Chapter Text
It felt as if his whole reality shifted, his stomach flipping in that familiar, twisting way...
Sonic groaned as the sound of... something crying, penetrating through his unconsciousness. As he cracked open his eyes and turned to the sight of the noise, he noticed a dark hedgehog standing closely against a tree.
"Shadow..?" he questioned, his half sleep brain trying to process the scene in front of him. There was something small in the black hedgehog's arms and that's where all the wailing was coming from. Sonic stood up, wincing as he held his head. He had no clue where he was for starters, nor much of a clue how he ended up here.
Wherever here was.
I just remember feeling that energy...
"Finally, you're awake." Shadow muttered, walking closer as the sobbing grew louder. Sonic covered his ears as he peeked into the hedgehog's arms.
"Seriously, what is... that?" Sonic's voice dropped as cradled safely within the hold of the ultimate lifeform... was a baby wrapped in a blue blanket.
A baby that looked exactly like the anti-hero. Sonic's eyes trailed back to Shadow's and was taken aback by how unusually tired he appeared.
"I..." Sonic trailed off, letting out a chuckle in sheer disbelief before looking around, finally getting a good view of his new surroundings. Another mystery to add to the list, (if the baby wasn't enough all ready). They were in a jungle or something close to one, definitely out of the ordinary for the hedgehog.
Before Sonic could question his whereabouts more, the crying newborn stole back his attention.
"I've tried everything to shut her up but nothings worked." Shadow growled, his exhaustion clear. Sonic didn't like how expectant the faker's gaze was. He didn't know the first thing about child care. Sure, he "raised" Tails but the fox had been borderline independent since they met. Furthermore, Tails wasn't a newborn hoglet.
Also he was realllllly smart.
"Uh, here just lemme uh, hold.. her?" he offered reluctantly. Shadow didn't hesitant as he nearly shoved the small body into Sonic's arms. Almost like magic, the baby immediately settled down, finally giving the hedgehogs a much needed break from the racket. Sonic felt a jolt from the contact but figured it was just from the shock of holding a newborn that resembled his rival a little too much for comfort. The closer view allowed Sonic to get a better glimpse at the mini shadow in his arms. She had the same dark fur color, though, she was more of a navy blue than pure black. She also his signature red stripes and quill pattern besides two tiny ones that hung from the sides of her face like Amy's. Speaking of which, it was also more rounded than Shadow's... to a uncomfortably familiar degree. Sure, she was still just a kid but it went beyond just being young. Finally, his eyes rested on her little muzzle. Shadow's was like an orangish yellow, while hers was more of a pale tan.
Sonic's eyes widened.
Was this...
No, it couldn't be.
His focus snapped back to the small form as she wiggled around to get comfortable. The blanket draped a bit, allowing him to see her pudgy stomach... that had a tan patch of skin just like his.
Then the nail in the coffin, she opened her eyes.
It would have been so much more easier to assume she was Amy's kid weirdly enough. After all, she had green eyes too. Roughly the same colored skin also.
But... no.
Sonic knew those eyes. He knew them very well.
They were just like his.
Okay, so that was literally impossible but no matter how hard he wanted to believe in the basic biology he bothered to learn from Tails, something in him was certain they were linked in some way.
Besides all the creepily similar features.
"Shadow." Sonic called, wide eyes searching for the hedgehog. He was resting against the same tree the speedster found him at before. When he opened his eyes, they darted to the baby in his hands, then up to Sonic's face. Then, he nodded. Sonic felt a wave of exhaustion hit him. What even was today?
"Okay- can you please like, explain all this because... what?" Sonic asked, trying his best to calm the urge to run. Shadow sighed, coming back over to the hedgehog and baby. Sonic noted he looked a little better.
"I don't know much. Last night, I felt an energy signature almost exactly like mine and so I went to investigate. Past that point is where my memory fails me." Shadow began, closing his eyes.
Sounds similar.
"When I woke up, I saw her laying on the ground. The way she looked arose my suspensions but when nothing came along to get her, I grabbed her and went to explore the island. It wasn't long until I stumbled upon you. For the past hour, I've been waiting for you to wake from your beauty sleep." Shadow explained, crossing his arms with a soft scowl. Sonic just nodded, feeling the information slip from his brain as his eyelids began to droop. Shadow scoffed angrily before snatching the hoglet from him. Suddenly, he gasped and felt his energy flow back into his body, perking him up in the process.
"You have terrible chaos energy control, she was sucking you dry and you were letting her." he remarked as Sonic struggled to understand just what had happened.
Now we have a Chaos energy eating baby... nice.
"There's a lot going on right now. Even more than usual." Sonic sighed with a tired smile.
"Imagine how I felt when I saw a child laying on the ground who looked exactly like you and I." Shadow growled.
Sonic cringed. "Are you sure its just not you and Amy's kid-?" Sonic promptly shut up as Shadow snarled, searing holes into him.
"Even if your manipulation of chaos energy is about as competent as a kindergartener sniffing glue, I know you felt her energy signature! This is the reality we are facing so get over it!"
Holding his hands up in surrender, Shadow backed off with a scowl and began to walk away. Sonic suppressed the urge to sigh.
"Right now, we need to focus on finding shelter." Shadow explained decidedly less heated as he pushed through the ring of tall palm trees surrounding them. Sonic made quick work catching up as he took in the density of the rainforest with a frown. Clearly, running at full speed here was a no go.
"You... are taking this surprisingly well. For the most part." Sonic noted as Shadow continued to push forward, cutting down anything blocking the way with a small blade of chaos energy. It was always cool, thought he'd never admit it, that Shadow had such mastery of his Chaos energy, even without the use of an emerald.
"Mmh." Shadow grunted. Sonic gave himself props too. He didn't immediately run away!
The amount of moving Shadow was doing caused the hoglet to cry again. The ultimate lifeform paused for a few moments before letting out a growl of frustration and turning to Sonic. Giving him the baby, she once again calmed down, staring curiously at the two hedgehogs. Feeling that same jolt and tiredness return, the blue blur was sure it was due to the baby herself.
"Stop giving her so much of your energy, its practically pouring out of you." Shadow snapped, causing Sonic to perk up.
"So she is stealin' it." Sonic said, looking down at the infant. "Why?"
"She's not like a typical newborn," Shadow answered. "I'm not sure of what or who created her, but its... disturbingly clear it had something to do with our DNA. More importantly, my own." he frowned, gently laying a hand on the hoglet's body. Sonic immediately felt less drained, gawking as Shadow raised his hand back up.
"I can survive off of pure chaos energy alone. So can she. It isn't all sustaining however, so she'll require great amounts to equal that of an actual diet of food. Hence why she's constantly trying to consume yours."
Sonic nodded, a bit surprised over how open the dark hedgehog was being.
"Your body is responding to her need to sustain herself due to the energy you both share. Since you have a near limitless amount and unsurprising lack of self control, you keep giving out much more then you need too. Focus on trickling a little at a time. This will keep you from exhausting yourself and overloading her." With that explanation out the way, Shadow spun around and continued to clear a path for the both of them. Sonic took a moment to digest what was said and looked back down at the hoglet gazing up at him, eyes unwavering. Sonic felt a mix of disbelief and discomfort as he had to glance away to avoid her oh so familiar face. Freaking out wasn't really his thing but even he could admit how creepy and weird this whole baby situation was.
He decided to focus on slowing down his energy like advised, feeling less of a strain as the hoglet yawned and finally closed her eyes, seeking rest now back in stable arms.
The trek through the forest eventually came to an end as the trio came across another clearing with a decent sized creek and a small cave just beyond it. The grotto looked cramped and inhabitable but that was where Shadow was unfortunately headed. They leapt over the creek and arrived shortly at the cave to investigate. It was just barely big enough for the two of them to sit in. Spiders and other creepy crawlies made their homes in the small grooves of the rock, causing Sonic to shiver. He wasn't exactly afraid of them, but the thought of sleeping with insects wasn't a pleasant one. Caves just weren't for him, too constricting. He much preferred napping in a tree.
The little hoglet shifted in his grasp.
Right. It wasn't just about him anymore.
"We'll settle here for tonight." Shadow declared before wandering off to grab a fallen branch with leaves still on it. He then began to clear out to cave, sweeping out all the unwanted guest and debris all domestic like. The sight would have been funnier if Sonic wasn't reminded of the fact they'd all have to sleep in there.
Once done, Sonic slipped inside, having to duck a little to avoid hitting his head. He then sat down and leaned against the cold rock with a sigh. At least the kid was asleep.
"Go get some firewood. I will watch her." Shadow said, the speedster silently grateful for the distraction. He gently lowered the baby on the ground and wrapped her up in her blanket to the best of his ability. He did a good enough job as she was protected from the cold rock but Shadow's judgmental glare told him a different story.
"So you're some kinda baby expert now, huh?" Sonic scoffed as the ultimate lifeform bared his teeth.
"How hard is it to wrap an infant hardly bigger than a Chaos Emerald?"
Hot embarrassment heated Sonic's cheeks as he answered by dashing off into the encompassing understory. There was nothing but trees and undergrowth as far as he could see. Thankfully, he also couldn't see the shoreline. Getting to work, the insanity of the day soon started to sink in for the blue hedgehog
So, we're stuck on some unknown island in the middle of nowhere and there's a baby that somehow is related to Shadow and me. Eveeeeen thought we're both guys... and ain't fucked. I never thought anything could beat the Elise stuff but here we are.
Gathering an arm full of dry sticks, Sonic strode back to their makeshift camp, wondering just how all this was gonna play out in the end. Shadow was sat near the baby, just staring at her. Though he appeared unbothered on the outside, Sonic knew he probably wasn't the only one unnerved out by all of this.
"Got ya sticks boss." Sonic smiled, setting them down as Shadow turned to look at him, irritable as ever. He approached silently, pointing to the baby as he stared to set up a fire. Sonic returned back to the kid's side, surprised she was up again. She was also properly wrapped this time, causing the speedster to roll his eyes. She reached out with the tiniest hand Sonic had ever seen, prompting him to lower a finger down so she could grab it. The moment she did, Sonic felt a jolt but quickly tampered his energy to a crawl.
"You're one hungry kid." he smirked as she just kept looking at him, like she was trying to understand exactly what she was seeing.
You and me both.
The sound of flames caught the hedgehog's ear, turning to see the small fire Shadow made. The promise of warmth, despite how humid the forest was, saw Sonic moving closer, bringing the little hoglet along with him. Shadow didn't bulge, opting to stare into the orange fire.
"Did you ever imagine something like this happening to you?" Sonic spoke up, sitting down as Shadow's ear twitched.
"Obviously not."
Sonic huffed in amusement. "I just want to know... how."
Shadow sat up, feeding a stick into the fire.
"Bioengineering. Someone was trying to play Deity. She is the result." he said, a slight edge to his voice. Sonic could guess why. From the way he described it, the hoglet's creation probably reminded him of his own.
"I guess I meant, why us exactly?" Sonic braved to ask the question, feeling himself involuntarily shutter. He dared not suspect his arch nemesis. Maybe he just didn't want to humor the thought. Too haunting. Surely even Eggman wasn't that cracked.
Shadow remained silent for a few moments before a rare sigh escaped his lips.
"I don't know."
"Well that's a first." Sonic grinned, receiving a dark glare in the process. He allowed for silence to blanket the two before yawning and stretching his back. Despite being unconscious not an hour ago, just sitting around had the hedgehog all too ready for another nap.
"Welp, this is putting me to sleep. I'm gonna go look around. Cya in a bit!" he declared, suddenly standing up. He handed the hoglet back to Shadow before taking off with a speed only a few could match. He quickly was forced to slow down once back in the trees but maintained a solid speed nonetheless. Staying in a ball definitely helped. He went in no particular direction, just pressing forward until he eventually reached the forest's edge. Dirt abruptly transitioned to soft sand as the hedgehog looked out nervously at the shoreline. The ocean was as blue and terrifying as ever, lapping lazily at the sand with its mini waves. Sonic dared not get a closer peek. This was all he needed to see.
No other islands or land in sight. We're stuck good heh.
It was true he could run on water (given enough courage), but a feat like that required ample speed, which he couldn't build here. With a small frown, he decided to continue his exploration and hurried back into the thick rainforest. He wandered a bit, having no luck finding anything worth checking out so launched the hunt for a particularly tall tree. An aerial view never hurt.
Such a tree didn't take long to find as the hedgehog scaled the lofty trunk in an instant. Peeking his head through the canopy, Sonic was finally able to get a sweeping view of the island. Nothing immediately stuck out as interesting at first, just a bunch of treetops and the upsetting sight of the ocean circling them all. It wasn't until he noticed the trees shifting upwards did he notice the increase in elevation. Mountains gathered in the far distance along with a strange structure he couldn't quite see clearly.
Bingo.
He was about to head in that direction but stopped once spotting the sun nearing the horizon. Shadow probably wouldn't be too happy with him running off and leaving him on baby duty all night so the speedster reluctantly hopped from the tree and took off back to camp. When he arrived, Shadow was by the fire again, except this time with what looked to be a fish roasting on a well sharpened stick. There was also a dungy looking pot filled with water sat to the side. The sight of food triggered his stomach to growl, reminding him of the fact he hadn't ate since yesterday.
"Heyyyy Shads, you wouldn't happen to have caught another one hm?" Sonic grinned, slyly sliding up to the other.
"Do I look like your caretaker? Get your own." He growled lowly, giving Sonic all the answer he needed. With a hungry sigh, the speedster trudged over to the mini river, staring down at the murky water with a frown before opting to hopefully find some wild berries or fruit in the morning. With a soft yawn, he searched for fallen palm tree leaves amongst the clearing until he had a good collection of healthy ones. Sleeping on anything else would be better than solid rock. He then made his way into the cave where the hoglet was sleeping soundly in her blanket. For a moment, the hedgehog was envious.
That blanket looks really soft.
Shaking his head, silently berating himself for being jealous of an infant, he laid out the leaves he had gathered until he made a nice little nest beside the kid. Sitting against the cave wall, Sonic stared out into the clearing, watching the fire silently.
"I saw something interesting by the mountains. Looked like some ancient ruins stuff." Sonic said, watching Shadow's ear flick.
"We should explore it when we get a chance, who knows what we'd find there. Could be our ticket outta here." He smiled optimistically. Shadow didn't say anything back but the blue hedgehog didn't need him too. Turning to his thoughts, he wondered what Tails was doing. He knew it would be awhile before any of his friends started to suspect something had gone wrong. It wasn't uncommon for him to be one place and somewhere the next, speeding off without a trace.
He briefly pondered if it was the same for Shadow and Team Dark as a whole. In between all his contemplation, his eyes began to droop before he realized, slowly cloaking his world in darkness, the crackle of the fire lulling him to sleep.