Jasper stopped and pulled over. “Alright, here’s a place.”

“Awesome!” Sonic cheered. “It’s been awhile since I’ve slept outside!”

Jasper turned off the car, and opened his door. Sonic quickly got out of the car, stretching his legs. Shadow and Amy followed him out. Cass let Apollo jump out and sniff out the area. Marklin got out and leaned against the car. Chuck snored. Sonic looked to his uncle and chuckled.

“Well, we better get tents ready.” Marklin sighed, he went to the trunk and started to unpack the tents. Sonic wondered for a moment if he should wake his uncle up but decided to do it after the tents were set up. As Marklin fought to get the tents out, suddenly he screamed.

“GO HOME!” Marklin squalled.

“Fine!” Timothy screamed back. He threw a plate of sandwiches at Marklin and disappeared into the trunk again.

“What the hell was that?” Sonic blinked. Chuck snorted awake, he jumped out of the car.

“SONNY BOY!” -THWACK-

“Ow!” Sonic winced. Shadow chuckled a bit, causing Sonic to glare at him. Chuck flashed a dad glare to Shadow, then flashed it back to Sonic. Shadow quieted up, not wanting the elder hedgehog’s wrath on him. Sonic grinned nervously to his uncle. Chuck finally broke the glare, and went to go help with tents. Sonic and Shadow shared a look before going to help also. Marklin put the plate on the roof and threw out the tents. They all set up the tents with totally nothing going wrong.

“Well, we should start a fire, and get ready for the night.” Jasper sighed.

“Shads can get some firewood!” Sonic looked to Shadow confidently. Shadow shrugged, walking to the closest tree… and promptly picked up the entire tree. As he went to walk back, Sonic panicked. “NOT THE ENTIRE TREE!”

“Well it’s enough wood.” Marklin commented, Cass batted Marklin over the head.

Shadow blinked in confusion before setting the tree down. “Is this not how you gather wood?”

Sonic sweatdropped. “You’ve never been camping, have you?”

“I grew up in space, do you really want me to answer that dumb of a question?” Shadow deadpanned.

“I don’t see a problem with this, not only is it enough wood we will have a place to sit and-”

“Distel, Ros’ ideal of camping is not real.” Jasper told, putting a hand on Marklin shoulder.

“Well, I don’t think I can put this tree back where it was without it falling again....” Shadow looked to the tree beside him, kind of embarrassed. “There’s no use in letting it go to waste.”

“Alright, well, does anyone have an axe or a hammer?” Cass asked, looking at this tree with a deep internal dying soul.

Amy sighed. “I usually have my hammer, but I can’t seem to be able to grab it in this world.”

The hammer flew out trunk of the car. “TIM GO TAKE CARE OF THE KIDS!” Marklin yelled, there was a huff and a rustling, then quiet from the trunk.

“My hammer!” Amy squealed happily, picking it up and swinging it around a bit. Cass picked a semi large rock and tossed it at Amy.

“You think you can split some wood?” Cass asked.

“Of course!” Amy replied happily, making sure the rock did not hit her as she had cracked the rock into multiple pieces.

Sonic chuckled nervously at the sight of the hammer, causing the pink one to smirk. “Well, heh, ya better get to it, haha.”

Amy laughed before jumping and smashing the wood, giggling happily with every hit. Sonic hid behind Shadow, memories of that hammer forever stuck in his mind.

Cass inhaled, but let this go on. Cass picked a tent and started to set it up. Amy soon finished, hugging her hammer happily. Sonic distracted himself from the terrifying weapon by picking another tent and starting to set it up, Shadow watching him curiously. Jasper picked a tent, and hissed to Marklin to help sort the wood. Sonic finished setting up his tent, grinning proudly at his work. Jasper and Cass both finished their tents, Cass looked at Jaspers tent.

“Did you spike it?” She asked.

“Of course I did-” a gust went by and it collapsed.

Sonic smirked cockily at Jasper. “It’s great, if that’s what you were going for. Ya need help?”

“I’m fine.” Jasper snapped, he started to fight the tent once more.

Sonic shrugged, still with the smirk. “Suit yourself, dude.”

“Whatever, dude.” Jasper snarled back, he finished the tent properly this time. Cass smiled lightly at the short curt argument. Sonic crossed his arms, chuckling. Jasper stood and wiped some dirt off of him.

“Well, we have dinner I guess.” Marklin commented, equipped with the sandwiches.

“Awesome!” Sonic cheered, his stomach grumbling in response. Marklin walked over, as Cass tried to get the fire going, everyone gathered around the area. Sonic sighed happily. “This reminds me of the good ol’ days. Just camping in the forests of Mobius with Tails, with the stars twinkling brightly. It was nice.”

Cass looked up, and started to buzz happily. “The stars.” She sighed, her face lighting up.

“They’re so beautiful, even in this world.” Sonic smiled, looking up at them.

“I don’t see the big deal about stars.” Shadow rolled his eyes.

“That’s because you grew up with them.” Sonic chuckled. “You know what that makes you?”

“What?” Shadow questioned.

“My star.” Sonic cooed, wrapping an arm around him. Shadow blushed.

“They’re the fourth most beutiful thing I’ve ever seen.” Cass commented breaking their moment.

Amy smiled. “I like how they look almost the exact same as our world…. It kind of makes me miss home….”

“That’s odd.” Cass commented, she was now tracing the stars with her hand.

Shadow looked to the stars. “You’re right…. How could they look the same if we are at a different part of the universe?”

“Unless you were parallel to us, which is impossible, you would have to exist in a pocket universe or in this space at a different point in time.” Cass added.

“We did come here by way of time portal, that must be it.” Chuck added, “What's your north star?” Chuck asked.

“Polaris.” Cass told, Chuck stared at her.

“You must be tens of millions of years in the past.” Chuck gasped.

“Wait, so… we’re in the past!?” Sonic’s eyes widened.

“That would make the most sense. This must be pre rebirth of mobius.” Chuck exclaimed, Cass’ eyes widened.

“How bad did we mess up earth then?” Cass asked.

“He he he, we don’t know what did but it sure as my mustache is grey had to have been from space.” Chuck chuckled.

“Woah….” Amy gasped.

“We’re in the past!” Sonic was still shocked by this concept.

“Next you’ll be saying you can track our family to one of the family’s in the future.” Marklin commented, still eating.

“That could be possible.” Shadow commented.

“Well, we’d need a database of all of mobius’ citizens DNA.” Cass told.

“Well, if you could provide some DNA.” Chuck pulled out a briefcase and opened it, inside was a computer.

“You actually have everyone in Mobius’ DNA?” Amy questioned.

“Of course Cherry blossom how else do I keep tabs on G.U.N. and mean ol Robotnik, and robotization when it happens. It’s real handy.” Chuck said as he typed away.

“What kind of DNA? Follicle, spit, other.” Cass asked.

“Follicle.” Chuck said, Cass suck a hand in Marklin’s hair and ruffled it, causing Marklin’s hair to break completely and hair to shed out. She passed one strand to Chuck, who started to run analysis. They all waited for the results, Sonic wanting to comment on how Marklin just sheds but deciding not to.

“Well I’ll be a chilli dog extra chilly.” Chuck exclaimed.

“Who is it?” Cass asked.

“Why how could your blood line be so spread thin, well, the closest match is that nasty ol Robotnik, such a shame….” Chuck told.

“You mean Eggham?” Cass asked.

“That means….” Shadow felt like his heart just flat out stopped. “You’re… You’re technically related to me!?”

“How’s that?” Chuck asked.

Shadow probably could’ve died right there and then. Sonic nervously stepped in front of Shadow. “Well, uh, you see, Uncle Chuck, uh, Shadow was… c-created by Gerald Robotnick… E-Eggman’s grandfather….”

“Your… WHAT!” Chuck stood and went red. He pulled Sonic into a death grip. “YOU BETTER STAY AWAY FROM MY SONNYBOY YOU MONSTER!” Chuck started to shake in anger.

Shadow felt taken aback, staring in surprise. “I-I’m not like Eggman!”

“LIKE HECK YOU ARE!” Chuck backed away from Shadow, still holding Sonic.

“U-Uncle Chuck...” Sonic stuttered out. “He’s really not….”

“HE’S THE MONSTER THAT KEEPS TRYING TO TAKE OVER EARTH ISN’T HE, DIDN’T HE ALMOST GET YOU ARRESTED AND EXECUTED! ISN’T HE YOUR ENEMY! I REMEMBER WHEN WE MADE THAT FREAK AND HE ALMOST GOT US ALL KILLED!” Chuck screamed, Apollo started to squawk and growl at Chuck.

“I wasn’t going to get executed!” Sonic looked to Shadow, who was now staring at the ground.

Shadow gripped at his ears, not wanting to hear the things he was yelling. “I-It w-wasn’t m-my f-fault…. I-It wasn’t my fault…. M-Maria s-said i-it wasn’t my fault….” He was starting to tear up, the emerald in his pants pocket starting to glow in response to his emotions and thoughts.

“YOU-” Apollo pounced at Chuck, knocking him over, Cass quickly grabbed his leash and started to try and pull the angered ex police dog off of the old man. Sonic, torn between helping his uncle up or comforting his boyfriend, stood there, shaking horribly. Cass finally got her dog to heal, Chuck sat up, angry but less so than before. Apollo kept barking but no longer pulled against Cass. Shadow kept his eyes glued to the ground, shaking and crying.

“Um, Shadow, you're standing in the fire.” Jasper called.

Shadow didn’t react though, simply backing away from the group, getting out of the fire; he didn’t look at anyone, even Sonic, who was staring at him sadly. Sonic made his way towards Shadow, planning on putting the fire out and comforting him. Chuck, as he stood, grabbed Sonic. Cass passed Apollo to Marklin, and went to Shadow, stepping out the fire quickly. Shadow glanced to Cass, eyes red and puffy.

Sonic looked to Chuck then to the arm that the elder hedgehog grabbed. “Uncle Chuck?”

“I can’t believe you even trusted him to be close to you, I can see you still can’t make decisions.” Chuck growled, Cass snorted as she looked over. She held onto Shadow warmly.

“Wh-What?” Sonic’s eyes widened at his uncle’s words, tearing up slightly. Shadow sniffled slightly, starting to get over his panic attack. Cass picked up Shadow and went to calm him down along elsewhere. Shadow just stared ahead, not even resisting.

Chuck snorted as they left. “Of course that freak needs ‘protection.’” Chuck growled, “How old could he be, two.”

Sonic frowned, not really wanting to fight one of his only family members. He looked down, mumbling, “I mean, he technically is two…. Or fifty, I don’t know, suspended animation and ultimate lifeformness is complicated….”

“You obviously don’t know a thing about this. You’re not allowed to be around things like him, they are just ruining you.” Chuck barked.

“Wait, what!?” Sonic stared at his uncle in shock. “B-But Uncle Chuck-”

“No but’s young man! I’ve let you get away with far too much as it is.” Chuck snapped.

Sonic started to tear up before clenching his fists. “You never cared about stuff like this with Sonia and Manic! Why me!?” and then he ran in the opposite direction of where Cass and Shadow went.