Travelling East through the country of South Island, Shadow had calmed down from Omega's disappointing report and was now trying to get a hold of his remaining Team Dark teammate.
"Rouge?" he barked, "Come in, Rouge, are you there?"
"I'm here," Rouge's sultry voice replied over his communicator, "what's the issue?"
"Found anything from Amy?"
"Oh, have I?" the bat laughed gleefully, "Get your head round this: Sonic might not have been born on South Island."
Shadow's eyes widened. "What? But that's..."
"Where the world first discovered him and Eggman, yes," Rouge was nodding on her end of the comms having hidden herself away in Amy's bathroom, "But Amy's just dropped the bomb that Sonic's birth certificate, which is something considered as mythical as the realm of Atlantis, doesn't say he was born on South Island. In fact, archived GUN reports heavily suggest that he was born on one of the Abandoned Isles."
The Ultimate Lifeform hated it when everything he thought he knew was thrown into question which, thanks to fate's cruel sense of humour, only seemed to happen too often to him. So many people had made a big deal about Green Hill and about how Sonic and Eggman's duel had come to the attention of the rest of the world that it was widely assumed that, since Sonic had been so young, it had been the area he was most familiar with, i.e. his place of birth.
Sonic had never said he wasn't born there. Did he even know where he was born?
"It is certain that Sonic was born of natural circumstances and does not possess an approved license?" Omega drawled slowly.
Rouge let out a sigh.
"For the last time, Omega," she answered, "they did the tests and found that Sonic was born naturally. He wasn't created in a laboratory like Shadow was."
"Remember what I taught you, Omega: question everything," Shadow muttered out of the side of his mouth, nudging his favourite robot.
"Shadow," Rouge warned, "your comms are still on. I can hear you."
Shadow was a bad influence on Omega sometimes and the bat worried that the dark hedgehog might fill the poor robot's mind up with extravagent stories and twisted ideals. Omega, on the other hand, seemed to be lost in deep thought about the idea of Sonic's birth.
"Processing...error!" he suddenly bleeped, "Knowledge of natural conception and birth contradicts the logic of Sonic's abilities. Does not compute...does not compute..."
"Now look what you've done," Shadow growled down his communicator, "Omega's having a breakdown."
"Just give him a few thumps, see if that sorts him out."
"Omega isn't an old computer, Rouge."
"Of course not! He's our sweetie!"
"Never say that again." He gave Omega a thwack on his back and, after a sickening grinding noise, the large E-Series Robot seemed to calm down. "Are you okay, Omega?" Shadow asked, genuinely concerned.
The robot's optics flickered.
"Affirmative," he squeaked, "Apologies. My data systems overloaded."
Shadow shook his head, more pleased by the fact that his friend was okay.
"Don't worry about it. There are many things about that Faker that don't add up and it makes MY head hurt too. He never did tell me how he could perform Chaos Control with a fake emerald."
"...He did what?" Rouge cried over the comms.
"Just keep me up to date with developments," Shadow replied, "The GUN databanks have some file called "Robotropolis" that could be here on South Island. Omega and I are going to investigate but I need you to look into any of the other islands."
"Whatever you say, BOSS."
Then there was silence.
"Come on, Omega. Let's go," Shadow growled, stalking forward more determined than ever to get some answers. Omega followed in his wake, the quiet companion.
- - - - -
For hours, the two doggedly explored the island, discovering all manner of wildlife and villages full of silent residents. Finally having enough, Shadow cornered an old cat, asking for any information regarding Robotropolis. The cat's face grew frightened.
"Naw, yer 'ush that mouth, son," he hissed, "That city ain't be named fer a lon' time. Folks say it be a-bringin' bad luck."
"Robotropolis is a city?" Shadow frowned, "What kind and where?"
The cat leant heavily upon its rake and it clutched worriedly at its jacket. "Why yer be wantin' t' know, boy?"
"We need to find it. We're on important business and we won't deal with time-wasters."
"Business, eh?" the cat murmured, shaking his head, "No livin' soul be 'avin' any business wi' that part o' hell. Nothin' fer yer there save fer th' stench o' grease an' th' cold bitin' metal. All 'round, it jus' be metal. No life. No sun. Only memories floatin' 'bout there be bad ones. Evil memories. Do yerself a favour, boy; stay away."
Shadow bared his teeth and took a step towards the cat. "We're going there," he snapped, "Nothing will stop that. Now tell me about Robotropolis!"
The cat began to shake, unnerved by Shadow's piercing red eyes. "Y...Yer real willin' t' go t' one o' Robotnik's cities?" he whimpered.
Shadow's ears pivoted.
"Robotnik?" he repeated slowly and the cat nodded.
"Back in th' day..." the cat began and then started to silently weep, "Ooh, th' poor lads n' lasses that were marched t' that city an' never came back... Th' toad o' a man, that Robotnik! Tooks th' 'ealthy an' r'boties 'em, leavin' th' rest t' pay 'is taxes an' suffer out in th' country. If i' weren't fer that Sonic boy..." Shadow's eyes narrowed at this point, "Oh, that poor liddle 'oglet. Robotnik were after 'im th' worst. Couldn't settle fer a moment, that boy, not wi' Robotnik after 'im. Th' poor, poor boy. 'E finally chased that madman off th' island after...after..."
"After what?" Shadow barked, gripping the old cat by the arm. The cat was still weeping.
"'E were so young!" he sniffed, "Not right. No, not right. Not when both were after 'im. Th' poor lad!" It was clear they weren't going to get any more information out of him.
"Where?" Shadow snarled.
The cat held up a shaking paw. "East."
- - - - -
Charmy kicked a stone into the water at the docks, slightly bored now that he had 'secured the area' as Vector had asked.
"So yer the one who was on guard, am I right?" the imposing crocodile was saying to a slightly unnerved beaver in a security guard's uniform.
"Uh... aye, Sir... Aye, that was me," the beaver, who's nametag simply spelt 'Dwayne', nodded, trying not to look at Vector's mouth in fear of seeing any teeth jutting out. Vector was oblivious to Dwayne's discomfort and continued scribbling notes down.
"Yer shift was from 21:00 to 2:30 whereby a colleague comes to relieve yer from 2:30 to 6:00," he went on saying, recalling the information from Tails' report, "Which means, if I'm being told right, yer the one who were on duty at the time of the crime. Yer followin'?"
Dwayne nodded, hard. "Oh aye, Sir. That were me, Sir. I heard it, Sir."
"Aye, Sir, me, Sir, anything you want, Sir," Charmy muttered mockingly under his breath.
Vector either didn't hear him or chose to simply ignore him.
"Yer heard it?" he repeated, "Yer heard what, 'xactly?"
"I heard the boat, Sir," Dwayne answered, "Heard it... heard it start up and then when I comes running from the security shed I sees him driving off in it."
"Definitely a male?"
"Looked to be male, Sir."
"Uh-huh," Vector was nodding, deciding to fall back on an old trick he had learnt which was to open his jaw a little and run a tantalising tongue over one of his sharp teeth which did wonders for getting answers, "So, what kinda boat was it, eh?"
"Oh, er, I dunno 'bout that, Sir. Not too good with boats, see? But it was one with a motor, Sir, I know 'cause I heard it."
Charmy afforded himself an eyeroll at that point.
"Spare me his genius," the teenage bee mouthed to himself. He was overjoyed when their silent colleague appeared out of nowhere, causing Dwayne the Beaver to jump a few inches into the air.
"Vector?" the chameleon said in a rich tone, indicating that he wished to speak with the crocodile.
Vector tapped his notebook and gave the beaver Security Guard a look.
"'Scuse me a moment." He and Espio took a few paces to one side with Charmy in their wake. "What is it, Espio?" Vector asked quietly, "You had a look around?"
The chameleon nodded and folded his arms, closing his eyes as he recounted his report.
"All other means to get into the harbour are secured and haven't been tampered with. There's no disturbed fencing so he hasn't dug his way in and there are two problems with that anyway: the ground is concrete and the hounds would have picked up a scent. Therefore that leaves two possible options; our thief came in via the sky or he came via boat. Again, there's no trace of scent, I'm told, on either side of the fence that surrounds the harbour and there have been no reports of any aircraft in the area - only the sound of a motor boat at the time of the theft."
"So you're saying it's likely the thief came to the harbour in a boat?"
"But then the guy stole a boat," Charmy pointed out, entering the conversation, "Who comes in a boat to steal a boat?" He felt Vector's strong disciplining hand upon his shoulders.
"Come on, Charmy lad, use yer brains that we've be workin' on," he growled with a twinkle in his reptilian eyes, "Why d'er think someone would 'xchange one thing fer another?"
The bee, now reaching Vector's chest in his teenage years thanks to his growth spurt and long legs, bowed his head and rubbed his chin. Finally, he snapped his fingers.
"...Ah! Because he wanted an upgrade!" he grinned triumphantly, "He came in a cheapo boat and got himself a better one!"
"There yer go," Vector nodded with some pride, "Now if we wanna prove that, we need to find us some evidence, don't we? Since it was yer idea, how's about yer go off with Espio and look fer that 'cheapo boat' while I finish drillin' Mr 'Yes-Sir', over there?"
Charmy looked between Vector and Espio for confirmation before pumping his fist.
"Sweet!"
Minutes later, Charmy was shadowing Espio as they swept the docks, checking every boat and dingy.
Back when he was a little grub of a bee, Charmy hadn't felt much like a proper detective. He had been the kid that they toted around to be a protege, really. Now he was a fully certified apprentice amateur detective and his chest couldn't be more inflated.
"So why'd you think this guy comes to steal a better boat?" he asked Espio, privately wishing Cream were here to see him do all this important detective work.
"He certainly hasn't come to steal a car which indicates he wishes to be somewhere offshore," Espio replied, effortlessly springing up to perfectly perch on a floating buoy, looking around him.
Charmy continued on, peering between the masts and lifting tarpaulins.
"Like he's going to an island?"
Espio nodded, returning to the jetty.
"Indeed," he said, "Staff say that the boat taken was a powerful motor boat which tells you, what?"
Ah, more training! Charmy clicked his fingers, hoping to impress the 'smartest member of Team Chaotix' as some referred to Espio as.
"...Well," he began, really giving it thought as they moved on to the next jetty near a stony beach, "if he was gonna sell it on later, he'd make a lot of money... but if he WAS going somewhere, it would be somewhere further out which is why he needed a better boat so he could get there faster, right?" The look he gave his ninja friend almost dared him to say he was wrong.
Fortunately, Espio wasn't going to do that, instead nodding with a smile.
"Correct."
Another fist pump for Charmy, celebrating by picking up a pebble from the shore and hurling into the sea.
"I do not think this was a theft for money," Espio continued, checking the boats once more, "If that were the case, he would have taken the most expensive boat which is over there. The fact that he has not indicates he only wanted a means of transportation."
"I'm learning, aren't I?" Charmy grinned, plucking another stone from the ground and watching it sail into the water with a splish! and a peculiar thunk!.
"That you are, Charmy," Espio agreed.
The bee had stepped onto the jetty and was now stooping over the edge, peering into the sea where his stone had hit and made the unusual noise.
"Do you think Vector will give me a promotion?" he murmured questioningly.
Espio smiled and glanced over.
"For working out simple deductions after getting easy prompts?"
Charmy pointed into the water with his gloved hand.
"More for the fact that I've found the cheapo boat."
- - - - -
Amy's meal had gone down a treat with everyone, especially Rosemary who had asked, extremely politely, for seconds. Laughing and chatting, it was easy to while away time in one another's company, forgetting about the cares of the world in favour of enjoying a few moments of bliss among close friends. Sonic and Tails often fell back into talking about the 'golden years' when they had been young and had rushed about without any adult supervision, getting themselves into trouble.
To Tails' mortification, Zooey seemed to lap up all the stories Sonic had on what Tails had been like as a tiny fox cub, embelishing tales that didn't seem exciting or embarassing enough. Tails was able to get his own back, however, and recouted many stories of when Sonic had found himself in the sticky situation or had resorted to cross-dressing to get what he wanted.
Halfway through one such story, Sonic had been trying to hide his discomfort by taking another mouthful of pudding but almost dropped his spoon as a warm wave washed over him.
"You okay, sweetie?" Amy had asked, beside him, noticing his frown. The frown immediately disappeared as Sonic beamed at her.
"How fine do you think I can be with Tails blabbing his mouth off?" Sonic joked with a laugh, secretly hiding the real answer behind his sparkling emerald eyes. The truth was that the feeling that had come over him was of a very specific kind.
It had been Chaos Energy.
Only those truly at one with the ways of Chaos could manipulate the energy to act as a way of communication between each other. It only meant one thing - someone was trying to get his attention. Having spent years perfecting the art of Chaos, Sonic knew, all too well, who it was that was contacting him.
"...Hang on guys, I'll be right back," he murmured, excusing himself discretely. Zooey, distracted by a babbling Rosemary, did not notice the exchange between Amy and Tails. They may not have been as tuned as Sonic was, but they knew when something was bothering him.
Outside, the cool night air was beginning to feel damp but Sonic hardly noticed. He was drawn to a dark figure leant against the cherry tree in Amy's front garden.
"You know I'm kinda busy," Sonic murmured, walking over to the shape, "Trying to spend time with the family and all that."
"Yes, I have eyes. I can see that," the figure replied, turning towards him and stepping out of the gloom.
Sonic gazed at Shadow with a solemn disposition.
"...What's the issue?" he asked after a long pause.
Shadow rarely made social calls on people outside of his own working hours and certainly not to see him. The darker hedgehog waved a file in his left hand and handed it over.
"You tell me..." he growled.
For a moment, Sonic stared at Shadow, trying to determine what was going on - but Shadow had his very best poker face on at the present and so he sighed and opened up the file. The first thing he saw was the large glossy photo revealing Eggman's grim mugshot. The next thing he noticed were the many photos accompanying it showing Eggman out and about in his eggmobile, foraging in the forest and walking along the beach.
Slowly, Sonic felt his quills bristle, one by one, at the sight of his arch enemy.
He gnawed at his lower lip and peered up at Shadow from beneath half-lidded eyes. "...The G.U.N. sent you, I presume?"
"They weren't going to but I actually insisted on this."
Sonic glanced back at the photos for another few seconds.
"...So what's the deal?" he asked, skim reading the reports, "We all knew he wasn't going to be hiding away forever."
"I suppose we weren't prepared for the lack of flair," Shadow responded, folding his arms over his chest, "There's no giant robot, no fleet, no dimensional disturbances, no reports from Silver, no sudden space work... He's just shown up. Not even trying to keep a low profile. No flahses, no bangs, no pops. GUN picked him up immediately."
Sonic was staring into the file, recognising that something was amiss. He looked up again and pressed his tongue against the roof of his mouth.
"...There's something that's meant to be in this file but isn't... Am I right?"
Shadow said nothing. He looked away, torn. Then he pulled out another envelope, tossing it over for Sonic to catch, which he did so. Inside were more photos.
Only this time, Eggman was posing aggressively, sometimes glaring at the camera, sometimes stabbing knives into trees where he had carved out Sonic's name. He had even held up a picture of Sonic and had torn it. On the beach, he had drawn out Sonic's face and driven a stake straight over it... Other photos were more graphic than that.
Neither hedgehog said a word.
Nearby, an owl hooted into the still night.
"He's really not intent on playing with you this time," Shadow's voice broke the silence.
Sonic was still staring at what he held in his hands, multiple feelings coursing through him all at the same time.
"We've done this dance for years, Shadow," he finally muttered, "One day he'll grow too old, too senile, too cracked to do anything. Until then, we'll keep dancing." Shoving the photos back in the envelope and tucking said envelope into the file, he chucked it back for Shadow to take. "Thanks for the warning," he said softly, turning back towards the house.
"You think he'll really be lenient with you when what's left of his sanity completely shatters?" Shadow asked, stopping him. Sonic was now staring at the door and he shrugged.
"Can't imagine that IQ of his staying at the same number and that's all I'll say about that."
Shadow leant back against the tree again and bowed his head.
"Hate to be that guy," he said gently, "but you haven't forgotten his grandfather, have you? You know, my creator? That fellow?" His gaze was firmly rooted on the back of Sonic's head. "When his sanity went he tried to take vengeance on the whole planet, intending to kill everyone. Seems to run in the family. Now what makes you think Eggman's going to let you waltz around pretty as you please?" He straightened up and walked towards his look-alike, standing just over his shoulder. "He hates you," he breathed, "He's only losing his sanity so quickly because of you and you know that very well. So if he's going, you can bet your spines he's intending to take you with him."
Sonic shifted slightly and then turned to face Shadow.
"Usually I aim to please. But I guess, if that's the case, I'll have to disappoint him."
The two of them gazed into each other's eyes, an unspoken respect passing between them.
"...Watch your back, Faker," Shadow warned, "He's set on having your pelt whether you want him to or not."
Then came the smile that Shadow had grown to both loathe and admire.
"I am looking handsomely blue today, aren't I?" Sonic joked, letting out a chuckle. Despite himself, Shadow gave a half-smile back.
"And if you want to stay that way, you'll be careful." He pressed his hand on Sonic's shoulder and nodded. "I'll be seeing you around." Shadow normally prevented any kind of physical contact with the likes of Sonic - both hedgehogs found their quills tightening at the very thought of it - but while they considered each other the fiercest of rivals, they were also protective of one another.
"Oh and by the way..." Shadow then mentioned over his shoulder, before Sonic could reach the front door, "...Omega and I visited Robotropolis the other day."
The blue hedgehog froze.
His hand, in the process of reaching for the door handle, went stiff.
"Charming city. Really charming," Shadow continued, watching Sonic's reaction closely. His rival hadn't moved a fraction and he couldn't see his face. "I can see why you never mentioned it. The place hasn't seen the sun in over a decade. No plant life, no animal life, and the only working light happened to be a cracked traffic-"
"Why did you go there?" Sonic interuppted sharply, his voice sounding... different. It was a tight voice, one that was holding back something.
Shadow leant against Amy's garden fence, monitoring the situation keenly.
"We're trying to keep tabs on Eggman," he murmured, "As you should be if you want to live another 25 years. We had to find out about Robotropolis for ourselves seeing as no-one cared to give us a head's up." Shadow had scarcely finished the sentence before Sonic was speaking again.
"But why?" he hissed, "Robotropolis was put behind us. We don't talk about it."
"Some of us weren't around when that was decided."
Sonic's head dropped as he now placed his hands either side of the door, feet spaced apart.
"It was Eggman's place, yes?" Shadow went on slowly, not too eager to push it, "What happened there that you don't want to remember?"
Sonic only gave him silence.
"Sonic, I need to know," Shadow pressed gently, "We need to find out what Eggman's doing. He's threatening you and we don't know why. Any information can-"
"It was the one city I couldn't save," Sonic suddenly cried, turning around suddenly, his eyes betraying a great deal of pain as his breaths came out in ragged gasps. Shadow's words faltered in his mouth and he kept quiet. Sonic seemed to be wrestling with a large amount of emotion and Shadow briefly feared that it would corrupt his Chaos energy - a situation that only resulted in something dark.
"Robo... Robotropolis was... was once an ordinary city. Mobotropolis, it was called. The Capital of the planet. I... I believe my heritage came from there. It was where my ancestors came from." Sonic swallowed and sank down to sit on the front step. "I mean, I guess. I don't really know. All I do know is that it hadn't been long since I'd met Tails and Robotnik came and..." He swallowed again. "I... tried to stop him. But I had Tails and..." He then gritted his teeth and leapt up to his feet. "Mobotropolis was destroyed and Robotropolis took its place, okay? Robotnik took a thriving, beautiful city and built a slavery settlement on top of its corpse." Though he said this with anger, Sonic went back to looking sad once more. "Please, Shadow," he begged, "don't ask me any more about it. Eggman used to live there and now he doesn't. End of story."
Without waiting for another word, Sonic turned and disappeared inside the house.
Shadow let out a long sigh and teleported away.
- - - - -
Writer's Note -
This story was originally published on Fanfiction.net way back in 2017, before the IDW comics were released, can you believe? The entire complete story can be found there (again under my pen name of DaydreamingDuma) for those who are too impatient for the chapters to be updated. I will say, however, that the original story may contain spelling and grammatical errors that have yet to be corrected.