Shadow had found a second chaos emerald.

But someone had beaten him to it.

Shadow gritted his teeth. "Give it to me." He said quietly.

Dark Maria grinned. "Never. If you want it, Shadow…

…You'll have to kill me." She hissed, smiling. "Or I'll kill you."

Shadow shook his head. "I…can't." He growled, closing his eyes. When he opened them again, his face was grim. "But I promised Maria…that I would help Sonic and his friends. And I need to get back to my world in order to do that. So I…will do whatever I must to get back." His voice hinted slightly at remorse or regret.

Dark Maria smiled. Her smile made Shadow sick; it wasn't the beautiful, friendly smile he was used to seeing from Maria, but a twisted, demonic smile. It disgraced the Maria he knew. "Very well, Shadow." She said, gripping the chaos emerald in one hand and Ark's spear in the other.

As she lunged, Shadow leaped backwards, landing gracefully. He shook his head. "Don't do this. You can't win. Please…don't make me do this." But the girl kept at it, thrusting the spear at Shadow while the hedgehog continued to dodge her futile attacks, a look of anguish on his face. He took another step backwards…

…And bumped into Mephiles, who responded by kicking Shadow hard in the back, causing the black hedgehog to fall to his knees. Mephiles chuckled, turning away and disappearing in a purple haze, but not before whispering, "Finish him."

Shadow looked up just in time to see Dark Maria thrust the spear at him. He rolled painfully onto his side, quickly picking himself up again. He then leaped forwards, landing Maria's doppelganger a blow to the chest. She staggered backwards, falling to the ground. Shadow advanced on his foe, standing over her. He clutched his chaos emerald tightly. "Chaos…sp…"

He couldn't do it. He couldn't. Not to her. Not to Maria.

He closed his eyes, thinking hard. He knew what he had to do…but he didn't want to do it. He…just couldn't. Long moments slipped by. Finally, he opened his eyes again, coming to a decision. This wasn't Maria. Not the Maria he knew. He whispered, "Forgive me…" And then launched the chaos spears at her. The blows were not fatal, but would render her incapable of pursuing him. His hand shook as he took the chaos emerald from her, and a tear splashed onto her dress. "Forgive me…" He repeated, turning away.

Now he could return to Sonic and the others. And hopefully…he wasn't too late.

Charmy stared up at the sky, the moonlight reflected in his eyes.

So much had happened in such a short time. Scythe ran off, Spark was missing, Sonic was apparently still alive…

…But was Espio?

No matter how happy everyone else was about Sonic not being dead…Charmy couldn't be. He could never be happy with Espio gone. He closed his eyes, remembering the lyrics to a song he never used to pay much attention to.

…Now don't it always seem to go

That you don't know what you've got, till it's gone…

Tears sprang up in the little bee's eyes. He had never really realized how much he cared for Espio, how good of a friend he was…until he was gone. And now that he was gone…now he could never tell Espio.

He paused suddenly, hearing a strange, low whistle. As the seconds dragged by, the whistling sound grew higher, and louder, until it was almost a screech. He looked around him, seeing nothing out of the ordinary.

And then he looked up.

He uttered a high-pitched squeal of terror, eyes wild. For now he knew what that whistling sound was.

A missile.

Charmy's wings were beating the air at impossible speeds as he flitted about. "WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WE'VE GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE! NOW!" He screamed. He then threw himself to the ground as the first missile struck, causing a devastating explosion.

By now, everyone was awake, running in frenzied terror as missiles struck all around them, wreaking havoc everywhere, destroying the place that Amy and the others had decided to set up camp, because of its safe location.

But it turned out it wasn't safe enough.

Silver, Mist, Knuckles and Sass leaped into action, trying to destroy the rain of missiles before they reached the camp, while Rainjha, Alex, Vector and Ark started directing the younger ones to a safe distance.

"Hurry! Get moving!" Rainjha shouted, half-pushing Tails along. The two-tailed fox protested. "But where are we going?" He asked, voice high and worried.

Rainjha thought for a moment. "We're going to Cream's house. That's where Rouge, Vanilla and Cream are…and one of the girls, I think. The rest of us will meet up with them." She murmured, sounding distracted. And in fact she was; her mind was reeling with questions. How did Eggman find this place? Where are Spark and Scythe? Are they okay? She shook her head, trying to clear her mind, though unsuccessfully.

While Rainjha herded Tails, Ark picked up Vena in his arms and ran with her while Daggeron followed behind. Alex, Amy and Atore were close behind with Tinga, and Vector was with Charmy at the back of the group.

They stopped, however, when Charmy did a 180 in midair and shot in the opposite direction, back into the warzone.

Vector let out a startled shout. "Charmy! What are you doing? Get back here!" He shouted, following the bee. But his friend refused to stop. He appeared to be…looking for something.

And then he found it.

Espio.

The little be had grabbed ahold of the chameleon and was struggling to pull him along. Tears glistened in his eyes. "We can't leave him here! We can't!" He wailed, struggling harder to pull his friend away from the explosions all around them.

Vector nodded, understanding. "I…yeah." He mumbled, unable to say anything else. Since Espio…since he was gone, neither had been able to say much. He just picked up Espio, and rushed off with Charmy.

While everyone ran to a safe distance, Silver strained to use his telekinetic powers to hold off the missiles, while Sass and Knuckles attacked them directly using physical force. Mist was trying to use his manipulation of metal to send them flying off course.

They were weakening, though; beads of sweat had formed on Silver's face as he tried to keep the missiles at bay, and his legs almost gave out on him a few times. Both Sass and Knuckles had almost gotten killed by missiles, and it was only with the help of each other that the two survived.

Everyone was at a safe distance now. Vector called out to the four fighters, indicating that they could come now. Mist felt dazed and tired, but was still able to run to the group. Silver had started running when he tripped over his feet, landing hard on the ground. He tried to rise, but found that his strength was completely depleted; he could hardly move. He felt someone's hand grip his, pulling him to his feet. He looked tiredly to see Sass supporting him, with Knuckles jogging just behind them.

Now, everyone just stared in shocked silence as the missiles, now no longer restrained, obliterated the campsite, crashing into the ground and turning it into rubble. Mist suddenly felt sick. He turned around. "Did…you guys see Rainbow or Otto get out of there?" He asked, voice barely over a whisper. He had no idea that the two had run off together in search of their beloved friend.

Amy's eyes widened. "N-no…they can't…" Her knees were shaking. Suddenly, she let out a cry of despair. "SONIC!" She screamed, running back towards the wreckage. Missiles were still striking, sending up mini-explosions and rubble. But Amy had to find Sonic…she had to. She heard Silver's shout, telling her to stop, but she didn't listen. She just kept running.

Until someone grabbed her arm and hauled her back roughly. She turned around, fury in her eyes, to see who dared stop her, and found herself staring at Atore. He shook his head. "I'm…sorry, Amy."

She was about to scream at him when Silver backed him up. "He's right. If Sonic's in there…we'll have to wait until the missiles stop. The last thing we need is someone else dead. Please, Amy." He said softly, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Amy's face was wet with tears. She buried her face against Silver's chest, crying quietly. Silver gently put an arm around her, trying to soothe the grieving girl.

After what seemed like days, the rain of missiles finally stopped. All that remained of what had been their camp was rubble, blackened earth and craters where the missiles struck. Smoke and haze billowed all around. Mist fell to his knees at the pitiful sight. Eggman was ruthless in his attack. He had meant to wipe them all out with one single devastating blow. And now…Sonic and Espio were lost somewhere in what remained of their camp, alive or not.

Amy slowly took a few steps forward, part of her not wanting to find Sonic.

And then she froze.

Someone was coming out.

She squinted, trying to determine who could have possibly survived the attack. Was it Otto, or Rainbow? Or Spark? As she watched, the outline of the figure became clearer. She gasped when the smoke cleared, revealing the stranger.

It was Shadow.

And in his arms was Sonic.

Amy's eyes widened. "Shadow…but how?" She asked in surprise.

Shadow held up the two emeralds silently. Then he nodded. "We should get to someplace safe. Now." He growled. Amy was glad that he had taken charge.

Suddenly, Tails froze. "Hold on." He said, staring at the scanner. A faint blip appeared on the screen. He looked up. "The last of Eggman's prisoners is that way." He said, pointing. Then he stopped. "No…there are two of the girls here!" He glanced back at Rainjha. "I think we've found the one you, Spark and Scythe went after." He looked at everyone. "Some of us should go get them…the rest of us can go to Cream's house." Tails announced.

Silver stepped forwards. "I'll go." He said softly. He was followed by Mist, Alex, Knuckles and Sass. Silver nodded. "We'll meet you guys at Cream's house." He said softly, nodding to the others as he set off.

A purple mouse opened her eyes…one that once had been human. Now, after…the incident, she had been turned into this. She was trapped inside some kind of cage at the moment. She glared, tail lashing. Honestly, she didn't really mind the tail; it felt odd, yes, but it didn't really bother her. It…kind of gave her better balance.

And she had already figured out that she had sharper senses; her sense of smell was highly elevated, as was her hearing and sight. Though it seemed that her sense of touch had been somewhat dulled; she could barely feel the pain from the wounds on her arms and legs. It was slightly unnerving.

She'd been here for almost a week now. At first, she just kind of sat there, not sure what to do; she was a little afraid, considering some creepy guy kept coming in and doing weird tests on her…though at the same time she was angry and determined to get out.

Having little else to do, she started testing the limits of her new form, to see how she would fare should she escape. And already she had learned something intriguing. She could turn invisible. Which struck her as odd; mice…or whatever she was…couldn't turn invisible. And there was something else: She could generate sound waves with destructive properties; the first cage she had been in had shattered when she bombarded it with sound. So obviously this is either a crazy dream, or some insane world where all the laws of science don't apply. She thought.

Her thoughts were caught short when she heard a noise.

Footsteps. Two sets of footsteps. And they were coming her way.

She glared. It's probably that freaky fat guy again. She thought, cracking her knuckles.

So it was a huge surprise when she saw a giant crocodile crash the door down. She was immensely strong. Ultra blinked. "Who are you and what do you want with me." She growled, trying to sound intimidating…though not really succeeding.

The crocodile glared back. "I'm Gazer. I used to be human…I think you were, too. I remember seeing you when that guy changed us. Do you want me to help you, or not?" She asked.

Ultra nodded slowly. Finally, she said, "Yes." Gazer then responded by ramming her shoulder into the thick glass wall at the front of the cage. At first, only a hairline crack appeared. But that crack soon grew, spreading all over until finally it shattered. The two girls then turned around…and almost ran into a dozen or so robots.

An hour ago

Otto glanced at Rainbow. "Do you think…" He stopped, a sad look on his face. Rainbow already knew what he was going to ask, and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't know Otto…but if Eggman does have him, we'd better hurry." She murmured. Then she glared. "I can't believe that Rainjha would say that about him! Sure she didn't know he was there…but still!" If she hadn't have wanted to go after Scythe right away, she would have given Rainjha a piece of her mind…in the form of a fist.

Suddenly, she stopped. She heard a faint whistling sound, followed by screams. As she turned around, she saw missiles flying overhead. She let out a soft cry, grabbing Otto's arm. "Come on! We have to get away from here now!" She squealed.

Otto ran with Rainbow, eyes wide with terror. He stole a glance over his shoulder.

He wished he hadn't.

He could see explosions very near to where he and the others had been camping out. He shut his eyes, tears slipping down his cheeks as he continued to run. I don't even know if they made it out okay…I should've…should've been there! He thought sadly.

He felt Rainbow's hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry…they'll be okay. They've made it out of worse situations than this." She whispered.

Only Otto wasn't paying attention to her.

He was staring at a tall looming shape in the distance.

Eggman.

Otto turned to Rainbow. "If we follow him…maybe we'll find out where Scythe and Spark are." He murmured.

Present time

Spark wasn't doing so well.

He had been locked in this place for almost a day now. He was growing steadily weaker; already he had passed out twice. It almost hurt to keep his eyes open. He was barely able to raise his head when he heard the heavy lock click open and the door swing in.

Eggman smiled. "You're being moved now." He snarled, and the cuffs around Spark's wrists and ankles clicked open. Eggman then grabbed the fox by the arm and started half-dragging him along. Spark glared, trying to muster enough energy for an electric charge, but he just didn't have the strength to do it.

After what seemed like aeons, they stopped in front of a bigger, heavier-looking door. Eggman keyed in the password, and the door slid open, revealing a large, bare room with lights shining so brightly it hurt Spark's eyes. The fox squinted into the room…and his heart skipped a beat.

Scythe was already in there.

The yellow hedgehog was unconscious, sprawled in a corner. Just like Spark, he had bruises and cuts all over his body, as well as blood-encrusted wrists. Obviously Scythe, too, had been captured and tortured. But did he know Pike was here, too? Spark fell to his knees when Eggman kicked him in the back, sending him flying across the room to crash into the opposite wall. Eggman smiled, and turned away as the door slid shut again.

Eggman strode through the halls of his base at a brisk pace.

He couldn't wait to see if his newest experiment was a success.

He read the numbers off the doors as he went. "…081-C…082-C…083-C…084-C…"

He smiled. "Ah, here we are. 085-C." He moved towards the retinal scanner, at the same time pressing his thumb against the fingerprint scanner. Both beeped, indicating a positive match. He then keyed in a password that only he knew; not even his lackeys knew this password, simply because of the importance of this room.

This room was where he did his most horrific tests and experiments, often involving live subjects. And right now, he was checking the progress of his latest test.

He looked around at all his other experiments, eyes resting on one in particular. He smiled at the figure in the capsule. "Ah…I shouldn't get distracted. You're not the one I'm here for…but soon you will be ready, too…" He thought, continuing on.

He reached a door that led into another separate hall, filled with more horrific experiments, each one worse than the next as he went. Finally, he reached a third hall. He opened the door, walking towards the only capsule in the room. The figure inside was a cat, though once she had been human.

Eggman smiled. He had captured this girl shortly after the first six; it had felt so exhilarating to capture humans and use them in his experiments…he just had to continue! So this girl was his seventh experiment.

He smiled. This one…he had something special in mind for her. When he scanned her after the transformation, he became aware of some very interesting attributes she had. Attributes that could easily take down Sonic and everyone else…and they would go down willingly, and without even realizing it…

…Until they were defeated.

And even then they wouldn't realize what had happened.

And then Eggman could do whatever he wanted with them.

Eggman smiled at the girl. "Ah…you will succeed, my lovely. I know you will." He smiled, patting the glass of the capsule. The progress of this project was almost complete.

He turned around, murmuring, "Farwell, my dear. The next time I visit you, you will be complete. But until then, goodbye…

Shiney."