Hello all :) Here's another chapter for you! I actually proofread this one, so the only major mistakes should just be missed typos and jazz, but let me know if you see something I missed.

Nothing much happens here, I'll be honest. No action-y stuff. But hey, we get to see the crimson avenger! :D IT MAKES UP FOR IT. He's so cool and tough and extremely pain tolerant :D Gogogogogogogogo! Read so the next chapters will make sense! :D

Tata

Shadow the Hedgehog

The light that blinded me began to vanish slowly, giving my sight back once more. It took me only seconds to analyze where the Emerald had taken us. I rose to my feet and brushed the dirt from my legs. The red being in front of me groaned and held his head, still lying on the floor.

I had decided to take him with me. I knew the company would not be enjoyed, but I didn't particularly want to leave him with our crystalline foe. Rouge would never forgive me.

"…What happened?" My ears flicked as he spoke, but I chose not to answer. I was sure he'd figure it out eventually. My emerald had transported us into the forest on the outskirts of the city. For a normal Mobian or human, walking there might take about half an hour.

Knuckles pushed himself to his feet while casting his gaze around slowly, taking in his surroundings. I noted how physically damaged he was. I did not point this out to him, however. His head boasted a large, dark bruise and his limbs were cut and scarred to a point where I doubt the vibrant red covering them was his fur. He had one deep scar gouged in his chest and blood dripped slowly from his mouth. I admit that I was impressed he was still alive.

"Where are we?" I assumed I could answer flatly and say we were in a forest. I'm sure that answer would've gotten an angry or snide remark in reply, but I didn't rightly care. It was a second thought that made me reconsider; perhaps it was not where we were in surroundings, but where we were in relation to his home…or even the city?

"About half an hour's walk from Station Square." I replied, careful to keep any emotion from my voice. I didn't like showing signs of emotion. I'd seen it make others weak and would not like to be considered the same.

Knuckles did nothing more than grunt in reply, gently rubbing the large bruise on his head. He winced as he rested his gaze on me. I figured it was more from his suffering than simply the sight of me, but I wouldn't have been surprised if it wasn't.

"In what direction?" This question proved more of a challenge to answer. I cast my gaze to the sky and twitched my ears. I knew this part of the forest well, as the greenery provided an excellent cover for someone who does not wish to be found. I lifted my hand and jerked a thumb behind me.

"That way." Knuckles' gaze focused on the path behind me. There was a short pause between us before he nodded his head and turned around. This action caught me off guard, for he began to walk away from the city he'd requested the whereabouts of. I couldn't help but to voice my curiosity.

"Pardon my brashness" I said quietly "But is that not the opposite direction of the city you asked about?"

"Well, yeah." Knuckles looked over his shoulder and shrugged "But I'm not going to the city. Knowing where it is will help me when I need to go back."

"And where is it you plan to go now?" The echidna took a few steps forward after I'd asked him of his thoughts. He paused at the clearing's edge and turned back again.

"It's been…Well, I don't even know how many days it's been. But the Master Emerald has gone on un-repaired for long enough. Plant and wildlife around the shrine will start dying off soon…if it hasn't already." He rubbed absently against his bruise again, I imagine it must have been bothering him. "It shouldn't take me more than a day or two to find all the shards…" He seemed to be talking to himself more than me. "I can sense it; they haven't gone as far this time." He turned back to face the clearing edge, calling back to me. "Thanks for the save, Shadow. I owe you."

With that, the echidna vanished into the shadows and trunks of the trees beyond the small clearing. I admired his determination and loyalty to his duty, but did not envy him. I turned towards the city. I did not particularly want to return to Rouge at the moment, for I was sure she would have many a question for me to answer. Not to mention the fact that my unease was growing now that I had no idea where Mephiles was, nor the full extent of his plot.

With a sigh, I turned away from the city and headed along a different path. There were things that needed to be done before I returned to my so-called 'friends'. Finding Mephiles was only one of them, closely followed by the fact that I needed to locate more emeralds if I ever hoped to defeat him.

Miles "Tails" Prower

Two days and no sign of either Knuckles or Shadow. It was quite clear that they were their well hidden, or didn't want to be found. It wasn't like Knuckles to sit in captivity quietly. I wasn't so sure about Shadow, as I didn't know him very well…nor did I like the dark hedgehog. I wouldn't ignore him if he was in trouble, that wouldn't be fair. But that didn't mean I had to like him.

Truth insisted that he would help us against Mephiles. I'm not sure if he thought we were dumb or extremely gullible, but we didn't trust him anyway. He'd spent the past two days locked in my basement. To be honest, having him there terrified me. Every once in a while he would freak out and throw himself against the door. While Sonic had taken the precautions of securing it tightly, every time the door shook from the force I nearly jumped out of my skin. It was a miracle Sonic could sleep at all.

Sonic had spent the past few nights at my house. I couldn't say I didn't like the company. Having Sonic around was fun because he always was able to cheer me up, even when I was reminded of the hostile guest in the basement. Truth gave a whole new meaning to the concept of 'The Basement Monster'

"Hey, lil' bro!" The door flew open and in walked the cobalt speedster, a wide grin on his face. Amy followed behind, carrying a brown bag packed full of groceries.

"Hi Tails!" She called as she headed into the kitchen to sort through her edible goods.

"Hi Sonic, Hi Amy!" I said while turning around in my seat and getting up on my knees.

"What's the codeword?" Sonic asked. The grin never left his face. "Sonic is the coolest!" At my response, he patted my head and chuckled. I didn't need to be reminded that while not only stroking his ego, I was assuring him that I was really me. With a shape shifter in residence we could never be too careful. We didn't want to have to repeat the events of a few days ago. When I thought about it, I noticed the codeword wasn't the hardest to guess. It was quite clear that Sonic didn't believe Truth would be able to guess it anyway. After all, he didn't seem to be the brightest of the bunch.

"Anything happen while I was gone?" The hedgehog asked as he plopped down onto the armchair. I spun back around to face him, shaking my head.

"Nope." I swung my legs excitedly as I spoke. Sonic leant back in his chair and closed his eyes with a wide, confident smile on his face.

"Cool."

"Sonic." I said, suddenly finding the guts to voice the question that was on my mind. The hedgehog opened an eye, showing that he was listening. "Uhh…" I hesitated "...About Truth" The second eye opened at this. "…Do you think…Do you think he would actually help us?"

"YEAH, HE WOULD." Both Sonic and I turned our heads at the muffled voice that came from down the hall. I marveled at how well Truth could hear through a solid wood door.

"I'm not sure Tails," Sonic admitted, shrugging his shoulders casually. "But I'd rather not take the chance that he'd turn on us." I couldn't help but to giggle at the muffled 'Awwwww' that sounded from down the hall again.

"Is he for real?" Amy's voice cut into the room as she entered. She must've heard Truth's whining as well, for she sat down beside me; her attention on the hallway.

"No Idea." Sonic's eyes shut again and he lifted his shoulders in a lazy shrug.

"Can I have a light?" Truth was whining from behind the door. "I'm kind of scared of the dark…and the basement. Basements creep me out." I giggled again as Sonic raised an eyebrow.

"This isn't a four star hotel." The blue hedgehog turned his head to stare down the hallway. I suppose we were thinking the same thing. Just what was up with this guy?

"Tell me about it!" Truth must've been bored. I didn't think he'd strike up a conversation like this unless he was. I didn't think it would last long either. There was a loud bang from outside before the door flew open. We all turned our heads.

Rouge stormed through the door, straight past the three of us and into the hall.

"You!" She yelled, wrenching open the basement door. Sonic was on his feet the minute Truth tumbled through and onto the floor. Truth must've been leaning against it, and wasn't expecting it to suddenly open.

"Me?" He lifted his gaze quizzically. It was then that I noticed a heavy black weight was secured tightly to his tail. I didn't know anyone had done that, but I wasn't going to complain. Rouge grabbed his arm and dragged him into the living room.

"Rouge, what are you doing?" Sonic demanded, getting out of the angered bat's way. Truth whimpered as he was thrown onto the chair Sonic had been sitting in moments before. Rouge pointed an accusing finger at the hybrid, who lifted his feet off the floor and curled into a protective ball. He held up his hands to cover his face.

"He knows where Knuckles is!" She accused, eyes narrowed.

"How do you know that?" Amy spoke up. Rouge flicked her cerulean gaze to the pink hedgehog, then back to the cowering Truth.

"Why else would he have been impersonating him all this time? How could he be sure his cover wouldn't have been blown when the real Knuckles showed up?"

"Luck of the draw?" Truth's voice was quiet compared to Rouge's yell.

"Shut up!" she turned back to Sonic "That day when he attacked you, the first day. You have to admit, even Knuckles is not that hot-headed! And he would've beaten you to a pulp if it were the real deal. And that story he gave you, about the shattered emerald? I've got it figured out!"

"Hey, I could've beaten Knuckles!" Sonic said, coming to his own defense. "…But let's hear this 'story'" he said, rolling his eyes. Rouge put her hands on her hips and glared at Truth.

"This imposter," she began, pointing at Truth again as she spoke. The hybrid winced and covered his head again. "Was the 'Sonic' that broke the emerald. I'll buy that much as the truth." Truth peeked out from behind his arms. "He was the one that knocked Knuckles out. I don't know what he did with him, but that story he told was true! He was just telling it from someone else's point of view." I had to admit, Rouge did have a point. Truth wouldn't exactly be lying if he told the story of the emerald from Knuckles' point.

"So, Truth was the one to break the emerald?" Sonic asked.

"Had you not established that already?" Truth piped up, earning an angered glare from both Rouge and Sonic. "Oh…I'll just…Y'know…Shut up." Rouge clenched a fist, looking ready to fly at the hybrid. She went on anyway.

"If Truth was pretending to be you that night, Sonic, he would've had to do something with Knuckles…Or he would've…woken up…and gone after you…" Rouge slowed down as she reconsidered her words. She had now made it seem like it actually was Knuckles who'd attacked Sonic. I itched at my head. This was confusing.

"Yeaaahhh…" Truth said rolling his eyes. He lifted his head and pointed at his head, drawing small circles with his finger. Was he calling Rouge crazy? Obviously, he was not following his promise to shut up very well.

"Can it!" Rouge snapped. "I know he did something with Knuckles and I demand to know what!" She turned back to the hybrid who had resumed cowering. Sonic was shaking his head slowly, I wasn't sure he completely understood what Rouge was getting at. Amy was still beside me, sitting in silence while I just stared at the two.

"You could always just ask him." I said, causing both of them to turn to look at me. Even Truth came out of his protective stance and fixed his mismatched gaze on me. I swear he grumbled something about a stupid fox but no one was really paying attention to him, as usual.

"You know, I think I just might." Rouge turned to the now casually sitting Truth and narrowed her eyes "It was you, wasn't it? You've been impersonating Knuckles all this time!" The hybrid's ear perked at her words and he raised an eyebrow.

"Well, yeah. Had you not figured that out already?" His smug tone did nothing to help Rouge's mood. I watched as she inched closer to the chair, which now didn't seem to phase Truth. He simply sat and grinned stupidly up at her.

"Where is he?" She demanded

"I don't kn-" his reply was cut off. Rouge had lifted her foot and brought it down hard on the hybrid's groin. Sonic cringed visibly and I furrowed my brow slightly. That had to hurt.

"Don't start that bullshit" Rouge growled as Truth buckled and rolled off the chair. He hit the ground and curled into a makeshift ball, hands between his legs.

"Oh that was uncalled for" came the high-pitched and strained reply. I noticed that Sonic had taken a subtle step away from the bat.

"Where is Knuckles?" She demanded again, lifting her foot.

"I don't know!" He rolled away as Rouge's foot came down again, but did nothing more but lie on the floor afterwards. "But hear me out" I saw Rouge relax slightly, but not by much. "Mephiles probably has Knuckles and your Shadow friend, there's no doubt about it. But I don't know where…really, he wouldn't tell me. So stop beating me up for telling the truth!"

"Do you know if he has Shadow or not?" Amy asked, lifting her head somewhat as Truth slowly tried to get to his feet.

"No, I haven't seen or contacted Mephiles since that day where I was exposed." He admitted, now using the chair's arm as a brace. He was still slightly hunched over.

"He's lying!" Rouge barked, storming over to the hybrid. Truth yelped loudly and scrambled away, losing his balance and hitting the dirt. As Rouge stormed over to him, he held up his hands and whimpered. His fur darkened in shade, his quills lengthening, causing Rouge to stop in her tracks. Truth didn't.

"Hey…That's…." Sonic said as he peeked around the armchair, noting the creature Truth was instinctively turning into. His tail shrunk to the size of a normal hedgehog's and the weight Sonic had tied to it fell to the floor. His spines thickened and darkened, until his entire being was cloaked in black fur. The last thing to appear were the set of red markings along the being's body. Wide, frightened red eyes looked up at Rouge, silently pleading at her to keep her foot down.

"…Shadow" Rouge's eyes were wide for a moment, before she narrowed them again. Truth pulled himself back and sat himself up, minor changes finishing in a matter of seconds. I had to admit, Truth did look exactly like Shadow. It occurred to me though, that the wide and fear filled eyes did not suit the dark hedgehog at all. "You know what?" Rouge said suddenly, ears perking "I have a job for you"

"Me?" the Shadow-look alike looked even more panicked. Rouge nodded, crouching down and squinting as she stared him in the face.

"Yeah, and we're going to need you to stay looking like that."