After returning to New Yoke City from the Boscage Maze, Sonic reunites with a rather cautious Resistance, and as they battle against the Chaos Council, Sonic also reunites with Nine, who made an astounding discovery with the red Paradox Shard while he was away... but is also insistent on making a new home with said discovery, even if it means abandoning those fighting in New Yoke City.
Tropes:
- Big Damn Heroes: Sonic shows up to assist the rebels again. When they are cornered, Nine arrives to bail him out. Sonic later comes back to help before Nine returns to help everyone.
- Broken Pedestal: The Resistance were inspired to take up arms thanks to Sonic. Unfortunately, he disappeared for weeks after touching the Paradox Prism shard and they continued the fight without him. Not knowing he was accidentally warped to another world, they don't trust him when he's finally back, leading him to help them fight against the Council in order to regain their trust. It's even worse when Knucks reveals Nine took off with the shard and abandoned them.
- Cassandra Truth: Rebel Rouge initially refuses to believe that Sonic was transported to another dimension by the Prism shard, or that he had nothing to do with Nine's theft of it. One of the generic Resistance fighters still refuses to believe him and constantly expresses their distrust for him as a Running Gag.
- Conscience Makes You Go Back: Nine is so disillusioned by New Yoke City that he wants to move to another Shatterspace called "The Grim" so he and Sonic can build a new life together. Sonic decides it's not worth it and makes his way back to help the rebels, and Nine eventually follows suit.
- Double-Meaning Title: The title refers to the Cliffhanger which has Nine and the Prism Shard in the palm of the Chaos Council's hand, as well as the name of the Shatterspace to which Nine intends to flee and build a new life.
- Exact Words: As he and Knucks arrive back at the Resistance base, Sonic asks whether he radioed ahead to let them know what happened to him, and Knucks confirms he did. When Rebel Rouge starts laying into Sonic as a "traitor", a confused Sonic mutters, "I thought you said you explained things?" Knucks reiterates that he did—Rebel just didn't believe him.
- Foreshadowing: Nine makes it clear he has his own ideas for the Prism shards and has no interest in heroics, even when he rescues Sonic and the Resistance anyhow. Sonic is uninterested in Nine's plans but maintains his faith in him, both of which would come back to haunt him later on.
- Head Desk: Well, "head-floor". After Rusty Rose plays back her surveillance footage to confirm that Sonic does know about the Shatterverse, Rebel Rouge (who's lying face-down on the ground) lifts her head in a groan, rolls her eyes, and then slams her face back into the pavement in a manner reminiscent of this trope.
- Internal Reveal:
- The New Yoke City Resistance learn of the Prism shard's true nature. Unfortunately, Rusty Rose is secretly filming Sonic as he explains it, so the Chaos Council learn about it as well.
- While the audience already knows, in this episode Sonic realizes, thanks to Nine, that the reason why none of his friends recognize him is because they are alternative versions of them, coming from different timelines and universes which The Multiverse (or Shatterverse, as Nine calls it) is made of.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Nine finally comes back near the end to help Sonic. Unfortunately, as a result, he and the shard are captured by the Chaos Council before he can return to the Grim.
- Once More, with Clarity: The second episode previously showed that the Resistance were keeping the sole surviving palm tree in a glass terrarium as a symbol of hope. This episode establishes its true significance: it's the same palm tree Sonic was gifted by his friends, and that had previously appeared in the Boscage Maze as the "Great Green".
- Status Quo Is God: In the case of New Yoke City, the Chaos Council regains their footing, despite losing their sole power source, and has been gaining an advantage on the Resistance. What's more, Nine's programming on Rusty Rose is immediately overridden, bringing her back to the Council's side.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Rebel accuses Sonic and Nine of abandoning them the moment they got to the Prism shard. While Sonic's disappearance was unintentional, Nine's was more blatant, since he never cared about anything in the city in the first place.
- Year Inside, Hour Outside: Sonic stays in the Jungle World for what seems like hours, but when he returns to New Yoke City, he learns the Resistance's fight has been going on for weeks. Rebel and Knucks aren't exactly happy to see him when he's finally back.
