Shadow actually did manage to get some dreamless sleep, the city a safe distance behind him, but far too soon was startled awake by something. He stood, flinching at the stiff injury on his leg, and called "Who's there?"

It was the drone, as it turned out, hovering in front of him. After a few seconds, it projected its hologram of the insurgency's leader, more clearly an illusion than ever in the pre-dawn starlight; he was angry, in a tightly-controlled, dangerous way. "You deliberately disobeyed me, Shadow. Because of this, we lost a lot more people than we needed to. There are consequences to that."

Shadow crossed his arms. "I don't even know who you are. I met someone else who remembered me in the city: he had my other bracelet."

The human was no less angry for that explanation, but he was silent for a second before responding. "Your memory is even more damaged than I thought, isn't it. I wonder what Professor Gerald was forced to do to you." No less angry, no, but keenly watching Shadow's reactions.

For his part, the Mobian frowned. "Gerald?"

"So, you don't even remember your maker."

"No," said Shadow, a little frustrated, "apparently not."

"Hmm. Regardless, you still have a lot to do, Shadow."

"And just who are you, anyway?"

The human smiled, another expression that chilled Shadow's blood at the same time as it flared it. "We are the Black Arms, Shadow. And we have not forgotten what happened fifty years ago, nor before, even if you have. Now! There is a series of ruins far to the east of here. Go there at once!"

The hedgehog gave him a dubious look and didn't move for a few moments; the Black Arms leader stared back at him. Finally, reasoning he didn't have any other leads, Shadow limped to get to skating speed and sped off. If he saw Sonic again, perhaps he'd ask him to explain what was going on from his perspective.

Shadow journeyed for several hours, going slower than usual, and it was a little before noon before he saw the ruins. The insurgency had reached them long before he had, and the old buildings were already the site of a fierce battle, smoke pluming ahead and gunshots in the distance. He'd have to find out just what the insurgency were doing there, and despite what the hologram had said, Shadow was still trying to stay neutral as he entered the area, avoiding the Black Arms and their battles with GUN.

He hadn't been running through the ruins long when, once again, someone called him. Looking round in response to his name, he saw another Mobian, a red... a red echidna? Was that strange?

The echidna stopped in front of him. "It's good to see you back!" he said, sounding calmer than Sonic, more serious. "I should have known better than to think you wouldn't make it."

He was less familiar, though, whereas with Sonic he'd known he had heard the voice before. Shadow looked on in confusion, frowning. "How long have I been gone?"

There was a pause as the echidna considered that. "Nineteen days, now." Shadow put it closer to seventeen; did that mean he'd been unconscious for two whole days? "Don't you remember what happened?"

Shadow shook his head. "I don't remember much of anything. That Black Arms leader recognised me, I met someone called Sonic back some miles who had my other bracelet, and I guess you remember me as well."

The echidna startled, though he quickly settled himself. He looked around, frowning with worry. "Now isn't a good time to explain. But my name is Knuckles, and you fell from orbit. Even Sonic thought you were dead."

Now it was Shadow's turn to startle. Orbit, of all things? But, strangely, that kind of felt right - he couldn't put a finger on it, but orbit was entirely reasonable. Home, even? As for being dead, he was slowly coming to the realisation that it was a perfectly logical assumption, given the circumstances he'd woken up in.

Knuckles continued. "I don't know what these 'Black Arms' guys want, but I think they're trying to activate the ancient temples here. They won't be able to control the power of the defences; even if they could, they'd just misuse it. I'm going to stop them before they do any more damage and tear this place apart."

"I see." Shadow broke off, running ahead, Knuckles following for a little before Shadow lost him in a skirmish with the insurgency. He thought he'd just find what the Black Arms leader had to say about all this, and, sure enough, he soon found the little drone.

It swivelled to face him, greeting the hedgehog with a simple "There you are, Shadow." Shadow stopped in front of it, his weight off his injured leg, and let the drone's master continue. "You can see what's happening here, can't you? You can turn the tide in our favour. There are five temples here, each one containing a great power; activate them and we'll be one step closer to our final reckoning!"

"Hm. And where does this final reckoning of yours lead us?"

"Then this so-called nation of peace you now stand in pays for what it forced on the world, and our long-awaited victory will be complete!" Whatever the merits of his cause, the man was certainly giving it his all. Shadow was quiet for a moment, considering, letting some weight shift to his hurt leg.

"Where are the temples located?"

The leader's voice sounded ever-so-slightly pleased as his drone projected a map, the temples marked. "They are here, according to our reconnaissance. We have been studying them for some time, but only recently gained the power to activate them ourselves - you, Shadow... you would find it much easier. Our people on the ground will explain more."

Shadow nodded and set off - the drone tried but couldn't keep up with him. He had already made his decision; his path was taking him toward one of the temples.

At first, anyway.

He looped around back to where he'd left Knuckles and found him further on, strong fists and sharp knuckles wrecking Black Arms robots, strength held back against the people, disabling and knocking them out. Shadow joined the fray - spinning into an insurgent, knocking him out!

"Shadow!" Knuckles called, more welcoming him into the group than anything, even if it was a group of one and now two. The pair of them made short work of the Black Arms, coming to the rescue of a lone GUN soldier, who could only hold position behind a fallen pillar and watch them in shock. Shadow kept an eye on him as Knuckles brushed himself off, watching as he looked from him to Knuckles to the insurgents and back again, evidently at a loss.

"Ready to go?" asked the echidna. Shadow nodded, and they were off, Knuckles yelling "Let's take back these ruins!" The last he saw of the soldier, he had opened his communicator to report in.

"Where were you, anyway?" asked Knuckles as they made their way toward the first temple. Shadow got the impression the other Mobian wasn't following him so much as running a little behind him, as if he already knew where their destination was.

"Speaking with the Black Arms' leader. He wanted me to activate the temples here."

"So that is what they're after!" Knuckles shook his head. "There definitely is great power here. I hope I never have to use it, but I could if I needed to."

"You said they wouldn't be able to control it, right? Then they must think I can."

"I don't know. Activating it would be easy - controlling it would be the hard part."

Shadow nodded, and they fell to silence. Between them and the temple was one more skirmish - and, initially, the Black Arms seemed to think Shadow on their side, the government's soldiers agreeing. Shadow heard a gun fire at him and dodged, supersonic speed barely letting it miss him and strike an insurgent. Knuckles whirled on the soldier who'd fired, punching through a Black Arms drone as if in emphasis.

"What're you doing, you idiot?!"

The soldiers held fire for long enough to let Knuckles and Shadow take down the rest of the Black Arms; Shadow dimly heard a "Sorry!" called after them as they continued on their way. Perhaps the soldiers had figured out they had their hands full enough without antagonising their allies, though Shadow couldn't logically blame them after Westopolis.

Once they were in the temple, they saw a group of insurgents about to attach a set of machines to a giant orb in the centre - it was as big around as a grown human was tall. Knuckles yelled some battle cry and went after them; the insurgents fired back, but there was a noticeable delay as they worked out what to do about Shadow. Their loss.

With the Black Arms down and Shadow keeping guard, Knuckles stepped up to the orb and rested his hand on it. It took him a minute to check on it, but it was with relief that he lowered his hands. "It's not active; they didn't do anything to it. This temple's still safe." He looked consideringly at the downed fighters. "...Let's keep it that way." The echidna grabbed a length of stray cable and set about tying up the insurgents; Shadow got the idea after a moment and helped, having better range of motion in his gloves.

As they worked, Knuckles kept talking. "Do you remember anything about what you were doing in orbit?"

Shadow shook his head. "No. But... was I up there for a long time?"

"I think so. That diary we found said it started fifty years ago; you lived on that space colony, ARK, until it was shut down." He ended the sentence by tying off his end of the cable, with the result that several insurgents were tied together by their hands behind their backs.

Shadow tied off his own end, pondering that. "Whose diary?"

"Professor Gerald Robotnik's." The red one punched through the Black Arms' delicate equipment, scattering scrap, but remained in the central chamber, looking through their things. "Apparently, he was Dr. Robotnik's grandfather."

"Gerald?" Shadow blinked; he remembered that name, at least. "The Black Arms' leader said he created me."

Knuckles nodded, distracted for a moment as he rooted around a bit more. When he turned back to Shadow, he was holding a first aid kit; evidently he'd noticed the limp and the raw wound. "There was a project to create the 'ultimate life form', it said." He was very matter-of-fact as he said it, as if this wasn't in the least momentous, and handed the kit over.

Shadow looked inside, and was privately elated that it had antiseptic and bandages, and more importantly that he knew what to do with such things. He took a seat on the orb's steps and set about patching himself up. "Thanks." A pause. "What else did it say?"

"It went crazy," Knuckles answered, bluntly, though he was trying to be sympathetic. Words didn't appear his strong suit. "His granddaughter died when the colony was shut down. By the time we got to the end... he'd gone insane."

The hedgehog frowned. That felt familiar, in any case... "Was her name Maria?"

"I think so." Knuckles frowned as well. "...Yes. Do you remember her?"

"I remember the name, anyway." Shadow observed his own injury, remembered that awful image of someone dying of a similar wound. "...She was killed by the soldiers."

Knuckles jumped, and Shadow finished wrapping his injury. The hedgehog stood up, still keeping most of his weight off his right leg. If anything, cleaning it out had just made it hurt more. "That's all I know."

"Hm. ...Well, I don't know any more about what happened back then, but I'll tell you what we did up there once this is over." He beckoned Shadow with a head tilt, and the hedgehog followed him out. Thus they continued, but, a little more than halfway to the next temple, Shadow felt a familiar calling deep in his bones. He stopped, ears pricked, and Knuckles caught up to him.

"What is it?"

"There's another Chaos Emerald here!"

"There is." The echidna was completely unsurprised. "I sensed it earlier. It must have reformed after you and Sonic let go of them."

Shadow blinked. Let go after doing what?

Knuckles looked out across the ruins in the direction of the Emerald and continued speaking in a vaguely explanatory tone. "We'll get it after we've saved the ruins. It'll take too long to find it now." After a brief moment to consider this, Shadow nodded and continued on. Later worked for him, and Knuckles was right, in any case.

They reached the centre of the temple long ahead of the Black Arms and shortly before a group of soldiers. Knuckles merely stopped to check on the orb before continuing on, confident GUN would take care of things. As they continued to the third, there was a marked difference in the reactions Shadow got from both sides: the insurgents cursed at him, both in Shadow's language and another he couldn't make sense of, and the soldiers cheered. He was indifferent to the Arms by now, but wasn't sure he liked being cheered on by the soldiers; deep inside him, something still said they were evil. Even so, he felt he was doing the right thing by his instincts: the ruins were amazing, would have been spectacular to wander around if it wasn't full of people trying to kill each other. He couldn't remember forgetting about such a place.

As the pair emerged from a cluster of buildings about a quarter of the way to the third temple, the wind suddenly kicked up, screaming around the half-destroyed ruins and convening into a swirling tornado somewhere in the distance - to Shadow's eye, it matched the location of the fourth temple they would have visited. Knuckles seemed to agree, stopping with alarm and anger.

"No! They've activated one of them!" He started running, calling at Shadow over the wind. "I can shut it down if we hurry, but if they activate a second one I don't know if I can control it!"

Shadow caught up to him in seconds, and offered a hand. "Come on!" Of the two, he was faster, and he didn't have any idea how to shut off the orb when they got there. Knuckles balked for a second before pragmatism won over pride, and he locked a powerful hand around Shadow's arm, easily holding on as Shadow climbed to speed; he entered a gliding position, whipping out behind the hedgehog like a strange red flag, and felt a lot lighter than Shadow expected.

Keeping them going in the direction they needed to go was more of a battle than Shadow had anticipated, too. Hoverskating didn't provide any traction, and even the two Mobians' combined weight couldn't anchor them well in the wind; the dust and debris was blinding and deafening, and Shadow had ears back and eyes nearly closed to protect them. His energy-senses weren't of much use: Chaos Energy didn't care whether it formed its rings above solid ground or over chasms. Knuckles called directions over the storm, keeping him from missing their destination, and after what felt like too long, Shadow saw a dark shape ahead of them - another temple. Shadow took them just inside and shook his head out, raising his ears again and following Knuckles as he ran for the centre.

It had not, thankfully, been yet activated, but on the other side of the temple, GUN and the Black Arms were in the middle of a pitched shootout. Both sides had taken refuge from the winds inside, and even as they heard one of the soldiers yell something about too much interference, both Mobians joined the battle, Knuckles punching and Shadow spinning through the air. One soldier pointed them out to his fellow.

"Look! It's Shadow! And Knu-"

"Keep your head down!"

Sound advice. The Black Arms were still shooting everywhere, their bullets quickly trying to converge on Shadow's fast-moving form as Knuckles ducked behind a hefty piece of masonry. On his own way to cover, Shadow snatched a dropped pistol before one of the injured insurgents could pick it up, ducked behind a pillar on roughly the same side as the soldiers, and regarded the weapon. He couldn't tell whose side it was from, and holding it felt, on a gut level, pretty wrong. But, on the other hand, there was trouble, and he needed to get out of it. He was already sped up by the battle, perceiving things as if in slow motion - a necessary mental compensation for his speed.

He took a shot at a Black Arms fighter, sped up perception giving him more time to aim than other people, and though the insurgent cried out and fell, as far as Shadow knew, she wouldn't die. Knuckles looked in his direction as he fired, kept watching through another couple of shots, but didn't seem to make much of it. One of the soldiers peeked over a fallen pillar, watching him and assessing the situation.

"...All right, people, come on! Let's lay down some cover fire here!"

All at once, the soldiers popped up and opened fire, forcing the Black Arms to duck. Shadow broke cover and charged, still holding the pistol in one hand but relying on his own natural weapons again - safer or not, the gun made him uncomfortable. Knuckles was close behind, arriving as Shadow had knocked down two of the insurgents, a third taking a shot that didn't seem to do the hedgehog any harm before falling, a fourth knocked down on the last rebound. Knuckles punched down a fifth with an effective jumping uppercut, spikes just barely missing her chin as Shadow came to rest.

Knuckles turned to face him, raising one fist. "Got 'em!"

"So there's only two more to defend."

The echidna nodded. "I doubt they'll be moving in this. We have to stop the one they activated, and make sure to defend the last one."

The soldiers peered cautiously at them from their shelter, and as Shadow nodded, Knuckles tilted his head at him. Prompted by the hedgehog's confused frown, Knuckles gestured at Shadow's spikes. "That was a bit close."

Shadow looked, and startled as he saw them in his peripheral vision: his upper headspikes each had a neat bullet hole though them. "So it was." He shook his head; he'd have to be more careful.

The soldiers were, by now, warily leaving their shelter to come investigate. Sharp hedgehog ears picked out two of them talking quietly, a lower-ranked one to someone of a higher rank if Shadow was reading their badges correctly. "What about our orders?"

A headshake. "I'm guessing they're out of date. Command aren't on the ground and we can't contact them, so it's my responsibility. Count yourself lucky we had help."

Shadow flicked the ear closest to them and looked back at Knuckles. "Let's move on." At a nod, they left the soldiers to deal with the Black Arms and exited the temple - stepping back into a maelstrom, where the winds were continuing to pick up speed and power, dropping some of the stones from the top of the temple. Knuckles gritted his teeth and lifted one arm to shield his face; Shadow did the same and pinned his ears back, dropping the pistol to offer his hand.

"Which way?!"

Knuckles pointed with his other hand. "That way!"

With the echidna hanging on, Shadow set off again into the worsening storm. Knuckles, gliding again, provided almost as much lift as Shadow's own jet boots, but going forward was getting harder and harder, Shadow fighting for every inch of straight flying.

"It's no good - you'll have to ride with it!" Knuckles shouted over the gale and crashing rocks.

"With what?!"

"With the wind! Let it carry you!"

If you fight a current too much, you'll only wear yourself out and drown. Where had he heard that one before? It didn't matter: Knuckles and his own half-remembered instincts were right, and, no longer fighting the wind, more flowing with it, things suddenly got a lot easier. Shadow eventually got himself settled in a rough surfing position - it reminded him of something, of letting gravity move him down narrow metal.

Eventually, Knuckles called a sharp "Go left!" which, as far as Shadow could tell, meant going directly into the tornado's heart. In spite of this fact, Shadow obeyed him, or did his best: the wind had other ideas, lofting them everywhere but directly left, higher and spiralling and-

Suddenly the wind was calm. The fourth temple was directly below them. Both Mobians brushed sand and grit from their eyes, Shadow slowly lowering them down to the temple roof.

"Good work, Shadow."

"Thank you. I doubt I'd have thought of working with the wind as quickly on my own, though."

Knuckles smiled as they touched down. "I've had a lot of practice." He and Shadow separated briefly to look for a way in - it was the hedgehog who found a staircase, beckoning his companion over. As Knuckles approached, he said, "All right. Since this is the one they activated, it'll probably be full of them. Be ready."

Shadow nodded and led the way down. Sure enough, emerging from the steps saw him facing quite a large Black Arms force, armed to the nails and fangs, pointing guns in his direction.

"Stop! - Declare your side!"

The hedgehog broke into sharp motion, yelling "Not with you!" at him - but despite the forceful answer, the suddenness of it all jarred him, and as the first shots fired, he wanted to be anywhere but there-

And he was. The next thing Shadow knew, there was a bright flash, and he was back on the roof - he'd managed to do something with the Chaos Emeralds' power again, this time outright warping instead of using his speed. He landed, looked at himself, marvelled. What else could he do with the Chaos Emeralds?

Abruptly remembering Knuckles was still down there, Shadow darted down the stairs, and to his relief found the echidna quietly making his way back up. The other Mobian looked relieved, too, exhaling. "That was a close one."

"Could I always do that?"

Knuckles blinked. "Yes." He continued back up the stairs, Shadow following. "It's called Chaos Control. When you fell... it was after you and Sonic used it on the entire ARK."

Again, Shadow felt that was familiar. The word 'ARK', in particular - Knuckles had mentioned that place before, but now the word settled deep in his bones, conflicting feelings of home and heartache taunting his conscious mind. Shadow mulled that over as they came back to the roof, watching Knuckles methodically looking around with his focus on the building beneath his feet.

"...That was what was in orbit, wasn't it." Shadow frowned more deeply. "A colony?"

Knuckles knelt, looking up at Shadow again. "That's right. I had no idea anything that big was up there."

Shadow nodded. He'd have to find out more... later. "What are you doing?"

"There's a weakness in the ceiling here," Knuckles answered, gesturing. "If I dig from this spot, we can come down on them from above, and it won't do as much damage to the ruins, either."

In hindsight, that was pretty obvious, really. Knuckles burrowed down surprisingly quickly - though the Black Arms were expecting the two of them, it wasn't from that direction, and they couldn't use their weapons effectively between the surprise and the risk of crossfire. The pair made short work of the insurgents, downing and knocking out the lot.

Shadow stood guard as Knuckles approached the active sphere, where he rested his hands on the floating, greenish device and mumbled to himself for several minutes. Shadow had to knock down one of the Arms starting to come to before it was done, the sphere deactivating and gently coming to rest in its alcove again. Outside, the wind died down to a low whistle. Shadow detached the insurgents' equipment from the orb and crashed through the delicate machinery, and Knuckles smiled approvingly before turning to face the squad. One way or another, none of them would be in any condition to try that again.

"...I think GUN can handle them. Let's make sure the last temple stays defended."

Shadow nodded, one more time letting Knuckles grab on, and they were away again. With the tornado spinning the last of its energy out, they saw soldiers emerging from their hiding places, and heard more than a few appreciative whoops and cheers. The black hedgehog still wasn't entirely sure what to make of that - they still made him uneasy, instincts still marking GUN as an evil force - but, after all, they were on the same side.

The run to the final temple was more or less uneventful, no more insurgents barring the way. They had to have made one massive push for the one they'd activated, most of their forces drawn away from the third and fifth temples. There was, however, a small and nearly finished skirmish at the temple steps; Shadow and Knuckles arrived just in time to see a canine insurgent shot, something that made Shadow flinch internally. The lone remaining Black Arms fighter dragged his companion behind cover.

"Surrender!" called a GUN soldier. "Surrender, and you won't be harmed!"

Two breaths passed, and the answer came with an unaimed shot at them. "We'll never surrender!"

Shadow entered the conversation. "Just what are you fighting for?" He didn't understand - for what purpose, what reckoning, were they aiming?

The insurgent's voice was incredulous as he answered. "The United Federation is build on nothing but violence and lies! It's past time we took what's rightfully ours! You - you of all people should know that!"

The hedgehog didn't have a response to that one. Knuckles did, half talking to himself, puzzled: "Should you?" And he was gone again, vaulting over the masonry and bringing his fist down hard on something. Shadow heard the insurgent collapse and left the soldiers to deal with him, following Knuckles into the temple.

"Do you have any idea what that guy was talking about?" Knuckles asked.

"I'm afraid not." That said, he thought it over for a few moments. "...Their leader did mention something about a day of reckoning when I first saw him."

"Day of reckoning, huh..." The echidna shrugged. "Doesn't seem like a very good idea to me." Not that he had any idea what the Black Arms were on about, either.

"...Come to think of it," Shadow continued, "He mentioned something about fifty years ago, too." He frowned, remembering both those words and the newspaper he'd seen right before the attack at the city he came from. "Was there some kind of fifty-year anniversary recently?"

"Fifty years? Hm." Another shrug. "All I really know about is the ARK being shut down. I don't know a whole lot about recent history."

Shadow really wanted to know more about that - why didn't he? - but they were far enough into the temple that more talking would give them away to anyone near the orb, and they both fell silent. Reaching the orb chamber from a level above, they saw a small force of soldiers guarding it, one of their number bandaged up and out of action, with no sign of the insurgents. Perhaps, with the push for the activated temple, they hadn't ever made it in.

As the two of them reached the bottom of the stairs to the orb's level, Shadow hesitated. On the same side or not, he wasn't sure how far the news had spread through the soldiers, and he gestured Knuckles forward; the echidna obligingly headed into the chamber, and the soldiers relaxed some after an initial weapons-pointing. The highest ranked among them asked, "What's the situation outside?"

Knuckles blinked. "Well, we deactivated the orb in the other temple..."

"What's that mean?"

"The wind's stopped. Has anyone touched this one?"

"Not on your life. It seemed like those crazy Black Arms guys wanted it, so we figured we'd hole up in here and protect it."

Shadow spoke up, cautiously emerging from his cover. "Then that means they should all be defended, now."

A second soldier startled. "Look, it's Shadow!" For a moment, Shadow tensed, ready to run, but he and the soldiers alike were stayed by their leader.

"Didn't you hear the comm chatter?"

"What?" Knuckles asked.

"...Sorry. Command must've got their wires crossed - we were sent in with intel that, well, he was with the Black Arms. If he's with you...?"

"Of course he is." And there was a tone that brooked no argument. The lead soldier was relieved.

"Well, that's good. I'll report back once the interference clears."

"Good." Knuckles turned back to Shadow. "Let's see if there are any more of them out there, then get the Chaos Emerald."

"All right," Shadow answered, and after giving a nod to the GUN soldiers, he walked with Knuckles out of the temple.

The wind had died down completely by then, and from their vantage point, they couldn't see any signs of continued fighting. Though there were surely still Black Arms insurgents out there, the temples were all safe, and, coming to the same conclusion without exchanging words, the Mobians made their way for the Chaos Emerald, each following his energy-senses.

Knuckles, especially, was in good spirits, though it showed in a quiet kind of satisfaction. "That wasn't so bad."

"I guess not." A little more walking in silence, and Shadow spoke again. "So what did happen up there?"

"On the space colony?" Knuckles frowned, unconsciously slowing slightly. Shadow matched his pace, listening. "...You were working with Doctor Robotnik then. He had you activate a weapon for him, the Eclipse Cannon. But... then the colony went out of control. It would have crashed into Mobius if you and Sonic hadn't finished off the prototype Ultimate Life Form and used Chaos Control."

Well, there was yet another answer that raised more questions, and more things Shadow didn't quite recognise. Lucky for him Knuckles seemed ready to answer. "Who is Doctor Robotnik?"

"He's some kind of madman. He builds robots, and he's tried to take over the world before." He paused, and Shadow thought he might have been mildly embarrassed. "When we first met after he crashed on my island, he tricked me into thinking Sonic was who I should be fighting." He shook his head.

"And Sonic? What's he like?"

"Sonic? Hm." Knuckles had to pause to think about that one. "He's too fast, never slows down. It's like everything is a game to him." Another pause. "He's a good person, though." In his tone, Shadow heard an added 'even if I have to admit it.' "...You ran into him earlier, didn't you?"

Shadow nodded. "There was a city being attacked, far to the west of here. We met briefly."

The echidna startled. "By those Black Arms?" he asked, Shadow nodding in answer.

"To be honest, it was their leader who sent me here. I ducked out of everything after I found the two Chaos Emeralds there, but he ran across me later." Again, Knuckles seemed mildly surprised by that, but didn't ask further questions: the Emerald was very close. Cresting a rise that might have once been a bridge, worn down and collapsed by the ages, they saw it at last, a red gem resting in the dried-out remains of a pool, balanced perfectly on one point. Shadow remembered the green Emerald doing the same thing when he'd found it in the city, and now remembered that wasn't all that unusual - Chaos Energy did strange things.

The hedgehog went down first, picking up the gem and looking into it, red-tinted reflections looking back at him from every facet. Three Emeralds of seven... almost halfway to the answers he was seeking. Some other half-remembered thoughts rose up; yes, Chaos Energy certainly did a lot of strange things, and he remembered he could make the jewels float around him if he felt like it. Shadow didn't question the knowledge too much; any memories he could get back were as precious, if not more, as the Emeralds themselves. Something did occur to him, though, and he looked up at Knuckles. "You knew it was here before I did."

"I did." A moment of silence passed before Knuckles remembered Shadow had lost his memory and continued. "I'm the guardian of the Master Emerald. I can sense it from a very long way off - it's still safe on Angel Island right now, and I feel it. The same goes for the Chaos Emeralds."

Shadow let the Emerald join the others, merged unused into his own life-energy, and straightened up. "The Black Arms leader wanted me to get all seven and bring them to him."

Knuckles' eyes widened. "After all this, and attacking a city - whatever he wants with them, it can't be good."

"Agreed. I'm still going to look for them... to get them before he does and keep them away from the Black Arms."

"That's a good idea. So, do you have any lead on the next one?"

Shadow thought about that, frowning. At length, he eventually had to shake his head. Knuckles hummed to himself, crossing his arms and looking into the sky, then held a hand out. "Let me borrow the ones you have. I can use them to find the next closet one, if it's in range."

He got a surprised blink for an initial response. Shadow obliged after a moment, handing all three over. Knuckles held them against his chest, eyes closed, expression blank. He furrowed his brow after a few seconds, and, shortly after, opened his eyes and offered the Emeralds back. "It's east-by-northeast, about thirty miles. It's moving, I think; someone must have it."

East-by-northeast. Thirty miles. Shadow nodded and took the Emeralds back. "...Do you think I could do that?"

"What, sense the Emeralds using the others?" Knuckles tilted his head. "...Maybe. If you can channel their energy to do Chaos Control... Just let the Emeralds guide you to the others - they attract each other, and if you can figure out which way the ones you have are pointing, it's pretty easy."

The advice sounded only just a little clearer than mud to Shadow. Clear as milky, carbonated water, perhaps. Still, he nodded. "Thanks, Knuckles. I'd better be on my way."

"We both need to be. I'm going to stay down here until this mess clears up a little - we'll probably meet again before it does. Either way, good luck."

"You, too."

And so they parted ways, Shadow trying to figure out which way the Chaos Energy was 'pointing', otherwise heading east-by-northeast as Knuckles had directed him. He stopped to look back at the ruins at the crest of particularly steep hill, admiring them now that he could get an overall view of them, and even caught sight of Knuckles leaping off an intact tower into a glide.

He really would have to come back once this nonsense was straightened out.