Shadow turned away and began walking to the door. Tails looked at the Commander strangely and then ran to catch up. Shadow mostly ignored his companion as he skated over to Emerald Town. Tails kept up best he could, but he was getting the feeling that Shadow did not want him there.

Tails shouted out ahead as the pair went down the tree lined streets of Emerald Town. "Hey, Shadow, why don't you let me go ahead and check things out. Then we can come up with a plan."

Shadow paused and turned around to look back at the fox and nodded.

Tails was caught off guard. If he had suggested to Sonic that they slow down, his suggestion would have been ignored. He took off for the air. Cream's house was close. Sure enough there were Eggman mechs there. Egg Fighters by the look of them. They were just milling about as if they were waiting for something. Tails then saw something in the distance. There was a shaking bush. It was beyond the interest of the Egg Fighters.

Tails landed quietly and then spread the bushes apart. He looked down to see a little blue creature with a bow tie. Cheese! Tails leaned in and picked the little guy up. Cheese was not in any mood to be messed with and shot Tails a dirty look.

Cream had evidently sent Cheese away to get help or something. Cheese must not have been clear on what he was supposed to do, and basically had refused to leave Cream if that meant hiding in this bush.

Tails clutched Cheese to his chest while the Chao crossed its arms without protesting. Tails then flew back to where Shadow was waiting.

"So what did you find?" asked Shadow.

"I found the house and the Egg Fighters around it. They are all camped out around the house, but they are not being real careful. I think that we could surprise them from the air. I also found Cheese," said Tails.

The Chao's attitude instantly changed when it saw Shadow. It leaped out of Tails' arms and flew over to the dark hedgehog and proceeded to nuzzle his chest, making cooing sounds. Shadow did not know how to react to that and just stood looking at Tails.

"Do you know Cheese from somewhere?" asked the fox.

"We met once in the Doctor's castle," said Shadow, adjusting his gaze to look down at the Chao. It was obliviously happy. Cheese began pulling the arm of Shadow to no effect, but it was clear that he wanted Shadow to go to Cream's house.

"Can you get me to the roof?" asked Shadow.

Tails nodded.

The Egg Fighters seemed pretty docile despite their gear. They had evidently drawn easy duty. Then something flew across the setting sun. The Egg Fighters turned to the horizon to see what it was. By then it was too late.

The Fighters fell over in heaps, and little animals began blinking their eyes at their new freedom. In the middle of the yard was Shadow in a landing pose from his chaos control. It was much stronger with that chaos emerald in his possession and the Fighters had never really seen the whirlwind that had enveloped them.

Tails and Cheese descended from the roof and the three approached the front door of the Rabbit house. It was now almost dark and the twilight made the house look more intimidating that it would have looked in the daytime. Even its friendly thatch roof seemed to stare down on them. Cheese sped ahead and began to pull at the door.

Shadow approached the door and opened the handle. It was not locked. He swung it wide and he could see something that he had not intended to see. In the room were Vanilla and Cream tied up and sitting on the floor. The one standing guard over them was a grey robot with a round head and a star like crest in the front.

"Emeril?" asked the hedgehog before the robot unleashed laser fire at him. Shadow tried to catch his feet. He could hear Tails coming in behind him.

"No, Shadow. That's Gemeril, he was rebuilt by Eggman. But don't worry, he's perfectly safe without chaos emeralds," said the fox.

"Then why is he firing at me?" asked Shadow.

"He probably just was jumpy about all the Eggman's robots," said Tails. "Isn't that right, Gemeril?"

"Tails, there is no one else here. He has to be the one holding them prisoner," said Shadow.

"No, that's impossible," said Tails as he watched Gemeril aim his arm cannon right for Tails himself.

The bolt fired and Tails realized his error, but not in time to escape the shot. He felt a weight thrust into him suddenly and he bounced on the floor. He looked around to see Shadow on all fours, recovering from something.

"Get him, Cheese," sputtered Shadow, pointing at Gemeril.

Cheese launched into an attack. For the most part it was not effecting Gemeril, but the robot was having to direct his attention at the Chao like an elephant swatting at a fly that he can't quite reach.

Shadow got up grabbing his arm. In that arm was the yellow chaos emerald. This was his chance while the Chao had him distracted.

"Chaos Control," he said. He burst into Gemeril, severing his head and left arm. The robot powered down at the feet of a stunned Vanilla and Cream.

Cheese immediately flew to Cream's aid and tugged at her ropes. Tails began to untie them as Shadow remained kneeling on the floor. The rabbits got free. Cream ran over to Shadow and the black hedgehog turned his head to look at her.

"Mr. Shadow?" asked Cream.

Shadow nodded.

"Did you have to do that?" asked Cream.

Shadow nodded again.

"I forgive you, Mr. Shadow," said Cream as she began tearing up.

"Don't cry Cream, I fixed him once before. I can do it again. I'll start right now," said Tails. He picked up Gemeril's arm to see what kinds of tools he would need.

"Why did they take us?" asked Vanilla the Rabbit.

"We don't know. It could be because you're Sonic's friends or it could be that they wanted Gemeril. Or it could be some other reason that we haven't figured out yet," said Tails.

"Why did Gemeril turn on us?" asked Vanilla, still a bit rattled.

"Maybe they used his old Eggman programming against us," said Tails. He was sorting out wire connections in his mind.

"Tails, you stay here with them. I will complete the mission. When I get back, we should move them to the GUN base for safety," said Shadow.

"Are you sure you are up for it, Mr. Shadow?" said Cream. "You look hurt."

"I have to complete the mission. Do not stand in my way," said Shadow.

"Shadow, there's no telling what sort of mess could be there at Amy's house. You saw the Egg Fighters here. We've seen Bark and Gemeril fight against us. I don't think you should take that kind of risk," said Tails.

Shadow straightened up. "I'm fine. I'll be back." With that he skated out the door leaving Tails to repair Gemeril in the company of the two rabbits.

"I don't like this," said Tails to the other two. Should he really stay here? The robots might be back and someone had to defend Cream and Vanilla since Gemeril could not really do that at this point.

"Cheese, follow Mr. Shadow," said Cream. The little Chao headed out the door and toward where he sensed the chaos emerald Shadow had in his possession.