@yourflame said: There's a loud metallic creaking sound as the larger badnik freezes in place - illuminated in a cyan hue. Then, it tears in half, revealing a disheveled and steely-eyed white hedgehog behind it. He catches eyes with the ultimate lifeform and readies himself again, hands glowing with psychokinetic energy. " I really hope that's you Shadow. I'm getting sick of hitting your face all the time.. " ~ Silver!
Shadow's about to dislodge this thing in half with a Chaos Spear when Silver (who else can that cyan light belong to?) shows up and rips the thing in half himself. Shadow's first impression of the other hedgehog is: he looks exhausted. But who isn't? Shadow's only just come out of virtual reality a few days ago to find the world in absolute disarray--he knows he can't look any better--and if he does it's only thanks to his artificially advanced regeneration. It's unlikely though. They're all working around the clock.
"Silver...!" But before Shadow can express something almost like relief at seeing someone else he actually recognizes, the first real friend he's seen since escaping Infinite's crimson prison, another one of those huge badnik rears up to strike behind Silver--"On your six, I've got it."--and the Ultimate Lifeform snaps back into business mode, eyes narrowing as he warps over to ram that Chaos Spear into its chest, then picks the badnik up and throws it away so it can explode at a safe distance and also so the two of them can talk without being interrupted. Silver should be able to catch Shadow up to speed. Thank Gaia. Shadow's sick to death of not knowing what's going on.
"It's me," Shadow says, like he still has to confirm Silver's comment from before even though the Chaos Spear is obviously proof enough it was him and not a 'him' created by Infinite, turning fully to face the time traveler and offering a quick smirk before it disappeared off his face, confronted again with the reality of the situation. "Aren't you a bit late." A few weeks ago everything was totally fine. What even happened? Shadow's still got cubes swimming in his vision and that damn jackal's taunting laugh running through his ears. "Sonic's gone, supposedly." It's the first time he's said it out loud. This is the only phrase Shadow's been able to ground himself with since his return from the illusion. And it's a bitter truth that Shadow has heard--although admittedly it's one he's not so sure he believes in. But is obligated to believe in for now while there seems to be no other alternative.
"If you want to make things right for your future, shouldn't you have gone back a few more weeks? Before all this happened." Shadow obviously doesn't know the details of how time travel works, but he can't understand why Silver is here now instead of opting to show up before the world went to cube-enhanced-hell, his words devolving into a slightly aggressive set of snarls even though he isn't mad at Silver, just frustrated that he can feel so lost in the world--AGAIN.