Chapter 9! Looking at it...I had a lot of fun writing it and you will understand why xD Enjoy R&R :)

I have a question for you my dear readers :P Would you like a sequel to this story? :)

It was well past dusk, when Shadow came back home. He had to tend to their field longer seeing as he only recently started to learn how to do it. He managed to fix the field so it no longer looked like a battlefield after Omega unloaded his fury, but there was still a lot of work to be done. Toying with his bonding amulet, he felt sore all over. He might be the ultimate life form, but without his chaos powers even he would tire after this much work…and he DID work two times more than other farmers, because of his mistakes.

"Feeling tired?" He heard sudden voice behind his back, which made him jump up slightly, before he recognized its owner as Blaze the Cat. Putting on, an unreadable expression, he turned around slowly to face her. As his ruby colored eyes landed on her he noticed she looked different than usual, since her hair was down and not in usual ponytail. He must admit, she looked more like a girl with it like this.

"I'm okay. It's nothing." He said, but the furrowed eyebrows of the feline told him, she didn't buy it. She made her way slowly to him and touched his shoulder with a little too much force than needed and even he had to wince slightly.

"Stop pretending. I know you worked hard, while I sat comfortably in home…save for going to shop in the market." She replied with voice clearly not happy about how thing were. However she already had some way to deal with this. A very good way indeed.

"Take a bath and meet me in the bedroom afterwards." She ordered, and slowly, but with certain steps she went there first, missing the dumbfounded look that bloomed on the black hedgehog's face, as he watched her tail swing from side to side, when she vanished after their bedroom doors.

WHAT THE…?! – He thought bewildered, but quickly dismissed his raging thoughts. Blaze wasn't a type to propose "this"…or was she? He was no longer certain, remembering the feeling of her velvet lips, as his heart began to race with doubled speed. With legs trembling a little, he had two courses of action to take. One was to run, but that would made him a coward and he was nothing of this sort. Second choice was to first take a bath, which he needed anyway since he could feel sand all over his body…and then to go into the bedroom to face whatever awaited him. Gulping saliva, he made his choice and slowly went towards their bathroom. Just what mess had he ventured into since coming to this world?

"Go north and it is where you destiny awaits, huh? Wait till I get my hands on that spirit!" Yelled Rouge the Bat with clear hint of anger in her voice. If "this" was their destiny then she would rather wander the swamps.

"Just leave something for me." Added Amy Rose, as she laid her back on the cold metal surface of the steel bars, displeasure painted all over her. Not much time passed since they were captured by a nearby patrol of high lord Kirlan when they did as the rude oracle told, them which was to head north…right into enemy camp. They now sat in a cage on the wooden cart, being taken who knows where. Even if no harm befallen them it still wasn't the best situation they could find themselves into.

"Do you think we can manage to escape somehow?" Asked Amy, while looking at the cage lock and the six guards that were around the cart. To her, they looked more like some priests than soldiers, seeing as they wore dark robes and metal masks that hid their appearance.

"When the right time comes, sure, but right now it's a little impossible. I mean, I could fly but not with you as additional weight." Replied the ivory bat truthfully, not wanting to leave Amy behind. She actually thought of this possibility before, but the pink hedgehog helped her a little and she really didn't want to leave her like this If she didn't had to. She could prove to be useful later on….was what she told herself.

"Geez…thanks for calling me fat. I'm working out you know?" Pouted Amy as she crossed her arms, obviously not pleased with her companion choice of words. She wondered if they will be able to meet up with Sonic, knowing that he had a good timing when it came to rescuing his friends from trouble…and they were in trouble weren't they?

"Where do you think they are taking us?" She asked but Rouge only shook her shoulders. Obviously the bat didn't want to have a conversation with her, as she seemed more preoccupied with listening to the guards chatter…sadly, no useful information was exchanged between them.

Okay Shadow…you can do this, you are the ultimate life form… - Thought the black hedgehog with red highlights, as he felt hot all over his body but dismissed it as the effect of recent bath. His heart pounded as he put his hand on the doors. Mustering all the courage he had left he pushed them open, expecting to see the sight that would be forever engraved in his memory... However all he saw was the fire feline calmly sitting on the edge of their bed. For now things didn't look bad, but still…he wasn't able to predict what would happen in next minutes, especially if Blaze was involved.

"I see you took your time. Come closer" Said Blaze in quiet voice, as he moved forward as if in a trance. All this situation was freaking him out and he quickly tried to come up with good way to turn down the fire princess advances…but actually couldn't find any, or maybe he just didn't want it to stop.

"Lie down on your stomach and relax" She ordered next, blush clearly visible on her muzzle. As he did what she told him, he waited patiently until he felt her hands on his shoulders…

A massage?! – He realized, mentally slapping himself for his earlier thoughts. What in all mobius was he thinking? What was he expecting Blaze to do? Feeling frustrated with himself, he decided now was a good time to hide his face in the pillow…so she wouldn't see his embarrassed blush. This was a failure.

"Surprised?" He heard her say with quiet voice, as she gently pressed on his muscles.

"I was on the market today and saw the massage oils… I decided that since you work so hard on the field you would feel sore and with all of those stressful situations…well…just consider this a little thank you." Said Blaze, as she put on the palms of her hands some of the special oil and began rubbing it into Shadow's body. It wasn't the first time she did something like this, since often had Marine complained about her hands and shoulders hurting, because she spent too much time behind the rudder of her ship. True, it was embarrassing to massage a male body like this…but she enjoyed it in some way. If somebody told her she would be doing this, she would probably laugh at their wild imagination, but here they were, enjoying their peaceful dusk like this. She wondered if it was like a married life feels everyday…she could get used to living like it.

It's so pleasant… - Thought Shadow, as he felt his tired muscles relax. He never knew massage was this comfortable, as he never had any chance or desire to experience one. This feeling of Blaze's bare hands made him slowly drift to state between sleep and reality. Before all of this he was always alone, independent but this life here… it showed him that maybe being alone wasn't as pleasant as he first thought. He began to wonder if maybe in the future he should find someone…but would it be okay? He was ageless and didn't want to feel the pain of losing someone again.

But is it better to live some happy moments with someone or not have them at all – His thoughts ran through his head, as he pondered at this seriously. Maybe he and Blaze had possible future between them…

What is wrong with me?! I act like an idiot! – His mind cut in, stopping his trail of thoughts quickly. He shouldn't feel like this and he knew it. He believed that he needed to be alone in order to help his world…but did he really?

Just as the two of them enjoyed their moment they could hear a silent snicker from bedroom doors. Noticing they weren't alone they whirled their heads quickly in that direction and found no one other than Sonic the Hedgehog.

"Yo!" He greeted with his right hand, while his left one holding onto something in black rags, as cocky smile adorned his features.

"Hope I didn't interrupt anything." He added, while clearly trying very hard not to laugh at their embarrassed expressions. While Blaze looked like she wanted nothing more than to fall underground, Shadow on the other hand got up, red in face and went up to blue hedgehog.

"Idiot. You have three seconds left to live, so answer me. What are you doing here. How did YOU found us?" He inquired, trying very hard to restrain himself from choking the hero of mobius for interrupting his and Blaze's… intimate moment.

"Relax Shadz, I just kindly asked around. Good to know that both of you are safe and sound." Replied Sonic as he eyed both of them. He was sure something more was going on…enough for him to tease Shadow about it later, but he will let it slide for now.

"Welcome Sonic. Did you found any others? More importantly, what is it, that you hold?" Asked politely the fire princess, who recovered her voice but still was quite pink in cheeks. If Sonic will tell anybody about what he saw, she will roast him as soon as she will get her powers back…and she will do it slowly.

"Whoa slow down, even I can't keep up with so many questions at once!" Replied the blue hedgehog defensively, as his friends eyes showed more questions behind them. Something told him its going to take some time to satisfy their hunger for information.

"Why don't we sit down and I will explain everything? How about It Big brother Shadow?" continued the blue blur which got him Shadow staring at him…it looked like his family grew bigger.

"So let me sum up everything. You went around, helped the banished, found out that they are not the bad ones and that the robots, who are probably controlled by Kirlan are the culprits for all evil doings of this world. Then you meet up with merchant by the name Gold the Monkey, who also helped us before, saved him like we did and learned he was one of the banished in disguise. He told you about big group of robots that were going to attack this city and then you went to destroy them. After that you came to this town and asked around for your lost brother and finally found us. " Concluded Blaze in one breath, as she looked at the robot head Sonic brought with him. He said that it started to spout random nonsense so he decided to bring it along. She then eyed Shadow who clearly wasn't happy about Sonic introducing himself as his little brother…or maybe he wasn't thrilled to see him at all.

"I knew there was something fishy about that monkey…" Stated Shadow, who looked through the kitchen window to make sure no one was eavesdropping on their conversation…especially a grey rabbit, who seemed to pop-up too often, like he was following them. Blaze told him that it was probably coincidence but he really insisted on being cautious.

"More importantly guys ,I get it you don't know anything about others and you can't use your powers right?" Asked Sonic to which Blaze only shook her head sadly, admitting that they were indeed powerless.

"It's just like you see. If we had our powers we wouldn't need to pretend to be married. With everything like this we concluded it would be good idea to first earn means to travel and then seek everyone else out." Said the fire feline seriously, but Sonic clearly looked like he had a time of his life.

"Pretend to be married…dunno about pretending but you two seemed to enjoy it." He replied happily but hearing Shadow growl at him and seeing the look with red angry eyes, quickly made him shut his mouth about this topic.

"Aaanyway! Shadow, I know you aren't Tails, but could you check this robot head? It might hold some useful information." Asked Sonic, which made Shadow sigh heavily. It would be a hard task to do what the blue hedgehog asked of him without proper tools and he already knew that.

"Blaze, be on the look-out, while I and my dumb little brother will talk." Said Shadow, as he uncrossed his arms and seated himself comfortably on one of the wooden chairs. Taking the rusty metal head into his hands he started looking around if and quickly found a way to dismantle the outer armor. Blaze had to admit, that when those two were this close they really resembled each other.

"This electronic is more complex than the look suggests…" Pondered the ultimate life form, as he tried to fathom the function of unknown machinery. If what Sonic said about it spouting nonsense was true, then it had some kind of transmitter. If so, then it might be possible to tap into it and extract information on the movement of those robots…maybe even orders.

"So…how was the married life Shadow?" Asked Sonic carefree, as he relaxed on his chair, arms folded behind the back of his head. He had to admit, this house had a nice design to it…like it was made for married couple, but he still had trouble picturing Shadow and Blaze posing as one, living under one roof. True, they were similar in some ways but he didn't think either of them was thrilled about this. Thinking about what he saw, he began to think, that there maybe was more to them that meet the eye. He approved of it actually, seeing as maybe then, both of them would chill out slightly.

"Not easy. A lot of ears and eyes around, not to mention either of us isn't exactly what you would call…a partner for all life material. Try working the field or Blaze's cooking and you will see what I mean." Replied the black hedgehog seriously as he continued his examination of metal parts with troubled expression.

"Blaze cooked for you?!" Half asked, half yelled Sonic in surprise. He thought nothing would shock him more than what he saw today but this was just too much.

"I would appreciate if you didn't continue this subject." Both of them heard the fire princess say in serious and threatening manner as she tried to hid her blush. She didn't want to get more embarrassments from her earlier failure of cooking that abomination.

"Sorry, Blaze. So…what else did I miss?" Inquired Sonic, but to this, neither Shadow nor Blaze replied, as they only exchanged silent glance with each other.

Yep, definitely more happened – Smiled Sonic to himself but knew, that there was no way either of them would say anything if they didn't want to. For now, the blush on their faces would be enough for him to know that something really important happened. Just as he was about to ask his next question, the metallic head that Shadow tinkered with suddenly came to life.

"Attention all demons. Patrol 11 was eliminated in sector C-9. Adversary known for high speed. Send smaller patrol to investigate." Came robotic reply as the three heroes looked at the robotic head.

"It looks like you did it big brother." Stated Sonic, jokingly looking at Shadow, who frowned to him in response.

"There is more. I think it would be good idea to listen to logs. Maybe we will get some information about others." Replied Shadow as he started to tinker with different parts of this strange machine. They listened to them for some time but most of it was useless to them. They continued it, until finally they found some lead.

"Attention all units. Prepare to engage two strangers who battle with high lord Kirlan. One is red Eechidna and second is twin tailed fox. The location is E-10." As the communication cut short, the three pairs of eyes meet each other with silent understanding. The message was broadcasted not long ago.

"Sounds like Knuckles and Tails are in trouble. We need to get to them right away!" Yelled Sonic, while jumping up from his chair. If his friends were battling someone like this Kirlan guy, then their situation wasn't good and they needed to act NOW. Just as he was about to rush out of the house, Blaze stopped him.

"We can't help you, since we don't have our powers and will only slow you down. We will hold secure fort here just in case." Said Blaze and saw in the corner of her eye that Shadow approved of her idea. It would be good to be in here if Sonic brought someone injured from a fight. Here, they could at least tend to the wounds while not under attack.

"Okay, leave it to me…and Shadow, try to not do anything to Blaze while I'm away." Responded the blue blur snickering, not waiting for the black hero response…and it was a good thing, since Shadow would probably kill him if he stayed one minute longer.

"Relax. We will get him as soon as we get our powers back" Calmed him Blaze a little, seeing as anger filled his eyes…just as it had hers.

"I think, I'll need one more massage…" He mumbled under his nose while blushing slightly, to which Blaze only smiled softly…after all they didn't finished the first session because they were interrupted.

When the guards patrol finally neared the small base, both Amy and Rouge were quickly thrown inside a jail cell, with not much of a chance to escape. When both of them sat on the solid ground the Ivory bat quickly tried to unlock the doors but it turned impossible as the guards were present all the time. If something good could be said about those guys, it was that they respected their duty. Of course, both girls came with other ideas but the guards were not falling for any of them. They already tried plans "One of us is feeling ill" and "I need to go to bathroom" and neither of those yielded them much results. Rouge even tried to get the guards to come closer to the gate, by using her charm, to smash them…but it still didn't work as both of them seemed uninterested in her calling her demon spawn…which made her upset a lot.

"It's impossible" Finally concluded the ivory bat, sinking to her knees. She felt terrible, since she was able to get from prisons protected better than this rusty, old cage but this time her luck ran out. She hated fanatics, since nothing would distract them.

"Don't worry, just believe and something good will happen" Tried to cheer her up Amy, but it only got her a cynical look from her companion. Truth be told, even she started to lose hope as more time passed. As they sat in the cell, suddenly a fat guy who wore priest robes with strange ornamentation and a metal mask that hid his appearance, appeared before them.

"Foul demons." He started, while holding their fake bonding amulets, his voice neither male nor female. Those were supposed to help them but when they entered the enemy camp they were inspected and interrogated so close that their secret leaked out.

"We aren't demons. Can't you see that?" Asked Amy, getting up and catching steel bars in her hands. She was planning on arguing with the guy, but it seemed that his beliefs were more important to him than her words. He was a closed up person afterall.

"Demons have partners. Since you lack them, therefore you are evil." He concluded by his twisted logic, totally omitting the simple fact that she was just a harmless girl in jail cell. Giving up she sat on the ground. She had no strength left to argue with someone this fanatical.

"What will happen to us?" Asked Rouge the Bat, trying to sound calmly, but she feared she already knew the answer to that question…still, a confirmation would be appreciated.

"You will be freed by sacred axe, so you will never return to this world again." Replied the priest with tone as if he was telling them, what a nice weather it is today. Just as they were going to oppose his twisted logic, a loud sound could be heard from the gate directions and a clanking sound of hitting steel against steel erupted from that direction.

"What in blazes…?" Asked the priest as one of the soldiers came running up to him, his mask dented under his right cheek while he touched his arm which appeared to be broken in some places.

"The demons are attacking!" He practically yelled at the priest who quickly shook the panicked guy by his shoulders, to calm him downs…which worked pretty well since he must have touched the wounded area on his arm.

"Demons?! I didn't heard anything about any metal ones in this area!" Yelled back the holy servant as he tried to fathom what was going on. This was all not going according to plan. They were told to search the swamp and were reassured no harm will come their way!

"It's not them. It's the flesh ones! They…" Began the soldier but was cut short, as stones flew through the air and one of them hit him hard in the head, knocking him unconscious, making him fall with thud to the ground, before the feet of clearly panicked priest, who slowly backed out as he looked at the commotion that was clearly moving his way. Even if his face was hidden behind a metal mask, one could clearly tell he was scarred like never in his life.

"Forward! Don't let them run!" Both Amy and Rouge heard a familiar voice as Claw the Bear made his way towards their cage, wielding rusty chainmail and a big axe. As soldiers flew left and right, he neared them, his strong silhouette towering over the holy servant. With his strong right fist, he knocked unconscious the priest, who some seconds ago took out some holy symbol and started chanting prayer. With the priest out of the way, he swung his big trusty weapon and destroyed the lock of their cell and let them both out, while dumbfounded look adorned their faces…that wasn't how they remembered this guy.

"Mister Claw? I thought the banished didn't fought back!" Got back her voice and asked Amy Rose surprised at this sudden appearance, as more and more banished started to appear around them.

"We got a change of heart… and I assume it's thanks to your friend by the name of Sonic the Hedgehog." He yelled jovially. Truly, if miracles happened they really loved to happen around their blue hero, as Amy could feel tears of joy fill her eyes.

"You met Sonic?" Inquired shocked Rouge, not believing what her big bat ears heard. She knew already that the hero of Mobius had a knack for helping his friends in most dire situations but this was just ridiculous, as he was not even here…or was he?

"Not me but someone much more important did." Replied the bear who now reminded them more of seasoned warrior than of simple village chief, as his muscles began to tense, when he grabbed a lone soldier that was running towards them by the head, and threw him into the cage.

"Old man, the enemy is on the run. Should we follow them?" Asked the female who came up to them and both Amy and Rouge recognized her as Gala the Serpent. She was a tall person, with lime green skin and black markings on her. Her appearance changed from a simple village girl in dirty robe, as she now wore leather armor over her dress and held scary looking mace in her hand…and both of our heroines had to admit it suited her better sine it corresponded well with her rough character they recognized when she first helped them, while handing them new clothes and fake bonding amulets.

"No. We aren't here for revenge, and we need to repay our favor first. Take Miss Amy and Miss Rouge to the camels. We will follow shortly." Replied Claw, as he made his way toward the group of enemy soldiers who clearly wanted to stay and fight…well…they would change their mind when they will see him.

"I don't understand…" Started Amy but was quickly cut short by Serpent girl.

"We will talk later. For now, know that we will take you to your friends." Replied Gala the Serpent as she began to led them through the battlefield. It was all happening so fast that both the pink hedgehog and ivory bat had trouble to comprehend everything at once…did they just heard that they will reunite with their friends? Just like that?

"I suppose it's good to have hope sometimes" Amy could hear Rouge say behind her back, as she finally could smile with her own relief. Maybe what the oracle said wasn't a lie after all…

The onslaught continued. They didn't knew how long it was, but their adversary clearly didn't had any intention of stopping anytime soon. Worse, since the metal minions showed, dodging became more and more troublesome and both of them had to split up for bigger survival chances. No matter what they did they just couldn't outsmart this stranger who led them to this place. Just as he tried to catch his breath, Knuckles the Echidna heard a little sound of moving rubble behind his back. Whirling in time he was able to jump to the side to avoid sharp scimitar falling on his head, as it hit the hard stone surface.

"Grrr...damn robot." He growled and punched the machine in the face, beheading it. He might not have his full strength but he still had his sharp knuckles and experience. Grabbing the scimitar, he decided it's time to find Tails. He hoped, that the twin tailed fox was still alive, since it seemed that sorcerer choose him the younger one for his target first…which wasn't good. Just as he was about to exit the small cave he hid in, a shadow showed up at the entrance.

Another robot. – Thought the red guardian, as he assaulted the new adversary with the sharp sword only to be meet with surprised voice.

"Whoaa…Knux man, chill out, It's me!" Yelled Sonic the Hedgehog, who barely avoided being stabbed to death by the sharp blade. Looking dumbfounded, Knuckles let the sword fall to the ground as he hugged the annoying blue speedster. Quickly realizing what he was doing he quickly put him down while embarrassed.

"Sorry. Didn't expect you to show up." He said as he took the fallen scimitar into his hands again. It would probably be useful for some more time, since those robots still lurked around.

"Yeah…say…where is Tails?" Asked Sonic, looking around for his young buddy, concern clearly showing in his emerald colored eyes. He hoped nothing bad happened to him.

"Probably eluding that magician who attacked us…what's going on Sonic? Where are we?" Questioned the champion of angel island as he looked around for signs of their missing companion. He wouldn't want to be held responsible if something happened to him even if it was HIS idea to split up.

"I'll explain later…we need to find Tails and Kirlan." Replied the blue blur as he began to speed in the direction, a small beam of light shoot up…probably the place where fight raged on.

"Who the hell is Kirlan?" Asked Knuckles, but was only meet with a serious stare from Sonic, that clearly told him "later". Shuddering his shoulders they quickly made their way to where the fight was clearly going on. It didn't took them much time to near the battlefield as they quickly disposed of any robot that came their way…at least Sonic did, since Knuckles was only assisting with his sword, while complaining his lack of power. When they finally had Kirlan in their sight, the priest was assaulting a rock that tails hid behind. Face of the old cat was devoid of any emotion, as if only his task was important.

"Stop right there!" Yelled Sonic, catching his attention, but instead of replying, the old cat, who was also a high lord of this world, pointed his staff at the new enemy releasing beams of energy. He clearly didn't knew who he was dealing with as Sonic speed easily past them all and kicked the guy right in the stomach, sending him flying and crashing into nearby boulder with a grunt of pain.

"Sonic!" The blue blur heard Tails voice, as the twin tailed fox ran up to him, clearly missing his blue hero and at the same time glad he didn't had to elude the onslaught any longer. Grinning. Sonic showed him a thumb up but then all three of them heard the voice of their enemy, which quickly cut their chatter.

"Fools. You will bring more wars to this world." Stated simply the old cat in low and tired voice, as he got himself up. Seeing as he was clearly outnumbered and no match for the blue hedgehog, his face showed clear displeasure. With those words their enemy began to slowly fade, as if it was only a mirage…but they all knew how dangerous of an adversary this guy is, seeing the state of battlefield…and something told them, they will have to face him again in near future. As the guy vanished Sonic knew that now will be time for questions.

"Okay Sonic. Maybe now you can give us some answers as to what on master emerald is going on?" Asked the red echidna again. He really was tired of stumbling around in the dark, while everything from this world tried to kill him. First black obelisks, then magicians and later robots. He needed answers and wanted them now.

"I'll tell you on the way." Replied the blue blur, as he began to walk in the direction of the city of Sandstorm…this was going to be a long tale and if he wanted to explain to them everything it would mean they will have to walk most of the way…since they needed to know how to behave if there were to enter the city.

"On the way where?" Inquired Tails, but was met with Sonic grinning wider and wider, until he finally laughed. Not knowing if their savior lost his mind, both Knuckles and Tails looked at each other. When his laughter subdued, the blue hero finally told them their destination…but it wasn't what they were expecting to hear.

"We will go to Blaze and Shadow's house. They are married you know?" Replied the hero, while stiffing more of his laugh.

"They are WHAT?!" Yelled both of them in unison, mouths hanging down and eyes bulging out.

The story is comming together... :) Not much chapters left. To be continued...