After obtaining all of the Paradox Prism shards, Nine begins forging the Grim into his own paradise. Both Sonic and Shadow escape Ghost Hill as it falls apart from Nines' machinations, and make their way to the Grim to stop him from inadvertently destroying the rest of the Shatterverse.
Tropes
- Apocalypse How: A multiversal scale physical annihilation is what's putting all the Shatterspaces at risk. Nine's usage of the Paradox Prism is causing the very fabric of the Shatterspaces to tear, making them rip themselves apart. Ghost Hill ends up completely destroyed and Sonic and Shadow barely escape in time, and even The Grim is visibly tearing at the seams. It's unclear at this point if the Shatterverse itself will be destroyed, or if it will continue to exist.
- Break the Haughty: Sonic's state directly after Nine's betrayal (which, all things considered, he set himself up for). The Manly Tears he sheds as Ghost Hill falls apart say it all.
- Cliffhanger: Shadow is defeated by Nines' machines, and Sonic has been cast back out of the Grim, with more machines hot on his tail.
- Creative Sterility: In the end, Nines' best idea is creating robotic versions of strong characters he's already familiar with.
- Disappointed in You: How Sonic obviously feels about Nine's Big Bad Slippage.
- Empowered Badass Normal: With the Paradox Prism, Nine uses its power to not only alter the Grim to his liking, but also manipulate crystals to attack, alongside forging robotic minions to attack his enemies.
- Exact Words: While attempting to reason with Nine, Sonic suggests bringing back Green Hill first, then stabilizing the Shatterspaces, but doesn’t specify helping The Grim. As a result, Nine accuses Sonic of only using him to get Green Hill back.
- From Bad to Worse: Sonic is distraught that Nine has betrayed him and left Ghost Hill to remain as it is while he makes off with the reassembled Paradox Prism. Then, as Nine begins using it to build his paradise in the Grim Shatterspace, drawing in energy from the other ones, Sonic and Shadow discover Ghost Hill falling apart, reduced to nothingness by the time they escape. Sonic soon realizes something worse: if Nine's actions have destroyed Ghost Hill, the rest of the Shatterverse might be at risk as well.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Shadow does this to Sonic after the latter becomes very depressed from Nine's betrayal.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Upon realizing that Nine wants the energy Sonic has, Shadow quickly kicks up a tornado and catches Sonic in it, and launches him out of The Grim to delay Nine from getting him. This comes at the cost of being overwhelmed by Nine's forces and then thrown into a gorge, leaving his fate unknown.
- Hypocrite: Nine accuses Sonic of wanting to save just Green Hill, ignoring the fact that he was planning to do the same for The Grim at the expense of the other Shatterspaces. Downplayed, however as destroying the Shatterspaces was an accident on Nine’s part.
- I Warned You: Downplayed. Shadow predictably gives Sonic this for ignoring his warnings not to trust Nine, but refrains from dwelling on it since they need to escape Ghost Hill's destruction.
- Living MacGuffin: Nine has fixed the Paradox Prism, but remembers that Sonic's power is key to fully harness it, having absorbed some of the energy before they first met. Shadow eventually realizes this himself and sends Sonic away, though Nine soon creates a set of Robot Birdies to bring Sonic back.
- Loophole Abuse: Shadow still cannot get into a Shatterspace like Sonic; at least, not in the traditional way of using Prism Power to travel. Thanks to Nine using the Prism, he is able to go through the "sides" of a gate, or the tears throughout the Shatterverse.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: The Grim versions of Sonic and his friends follow this color scheme, along with dull gold accents. Lampshaded when Sonic and Shadow see Grim Sonic, and Sonic notes that he kind of looks like the both of them combined into a robot.
- Robot Me: Grim Sonic, Grim Knuckles, Grim Rouge, Grim Amy, and Grim Birdie. Grim Sonic is explicitly created via Nine's usage of the Paradox Prism, using Chaos Sonic as a template, but it's not clear if he did the same for the others.Sonic: Rouge? Knucks? Amy? What have you done to my friends?Nine: Oh, they’re my friends now. Take them.
- Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: As Ghost Hill falls apart, the Chaos Council use up the remaining power in their mothership to hastily flee back to New Yoke.
- Tempting Fate: When on his last legs, Shadow boasts "Is that all you got?" He's quickly sucker-punched by Grim Sonic and sent flying into a gorge.
- Took a Level in Badass: Nine’s further experimentation with the Paradox Prism gives him the ability to use his cybernetic tails as conduits for the Paradox Prism’s powers, such as granting him telekinesis, transmutation of matter into robotic life that is capable of outmatching Sonic and Shadow at the same time, and duplication when he clones Grim Birdie to go after Sonic after Shadow helps him escape. However, it’s clear that his growing powers are slowly driving him insane.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Shadow, to some extent. While still blunt and direct about how Nine betrayed him and Sonic, as the episode progresses he tries his best to emphasize how they need to focus on going after Nine and that they can fix things later. And when Nine tries to say "we're all alone", Shadow refutes this by saying Sonic isn't, implicitly confirming that he's firmly on Sonic's side. Cemented with his Heroic Sacrifice, as he goes out of his way to get Sonic to safety, even though that leaves him horribly outnumbered and bested.
- Trash the Set: As Nine uses the Paradox Prism, it draws in energies from the neighboring Shatterspaces. Ghost Hill soon breaks apart until there is nothing left; not even the ghostly projections of Sonic's friends.
- Unwilling Roboticization: Nine claims that the Grim versions of Knuckles, Amy, Birdie and Rouge are "his friends" now, though it's hard to tell which versions of them in particular they are, given that they display no characterization or design elements pointing to a particular Shatterverse counterpart. Only Grim Sonic is explicitly shown to be made via Paradox Prism energy.
- The Worf Effect: Sonic already had enough trouble destroying Chaos Sonic back in New Yoke City. In the Grim? Nine sics not only his own robot version of the blue hedgehog, but ones of Amy, Knuckles, Rouge, and the giant Birdie from Boscage Maze on him and Shadow. They are clearly outmatched on their own, and the odds are made worse when Shadow throws Sonic out of the Grim so Nine can't get him right away.
- You Are Not Alone: Combined with a Shut Up, Hannibal! towards Nine. Shadow counters Nine's statement of everyone being alone by confirming he stands by Sonic, proving to be a steadfast ally to the Blue Blur.
