Several days later, Sonic noticed a sudden spike of Chaos energy in the air whilst running. This was very unusual, since detecting Chaos energy wasn't the hero's speciality, so he figured it must have been something worth checking out. The hedgehog made a U-turn and ran in the opposite direction in hopes of finding out what possessed the energy. It was most likely a person that had picked up several of the Chaos Emeralds, and Sonic wanted to make sure it wasn't someone who would use them for evil, such as Eggman.

To his relief, but also to his confusion, Sonic saw a black figure ahead. It was Shadow, but what did he need the emeralds for, and why so soon after his latest fight? Sonic ran over to relieve himself of all of his worries.

Shadow, who was found in a grassy mesa not so far from the mystic ruins, didn't make a dash for escape when he saw Sonic coming. This was a good sign, since it most likely meant that the dark hedgehog wasn't hiding anything, but Sonic wasn't going to just let it go. After his fight with Shadow in their original meeting, and all of the mischief he got up to while he recovered his memories, Sonic would never trust Shadow one hundred percent.

"Shadow! I see you came back alive and well," Sonic said cheerily as he reached Shadow's side. Shadow didn't respond; he gave his usual silent treatment, he must have had a goal and wanted to talk about his objective and his objective only. "Are you looking for the emeralds?" Sonic asked. Shadow looked at Sonic and gave a slight nod. "What for? We can't be in danger of attack already. You only just defeated Black Doom."

Shadow didn't want to tell Sonic about what had happened between him and Black Doom so he stayed quiet about it and revealed as little information as possible.

"I need them, just in case," Shadow said and tried to leave so he could avoid talking about the subject. This didn't sound very honest to Sonic, and it also revealed a possibility that Shadow wasn't going to use the emeralds for good.

"In case what? In case someone like Eggman tries to the take over the world?" Sonic asked. Shadow was about to answer, but he hesitated and said stayed secretive again. "If you are, that's a good idea, but it wouldn't be a good idea to have them all in one place in case you're attacked or something, why don't you share them with me and the others, then you'll only be responsible for one or two of them."

"No, two isn't enough. I need all of them," Shadow demanded.

Sonic felt like sighing; of course that wasn't going to work. Shadow was too stubborn to agree to something like that, but at least Sonic had tried.

"So, whatever this 'in case' situation is, it's pretty serious, right? If you're worried about Eggman, we can defeat him without the emeralds if we work together," Sonic assured him. Shadow still didn't change his mind, then Sonic realised. "You're not worried about Eggman, are you? You're worried about something worse!"

Shadow put his face in his hands and sighed deeply; Sonic had grasped the situation, and it seemed as though he wouldn't stop asking questions. There was no way Shadow was going to outrun him, so the dark hedgehog took out an emerald, ready to disappear.

"Now way, Shadow! You have to tell me what's going on!" Sonic yelled while grabbing onto him. Shadow stood silently, with a look of frustration on his face. Sonic smirked and chuckled lightly. "Can't go anywhere now."

Shadow smirked, he decided to see that as a challenge and accept it.

"Chaos Control!" Shadow yelled. Sonic held onto Shadow's arm as tightly as he could. The two of them disappeared.

When Sonic realised where they ended up, Shadow was the one smirking. Sonic felt like he could melt all of a sudden, because they were in cavern of a volcano.

"Care to let go now, Sonic?" Shadow asked. "You could easily jump your way out of this volcano in a few seconds."

Sonic looked up to see an easy route out, but still didn't budge. The hero shook his head, refusing to let go.

"Not until you tell me what's going on, Shadow. If something bad's gonna happen, then I wanna know, so we can sort it out together. You could be putting everyone in danger just because you're too stubborn to tell me what's going on."

Shadow hissed in frustration; Sonic basically knew half of the story already, but the dark hedgehog was determined not to let Sonic know the rest. Furthermore, it looked as though Sonic would not let go and leave, and Shadow felt the heat get to him already. His whole body dripped with sweat, and so did Sonic's. It was a case of who would give up first. Shadow's plan had not gone the way he wanted. He expected Sonic to dash to a much more comfortable place within a second, but that didn't happen.

After a few minutes, Shadow started gasping for air, as it became hard to breathe in the sweltering heat. Meanwhile, Sonic looked as though he would faint. None of them would get anything out of this standoff, so Shadow teleported somewhere else.

Sonic felt as though his whole body was hit by a shockwave of frozen air, as his body made a painful transition from a hot to a cold place. It felt as though the sweat on his body froze within a moment, so he couldn't move. Shadow smirked at him, surely this would make Sonic give up and go home, but the hedgehog, despite shivering all over, wouldn't budge.

Realising that they would enter another detrimental standoff, Shadow teleported again to a place that Sonic definitely would not stay.

"Chaos Control!"

Sonic felt his eyes sting slightly as they went from a surrounding filled with dry air and breathable oxygen, to a watery prison. Shadow gave a smirk, as though to say 'checkmate', there was no way Sonic would stick around in a place several feet under water. Shadow nodded his head in the direction of a slope that would lead Sonic out of the water, if he chose to take it. Sonic shook his head and stayed where he was. But, even though Sonic was so stubborn, Shadow felt that he would definitely win this one. There was no way Sonic could survive without breath longer than him!

After a minute and a half, Shadow started to feel quite desperate for oxygen, but there wasn't long to go. Meanwhile, Sonic was frantic and ready to run for air. But, just as the hero was about to escape, a bubble came up from the soaked soil underneath him, and he sucked in all of the air he could. Shadow felt like something snapped inside of him, he was ready to pass out, meanwhile, it seemed as though Sonic was given a second chance. Shadow wanted ask how Sonic got his breath back, but there was no point in trying to talk underwater.

Realising that his efforts would be futile, Shadow gave up and teleported back to where they started.

Shadow took a few moments to recover. He gasped, spluttered and breathed heavily to get his breath back. Once his panic died down and his breathing slowed, he spoke.

"Okay, I'll tell you what you need to know… then you have to leave me be," Shadow said. Sonic's ears perked up, and he let go of Shadow, ready to listen.