WintersEdge7: Elise is actually quite interestingly complex (despite my small jabs at her xD), but you'd never know it with just one look. Thanks again for reading!

werewolf99: Well thank you! It was received a lot better than I anticipated, so I'm happy to hear that!

Katz4: The 'deep dark secrets' are a reference to a certain conversation later on in 'I Am All of Me', which is my take on Shadow's game. And that trapped badger comment was more of me questioning my weird word choice through Sonic. :P

Plus, who doesn't love a good pun? There's plenty more coming up!

. . .

Ah...I feel like Shadow's part should come first for a few little things, but it doesn't make too relevant of a difference...SO ONWARDS!

We Both Remember

Chapter 9: Memories of Super Powered Teamwork

Waiting for Knuckles and Rouge was so boring.

They were probably wasting time trading blows or swapping spit, and waiting here on a slab of rock entirely surrounded by lava and preventing escape wasn't serving to get my blood pumping. Tails was sitting patiently, but Shadow was just as antsy as I was, even though he was sitting like he was trying to meditate. I was leaning against a rock myself, with my arms latched behind me, and I couldn't resist a rather sinister smirk.

"Taking a page out of Espio's book, eh Shads?"

He somehow managed to glower at me with only one open eye. "I figured there must be some reason as to why he performs the action so often."

"Maybe that's because he's a ninja," I interjected, and I now had his full attention. "Unless, of course, you're going down that path too. You'd be a real shadow in the night!"

Shadow stared at me blankly, and even Tails was giving me a headshake.

…everyone's a critic.

"Anyway, Sonic, I believe there's some info I need from you," Shadow began, and I inwardly groaned as Tails glanced at me curiously. "We were rudely interrupted before."

"Yeah, yeah, I hear ya- can't even have a little fun first," I murmured, stretching and getting comfortable. "Frankly, I don't quite know where to begin…"

"What're you tryna tell him?" Tails mumbled.

"He wants to know what exactly we've been up to, and in exchange he'd tell us his story," I elaborated, starting to stand up. Tails immediately sensed what was coming and moaned sarcastically.

"Oh dear, he's going to dip into the theatrics…"

"Too bad it's not dinner and a show," Shadow remarked, cuing Tails to snicker. I spent a second grimacing before launching full force into my tale.

"If you two comedians would hush for a second, I'll begin," I huffed, perching a foot on a rock. "First and foremost, Eggman seeks to control time, hence why he needed my Chaos Emerald and it's also how Tails, Knuckles, and I ended up tossed here."

"I see," Shadow mused, folding his arms while drumming his fingers. Apparently my story wasn't engaging enough for him...time to turn on the flair!

"But wait, there's more! The fair princess of Soleanna, apparently in possession of something that Eggman desperately needs, is kidnapped! And in fact, her death, predicted the day after we all were thrown forward in time, leads to the future we are currently in."

Shadow's eyes rose curiously, but he didn't elaborate further...which I was grateful for, because I didn't want to share what apparently happened to all of us.

And how Shadow was apparently still alive in this time.

"And if that's not enough, we just recently learned that the guy who's trying to kill me-"

"Okay, what?" Shadow interrupted with some intrigue, leaning forward. "Someone's trying to kill you? I don't remember hiring an assassin..."

I sneered and rolled my eyes. "Oh ha- you're just as hilarious as Knuckles. But no, he was seriously out for my blood, because even though Elise's death results in this future, Silver claimed that I was the cause of all this, which is why he went back in time to try and eliminate me-"

Shadow's eyes suddenly flared with a fire that definitely hadn't been there previously. He practically lunged at me, and Tails was getting ready to pounce on him just in case, but I flipped out of the way and watched him carefully.

"Slow down," he demanded on the spot. "This Silver character… he time travelled?!"

"Yeah, and also tried to kill me," I pointed out. "But I'm not even sure if his misguided rage is even his fault…"

Shadow eyed me up and down, thirsty for more information. "What do you mean?"

"Well, that's because someone told him I brought despair to the world, so he figured that eliminating me was how to fix it." I wasn't sure why he was so riled up, because I was the one on the chopping block, but I merely shrugged. "Silver also wasn't the one who teleported- the guy who was talking to him caused it."

"Tell me more!" Shadow practically roared, and admittedly I inched back. "What'd the blast look like? What did this GUY look like?!"

"Aah, he simply created a giant purple ball of energy with nothing but his two hands and it warped Silver and Blaze to the past!" I exclaimed, now wondering why this was so important. "And the guy who did kinda looked like you but, like, faded or something-"

My eardrums shattered after that.

"MEPHILES!" Shadow howled to the sky, glowing red beyond control. I actually scrambled over to Tails and we grabbed each other to brace for the worst.

Shadow went off on a complete rampage, growling angry things to himself. He swore up a storm and acting as though he was trying to piece something together, but to me it came off as nothing but a furious splurge of words and I couldn't salve anything from it. Eventually I pulled away from Tails and reached for Shadow's shoulders, trying to get him to come out of it.

"Shadow, calm down!" I exclaimed, and just like that, his angry red aura faded. "Who is Mephiles?! And what's YOUR beef with him?"

Shadow was breathing heavily now, and I could sense his mind racing with thoughts and questions and I swear he was going to burst. But he evened himself out and calmed down enough so he could speak and be understood.

"Mephiles…is the one who put me and Rouge here," he explained with distain, and both Tails and I gasped.

Whoa, what?!

"Then that means Mephiles is the source of power that the Master Emerald sensed!" Tails announced.

"He was trapped in a scepter that Eggman had, but Rouge had gone into White Acropolis to get it from him, and then I was dispatched to get her out…but the next morning when we went to the rendezvous point, Eggman was waiting for us, distracted us, and we ended up breaking the specter," he recounted. "And then this…black smog took over my shadow, and when he took Rouge and I to the future, he then must've went to that computer room and was the figure you saw talking to…what was his name? Slider?"

"Silver," I corrected automatically, but Shadow waved it off.

"The point is, when Mephiles stole my shadow and stood in front of me…he knew my name, and he knew OF me, and I'd never seen him before in my life!"

Oh no- here we go again.

"Don't start blindly following him because he happens to know your name," I taunted, and he gave me the deadliest glare I'd ever seen from him. Ever. "Otherwise you might find out he's your cousin or something."

"Shut up, Sonic- I know who I am, and no one's ever going to convince me otherwise," he snapped, and I grew quiet. "Still, he knows me…and if it turns out there's a piece of my memory that's still missing-"

I cut him off with my realization, watching him with wide eyes. "…you're doubting yourself, aren't you?"

He stared at me with desperation in his look. Ever since he got his memories back, he was full of confidence, had high self-esteem, and knew who he was and what he wanted to do with his life, and that's all I could ever ask from him. But now, seeing someone like Mephiles who could throw people around in time for his own ends, it made Shadow confused, and as someone who was always deprived of answers and always needed to know the full story…I could understand why he was so frazzled.

"…yeah," he finally said after a while, gazing forward at nothing. "I guess I am."

I pulled away from Shadow, standing tall and folding my arms. "Well, don't let him get to you that much, because apparently he must've known of me too if he sent Silver to kill me. He IS a time traveler- maybe that's simply how he's so…um, knowing."

The gears were spinning in Shadow's mind, I could tell, yet the words that poured out of his mouth next completely startled me.

"…I need to talk to Silver."

WHAAAAT?!

"Dude, he's trying to KILL me!" I exclaimed frantically, running my fingers through my quills. "He can't be reasoned with-!"

"Like he's going to be any match for me," he mused darkly, clutching his fist. "There has to be a specific reason Mephiles dragged Silver into all of this, and if there's any malicious intent, then Silver's either in danger too or he's a pawn."

I'd be willing to guess pawn.

Shadow faced me gravely and gave a curt nod. "Silver's not going to kill you- especially if I have anything to say about."

Pursing my lips, I folded my arms and stared at the ground. "Yeah, because you never tried to kill me."

"And that was before I realized how much the world needed you," he stated quietly, and I felt my quills stiffen. "The world and your friends need you. You'll leave the world one day, and that's one thing we don't need you to rush into."

I finally broke into a smile, throwing him a wink. "Amen to that, buddy. Just wish I could convince Silver of that, but he was too busy hitting me with a chair."

I swear Shadow was trying to hold in a snicker before Tails sprang to his feet, hovering in the air and pointing in the distance.

"Hey, there's a path forward!" he suddenly cried, and Shadow and I turned to see that some of the lava had lowered and revealed a rocky path ahead. Rouge and Knuckles were flying right at us, flagging us down and giving us the okay that it was fine to progress. I personally was excited, ready to get that emerald and get home.

"Here we go!" I whooped, running down the rock path with Tails over my shoulder. I heard Shadow "hmph" before taking off too, and we followed Knuckles and Rouge's lead to where they had opened the way forward.

"Thank you, Knuckles. I hope it wasn't too much of a hassle?" I asked my red buddy when he landed next to me to make it through the cave. He just grunted and stared forward.

"It was fine; we tried to work quickly," he answered. There was no way that was all there was to it, but I wasn't going to dig around either.

What happens in a cave stays in a cave!

Beyond the cave were a few knobby-looking twisted trees with purple bulbs on them, and not even Tails had a rough estimate of what they could've possibly been. I chose not to question their existence- the inexplicable springs that were on them served to get us across the lava pool, and I was fine with that.

In fact, I actually found that the piles and piles of crates that were situated in the volcano were far more peculiar, but I couldn't even figure out why that was. I simple barreled forward and kicked at a fire lizard, while Shadow swooped up behind a fire bird and used Chaos Snap to snap it out of commission. Tails and Rouge were throwing bombs all around us to help avoid getting ambushed, while Knuckles resorted to underground to dismantle fire worms before they could creep up on us.

We were really starting to get the hang of this!

After blasting through a ridiculously dangerous half pipe that had plumes of fire and lava spewing everywhere, we all made it out relatively unscathed, coming to a grove of those black trees with the purple knobs on them. As we had pushed ourselves nearly to the limit, we all found one each and leaned on them to take a breather, except Shadow, who had that glint in his eye as he stepped a ways forward.

"The Chaos Emerald!" he exclaimed, and suddenly Rouge, Tails, Knuckles, and I were at his side.

Sure enough, the cyan emerald was up in the air, and I had almost expected a fight to break out between Knuckles and Rouge for it, but they appeared to be whispering amongst themselves before Rouge suddenly took to the air.

"I'll get that perfect little beauty," she sang, gliding up to it and admiring its brilliance. "About time we finally found you…"

As she went to reach for the emerald, a dark disturbance suddenly filled the air, and instinctively my quills went rigid. I glanced over to Shadow, who must've sensed the same thing on a larger scale, 'cause he threw himself forward in a last ditch effort to warn Rouge.

"DON'T TOUCH IT-!"

She brushed the emerald lightly with her fingers, which was a huge mistake, because a sudden blast of fire cascaded around the emerald. Rouge shrieked and jumped back, landing in the middle of the group as Shadow stepped to the front protectively. The rest of us took fighting positions too…

…though I felt my heart skip a beat when a ludicrously huge monster emerged out of the lava and roared in our direction.

And it ATE the Chaos Emerald!

"What?!" Rouge exclaimed, looking aghast. "What's this?!"

"It's Iblis, the source of the Flames of Disaster!" Tails cried, recalling one of the pictures from the computer.

That was the thing I supposedly triggered!?

Whatever it was, it snaked out of the lava and hissed at us, protectively keeping the emerald in his clutches. It splashed around in the lake of fire like some kind of dolphin worm, but something about it gave me a dangerous feeling regardless.

And I certainly didn't want anyone getting caught in unexpected crosshairs.

"Leave this to me," I stated, stepping forward and challenging the beast.

"No, I'll take care of this guy," Shadow insisted, moving forward as well.

Psh, not on my watch!

"Come on, this guy is cake! I can handle this myself!"

"You don't know that," Knuckles scoffed, shaking his head.

"It doesn't even have any arms- how hard can it be?!" I asked.

Even Rouge was getting on the debate, her hands laced behind her head. "Well, if you think we're just going to stand here while you boys go play beat 'em up, you've got another thing coming."

Tails was the only one not jumping to the chance of fighting Iblis, instead standing off to the side pondering his options.

"We don't even know its fight patterns, but to be perfectly honest, Sonic and Shadow are the most capable of adapting to anything it throws at them," he explained.

"What?! I'm adaptable!" both Knuckles and Rouge shrieked, and Tails merely shrugged.

"Well, I guess we could distract it if need be-"

Both of them groaned.

"Always the distraction," Knuckles grunted.

"Always bait," Rouge added afterwards with a roll of her eyes.

Always a complainer…

Regardless, I stepped over to Shadow and gave him a serious look, which he returned in full.

"Well Shadow, looks like we've got to team up one more time," I stated, and he nodded sternly.

"It appears so," he murmured.

I held out my hand, smirking in his direction. "Hey, maybe we'll even work in an Atomic Strike-"

"Whatever," Shadow growled curtly, giving my hand a firm shake. "Just do your part, and do it well."

I gave him a lazy two-finger salute and a grin. "Always."

I then whisked off to the left, trying to assess the situation. Iblis definitely had home field advantage, even though Shadow and I had more range on the edges. Homing attacking it mindlessly could also result in an accidental drop into the lava…and I'm rather fond of my quills.

The monster let out another hiss before sending a thousand little burning particles in my direction, so I darted across the rocky platforms in an attempt to avoid getting rained on by the ashes.

"Grah, it's too far to attack…is there any way to draw it in?"

Thus, I did what anyone else would do in this delicate and dangerous situation.

"Yo, fire face!" I shouted, waving my hands frantically. I got its attention at last, but it still remained in the comfortable safety zone of the lava. "It's about to get hot now!"

Tails, Knuckles, and Rouge's groans were so loud that I even heard them, while Shadow, on the other side of the area, snarled at me.

"What are you doing, you blue idiot?!"

"…failing to come up with a better idea?"

No kidding- I'd never felt so scrapped for thought in my life.

"Just be careful, Sonic!" Tails called to me, waving his arms. "Against something that large, you won't have a chance on the soft footholds!"

Wait a minute, soft footholds…?

The platforms I had were few and didn't go very far, but whenever Iblis roared, more came into existence, eventually forming a path that led straight to more solid-looking rocks with purple orbs on them.

And those purple orbs WERE pretty attention-grabbing…

Of course, I didn't know how good this thing's attention span was, but since I was dry for an alternate solution, I was going with that! I whisked myself over the platforms and wove my way around the fire rocks the creature was sending at me, eventually reaching one of the purple orbs and performed an axel kick on it.

"Okay, flame breath! Get a good look at THIS! …and also consider a breath mint!"

The sound it made after that made my ears press flatly to my head, but I also took it as a cue to careen out of the way. Iblis sprang out of the lava and crashed down onto the purple orb like his life depended on it. It struggled for a bit, but eventually I think it got stuck, exposing a nice little green spot on its head that was begging me to spin dash it.

"Here I come!"

As soon as my quills plowed into it, it hissed painfully and flung itself back into the lava. Its tail had hit the platform I landed on though, so the next thing I knew, I was soaring across the area, watching Shadow skate into action from above

"That's how we do it!" I heard him say, making excellent ground across the platforms. "All right monster, you're going to hand over that Chaos Emerald whether you like it or not! Even if we have to pry it from your lifeless corpse!"

He always did have a flair for the dramatic…

I landed almost back over where Tails, Knuckles, and Rouge were waiting, nearly dangling over the edge, but I flipped myself to my feet just in time and got the chance to watch Shadow at work. He kept warping his way up to the purple orb, narrowly avoiding missing the monster crush the footholds he stepped on. It even sent some fire rocks his way, but Shadow put up a Chaos Blast to defend.

"You brought this upon yourself!" he bellowed, finally reaching an orb. He punched at it intermittently, and Iblis almost immediately threw himself at it. Shadow warped a good distance away, following up by raising his hand to the sky and casting a Chaos Spear at the monster's weak point.

"All right Shads!" I called, but I didn't think he heard me, considering that the monster was throwing a temper tantrum and sent Shadow into the air like it did to me. He did a few spirals in the air before getting his act together and teleporting next to me.

"This thing is annoying," Shadow grunted, staring intently at the lava.

"I know…but hey, it can't focus on both of us at once," I suggested, suddenly getting an idea. "It's almost just like fighting the Final Hazard!"

"One keeps it at bay, and the other goes in for the kill." He had started to agree with me, but his eyes suddenly flicked to the right and he panicked. "Ack, jump-!"

Iblis would've totally flattened us had we not moved, and I barely had the reaction to duck away from the slew of rocks the remains of the foothold created. Just as I pulled out of my defensive mode, it tossed back its head and screeched, causing more rocks to fall and break more of the footholds.

Ugh, great…

"Sonic, keep it occupied!" Shadow barked abruptly, darting around plumes of fire. "And get to the orb if you can! I'll do the same and see if I can't wear it down in the process!"

"Can do!" I chimed back, taking to the middle of the area. I then coughed and started break dancing, which could grab anyone's attention. I must've been somewhat successful because it started throwing rocks at me, but with the momentum of my sweeping moves, I managed to deflect them with my well-timed kicks.

And who said dancing couldn't be deadly?

Apparently Shadow wasn't having much luck either, because I saw Rouge suddenly rise in the air with a disappointed look on her face.

"You guys are so doing it wrong. Come on, Foxy Boy; let's show them how it's done!"

She nodded toward Tails, who quickly twirled his namesakes and followed after her. "All right, only since they seem to be struggling-"

"We are not!" Shadow and I asserted, but even Knuckles was on their side when he maneuvered forward and forced his fists into the ground, causing even more rocks to fall from on high and make some new footholds for us.

"Here's the plan," he asserted, taking charge. "Rouge and Tails will prevent that thing from destroying your way forward, while I ensure you a path. Then, you two hit those orb things and finish the job!"

"If I charge up my Chaos Spear long enough, I should be able to finish it in one hit," Shadow mused as he turned to me. "But in that case, I'll require some cover-"

"Consider yourself covered!" I gave him a thumbs up, before directing my attention at the others. "All right, guys! This is for the Chaos Emerald!"

"For the beautiful gem!" cried Rouge as she flew forward.

"For home and to save the future!" exclaimed Tails, sticking close by her.

"For my fragile sanity," grunted Knuckles, marching away with a grumpy look.

Yeesh, don't forget those priorities there, Knux.

I traded a look with Shadow before we got moving too, everyone doing their part and taking action. As Iblis got ready for another attack on us, Tails and Rouge were quick to take it by storm first, raining a plethora of bombs down upon it, and it was so enveloped by the explosions that I think it nearly went insane.

"RAAAAWRGH!"

Yeah, that thing was NOT happy.

With Shadow, we were working on staying behind Knuckles who was practically carving a path straight to the orbs for us, which sped up the process considerably. The only issue was that Rouge and Tails' attacks couldn't hold up forever, so Iblis eventually broke free of their onslaught and came barreling at us.

"Crud!" I gaped, somehow frozen to the spot as that huge lava worm squirmed its way into the air with the desire to crush us. Thankfully, Knuckles was fast to react, grabbing one of the footholds behind us, lifting it over his head, and chucking it into Iblis. Needless to say, it screeched and careened back into the lava, and I was impressed.

I breezed by Shadow who was far too busy gaping like a fish, letting out a cheer as I made my way to Knuckles and gave him a high five. "Knuckles, that was NICE!"

"Yeah, well, maybe now I'll be taken a little more seriously," Knuckles bragged to me, and I was too glad to be alive to even throw a snide comment his way. "Anyway, hurry up and hit those orbs! Who knows when it'll be back!"

"Right," Shadow and I agreed, heading over the orbs. I rushed over to the nearest one and homed in on it repeatedly, taking Shadow's method from before and making it as bright as possible.

"Come and get some, fire fiend!" I cried, sticking my tongue out towards wherever the monster happened to be lurking. I heard Shadow face palm and I gave him a look. "What? I'm running out of insults."

Tails, Rouge, and Knuckles suddenly started moving out of the way when Iblis leapt out of the lava and started diving toward the orb I lit up.

"Can't catch me!" I called, back flipping away just as the orb was busted to pieces. Its mandibles got stuck on the platform once more, putting its point of weakness out on display. Shadow cast his hand down with a grunt, and an electrically charged bolt of energy shot forward and drove right into the point, making Iblis recoil and fall backwards beneath the molten rock.

"Heh, what's wrong?" I derided, smirking. "Is that size just for show?"

I continued to make teasing gestures, but the silence was thick, and I could tell we were all still on edge. Rouge hovered down to the edge of the platform, trying to spot the creature in the lava.

"Did you guys…get it?" she questioned quietly, but I wasn't even entirely sure.

"It's certainly not as tough as it looks," Shadow susurrated.

"Especially if Knuckles could knock it out like that!" Tails laughed, with Knuckles looking proud of himself afterwards. However, I felt my quills bristle, and I swore quietly under my breath, turning back to the lava myself. Where it had once been perfectly still, it was rippling slightly, becoming more and more violent with every passing second.

"It's not dead…!" I trailed slowly, getting louder with each syllable.

All heads whisked down to face the lava, but it didn't last long since Knuckles, Rouge, and Tails instantly started flying away from the immediate threat, and Shadow and I were quick to hurry after them on foot.

I'm NEVER cut any slack…!

"I hate monsters that never know when to quit," growled Knuckles, breaking to a stop and raising his fists at it.

"Regardless, it can't last much longer…" Shadow began, keeping an intent eye on the creature. "…though I doubt it'll fall for the same trick again."

Then I guess it was time for the big guns!

My gaze shifted over to Shadow and I broke out into a grin. "Well, I may have a pretty awesome suggestion-"

"Fine," Shadow agreed tersely, and I threw my fist into the air excitedly

"YES! Here we go!" I jumped to the center of our group and began giving demands. "Knuckles! I need you to form a circle of platforms around the monster! Can you do that?"

"Does it have to be a circle? I can do you one better and make a dodecahedron-"

"No, circle! Circle!" I insisted, directing my attention at Tails and Rouge now. "You two! Throw bombs at that thing and keep it in one spot so Knuckles can work his way around it, m'kay?"

"Roger!" they both cried, taking off. I then turned to Shadow and beamed at him.

"Ready to rock and roll, Shadow?"

He tossed his head back and groaned. "If it'll make you happy."

The furious monster was no match for the super power of teamwork, with Tails and Rouge working in perfect sync to make their way around Iblis' projectile attacks. Standing their ground against the vigorous assault, they produced their bombs and let out a valiant shout as they returned fire to the creature. On opposite sides of the fiend, it had nowhere to go, giving Knuckles plenty of time to do his part.

And dude, Knuckles was awesome, hitting the ground in a specific rhythm. I watched with glee as my idea came to life, the circle of platforms slowly becoming a reality. He worked like a machine, making precise movements and decisions and there wasn't a single thing I could fault him for.

Except maybe his speed.

"Come on Knuckles!" Tails had shouted from the air, sounding impatient.

"The kid's right, Knuckie! We can't go on like this forever!" Rouge threw in too, as Knuckles sneered and threw both his fists into the ground.

"I'd like to see one of you have the ability to punch the ground with enough force to knock down even one stalactite at a time!"

"You're all doing fine!" I assured, stretched and preparing for the big moment. "Just a little more…!"

Knuckles released a hearty roar into the air as he created one final platform, finishing the ring and capturing the monster in the middle. With a relieved sigh, Rouge and Tails took their exit, and I threw a nod in Shadow's direction.

"Let's do it to it, Shadow!"

I started off running the circle, and when a blue funnel slowly began to take shape, Shadow joined in too, making it bigger, darker, and much more threatening. Eventually even we faded away into the expansive blur of the whirlwind, but the best was still yet to come. Our little hurricane was so strong and forceful that it quite literally pulled Iblis straight out of the lava, cawing against its will as it struggled in our combined wind.

"It's dazed from the impact!" Tails cried. "Now's their chance!"

"Now you guys! Now!" chimed Knuckles and Rouge.

The static in the air was crazy, but also expected, considering the sheer amount of force and power we'd built up the last time we performed this maneuver. Our enemies were obliterated in a combination of electricity and the strikes from our quills, and it was so cool that I named it.

Atomic Strike!

I was totally dreaming up how cool it would look when Shadow had barked out my name, giving me a fierce gaze that I knew didn't hold anything good behind it.

"If we do this wrong, we're going to get tossed into the lava!"

I fell soundless as my mind wrapped around what he proposed. Last time, even though the move was successful for crying out loud, we'd still been tossed out of the funnel very forcefully, with me nearly getting impaled on a rock and Shadow almost falling into a pool of alien goo-

I DIDN'T ACCOUNT FOR THE KICKBACK…!

With the look Shadow was giving me, he'd been aware of this fact far before me, but we had already gone this far, and there was a slim chance that everything would be fine…

I was just going to have to take that chance.

I braced myself and stared forward, feeling my fist clench somewhat nervously. "Well…no going back now."

I could feel how ticked Shadow was, but we gave each other firm nods before launching ourselves toward our enemy. We worked ourselves into separated orbits, making what looked like an atom, cycling around Iblis as it snarled at us. Spinning it around to get the weak point in prime position to attack, we traded one final glance before plowing into it simultaneously, and with the way it howled, I knew it was done for.

"They did it! They DID it!" Rouge exclaimed disbelievingly.

Just as I feared though, the whirlwind lost its stability, and with the expulsion of power we'd been building up, the two of us and Iblis went flying in three separate directions. It hacked up the Chaos Emerald before plummeting back into the lava, and suddenly, my life mattered not- I needed to get that Chaos Emerald.

Shadow was too far from it, and not in an optimal position to catch it either. It was currently below me, so I braced myself and tucked my arms by my side, reducing the drag and letting myself fall just a little faster.

Come on…!

My fingers splayed out as I desperately reached for the shimmering cyan gem, being so close I could just barely brush it with my fingertips, but it wasn't enough. I refused to give up, pushing myself just that much farther and reaching out with my other hand. I manage to tip it a little closer to me, allowing me to pull it into my grasp and into my possession.

"Ha ha!" I exclaimed, except now I was too low to throw myself to a platform. "…Noooooo-!"

I suddenly stopped in midair, nearly dropping the emerald with the abrupt impact, and just as I registered what had happened, I found Tails had hooked his hands under my arms and winked at me, and once again I found myself in his debt. Knuckles flew in a few moments later to help lessen Tails' burden.

"You really need to quit falling everywhere when you know you can't fly," he remarked, and I just relaxed in their grasp.

"Thanks guys…" I murmured, suddenly feeling a wave of exhaustion wash over me. I did manage to roll my head to face Shadow, who was in Rouge's care and looking painstakingly freaked out about something. I smirked and showed him the Chaos Emerald, and relief washed over his face. "…no problem!"

Once we were all back on the ground with our lives intact, Tails, Knuckles, and Rouge were suddenly huddled up and drowning in reprieve. They were whooping and hollering, and I couldn't help but get caught up in it too.

The feeling was contagious!

"We did it! We did it!" Rouge giggled, smothering Tails and Knuckles in a combined hug of excitement. "We can go home now!"

"We can get out of this future!" added Knuckles, pumping a fist.

"And we can hopefully set things right too!" agreed Tails.

At least their priorities were straight now!

More than ready to head back myself, I waltzed up with the emerald spinning around on my finger, flashing a grin at the trio of celebrators.

"Okay, calm down…!" I laughed, knowing I was swept in it too. "I know this is the moment we've all been waiting for, but we need to get a grip!"

They just grinned deviously at me before pulling me in too, and suddenly we were spinning in an overly excited circle. I guess I never realized just how homesick we all were after spending no more than a day in such a cruddy future-!

"…Sonic," Shadow cut in, and our little party went south in that moment alone. I tried to spread the joy to him too, but he was so gravely seriously that not even I could maintain a perfect grin. "If we're going to do this, I need to know the extent of your expertise with this."

I removed myself from the ground and made my way over to Shadow, feeling incredibly apprehensive. I looked to the emerald for a little assurance. "…okay."

"Now tell me," he began, putting his fingers to his head. "What exactly happened when you initiated Chaos Control the first time- what you were doing, how you were standing, and especially what was going on through your head."

Frick.

I'd only initiated it twice, once to get to the Lava Shelter and that first time, which was a freak accident. Admittedly, I've tried doing it again, but I've always been so apprehensive that I'd do something wrong that I never went all the way through with it. Shadow's fears weren't unfounded either- I knew I was the only hope in getting my friends and myself back to our proper timeline, but if I was unable to, then we were doomed.

And that first time! I may have been extra hyperaware at the time, but everything was happening so fast and my life was at stake and even attempting a Chaos Control was quite literally my last chance at survival, and I really hadn't anticipated that it'd work.

So…I really didn't know what to tell Shadow.

"I…don't remember all that clearly-"

"WHAT?!"

He took it a lot less well than I'd hoped.

"Okay, wait, WAIT!" I stuttered, putting my hands up defensively. "I don't remember the stance or what I was doing, or anything like that, but you have to remember that I also had a fake Chaos Emerald at the time-"

"Yes, I do remember that, and if that's true AND you can cause a Chaos Control, then using a real Chaos Emerald could potentially increase your ability tenfold if used improperly," he elaborated, and I winced a little. "…all I'm saying is that if someone inexperienced attempts this-"

"I'm not inexperienced!" I exclaimed, feeling betrayed by the accusation. Suddenly everyone was staring at me for my outburst, and I felt ridiculously uncomfortable. There was a lot of pressure resting on me, and usually I'd just shrug it off, but with so many of my friends' lives at stake, I really didn't want to be the one to screw it up. Again. "…I'm just nervous."

"I'm not mad or anything, Sonic," Shadow stated evenly enough. "I believe you can do it; I just want to ensure that it's done correctly. We could either end up back in the wrong time or stay stuck in this time, just in a different area."

"And we REALLY don't want to see more of this place," Knuckles threw in obstinately, and I was secretly thankful that Rouge reprimanded him for it. Shadow ignored the display and turned back to me.

"That's why your thought process at the time you used Chaos Control is so important, because that mind set is what'll allow you to tap into the ability," he continued. "It's just like going Super- your thoughts are turned into power, but through just one emerald, and you're also combining that power with mine."

Yeah…I'll just…do that…

I rubbed the back of my head nervously. "…no problem!"

"Um, not to interrupt, but maybe Knuckles can help," Tails suggested, motioning to Knuckles. He was currently busy leering at Rouge, so Tails snapped his fingers and broke the two out of their trance. "…anyway, I'd offer a few points, but I've only been in contact with and absorbed the energy- I've never actually used it, nor do I think I can."

"But while I can use a few abilities and absorb the energy, it's nowhere near to the extent of you two," Knuckles pointed out. "So…I can't really help either."

Rouge simply gave a shrug. "I just like the sheen and color of the Chaos Emeralds."

We're screwed.

"Well, if you really gotta know, I was totally near death at the time and trying not to completely wig out," I finally explained, scratching my ear absentmindedly. I really didn't want to talk about this… "…but really, I was thinking more about my friends on the ARK at the time, cuz I was really worried about how they were doing after witnessing…that."

"Sonic…" Tails frowned, as if he hadn't realized something until now. I threw him a small grin, both to reassure him and myself.

"I wanted to be with them more than anything at that moment right there and then…and the next thing I knew, I had landed next to Knuckles, and I told him to go see how Tails and Amy were doing while I, uh, went to stop you…?"

Awkward.

"Well, that does paint a better picture," Shadow said at last, closing his eyes thoughtfully. "I'm going to assume that you ended up by Knuckles instead of Tails and Amy because of the fact it was a fake emerald rather than your inexperience."

I blinked and glanced around. "That's…a good thing, right?"

"Yes," he grumbled, sounding annoyed. "Now, what I want you to do is not only imagine where you want to go, but also when. You have to focus on that thought and that thought alone in order to turn it into power. I know you can do that much knowing how many times you've gone Super…"

I nodded, knowing exactly where I wanted to go. "I want nothing more to go to the morning of the day that Elise was supposed to die and stop that, and this future, from happening."

"Okay," he finalized, holding out his hand. When nothing happened, we all sort of stared awkwardly...until Rouge finally grumbled and passed off the green emerald to Shadow. While that was happening, I found myself staring into my own emerald. I was still nervous about ripping a hole into space-time, but now wasn't the time to begin doubt myself.

It was never time for that.

Shadow eventually coaxed me out of my thoughts with his ruby gaze. "…are you ready?"

…was I? Was I really ready to do something so risky and dangerous?

…and then I realized that I had to be.

Finally, I mustered up enough moxie to match his gaze and nod. "Ready any time."

Rouge was clasping her hands together and watching intently as Shadow and I raised the emeralds, crossing our wrists with the emerald millimeters apart. I did just as Shadow asked and focus on opening a way to the Day of Disaster…the day that Elise was destined to die.

And I needed to stop that from happening, more than anything.

"Chaos…" we chanted simultaneously, raising our wrists even higher. "…CONTROL!"

We stood solid as small bursts of power expelled from the emeralds, standing our ground while the likes of Tails and Knuckles found themselves shielding each other from the brightness. I really didn't know what I was supposed to expect, but I kept my mind steeled on the thought of the Day of Disaster, and let it stray for nothing.

My emerald was pulsing in rhythm with my heart beat, pumping the energy through my arm and feeling it flow through my whole body. It was calming, telling me to remain relaxed, and the next thing I knew, my thoughts had fused with Shadow's demonstrating that for once, we were on the same wavelength…

And this swooping boom rang out and a big purple hole tore into existence above our head.

I gave it a ten for presentation.

The very moment that the portal was stable, all my thoughts changed to Elise, and saving her life became my new number one priority. There wasn't a moment to lose- I was the first to careen into the portal, with the princess of Soleanna at the forefront of my mind. I heard Tails and Knuckles' footsteps behind me, so I knew they followed…

There was just no guarantee as to where they were following me to.

Good gosh, how many games and/or adaptions can I reference in one chapter? Sheesh. :P

You know, if the group had teleported to the day BEFORE the Day of Disaster, they could've: A) stopped the Scepter of Darkness from breaking thus avoiding Mephiles' escape, and B) prevented Elise from being taken to White Acropolis! ...but that would've resulted in two of each of them, so maybe not.