Three days after the Station Square incident, Shadic was finally starting to relax.
The city was recovering. The news had shifted from "TERRIFYING SKY MONSTER ATTACKS" to "SHADIC SAVES CITY AGAIN." His approval ratings—because apparently he had approval ratings now—had jumped from 60% to 78%.
He was sitting on the roof of Tails' workshop, enjoying a rare moment of peace, when the universe decided to ruin everything.
"SHADIC."
The voice came from everywhere and nowhere, resonating through his skull like a gong struck inside a cathedral.
Shadic choked on his chili dog.
"WHAT THE—"
"WE NEED TO TALK."
The world... shifted.
One moment he was on the roof, coughing up processed meat. The next, he was floating in an endless white void, surrounded by nothing but light and the lingering taste of chili.
What just happened?! Sonic-brain yelped.
We've been pulled into a dimensional pocket, Shadow-brain analyzed, his mental voice tight. The same space where we first awakened.
"Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me."
"I ASSURE YOU, I AM NOT KIDDING."
The cosmic voice was somehow even more annoying than Shadic remembered. It echoed with self-importance, like it expected applause for every syllable.
"You," Shadic growled, spinning in the void to find... nothing. Just white. Endless white. "YOU. Do you have ANY idea what I've been through?!"
"YES. I'VE BEEN WATCHING."
"You've been WATCHING?!"
"IT'S LITERALLY MY JOB."
"Your JOB?! You dropped me into the middle of a death battle with ZERO explanation, gave me a body I couldn't control, and then just... LEFT! For WEEKS!"
"I GAVE YOU THE BASICS."
"You gave me NOTHING! 'Save the world, try not to cause a paradox'—that was your entire briefing! I didn't even know what my powers WERE!"
"YOU FIGURED IT OUT."
"I CRASHED THROUGH FOURTEEN BUILDINGS!"
"...ACCEPTABLE LOSSES."
Shadic's eye twitched.
Dude, Sonic-brain said carefully, maybe don't antagonize the omnipotent voice?
For once, I agree with the faker, Shadow-brain added. We don't know the extent of its power.
"I don't CARE about its power! I want ANSWERS!"
The void was silent for a long moment.
Then, with what sounded almost like a sigh, the cosmic voice spoke again.
"VERY WELL. YOU'VE EARNED AN EXPLANATION. ASK YOUR QUESTIONS."
Shadic floated there, momentarily thrown off by the sudden compliance.
"...really?"
"REALLY. BUT BE AWARE THAT SOME ANSWERS MAY BE BEYOND YOUR COMPREHENSION."
"Try me."
"VERY WELL. QUESTION ONE?"
Shadic took a deep breath.
"Who are you? WHAT are you? And why did you choose ME?"
"THAT'S THREE QUESTIONS."
"Consider them a package deal."
Another pause.
"I AM... DIFFICULT TO EXPLAIN. IN YOUR ORIGINAL WORLD, YOU MIGHT CALL ME A 'HIGHER-DIMENSIONAL ENTITY.' A BEING THAT EXISTS OUTSIDE THE NORMAL FLOW OF TIME AND SPACE. I OBSERVE. I INTERVENE. OCCASIONALLY, I... RECRUIT."
"Recruit for what?"
"FOR BALANCE. THE MULTIVERSE IS VAST, SHADIC. INFINITE REALITIES, INFINITE POSSIBILITIES. AND IN MANY OF THOSE REALITIES, THINGS GO WRONG. CATASTROPHICALLY WRONG. BEINGS LIKE NAZO ARISE—ENTITIES OF PURE DESTRUCTION THAT THREATEN TO UNRAVEL EXISTENCE ITSELF."
This is getting heavy, Sonic-brain muttered.
Pay attention, Shadow-brain commanded. This is important.
"NORMALLY, EACH REALITY HAS ITS OWN DEFENDERS. ITS OWN HEROES. BUT SOMETIMES... SOMETIMES THOSE HEROES FALL. SOMETIMES THE DARKNESS WINS. AND WHEN THAT HAPPENS, I STEP IN."
"By grabbing random dead guys and shoving them into super-powered bodies?"
"...THAT'S A CRUDE OVERSIMPLIFICATION, BUT ESSENTIALLY YES."
Shadic pinched the bridge of his nose. Or tried to—his gloves made it awkward.
"Okay. Okay, so you're some kind of cosmic... fixer. You grab people from other dimensions and use them to save worlds that are about to end. Fine. But why ME? I was nobody. A GameStop employee who died reaching for chips. There had to be better candidates."
The void was quiet for a long moment.
"THERE WEREN'T."
"What?"
"YOU UNDERESTIMATE YOURSELF, SHADIC. OR RATHER, YOU UNDERESTIMATE WHO YOU WERE. YOUR SOUL WAS... UNIQUE. MALLEABLE. CAPABLE OF INTEGRATING WITH THE SONIC-SHADOW FUSION IN A WAY THAT OTHERS COULDN'T."
Wait, Sonic-brain said slowly. Are they saying we NEEDED a third person? That the fusion wouldn't have worked without him?
That appears to be the implication, Shadow-brain confirmed.
"THE ORIGINAL SHADIC—THE FUSION OF SONIC AND SHADOW ALONE—WAS UNSTABLE. THEIR PERSONALITIES CLASHED. THEIR DESIRES CONFLICTED. THEY COULD MAINTAIN THE FORM FOR MINUTES AT MOST BEFORE TEARING THEMSELVES APART."
"So I'm... what? Glue?"
"IN A SENSE. YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS PROVIDED A NEUTRAL GROUND. A MEDIATING FORCE. WITHOUT YOU, THE FUSION WOULD HAVE COLLAPSED MID-BATTLE, AND NAZO WOULD HAVE DESTROYED THIS WORLD."
Shadic let that sink in.
He wasn't just a passenger in this body. He wasn't just some random soul shoved into a hero's form.
He was the reason Shadic worked at all.
Huh, Sonic-brain said. I guess you're more important than we thought.
Don't let it go to your head, Shadow-brain warned.
"Okay," Shadic said slowly. "Okay, I think I understand that part. But here's what I DON'T understand."
He crossed his arms.
"You've been WATCHING. You said so yourself. That means you saw Nazo reforming. You saw him set a trap. You saw me almost FAIL. And you did NOTHING."
"CORRECT."
"WHY?!"
"BECAUSE YOU NEEDED TO LEARN."
Shadic's jaw dropped.
"I needed to LEARN?! People almost DIED!"
"BUT THEY DIDN'T. BECAUSE YOU WERE THERE. BECAUSE YOU FOUGHT. BECAUSE YOU FOUND A WAY TO WIN EVEN WHEN THE ODDS WERE AGAINST YOU."
The voice took on an almost... gentle tone.
"I COULD HAVE INTERVENED. I COULD HAVE SCATTERED NAZO MYSELF, OR GIVEN YOU THE INFORMATION YOU NEEDED TO AVOID HIS TRAP. BUT IF I HAD, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE LEARNED? THAT SOMEONE ELSE WOULD ALWAYS SAVE YOU? THAT YOU DIDN'T NEED TO GROW?"
"That's—"
"YOU ARE NOT A PUPPET, SHADIC. YOU ARE A HERO. AND HEROES DON'T BECOME STRONGER THROUGH CODDLING. THEY BECOME STRONGER THROUGH STRUGGLE."
Shadic wanted to argue.
He wanted to scream that it wasn't fair, that people shouldn't have to suffer just so he could have a learning experience, that the cosmic voice was playing with lives like they were pieces on a game board.
But...
But part of him understood.
He's not wrong, Sonic-brain admitted reluctantly. I learned more from my failures than my successes. Every time Eggman beat me, I came back stronger.
Growth through adversity, Shadow-brain agreed. It's frustrating, but it's true. We wouldn't be as capable now if we hadn't struggled.
"That doesn't make it RIGHT," Shadic said, but there was less heat in his voice now.
"NO. IT DOESN'T. BUT THE MULTIVERSE ISN'T ABOUT WHAT'S RIGHT. IT'S ABOUT WHAT'S NECESSARY."
Silence stretched between them.
Then Shadic asked the question that had been burning in the back of his mind since this conversation started.
"Nazo isn't dead, is he? Not really. No matter how many times I scatter him, he's going to keep coming back."
"YES."
"How do I stop him permanently?"
"YOU DON'T."
Shadic's heart sank.
"What?"
"NAZO IS A BEING OF PURE CHAOS ENERGY. HE CANNOT BE DESTROYED IN THE TRADITIONAL SENSE. HE CAN ONLY BE CONTAINED. DISPERSED. DELAYED. BUT AS LONG AS CHAOS ENERGY EXISTS IN THIS UNIVERSE, HE WILL EVENTUALLY REFORM."
"So I'm just supposed to fight him FOREVER?!"
"NO. THERE IS... ANOTHER WAY."
Hope flickered in Shadic's chest.
"Tell me."
"THE CHAOS EMERALDS. THE SEVEN GEMS THAT SERVE AS FOCAL POINTS FOR THIS DIMENSION'S CHAOS ENERGY. IF THEY WERE BROUGHT TOGETHER, PROPERLY ALIGNED, THEY COULD BE USED TO CREATE A SEAL. A PRISON THAT WOULD CONTAIN NAZO PERMANENTLY—OR AT LEAST FOR MILLIONS OF YEARS."
The Emeralds, Sonic-brain breathed. Of course. They're the key to everything.
But they were scattered during the original Nazo battle, Shadow-brain recalled. Sent across dimensions. We don't even know where they ARE.
"The Emeralds were lost," Shadic said. "Tails told me. They vanished during the fusion, scattered across... he didn't know where."
"ACROSS DIMENSIONS. ACROSS REALITIES. FINDING THEM WILL BE... DIFFICULT."
"How difficult?"
"EACH EMERALD EXISTS IN A DIFFERENT REALITY NOW. SOME OF THOSE REALITIES ARE HOSTILE. SOME ARE STRANGE BEYOND COMPREHENSION. SOME ARE WORLDS WHERE THE HEROES LOST. WHERE DARKNESS REIGNS."
Great. Dimension-hopping through nightmare worlds. Just what Shadic needed.
"Can I even TRAVEL between dimensions?"
"WITH SUFFICIENT CHAOS ENERGY, YES. YOUR HYPER FORM SHOULD BE CAPABLE OF TEARING HOLES IN REALITY. BUT IT WILL BE DRAINING. DANGEROUS. AND YOU'LL NEED TO FIND THE EMERALDS QUICKLY—EACH REALITY YOU VISIT, YOU'LL BE RACING AGAINST THE CLOCK."
"Why?"
"BECAUSE YOUR PRESENCE IN FOREIGN DIMENSIONS CAUSES... RIPPLES. STAY TOO LONG, AND THOSE RIPPLES BECOME WAVES. STAY EVEN LONGER, AND THE DIMENSION MIGHT REJECT YOU ENTIRELY. VIOLENTLY."
That sounds bad, Sonic-brain observed.
That sounds EXTREMELY bad, Shadow-brain agreed.
"How long do I have in each dimension?"
"IT VARIES. SOME MIGHT GIVE YOU DAYS. OTHERS... MINUTES. YOU'LL HAVE TO LEARN TO SENSE THE REJECTION BEFORE IT HAPPENS."
"And if I don't?"
"THEN THE DIMENSION WILL TEAR YOU APART. SCATTER YOUR ESSENCE ACROSS THE VOID. AND WITHOUT THE FUSION'S STABILIZING ELEMENT, SONIC AND SHADOW'S ECHOES WILL FADE COMPLETELY."
So no pressure.
"Is there anything ELSE I should know?" Shadic asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Any other life-threatening details you forgot to mention?"
"...ACTUALLY, YES."
Of course there was.
"NAZO IS NOT THE ONLY BEING AWARE OF YOUR EXISTENCE. YOUR BATTLE WITH HIM—YOUR POWER DISPLAY—IT DREW ATTENTION. THERE ARE... ENTITIES. IN THE SPACES BETWEEN WORLDS. AND SOME OF THEM ARE VERY INTERESTED IN WHAT YOU REPRESENT."
"What I represent?"
"UNLIMITED CHAOS POTENTIAL. A FUSION THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN IMPOSSIBLE. A BEING THAT EXISTS IN DEFIANCE OF NATURAL LAW. YOU ARE... UNIQUE, SHADIC. AND IN THE MULTIVERSE, UNIQUENESS IS EITHER COVETED OR FEARED."
Great, Sonic-brain said flatly. So we've got cosmic stalkers now.
Wonderful, Shadow-brain added. As if we didn't have enough problems.
"Can I fight them? These entities?"
"SOME OF THEM. OTHERS... NO. THEY EXIST ON LEVELS YOU CANNOT YET COMPREHEND. MY ADVICE IS TO AVOID THEIR ATTENTION FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE."
"And how do I do that?"
"DON'T USE YOUR HYPER FORM UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. EVERY TIME YOU TRANSFORM, YOU SHINE LIKE A BEACON IN THE DARKNESS. THE BRIGHTER YOU SHINE, THE MORE EYES TURN YOUR WAY."
Shadic processed this.
So he had to save the world, gather the Chaos Emeralds from hostile dimensions, seal away an immortal god of destruction, all while AVOIDING the attention of cosmic horrors that wanted to either collect him or destroy him.
And he couldn't use his most powerful form without painting a target on his back.
"Is there any GOOD news?"
"...YOU HAVE FRIENDS."
Shadic blinked.
"What?"
"YOUR FRIENDS. TAILS. AMY. KNUCKLES. ROUGE. OMEGA. THEY CARE ABOUT YOU. THEY WILL FIGHT BESIDE YOU. AND IN THE END, THAT MAY BE THE MOST VALUABLE WEAPON YOU POSSESS."
Aw, Sonic-brain said. That's actually sweet.
It's also tactically sound, Shadow-brain noted. Allies provide strategic advantages in combat scenarios.
"Leave it to you to make friendship sound like a military briefing," Shadic muttered.
I work with what I have.
Shadic took a deep breath, looking around at the endless white void.
"Okay. So to summarize: I need to find seven Emeralds scattered across hostile dimensions, seal Nazo permanently, avoid cosmic horrors, and do it all without dying. Again."
"THAT IS ESSENTIALLY CORRECT."
"And you're not going to help me."
"I WILL PROVIDE GUIDANCE WHEN I CAN. INFORMATION WHEN NECESSARY. BUT THE FIGHTING? THE STRUGGLING? THE GROWING? THAT HAS TO BE YOU."
"Because I 'need to learn.'"
"BECAUSE YOU NEED TO BECOME SOMETHING GREATER THAN YOU CURRENTLY ARE. AND YOU CAN'T DO THAT IF I CARRY YOU."
Shadic wanted to be angry.
Part of him WAS angry.
But a larger part understood. Really, truly understood.
He wasn't just a replacement for Sonic and Shadow. He wasn't just a vessel for their power. He was something NEW—something that had to find its own path, make its own choices, become its own kind of hero.
And that meant doing things the hard way.
"Fine," he said finally. "But I want something in return."
"...OH?"
"Regular check-ins. Information when you have it. And if something is about to kill me—something I genuinely can't handle—you TELL me. No more 'learning through struggle' when the lesson is 'you're dead.'"
The void was silent for a long moment.
"...ACCEPTABLE."
"Good."
"IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE?"
Shadic thought about it.
"Yeah, actually. One more thing."
"YES?"
"My old life. My old world. My... my family."
The word came out harder than he expected.
"WHAT ABOUT THEM?"
"Are they okay? Do they know what happened to me? Are they... are they mourning someone who's never coming back?"
The silence that followed was different this time. Heavier.
"YOUR BODY WAS FOUND. YOUR DEATH WAS RECORDED. YOUR FAMILY... THEY GRIEVE. THEY MOURN. BUT THEY WILL HEAL. TIME PASSES DIFFERENTLY THERE—SLOWER THAN HERE. FOR THEM, ONLY WEEKS HAVE GONE BY."
Shadic's chest tightened.
His mom. His sister. His friends from work, from college, from the life he'd left behind.
They thought he was dead.
He WAS dead, technically.
But he was also HERE. Alive in a way he'd never been before. Doing things that mattered. BEING something that mattered.
Hey, Sonic-brain said gently. You okay?
"I don't know," Shadic admitted. "I really don't know."
"YOU CANNOT RETURN TO THEM," the cosmic voice said, and there was something almost like sympathy in its tone. "THE BARRIERS BETWEEN YOUR ORIGINAL WORLD AND THIS ONE ARE... COMPLICATED. AND EVEN IF YOU COULD RETURN, YOU WOULD NOT BE THE PERSON THEY LOST. YOU ARE SHADIC NOW. SOMETHING NEW. SOMETHING DIFFERENT."
"I know." Shadic's voice was quiet. "I just... I wanted to know they were okay."
"THEY ARE. AND IN TIME, THEY WILL BE HAPPY AGAIN. THAT IS THE NATURE OF HEALING."
It wasn't enough.
It would never be enough.
But it was something.
"Thank you," Shadic said. "For telling me."
"YOU EARNED IT."
The void began to shift around him, colors bleeding in at the edges.
"OUR TIME GROWS SHORT. I WILL RETURN YOU TO YOUR WORLD NOW. BUT REMEMBER, SHADIC: YOU ARE NOT ALONE. YOU HAVE ALLIES. YOU HAVE PURPOSE. AND YOU HAVE MORE STRENGTH THAN YOU KNOW."
"Wait—the Emeralds! How do I find them?! How do I even START?!"
"YOUR FRIEND TAILS. HE IS ALREADY WORKING ON IT. THE FOX IS SMARTER THAN HE APPEARS."
"He appears VERY smart!"
"THEN TRUST HIM. HE WILL FIND A WAY."
The colors were overwhelming now, reality reasserting itself.
"UNTIL NEXT TIME, SHADIC. TRY NOT TO DIE."
"That's your advice?! TRY NOT TO DIE?!"
"IT'S GOOD ADVICE."
"IT'S TERRIBLE ADVICE! I ALREADY DIED ONCE! I'M CLEARLY NOT GOOD AT—"
The void vanished.
Shadic found himself back on the roof of Tails' workshop, chili dog still in hand, as if no time had passed at all.
He sat there for a long moment, processing.
Well, Sonic-brain said finally. That was... a lot.
The cosmic entity is frustrating, Shadow-brain agreed. But the information was valuable. We now know our objective.
"Find the Emeralds. Seal Nazo. Don't get killed by cosmic horrors." Shadic took a deep breath. "Simple."
You're being sarcastic again.
"I'm ALWAYS being sarcastic. It's my coping mechanism."
The door to the roof opened, and Tails poked his head out.
"Shadic? You've been up here for a while. Everything okay?"
Shadic looked at the young fox—at the genius who had already lost so much, who had chosen to trust a stranger wearing his best friend's face, who was apparently working on a way to find the scattered Chaos Emeralds.
His friend.
His ally.
His family.
"Yeah," Shadic said, smiling despite everything. "Everything's okay. But we need to talk. I've got some... new information."
Tails' eyes lit up with curiosity. "New information? From where?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Try me. I've seen some pretty unbelievable things."
Shadic laughed.
"Fair enough. Come on—let's get the others. This is going to take a while to explain."
As they headed inside, Shadic felt something settle in his chest.
Determination.
He had a mission now. A real one. Not just reacting to threats, but actively working toward a goal.
Find the Emeralds.
Seal Nazo.
Save the world.
And somewhere along the way, become the hero everyone needed him to be.
Let's do this, Sonic-brain said, and there was fire in his voice.
Agreed, Shadow-brain added. We have work to do.
Shadic grinned.
"Yeah. We do."
Author's Note: The cosmic voice finally showed up to explain things. Sort of. Next chapter: Tails reveals his progress on tracking the Emeralds, the team prepares for dimensional travel, and Shadic discovers that not every reality is going to be happy to see him.