Universe 220822

Eggman was on his main lab, checking that all the new machines being built were ready.

His desire to kill Opaline was so big that he wouldn't allow anyone to stop him. And, considering that everyone else that asked for his help also wants her dead, then killing her was going to be an easy job.

However, he still was concerned for something... Or rather, someone, someone that he lost, and that is the reason why he's gonna kill the Fire Alicorn in the first place: His best creation, his daughter, his everything... His dear Sage, who died on his hands.

Eggman knew for sure that she loved him like any child loves their parents. Yet her love was more than just admiration, it was genuine. She genuinely loved him as a father, not only as a guy who had big aspirations.

She wanted to be part of his dream so badly, to see his wish come true, to see the world chanting his name as he walked down the street, even if it was by force. She didn't cared for the methods, although she did questioned them, but she still was comfortable with the results.

Now, that same joyous girl is gone, and Eggman was a broken father that missed his daughter, but that wouldn't rest until she was avenged.

Besides, he has something else to protect from Opaline, or rather, somepony he's willing to protect with his life if necessary. He already lost a daughter figure that loved him for who he is, he wouldn't loose the other one, even if his relationship with her isn't what it used to be.

He was staring at the screen, and even if he did had the data to see how's the robots' construction going, he was also staring at some funny quirks he managed to had with Sage on the last year.

He gave her a phone on her "birthday" as a gift, and ever since, she always made sure to sneak on him and make pranks. She took her job seriously, but when it came to be a jokester, she was an annoying gremling... But she was his annoying gremling, and he loved when she pranked him.

All the videos she recorded of herself making him pranks were embarrassing, but he was smiling and tearing up at the sight. He wanted to remember her for the good memories they made, after all.

Suddenly, the doors to his lab suddenly opened, and Eggman quickly switched the image of his computer to be once again the images of the data on how are the robot's constructions doing. He even rubbed his chin and began to hum a song to try and hide the fact that he's been crying.

"Boss?" Cubot called out, as he entered the lab.

"Y-Yes, Cubot?" Eggman replied with a bit of a trembling voice, something he quickly tried to hide. "I-I'm in the middle of something important. Whatever you wanna say, it better be fast!"

"And it is!" Cubot assured. "Um, some, uh, what's the term, again... Somepony wants to talk with you."

That made Eggman jump a bit on his seat, then he wiped his tears away as much as he could, and then he turned to face Cubot. "...Let them in..."

Cubot nodded, then exited the room and nodded to the pony waiting outside to get in.

Once Cubot disappeared from sigh, a light blue unicorn with a dawn-painted mane and tail entered the lab, also having a Butterfly as a Cutie Mark... This pony was Misty, who came here to see Eggman.

Of course, this made Eggman's heart jump nervously, and he started to sweat. Heck, he even gulped nervously, then he looked away from the Unicorn Mare and back to his computer. He knew that it was going to be hard facing her, specially considering how unstable their relationship is now.

For a second, Misty considered to turn around and not say anything... But that would be running away from her problems, and she learned a long time ago that it wasn't an option, that running was not the right thing to do.

So, taking a deep breath, Misty decided to give herself some courage, and then she walked to Eggman.

"...Doctor..." Misty called out.

"...Good afternoon to you too, Misty..." Eggman replied, not looking at her.

Misty took another deep breath after getting that response. She was expecting this conversation to be a really hard one, anyways, but it still required some extra courage to not to run away from there, no matter how much she wanted to do that right now.

"...How are you doing?" Misty kept talking.

"...I'm... As fine as a father that lost her daughter can be..." Eggman replied.

"...I see..." Misty limited herself to say.

What else could she say, anyways? It was so awkward trying to make a conversation with the same guy that promised to never hurt her, yet broke that promise twice.

Eggman could still hear Misty being behind him, and since he felt she wouldn't leave anytime soon, he sighed, then decided to be truly honest with her, so he made the videos and images taken by Sage with her phone appear in the screen again, something that Misty noticed.

She walked up ahead and sat on Eggman's side, seeing how happy Sage seemed to make pranks on her father. Even Eggman seemed happy, even if in almost all the videos it seemed like otherwise.

At first, Misty smiled at seeing this, and even felt surprised when she realized that she felt a bit jealous of Sage for having this much fun with Eggman, but then she looked at her side and noticed that Eggman was looking at this videos with sadness on his eyes.

"I spent so much time with her as father and daughter..." Eggman began with a smile. "I never got along with anyone from my family... My dad was the only one that always supported me, but he also gave me his back eventually... When I began to saw you as a daughter, I felt complete again after so long... Then you also gave me your back, although it was justified... And then Sage came."

Misty listened closely, and while she felt surprised that he felt hurt when she left him and Opaline, she would never regret that decision, considering everything she has obtained ever since.

"Sage was... A really different case..." Eggman started. "I created her as an AI to hack into Cyberspace, to help me get the secrets behind the Ancients' technology... But then Cyberspace turned her into a real girl, a girl that was so dedicated to protect me..."

"Well, you programmed her to be like that..." Misty pointed out.

"I also thought she did what she did out of her program... Never in my life I've been more wrong..." Eggman said.

"Huh?" Misty said confused with a raised eyebrow.

"Sure, I created her to be loyal and protect me, but... None of what she did was ever out of her code... She did what she did because... Because she loved me..." Eggman said, as he let out a chuckle with a broken voice, and he started to laugh...

But it was actually him crying, because tears were falling down his cheeks, and now Misty found herself surprised to see him of all people crying, specially since he rarely showed any emotions around Opaline, even though he was more open when he was only with her... like right now.

"I-I tried so hard to treat her like just any other badnik I've ever made, but... She kept being so nice and polite with me... She kept being my daughter... My family... And I lost that because I didn't reacted fast enough..." Eggman began to cry. "I loved her with my soul, and now... Now she's gone..."

Eggman's confident shell broke right in that moment, and so, he began to cry uncontrollably, sobbing loudly and even removing his glasses not to wet them with his tears.

Misty saw Eggman with genuine concern for him. In all the time that she has known him, he never dared to show this much emotion. Sure, he limited himself to say how much he'll care for her, and even hug her whenever she was the one that did so... But she never saw him crying.

It was... Awful... To see a man with such a strong confidence, to brake like this, to cry his lungs out for the lost of someone he cared so deeply for, and now that someone was gone.

"I-I wasn't a good father..." Eggman cried and sobbed, while Misty's ears lowered and she looked away. "I wasn't a good father for Sage... And I was a terrible father for you..."

That made Misty's eyes widen, and she slowly turned to see Eggman, who has turned around now to face her. His eyes were red from all the crying he's been doing, probably even before she arrived, while she could also notice the sad look on his eyes, despite the red irises.

"I promised to never hurt you, no matter if we were on opposite sides of the line... And I attacked you twice..." Eggman said, more tears falling down. "The Death Egg Titan, my Eggman allies and I last year... I attacked you, I hurt you... And I failed you..."

Misty was shocked by this. Never did she ever imagined that Eggman would apologize for attacking her after promising that he'll never do so, no matter what.

The truth is that said action did hurt her and disappointed her. She spent awake at least one or two nights after what happened with the Titan. She wasn't exactly traumatized, but she was definitely hurt for what Eggman did to her... And she still couldn't come to hate him.

She was angry with him for his ambitions to conquer the world, no doubt, but it was never on a level where she would attack Eggman and call him a disgrace, a menace... An enemy.

She slowly approached him, once he looked away from her... And then she wrapped her hooves around him.

This surprised Eggman, as his eyes opened widely, while he looked down at Misty with surprise.

"...Misty?" Eggman asked confused.

"...You never failed me, Eggman..." Misty said with honesty in her voice, as she tightened her grip a bit. "I... I was just scared that your desire would lead you to a place that would hurt you... That would get rid of you... And I was afraid to never see you again... To never see my friend again."

Eggman's pupils moved, and more tears fell down his cheeks, as he felt his heart shattering at Misty's words.

"I found a family, a lot of friends to grow with, I even found my blood father..." Misty narrated with a smile, before stepping back and look up at him, as some tears formed in her eyes as well. "But I also got you in my side now... We're together again... Dad..."

That was it, Eggman was a mess. His feelings were mixed, and his heart beat like it never did before... But he also smiled. He genuinely smiled and wrapped Misty in a hug back, keeping her close to him, as he feared to loose her like he lost Sage... Because in reality, he did.

So he hugged her and didn't dared to let her go, not again, while Misty cried, but also smiled and hugged him back with all the physical strength she could gather.

She missed him so much, just as much as he missed her... And they were together again.

"I'm really sorry, Misty... I've should never had pulled you away from me..." Eggman apologized, as he broke the hug. "I didn't knew that I already had everything I'd ever needed until it was too late... I lost you to those I once called my enemies, and I lost Sage to the worse of the worse... But I still have something to loose... And I won't rest until I defeat her so I can protect it. So I can protect you."

Misty smiled after hearing that, and she hugged Eggman tightly again, with him hugging her back again.

He lost it all at this point: His family, his beloved daughter, and now he has no idea on who he is... But he's willing to protect Misty, the only thing he has left, from the very mare that kidnapped her from her family.

He'll make sure to make Opaline pay, even if it costs his life...

Universe 151222 - Ghost Hill

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.

The rumble was heard from outside the cave, and everyone turned to see in said direction.

"Is that the shard making a weird glitch again, or is that just rumbling?" Sonic asked confused.

"No. It sounds like something else..." Shadow said, before boosting inside the cave.

Sonic, Sunny and Sunset followed the example, while Prime hesitated at first, since he didn't wanted to feel like a burden considering everything Sonic told him... But he then shook his head and nodded to himself, before entering the cave as well behind the others.

Nine fell on his knees in the cave and coughed, also groaning in pain.

He shook his head, feeling a bit dizzy after getting that punch, but then he looked upwards and frowned slightly when he saw Tails, looking down at him with a frown and still with the metallic gloves.

"How did you know there's a fifth shard?" Nine asked, standing up and looking at his counterpart with anger.

"Are you deaf or something?" Tails asked with a frown. "FS told us everything we needed to know about this universe: How it shattered into five different ones after Sonic destroyed the Paradox Prism, and I'm literally you. When you started to talk about "the Grim", I knew you were hiding the last shard from your Sonic."

"That's because I don't trust him!" Nine said with anger, as he started to walk with his mechanical tails and approached the other fox. "He goes from one Shatterspace to the other, thinking he's friends with everyone when in reality he's just a stranger that one day came into my life and claimed to be my friend, BUT HE'S NOT!!!"

After saying this, Nine jumped in the air with a warrior cry and aimed at Tails, who simply moved aside, then grabbed Nine from a mechanical tail, then tucked him in the ground and then held his neck with a hand, which still had the metallic glove around.

Nine grabbed the glove painfully, but then Tails launched him to the air, grabbed him from his metallic tails again, twirled him around, and then launched him against a wall.

"Ugh!" Nine groaned in pain, but then he separated himself from the wall and stood on his mechanical tails again, looking back at Tails and glaring daggers at him.

"You think you're the smartest guy in the room, but when someone else outsmarts you, you convince yourself that they will pay for messing with you, don't you?" Tails asked him, but with a mocking smirk.

Nine frowned and growled in anger. "Oh, I know I'm smarter than you!" He said, before pointing the tip of his mechanical tails towards the Paradox Prism and shoot lasers towards it.

However, Tails smirked, because he knew Nine was going to do this, so he made a pair of sticks with electricity appear and put them on the way between the Paradox Prism and the lasers that Nine shot. This made the lasers to absorb the electricity instead of the Prism's energy.

Nine realized his mistake too late, because when he tried to cancel the attack, his tails began to release electrical sparkles that indicated they were failing, and Nine quickly managed to stop the process.

He looked at his tails, releasing some sparkles, but still functional. Although Nine sighed in relief, he then looked at Tails and glared daggers at him. "You're gonna regret having done that!"

"Suit yourself, Miles!" Tails replied with a smirk.

That made Nine shout in anger again, and then he attempted to launch against Tails, but just as the two counterparts where about to clash against each other and start a fight...

"Hey!" Prime Sonic's voice called out.

That made both Tails' stop, their eyes widening, and then they looked in the direction of the cave's entrance, where they saw everyone else but Sonic staring at them with wide eyes, while Sonic simply raised an eyebrow confused at the match. He definitely didn't expected to see this today.

"Nine, Tails... What's going on? What's the meaning of this?" Prime Sonic asked confused and concerned.

However, before replying, Tails glanced at Nine, and then punched him towards the wall again, as Nine crashed on his back and groaned in pain again.

"Nine!" Prime Sonic asked with wide eyes, but just when he was going to check on him, Sonic placed a hand on his shoulder and stopped him, which made Prime frown. "What comes?!"

"Nine's not your friend, Sonic. He's been using you to obtain the shards for himself" Tails replied instead, looking at his counterpart with anger. "I knew that some Tails across the universe would fall low, but you are a disgrace to our variants!"

"And I doubt he planned to tell you about the fifth shard..." Sonic pointed out with a concerned frown.

It was a concerned one because he was looking at Prime with concern, despite still being frowning.

"What?" Prime Sonic asked with shock and wide eyes.

"There's a fifth shard?!" Shadow asked with shock and wide eyes as well.

"The hole in that blueprint doesn't ring a bell to you?" Sunset deadpanned at both Prime and Shadow, as she pointed at the incomplete Paradox Prism.

The two inhabitants of this universe turned to see the Prism, and they in fact saw that there was a hole in the middle of the other four shards, confirming Sonic's word on the subject and Tails' word on Nine.

Prime Sonic couldn't believe this, then he slowly turned to see Nine. "No... No, that can't be true, right Nine? Y-You were not planning to..." He tried to ask with a nervous and sheepish smile.

However, as Nine slowly stood up and grabbed a shoulder painfully, he looked at Prime's hurt expression and actually felt bad, before looking away from him. It was the truth, but he didn't wanted to face Prime anyways.

Yet that single action confirmed it: Nine was a traitor. He was never his friend. He used him to get the Prism's shards, just like Tails said. And worse of all, he lied about having the full Prism, because there was a shard missing in the Grim... And he couldn't believe that this was happening.

"He tricked you, Sonic..." Sunny said with low ears. "He was never your friend."

"No... No, you guys are lying..." Prime Sonic said, since he was still in denial. "Hey Nine! Come on, little buddy––"

However, that made Nine's eyes widen, and he frowned. "Stop calling me that!" He said with anger, as he stood on his mechanical tails. "You just assumed I'd go along with you no matter what. Did you even consider what I wanted?!"

"I-I assumed that after everything we've been through, you'd see things the way I do..." Prime Sonic replied with concern and emotional pain. "Just like the real Tails would."

"I am real!" Nine said with anger, and that made Prime's eyes widen.

He finally realized his mistake: He always talked to Nine as if he was Tails... But he never was. He's Nine. He's real... And he's someone else. Someone with dreams and aspirations... Someone that manipulates those who can be useful for his goal.

"I'm just not your real friend." Nine finished with a cold glare.

That was the final straw that awakened something deep inside of Prime, as his eyes moved, before his eye began to twitch in anger... And then, he finally snapped.

In the blink of an eye, Prime went from being with the rest to appear right besides Nine, and then punched Nine in the chest, before kicking him in the air, then jump and kick him towards deeper inside the cave, which made Nine groan in pain, but it also made everyone's eyes widen.

"About damn time you did something useful!" Sonic said with a smirk.

"Agreed!" Shadow said with a smirk as well, before he boosted towards Nine in anger, with Prime doing the same.

Nine slowly stood up and shook his head dizzy, but then, he felt pain on his face and on his chest again, because both Sonic and Shadow were soloing him and punching him constantly, not giving him a chance to fight back.

"Well, this is truly gonna be an interesting fight..." Sonic said with a smirk, before turning to his friends. "You guys think you can go out and find the last shard while we hold back the emo Tails? I also want a word with him..."

"As long as you're not doing it while thinking that is me, go on!" Tails said with a smirk, before he ran away.

Sunny and Sunset nodded as well, then they headed towards the exit to follow Tails.

Meanwhile, Sonic turned back to Nine and frowned, as he walked towards him, with Shadow and Prime not hitting Nine anymore, as they stepped back at top speed and stood on Sonic's side, while Nine coughed and spitted some blood, but then cleaned some from his mouth and frowned at the two Sonics and Shadow.

"Three speedsters against an emo kid with seven mechanical tails..." Sonic muttered, before cracking his knuckles with glee. "This is gonna be fun!"

Nine growled in anger, and then launched himself against the speedsters with a warrior cry, while the speedsters did the same and jumped against Nine, ready to fight.

Universe 151222

Tails, Sunny and Sunset exited Ghost Hill and returned to the void.

However, as they flew around, Sunset looked back at the yellow structure they came out from with a raised eyebrow. "How's that accessing this strange universes works, again?"

"You run fast enough until enough energy has been gathered around your body before exiting said world!" Tails replied.

"Oh! So that's why you grabbed us both from our hooves!" Sunny realized with a smile.

"Yeah? I know you're not as fast as Sonic and I, but I also did that because we're on a hurry!" Tails pointed out with a frown. "We've gotta find that fifth shard before Nine manages to find a way to outsmart the Sonics and Shadow to steal all the shards!"

"But how are we gonna do that?" Sunset asked with concern and with a frown. "We literally have no idea on where the hell we are! We barely could guide ourselves on that place with the red structure!"

However, after Sunset said that, Sunny's eyes widened, and she gasped. "That's it!"

"Huh?" Both Tails and Sunset turned to her with confused expressions.

"We know that there's 5 shards, correct?" Sunny asked.

"Yeah?" Tails and Sunset replied.

"And we know that there's a red, blue, yellow, and green shard as well, right?"

"Uh-huh..." Tails and Sunset said in unison, still a bit confused.

But then, Tails' eyes widened as well. "Wait! I get it now! You're right!"

"She is?" Sunset asked a bit confused.

"If there's a shard of those colors, then the fifth shard must have a structure that doesn't has said colors!" Tails explained to Sunset with a smile.

Sunset's eyes widened, then she blushed embarrassed and scratched her neck a bit ashamed. "Okay, yeah... That was actually pretty obvious..."

"We've gotta reach the Shatterspace with a different color!" Tails declared.

"Hmm..." Sunny muttered, as she began to look around for the different colored Shatterspace. "Red... Blue... Green... Yellow... Then we're missing..." She soon looked down, and then gasped with wide eyes when she saw a purple structure with a portal in the middle. "Purple!"

She pointed down with a hoof, and when Tails and Sunset looked down, they gasped as well when they saw the purple structure with a portal as well.

"There it is!" Sunset cheered.

"Come on!" Tails declared. "The Sonics and Shadow are counting on us!"

With that being said, Tails boosted towards the portal at top speed, with Sunny and Sunset following close behind.

Universe 151222 - Ghost Hill

Nine grunted as he was suddenly sent out of the cave and towards the ground back in Ghost Hill.

However, as he fell, he managed to act quickly and spin his tails to rise back to the cave... Which didn't work, as Sonic left the cave and jumped into the air, heading towards him at full speed on a dive, then grabbing his neck and pushing him directly to the ground, also charging some electricity into his body.

Nine growled in annoyance, so he managed to get Sonic off of him, but that didn't stop him from hitting the ground with his tails. That these same ones had "cushioned his fall" did not help with the pain.

Soon, Prime Sonic arrived and pulled Nine by his tails, dragging him along the ground and making him eat dirt, but also passing through areas with trees and hitting his body against them, although he did this more to vent his anger for having lied to him, and for planning to betray him.

Nine growled again, but then he realized it wasn't over when Shadow also arrived at top speed and then punched him on the chest, sending him several meters backwards, until he crashed on his back against a tree's trunk.

He groaned for what felt like the millionth time in the past 10 minutes, but he still stood up and looked ahead at the Sonics and Shadow with a frown, as he cleaned some mored blood of his mouth, and then he smirked confidently. Prime didn't liked to see that, but his frown remained.

"Okay... You three had your fun... Is my turn!" Nine declared with glee.

After that, he showed his nine mechanical tails, while the three speedsters boosted towards him.

However, that's exactly what Nine wanted them to do, because as soon as Sonic tried to punch him, Nine used one of his tails to push him aside, then did the exact same with Prime and Shadow.

Seeing that he was changing his strategy, the speedsters choose to do the same. So, they each decided to attack him on different directions instead of going all towards the same place, but Nine was way ahead of them, as he used six of his mechanical tails, two for each speedster, to stop their attack.

Then, he pushed them backwards by releasing some green lasers that paralyzed Shadow and Prime, which made Nine smirk... But Sonic was not paralyzed, and he punched Nine backwards with one single punch.

Of course, this made Nine rub his cheek in pain, but then he looked ahead at Sonic with a confused expression, although it also made him frown. "What?! How did you––"

However, before he got the chance to ask, Sonic smirked and showed off his electrical powers, then winked at Nine mockingly.

"Ugh. Of course..." Nine groaned, but he still launched himself against Sonic and tried to hit him with any of his mechanical tails. Heck, he even brought out his weird gun he used to scan the Grim when he first arrived and attempted to shoot at Sonic.

However, the Blue Blur barely had to make an effort to dodge the attacks. In fact, he wasn't even trying: Nine was so mad and blinded by anger that he was just shooting for shooting, not even aiming in the right spot against Sonic, who didn't mocked up Nine for that, either.

"Wanna know why I'm the fastest thing alive?" Sonic asked, and then finally smirked.

His eyes turned neon blue, as well as his quills, then he started to run across the field and hit Nine at super speed. He did it once, then twice, then thrice, and finally started to do it until he charged his Phantom Rush.

Then, he wasn't stopping time anymore, and then he punched Nine several more times thanks to his Phantom Rush, before sending him backwards in a single punch. But before doing that, he grabbed one of Nine's mechanical tails as he launched him, and then ripped it off from the young fox.

Shadow and Prime finally recovered from their paralyzed states, while Sonic came to them and showed them the ripped off tail, which made their eyes widen.

"If we wanna win this for sure, we'll have to "rip off" some rules!" Sonic said with a smirk.

Prime actually chuckled and then laughed after hearing that. "Okay. I see what you did there. Good one!" He said with a wink.

Shadow, however, rolled his eyes annoyed. "Great. Now there's two of them."

"Complain later, beat Nine now!" Sonic said, tossing the tail he already ripped off away and then boosting towards Nine.

Prime and Shadow nodded, before following along to keep the battle going.

Universe 151222 - The Grim

Tails, Sunny and Sunset carefully landed in the Grim.

As they looked around, they saw that there was absolutely nothing around here. Well, there was no one, but there was definitely some purple rocks around that were hard to tell if they were from space, or if they belonged in this Shatterspace.

In any case, Tails pulled out his Miles Electric and began to detect Prismatic Energy around. Soon, he started to hear higher beeps coming from a certain direction, which made him smile, so he decided to fly as fast as he could in said direction, with Sunny and Sunset following close behind.

It didn't took them long to reach a strange lab-looking like place, but the entrance seemed to be blocked with a password... One that Tails introduced at first try, since it was the exact same one from his own workshop.

"He might be a jerk that looks like me, but I guess some things never change!" Tails said with a smile.

As they entered the place, they looked around and noticed that there were several palm trees decorating the place, as well as a zone deep inside the lab with a huge container.

And, inside said container, was the fifth and last shard to complete the Paradox Prism.

"There it is!" Tails said with a smile, as he quickly flew around upwards to access the computer that controls the container with the shard.

Sunny was about to approach Tails by flight, but then, she looked at Sunset at her side and noticed that she was looking at something with concern, so Sunny saw the same thing, and she saw that Sunset was staring at the couple of palm trees in front of the door.

"What's the matter, Sunset?" Sunny asked her.

"Don't you see something... off with this palm trees?" Sunset asked with concern.

"Off?" Sunny asked confused, then she looked back at the palm trees, back and forth between them both, but she still saw the same palm trees... Or at least at first, because she then soon started to see them a bit more... artificial than what they should look like. "Now that you mention it... These palm trees seem kinda fake compared to real ones..."

"Right?!" Sunset asked. "I have no idea on what is this place, or who made it, but they were clearly trying to make something here... And I don't like it..."

"This place is Nine's..." Tails' voice spoke, and both mares turned to see him.

"What?" Sunny asked.

"Nine did this?!" Sunset questioned as well in shock.

"According to some data here, this place is called "the Grim", and Nine created this place to forge his ideal home using the power of the shard he found in here..." Tails explained. "He wanted the full Prism to create a new home from scratch... He didn't wanted to betray Sonic, though, since his notes says he wanted this place to be their home."

"Hang on... So Nine wanted to steal the shards to make a whole new reality from zero, instead of restoring the one Sonic wanted to live in?" Sunny asked with shock. "That doesn't makes Nine a better person, but... It makes his motivations seem less extreme, even though he still told his Sonic he's not his friend..."

"This perfectly lines up with what Sonic said, about what would happen with the Shatteredverse once the Prism is restored..." Sunset pointed out with a concerned frown. "Nine must know that if the Prism gets built together, then the Shatteredverse won't exist anymore, nor the Shatterspaces and their inhabitants."

"And he's making a fake home to convince himself that it'll be real, and that it will work... But he doesn't realize how much damage he could cause if he does so..." Sunny said with concern and sadness.

"So Nine is afraid of disappearing..." Tails realized. "Maybe we're doing this in the wrong way..."

"Well, Nine didn't seemed up to chat back in the cave..." Sunset deadpanned.

"That's because I punched him against a wall... Four times..." Tails said with an eye roll, then growled in anger as he kept trying to access Nine's computer, but couldn't do so. "Darn it! I can't access the code to open that thing! Nine must have placed a code I've never had come up with..."

"Then what do we do?!" Sunny asked with concern.

Tails thought for a moment, before his eyes widened. "I have an idea... But you're not gonna like it, girls..."

Sunny and Sunset looked at each other, before looking back at Tails with concern. "What kind of idea?" Sunny asked with a sheepish smile, while Sunset gulped nervously.

Universe 151222 - Ghost Hill

Nine was having a hard time defending himself.

On one hand, it was three speed demons against a kid that could barely keep up with their crazy speeds. And on the other one, Sonic ripped off one of his mechanical tails. He couldn't let them approach and remove the other ones.

Yet that plan wasn't working, because with Shadow constantly hitting him on his weak spot to put him in the ground, fighting back seemed impossible. Worse of all, it was Shadow himself who ended up ripping off another one of his tails, which worried him.

And then his status became even worse when Prime came by and punched him right on the nose, stunning him for a good moment, while Prime himself came again and ripped off two more tails.

Nine shook his head and still felt dizzy, but then gasped in horror when he saw only three mechanical tails left, which made him look at the speedsters with pure hate and anger.

"That's four down. Three to go!" Sonic declared.

This enraged Nine more, as he launched himself against the speedsters once again.

Universe 151222 - The Grim

Tails explained his plan to Sunny and Sunset.

Of course, the two mares were beyond nervous with what they had to do according to everything Tails explained, but they were still willing to go until the end with the idea.

The plan in question is to use their magic in sync and retract the shard out of the capsule. Basically, Tails wanted to use their magic as a magnet to pull the shard out, since he couldn't discover which was the code to unlock the capsule that Nine used on it.

"I know we already agreed to do this, but are you absolutely sure that there is no other way?" Sunny asked Tails with concern.

"Unless you can think on something in less than a minute, nope!" Tails replied with a bored expression.

Sunny gulped, but then Sunset placed a hoof on her shoulder. "Hey. I am nervous for doing this, too... But is our best shot."

Sunny was still nervous, but she took a deep breath and then nodded at Sunset.

Sunset nodded back, and then they both made their horns glimmer brightly, as they started to attract the shard out of the capsule, making it clash with the crystal and made it crack a bit.

They spent several minutes trying to pull the shard out, but eventually, they managed to take it out, and Tails caught the shard on his hands with a smile, as he looked down at it.

"We hit the jackpot!" Tails declared, as Sunny and Sunset cheered at their accomplishment. "Now come on! We've gotta go back to Ghost Hill and finish off the Paradox Prism!"

With that being said, Tails grabbed Sunny from her hoof, and Sunny grabbed Sunset, since Tails could only grab one of them because he had to carry the shard as well. With all of them ready, Tails boosted out of the lab and ran fast enough to make them leave this Shatterspace.

Universe 151222 - Ghost Hill

Nine was hitting the speedsters with everything he had left.

It was until now that he remembered he learned the Spin Dash thanks to Sonic, so he began to use that same attack against them, which seemed to be effective with Prime, since he sent him backwards.

Shadow was more difficult to deal with, but Nine still managed to sent him back and knock him out for a split of second, as he made him crash against a rock with his head, which sent the "Ultimate Life Form" to sleep. Nine smirked satisfied, but then he turned to Sonic with a frown.

"Is just you and my 5 tails now!" Nine said with anger.

"Correction: Is me, and your 4 tails!" Sonic said with a mocking smirk, as he showed another ripped tail from Nine.

That pushed him to the limit, and so, he launched himself against Sonic again, trying to hit him with his bare fists and the two remaining mechanical tails that he had.

Sonic wasn't even trying, however. He simply walked backwards (yes, walked), and looked down at Nine with pity. He has no idea on what makes him act the way he does, but he definitely suspects that it is the reason he began to act this way so long ago.

Maybe this Tails' variant wasn't saved by Sonic when bullied for his extra tail, which explains his attitude even more.

So, with a sigh, Sonic stopped time again, then ripped of the last two mechanical tails, and then grabbed Nine from his natural tails, before launching him backwards against a Palm tree.

Nine groaned as he hit the palm tree, but then he looked back and saw that he only had his natural tails left.

Of course, this made him panic, but it also made him mad, and so, he looked at Sonic with hate an anger, before slowly turning at Prime, who was sitting in the ground and rubbing his head painfully. Nine groaned, then grabbed two of his ripped off tails and headed towards Prime.

As soon as Prime noticed this, his eyes widened in panic, then he covered himself... But no attack ever came.

Confused, Prime opened his eyes, which widened when he saw that Sonic came by to protect him from Nine's attack, using the shield of his watch to protect his counterpart.

Nine, however, kept hitting the shield with his tails, not doing anything, but releasing all his anger and frustration... Which soon started to show as his punches slowed down, and as tears began to roll down his cheeks, until he eventually kneeled in the ground and let go his tails.

"...You actually liked me, didn't you?" Nine asked with a broken voice, more tears falling down his cheeks. He then looked at his trembling hands, and then covered his face in shame. "What am I doing? Why do I wanna hurt you so bad?!"

Both Prime and Sonic were surprised by this outcome, then they looked at each other, and Prime nodded, which made Sonic understand what he wanted, so he deactivated the shield and allowed him to look at Nine.

"I-I'm supposed to be your friend! I... I just wanna be your friend..." Nine said in-between tears.

Prime Sonic stood up, then approached Nine and kneeled, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Nine... I honestly don't know why you did what you did... But if you really wanted to be my friend, then why you didn't told me since the beginning what you wanted? I know I wouldn't had liked what you told me, but we could have been spared from this fight. We could've talked things out and find a solution... But I guess this is part of why you didn't trusted me..."

"Is not that, Sonic..." Nine confessed, whipping out some tears. "I... I was afraid..."

"Afraid? Of what?" Prime Sonic asked him concerned.

"Of disappearing." Tails' voice replied instead, as he approached along Sunny and Sunset, the latter levitating the fifth shard of the Paradox Prism.

"Of disappearing?" Prime Sonic asked confused, but this time, his eyes widened when he realized what they meant. "Oh, Nine... You were scared of what would happen with you and the Shatteredverse if the Prism was restored, weren't you?"

Nine nodded, whipping out some more tears. "I wanted to build a new home for us because... I didn't wanted to die... But even if my intentions were good, my actions are not justified. I lied to you, I-I said things that aren't even true... And now it might be too late to fix everything..."

Sonic looked at Nine with concern, but a glance at Tails and Sunny made him saw them smiling, so he smiled back, because he knew exactly what to do.

So, Sonic looked back at Nine. "Is never too late to start from scratch." He declared, extending his hand to him. "Sure, you made some mistakes that many would consider unforgivable... But we're not the kind of guys to hold a grudge against anyone, even if they deserve it."

"Yeah!" Prime Sonic agreed. "You did hurt me with your words and actions, but we're still friends! I did punched you a bit too hard on the fight, but... Now that we have calmed down, I realize that I should never had treated you like Tails, but instead like Nine. Because you are as real as Tails is... Or used to be... Eh, you get the point!"

Nine chuckled and nodded, then Sunny came by and placed a hoof on his shoulder. "Look, Nine. I find it sweet that you wanted to share a home with Sonic, to feel he's your friend and vice versa... But pretending to be someone you're not is not the way. Why try to be Tails when you can be Nine?"

"Right? Tails is great by just being Tails. Why can't Nine be great by just being Nine?" Sunset pointed out as well with a smirk.

"Well, I'm starting to think you may have to call me "Tails", considering I have no mechanical tails anymore..." Nine deadpanned.

"Nah! Nine suits you best. Nine tails or none, you're my buddy, one that is his own persona. And that's okay." Prime Sonic told Nine with a smile, and Nine smiled back.

"Well... If I can start fixing my mistakes, then let's get started by finishing that Prism!" Nine declared, as he saw the shard that Sunset was levitating. "Is the least I can do to start and fix the mess I made in the first place."

"As long as you don't stab me in the back again, just go for it!" Prime Sonic told him with a smirk and a wink.

Author's Note

Thank god! For a second I thought that I'll never finish this.

This is probably one of the few chapters in Project Endgame I'm not satisfied with the final result, but I think is also better having it finished than never finish it.

I really hope next chapter is gradually better than this one, because seriously: I struggled five days writing it down, and I still don't like the final result... Oh well. It is what it is. The next chapters will be better, because I already know what happens on them.

To tell the truth, from chapters 24 to 30 I know what to do. These first three chapters of Part 3, I had to improvise on a lot of stuff, and I know is pretty noticeable.

Also, yes, I went in a completely different route than whatever Sonic Prime did because I wanted to experiment by making more drastic changes to the original story than leaving everything as it is. I hope I made myself clear...

I'll see you next chapter, which will be better handled than this one. See ya!