"You ready?" Sonic asked the ebony hedgehog beside him.

Shadow took a deep breath. "As ready as I'll ever be," he answered.

Sonic nodded and looked ahead. It was all up to them, now. They couldn't have any communication with anyone else; no one else was to know of what was going to happen. Only Amy knew, and she couldn't come along. Eggman's orders.

Taking a deep breath, Shadow stepped forward in front of the closed door. Sonic followed.

"Okay…how do we get in?" Sonic asked the question that was on both of their minds.

As if on cue, a female monotone voice said, "Who desires entrance to Doctor Eggman, the greatest scientist of all time's, lair?"

Sonic and Shadow exchanged glances that said that-is-so-Eggman.

"We do. Sonic and Shadow the Hedgehog," Sonic informed, stepping forward.

There was a pause, and then, "Very well. Access granted. You may proceed."

The metal doors opened. Mustering their courage, the two hedgehogs stepped inside the small lift that would take them to wherever they needed to be. They turned around as the doors closed behind them. Then, suddenly, the elevator lifted, taking them to their destination. During this ride, a small screen on the wall suddenly flickered on, revealing the fat man himself.

"Greetings, Sonic and Shadow, my two adversaries. May I ask if you have the two chaos emeralds?" Eggman wondered, his fingers tapping against each other.

Shadow opened the small sack they took with them, and revealed two emeralds: one yellow and one blue.

"Excellent!" Eggman praised.

"Don't forget YOUR side of the bargain, Egghead! You'd better give us Tikal back!" Sonic reminded.

Eggman rolled his eyes. "Oh yes…that girl." He sighed. "Don't worry, you'll get your reward soon enough…soon enough…"

With that, the screen turned off. Sonic and Shadow shared a moment of silence.

"You really think this will work?" Shadow asked his blue-look-a-like.

Sonic shrugged. "Why wouldn't it? Eggman has to keep his word."

"He isn't really known for THAT, Sonic!" Shadow exclaimed with much sarcasm.

Sonic shrugged once more. "Perhaps you're right. But for now, we have to go along with it—it's the only way to get Tikal back."

Shadow nodded. Good. The conversation went as planned. Before they arrived, they came up with numerous codes and meanings so then if Eggman was bugging them, he still wouldn't suspect a thing. Like if one said 'I need a vacation', he would mean, 'we need to take what is needed and get out of here before anything happens.' In this conversation, Shadow meant would their one fake chaos emerald work. Since the Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, Tails had made numerous fake yellow chaos emeralds, and had given one to each person in case it was needed. And right now, that time was needed.

To their surprise, when the doors opened, it revealed a long metal hallway, rather than Eggman himself. Shadow shrugged, and walked down it, Sonic at his heels.

The hallway seemed to go on forever, and Sonic couldn't take the silence.

"Shadow…this may seem random…but…" the blue hedgehog trailed off.

"But what?" Shadow asked, keeping his eyes on the dark aura in front of them.

"But…was the hallways on the ARK like this? Long and…cold?"

Shadow froze. "That IS random and I don't see the point in answering, but, yes. The ARK did have hallways like this one. When walking down them, I used to be scared, and I wanted Maria by me at all times…" the ebony hedgehog smiled at the thought.

Sonic listened intently. Seeing that his friend didn't say anything, Shadow continued.

"It was always funny, though. To get to the restroom, you would have to go through a hallway like this one. In fact, to go to any of my favorite places, besides the kitchen, you'd have to walk through a hallway like this one. I would always stay close to Maria, scared that we would run into monsters or one of the professor's experiments when we went into the darkness, but Maria told me that all of the professor's experiments never went out of control…but I remember that one day when the Artificial Chaos went out of control. I had to help get rid of them. But I was older then, and much less afraid of these hallways," Shadow informed.

Sonic nodded. "Wow…did you have a lot of adventures on the ARK?"

Shadow nodded in response. "Plenty…but Maria was there to help me through all of them…she always told me never to be afraid…she once told me the story of a young boy, and how he gave up on trying to figure out his mystery…the meaning of that story encouraged me a lot…" Shadow kept the time of when she had told him to herself. It wasn't too long ago, and Shadow still kept that story fresh in his mind.

"Did Maria tell you a lot of stories?" Sonic asked.

"Yes, many. She told me one about Stone Soup, too. And then there was the one about the young girl…" his voice trailed off.

"The young girl?" Sonic repeated.

Shadow nodded, and then told the story, "Once there was a young girl, who had very few friends, but she loved them all. The only problem was, they weren't always there to play with her, and she would often get lonely. Then, one day, her grandfather gave her the cutest little friend ever—one that she could even raise herself! She got to name it, and take care of it and everything! Life went well…until it was time for him to learn to walk and talk. The little friend wouldn't do any in fear. Feeling like hope is lost, the girl ran to her grandfather, asking what to do. Her grandfather told her a secret—"

"What was that secret?" Sonic interrupted.

"I was getting to there. Anyways, her grandfather told her a secret: If you don't give up on your friends, they will never give up on you. Feeling hopeful once more, the little girl tried to teach her friend to walk. He succeeded! It had taken a while, though, and already it was time for bed. As the girl put him in his bed, her friend gave her the biggest surprise of all. He said 'thank you'," Shadow ended.

"Wow…that's a neat story…" Sonic commented.

Shadow smiled. "It's a true story."

Sonic's eyes widened. "It is!"

Shadow nodded. "Yep. The little girl was Maria. And her friend was—"

"You," Sonic said, astonished.

Shadow nodded. "She used to keep reminding me that story as I grew up."

As Shadow looked at his friend once more, he saw his emerald eyes full of interest and amazement. He had to stifle a laugh. Even though Sonic was a teenager, sometimes, he had the heart of a child.

Finally, they arrived, and the metal doors opened, revealing a large computer room, and in the corner in a small cell was Tikal.

Bravely, Sonic and Shadow stepped out of the dark hallway.

"Hello, you two," Eggman greeted, walking over to them. "I suppose you will now give me what I want, won't you?"

Shadow cast Sonic a glance, and then held out the bag. Eggman smiled greedily, and took it with one swipe.

"Thank you, you two have been very helpful in my quest," the doctor informed, taking the bag over to his desk.

"Don't mention it," Sonic murmured, rolling his eyes.

Shadow tried to conceal his excitement. "Now, you got what you want, so, give us our half of the bargain, doctor!"

Eggman smiled. "Very well…I'll give you your side of the bargain!"

As he said that, Sonic noticed where the fat man was. The doctor stood by his control panel, near a button. Taking a wild guess, Sonic looked below them. A square panel…putting the two together, the hedgehog gasped.

Eggman laughed, and pushed his pudgy finger on the button. And then, it all happened too fast. In a flash, the floor beneath the two hedgehogs dropped open, but as it did, Sonic grabbed Shadow and threw him behind, barely missing the fall. Once Shadow landed on the ground, it was like time had stopped, and then resumed once more.

"SONIC!" he cried, as the blue blur fell from view.

Eggman laughed. Shadow ran towards the opening, where he last saw his friend. To Eggman's pleasure, the panel came back up before he could jump down to rescue his friend.

"SONIC!" he called again, kneeling on the ground, hands feeling everywhere for a way to lift the panel.

Eggman shrugged. "Sorry, too late."

Shadow froze as those words hit him hard. Slowly, he looked up, crimson eyes flaring like fire and his ears flat against his head.

"Where is Sonic?" he asked through clenched teeth.

Eggman stroked his mustache. "Oh…he's somewhere down there…"

Shadow clenched his fists. "Tell me where he is…"

"Oh, now why would I tell you that?" Eggman asked.

"Because if you value your life, you will!" with that, Shadow lunged towards him, and before Eggman could react, he had him by the collar, in the air.

"You will tell me where Sonic is, or else I will destroy you!" Shadow exclaimed through clenched teeth.

Eggman gulped as his round eyes looked into Shadow's. He could promise that then that those irises were like a fire.

"Shadow, stop!" Tikal yelled.

Shadow's head snapped around.

"Drop him, now!" Tikal commanded.

Eggman looked back and forth between the two, and slowly, he saw the fierce flame in Shadow's eyes leave.

"Are you going to be a murderer for such a silly reason? Shadow, we can find Sonic! Do not worry about that! And do not go off killing him because he is torturing you! You must ignore Eggman's comments! They are like an animal trap! Once he lures you there, you are right were he wants you to be—a murderer! Do not let him do that to you!" Tikal exclaimed.

Finally, Shadow let go of the doctor. Eggman looked up, fearfully at first, but then smiled.

"Fools…you should've killed me while you had the chance…" he informed.

"No," Shadow's response startled the mad scientist.

"What?"

"I have no regrets for not destroying you. Tikal was right. If I had, then I would be lower than you ever were—and I would have been a disgrace to Maria," the ebony hedgehog stated.

Eggman frowned and stood up. "Oh well. Never mind that. At least I have you all where I want you…" he smiled, and suddenly, his hover craft came from what appeared to be no where, and he jumped in.

"What do you mean?" Shadow asked.

Eggman laughed, and bushed a button, suddenly, the door in which Sonic and Shadow had entered, opened, and there stood millions of robots.

So that's why the hallway was so long! Shadow thought. So it could contain all those robots!

Eggman laughed again. "Have fun getting out of here—ALIVE!" With that, the selfish, good-for-nothing doctor flew away.

Shadow gritted his teeth and took a defensive stance. When he was about to charge, he heard Tikal calling him.

"Shadow! Get me out of here, first! I'll help!" she informed.

The ebony hedgehog nodded, and ran to the controls, searching for the one to unlock her cell. Once he pressed it, he looked behind him and was relieved to see Tikal free. She immediately ran over as the robots started filling the entire room and started to move in on them.

"Now what?" he asked.

"I'll see if I can find a way to get out of here," Tikal answered, sitting in Eggman's chair and typing at rapid pace.

"But what about Sonic?" Shadow inquired.

Tikal thought for a moment. "I'll see if I can find where he is right now," she answered.

Shadow nodded. "I'll take care of these creeps." With that, the ebony hedgehog turned around and began doing numerous homing-attacks.

……….

Sonic heard his friend's cry as he fell. He didn't know how long he fell, but he felt relieved when he hit the bottom.

"Ow…that hurt…" he grimaced. Suddenly, he froze.

"Where…am I?" he asked himself, standing up. It was like…outdoors. He could feel and smell the fresh air…yet, he knew he was inside. Or…was he?

"Hmm…" Sonic muttered, taking a step forward. He froze. Wait a minute…the grass…it's…hard? Sonic knelt down and laid his hand on it. It felt as cold and hard as steel!

The blue hedgehog was perplexed. Just what was going on here? Sonic stood up, and felt a drop on his nose. He looked up and felt another drop. Soon, it was raining. But…instead of it feeling wet, it felt dry like…sand. It looked like normal rain drops, but it felt completely different.

As he looked to the sky, there wasn't a cloud! Sonic furrowed his eyebrows as his mind started to unravel. What was happening? Why were things suddenly not making sense anymore? Well…what was he going to do, you ask? What he would normally do. Run.

He trampled on the steel grass and made his way to the forest ahead. Another thing weird happened. He wasn't going anywhere! Instead, he felt like he was on a treadmill, and yet…everything moved by him as if he were normally running. What was going on?

Soon, he came upon the forest. As soon as he stepped in there, he felt his blood rushing to his head as if he were upside down…and yet, he wasn't! Sonic felt for the trees. Once he laid his hand on one, he instantly pulled away. They felt like icebergs! Sonic looked at his hand. He saw his gloves on…and yet, whenever he felt something, he couldn't feel his gloves!

Feeling confused, he fell to his knees. Suddenly, without his say, the world started to turn-topsy-turvy as if he were rolling down a hill like a child. He wasn't moving anywhere! Why did things suddenly feel these complex ways? Why wasn't anything making sense? …why was he even asking questions if he didn't know the answer? Suddenly, Sonic found himself asking questions about questions…and even questions about those questions. His thoughts collided with each other until they made no sense at all. The world around him kept rolling and rolling.

Suddenly, a song began playing around him. It was as senseless as the rest of this creepy place. Sonic decided he could keep himself from going crazy by counting how many lines were in the song. It didn't take very long. There were only five. Well…why not try to remember the words? It was hard to make out, but he was able to hear it.

Mommy wants a chocolate cake! Abracadabra! Round and round and round we go, where we stop, nobody knows! I am so sorry! All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!

Soon, he tried standing up, and found himself falling into the sky. Finally, he landed on soft sand…but when he opened his eyes he was laying on ice! He quickly stood up and instantly stuck his arms out for balance…but none was needed. For some reason, this ice felt like…grass.

He walked ahead, and suddenly, he tripped over…nothing! He started rolling and rolling, colliding with things he couldn't see, feeling opposites. The song started to get annoying as it repeated those five lines over and over again. And just when he thought things couldn't get any weirder, he started to not know which way was up and which way was down. He started to not remember anything. He started to loose his trust in tasting, seeing, feeling, smelling, and hearing.

Sonic the Hedgehog started to loose his grip on what was real, and what wasn't.

……..

"Man…how many of these guys are there?" Shadow panted. Quickly, he started homing-attacking more and more. "Hey, Tikal! Any luck?"

When the echidna didn't answer, he ran over to her. "Hey, Tikal. Anything?" he tried again.

"S-shadow?" She began.

"What?"

Tikal looked at him worried. "There's a whole bunch more robots out there…and plus…we're locked in. There's no way out."