someone with family still alive would make this choice, then its only expected he does as well.

There is a part of him that thinks he could just let the blue one kill him. The cannon is charged. It will destroy the earth. His revenge is assured.

....no.

Mostly assured.

There is a chance that the blue one will go back for the cannon.

Shadow will give the blue one what he wants, but he would have to wait a few minutes.

He fights back. There are gems that suddenly appear and the blue one is blue again and he doesn't understand, but he can feel it.

There is chaos energy in those gems.

The reason for his power he can only assume and if the blue one has it, then he might be too much for Shadow to keep distracted a few minutes.

So he reaches for them and he feels the surge of power and he sees the blue one has the surge too. That's fine. Things will be over in a few minutes, he just needs the blue one focused on him.

They fight across the world.

He's seen more of the Earth in these few minutes than he has in his whole life.

Part of him wants to give the blue one his revenge. Let him have that one last thing.

Another part of him is, admittedly, angry.

The blue one still had family. The fox and the red one. They weren't there. They didn't agree with what the blue one was doing. They had likely tried to talk him down. He doesn't know their relationship with GUN, but their group was clearly interested in playing hero.

The blue one still had family and he was here, trying to kill Shadow while the world was in danger, making the same choices Shadow did and even as he wants to give the blue one his revenge, he also hates him.

Just like he hates himself.

He wants the blue one to hurt before his satisfaction.

He twists the knife, mocks him for abandoning his friends for revenge when he tried to talk Shadow down in the base, like he was somehow better when they're the same.

The hit is a lot harder than the others, hard enough he loses his grasp on the extra power he had been getting from the gems.

He hits the Moon and he loses the white gold to his fur.

Ah.

He's done.

Hopefully it will be enough time for the cannon.

The blue one is there, pinning him to the ground and murder in his eyes, but he's hesitated and he doesn't know why.

He challenges him. Tells him to end it. Points to the same place Maria had said where he was and challenges him (begs him) to end his suffering once and for all.

And of all things...

The blue one doesn't.

Let's him go.

And the golden light fails as he walks away, curls up, looking defeated.

And Shadow doesn't understand. He's won. He should have his revenge.

It is the only kindness Shadow can offer anymore, the means to end the source of the blue one's pain. To let him win.

And the blue one says there are no winners in revenge.

Simple. Concise. No motor mouth. No heroic platitudes.

And Shadow...

Can't argue.

He is about to have his revenge and he doesn't feel like he's won either.

He just hurts.

And for a few moments, they have stopped and all he can do is feel that hurt. He looks to the sky, sees the stars, and remembers Maria.

And like in the base...

He talks about her. Speaks of his pain. How its all he knows.

Like he did with the Professor. Who told him revenge was the way, the only way, and he expects that, or silence, made to live with pain.

Instead the blue one speaks of a Longclaw. Someone he lost, and how he felt like all he could know is pain.

Sympathy. Empathy.

Shadow asks if the pain went away.

And the blue one said no.

For a moment, he's disheartened, but the blue one continues to speak.

The pain didn't go away, but there was something stronger. The love they felt for each other, and he tells Shadow he needs to hold onto that.

Says she'll never be gone as long as he holds onto that love.

The blue one knows Maria's name. He doesn't know how. He never said it, nor the Professor

He still learned it.

It feels a little more real that way.

And he sees his first sunrise in person, over the Earth, bathing the dark blue in brilliant light.

The light shines even though the star is gone.

The love could still shine bright and finally, there is something more in his heart than pain.

Then he sees the cannon and he realizes that everything is about to be gone. How grave a mistake he's made. How he thought he didn't have a choice.

And the blue one, who had wanted to kill him not even two minutes ago, says there is always a choice. Assures him he can make them now and stands up, and says its normal to need help to give the big mistakes.

He offers him his hand and his help and Shadow finally looks at the blue hedgehog and lets himself take that hand. Even lets his curiosity about the other shine through as he asks if he has a catch phrase of all things.

He lets out the part of himself that would hang out in pillowforts and make food angels, finding himself teasing and snarking with the blue, finding it fun to challenge and provoke him and to fight with him.

He doesn't feel so alone, even with how dire things are.

But they're running out of time and he calls for the blue one and he's there for the last of the clean up and has a ridiculous plan to just hold the laser in hopes something will happen on the space station.

Shadow doesn't know what.

Except then the laser starts moving????

He has no idea how the blue one accounted for THAT.

Except the cannon is a lot of energy, and the blue one is starting to go blue again.

They have to hold.

And he does, just long enough for the laser to not hit the Earth, but he falls and without his help, Shadow feels himself hit by the laser and he's sent flying away.

Doesn't hurt as much as he thinks its should.

(The cannon, after all, is using HIS energy. His power. And much like Sonic, and much like Knuckles, he can take back his own power, so getting it blasted into his face doesn't hit as hard as it should.)

At least, he's still conscious. Disorientated, but the laser has stopped. He looks for the blue one.

He can't see him.

He doesn't know where he is.

Without the golden light, there was every reason the laser killed him.

Could he survive re-entry even if he survived?

The cannon is starting to explode and he doesn't know where the blue one is, and he doesn't know if the cannon exploding is good or bad and he has to KNOW.

He teleports onto the cannon.

The Professor is gone.

He can't ask about that.

The grandson is there and he asks what will happen if the cannon explodes.

This close, it would destroy the Earth.

He can't try to find the blue one. There is no time.

The blue one would want him to save his family. He imagines, at least.

The grandson was at least invested in saving the world, so Shadow tells him to buy him time so he can get the cannon away.

He takes off his inhibitor rings. The things that let him control his energy so he doesn't burn himself out. He takes that boost and he pushes with all his might and he thinks of Maria.

Thinks of all the happy times and love.

He find the strength to push, sure he would die doing this one last thing, but content with his decision until the explosion.

(He doesn't know how much connection to others has proven to allow both Sonic and Knuckles to reabsorb their energy and again, the cannon is HIS power.)

He wakes up on the Earth, rings nearby. He puts them on.

And by the end of it all...

All he knows about this blue hedgehog whose been showing up all over the place and knows Maria's name is that he has a family that includes a fox, whatever the red thing is, a human that he may have killed, may or may not be working with GUN, has someone named Longclaw he lost, is a motor mouth, some weird super gems, and ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ELSE. Not why there's this blue hedgehog here, if he's an alien or a clone or something else, why he wants to save Earth, just none of his life story. He knows basically nothing about Sonic.

Including his fucking NAME.

And he came in and just became the second more influential person in all of Shadow's life.

The entire movie, Sonic is just piecing together like eighty percent of Shadow's life and he can make some pretty solid educated guesses on the other twenty percent post meteor. Sonic has Shadow's whole deal ON LOCK.

And from Shadow's perspective, this GODDAMN PEST would just keep showing up everywhere even after seemingly dying, someone keeping pace despite the fact they're crossing continent, whose allegiances are confusing as hell, and then instead of murdering Shadow like he wants, he decides to forgive him and gives him more care and understanding than anyone else besides Maria.

And they both end the movie probably thinking the other is dead and Shadow has no idea how to find Sonic and Sonic doesn't know to even look for him.

Like these two got a wildly amount of different information on the situation and each other and its hilarious Sonic has all the Solid Information and Shadow is running on Vibes.

God I hope their reunion is a disaster spiderman meme pointing at each other 'WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE NOT MCFUCKING DEAD???'

#sonic the hedgehog #live action sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #the movie is so funny when you think what people see and know #And like outside the hedgehogs #The Wachowskis looking at Sonic mourning this boy who almost murdered Tom #WHOOPS ALIEN EXPERIMENT TRAUMA #MOON BONDING CHANGES MINDS #I mean #they're used to it because look at Knuckles #But it really is like #'we gotta stop leaving Sonic with his villains he keeps on befriending them'#or maybe leave him with them faster #Tails and Knuckles genuinely surprised GUN base trip didn't end in Robotnik being Sonic's new best friend

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