While Shadow was thinking about his discovery, Eclipse was still in Silver's company. The alien was unable to determine who this fella was. Once Silver harvested the red fruit plant, the alien was sure, no, he had a hunch, he might be looking at Black Arm, Darkling just like him.

But if that was true, why did he have the wrong skin color? Why was he furred and not scaly? Was he created like him? His creator Black Death hadn't told him about anybody else. He alone was the ultimate answer to their ultimate problem.

The alien decided to take the first step in revealing this mystery. "Silver, where are we?" he asked, not really caring, but he wanted to start a conversation to find out more about this peculiar lifeform.

"To be honest, I have no idea either." The psychic looked around, putting the last bite of his fruit in his mouth. "This place was devastated since the time I had arrived here through the Genesis Portal."

Eclipse tilted his head, not knowing what that portal was. Silver proceeded in explaining it to them.

The aliens' eyes widened when they heard they were in a completely different dimension, not just a planet. Eclipse wasn't sure if he understood the finer details, but those portals could come handy. He was after all able to use one for his escape.

His eyes narrowed when Silver showed him the small radar he had in his glove. How could something so small be useful? And how it was exactly working? Eclipse never saw other projections than the ones done by his master from his third eye on his forehead.

His disbelief grew stronger when Silver told him about his adventures. He had a hard time imagining this weak looking creature was able to fight. On the other side, if he was part of his kin, his strength should be considerable. However, as he learned more, he started to take an interest in Silver.

"So we are in a completely different world?" he had to ask despite being told a few minutes ago. Changing a dimension in the blink of an eye was too wild for his imagination.

"That's right." Silver nodded, happy his explanation was easy to follow. "Fortunately, I can tell which portal leads where if I was in that world behind it. In other words, I can tell you if it leads to your home and time or not."

Eclipse scratched his muzzle. In his head were swirling rough sketches of different plans how to use this knowledge and fellow. After a long time, he might have found a way how to turn the tables on that traitor.

Eclipse wanted to ask something when a nearby wall exploded, and from the smoke emerged the furious black hedgehog.

"Chaos Spear!" Shadow threw at him green energy rod since his enemy failed to detect his presence.

The alien didn't have time to block the attack neither to avoid it. He stood in front of his pets, crossing arms in the hope it would make the pain a bit more bearable. To his big surprise, the spear shot through the sky.

"Silver?" shouted both at once.

After all, it was his doing that the attack missed the target completely. "Wait, Shadow." He quickly moved between them. "We can talk this out."

"There is nothing to talk about!" barked the ebony chaos-wielder with clenched fists, pushing the silver hedgehog away.

"Cregal!" snapped the Darkling.

The bird-wisp-like creature fused with him, turning his arms into wings. The alien immediately took the rest of his Dark Arms and flew away.

"Chaos Spe-!" Suddenly, the ebony hedgehog felt nothing.

Eclipse made sure to block his powers this time. The question was how long he could do it and at what distance. It was obvious, using the power of the chaos in close-combat was out of the question.

Shadow growled, skating after the disappearing figure.

"Shadow, no!" The psychic got up, flying after him. "Why did you erase his whole race? What did they do to you?"

"What they did?" snarled the ebony hedgehog back as he stopped. He buried the index finger into the fluffy chest fur Silver had, making him tuck his head between shoulders.

"They brainwashed me into attacking my team, they live only for destroying whole planets, and they tried to destroy Mobius too! You get it now?" Shadow didn't wait for an answer and resumed his pursuit.

The young psychic was left speechless. There was no way his friend was lying to him. Was he tricked?

"So, what did I do then?" He smoothed out his chest fur and looked at his palms. "Did I help a villain?"

While the young psychic was pondering about his actions, the alien was forced to land since Cregal ran out of energy. Eclipse gasped, feeling tired too. Though the fruit helped him to regain some of his strength, it was barely enough to provide necessary nutrition his body demanded on a daily basis.

'Darn it! That traitor will be here any second. I need a plan!'

He looked around. It seemed he stopped at an intersection with most of the buildings collapsed into it. That gave him idea worthy of giving a shot.

The black hedgehog slowed down, noticing his enemy was near. Since they shared a loose mind connection because of their bloodline, they were able to feel each other's presence. Though Shadow was at a disadvantage as he was Black Arms and hedgehog hybrid, it was still enough to give him an upper hand in time of need.

He pricked ears in an attempt to catch every sound. It paid off as he picked up noise on his left side. Without hesitation, he spin-attacked that place, bursting through the wall. He bounced up and landed a few meters away, realizing he had been had.

"What the--?"

That clamor wasn't made by Eclipse but by his flying wisp.

The agent noticed another movement behind himself, but before he could react, his back was hit by a sonic wave.

"Too bad, brother!" shouted his younger half-sibling, landing a clear hit thanks to Rhygenta's power-up that equipped his right hand with sound waves generating cannon.

The ebony hedgehog slammed into the debris on the other side. The impact made him see sparkles, blurring his vision.

The Black Arms' alien shrieked, "Now you are gonna pay for your betrayal!" He released his sound cannon wisp. "You all go hide!" he ordered to his bio-arms and jumped into the air, intending to rip his half-brother to shreds.

The hedgehog was hardly down for the count. He turned around, picked a big rock and threw it, hitting the Darkling right between the eyes. Eclipse flinched, and his body leaned backward, messing with his intended trajectory. He barely landed on his legs.

Shadow didn't wait, leaped at the other, clashing with his half-brother in a wrestling match.

They were trying to push each other on the ground, but their physical strength was balanced. The status quo lasted for several seconds until the ebony agent stepped back, making the alien fall forward. At the same moment, the hedgehog slammed Eclipse's forehead with his own.

The Darkling let go, tumbled on his back with covered eyes, seeing flashing lights. He barely recovered his sight when Shadow sat down on him, pinned him to the ground to choke the alien. Eclipse struggled to get the black hedgehog off him, but his strength was quickly leaving.

The wisps witnessed it, and the blocky Blurk was hurrying to help his family member with the test behind him.

'Am I going to die here?' thought the alien with his vision blurry.

Shadow lifted his right hand to punch him.

'Who will take care of the little ones?' Tears appeared in corners of his eyes.

The lifted fist was tightly clenched.

'Who will take revenge for my family?' He felt his consciousness was fading as the lungs were having a shortage of oxygen.

His hands were losing a grip on the arm that grasped his neck.

Neither of them saw Dark Arms rushing towards them or that all of their bodies were engulfed by a bluish aura.

"Watch out!" the silver psychic shouted, lifting them off the ground.

The fighting duo broke. Their eyes were for a moment set on the distancing ground as their limbs helplessly waggled in the air.

While this was strange, Eclipse was happy Dark Arms floated towards him. He hugged two with his arm. The other covered his mouth, muffling the cough. His lungs hungrily swallowed the hot air, feeding the coughing fit more. Back in his mind, he slowly realized whose aura lifted them.

"What are you-?" Shadow, who barely looked over his shoulder, didn't finish his sentence when the spot where they had been exploded. He jerked his head back, glimpsing the smoke.

Sizzling sound informed the ebony hedgehog numerous laser shots were heading their way.

The ebony hedgehog instinctively opened his palm, but the green energy of the Chaos was still blocked by his half-brother. All he could do was to cross his arms and await the descending rain.

"Incoming!" Silver flew in front of them, created a shield and blocked the laser shots.

They mercilessly pounded on his defense, vibrating with his body. Silver clenched his teeth and pushed forward. The laser shower stopped after long seconds.

"Who are these guys?" he asked, slightly shaking his tingling hands.

The ebony hedgehog looked at the big black and red mass, rushing towards them. The G.U.N. agent hissed, biting his lower lip.

"These are... Black Arms..." he whispered, not wanting to believe his own eyes.

The flying hedgehog looked around, noticing there was a lot of them in the air too as they were circled by strange dragon-like hawks and raptors with the same colored skin.

"Can we talk?" Silver's attempt to communicate with them was met with silence.

Shadow's red eyes ran from one spot to another, recognizing way too many familiar figures until they locked on one particular flying creature shaped like a star-fish.

The big eye in its center was staring at him, and its voice was heard despite it had no mouth, "You? It can't be! You are dead! I have killed you, Shadow!"

The black and red hedgehog's fur bristled as he loudly growled, "Black Doom."

Awards tag: #royalroseawards2018