A few days later...
Small Clinic, Inhuman World

Dalia finally came to her senses. Her eyes fluttered open. The first thing she saw was a mahogany blur. After her eyes blinked a few times, her vision became clear.

As Dalia turned to her right, then to her left, realization came to her. I'm in the clinic.

Dalia realized this because once she turned to her left, she spotted a woman with fair skin, brown hair tied to a low bun and brown eyes. She wore a white coat, gray pants and black polished flats.

From the looks of it, Dalia recognized her as the doctor.

The doctor seemed busy writing the medical report on her desk. About a minute passed. Soon after, she finished her medical report.

The doctor rose from her seat and retrieved the medical report. Just as she was about to place it somewhere, her eyes met Dalia's.

The doctor's eyes widened in surprise. Then, it turned into a relieved smile. "It seems you're finally awake, Dalia. How are you feeling?"

Dalia turned to the ceiling and began reflecting herself. As she did, she felt the numb feeling in her body. Only her head was the one moving. After about thirty seconds, she turned to the doctor and answered, "My body feels numb, but I'm okay."

The doctor gave Dalia a close-eyed smile. "That's great! I'll tell the others you're awake."

With that, the doctor walked towards the desk and placed the medical report on it. After that, she walked towards the exit door. She opened the door and walked through it. After that, she closed the door behind her. This left Dalia alone.

Dalia turned to the ceiling again and began thinking thoughts. A thought of changing her name back to Sara ran through her head, but she brushed that off.

Dalia thought of her declaration to have a chosen family when she faced her biological mother, who stabbed her on the back. She was shocked, but also disappointed. From that end, Dalia didn't regret having her chosen family because she spent lots of time with them. Plus, Shadow was her favorite because he's a secret agent. And she loved watching secret agent TV shows.

Nothing else occurred in Dalia until she heard the door open.

Dalia turned to the door to see Runa, Shadow, Rouge, Hope, Lucy and Bubbles. She also saw Junior in Runa's arms. Rosy, Mystico, Bearace, Juniper and Shania flew over the rest. But Omega was missing. Dalia knew it was because he was too big to fit through the clinic door.

Runa's, Lucy's, Shadow's, Bubbles', Rouge's, Hope's, Rosy's, Mystico's, Junior's, Bearace's, Juniper's and Shania's faces were filled with surprise. A few seconds later, it turned into worry.

"Dalia!" they said in unison as they walked in a quick pace towards Dalia while falling in line at the same time.

Once they gathered around Dalia's bed, the group looked at her, worried.

"Are you alright?" Shadow asked.

"We were so worried," Bubbles said.

"Chao-chao!" Shania said.

"Where does it hurt?" Runa asked.

"Dawia!" Junior said.

Dalia let out a chuckle. "Okay, okay. Calm down. I'm alright." Then, a curious question popped into her head. "How long have I been out?"

"You've been out for a few days, Dalia," Rouge said. "We had to check on you every morning and every night."

"Shadow is the one who's most worried," Bubbles said. "I saw him getting stressed out, thinking that you might never wake up."

Shadow turned his head away in embarrassment.

"I had to calm him down and reassure him," Runa said.

Dalia chuckled. "I see." She turned to Runa and Shadow. "That makes you great parents, Shadow and Runa."

A blush increased on Runa's cheeks. Her heart pounded upon hearing this, but she attempted to cover up her obvious feelings for Shadow by maintaining her composure.

Shadow's blush grew heavier. His heart pounded after hearing Dalia's words.

"Um... I think that's too far," Runa said.

"I'm serious," Dalia said, smiling. "When you guys comforted me back in the medical room in G.U.N., I thought about you being my adoptive parents."

Runa and Shadow turned to Dalia in surprise. "You do?" Runa asked.

"Yes," Dalia said, nodding. "The way you comfort me and relate to me in some way make me think you guys would be great parents."

Shadow turned to Runa as he scratched his left temple. A small smile appeared on his face. "I... guess that's about right."

Runa turned to Shadow and gave him a kind smile. "Yeah. That's true."

Dalia continued smiling. Then, another question popped into her head. She turned to everyone else. "So, how do we—?"

Dalia was cut in by another big earthquake. Everyone's bodies wiggled, but they managed to maintain their balances.

"Oh no! Not again!" Bubbles exclaimed.

"Hang on, guys," Hope said. "We don't know how long the earthquake's gonna take."

"Warning: Incoming substance out the window. I advise you to hold on to something," they heard Omega from out the window.

Everyone turned to the window.

"Omega?" Shadow asked.

"He's beside the window we're in this whole time?" Lucy asked.

Just then, a portal appeared right outside the window.

Once everyone saw that, they were spooked out. "The portal!" Dalia exclaimed.

"That's to be expected during an earthquake," Lucy said.

"Chao-chao!" Mystico said, nodding in agreement.

Then, a few moments later, everyone, including Omega, were dragged towards the portal.

Dalia, Shadow, Runa, Junior, Bubbles, Lucy, Rosy, Hope, Mystico, Bearace, Shania and Juniper were dragged through the window. As it happened, Dalia desperately grabbed the bed board. Shadow pulled Runa and Junior close to him while grasping onto the window sill. The five chao grasped on Runa's dress. Rouge attempted to fly towards the doctor's desk to grab onto its edge, but the wind current coming from the portal was strong for her wings to resist.

As for everyone else, they tried to find something to grab, but they found nothing. As a result, them going through the window caused Shadow to let go of the window sill.

Dalia's hand slipped away from the bed board.

Everyone screamed as they got sucked into the portal.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

"CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

—————————————————————

As Dalia, Shadow, Runa, Junior, Bubbles, Rouge, Omega, Lucy, Rosy, Hope, Mystico, Bearace, Shania and Juniper continued falling through the portal, they spotted images on the walls of the portal. Their eyes widened in shock.

"What is that?!" Bubbles asked.

"Scanning," Omega said. After a few seconds of scanning the images, a couple of screeches ran through everyone's ears. "W-W-Warning: D-D-Data O-O-O-O-Ov-v-v-v-er-l-l-load."

Everyone turned to Omega in concern.

"Omega are you alright?" Shadow asked.

"'Mega..." Junior said in concern.

"Is something wrong?" Runa asked.

"P-P-Pro-o-cess-s-s-sing..." Omega said. "D-D-Data n-n-not o-o-or-r-r-rgan-n-n-ized."

A shocked expression appeared on Bearace's face. "Chao-chao, chao, chao!" Roughly translated, "He must've been hacked!"

Runa turned to her surroundings. "No. I don't think that's it."

With that being said by Runa, everyone else turned to their surroundings.

Surrounding them were images of themselves experiencing their own adventures. But those adventures were nothing like those in their universe.

One of those images was when Hope comforted Shadow after he and Rouge failed to retrieve the Chaos Emerald in the Special Zone owned by Feist the Panda.

Another one of those images was when Runa tried to face the roboticized version of Professor Lucas in the dark room... alone.

When Runa saw this, she froze in fear. Tears filled her eyes as memories of her times with Professor Lucas ran through her head. Runa wrapped her arms around herself, and breathed in and out in an attempt to calm herself. She thought most of her memories with Professor Lucas were positive — except for the time she tried to save him, but ended up passing out.

A few seconds later, images of herself facing the roboticized version of Professor Lucas ran through Runa's head. More tears filled her eyes and more fear occurred in her. A few seconds later, tears streamed down her cheeks. Why? I've never experienced that kind of adventure before. So why? Why does it have to happen?

Shadow and Junior could hear sniffs coming from Runa. Both turned to her and were surpised to see that she was crying.

Junior leaned his forehead against her chest and closed his eyes. "Woona... hug," he muttered.

Shadow could hear Junior muttering something, but he couldn't catch the words he was saying clearly. Regardless, he knew Runa needed extra comfort.

And so, Shadow wrapped his arms around Runa, and gently and carefully embraced her. "It's alright, Runa. We're here for you," he said, referring to himself and Junior.

Junior nodded and hummed in agreement.

Runa closed her eyes as more tears streamed down her cheeks. A smile slowly tugged on her lips. "Thank you... Junior and Shadow," she said in a croaky tone.

A small smile appeared on Shadow's face. "No problem, Runa. No problem"

"Yo' welcome, Woona," Junior said.

As everyone else witnessed the moment, surprised expressions appeared on their faces. After a few seconds, their surprised expressions turned into smiles.

"Well, that's certainly something," Rouge said as her smile widened into a fascinated smirk.

"Yeah. They already look like family," Dalia said.

"They should confess. I feel like it's been a whole year since they first interacted with each other," Bubbles said.

"Sure, but it's best not to push them. It'll make things worse," Lucy said.

"I agree. They should confess naturally," Hope said.

"Chao-chao!" the five chao said, nodding in agreement.

Everyone else also nodded in agreement.

—————————————————————

Sky Patrol, Mobius

A few minutes later, Dalia, Shadow, Runa, Junior, Bubbles, Omega, Lucy, Rosy, Hope, Mystico, Bearace, Shania and Juniper landed on the hard, smooth, flat floor.

"Ow!" Bubbles exclaimed.

"Chao!" the five chao exclaimed.

"Aagh!" everyone else exclaimed.

Because the floor was hard, the group could feel a lot of pain in their bodies. Seconds after they landed, the portal closed.

Like last time, Shadow rose onto his feet. He turned to Runa, who still had Junior in her hands. Shadow lent his hand to Runa.

In response, Runa took Shadow's hand and pulled herself on her feet. She turned to Junior, who was shaking in fear because of how he and everyone else landed.

Concern appeared in Runa's eyes. "Junior, are you okay?"

Junior turned to Runa and slowly nodded. "U-Ung."

Runa smiled as she pulled Junior to a comforting hug. Her right hand stroke his back gently. "It's okay, Junior. I'm here with you. And so were Shadow and the others."

A few seconds later Shadow and Runa turned to their surroundings. They could hear groans as everyone else slowly rose on their feet.

Just as either Shadow or Runa asked everyone else if they're alright, a male voice grabbed their attention.

"You!"

Everyone jolted to where the sound came from. Before them was Monkey Khan, pointing at them with a staff. He was seen stomping towards then with an angry look on his face.

Behind Monkey Khan were the Freedom Fighters, Royal Guardians, Silver's group and the Chaotix.

"You dare trespass the—?"

Monkey Khan was cut in by Sonic speeding himself towards the front of Monkey Khan. His hands reached forward to stop Monkey Khan.

"Whoa-whoa-whoa! Timeout!" Sonic said.

Monkey Khan pointed at Team Dark, Runa, the five chao, Junior and four human girls.

"They're trespassing the Sky Patrol!" Monkey Khan said.

"And those 'trespassers' are our friends," Sonic said. "We'll introduce you to them."

"Sonic is right," Sally said. "One of them is Aleyah's adoptive sister. On one of Runa and Aleyah's birthdays, we showed them around the Sky Patrol." Her eyebrows furrowed as she glared at Monkey Khan. "Plus, they, Team Dark and the others are our allies. So please, take a breather and talk things out with them."

Monkey Khan took a deep breath. Then, as he mentally let go of his anger, he exhaled.

Monkey Khan turned to Team Dark, Runa, Junior, the five chao and four human girls.

"State your names and how you get here," Monkey Khan said.

"I'm Shadow the Hedgehog," Shadow said. He then, gestured to the others. "These are Dalia, Runa, Junior, Bubbles, Lucy, Rosy, Hope, Mystico, Bearace, Shania, Rouge, Omega and Juniper. We came here via the one of the portals that appeared during an earthquake."

Realization came to the Freedom Fighters, the Royal Guardians, Silver's group, the Chaotix and Monkey Khan.

Schlemmer snapped his fingers. "Oh, ya! Ze MERGE!"

"I'm sorry. What was that?" Runa asked in confusion.

Sonic turned to Runa and the others. "Oh, long-story-short, earthquakes become more frequent, more portals appear during earthquakes, mobians and humans who know us, but we don't know them appeared out of nowhere, and our memories became jumbled," he said quickly.

"In other words, Professor Von Schlemmer called this situation 'The MERGE,'" Aleyah said. "Because—" She held out her right index and middle finger. "—two of our worlds are combining together."

Sonic sped over to a spot beside Amy. This gave Monkey Khan a chance to explain more about the MERGE.

"In order to solve this crisis, we have to go inside one of the portals and look for the Temple of the End of Time. It's surrounded by black clouds and lightning," Monkey Khan said.

"Is it located above the black hole in the paths of the portal?" Shadow asked.

Confusion appeared on Monkey Khan's face. "Y-Yes? How did you know about that?"

"I saw it the first time we went through the portal," Shadow answered.

"I see," Monkey Khan said.

"Now that we're all here, let's go inside one of the portals and look for the Temple of the End of Time," Leo said with a smile.

"Chao-chao!" Shania and Bearace chimed in as they raised their arms for joy.

"Chao-chao!" Juniper, Rosy and Mystico said, nodding in agreement.

Everyone else nodded. Words like "Right!" and "Yeah!" were heard.

With that, Sally, Hope, Rotor, Antoine and Bunnie piloted the Sky Patrol. As for everyone else, they went on their usual days. The Sky Patrol was set course for one of the portals in Mobius and the Temple of the End of Time.

—————————————————————

Simulation Room, Sky Patrol

Red and gray rocket missiles shot towards Clifton. Clifton jumped over them, evading its attack.

"Whoop!" Clifton exclaimed. When he landed on the ground, he turned to the rocket missiles, which just exploded. He pointed at the rocket missiles as a cocky smile appeared on his face. "Haha! Missed!"

Just then, Clifton heard something behind him. He turned behind him to see a motobug, popping out from the floor.

Clifton turned to the motobug and formed his fighting position. "Come on, Moto-Lady-Bug!!!! Fight me!!!"

The motobug was provoked by Clifton's words. It rolled its way towards Clifton. In response, Clifton landed a forward punch on the motobug and did a roundhouse kick on its head. As a result, the motobug shattered to pieces.

Just then, something buzzing popped out from the ceiling. Clifton looked up to see two buzzbots coming out of the ceiling.

Clifton was taken by surprise, but he formed his fighting position. A determined expression appeared on his face. "Okay! I'm ready to fight!"

In response, the buzzbots shot its lasers at Clifton. Clifton quickly dodged them by raising his foot in the air. The sound of fire lasers and how fast it went caught him off-guard.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed.

Clifton flipped over the lasers as the buzzbots kept shooting at him. Flips, slides from his feet and other miscellaneous evaded were involved. A few minutes later, it came to the point where he had to defeat the buzzbots immediately.

Just as Clifton was about to make a plan, a door slid open, causing the buzzbots to dissolve.

Clifton's eyes widened in surprise and slight frustration as he heard the door open, followed by a certain female's words.

"Clifton! Time for dinner!"

Clifton turned to the door to see Lariel, standing there. Tears filled Clifton's eyes, but he managed to hold them in.

Lariel's cheerful expression turned into surprise. "Oh." Then, it turned into a nervous smile. "Did I... come at a bad time?"

In response, Clifton covered his surprised and slight frustrated expression with his usual enthusiastic smile. His fists laid on his hips. "Nah! I'm good!"

"Oh," Lariel said in surprise. "Okay." She smiled at him. "Well, dinner is ready. If you don't eat your food, it will get cold."

"Alrighty!" Clifton exclaimed.

With that, Clifton exited the simulation room and followed Lariel to the dining room.

—————————————————————

Dining Room, Sky Patrol

As the Freedom Fighters, Monkey Khan, Royal Guardians, Silver's group, the Chaotix, Team Dark, Runa the five chao, Bubbles, Lucy, Junior and Dalia ate dinner, everyone chatted about their lives and updates on what's been going on before Team Dark, Runa, the five chao, Bubbles, Lucy, Junior and Dalia came to the Sky Patrol.

Clifton ate his food. In between eating his food, he was as silent as a statue. Usually, between eating his food, he would chat about random topics. Now, it seemed that no word had come out of his mouth. Thoughts ran through his head, but he didn't know how to explain.

Nothing else occurred in Clifton until he heard someone saying, "Hey, Clifton! You good?"

A few snaps rang in Clifton's ears. Soon, he was drifted back to reality. "Huh?"

The first thing he saw was a white glove. Then, once he turned to his right, he realized it was Sonic, who snapped him back to reality.

A concerned expression appeared on Sonic's face. Not only that, but everyone else's concerned eyes were on Clifton.

"You okay, buddy?" Sonic asked. "You've been silent ever since you ate."

"Oh yeah," Clifton said as he formed his usual enthusiastic smile. "I'm good!"

"Are you sure, Clifton?" Leo asked. "Usually, you would talk in between eating your food."

"You would come up with random topics, even if they're weird," Lariel said.

"Now, you are silent as ze statue. What have you been thinking lately?" Antoine asked.

"Nothing! I wanna talk stuff, but this thing I'm talking about is just too complicated to talk about," Clifton said. He then, looked at his food and scooped a spoonful amount of it. "For now, I'll just keep eating to the fullest."

With that, Clifton continued eating his food.

Everyone else turned to each other in confusion. Sonic shrugged. After this, everyone turned to their food and continued eating.

Leo took notice of Clifton's actions. Seeing this, he knew something's up with him. For some reason, he wanted to know, but he decided to mentally push that aside and investigate whenever Clifton is ready.

After dinner, everyone did their nighttime routines. Then, they bid their goodnights to each other and headed towards their respective bedrooms and guest bedrooms. After that, everyone tucked themselves in bed. Lights were out and all were drifted off to sleep.

—————————————————————

In the middle of the night...
Clifton's Guest Bedroom, Sky Patrol

Clifton's eyes shot open. Then, he quickly rose to his sitting position. He rubbed his eyes and turned to his surroundings.

Clifton's bedroom contained his white mattress with a white bedsheet, white pillow on the upper center and a blue blanket. The mattress was laid on a brown bed board. On Clifton's northeast was a black cabinet with drawers. Inside the drawers were toys. Most toys contained Freedom Fighters action figures and dinosaur toys. Beside it on the right was a brown closet. On the other side of the cabinet and closet was a white desk. In front of it was a white chair. The desk contained a pack of papers on the upper left, and the pencil and eraser container on the other side.

As Clifton continued to turn to his surroundings, multiple shaky breaths escaped his mouth. His hand moved to his forehead as he closed his eyes tightly. After a few moments, his hand slowly laid on his bed and his eyes opened with determination.

With that, Clifton escaped from his bed, and landed punches and kicks in the air.

—————————————————————

A few days later...
Dining Room, Sky Patrol

"Achoo!" Clifton exclaimed.

Clifton let out a sneeze as he was carrying a cup of chocolate milk towards the dining table. Snot came out of his right nostril.

As everyone else heard Clifton's sneeze, they turned to him. Vector gave Clifton a close-eyed smile. "Haha! Bless you, Clifton!"

Once Espio and Destinee saw what was happening, their eyes widened in fear.

"Vector, there's snot coming out of his nose," Espio said.

Vector's eyes widened in shock as he turned to Clifton. "WHAT?! HE HAS SNOT?!"

Destinee laid her hand on Clifton's forehead. "His body was also heated up and his face looks flushed. We should check his temperature in the Medical Bay."

Clifton shoved Destinee's hand away from his forehead. "Guys, guys, guys. I'm fine. It's just a little snot and I just need to warm myself up. What's up with that?"

A serious expression appeared on Espio's face. "Still, we need to check your temperature."

—————————————————————

Medical Bay, Sky Patrol

Clifton was taken to the Medical Bay by Espio, Vector and Destinee. Leo, Lariel, Rotor and Tails followed them. Clifton laid on one of the beds while Rotor checked his temperature using the thermometer. After Rotor checked the temperature, his eyes widened in shock as he saw the results.

Clifton's temperature was currently at 39.8 degrees Celsius.

Once Rotor showed the results to everyone else, their eyes widened in shock as well.

"WHAT?!" they all exclaimed.

"Clifton has fever?!" Vector exclaimed.