ℝ𝕖𝕤𝕔𝕦𝕖 ℂ𝕙𝕚𝕝𝕕𝕣𝕖𝕟

      Tails and Shadow did not quarrel and give up. They hoped that perhaps this time they would definitely be able to catch Luz and this time he would not leave us. If he again manages to escape to some other universe, then he will be unstoppable, and our unfortunate heroes will go crazy. Tails was a little tired of walking and flying, unlike the big naga. Shadow put the unfortunate fox on his right shoulder and carried him with him. — “As I understand you, poor fellow.” — thought the striped naga. — “I myself would almost go crazy from all these jumps around the worlds.” — “How tired I am.” — Tails thought at this time. He just now looked around and noticed that this whole forest was huge. Almost the size of the naga Shadow himself. — “It’s a strange forest in this world. In our country there were no such forests with huge trees at all. Are there really giants living in this world? — Are you probably hungry? — Shadow asked him and looked around, seeing a large bush with berries that were the size of a ball that a person plays with. The striped one picks one berry and gives it to the two-tailed one in his hands. — Thank you, Shadow. — he thanked him and began to bite off one piece at a time from such a large berry. The good striped naga also began to pick one more berry and eats them. Those berries were tasty, like blueberries or cherries, although they looked like blueberries. — It’s kind of weird, Tails. These don't grow in our world. I mean trees and bushes with berries. Do you think giants might live here? Well, I mean, people are giants, not us, naked. — I have no idea myself. But even if there are such people here, I think they should help us find and catch Luz. After a world where living and giant plants with insects live, the underwater world and the cosmic world, I am ready to believe in anything. — Tails replies, finishing his berry. — Me too. — Shadow answers, continuing to eat the berries. — Now let’s have a snack and then move on. They didn’t even notice that from somewhere out of other bushes the nigga Amy crawled out and noticed Shadow himself, who for some reason was eating berries. An adult two-tailed fox sat on his shoulder and had finished eating the berry. The hedgehog snake was dumbfounded that Shadow was eating berries and letting that Mobian sit on his shoulder. Tails turned around and, noticing the nigina, flew towards her, deciding to talk: — Hello, are you local? You don't know what this place is? Amy was even more stunned by the fact that the fox was not afraid of her and did not run, but on the contrary, he flew up to her and sat down next to her. At first he smiled when he noticed her, but then he himself was surprised and did not understand why she was looking at him like that. — What's wrong with you? Why are you looking at me so strangely? Naga only recovered slightly from the shock and asked in response: — Why aren’t you scared and running away? — In what sense? — Tails didn’t understand. — I’m a nigina, and you’re a Mobian. Tails looked around, again not understanding anything, and asked: — And what? Amy immediately immediately realized that this was probably a stupid Mobian who knew nothing about nagas and decided to eat him right away. However, Tails was not at all stupid and immediately understood from her look that she wanted to grab her now. He began to fly back a little and thereby dodge her grip. Amy tried to catch him, but he dodged and teased her: — Weak! Slowly! It's a pity! Then, when she extended her arms on both sides and tried to swat the fox like a fly, Tails suddenly took out his blade and swung it, causing damage to Nagina's arms and leaving scars on her palms. She almost screamed and was a little scared when she saw the sword in the hands of this fox and her wounds on her hands, which were bleeding slightly. Amy looked at the fox with fear and asked: — Who are you?... The fox looked at her sternly and made himself a rude voice and answered: — I am retribution! — Stop playing Batman, Tails! — Shadow accidentally intervened, finishing the berries. The fox frowned and answered him: — Shadow, well, I just scared the one who attacked me, and you ruined such a cool moment! — Oh! Sorry! — Shadow? — Amy asked him: — Why are you talking to him? And why are you eating berries? You're a predator! You should attack people with Mobians and eat them, like always. Two-tailed and striped immediately understood from her words that their world also has its own Shadow and he is apparently evil here. Shadow decided to answer her honestly: — I'm not a carnivore, I'm a vegetarian. Clear? But Amy wasn't clear. This only raised more questions in her mind. She looked at the fox, who began to threaten her with his samurai. — Since you are also a predator, then listen to me! If I find out that you are again attacking people with Mobians and eating them, then I will find you and cut off your hands with this samurai. Promise that you will stop hunting those who are smaller than you! Even Shadow looked at her threateningly and Amy, scared of both of them, did not answer. She just turned around and crawled away. The fox and the naga did not chase after her, but the first one put away his weapon. — Well. Now we know that there are nagas in this world. Moreover, they are angry and hungry. And also among them there is a local you, Shadow. — And that’s bad, Tails. After all, Luz Bucket found reliable allies and support here in this case. — Okay, let's go. Let's find Luz as soon as possible and stop him. — Tails suggested and flew to where the path went. Shadow crawled after him.

And at this time

      Luz Bucket came out into a large field that grew only daisies and grass, and the trees were just a wall around the meadow. He looked around and the place seemed beautiful to him. He could tell by smell that there were nagas somewhere here. So they are here somewhere. He just didn't look for them well. Before further searching, he decided to admire the beautiful flowers in this meadow. Leaning down, he sniffed and smiled. Luz began to remember his childhood, how, as a child, he loved to pick flowers and give them to his beloved dad Reflection, for which he patted him on the head. A tear of joy even flowed from the scorpion naga's right eye. — Dad! — he said out loud. Having finished being nostalgic, he crawled further and felt that he was hungry. — Well, while I was running away from these bastards, I managed to get hungry. We should get some game somewhere and refresh ourselves. — Luz thought out loud and sniffed, smelling the scent of five Mobians, and not just any Mobians, but children. — O-o-o! Are there Mobians even in this world? He crawled straight along the smell, which led him from the field to the depths of the forest, where there were five children. One of them resembled that same two-tailed fox, only this one was still young. He also had four hedgehogs with him, two boys and two girls. Moreover, two of them are brown, and the other two are gray. They picked big berries. When Luz saw them, he licked his lips and decided to catch these little ones. Having dropped to the ground, he crept up very slowly and at one time listened to what they were talking about. — Can't it be faster? I want to try Sally's pie soon. — says Benny. — Calm down, Benny. — says Sammy. — The main thing here is to have patience! And then... Do you remember how, because of you, we tried to collect and deliver them last time, but every time the naga find us, hunt us and we throw the berries, and then run away. — Please don't remind me of these cases! I know I'm at fault there. This won't happen again. Hope. — Benny explained. — Okay, don't quarrel! — Tails persuaded them. — We're almost done. — Yes. Let's get the last berry! — said Nelly. — It’s good that they weigh little and are very light, despite how big they are. — Tiny said. The large baskets were already full of berries. — Here you go! We have collected everything and can go home. — Tails said. — Oh, I can imagine what kind of pie we will have today. — said Nelly. — You won't need it. — They immediately heard the voice of a naga scorpion. The children looked in the direction of the voice and saw a large naga that looked like a scorpion. They were a little scared of him, but were surprised, because they had never seen him before. Among the nagas, they only knew Shadow, Amy, Knuckles, Sonic and Sally. Well, a little more about Ralph, whom Benny remembered well. But this was the first time they had seen such a naga. — Who are you? — Sammy asked. Luz realized that there was no analogue of him in this world and this only benefited him. He didn’t answer them, he just opened his mouth wide and tried to grab them to eat them. Fortunately, the children, by luck, figured out to dodge in time, jumped to the sides and ran in different directions. The naga scorpion raised its head and spat earth out of its mouth. — Ugh! The earth is so not tasty! Why do the worms love her so much? - Bucket thought out loud. Then he sniffed and continued to look for the children. The children themselves ran away, abandoning their baskets. Benny started whining on the way: — Why is it always like this with us? Every time we go outside, we always encounter someone who is trying to eat us. Why? — Stop whining, Benny! — Tiny said. — Run if you want to live! Looking back, they noticed that the big scorpion was not following them. But it’s better not to stop, because he can track them by smell. They did not see where they were running and accidentally crashed into the stomach of another naga. They turned and looked up. It turned out to be Shadow himself. He had no luck hunting one prey and was looking for something else to feed on. By coincidence, he crossed paths with those children again and decided that he would rather eat them. — So he came to me for dinner himself. — The striped naga grinned, tilting his head towards them. — I went out hunting, but I was unlucky. The old prey ran away from me. I hope you won't run away from me this time. — No, no, Shadow, don't eat us! — Tiny begged, whom Sammy took in his arms and the children ran back again. And on the other side Luz himself was running. Freezing in place, they looked around and were surrounded by two nagas. They realized in time to scatter again and separated. Both nagas at this time, trying to catch them, collided nose to nose. Shadow and Luz began to rub their bruised noses and temporarily forgot about the children they were trying to catch. — Watch where you're crawling, idiot! — The striped naga swore. — Look for yourself, brute! Can't you see that I'm hunting here? — the scorpion cursed in response and was surprised when he saw who he crashed into. Shadow stood in front of him, but apparently this was not the one he knew. Striped only asked him: — Who are you? — he asked, but Luz didn’t answer him, because he was dumbfounded. He immediately realized that it was Shadow, but not the one who, like him and that fox, were chasing him, but probably one who lived in this world. That Shadow was clearly angry and he repeated his question: — I’m asking, who are you?... I’ve never seen you among the nagas before. Are you not local? — No. Actually, I'm not from this world. — the scorpion-snake answered him honestly. — In what sense is it not from this world? — the striped hedgehog didn’t understand. — It is long to explain. In general, I'm hungry and really want to eat. I just attacked these little guys, and then you showed up and stopped me. — Relax, I hunt them too and try to eat them. — explained the striped one. — Really? Then maybe you can help me catch them? If you help me, I will share with you in more detail who I am, where I came from and why I came here. — explained the scorpion. The striped naga didn’t really want to believe him at first, but considering that he also wants to eat these children, like him, he’ll have to take his word and help catch them. — Okay. After shaking hands, they sniffed the air and continued hunting together.

Meanwhile

      And the other Shadow, along with his Tails, were still walking through the forest and accidentally stumbled upon someone’s house. — Look, Shadow! — the fox pointed to the house itself, and Shadow even sniffed it. — It smells like meat soup. Someone there is preparing their own meat soup. Let's see who lives there. — the striped one suggested, walked up to the door and knocked. — Is anyone home? The door opens and a blue snake hedgehog appears on the threshold, who thought that someone he knew had come to visit. He didn't expect to see Shadow. He recognized his Shadow in him and did not understand why he came here. He was even more surprised by the Mobian fox with two tails, who was sitting on Shadow's shoulder and reminded them of Tails among children, only an adult. Sonic's eyes widened and he was speechless. Shadow was the first to break the silence and said: — Hi, I'm Shadow, and this is my uh... Best friend Tails. What's your name? Sonic had a lot of questions. Shadow doesn't know him and gets to know him again, and even becomes friends with that fox, exactly like one of their children. The blue naga did not understand anything. — Uh... Shadow, do you have amnesia? — he asked him. — Amnesia? No, I didn't forget anything. I'm not Shadow, in the sense of Shadow, but not that one. Sonic was a little confused and asked: — In what sense is it not the same? — Sonic, who came there? — Sally asked and when she saw Shadow with Tails, she was also shocked. — Hello! I know you have a lot of questions. We will explain everything to you. — Tails replied. Sonic and Sally let them into their house and they explained to them the whole story about their lives and youth in their world before they went to their world. They explained everything to them in detail and slowly. They ended the story with how they ended up in this world, almost quarreled, deciding to give up and return home to their world, and then did not decide to continue the search for Luz Bucket. They both decided to remain silent about Shadow's falling in love with Tails. At first, Sonic and Sally did not believe them and thought that this whole story sounded more like the ravings of a madman. However, their serpentine instinct told them that, on the contrary, they should believe them. Sally remembered that the children went into the forest to pick berries for a pie. And they are in great danger, since a scorpion snake is wandering there, which can attack and eat them. Shadow and Tails calmed them down and promised to find their children and save them from Luz. Sonic and Sally gave Shadow a scarf around his neck, which Sonic had previously worn, so that Shadow would wear it so that they could distinguish him from his evil Shadow, who is also looking for children and trying to eat them. After talking with each other on all these topics, they set off. They split into pairs. Sonic and Sally headed to one part of the forest, while Shadow and Taze went to the other side of the forest.

Meanwhile: Again!

The children were reunited with each other again, meeting somewhere on the edge of the forest and catching their breath from fatigue. — Who is this nag? — Benny asked about the scorpion, since they had never met one before. — Don't know. But all we still needed was Shadow! — Nelly answered, taking a breath. — As if one predator wasn’t enough for us that day, our sworn enemy also appeared. — Are you talking about us there by any chance? — Luz's voice addressed them. The children ran screaming again. Evil Shadow wanted to immediately chase after them, but Luz extended his hand and stopped him. — Do not rush! Let's give them a head start of about five seconds first! They are already tired of running away from us. — he suggested. Shadow did not argue with him and waited with him. Only then did they crawl in pursuit. The children ran out into a large flower field in the meadow and ran only forward, trying not to look back or turn aside. Suddenly Luz overtook them and stood in their way. Frightened by him, they turn back, but Shadow stood in their way. The children were surrounded and there was nowhere to run. Evil Shadow and Luz Bucket surrounded them on both sides and circled around them, moving their tails. — Ha ha! Got caught biting? — asked the scorpion-snake. The children were hugging each other and were very scared. However, then realizing that there was nowhere to run, they despaired, gave up and accepted that they would eat them, since they had nowhere else to run. Even Tiny agreed with the elders on this topic. All five of them hugged each other with sad faces and closed their eyes, preparing for death. Luz and Shadow noticed that they were desperate and were preparing to be eaten by them. — Take that big one and the gray one with those brown ones, and I’ll take the gray one and the one with two tails. — Luz Bucket suggested. — As you say! — the evil striped one agreed with him. Both nagas approached slowly and menacingly, preparing to take one of them. Luz Bucket was the first to crawl close and took the little fox by the scruff of the neck, lifting him above him and began to address him threateningly: — I can finally get my revenge on you, Tails. I should have eaten you back when I let you float down the river, but now I'll fix that. Now you will pay very dearly for the fact that you violated all my plans and pursued me, interfering with me in every possible way. But the little fox did not understand this giant monster and said: — I do not understand what you're saying! I don't even know you! — Yes, it doesn’t matter! You're still Tails, even if you're not mine. — Luz answered and opened his mouth, preparing to throw it inside. At that moment, Shadow chose Sammy and also began to throw him into his mouth first, when suddenly both nagas heard the cry of another Shadow: — LET THEM GO!!! Evil Shadow and Luz widened their eyes, placed temporarily little Tails with Sammy and turned towards the scream. They saw another Shadow in front of them along with an adult Tails. Luz could not stand it, stood up and walking towards them, shouted: — WELL WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH THESE DISGUSTING STRIPED NAKED AND HIS TWO-TAILED RED BLOCK??? WHEN WILL YOU FINALLY GET AWAY FROM ME??? Evil Shadow looked dumbfounded at Luz, who was screaming. At this time, the children decided that while they were distracted, they decided that now they had to run. Evil Shadow noticed that they were sneaking around and were about to leave quietly, he quickly crawled over and stood in their way. — Where are you going? Adult Tails noticed that that evil Shadow was threatening them and wanted to eat them. He took out his samurai, flew up and stood behind the children as a wall, looking menacingly at the evil striped naga and threatening him with his weapon. — Don't touch them, monster! — Who are you to tell me? — asked the striped one and tried to hit him, crushing him and pinning him to the ground. At that moment the fox jumped up and swung his sword, leaving him with a scar under his eye. Evil Shadow grabbed his eye and stepped back a little. The adult fox himself came down and turned to the children: — RUN, RUN!!! The children did not ask questions, such as why that fox looked like their Tails and stood still, but immediately obeyed him and ran away. Evil Shadow came to his senses and began to fight against Tails, while good Shadow fought against Luz Bucket. — I’ll tear you to pieces, little bug. Chaos control! — said the angry striped naga and ran towards the fox. Tails jumps and swings his sword. Evil Shadow dodges the fox samurai and tries to grab him himself, but the fox flies up to the top and dodges. Kind Shadow and Luz Bucket, looking at each other menacingly, grabbed each other's hands and pushed each other forward, gritting their teeth in anger. Luz raises her tail with a sharp dagger at the tip of her tail and prepares to wound him unnoticed, just like last time. Tails noticed this and decided to intervene to help his friend. The evil striped hedgehog crawled after him and tried to grab his huge palm from above, and Tails ducked with a running start, making a tackle and swinging the samurai from top to bottom, cutting off Luz's stinger from the tip of his tail. The naked scorpion screams in pain and sharply moves its tail back and forth. Throwing the good Shadow over himself, he grabs his wounded tail and screams. Good Shadow gets up at this time, rushes at Luz from behind and grabs the neck with both hands and pulls him towards himself. Bucket grabs the tabby's shoulders back with both hands and throws him over himself, knocking him to the ground. At this time, the fox was still dealing with the evil striped snake hedgehog. He reaches forward with his right hand and tries to poke him with his claw on his index finger, using it as a sword. Tails, with the help of the samurai, reflected his claw, as if fencing with swords with an opponent. On the fifteenth poke, the evil Shadow sharply turns around himself three hundred and sixty degrees to the right, swinging his tail. The two-tailed one manages to jump and jump to the right side. The striped one swings his tail again, and the fox flies up on his tails and jumps over the evil leg, ending up behind his back. Landing on the ground, he jumps out of the way again, dodging the impact of his left fist on the ground. — And you are agile and fast for a human and a Mobian! — said the angry naga. — I’m a naga hunter, if you don’t know. So don't mess with me if you want to live! — Okay! — answered the evil Shadow and, approaching, swung his tail a couple more times, as if the fox was trying to hit him with a whip. At one moment he grabs the fox’s sword with his tail and tries to take it away, but the two-tailed one himself, despite the huge difference in size, pulls the sword towards himself with all his strength, forcing the evil naga to fall to his knees in front of him, which in fact he does not have . Landing on his right palm, the striped one held on, but Tails flew up to him and kicked him in the forehead, pushing him back a little. Tails lands on the ground and says: — Shadow, I don’t want to kill you at all, but you’re forcing me. I will not harm you if you no longer attack these children, as well as other people with Mobians. I will kill anyone who dares to offend them all. Even you. But I will not touch other nagas, if they do not attack us. The evil Shadow ignored his demand and rushed to the attack, trying to catch the fox. He jumped, ran over the hands of the evil naga, ran up to him and kicked him in the right eye. He stepped back a little, grabbed his eye and rubbed it. Tails flew around the head of the evil naga and irritated him like a fly. He tried to slam him, but accidentally hit his chest with his palm and hit himself. The striped naga came to his senses and looked around, and at that time Tails was hiding behind the back of the head of the evil naga Shadow. — Where are you, little freak? The fox mockingly touched the back of his head and quickly flew away when the evil Shadow turned to him to notice him. However, he did not see him. Then he turned forward, and Tails appeared in front of him and swung his sword, but the evil Shadow immediately disappeared with a bright flash, as if he was not there. He stood behind him and abruptly swatted him away with both palms, like a fly. The adult fox, crushed by both palms, fell to the ground and tried to rise through groans until the evil striped hedgehog touched his back with his index claw and pinned him to the ground. — Tails! — the kind Shadow noticed the almost wounded fox, but could not get up and intervene to help him, since Luz grabbed him by the arms, pinning him to the ground and banging his head against his. Unable to withstand these beatings, the striped one began to slowly lose consciousness. Tails only at that moment paid attention to him and said: — Shadow! — DON'T TOUCH THEM!!! — the evil Shadow and Luz Bucket turned their attention upward, where the young fox was screaming. He flew in with two prickly cacti in round shapes and threw them. The first such cactus hit the evil Shadow on the tail and he screamed in pain. The second hit the scorpion in the forehead and he also screamed so hard that he almost cried, and then grabbed the sore spot with his right palm. Benny immediately ran, grabbed Luz's wounded tail, opened his mouth and painfully bit the scorpion snake on his first sore spot, forcing him to raise his head up and scream. He looked at the brown hedgehog with anger and began to slowly approach him. — I WILL KILL YOU FOR THIS, YOU LITTLE!!! — he shouted through his teeth and clenched his hands into fists, raising them, preparing to hit the ground and thereby crush the baby. — NO!!! — the striped good-natured man was frightened and attacked the scorpion-snake, grabbing him by the waist and throwing him onto his left side. The latter did not have time to hit the hedgehog. The young fox began to fly around the evil Shadow and distracted him with himself. — Come on! Fetch me! — he deliberately teased him. While the angry minke whale was trying to grab the baby, the adult fox came to his senses and tried to get up. Sammy and Nellie came running to him and helped him up. — We don’t abandon our friends in trouble. Although we don’t know who you are, where you’re from, why you look like our brother, or what’s going on here! — said the eldest. At that time, the evil Shadow managed to grab the young fox in his right fist and put it in his mouth, preparing to swallow it. The adult fox flew towards him and plunged his sharp sword into his back. The angry minke screams in pain and the little fox flies out. Sammy, Nellie, Benny and Tiny, standing below and watching this, just narrowed their eyes and clenched their teeth, imagining that it must be very painful. Evil Shadow turned around, and the fox left him another scar under his second eye. Now he had both scars, and he himself was afraid for his life and decided to retreat, a coward. — RIGHT, GET OUT!!! AND DON'T THINK OF COMING HERE AGAIN UNLESS YOU WANT TO DIE!!! — the naga hunter shouted at the fleeing evil naga and wiped a few drops of blood from his sword on his red fur on his right elbow. At that time, the good Shadow grabbed Luz by the neck and began to choke him. The scorpion snake tried to free himself from his grip, but the striped one was more furious for almost finishing off his little friend-lover. When there was not enough oxygen, Luz lost consciousness and loosened the grip of his hands, spreading them to his sides. Shadow lets go of his neck and stands over him. — You lost, Luz. We've finally caught you. — he told him. Then he turned his attention to the five children themselves and told them: — Thank you for your help, guys. The children didn’t even know what to say to that striped one. He scared them a little, because he looked completely like that Shadow. Although he, along with that adult fox, fought against them and saved them, for which they themselves decided to save them when they almost killed them, which means there is no need to be afraid of them. True, the way they looked and why they got along well with each other only raised questions in their minds. They were immediately distracted from their questions by the evil Shadow, who returned. — You forgot about me, scoundrels! — he was clearly angry with them and wanted to personally finish them all off, but he heard the voices of Sonic and Sally approaching here. — CHILDREN, WHERE ARE YOU??? — WE ARE HERE!!! — Tiny shouted. Because the little hedgehog called those two, they are crawling here. The angry minke whale decided to retreat and pointing at his eyes, and then at them, crawling into the bushes, hisses: — We will meet again! By coincidence, Sonic and Sally immediately crawl in. — CHILDREN!!! — Sonic shouted joyfully, stretching out both arms to the sides. Sally did the same. The children themselves were also happy to see them and immediately ran to hug them. Sonic and Sally hug them in their huge arms, gently pressing them to themselves. — We're so glad you're okay! We were so afraid for you! — Sally said, almost crying. — Sonic, Sally, we are also glad to be with you again. — said the young fox. — We were so scared! — Tiny added. — First, out of nowhere, we were attacked by this unfamiliar naga, who looked like a scorpion, who still harbored some kind of grudge against Tails, although even he didn’t know him. — And then Shadow appeared and teamed up with him, they both tried to eat us. This time I have absolutely nothing to do with it! — Benny explained. — There was nowhere to run. That's it, we thought, it was the end for us and we surrendered to them. — Sammy said. — But fortunately these two came running to us and saved us. — Tiny added, pointing to the adult Tails themselves and the kind Shadow with a scarf around his neck. They are a little embarrassed. — E. Another Shadow. And another Tails. — We know! They told us everything. They came to us from another universe. — Sonic explained. Tails himself, looking at the happy reunion of these two nagas and the children who love them very much, like a mother and father of their sons and daughters, for a moment imagined in his head instead his guardian Fiona along with himself, also hugging, reunited again. Memories and thoughts of his beloved guardian made the fox shed a little tears of joy. — What are you? — Shadow was worried about his friend. — Sorry, Shadow. I’m so... I just remembered my mother while looking at them. Luz Bucket, who was lying next to him, came to his senses and tried to get up, when suddenly Shadow crawled up and with one blow of his fist on his nose, knocked him out again for a while and said: — We need to tie him up before he wakes up again! They did just that. Sonic and Shadow tied the naga scorpion with the thickest, freshest, rolled into a tube and braided and very strong vines. Then they lifted Luz up, grabbed him by his bound hands and dragged him along, as if he were being escorted home when he was drunk. Sally took the children in her arms and said: — Let's go home! Let our guests celebrate your rescue with a pie!