I gave you all the shards. It's... sort of necessary for you guys to have them, both to be able to fight Eggman, and because...

[Tails trails off, frowning. He forces himself to continue.]

The first couple of groups of people we brought in... didn't exactly do well in this world. They got sick, and they weren't recovering. My best guess is that traveling between worlds can cause problems - so I made sure that these shards could help keep you guys safe and stable here.