Shadic shuddered as he woke up early in the morning. He crawled out of the cave and glanced around.
"Oh man, I'm so lost…"
He reached back and took out a green emerald from his quills. He narrowed his eyes at it and took a deep breath.
"Okay… let's see if I can get back home. Chaos… Control!"
He focused his energy into the emerald, but just as he was about to teleport, he felt his body suddenly burn and glitch, causing him to gasp and drop the emerald.
"Oh Chaos!" he hissed. "That too much Chaos Energy…"
"HEEEEELP!"
"Hmm?"
Shadic's ear flicked up, and he turned to where the scream came from. He grabbed his emerald and kept it before speeding off, as fast as he could. He soon made it to a cliff, where four small green trucks with different hair colors and hair styles were peering down a cliff.
"Hang on, Pickle!" the blonde one yelled.
"Yeah!" The brunette spoke. "We've got you!"
Shadic blinked curiously before speeding to them. He poked the blunette truck, causing the truck to jump and turn to him.
"Huh?!" she blinked in shock. "Who… Who are you?! And what do you want from me and my siblings?!"
"Um, hello," Shadic gave a small wave. "I… I got lost, and I… I heard screaming, so I went to see what going on. Maybe… I can help?"
"Ooh, can you?!" the redhead one looked desperate. "Our little brother got stuck on the cliff top, and he's about to fall!"
"I've got this!" Shadic proudly spoke with a smirk.
He dashed over to the cliff and glanced down to find a small green truck, smaller than the other four, as he held onto a branch. Shadic took a deep breath and zoomed down the cliff, as fast as he could before dashing up. He managed to get the small truck and carry him up towards the cliff top.
"Woah!" the small green truck gasped as he was carried off the cliff and settled onto the grass beside his sisters. "Yay! I'm saved!"
"Pickle!" The girls wrapped their tires around their little brother. "You're safe!"
"Thank you, stranger!" the blunette spoke, turning to the hedgehog with a smile. "My name is Tillie. And these are my sisters, Lily Millie and Frilly. And the one you saved us our little brother Pickle!"
"Hello, stranger!" Pickle greeted. "Wow! You're so cute! What are you?!"
"Um… I'm… uh, Hedgehog," Shadic replied hesitantly. "A Mobian, actually. M-My name is Shadic Hedgehog-Robotnik,"
"Cool name!" Millie cried out.
"What are you doing here all by yourself, little Shadic?" Lily asked.
"Uh… like I said, I… I got lost…" Shadic whimpered.
"Aww, poor Shadic!" Pickle frowned and took the little pup with his tire. "Don't worry! I'm sure Grandpa would house you in with the rest of us while we find a way for you to get back home!"
"R-Really?" Shadic's eyes lit up with hope.
"Yeah!" Frilly agreed. "Come on!"
Shadic beamed as he was carried off with the rest of the siblings. Pickle carried him on his tire, smiling as the four siblings made their way to a house just near the lake.
There, an elderly green truck was fishing by the port, whistling a happy tune while he wore a fishing hat and glasses. Near him, three small green trucks, about the same age as Lily, Tillie, Millie, and Frilly and looking a bit older than Pickle, were playing baseball, each of them wearing different colored baseball caps with the symbol of a pickle on each of it.
"Hey, cousins!" Lily greeted.
"Hey, cousins!" the three boys greeted back with a wave.
"These are our cousins, Ben, Ken and Sven!" Pickle introduced.
"Ooh, who's that, Pickle?" Ben asked.
"This is Shadic, our new friend!" Pickle replied.
"Uh, hello," Shadic shyly waved.
"He's so cute!" Ken squealed.
"Grandpa, Grandpa, we have new friend!" Sven called out.
"New friend, huh?"
Grandpa Pickle drove to them, setting his fishing pole down and driving to his grandkids. He glanced down at the hedgehog pup on his youngest grandson's tire and gasped.
"I can't believe it…" he narrowed his eyes at the pup, adjusting his glasses a little. "It's a Mobian Hedgehog!"
"What is that, Grandpa?" Frilly asked.
"A being with energy of the God Chaos himself," Grandpa Pickle replied, taking the little pup onto his tire. "What are you doing here, all by your lonesome, little fella?"
"I… I got lost," Shadic whimpered. "Someone threw down a waterfall, and I… I end up here…"
"Aww, that's terrible!" Grandpa Pickle frowned and petted his head. "Don't worry, little guy. We'll watch over you until we find a way to get you back to your parents. How old are you?"
"8,"
"8?!" The girls and cousins gasped.
"Wow!" Pickle's jaw dropped. "That's 2 years older than me! Me 6!"
"Aww, poor child," Grandpa Pickle frowned and held the hedgehog pup close. "I bet you're hungry, huh?"
"I am! I am!" Shadic nodded frantically. "Do you have any chili dogs?!"
"Uh, we have pickles," Ken suggested.
"Now, now, Ken, not everyone likes pickles as much as we do," Grandpa Pickle told him. "And don't worry, little Shadic, I'm sure we've got some chili dogs lying around in the fridge,"
"Yay! Thank you!" Shadic spoke with a smile.
"No problem, little Shadic," Grandpa Pickle smiled and patted his head.
X
X
Shadow stared down at the inhibilator rings on his gloves, his tears rolling down to the rings. Sonic went to his side and leaned his head against his shoulder, head burying against the other's back.
"I… I miss him…"
"I… I miss him too…" Shadow sniffled his tears and let the other cry. "I'm so sorry…"
"It's… It's not your fault…" Sonic looked up at him with a sad smile. "You tried… You tried to save him…"
"I wish I could've tried harder…" Shadow sobbed. "I wish he was still here…"
X
X
"Ooh! What a pretty emerald!" Millie gasped as the green emerald glowed from within Shadic's quills.
"Oh yeah, that my Chaos Emerald!" Shadic grinned, taking the emerald out as he bit into the chili dog he had in his glove. "Mama gave it to me when I was 4!"
"A Chaos Emerald?" Grandpa Pickle's eyes lit up. "Amazing! I had only heard of these in legends and read them in books! Do you know the guardian of these amazing emeralds?"
"Yeah, that my Uncle Knuckles!" Shadic nodded.
"What Chaos Emerald, Grandpa?" Pickle asked.
"A Chaos Emerald is a gem with the power of chaos within," Grandpa Pickle explained. "There are seven Chaos Emeralds in existence, along with the Master Emerald, which is being guarded by the Guardian of the floating island called Angel Island,"
"Woah!" Pickle gasped.
"That sounds amazing!" Ben cheered.
"Can you make the emerald work?!" Millie asked the dark blue hedgehog.
"Um… I can try…" Shadic looked hesitant as he finished up his chili dog.
He focused his chaos energy at the emerald, causing it to glow, as did the icy blue stripes. As he did, he felt a stinging sensation, causing him to gasp and yelp.
"AAH!"
He dropped the emerald with a hiss. This made Grandpa Pickle frown.
"Whats wrong, little Shadic?"
"I… I think I use too much chaos energy…" Shadic whimpered.
"Hmm…" Grandpa Pickle thought for a while before nodding. "Alright, stay here, I need to go get something,"
The kids all looked confused as they watched the elderly green truck drive off into the basement. He came back soon after, a strange machine in his tire as he set it next to Shadic.
"Whats that, Grandpa?" Tillie asked.
"An energy detector," Grandpa Pickle replied, setting two strappers down beside the hedgehog. "It would help detect how much Chaos Energy you have, little one,"
"Uh… I don't think that's such a good idea…" Shadic gulped as the strappers were wrapped around his wrists. "Mama and Papa say that I have too much. I might break machine,"
"That's what I'm afraid of that, but let's test it anyway," Grandpa Pickle started up the machine.
Suddenly, the machine glowed a bright blue, the numbers heading up and up until the machine went out of control. The gears went flying, the machine glowing red before smoking up and breaking into bits, which caused everyone to gasp.
"Just as I thought…" Grandpa Pickle hissed and unhooked the mission. "When you use too much chaos energy on the emerald, it goes wrong, especially when your energy is unstable,"
"I… I usually have my inhibilator rings to help stabilize my energy," Shadic admitted. "But I… I left them back at my house,"
"Well, since you left them, you can't use the emerald," Grandpa Pickle told him. "Well, unless you know a magical spell with the emerald that uses less chaos energy,"
"Well… I know one thing I discovered…" Shadic jumped down and grabbed the emerald. "Chaos… Control!"
There was a flash of light, blue and green as Shadic suddenly glowed full white. His form slowly shifted and started to look a bit bigger until the light ceased, and in front of them stood a dark blue truck child with lightning blue marks on his sides.
"WOW!" the trucks all gasped in amazement.
"So… what do you think…?" Shadic sheepishly asked.
"You look awesome!" Pickle squealed.
"You'll fit right in," Grandpa Pickle smiled.
"Th-Thanks, everyone," Shadic smiled back.
Maybe… he can fit in this world.
Maybe he can call this world his home until he finds a way back.