Wow. The end of January already? Sheesh. I can only imagine how long you guys must have waited. Well the waiting is finally over. I've managed to finally get this chapter together. On with the story! And sorry for the long wait. Hopefully it will be worth it.

Chapter 3: The Hunt

"But seriously Shadow. What is it that's following us?" Sonic called out to his partner.

"I don't know!" Was the answer he got back. "All that seems to be clear is that whatever it is doesn't seem friendly."

The two Hedgehogs looked around the edge of the jungle clearing that they were currently standing in, peering through the dense plants, trying to spot their pursuer. Nothing but the thickets met their gaze.

Shadow warned to his Sonic. "We've gotta keep moving Sonic. It's pointless standing around. It'll just give our follower chance to attack. Come on! If we can reach the swamp then we can keep a better eye out for our pursuer."

"Gotcha" Sonic replied and a second later the two of them were gone.

As he was running Shadow thought aloud. "This is really worrying. Whatever it is has been following us ever since we started collecting the emeralds, it seems that wherever we go that presence is always there. I still haven't a clue what it is, but it's never shown itself to me properly." "Wait a sec. Are you saying that you've met this thing before?" "I guess there's a bit of explaining to do. The truth is that this thing has been on my tail for at least a day now."

"What? So you're saying that this thing has been pursuing the two of us?" Sonic asked, slightly shocked.

"Yes" Shadow replied. "It makes sense. Now that I think about it. Back then... "

2 Days Earlier...

The daybreak was only just upon them as the two hedgehogs began their search. The city was now far behind them as they entered a barren area with many chasms and canyons rising up and dropping down as they carried on. The place seemed devoid of life, with only a few stretches where trees and bushes grew. Fortunately for Sonic and Shadow, due to it still being early morning, the place had not had time for the intense heat of the sun to turn these badlands into a heat haze, so the temperature was still at a cool setting. Even so there was definite warmth spreading through the crevices and cracks of the ground.

"I still don't understand why we had to start so early, my legs aren't properly warmed up yet, I feel like I'm going nowhere." Sonic complained, as he sped through the steep canyon at at least 200mph.

"You should be thankful." Shadow replied back. "By the time this place hits midday, the temperature will be like that of a volcano, and judging by how fast we're going our body temperature will be skyrocketing before the heat even has a chance to set in. Besides, the cooler this place is the better. The heat interferes with the emerald's power of locating each other. It's better that we come early then we'll have the least amount of trouble locating this first emerald."

"Sheesh. You're always right to the point aren't ya? I'll remember not to ask next time."

"Asking is fine, provided it's not too often. It's the complaining I find annoying."

"Hey! I still do these things in the end, don't I?" Sonic turned his head in annoyed defiance. It wasn't too serious though. He knew that Shadow was right, though he didn't really like to admit it. Sonic turned his head back to the front again, replacing his annoyed expression with a confident grin. Then, without warning Shadow, he suddenly quickened his pace and sped off at about 600mph.

"Hey? Hold on! Come back here you asshole!" Shadow shouted at the trail of dust his friend had left in his wake, quickening his own pace at the same time and managing to catch up.

"I thought you said that your legs hadn't warmed up yet!" He said angrily.

"Hehe. Did I really say that? I was just kidding. This speed is just my jogging pace." Sonic said laughing, still with a cheeky smirk on his face.

"Why you little! I'll show you fast" Shadow then quickened his own speed and then, without warning he used chaos control to leap a good way ahead. He looked back to Sonic, now with an arrogant smirk.

"Hey! Wait a moment!" Sonic yelled. "No chaos control you bastard! That's not a fair race!"

"Really? As far as I was aware this was never a race in the first place," Shadow retorted. "Besides it's like I said before. The quicker we do this, the better. Either way the emerald is shining pretty brightly now. We must be close."

"Fine. But one of these day we need a proper race. No chaos control, just a race to win."

"Suits me fine. Now how about finding that emerald?"

"You got it! Let's go." Sonic then sped off ahead once again and Shadow with him.

It was late evening now, and the sun had already left the sky. Darkness was beginning to fall onto the roof of the skyscraper that the two hedgehogs had now set up as their base camp. Though today had been dry, there were small puddles of water still on the roof despite the temperature still being at a mild degree.

"Well that sure worked well. Got a bit complicated but at least we now have two emeralds." Sonic said, grinning and sitting down and leaning back against the roof. In his hand were the spoils of the day's hunt: the white emerald gleaming next its sibling, the purple emerald.

"Don't get too excited Sonic. This only puts us on equal numbers with Eggman and we still have four more to locate. And if all of them are in the same position of obtaining as these two then we'll have our work cut out for us." Shadow replied, looking out towards the oncoming night.

He thought back to what had happened. They'd found the emerald caught on a ledge, overlooking a deep chasm that was located deep within the heart of a mountain. It was easy enough to obtain, but the moment Shadow had removed the emerald a cave in had occurred, and Shadow's chaos control wouldn't work so Sonic had needed to quickly dash them out before they were sealed in.

"Eh. Not really." Sonic said, putting down the emeralds so as to rest his head against his hands. "That was pretty easy if you ask me. Apart from the heat of that place and that cave in, it was actually pretty fun." he added cheerfully.

"Well, it's good to see you're enjoying it. You had hardly any work to do. What amazes me is how I couldn't simply use chaos control whilst I was in there. I never had that problem before I arrived is this wor- oh shit!" Shadow suddenly covered his mouth, a startled look in his eyes.

"Hey Shadow, what's wrong?" Sonic asked, slightly surprised by this sudden behavior. "You just remember something?"

"What? Oh right." Shadow's mind was elsewhere, but Sonic's question brought him out of it. "No, that wasn't it. It was something else, none of your concern." He replied curtly.

Damn. That was far too close. Good thing he didn't notice. I can't let him find out that neither of us are from this world. If he did I fear it would snap him out of his stasis and he wouldn't be able to find what he needs. I'll need to be more careful with what I say from now on.

"So Shadow, where might we find the next emerald?... Shadow?... Hey Shadow!"

"Huh?" Shadow was once again jolted from his train of thought by Sonic.

"Sheesh. What's with you? Fine. I'll ask again. Where might we find the next Emerald?

"Oh. Uhh... Somewhere off to the west of here. I'm not sure how far though."

"Alright then. When do we set off?"

"First light, tomorrow morning. That'll give us time to rest. Now that we have two Emeralds we can both use Chaos Control over long distances, so that's what we'll do to get there."

"What? No way. It's more fun to race."

"Well too bad. This isn't a game we're playing Sonic. The quicker we get the emeralds the quicker we can stop Eggman, and I'm almost certain that whatever it is that was in those capsules is not going to be an easy fight, after all we saw Eggman use the chaos emeralds to give them their powers."

"Whatever" Sonic said yawning. "I'm tired. I'm going to try and get some time to rest. I'll worry about those hedgehogs when we have to go against them." He finished, shutting his eyes, falling asleep quickly."

Shadow watched him as he slept, wondering how it was so easy for him to stay so relaxed and casual. Though he never admitted it, he sometimes wished that he could sit back and relax every once in a while. He was always so focused on what he did that he never had time to cut loose. Even when he wasn't doing anything, he always had something he was troubled about and could never put his mind to rest. Even now he was certain that there was a danger where they were, though he could see none. He once again thought of what he said in the letter. An unknown enemy is always the hardest to defeat. It seemed that nearly all of their enemies were ones they didn't know about.

This isn't going to be an easy task. Shadow thought to himself quietly, as he kept watch through the night.

Present Time...

"So you thought that someone was watching us that night?" Sonic asked worriedly. They were getting close to the swampy areas now and there was a rising level of humidity in the air.

"I'm not certain, but I sensed a presence there that night. Something other than the two of us was watching, but I couldn't see it. I could feel it though, a threatening presence in the air. I thought it was just paranoia before, but it proved to be correct." Shadow replied as he ran.

"And you think that it was whatever is following us."

"I can't be sure of that yet. We'll find out when we reach the swamp. I have a hunch though."

"What about yesterday? Does that mean that you didn't tell me the full story back then?"

"Fine. I'll tell you. Yesterday when we set off to explore the factory complex..."

Yesterday Morning...

Today the morning was chilly, and there was mist clinging to the cold air, as the sun arose its rays were caught and distorted by the mist giving the city a hazy golden glow. On the roof where the Hedgehogs were, the mist was heavier than the air around it and the puddles on the rooftop had gotten bigger. As tired as Shadow was after being unable to sleep, he wasn't feeling crabby or irritated by Sonic's loud snoring.

This will probably be the only time that I've actually been thankful that Sonic snores loudly. Shadow thought, yawning as he sat there. If it weren't for him I probably would've let my own fatigue stop me from keeping alert.

He peered through the mist, trying to see as best he could. He'd kept his eyes sharp all through the night, keeping watch for anything dangerous. Nothing had appeared, or attacked at least, however Shadow could still sense that same sinister presence that had kept him alert. He still couldn't identify what or where this presence was coming from though.

"Uuuuuuuuhhhhhhhaaaaahhh. Mornin' Shadow." Shadow hadn't even noticed Sonic stirring and jumped slightly at his loud yawn. "Woah. You sure seem on edge. What happened? Something on your mind?"

"No. Just got this prickly feeling in my back, like I'm being watched." At this remark Sonic laughed.

"Hehehe. I can easily give you the reasons for both of those - I'm watching you, and the prickly feeling's because you got quills on your back, duh?" A vein pulsed in Shadow's temple.

"You idiot. That's not it at all. I just didn't get much sleep."

"Ahhhhhhh." Sonic said in a sarcastic tone. "That would explain why you're more grumpy. It's a good thing your fur is black. You can't see the bags under your eyes. Ya know Shadow. You really need to sleep every once in a while. It'd do your complexion a load of good."

"And let you keep watch for threats? There's no way I can trust you with that. Anyway, your unbearable cheek is a sign that you're fully awake, so lets get going. There's a strong signal from the emeralds coming from the west, we may be lucky and actually find two this time."

"Alright! Now you're talking! Lets get this show on the road." Sonic yelled and leapt off the roof, once again leaving Shadow his wake to follow behind.

At least I give him due warning was Shadow's final thought before he disappeared. I guess we won't be using chaos control after all.

He soon caught up to Sonic and started running alongside him.

"Sonic. Catch!" Shadow called to him, throwing him the white emerald. "Now I can tell where you are, and now if anything happens to either one of us at least it won't be two emeralds that we lose."

"Gotcha!" Sonic shouted back. "Can you tell how far away they are?"

"As far as I can tell they are in different locations in the same area." Shadow replied "We'll need to split up to find them. Make sure you don't lose that emerald otherwise it'll take more than a sorry for you to get away with it." He warned.

"Fine. Same applies to you though." Sonic retorted.

"No problem." Shadow said coolly. "We're getting close. We split up here, meet back at the skyscraper with at least two emeralds each. Got it?"

"Got it! Time to get to work! Yeah!" Sonic shouted, speeding ahead out of sight.

I best get going too. Shadow thought to himself, warping away again.

It didn't take Sonic long to reach the area where the emerald was indicating. He was looking out over a vast industrial works that stretched as far as the eye could see. Everywhere was a mess of pipes and brick buildings, the skyline was dotted all over with cooling towers & smoke stacks that blocked out the sun with the dark clouds of smoke that they were producing.

"Pheeeeeewwwwww..." Sonic breathed. "Quite the hiding place for a chaos emerald or two. Makes sense - they're unlimited sources of power for this place." As Sonic surveyed the area, he stared at the clouds blanketing the sky.

What a huge amount of pollution; this place alone probably produces a good percentage of it. This place'll probably shut down if I take the emerald...

"Alright. Seems I'll be doing both myself and Mobius a favor by taking the emerald" he said cheerily. "This'll be a real piece of-gyaaaahhh!" Sonic sank to his knees, clutching his head. The pain had returned, but this time, instead of a voice he saw a vision of a landscape just like this, and a figure darting through it at break-neck speed.

"Look familiar hero?"

Before he could really focus his eyes though he was snapped back into reality.

"Woahh. What was that?" he wondered aloud, vexed, as he tried to remember some of the details.

That was different from the last ones that I've had. I saw something this time. This is weird, what was it I saw?

As he thought, something popped up in his mind, some letters that he had seen on a large sign as the figure darted past. He thought harder and then he remembered some of the letters:

-HE-C-L P-AN-

He could only remember that, and the mysterious figure that had dashed by.

"This definitely isn't normal" he said finally. "Maybe I'll ask Shadow when I've found the emerald." Then he replaced his puzzled look with his usual grin.

He then said "and speaking of emerald, I should get hunting. I won't figure this out by myself so I'll just forget about it for now. Besides it seems to be helping me. So why should I worry?" He took one last look at the sky then zoomed off towards the works.

"Time the get to work. Wooo!"

Shadow materialized inside a factory boiler room. The room was big, with piping lining the room like spaghetti strands, and huge boiler tanks taking up the majority of the room's free space; there were metal walkways lining the space above, and it was one of these walkways that Shadow was standing on. The room was steamy, with liquid condensing on the vats and pipes, but there seemed to be nobody around. The purple emerald was glowing strongly now, and he could sense the immense chaos energy of another emerald nearby. He could see a door on the other side of the room, with the words - 'KEEP OUT: Generator Room is out of bounds to unauthorized personnel' written on its front.

'Just what I'm after,' he said to himself. 'The emerald is no doubt powering this place.' as he crossed the walkway.

Hmph... What a waste of unlimited power. He thought coldly, as he reached the door. Having its natural energy that keeps the world alive to be used against it and pollute the planet. Chaos Emeralds mustn't be used for this. This is why they should be protected from people like Eggman, who use them for things like this.

He tried to open the door without any luck. Should've guessed. He thought, frowning. 'Guess there is nothing for it,' and he began charging chaos energy in his hand.

'Chaos...' He began, then without warning released the energy directly...behind him! 'Spear!'

The Chaos Spear soared through the air, the steam parting as it passed through, hitting the opposite end of the hall and causing a small explosion.

'I thought I was just being paranoid before,' Shadow said, turning to face the supposedly empty room, 'but I'm sure now that it wasn't my imagination,' he continued, readying himself for a fight. 'You've been following me and Sonic ever since we found that second emerald,' he said to steamy air. 'Are you gonna show yourself so that I can fight you properly!'

No reply. Shadow was sure though that he wasn't alone. He could feel the same sinister presence that he'd felt back on the skyscraper, and he was certain now that it wasn't just his imagination and that there was a danger lurking in the room. He still couldn't identify its source though. It seemed to be all over the room at the same time.

'I've gotta warn you,' he said dangerously, sweat rolling down his forehead, 'that I really hate not knowing who my opponent is. You'd better come out and face me properly!' he yelled...Nothing.

'Urrrrrrggghhh! Chaos, Spear! Spear! Spear! SPEAR!' he shouted, firing off multiple chaos spears all over the room to no avail. 'Show yourself!'

Shadow was allowing his anger to get the better of him, and he was so bent on trying to reveal the unknown enemy that he wasn't watching where his Chaos spears were hitting. The boiler tanks were being barraged with Shadow's attacks and the strong steel of the tanks was unable to hold up against the destructive chaos energy. Leaks sprung all over every tank as they were repeatedly bombarded with chaos spears as the pressure increased inside them. They were close to blowing, as Shadow gradually calmed down...too late. The tanks exploded one after another, destroying the walkway that Shadow was on, sending him hard into one of the walls...and his grip on the purple emerald loosened, causing it to slide from his hands and fall into the accumulating pool of scalding hot water.

As Shadow's senses returned to him from the impact, he caught one final glance of the emerald as it vanished beneath the water, and the realization hit him.

"Damn!" he yelled, as he looked at his empty hand where the emerald had been a second ago. Shit! I lost my temper and this happened, all because I couldn't see my enemy. Since when did I ever lose my temper that quickly in the past? Shadow didn't have time to think any more because at that moment he came loose from the wall and began to fall himself. He quickly warped back to a surviving part of the walkway closest to the door and analyzed the current situation.

One emerald lost, another behind the door, the water level rising at a rapid rate, and the presence of an enemy that he still couldn't see. If he was to try to retrieve the dropped emerald he would end up being boiled alive, so the only option left was to destroy the door and retrieve the other emerald. With his plan worked out, Shadow blew the door with a concentrated chaos spear and quickly warped through to the opening. The water level had now reached the doorway, and was beginning to flow inside the room he was now in. Shadow quickly crossed to the generator containing what he was after, quickly pressing the emergency shut down button to allow the container to open and reveal the brightly glowing emerald. As Shadow removed the gem, alarm bells began sounding, as the water started to heat up the metal soles of his shoes.

'CHAOS CONTROL!' and he was gone, but just before he vanished, he could've sworn that he heard a faint chuckle in the air, before the room disappeared from sight.

Shadow reappeared a safe distance from the factory complex, watching as the entire area shut down. The smoke stopped billowing from the chimneystacks, all of the lights dimmed and shorted out, darkening the area, and gradually the sound of the machines died down until there was almost no sound. There was the sound of a small explosion somewhere out of sight.

Shadow was slightly out of breath, and his hands were shaking slightly.

So. He thought. It wasn't all paranoia. There really is something that has been following us. Something that I still don't know the identity of. I don't know why I lost control so easily. Could it be to do with the effect that the dimensional jump had on my mind, or was it because I was on edge. Either way, it's something that I'll need to keep better control of in the future. Just look at what it cost me, there's no way that I can find that lost emerald now. Shadow then stared at the yellow emerald that he had in his hand. At least I'm not down on the number of emeralds, but I couldn't increase my number. Then his expression darkened slightly. Sonic had better have another emerald with him when we get back to the skyscraper. We'll need it to face this new enemy. Even so, I don't particularly want to go back. I doubt I'll be let off lightly by him… No choice.

He turned his back on the shut down factory

'No time to look for survivors,' he said to himself, then sped off back towards the meeting point.

"Alright. You had better have a really good excuse for this." Sonic said cockily, leaning back against the roof, juggling his two emeralds - the white one, and his newly obtained blue emerald with one hand, with a smug grin on his face and a both eyebrows lowered in a cocky manner.

"That depends on what you would call a really good excuse" Shadow defiantly replied, trying to replace his all too apparent embarrassment with his usual gruff persona, managing his normal frown albeit with a twitching brow. Sonic sniggered. "Y'know Shadow, that act you're putting on isn't very good;" this caused a vein to pulse in Shadow's temple and give him an obvious scowl, "but it's kinda funny. Alright I'll forgive you because you tried your hardest. I won't ask for any excuses either. I'm kinda surprised that you allowed yourself to lose an emerald too. Knowing you, you're someone who would hold onto the emeralds as if your life depended on it. Something really big must've happened to make you lose one."

"I was simply tired, and my composure broke," Shadow responded, his pride and concern not allowing him to reveal to Sonic what actually happened. "You can hardly blame me either. I was up all night, it's natural to be running on a short fuse. Besides that doesn't matter. We brought our number of chaos emeralds up to three and that's what matters."

"It could've been four if you didn't put yourself through so many sleepless nights. You didn't have to be up all night you know. You should get a bit more sleep and let me keep watch tonight. Can't have you hurting yourself for my sake. It makes me feel guilty." Sonic offered. "Trust you with keeping watch? Give me one really good reason why I should trust you with that. You'll be asleep before I am." "Hey I find that slightly offensive. I can get anything done if I put my mind to it. Besides you need the rest, look what it made you do. Let me watch your back for a change, you've done enough."

Shadow looked at Sonic, and finally a slight smile can across his face. "I don't need your help Sonic, you need mine. I appreciate the offer but I can manage just fine. I always found it hard to sleep anyway. You get some rest, you deserve it more than me." "But Shadow," "No buts, now get to sleep." The blue hedgehog sighed.

"Fine. But promise me, that once we get this thing sorted out you make up for every night that you should've spent asleep." Shadow smirked. "That's going to be a lot then."

Present Time...

"I get it now. That would explain why you were so edgy all that time. But why didn't you tell me this before?" Sonic asked.

"I didn't want to worry you. And I wasn't sure myself if this presence actually means us any harm, or if it's to do with Eggman. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before" Shadow replied apologetically, "anyway, Sonic! I can see it finally! We've reached the swamp!" he finished, as they emerged from the trees into an area with a clear skyline. The ground under their feet was boggy, and a wide dark lake met their eyes.

"Perfect" Shadow said. There's only one way to approach us now, and that's from the front. What's even better is that there must be an emerald nearby. This one's reacting really strongly." It was true. All three emeralds were now gleaming brightly, and there was faint light coming up from the bottom of the lake.

"Stand back to back Sonic. That way we can cover both sides." "Got it." The two hedgehogs backed towards each other until they were standing with their backs against other, their eyes focused on the dark thicket of trees in front of them. However if they had looked behind them they would have seen the trail of bubbles making their way towards them from the lake's center, they would have seen the two large slitted eyes emerge from under the surface of the lake, and then submerge again. Suddenly Shadow felt another threatening presence right behind them.

"Sonic! Behind you!" he shouted suddenly. "What? Shadow, what do yo-" He couldn't finish his sentence, because suddenly the water a few feet away had erupted and something gigantic had closed its jaws around his torso and dragged him under the surface.

"Sonic!" Shadow yelled, stretching out his arm, far too late..

No He thought to himself. I can't swim either. I'd drown if I attempted to save them. Even as he thought it though he caught something dash past him into the water out of the corner of his eye. He looked but saw nothing. Then his attention was turned back to the lake, and the strange phenomenon that was occurring.

From the center, the water's surface dipped down, spreading out to the lake's edges and a current started to form going round it - a whirlpool, and then, suddenly the eye of the whirlpool shot up into the air, creating a tall water geyser and at its top was a giant alligator - Sonic in its jaws, having been forced into the air by the upward current underneath it. Then the geyser instantly solidified, cutting through the alligator's tough back scales, impaling it on a spike of ice and causing it to loosen it's grip on Sonic, as it let out a cry of pain before its life left it.

Shadow stared at what he had just witnessed, his mouth open, and then he ran to where Sonic had landed.

"You okay?" Shadow asked, as Sonic got to his feet, coughing. He couldn't help but notice the deep bloody scars on his chest, left by the alligator's teeth. "Yeah. I'm alive at least. But what the hell just happened? I went down, then I was sucked into the whirlpool with that alligator. Next thing I knew I was up in the air and the alligator was dead.

"I can answer that for you."

"Huh?" "What the?"

"Hahahahaha. Up here."

"Wait." Shadow suddenly gasped. "I know that laugh."

"Ahhh. You do remember. Seems that I did give it away back then."

Both hedgehogs looked up to where the sound was coming from: the top of the geyser. A figure was standing on top of the alligator's corpse, with something in his hand. He then leapt off the spike, landing a few meters away from the two of them.

He stood up. He began to walk towards them. The glowing cyan blue emerald in his hand was the same colour as his fur, with streaks of lime green running along his head and limbs. The aqua blue crystal on his wrists and boots gleamed from the sun shining through the clearing. His light green eyes, the same colour as the green emerald used to awaken him, scanned the two hedgehogs that were staring back at him.

"I know you." They both mouthed.

Wow! I really don't know how to apologize for this. I'm sorry for all of you that have been patiently awaiting this chapter. This took a lot longer than I intended because of writer's block due to my English GCSE exams, however now that they are out of the way I finally found the time to get this done. Once again I am sorry and hope that this chapter was worth the wait. I can't guarantee when the next chapter will be released, but it WILL be released. I will never abandon this story and no matter how long it takes I will finish it.