Three days.
It had been three days since Shadic had crash-landed into a hot dog stand and introduced himself to this world in the most chaotic way possible.
In that time, he had learned several important things:
One: He could not, in fact, control his speed. Every attempt to "go for a light run" ended with him either overshooting his destination by fifty miles or creating a new trench in whatever road he was using. The Air Shoes were supposed to help with this, according to Shadow-brain, but Shadic was pretty sure they were actively mocking him.
Two: He needed to eat approximately eight thousand calories a day to maintain basic function. Sonic-brain insisted this was normal. Shadow-brain called it "an unfortunate consequence of our metabolism." Shadic called it "expensive" and had already resorted to raiding dumpsters behind restaurants like some kind of super-powered raccoon.
Three: He was extremely famous.
Not good famous. Not "beloved hero" famous.
"What the hell IS that thing" famous.
The video of his crater-landing had gone viral within hours. Someone had caught footage of his fight with Nazo from a telescope—grainy, distant, but unmistakably showing two figures exchanging blows powerful enough to reshape geography. The internet had dubbed him "The Purple Meteor" before anyone got a good look at his actual coloring, and the name had stuck even after clearer photos emerged.
Could be worse, Sonic-brain offered. Could be "Blue Blaze" or something generic like that.
The public has seen us, Shadow-brain noted. They're afraid. Uncertain. We should establish communication before—
"Before what?" Shadic muttered, perched on the roof of an abandoned warehouse at the edge of the city. "Before I try to say 'hi' and accidentally run through someone's living room at Mach 2?"
He'd chosen this spot specifically because it was isolated. Far from civilians, far from traffic, far from anything he could accidentally destroy while figuring out how to exist in this body.
It was also, he was beginning to realize, far from food.
His stomach growled.
Dude, we gotta eat, Sonic-brain urged. There's a burger place like two miles east. I can smell it from here.
"You can SMELL it?"
Enhanced senses, Shadow-brain explained. Another aspect of our physiology you haven't explored. We can hear heartbeats from a quarter mile away, detect changes in air pressure, track scents across—
"Okay, that's creepy. That's really creepy."
It's useful.
"It's CREEPY."
Shadic's stomach growled again, louder this time.
He sighed. Food it was.
Standing up carefully—he'd learned that sudden movements tended to launch him in random directions—he oriented himself toward the east. Two miles. He could do two miles without causing property damage.
Probably.
Just take it slow, Sonic-brain coached. Think "jogging," not "running." Light steps. Gentle acceleration.
Engage the Air Shoes' stabilizers, Shadow-brain added. They'll compensate for—
Shadic took one step.
He was at the burger place.
He was also through the burger place, having entered via the front window and exited via the back wall, and was currently standing in the alley behind it covered in drywall dust and someone's spilled milkshake.
"...I hate everything."
That was closer! Sonic-brain said encouragingly. You only went through ONE building this time!
Progress, Shadow-brain agreed.
"I am going to learn how to control this body," Shadic growled, shaking milkshake out of his quills, "if it KILLS me."
Technically, we're already dead.
"NOT HELPING."
He was interrupted by screaming.
Not the "oh no a monster" screaming he'd become unfortunately accustomed to. This was different. Higher pitched. More... excited?
Shadic turned to find a young fox—a fox, with two tails, because apparently this world had those—standing at the mouth of the alley, eyes wide as dinner plates.
The fox was orange. Fluffy. Couldn't have been more than eight years old.
And he was staring at Shadic like he'd seen a ghost.
"S... Sonic...?"
Shadic's blood ran cold.
Oh no, Sonic-brain whispered.
Tails, Shadow-brain identified. Miles Prower. Sonic's... Sonic's best friend.
The fox—Tails—took a trembling step forward. His eyes were filling with tears, but there was something desperate in his expression. Hopeful. Broken and healing and breaking again all at once.
"Sonic, is that... is that you? You're... you're different, but I can... I can feel..." His twin tails drooped. "I felt you die. I felt the Emeralds go dark. But now there's Chaos Energy again, and it feels like you, but also like Shadow, and I thought... I hoped..."
Shadic stood frozen.
What was he supposed to say?
Say something, Sonic-brain urged, and for the first time, he sounded pained. Tails is... he's special. He's family. You can't just—
"I'm not Sonic."
The words came out before Shadic could stop them.
Tails flinched like he'd been slapped.
"But... but the Chaos Energy... it's HIS energy, I can feel it, I built scanners specifically to track it after he—" The fox's voice cracked. "After he left. You HAVE to be—"
"I'm not Sonic," Shadic repeated, softer this time. "And I'm not Shadow. I'm... something else. Something new."
Tails stared at him.
The hope in his eyes curdled into something else.
"Then where ARE they?" His voice was rising, twin tails bristling. "Where are Sonic and Shadow?! If you have their energy, if you're using their power, then you must know what happened to them! TELL ME!"
Shadic opened his mouth—
And then the wall next to him exploded.
A red fist connected with his jaw before he could process what was happening, sending him careening through the opposite building and out into the street beyond. He hit a parked car, crumpled it like tinfoil, bounced off the asphalt, and finally came to a stop embedded in a brick wall.
KNUCKLES, Sonic-brain identified, suddenly alert. Oh man, he's PISSED.
Defensive posture, Shadow-brain commanded. Now.
Shadic pulled himself from the wall just in time to see his attacker charging.
Red fur. Spiked knuckles. Dreadlocks flying behind him like war banners. Violet eyes blazing with protective fury.
Knuckles the Echidna.
Guardian of the Master Emerald.
And, apparently, someone who punched first and asked questions never.
"YOU!" Knuckles roared, closing the distance with terrifying speed. "I don't know WHAT you are, but you're radiating the energy of the Chaos Emeralds! The same Emeralds that KILLED MY FRIENDS!"
He swung again. Shadic dodged—barely—and the fist cratered the street where he'd been standing.
"GIVE THEM BACK!"
Another swing. Another dodge.
He's not going to listen, Sonic-brain realized. He's too angry. Too hurt.
Then we make him listen, Shadow-brain decided. Subdue him. Non-lethally.
"I'm not trying to fight!" Shadic shouted, ducking under a haymaker that would have decapitated a normal person. "I just want to—"
"I don't CARE what you want!"
Knuckles' next punch connected with Shadic's raised forearms, and even blocking it sent shockwaves through his entire body. The echidna was STRONG—not Nazo-level, but strong enough that Shadic actually had to put effort into defending himself.
Don't hurt him, Sonic-brain pleaded. He's grieving. He watched us die. He—
If we don't stop him, he'll exhaust himself, Shadow-brain interrupted. Or hurt himself. We need to end this quickly.
Shadic gritted his teeth.
He waited for Knuckles' next swing, then moved.
Not at full speed—that would have turned the echidna into paste. Just fast enough. He caught Knuckles' wrist, twisted, and used the guardian's own momentum to send him tumbling past.
Knuckles recovered instantly, spinning to face him, fists raised—
And froze.
Because Shadic was standing perfectly still, arms at his sides, making no move to attack or defend.
"Hit me."
Knuckles blinked. "What?"
"I said hit me." Shadic spread his arms, leaving himself completely open. "I know you're angry. I know you're hurting. I know you want someone to blame for what happened to them. So hit me. As many times as you need. I can take it."
Uh, Sonic-brain said uncertainly, that's a really sweet gesture, but Knuckles can DEFINITELY hurt us if he—
Quiet, Shadow-brain commanded. Let this play out.
Knuckles stared at him, chest heaving, fists trembling.
"You... you think I WON'T?"
"I think you will," Shadic said quietly. "I think you'll hit me until your knuckles bleed and your arms give out. And I think when you're done, you'll still be just as angry, and Sonic and Shadow will still be gone."
The echidna flinched.
"But if it helps," Shadic continued, "even a little bit... then do it. I owe them that much."
Silence stretched between them.
Knuckles' fists slowly lowered.
"Who... who ARE you?"
Before Shadic could answer, a new voice cut through the air.
"Get AWAY from him!"
A blur of pink slammed into Shadic from the side, and suddenly he was on the defensive again, barely dodging swings from a hammer that was definitely too large to exist according to normal physics.
AMY, Sonic-brain groaned. Oh no, not Amy—
She's faster than she looks, Shadow-brain warned. Don't underestimate her.
Amy Rose was a vision of pink fury, her massive Piko Piko Hammer whistling through the air with each swing. Her green eyes were red-rimmed from crying, but there was nothing weak about the rage that powered her attacks.
"You have his energy!" she screamed, hammer coming down hard enough to crater the pavement. "You have HIS energy and you're just STANDING there while we—while I—"
Her next swing went wide as her voice broke.
"I never got to tell him! I never got to say—and now you're HERE, with his power, wearing his COLORS, and I—"
The hammer dropped from her grip.
Amy Rose, terror of Eggman's robot forces, collapsed to her knees in the middle of the street and sobbed.
Shadic stood frozen, completely unprepared for this.
Beating Nazo? He'd had instincts for that. Two sets of combat experience guiding his every move.
Dealing with the grief of people who'd lost their heroes?
He had nothing.
Go to her, Sonic-brain whispered. She needs... she needs someone.
We're not Sonic, Shadow-brain reminded him. Our presence may make it worse.
She's HURTING, Shadow. We can't just—
"I'm sorry."
The words came out of Shadic's mouth before he consciously chose them.
Amy looked up, tears streaming down her face.
"I'm sorry," Shadic repeated, and meant it. "I'm not Sonic. I'm not Shadow. I'm something that came after—something that exists because they... because they gave everything to stop Nazo. And I know that's not fair. I know you wanted them, not me. But I'm what's left."
He knelt down, slowly, carefully, until he was at eye level with her.
"My name is Shadic. And I don't... I don't know how to be what they were. I don't know if I can protect this world the way they did. But I'm going to try. Because their sacrifice meant something. Because they meant something."
Amy stared at him.
Behind him, Shadic could hear Tails approaching, could sense Knuckles' gaze on his back.
"They're really gone?" Amy's voice was barely a whisper. "Both of them?"
Shadic hesitated.
Tell her the truth, Sonic-brain said softly. She deserves that much.
Tell her we're still here, Shadow-brain countered. In some form. It might help.
Shadic took a breath.
"They're... part of me now," he said carefully. "The fusion that created Shadic—it combined everything they were. Their memories. Their instincts. Their... feelings." He tapped the side of his head. "They're not gone. Not completely. But they're not... separate anymore. They're—"
"Can I talk to them?"
The question hit Shadic like a punch to the gut.
Amy's eyes were desperate, clinging to this tiny thread of hope like a lifeline.
"Can I... can I talk to Sonic? Even just for a second? Please, I just... I need to..."
Yes, Sonic-brain said immediately. Yes, let me—I can do it, just relax and let me—
That's not how this works, Shadow-brain interrupted. We're not separate entities. We can't "take over." We're impressions. Echoes.
But she needs—
She needs to grieve. Properly. Not cling to a shadow of a shadow.
Shadic closed his eyes.
He didn't know what to do.
But Amy was crying in front of him.
Tails was standing behind him, still hoping.
Knuckles was watching, waiting for an answer that would determine whether he stayed ally or enemy.
Shadic made a decision.
"I can't let you talk to him directly," he said. "It doesn't work like that. But... I can tell you something. Something he would have wanted you to know."
Amy's breath caught.
Shadic focused on the Sonic-part of his mind. The memories. The feelings. The echo of a hero who'd given everything for the people he loved.
What do I tell her?
And Sonic-brain, for once, didn't joke. Didn't quip. Just offered, quietly, the words he'd never gotten to say.
Shadic opened his eyes.
"He knew."
Amy blinked. "What?"
"He knew how you felt. He always knew. And he..." Shadic's voice caught, because the emotion bleeding through wasn't entirely his, but he felt it anyway. "He cared about you. More than he ever let on. He was just... scared. Scared that if he let himself stop running, even for a second, he'd lose everything. Lose everyone."
Tears were flowing freely down Amy's face now, but she was smiling. Just a little.
"He said... he said the bravest thing he ever saw wasn't any battle he fought. It was you, chasing him year after year, never giving up, never letting him push you away. He said if anyone was going to save the world just by believing in it hard enough... it was you."
Amy let out a sound that was half-sob, half-laugh.
Behind him, Shadic heard Tails sniffle.
"And Shadow," he continued, turning slightly toward Knuckles. "He wanted you to know that you were right. About guarding the Emeralds. About taking your duty seriously. He said... he said he understood. Better than anyone. What it meant to carry a responsibility you didn't choose."
Knuckles' jaw tightened, but he nodded.
Shadic stood, looking at the three of them—the grieving friends of the heroes whose legacy he now carried.
"I'm not asking you to trust me," he said. "I'm not asking you to accept me. I know I'm not them, and I know that hurts. But I'm here now. And if you'll let me... I'd like to honor what they started."
Silence.
Then Tails stepped forward, twin tails swishing nervously behind him.
"You... you have their memories? All of them?"
Shadic nodded.
"Then..." The young fox took a shaky breath. "Then you remember the workshop? The one on the cliff?"
The Tornado, Sonic-brain supplied instantly. Our biplane. Tails' first real project. We helped him paint it.
"The one with the Tornado," Shadic said. "Where you two painted flames on the side, and Sonic accidentally got red paint in his quills and spent three hours trying to wash it out."
Tails let out a wet laugh. "He complained about it for weeks."
"He complained about EVERYTHING," Shadic replied, and he was surprised to find himself smiling. "But he loved that plane. He loved building things with you. He said you were the smartest person he ever met, and he was proud of you every single day."
Tails' eyes overflowed, and he launched himself forward, wrapping his arms around Shadic's midsection in a fierce hug.
Shadic froze.
He wasn't sure how to process this. Physical affection wasn't exactly something he'd experienced much of in his previous life, and now—
Hug him back, Sonic-brain urged. Come on, man, don't leave him hanging.
Slowly, awkwardly, Shadic brought his arms up and returned the embrace.
Tails was warm. Small. Shaking with the force of his grief and his relief and his confusion.
"I miss him," the fox whispered. "I miss them both so much."
"I know," Shadic said. "I know."
He looked up to find Amy approaching, her hammer nowhere to be seen. Knuckles was still hanging back, arms crossed, but the hostility had drained from his posture.
"If you're going to honor their legacy," Amy said, wiping her eyes, "then you're going to do it right. That means training. That means learning. That means not crashing through every building in the city."
Shadic winced. "You saw that?"
"Everyone saw that. It's on the internet."
"Of course it is."
Amy's expression softened, just slightly. "The workshop Tails mentioned. It's still there. Still has all of Sonic's things. Shadow's, too, after they started... working together more."
She means after we stopped trying to kill each other, Sonic-brain said.
It was ONE time, Shadow-brain muttered.
It was like six times.
...It was a complicated relationship.
"We could take you there," Tails said, pulling back from the hug but staying close. "Help you learn to control your powers. Figure out who you're supposed to be."
Shadic looked at him. At Amy. At Knuckles, who gave a grudging nod.
These weren't his friends.
But they could be.
Maybe.
"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I'd like that."
And for the first time since waking up in the middle of a death battle, Shadic felt like maybe—just maybe—things were going to be okay.
They made it three blocks before everything went wrong again.
"THERE IT IS! THE PURPLE METEOR!"
Shadic spun to find a news van screeching to a halt, a reporter and cameraman practically falling out of it in their eagerness.
"Sir! Ma'am! Unidentified entity! Can you tell us what you are? Where you came from? Are you connected to the explosion that destroyed Mount Greendale?!"
"The WHAT?!"
Oh, that was probably Nazo, Sonic-brain said. Yeah, we definitely blew up a mountain during that fight.
Several mountains, Shadow-brain corrected.
The reporter shoved a microphone in Shadic's face. "Sources say you emerged from the same phenomenon that killed the heroes known as Sonic and Shadow! Are you their replacement? Their killer? A new threat to the city?!"
Shadic's eye twitched.
Behind him, he could feel Amy reaching for her hammer.
Don't do anything stupid, Sonic-brain warned. We're on camera. Everything you say is going to be—
"I'm Shadic," he said flatly. "I'm not a threat. I'm not their killer. And I'm definitely not going to answer questions from someone who just accused me of murder on live television."
He turned to walk away.
The reporter followed. "But sir! The public has a right to know! What are your intentions?! Where did you come from?! What—"
"I SAID—"
Shadic took a step.
The step took him through the news van.
The news van exploded.
"...no one was in there, right?"
Amy facepalmed. "You're going to be a nightmare to do PR for."
"I'm sorry! I can't control the speed thing!"
"WE NOTICED!"
Knuckles, inexplicably, was laughing.
"You know what?" the echidna said, clapping Shadic on the shoulder hard enough to stagger him. "I think I'm going to like you. You're a disaster."
"Thanks?" Shadic said uncertainly.
"That wasn't a compliment."
"It sounded like a compliment."
"It wasn't."
Tails was already pulling out some kind of scanner, running it over Shadic with academic intensity. "Fascinating. Your Chaos Energy signature is completely unique—it's like looking at Sonic and Shadow's signatures superimposed, but also... different? There's a third frequency I don't recognize..."
That's probably the new element, Sonic-brain said. The stabilizing factor.
We should study it, Shadow-brain agreed. Understand our own capabilities.
Shadic sighed, looking at the burning wreckage of the news van, the gathering crowd of onlookers, the three friends of dead heroes who were apparently adopting him whether he liked it or not.
This was his life now.
Somehow, he didn't mind.
Author's Note: Shadic made Amy cry but in the healing way. Also he's now wanted for destruction of media property. Next chapter: Training montage at Tails' workshop, Shadic learns that Chaos Control is not as intuitive as it sounds, and someone from Shadow's past comes looking for answers.