Tails stayed up the rest of the night disassembling Dawn's body. I felt sick watching him do that, and I couldn't even begin to imagine how he felt. His constant swearing whenever anything went wrong, often aimed at myself, only helped to remind me of what was done. Nevertheless Tails slowly came round to my way of thinking, and before too long we had a working NOCC, and were headed back to Amy's building to obtain an emerald from Shadow.
It was light when the hedgehog and the fox left. They took a slow walk, Sonic fully aware that Tails had no way of keeping up with him if he got into any form of run. Although Amy only lived three blocks away, the walk along the autumnal morning's street was a slow one. Tails was unresponsive to anything Sonic said, and Sonic knew he was only here on an idle curiosity. Sonic thanked his lucky stars that Tails had been curious, otherwise he would've been locked up as a murderer.
That's not to say Sonic wasn't on edge when a police hover car passed them. He wasn't normally one to balk at the sight of an authority figure, but he also wasn't normally a murderer. Sonic shook his head as the car continued on its way its sirens still silent.
Tails was the one who stood and knocked at Amy's pink door. Sonic stood around the corner, and out of site. They had agreed Tails would simply ask for it first, to try and avoid yet another skirmish. Sonic watched from behind a couple of surprisingly clean dustbins. The fox stood at the door patiently, clutching the silver NOCC in his left paw.
The door swing open, and Amy looked to the fox. "Oh, Tails," She said somewhat surprised; her arms trying to keep her gown closed, "What are you doing here?"
"Actually I'm after Shadow," he said, slightly bashfully. Sonic watched on, and even he could notice from his distance that Tails was blushing nervously.
Amy's slender frame disappeared from the doorway, and was quickly replaced by that of a scowling black hedgehog. It was fairly obvious that Shadow was not a morning person, his fur still all ruffled from a nights sleep.
"What do you want?" The hedgehog asked, with no sense of patience.
The fox gulped slightly, his foot shuffling on the brick slab, "I need a Sol Emerald, to test this device, and I wondered if you could help me find one."
"What makes you think I would help?" Shadow asked only semi interested.
Tails was caught off guard. Lying was not his specialty, "B-because I want to test a new engine type," he stuttered, "A-and the E-emerald would be a perfect conduit for extreme's in power loads for my new prototype," he said, motioning towards the device in his left hand.
Sonic slapped his forehead as he saw Shadow recognise the device and slam the door on Tails' face. The blue hedgehog had even told Tails not to show Shadow the device, as he would recognise it. Nevertheless, Sonic didn't berate his canine friend upon being told the results.
"Looks like it's time for plan B then," Sonic grinned.
"Plan B?" Tails asked hesitantly, not knowing what plan B actually was.
"We break in and take the one Shadow has," Sonic said confidently, already stretching his legs ready for such a mission.
"I suggest we wait," Tails replied, really not comfortable with the idea of breaking an entering.
"What for?" Sonic said, now all too eager to get in there and wipe the smug smile off Shadow's face. The hedgehog could picture it now, Shadow's surprise at the act, and watching Amy panic and swing that hammer of hers. Sonic lost his train of thought here, since when did Amy use a hammer?
"For Shadow to leave for work?" Tails said nervously.
"Nuts to that," Sonic replied quickly, "I'm sick of waiting. I've been waiting to get proactive for twenty four chapters and I…"
"Chapters?" Tails asked in confusion.
"I mean hours," Sonic answered bitterly, "I've been waiting too long either way. It's time to take some action. Besides, Shadow has seen the NOCC, he knows what it is, and I'll bet he knows we're both here. So all we can do now is go in there, grab the emerald, and restore reality how it should be."
"I guess you're right," Tails hesitantly said.
That was all the confirmation Sonic needed. Tails watched a trail of blue run towards the front door, then saw the fractured splinters of pink wood flying in all directions as the door buckled under the force of having a hedgehog slam into it at speeds normally associated with fighter planes. Tails followed behind, hoping to stop Sonic from doing anything too drastic.
"What on Earth do you think you're doing Sonic!?" Amy yelled as the blue hedgehog leapt straight for the black one. Amy watched as Sonic punched Shadow several times in the face.
"Hand over that damn emerald Shadow!" Sonic roared angrily. Sonic had had enough of this. He didn't want to play games anymore, "I know you've got one, and I know you know what I intend to do with it, so just hand it over, and let us fix reality."
Shadow grabbed for an umbrella that had been knocked over in Sonic's entrance. The fabric tore easily against the hedgehog, but the brunt of the wood was enough to force the blue hedgehog off of Shadow. "I'll never hand it over," Shadow smirked, "Reality is fine, now just accept it already, and stop making it worse for everyone."
"Shadow?" Amy said accusingly, "What are you on about?" she asked, more confused about this than why Sonic had chosen to interrupt breakfast to start a fight with her husband.
Sonic jumped clear of Shadow's attempt for a low kick, and using a lampshade as a hand hold, the blue hedgehog flung his entire body towards Shadow. The black hedgehog fell backwards, winded from the force of the spin attack.
Tails said nothing, but he watched. He saw Shadow pick up a small foot stool, and try to use that as a weapon against Sonic, clubbing the hedgehog twice before the stool broke, leaving Shadow with nothing in his hands but two short wooden sticks. Out of the corner of his eye, Tails noticed something purple shimmer in the morning light. Very cautiously, he made his way towards it.
Amy recognised what Tails was up to as Sonic grabbed Shadow by the throat and tried to choke the black hedgehog unconscious. Shadow responded in kind by biting down firmly on Sonics peach arms. The hedgehog yelped in agony, and pushed Shadow away towards Tails. Tails quickly moved out of the path and closer to his goal.
"Sonic," Tails yelled, excitedly, "I think I found it, he said, as he picked up a shiny purple Sol Emerald that was hidden behind some old trinkets on a cabinet.
"Drop it!" Amy yelled, her crossbow pointing straight at Tails. The fox dutifully obliged, dropping both the Emerald and the NOCC.
Both hedgehogs recognised the importance of what had happened. The pair of them both raced for Tails, pushing all manner of former living room furniture rubble out of the way to get to the emerald and the machine. Though it only took a second to get from there positions to where Tails was stood, it was a very long second for both of them.
"Got it!" Sonic cheered, as he scooped up the purple emerald.
"That'll stop you," Shadow smirked, as he grabbed the NOCC off the floor.
Both hedgehogs then made a dash for each other, Tails ducking hastily out of the way to avoid the fight, as both hedgehogs wanted nothing more than to hold onto both items; Sonic to change reality, and Shadow to stop Sonic from doing just that.
Shadow swung for Sonic, and Sonic did the same. Both managed to dodge in time to not feel the other hedgehog connect. This was something Sonic was counting on as he lowered his right arm at the last second to make a grab for the emerald. Shadow recognised this, and pulled it away. Sonic had other ideas, and with the pair of them in such close proximity, Sonic leapt as he had done a million times before, and curled into a ball.
The shape of which, when in such proximity to the black hedgehog caused said hedgehog to be sent flying as Sonic had taken it upon himself to hold Shadows right arm as he spun. The additional weight forced the jump to be cut short of it's full height, but was enough to fling Shadow apart from the NOCC, and send the black hedgehog shattering through a glass cabinet
Sonic swooped for the NOCC's landing place on the green carpet. "Goodbye forever Eggmanland," he said, preparing the device.
"Not so fast," Shadow said, getting to his feet, and tackling the blue hedgehog to the floor. Everyone could only watch as a bright white light shone from the device that both Sonic and Shadow were clutching, as reality collapsed around them.