Music: Crest - Codeko
Shadow descended from floating as the hedgehog's super forms burned off, landing next to the grey Protector. Jayde slumped on the ground, breathing heavily. Her power was almost drained, mainly because her Shard had been in the hands of another – the hands of an evil presence. The ebony male knelt beside the grey hedgehog, lifting her top half up off the ground. Jayde groaned quietly, her azure eyes slowly making an appearance. She clenched the Shard that was in her hand, slowly feeling her strength come back to her before she glanced at the Ultimate Lifeform.
He still looked hurt.
Uncharacteristically, Jayde wrapped her arms around his neck quickly, ignoring his tensing figure, "I-I'm so sorry, Shadow. I didn't mean what I said before. There's no excuse for it, I should've never-"
"I forgive you."
Jayde pulled back slightly, "What?"
"I said," he stood, pulling the apologetic hedgehog up with him, "I forgive you."
"But... What? I need to explain everything and apologise! I've got a whole speech planned out here!" Shadow cracked a smile at her comment, leaving Jayde to return the gesture, "So... can I call you Shades again?" she looked at him with a pouty face, which he found extremely funny, laughing as he nodded, "Yes!"
Sonic, Tails and Amy smiled as they saw the two hedgehogs make up. The pink hedgehog knew that it would take a little bit more than some harsh words for Shadow to hate Jayde – nothing could separate those two. Not even a war.
"No way, dude! I got way more hits on him that you!" The Mobians turned to find Jaylee and Scourge arguing once again.
"Nope." Scourge shook his head, "Last I counted, I had twenty-five hits to twenty-two."
"Cheat!" Jaylee shoved him, causing Miles to sigh at the two.
He glanced at the blue hedgehog, "And so it begins again." Sonic chuckled at the anti-Tails and his snarky remarks.
"Let's just move this along." Sonic spoke, zipping behind the green male.
"I'm King," Scourge responded to the grey hedgehog, "I should be the winner anyway. I mean, you did put up a good game – I was just better."
"Are you serious, your majesty?" Jaylee mocked, saluting to the male in front of her, "My fighting skills were quicker and faster than yours. You couldn't even keep your mouth shut at my moves." She smirked, crossing her arms.
"Listen here, Lee. I-"
Before Scourge could finish his sentence, his sneaky cobalt lookalike had shoved his form forward, making his lips connect with the grey hedgehog's. Both the Moebian's eyes widened at the unexpected move, whilst Miles simply clapped and Rosy squealed, "Finally, someone did it." The anti-Tails muttered, still watching bored as ever.
Jaylee was the first to come back to reality, shoving the green male off her and furiously wiping her lips, "What in Chaos are you doing!" she yelled at the male who sat slumped on the floor.
Scourge woke up from his daydream at her outburst, and clenched his fists, glaring at the Hero of Mobius, "Blue!"
Sonic cheered, "Victory kiss!" and he pecked the pink hedgehog on the cheek before running away from an angry 'King of Moebius'. Amy gaped at his action, placing a hand on her muzzle, a light blush spreading across her muzzle. Jayde chuckled as she looked off to her lookalike who hadn't said anything else and had her fingers on her lips with a confused look on her face.
Shadow had half-cast eyes, watching the scene before him boredly, "Are we supposed to join in, or...?"
Jayde's orbs widened at his comment and turned and smacked his arm, "No!" Shadow chuckled at her response, rubbing his arm.
"Well, this didn't go as I planned." Eggman mumbled as he held a broken piece of Badnik, "I blame Moebius. Apart from Warp Rings, this dimension has rubbish technology."
"Excuse me?" Miles hissed.
"Speaking of robots, where are Orbot and Cubot? Didn't they transport here along with you and Cleobella?" Tails asked.
"They're back at the lair."
"How?"
"By me – because Moebius technology is far more advanced than your world." Miles hissed, crossing his arms, "Whilst you guys were busying trying to compose yourself, I recreated the warp barriers."
Scourge seemed to not know of this, "I thought you had to give those back to Dr Kintobor?"
Miles scoffed, "Please, I memorised those design patterns and codes in a second. I could create them again in about ten minutes - with our last warp ring, I hope you know."
The 'King of Moebius' rolled his orbs at the fox's pride, "Whatever, Fox Boy, just hurry and get these weaklings home."
Sonic smirked, "And it's back to normal."
——————
"It was great working with you," Sonic grinned, "Even though I could've done it without you."
The green hedgehog gritted his teeth and glared at his lookalike from across the room, "We didn't need your help to defend Moebius, you just slowed us down."
"Tch, yeah right." The blue blur scoffed.
"It's a shame I didn't get to smash your hammer to bits this time." Rosy crackled, looking at her pink counterpart.
"That me was weaker than now." Amy stated, not saying much to her evil twin.
"Ha! You just called yourself weak!" the spikey quilled female laughed, cheering to herself, "I am your superior!" Amy simply rolled jade eyes and didn't respond, knowing full well that she was much stronger than Rosy. Miles clicked his tongue, his eyes tracing through all the information before the portal opened once again, showing the Mobians the way home.
"Ready to leave this place behind us?" Shadow asked Jayde as the Mobians stood in front of the portal, their quills blowing in the breeze it was creating.
Jayde glanced back at her lookalike, Jaylee leaning against the side with her arms crossed, and her usual emotionless face on her, "Maybe."
"Maybe?" Shadow echoed, confused.
Azure eyes looked at the ebony male in front of her with a small smile, "Nothing good may come of this place, but I still learnt so much. Even if something bad happens, all it takes is a little bit of persistence and a little bit of hope, and everything will eventually turn okay again."
"I promise to never hurt you again," Shadow spoke, "I could see everything when I was controlled and I couldn't stop it. I'm sorry."
"Don't worry, I knew you were always there." Jayde smiled before chuckling, "Sonic and I just agreed that you were getting your own back for when Raven took over me."
Shadow laughed, this action surprising everyone around them. No one had ever heard him laugh like that before except Jayde. It was deep, but had a strange comforting feeling to it, to Jayde that was. It was one of a kind, "Even if I wanted to get back at you, I would never hurt you the way I did these past days." Shadow spoke after he stopped laughing.
Jayde smiled, her orbs twinkling slightly. Jaylee muttered under her breath before speaking aloud, "This is great and all, but save your romance until you leave Moebius. No one wants any mushy stuff here."
"I don't know," Sonic smirked, leaning towards the pink hedgehog and whispering, "Do you remember when Scourge and Jaylee kissed earlier?"
Amy giggled at the memory, but both the said hedgehogs flushed, Scourge growling, "I'll get you back for that!" he went to punch the blue hedgehog, but Sonic was quick to dodge.
"Watch out, Ames!" he called, laughing before he quickly picked her up in a bridal hold and sped through the portal and back home.
Tails shook his head before turning to Jayde, "How do you think Knuckles and Rouge got on together?"
Jayde chuckled, Shadow finding her laugh as pleasant as she did his, "Oh, I can't wait to find out what happened." The two males jumped through the portal, but Jayde stopped herself and turned back to her lookalike, "Nice knowing you, Jaylee."
Jaylee didn't respond, but the Protector saw her feeling in her orbs. It wasn't hate, nor was it like. Jayde would never be able to tell how Jaylee saw her, but she new that they were mutual for the time being. The female jumped through the portal and returned to Mobius. Jaylee stared at where the Warp Ring disappeared and her Mobian twin left, "Do you think we'll ever see them again?" Jaylee turned to see Scourge grin evilly and hum a laugh.
"They've lowered my ego enough to feel embarrassed by working with them. I think some payback is in order." he slumped proudly on his throne, watching Miles and Rosy enter the room, a small nod leaving the both of them. Jaylee wasn't sure when they had left, but she knew it must have been after Sonic and Amy had left, "I assure you, Lee, we will see them again."
Jaylee smirked – and that'd be the day she'd finally beat Jayde in a fight.