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Shadow leaned back in his lawn chair; his hands were folded behind his head, his legs were crossed, and his eyes were closed behind his shiny black sunglasses. At his feet, his chao played in the sand, making tiny castles and little happy noises, and every once in awhile it would chatter at him when it had finished something it was particularly proud of, and he would sit up and smile fondly and say how nice it had turned out, before he leaned back and closed his eyes again. And repeat.
And so it had been for the last three days.
No bothering from Sonic. No plots by Eggman. No calls from Rouge that were less “Help me” and more “Hey can you come break me out of prison again I don't want to smudge my makeup when I kick down this wall...”
Wait.
Shadow froze for a moment, looking like he'd just turned into a fuzzy block of ice.
Nothing. Crazy. Had happened. For three. Days.
Damnit, the world was ending, wasn't it?
With a sigh, he stood up, patted his chao on the head, and disappeared.
Sonic's 'house' (it really shouldn't count as a house, all things considered) was empty, but then it usually was so that wasn't surprising. But when Shadow appeared at Tails' residence (which WAS a proper house, with en suite workshop topped with crazy gadgets and what looked like a whole rocket ship), there was nobody there either. Shadow tested the door, finding it locked, but of course that didn't deter him when he could just teleport in.
Even better, the fox's security system didn't seem to know how to deal with that, so nothing started blaring an alarm or trying to shoot him. Bonus.
Shadow peered around the dark workshop, but there was not a hint of anyone. In fact—he swiped a finger along the top of a table—it looked like there hadn't been anyone here in a while. Hm. Shadow paced through the aisle of hardware, before a light caught his eye: a large computer screen glowed dimly, showing a PASSWORD indicator...
Well. Shadow wasn't nearly as versed in computers as Rouge was, but he'd picked up a few hints from her. Like what the fox's password was.
To be fair, it was a really good, really complicated password—the sort of thing that only a genius could remember. Too bad for him that Rouge was her own variety of genius and Shadow had a photographic memory.
Shadow finished typing in the 19 random letters and numbers and hit enter. Immediately, the screen was filled with schematics, plans, maps, notes, dozens and dozens of files that had Shadow's eyes crossing, especially when half of them suddenly started sporting red and yellow exclamation mark alerts.
Something was definitely wrong. But unfortunately without anyone else here, Shadow had no idea what.
And Rouge and the fox had disappeared...
But so had Eggman, hadn't he? And that meant that...he would be available. Maybe.
Half an hour later, Shadow knocked on the door of Eggman's most recent base. He wasn't sure if his hunch was correct but...yep, there it was, the distinctive whir-clomp coming closer to the door. Very slowly, the metal creaked open, and a blue and white face peered out with a look that, despite its lack of expression, was very clearly a nervous glare.
“Metal,” Shadow greeted, folding his arms, “Before you slam the door in my face, can I presume that Eggman has been gone for the last three days?”
There was a beat, before Metal beeped something Shadow couldn't understand, and nodded, which he could.
“So have Sonic and his posse. I was hoping you could help me decode some computer jargon to figure out where they went. The fox has all these programs and notifications and buzzers set up and I don't know what any of them mean.”
He was actually slightly concerned that Metal was, in fact, just going to slam the door in his face, before he swung it open farther, and with a little beep nodded his head at the far wall, which was taken up by an enormous screen that looked surprisingly similar to the one in Tails' lab.
“Ah. Yes, that's what I'm getting too. Any idea what it means?” Shadow didn't step into the lab until Metal gestured impatiently for him to do so; as he passed over the threshold, he felt all his fur stand on end. He didn't like being in Eggman's base, but he was generally pretty sure that Metal wouldn't do anything insane, especially with Eggman out of the picture.
The blue robot clomped over to the computer screen, his mechanical fingers flashing over the keyboard, and a moment later, a picture of shimmering gem flashed up on screen. Metal pointed to it, with another beep, as he glanced back at Shadow.
“The Paradox Prism.” Shadow wrinkled his nose, “I can't believe they were going after that. There's nothing good that can come of touching anything with the word 'paradox' attached...”
Metal made a sound that was probably some form of disagreement that Shadow ignored, “So this is something to do with that—any idea what happened to them?”
The whirls and beeps that Metal launched into were clearly intended to be some kind of explanation, which tapered off as Shadow just stared at him; he was pretty sure that if Metal had the capability, he would be sighing and facepalming. The blue robot turned back to the computer, pulling up another window, and began typing frantically.
My calculations indicate a massive surge of paradoxical energy from three days ago. Data indicates that energy from the Paradox Prism would be sufficient to create a series of parallel timelines.
“Why didn't Eggman make you able to talk, anyways?” Shadow muttered, earning himself a stare from Metal, before he continued typing.
My Master and your allies are likely trapped in these parallel timelines of our own reality.
“Huh.” Shadow stared. That was a new one. Somehow not surprising, but new nonetheless, “So...can they get out by themselves?”
Without the presence of a Paradox Prism in those realities, it is unlikely: I calculate a 0.0067% chance.
“That's not particularly high.” Shadow tapped his chin, “But...do you think since we have a Paradox Prism here, we could reach them?”
It is possible.
“All right, then. Where is the Prism?”
Metal pulled up a map, and pointed with one metal claw to a cave system farther north. Shadow understood that without any additional words.
“I can go investigate.” Shadow turned on his heel, and was surprised to hear Metal's footsteps following him, “You're coming too?”
The robot nodded, bright red eyes not giving Shadow any option. The black hedgehog shrugged, and took off, the sound of jet engines following him.
…
The cave was dusty, the walls streaked with what were obviously blast marks, and pieces of robots lay strewn across the floor. Shadow kicked one with the tip of his skate, “Well. They were definitely here.”
Metal nodded in affirmation, whirling around the roof: a moment later beams of red light shot out of his eyes and Shadow realized he was scanning the space. A victorious beep came a moment later, and Metal settled down on the floor; Shadow joined him a beat later.
A shard of crystal lay on the floor, obviously once a piece of something bigger; the blue color shimmering in the light as Metal bent to pick it up. As his claws touched it, little sparks erupted from it, and Metal staggered back, distressed beeping and whirling coming from his machinery.
“Metal?” Shadow didn't know what to do; fortunately the robot seemed to recover after a moment, although he stood stock still for a few seconds, before gesturing that Shadow should be the one to pick up the shard.
Tentatively, Shadow reached for it; he felt a slight static shock when he grasped the crystal, but nothing more. He held it up, examining it...and his face froze in shock, because staring back at him, somehow imbued within the very crystal itself, was Sonic's face, etched in an expression of surprise, wide eyed and mouth open.
“Metal? What's going on?” Shadow's voice was totally flat calm, but underneath was a layer of tension that said that he was about one second away from Chaos blasting something into oblivion.
A beep and a click, and then suddenly an image of Sonic was standing in front of them—or, more accurately, flying through the air into a shimmering beam of light and then...vanishing. With a whir, the projection stopped, and Metal stared back at Shadow with smooth, unfeeling features.
“So...Sonic is...trapped in here?” Shadow waved the crystal, and Metal made a 'more or less' gesture with his hand, “How do we get him out?”
The shrug he instantly understood, “Well we'd better figure it out, because I assume everyone else is trapped too, aren't they?”
Metal nodded.
They spent the next hour or so finding every piece of the Paradox Prism strewn around the room; Metal refused to touch any more of them, so Shadow scooped them up, practically juggling the different shards by the end, glittering pieces of pink and red and purple and green, before lugging them back to Eggman's base and spreading them out on a table, squinting to see the different faces trapped in each piece.
What was odd was that there were more than one of almost all the colors...except for blue. The only blue one he'd found was that very first one. The only Sonic. Shadow picked up the piece and squinted at the blue hedgehog's face, practically able to hear the snarky voice saying, “Like whatcha see, Shadow?”
He snorted, and turned back to Metal, who was waiting impatiently, and the pose he was doing made Shadow's heart hurt even more because it was a perfect imitation of Sonic: hands on his hips, foot tapping.
“I'm sorry, I'm sorry.” Shadow walked up to the computer screen so he could see what Metal had typed.
I believe I can rig something using the shards of the prism that will enable us to access the alternate universes, or at least to send messages of some sort to them. However, I will need your assistance in its completion.
“Of course,” Shadow nodded, “Whatever you need.”
…
One Week Later
“We ready, Metal?”
The robot gave a thumbs up from behind a hastily wired-together console, and Shadow nodded, taking a breath and stepping to the circle of blue light. They'd decided on the blue one for...well, obvious reasons.
Metal flicked a few switches, and then slowly pushed a lever forwards: around them, the machine wired into Eggman's base hummed, electricity snapping around them in ripples of colors, and then suddenly, Shadow swore, in the shimmering colors, he could make out a blue shape, running in characteristic pose through a whirlwind of light.
“Sonic!”
The blue hedgehog turned his head, “Shadow?”