Universe 151222 - New Yoke City

"Right now, we gotta get to Ghost Hill!" Prime Sonic pointed out with concern.

"Ghost Hill?" Nine questioned.

"That sounds like a rip-off of Green Hills, but with ghosts..." Sonic deadpanned.

"Well, it's kinda that, to be honest..." Prime confessed. "And, it's got a fourth shard and this blueprint "thingy"."

"Blueprint?" Nine muttered and scratched his head.

Tails seemed to notice this, and he looked at Nine with suspicion, while the case with the other two shards of the Prism attached to the lower part of his ship.

"That's the key to putting the Prism back together!" Nine realized with wide eyes.

"Exactly!" Prime Sonic replied.

"Hmm... There's something about Nine that I don't like..." Tails muttered.

"You noticed it, too?" Sonic asked him with a frown.

"Yeah... We should keep an eye on him, just in case!" Tails declared, and Sonic nodded in agreement.

"How do we get to this Ghost Hill?" Nine asked Prime, but just then, the doors to enter the room suddenly opened, and several Egg Forcers entered the room to stop them.

"Ah crap..." Sonic and Tails both muttered with bored expressions.

"I'll clear the path, you guys get the Shards out of here!" Prime Sonic stated.

Nine nodded and prepared his ship, while Tails decided to ride the ship from the ceiling, and Sonic decided to help Prime against the Egg Forcers to clear the path.

On one hand, Prime Sonic Spin Dashed against the three Egg Forcers that came in front of the ship, destroying them in the process. On the other hand, Sonic made a Wild Rush against one of the robots, then made a Cyclone Kick against the second one, and finally finished off the last one with a Loop Kick.

With the Egg Forcers out of the way, Prime Sonic got inside of the Ship, which was already moving, while Sonic got over it as well and looked at Tails with a smirk and winked.

"Go, go, go!" Prime Sonic cheered with a smile, while Tails made the ship take fly and leave the building.

"Next stop: Prism blueprint!" Nine declared with a confident smile, while Prime smiled back at him.

Sonic and Tails, however, looked at each other with concern, then back at Nine with frowns, because there was something about him that they didn't liked in the slightest.

As they flew away from the building, they were coming near the green portal that the Chaos Council opened earlier.

"The portals shouldn't have been left open this long." Nine said with a frown, then moved the ship to avoid the portal. "They're decaying."

"Do you think we can go through them?" Prime Sonic asked.

"I-I don't trust them, they look unstable." Nine replied with a frown, but in his sight you could also tell he wasn't truly being honest.

Well, Sonic and Tails could notice this, anyways, because they still didn't trusted Nine at all.

Suddenly, more Egg Forcers began to head towards them, so Nine began to move the ship around, while Tails used some of his own weapons to finish off the Egg Forcers that were close to hit them.

At the same time, Nine made a flip in the air and started to head away from the building, while Prime cheered.

"Whoo-hoo! That was epic!" Prime Sonic told Nine with a smile.

Nine chuckled with wide eyes, then smirked confidently. "Yes, it was!"

After this, he shoot a pair of blasts from his ship that opened a purple portal ahead.

Prime Sonic laughed happily at this. "Nothing's gonna stop us now!"

"Thanks for nothing, other me!" Sonic said with a deadpan.

After saying this, the towers from the Chaos Council's shot at them and hit them, making them start to twirl around wildly.

"Will you stop saying stuff like that?!" Nine asked Prime with a frown.

"For once, I agree with the emo kid!" Sonic said with a frown, as he hang onto the ship to not fall.

"I'm ashamed of what could've been of me if I never met you!" Tails said with no regret nor shame over his words.

And then, an Egg Forcer flew by and shoot one of the ship's wings, making it fall into the floor.

"Ugh. We're going down!" Nine said with panic and wide eyes.

To make things even worse, the case with the other two shards separated from the ship and fell to the ground, something that Nine, Sonic and Tails noticed.

"The shards!" Nine said with wide and panicked eyes.

Sonic and Tails, however, didn't thought twice and launched off the falling ship to head towards the case with the shards, with Tails carrying Sonic by flight, before Tails twirled in the air and then launched Sonic towards the case.

Sonic landed over it, then he lay on it, and when the case hit the ground and made a twirl, Sonic took this as the chance to extend his feet and touch the ground while holding the case over his back, so he could keep them at one place and avoid the Egg Forcers from getting the case.

On the other hand, the ship was about to crash in the floor, until it was suddenly surround by a magical aura that made both Nine and Prime Sonic look around confused.

But then, their confusion just incremented when they saw an Alicorn, a.k.a. Sunny, using her magic to catch the ship just in time, before carefully placing it on the ground, as she landed on it as well with Sunset soon joining by landing at her side, while Prime and Nine looked at the two Alicorns with wide and confused eyes.

"Sunny!" Tails called out, then he came over and wrapped her into a hug with smile.

Sonic soon joined as well with the case that had the shards, and he fist bumped with Sunset as saying "Good job", before he moved over to see if Prime and Nine were fine.

"You two okay? No one hurt?" Sonic asked them with a smirk.

"Uh... no, we're... fine..." Nine replied, before his eyes widened in panic when he remembered something, and then he frowned. "But the Shatterdrive is down!"

"Bro, we don't know what's anything that starts with "Shatter", so don't expect me to panic..." Sonic deadpanned at Nine.

Nine rolled his eyes annoyed, then he took the shard in the ship with a hand and exited it along Prime Sonic, who kept staring at Sunny and Sunset like if they were aliens.

Well, they technically are.

"Who the hell are they?" Prime Sonic asked confused.

"These are Sunny Starscout and Sunset Shimmer!" Sonic replied with a smile. "They come with us!"

However, before they could explain themselves further, more Egg Forcers were approaching, and they started to shoot at them with their lasers.

"Crap!" Tails said with a frown. "Again, we'll chit chat later, we have to get out of here!"

"Right! We still gotta get the shards to Ghost Hill!" Nine agreed. "Once there, I really hope we get an explanation on what's going on, and what's this multiverse you guys are talking about!"

"I can get us to the Void." Prime Sonic said with a smirk, also laying on the case with the shards.

"The what?" Sonic asked confused.

"You'll see it when we're there. Right now, we need to move. Come on!" Prime Sonic replied confidently.

Then, as Nine got over the case, Prime pushed it away at top speed, with Sonic and Tails following along, while Sunny and Sunset did the same by air.

As they ran away, more Egg Forcers arrived and began to shot at them again, with all the intention of destroying them. Seeing this, Sonic made a lasso with his watch and surrounded one of the Egg Forcers, then launched him against the other two to destroy them all.

"Dude, just when I think you can't be cooler, you prove me wrong!" Prime Sonic said with excitement.

Sonic, however, raised an eyebrow. "Uh, thanks..." He replied. 'If I was like this guy when I was 15, I am so glad I have changed...' He thought with concern and a frown.

Soon, more Egg Forcers arrived and began to shoot at the group even faster than before, so this time, it was Sunny who turned around and shoot a blast against them all, although some robots dodged the attack and kept shooting.

"Can someone tell me why those robots are still on even though we knocked and tied up the Eggmans?!" Sunny asked with concern.

"Their robots have the order to get the shards back! And they won't stop until they accomplish their mission!" Nine replied with a frown, before looking at Prime Sonic confused. "How can you get us to the Void?"

"Well, I don't want to get all science-y, but basically I run fast and boom! A portal opens!" Prime Sonic replied with a smile.

"And you've done this before how many times?" Tails asked this time with a raised eyebrow.

"Turn right!" Nine told Prime, as he did so, while everyone else followed along.

Soon, more Egg Forcers began to shoot, so this time, Tails himself turned and made two giant metallic gloves with his powers, which he used to fight on a 1v1 against the Egg Forcers, hitting one by one with all of them, before straight up grab the head of the last one and rip it off.

"Not exactly lots of times..." Prime Sonic replied to Tails' question once he came back.

"Okay, but how many, then?" Sonic asked with a frown. 'No, seriously: Was I this stupid when 15? Because if I was, dear Chaos, I'm glad that phase is over...'

"Make a left!" Nine told Prime again, and Prime and the rest turned in that direction, still having some Egg Forcers on their tails.

"Once on purpose, and I wasn't pushing a giant shard case... But it was super cool!" Prime Sonic replied with excitement.

"Turn right!" Nine said suddenly, and everyone turned in said direction while Sunset turned around and levitated all the Egg Forcers following them with her magic, then made them all crash against the walls, exploding in the process.

"So we are basing our only escape from this place on something you have done once?!" Sunset asked Prime with a frown. "I start to get why FS don't like you..."

"Yeah, me too..." Sonic said with a frown, and Prime looked at them both confused.

"Who's FS?" Prime Sonic asked.

"Long story short: He looks like us, but with white boots, a cot, and an eyepatch." Sonic replied quickly.

Of course, this made Prime Sonic gasp excited, since he couldn't imagine something cooler than a Sonic with an eyepatch, but that excitement died as soon as they saw that there were more Egg Forcers following them and shooting at them, so they began to dodge the lasers.

"Ugh, I'll never get up to speed with all these Egg Forcers on us!" Prime Sonic complained with a frown.

"So the Egg Forcers are the problem, huh?" Sonic asked with a smirk, as he looked backwards, before suddenly stop moving and look at the Egg Forcers with glee. "Give me 30 seconds!"

After saying this, he boosted towards the Egg Forcers, while the rest stopped moving and looked back at him.

Sonic Spin Dashed at top speed over the ground, then launched himself against the first machine with a jump in the air, as he made an electrical lasso again to surround one of the machines and pull it closer.

Then, Sonic made a Stomp Attack over the Egg Forcer and hit him on the ground, making it pieces and destroying it, before looking over at the next one, as he made a Wild Rush and kicked one of the robots in the air, then charged a Homing Shot against that same Egg Forcer.

Finally, with only one machine left, Sonic jumped in the air and hit the machine with a Stomp Attack, then with a Sonic Boom, then with Cross Slash.

With all the attacks done, Sonic's Phantom Rush was charged, so he went over to the Egg Forcer and began to hit it in all the places possible, multiplying himself to prove that he is the fastest thing alive, and that he can take care of this situations in no time.

With the last Egg Forcer demolished, Sonic finished it off with a Spin Dash and sent him to the ground, were the Egg Forcer's body separated, while it deactivated completely.

"Problem solved!" Sonic said with a smirk, then he turned to the rest and raised his thumbs up. "The path is clear, guys!"

Of course, being used to him doing that stuff, Tails only raised his thumbs up back, while Sunny and Sunset smiled and nodded at him... Nine and Prime, on the other hand, had their jaws dropped after seeing all that Sonic just did.

Well, Prime also thought it was incredibly cool, and he wondered if he'll ever be as skilled as him one day.

"No more Egg Forcers!" Tails said with a smile, before turning to Prime. "Does that fix the problem?"

Prime shook his head to get out of his admiration-shocked state and looked at Tails with a sheepish smile. "Uh... Yeah! That fixes the entire thing!" He replied, before starting to push the case again and towards another direction.

Soon, Prime started to run top speed, with his feet making the shape of an eight, while Sonic hold into the case, then Tails grabbed Sunny and Sunset from their hooves to accelerate. The three of them soon stood over the case, and Sonic stood over it as well.

"Gotta. Go. Fast!" Prime Sonic said out loudly, as a strange purple aura surrounded him and the case.

However, as he kept running, Sonic looked ahead, but then his eyes widened when he saw that they were running straight towards a wall.

"Dude! We're gonna crash!" Sonic told Prime with concern.

"No, we're not!" Prime Sonic replied with a smirk.

After that, they almost crashed against the wall, but the effect of the portal that Prime wanted to open finally kicked in, and so, they exited New Yoke City and went back to the Void.

Universe 151222

Outside of the red structure, the case with everyone but Prime Sonic was pushed away.

Meanwhile, Prime Sonic let go the case because he was tired from all the running, and he was even panting heavily, but at least he was still fine.

"Sonic?" Nine said confused when he noticed that Sonic stopped moving.

"Dude, you good?" Sonic asked Prime, as he jumped off the case and head to him by jumping on the crystals.

"Yes, yeah... I'm good..." Prime replied with his thumbs up. "I just need a moment to recover myself..."

Then, Tails got off the case as well and flew to the front to make it stop moving, while Sunny and Sunset got off as well to fly around the Void.

But then, Tails' ear twitched when he heard something behind, so he turned around and saw that a figure was approaching them. Nine noticed this too, and the two Tails' narrowed their eyes to see who was approaching, just for them to gasp when they noticed who it was.

The one approaching was none other than Shadow, the Shadow from this universe. However as he came close to the case, his eyes widened when he noticed that there were two Tails' variants.

"It's about time!" Shadow said with a frown all the same, since he simply supposed another Tails was tagging along.

Prime Sonic noticed this and smiled, so he headed towards the rest, while Sonic raised an eyebrow at this universe's Shadow's presence, before moving towards him as well. I won't refer to him as "Prime Shadow" due to the fact he's the only Shadow around.

"Nine, meet Shadow. Shadow, meet Nine, Tails, Sunny, Sunset, and me!" Prime Sonic presented everyone else.

Shadow came to notice the two mares' presence, but he didn't seemed to mind them. However, he did seemed to mind that there was another Sonic around, and that made him frown and growl a bit.

"If it makes you feel better, I'm 28. Whatever this guy here has done to you, I'm not that stupid..." Sonic told Shadow with a bored expression.

That actually made Shadow's eyes widen a bit. "You've got to be a whole different Sonic if you can't stand yourself..."

Then, he used his air shoes' rockets to move to the other side of the case and then start to push it into a certain direction, while everyone else followed him.

"You're not another version of Sonic... But you could be twins!" Nine pointed out with surprised and wide eyes.

"Hardly. I am the Ultimate Life Form." Shadow replied with a frown, and he had to get some strength from Chaos knows where to not punch Nine for comparing him to Prime Sonic.

"Don't listen to him..." Prime Sonic said with a mocking smirk, as he jumped from a crystal to another. "Come on!"

As they moved ahead, Sonic decided to approach Shadow. "Dude. I know you probably don't want to talk with me, not with any version of myself, but I still gotta ask: How badly did he screw things up to the point this universe turned into... this?" He pointed at the Void around.

"Dr. Eggman wanted to steal the Paradox Prism to accomplish his dream of the Eggman Empire..." Shadow began to explain.

Sonic rolled his eyes annoyed. "Tell me something about Eggman I don't know..."

"And Sonic, instead of listening to his friends when they told him not to touch the Prism, destroyed it!" Shadow said with anger. "Look around you, Sonic 2. Because this mess is his fault!"

"Wait a second..." Sonic said, and he looked down with concern before looking back at Shadow again. "Are you telling me that he was warned not to do something, and he still did it?!"

"Which is why our home is no more..." Shadow muttered with anger.

Sonic looked back at Prime Sonic, who kept jumping happily from one crystal to the other, like if he didn't literally destroyed his home because he couldn't listen.

"I told myself this once, and I'll say it loudly now: If I was that stupid at 15, I am so glad that I have changed..." Sonic said with a frown.

Shadow looked at Sonic with a raised eyebrow, and once again, he felt surprised to see that not even Sonic could stand himself, specially if he keeps remarking how glad he is to not be like Prime.

Meanwhile, as they were approaching a yellow structure with a portal in the middle that looked exactly like the red one that leads to New Yoke City, Tails was telling Nine about the whole thing on why they're here, on what's the Secret Society, on who's Opaline, what's the Multiverse, everything.

Of course, it took Nine some time to process the fact that the Shatteredverse is nothing but a small fraction of everything the multiverse can really be.

Even worse was to find out that his entire reality was in danger, and that there was a FS guy that hated this same reality because of what Sonic did when he destroyed the Paradox Prism. Nine didn't liked the sound of that. Why ignore five realities melted in one that are as real as the others?

"So you came here to ask for our help?" Nine asked with a slight frown. "Even though that "FS" guy ignored us for so long?"

"FS barely mentioned this universe because of what happened..." Tails pointed out, before he smiled at Nine. "But shattered or not, I know that these 5 realities are as real as all the other ones out there. I mean, look at us! We're the same guy from two different places, yet that doesn't makes the other one any less real! You have your own dreams, aspirations, wishes, your own life, your own mind! Just because we look so alike doesn't mean we are the same, and that's cool! It just comes to show how big the multiverse really is!"

That answer actually caught Nine off-guard. Just a few seconds ago, he was beyond mad with FS and these guys for coming right when they needed something from their world... But after hearing Tails' word on what he thinks about the multiverse, and even about him, he wasn't so mad anymore.

Maybe he was wrong about the others, maybe he was wrong about Prime Sonic... Or maybe he isn't. Tails understands him because they're the same guy, even if he doesn't likes the idea...

Prime Sonic, however, hasn't stopped talking about Green Hills ever since the day he met him. Nine is aware that Prime Sonic looks at him like if he was Tails... But he isn't, and what everyone else seems to understand, Prime ignores it entirely because he trusts anyone way too fast.

"...How do I know that we can trust the information on the power of the shards with you, guys? We literally just met about 20 minutes ago..." Nine pointed out with a concerned frown.

"I know that... And honestly? I cannot tell you to trust us just like that..." Tails said with a little smile. "Sometimes, you just have to make a leap of faith. Even if you're insecure, even if everybody seems like a piece of crap... All it takes to change the world is that. A leap of faith."

Now that, that was definitely unexpected. Nine still believed that Tails had it easier than him, that he met Sonic and was never bullied ever again because of that, even thought he doesn't know how wrong that take really is.

Still, Nine could feel that Tails said all of that because he genuinely wants to help, he actually wants to save this place, that he cares for the Shatteredverse, even though he didn't explicitly said it like that.

"Hey, uh... Tails..." Nine called him out, and Tails turned to see him. "...Do you really wanna protect every reality? Even ours, that FS considers a mistake?"

Tails felt confused with this question, but he still smiled at Nine. "I don't think this universe is a mistake!" He confessed, and that made Nine's eyes open wide. "Sure, what happened to this world was unexpected, but I don't think is that bad to the point one would call it a mistake. If anything, I think is pretty cool having five realities interacting! Well, not directly 'cause it could mean something bad, but being able to move from one world to the other? I don't see why that's a bad thing!"

Nine actually smiled a bit, and felt kind of jealous for Tails' optimism. Sure, his life sucked and turned him into the guy he is today, but... Maybe if he kept being the same optimistic child he was as a kid, then maybe he would be somewhere else... Who knows, maybe he would even be a part of the resistance against the Chaos Council.

In the end, Nine was still Tails, he simply had different ideas, and one could call him a bit misguided, but... Was that really it? Nine had it rough. Doesn't justifies his coldness towards Prime Sonic at times, but he couldn't help it.

Perhaps his entire idea of taking the Shards to the Grim once he has analyzed how they look on the blueprint wasn't the right way to go... Then again, restoring Green Hill is what Prime Sonic wants, not what he wants, and he hasn't done any of that so far.

Listening to Tails was softening him, and he couldn't allow that. He needed to keep his plan going: Get the shards, analyze the blueprint, betray Prime Sonic, go back to the Grim.

Soon enough, they were entering the portal on the yellow structure, and Nine smirked to himself, because everything was going according to the plan. And once he had the full picture of how the shards are supposed to go together, he would leave to the Grim.

There was no turning back now. Not when he was so close to create the perfect home for himself...

Universe 151222 - Ghost Hill

A yellow portal opened in the sky of what once used to be Green Hill.

Then, from said portal, the group of Mobians and the two ponies came out, with Tails and Nine using their tails and grabbing the Case with the shards to land it carefully, while the Sonics landed in the ground, and the rest landed as well.

"As long as I'm around, you'll always have a wingman!" Nine's voice spoke, but it wasn't Nine who said that.

It was this universe's Tails, or rather, Ghost Hill Tails, since he was a ghost and was flying with his tails, also having some kind of controller with buttons on his hands.

Prime Sonic heard this and immediately ran towards him and the other Ghosts of his friends, with Shadow rolling his eyes annoyed. However, Sonic had a huge deja vu by seeing Tails and Knuckles like ghosts, because the last time he saw them like that, they were trapped on Cyber Space in the Starfall Islands.

"Ugh... That's the worse kind of Dejà Vu I've could ever had..." Sonic muttered with annoyance.

"Yeah... I don't like this, either..." Sunny said. "Is like seeing Tails and Knuckles being ghosts again, but why do I feel that we cannot interact with them?"

"So that's what it feels like to see yourself as a ghost..." Tails muttered with concern and an anxious expression.

"The forest is the most beautiful place on Earth!" Ghost Hill Amy said, as she was sitting on a rock with a smile.

Prime Sonic smiled with so much joy at the sight of his friends, while Shadow came to his side and looked at them with concern. Even if he didn't wanted to admit it, he was worried for them as well.

"I don't need the details. Just tell me who to smash!" Ghost Hill Knuckles said confidently.

Yet Shadow also noticed Prime's look to his friends, so he growled in anger. "Sycophantic wish fulfillment..." He said, and Prime Sonic turned to look at him, but he didn't seemed bothered by his words.

"The what now?" Sunny said confused when she heard Shadow.

"He thinks that other Sonic is daydreaming with his friends being fine." Sunset explained.

Nine, on the other hand, he was analyzing Ghost Hill around. "This world, it's like an embryonic Shatterspace, like it got stuck in the blueprint phase while forming..." he pointed out, before having a deep thought on something. "Hmm... Perhaps it would be useful in finishing the Grim––"

"...But I get things done!" Ghost Hill Rouge's voice was heard in the background, but it didn't pulled Nine out of his mind.

What did pulled him out, though, was when he heard Ghost Hill Tails repeating the same thing he said before.

"As long as I'm around, you'll always have a wingman!" Ghost Hill Tails said.

Nine approached Ghost Hill Tails and looked at him confused. "This is the friend Sonic thought was like me?" he asked, before scoffing on disbelief and frowning. "We're nothing alike."

"Now keep telling yourself that until you believe it..." Sonic said with a bored expression, as he walked pass Nine.

Nine deadpanned and rolled his eyes annoyed after hearing that, before he moved away.

Shadow looked at Nine with distrust, and despite the conversation they had earlier in the Void, Tails also looked at Nine with suspicion.

"He looks like me, but he isn't me..." Tails said with concern.

"At last, someone else here gets it..." Shadow said with concern, before his eyes widened a bit. "And why is your voice deeper?"

Tails deadpanned and rolled his eyes after hearing that.

"Hang on!" Prime Sonic said, as he suddenly dragged Tails and made him stand at Ghost Hill Tails' side, then he looked back and forth between them, and his eyes widened in shock and panic. "Y-You... But I thought... You are not... my Tails?"

Tails' eyes widened even wider now, and he facepalmed with both hands this time. "You are realizing that... Just now?!"

"I-I thought you two were from the future!" Prime Sonic confessed, as he looked at both Tails and Sonic.

Of course, this also angered Sonic, but he took a deep breath to not explode in anger yet. "...And where the hell were you when Tails explained that we are from other universe?"

"Right there with you two! Although I probably didn't payed attention because I was too busy feeling happy that my home is finally getting restored!" Prime Sonic pointed out with a smile.

Sonic's electrical powers began to show off because of his anger, but then he took another deep breath to calm himself down, even though Shadow felt startled when he saw that the other Sonic can do something Prime can't.

"...No wonder why this world is the way it is. If it has you as their Sonic, it was doomed since the beginning..." Sonic muttered to himself, but Prime Sonic ended up hearing that all the same, and of course that those words hurt him, specially when they came from another version of himself. "Let's just get these stupid shards back on their place already..."

However, right after saying that, the ground suddenly began to rumble, startling the entire group as they tried not to loose their balance from the rumbling.

Once it stopped, Shadow was the first one to speak. "What just happened?!"

"Another reality quake!" Nine replied with a frown. "We don't have much time. We need to hurry."

"Follow me!" Shadow declared, before he boosted away at top speed.

Soon, Nine and the two mares got over the case with the shards, while Prime Sonic pushed it and followed Shadow, with Sonic and Tails following them close behind.

It didn't took long for the group to move over a mountain before reaching a cave.

Inside said cave, there was the blueprint and the yellow shard of this universe's Paradox Prism that Prime Sonic mentioned earlier, and Tails came to notice how much Nine was analyzing said blueprint.

He knew what his counterpart was planning to do, and he didn't liked it a single bit.

Then, Prime Sonic placed the case with the other three shards in front of the yellow one, and then he opened the case with the green one, while Shadow opened the case with the blue one, and finally, Nine opened the case that had the red shard inside, then they stepped back.

They all looked up at the blueprint that already had the yellow shard on it, and Prime Sonic smiled.

"It's finally over. Now we just have to rebuild the Prism!" Prime Sonic said with confidence.

He was ready to grab a shard and put it back on its place, but before doing so, Nine stopped him, which confused Prime, but it only made Sonic, Tails and Shadow more suspicious of him.

"It's not that simple..." Nine pointed out. "The alignment must be perfect. The slightest variation could have massive repercussions."

Even if he hated to admit it, Tails sighed and closed his eyes. "He's right..." He said, and now everyone turned to him. "One wrong move, and something or everything could die. People, places, and things can be ripped from existence."

"One small mistake, and poof!" Nine pointed out as well. "Reality is changed forever."

Prime Sonic looked at Nine with concern, before smiling sheepishly and scratching his head embarrassed. "Tiny details are not my thing..."

"Again, explains why this place is the way it is..." Sonic muttered to himself with a frown and thankfully Prime didn't hear that this time.

"I can do it." Nine assured, before turning back to the shards. "I just have to make some... calculations."

Seeing that he struggled to say that, Shadow, Sonic and Tails frowned at him, knowing that he didn't needed those calculations.

Prime Sonic, however, was still being oblivious. "How can we help?"

"I-I need to be left alone to work..." Nine replied, and that confused Prime a bit. "No distractions. Too many in a tight space. I don't want anything to go wrong..."

Shadow frowned after hearing that. He still didn't trusted him, but he still decided to leave him alone. "I'll take our Sonic outside. Best to keep him away."

"...I'll stay" Tails said.

"Uh, what?!" Nine asked confused.

"Two minds think best together." Tails pointed out with a smirk that told Nine "I've got you!". "Besides, we still need to get that info on the Prism's power to defeat Opaline, so while you work on how to put the shards together, I'll be gathering said information."

"Then we'll go outside as well!" Sunny said with a smile, before approaching Tails and place a hoof on his shoulder and mutter to him. "I know you suspect him as much as we do. Be careful."

Tails nodded in agreement, then he looked back at Nine with an acted smile, which made Nine growl, because this complicated his plan of taking the shards away a lot.

"Thanks for putting it together, buddy!" Sonic told Nine with a smile and a thumbs up. "This is why we're a great team."

Nine smiled, then they both high-fived. Deep down, Nine hated this idea of betraying Prime Sonic, but he also knew Prime Sonic couldn't tell the difference between Nine and Tails, not even having them both together, so he was willing to hold on that thought to keep going.

With this, everyone left the two Tails alone, as Prime waved his hand to Nine, and he waved back, while Sonic looked at Tails and nodded, trusting him with his plan, and Tails nodded back with a smile.

"First things first..." Nine said, as he pushed the case with the shards closer to the blueprint. "I've got to stabilize the shard energy..."

Tails didn't said anything and limited himself to take out his Miles Electric to start and scan the energy of the shards. Hopefully he'll find the weakness he's looking for in order to defeat Opaline.

Outside, Shadow looked ahead to Ghost Hill with a frown.

The rest but Prime Sonic did the same. None of them trusted Nine, not even Sunny nor Sunset. Ever since he talked about how unstable the portals are back in New Yoke, they've been having a bad feeling about him.

"How do you know you can trust him?" Shadow asked Prime with concern.

"Trust is an issue for you, Shadow..." Prime Sonic deadpanned, before smirking mockingly. "That's why you don't have any friends."

"Trust is an issue with you too if you put blind faith on someone that's not who you think they are..." Sonic added as well with a frown.

"That guy looks like Tails... But he is not Tails..." Sunny pointed out as well. "I mean, he's too cold hearted. He barely trusts you!"

"Pff! No way!" Prime Sonic said, and that made Sonic growl. "Nine would never do that. Sure, he's grumpy, but he simply had a hard life! I'm sure he'll get used to trust in others!"

"I don't think your "friend" wants the same thing we do," Sunset said with a frown.

"I agree with the bacon-head. He's acting too suspicious..." Shadow said with a frown as well.

"Cheer up, guys! We're so close to all of this being over!" Prime Sonic said with a smile. "Once Nine rebuilds the Paradox Prism, and Green Hill reforms, everything will finally be back to normal!"

"And have you considered what's gonna happen with the Shatteredverse when the Prism is restored?" Sonic decided to ask Prime, as he growled in anger.

Prime Sonic's eyes widened, and he turned to see Sonic confused. "Huh? What do you mean?"

That made Sonic growl even more, as he looked at Prime with anger. "You cannot be this dumbass, for Chaos' sake! When the Prism gets restored, the Shatteredverse will stop existing! New Yoke City and all the other places I don't know their names, and honestly don't care either, won't exist anymore! Neither will their inhabitants!"

This made Prime Sonic let out a squeak of fear, and he stepped a bit back. "W-What?"

"Ugh! You cannot be more stupid even if you tried, can you?!" Sonic shouted in anger. "You caused this whole mess, but still can't understand in how much danger you're getting yourself! Green Hill stopped existing because you couldn't listen! Now you trust your life to someone that's pretending to be your friend just to stab you in the back! You keep cheering and acting this childish and reckless, thinking everything will be fine, WHEN IT WON'T BE!"

Prime Sonic was beyond scared to see a version of himself this mad, specially because his electrical powers made him look more intimidating.

Sunny didn't liked that Sonic was acting like this, but she also knew that Prime Sonic needed a reality check, and if this was the only way, then so be it. Sunset, on the other hand, knew this was the right thing to do: Telling him the truth now before he gets stabbed in the back.

As for Shadow, he said nothing, but he was glad to see that Sonic put Prime on his place. He had to admit that not every Sonic was annoying or stupid, surprising even himself with that thought.

"Your world is shattered because of you. Your friends are gone because of you. And, if you don't understand the difference between Tails and Nine, even having them side by side in front of you..." Sonic said in anger, also pointing at the cave to prove his point. "Then all the Shatteredverse will be in danger and collapse because of you, and you'll never go home."

Prime Sonic had to resist the urge to cry after hearing this. He's been happy and confident all his time, and very trustful... But it seems that this last thing was going to kill him if he kept doing it so often.

"When Nine betrays you, do yourself a favor and don't. Cry.' You have no right to." Sonic finished, then turned to give him his back and look ahead.

Prime wanted to say something, anything, but everything that came out of his mouth was a strange high pitched sound that could count as an attempt to whimper, so he simply shot his mouth and enclosed himself in silence, hugging himself to calm down the urge of crying.

Sonic didn't liked to do this, but he knew it was necessary...

Inside the cave, the Tails' were analyzing the Prism.

Nine began to place the shards on their place, and even at some point, he almost placed on in the wrong way, because it restored Green Hill to it's glory before turning it into Ghost Hill again.

However, Tails was keeping an eye on Nine, staying silent and collecting all the data he needed... But just when Nine was placing the green shard right on its place, Tails put his Miles Electric aside and then sent a quick Code Morse message to Sonic on his Watch.

Now, Tails approached Nine and stood at his side. "So you did it..."

"Pff. Of course I did." Nine replied with a proud smile.

"You must be a really smart guy, aren't you?" Tails asked him.

"Indeed." Nine replied, nodding and still smiling.

"Smart enough to lie to Sonic and not tell him about the fifth shard?" Tails went straight to the point.

That took Nine off guard, and he slowly turned to see Tails at his side.

"...W-What?" Nine asked confused. "H-How did you––"

"Because I'm you, dumbass." Tails replied with a frown, then he looked over at him and grinned. "And the only one able to outsmart you... is yourself. Besides, FS told us everything about this universe, at least everything he knows, and if there's 5 universes co-existing, but we only have four shards... Do the math, genius."

Nine got concerned after this, but then he showed up his 7 mechanical tails.

This made Tails deadpan, before he made some metallic gloves with his powers. After that, he punched Nine backwards and made him crash against a wall in the cave, which also made the whole cave rumble.

Author's Note

Yes, I don't like Sonic's personality in Sonic Prime. How could you tell?

Jokes aside, I don't regret anything. In fact, I'm really glad that Tails is the one that's gonna destroy Nine's ego, while Sonic gave Prime Sonic a reality check that he's been needing ever since the show started. His childish attitude and reckless actions have consequences, and it was time someone told him so.

I know that you might believe Sunny and Sunset are doing nothing here, but trust me: In the next chapter, you'll get how important it actually is to have them here.

See you next time, when Nine gets his crap beaten. Ciao!