A/N: Gah, a whole day late . . . So sorry everyone, on top of real life, this chapter got extremely long and somehow refused to write properly in the first place. I'm still far from happy with it; let me know if anything seems out of whack.
Tails stayed behind to phone everyone else, while Sonic tore out to start first-line aid. Rouge had been a little preoccupied to report in much detail, but she didn't need to; Sonic was only halfway there when he caught sight of a tiny golden point of light in the distance, flickering oddly through the night.
"Ho-ly—" he muttered, and picked up his pace even more. As he tore closer, he realized the little pinpoint was in fact a blazing pillar of light, cascading downwards in a centralized waterfall. Rouge and Omega were lurking at a fair distance, looking grim.
"Has that been happening all this time?" Sonic called.
"Yeah, pretty much," said Rouge. "He's wearing his inhibitor rings, but he's spewing energy as if he wasn't."
Sonic grimaced, remembering Shadow taking off his inhibitor rings long ago in the battle outside the ARK.
"So, hold on, he's not Super now. Where's all this energy coming from?"
"He doesn't have to go Super," said Rouge, the muted golden Chaos-glow casting an odd light over her face. "Normally his inhibitor rings allow him to stockpile the Chaos energy he absorbs from his surroundings. He can gather up quite a lot, especially since he's been carrying around Chaos Emeralds lately."
"You mean he's just burning through stored energy all this time?" Sonic stared disbelievingly at the still-roaring flare of light. "Woah."
"Being a living H-bomb has its disadvantages," came a quietly ironic voice. Sonic started; he'd forgotten that Shadow could hear and speak just fine even when he was going up in radioactive flames.
"Hey Shads," he called, smiling bracingly. "You sound pretty good, considering. How're you holding up, pal?"
Trying to peer through the curtain of light shrouding the hedgehog, he caught a glimpse of a dusky form, seemingly seated on the ground. Somehow Sonic picked up an air of annoyance even through that much interference.
"At the moment, Faker, I am slowly but steadily approaching a complete loss of temper. Don't contribute to the process."
"Awh. Relax, Shads, you'll be fine! I brought a bottle of antidote for ya."
"You think we didn't try that already?" snorted Rouge. "I tried to throw him mine, and the whole bottle disintegrated the minute it touched the energy barrier. It's like he's inside a bubble of total annihilation."
"Oh. Not wearing your own dose again, eh Shads?" said Sonic wearily.
"I was," came the terse reply.
"He—drank it before the venom kicked in," said Rouge awkwardly. "To make sure it really didn't work beforehand. It doesn't."
"You mean we wouldn't have this problem if he'd just kept his own dose on him?" groaned Sonic. Rouge shrugged, looking away. It had been her idea, after all.
Sighing, Sonic began to pace a narrow circuit, flicking his ears. There was no question of trying to hand Shadow the antidote at close range; getting any closer than two meters was enough to send a sharp wash of heat over you. There was no way to send anything through the energy globe, and no way to make the energy globe go away. For some reason Sonic was reminded of those joke puzzle boxes where it's all clear plastic and looks really easy to open, but somehow you just can't get at that dollar bill inside. Frankly, he was much better at action than that brand of strategy.
Suddenly, however, the question seemed to resolve itself: the steady roar of energy faltered, then petered out swiftly and died. Shadow blinked, caught off-guard, and got to his feet slowly; seconds later his eyes slid closed and he keeled over.
"He's burned through the last of it," said Rouge briskly. "Quick, let's see if we can get him the antidote now."
Silver and Blaze showed up while the others were still trying to tip the antidote down Shadow's throat. Apparently, the swallow reflex didn't work in unconsciousness; they couldn't get him to take down a drop of it.
"For the love of Mike, Shadow, don't make us put a tube down your throat," muttered Rouge, tilting his head back and pressing a finger to the roof of his mouth. Shadow gagged and began to thrash. As he lurched back into consciousness, his eyes slid open at the exact moment that his entire body lit up with an eerie green glow.
"Get back!" cried Sonic, pulling Blaze away with him. The others barely managed to throw themselves to a safe distance as Shadow seemed to transform into a fountain firework. Sparks and long streamers of gold, green, blue, red, and purple energy sprayed off his fur like a shower of multicolored lightning bolts. Most of them arced, circling tightly around his body like a bizarre transporter effect.
"What is it?" asked Silver, wide-eyed.
"Wavelength analysis indicates Chaos Spears," Omega announced.
"Yeah, those are the same colors . . . " murmured Rouge. "Shads, can you still hear me? What's caused the change?"
"I don't know," Shadow's voice came growling back. His breath sounded slightly ragged now, as if he was holding up something very heavy and it was beginning to wear him down. "It's not like it's under my control. It's like—standing in a strong wind—"
A stronger pulse of energy flared up on his left, and he stumbled slightly. Silver dodged as a stray shaft of purple light roared past him.
"Look, all of you just stay back," hissed Shadow, waving. "I'll deal with this myself."
"And how?" retorted Rouge.
"Just go!" Shadow shook his head vehemently, leaving plumes of colorful sparks trailing from his ears. "There's nothing you can do! Leave before you—hhh—"
The Chaos Spears seemed to flare even brighter and faster as Shadow dropped to one knee.
"Shads, you okay?!"
Before anyone could make a move, a wash of greenish-blue light sprang up around Shadow. A whine of burning air, and the light disappeared—but Shadow was nowhere to be seen. A sudden heavy silence rolled in.
"He . . . he's gone," whispered Silver. "Did he just . . . explode?"
"Couldn't just happen like that," muttered Rouge, not sounding like she believed herself. Suddenly a shrill chirping cut through the tension.
"Shadow?!" Rouge grabbed her communicator.
"Reporting," came Shadow's voice ironically. "You'll have to excuse the sudden departure. It's not something you could call Chaos Control, but it looks a lot like it."
"Where are you?" called Sonic.
"Like I'd know? In a field somewhere."
Rouge poked a few buttons on the comm, then gulped.
"Uh . . . GPS says Chun-nan."
Several curses came over the radio connection, although they sounded oddly warped.
"Are you damaged?" asked Omega, leaning over Rouge's shoulder. "There is a distortion."
"Effing Chaos Spears started up again. The Chaos is probably screwing up the signal."
"Well, just stay there, okay?" called Sonic. "I'll be over with a bottle of antidote in less'n half an hour."
"Don't bother!" Shadow's voice sounded distinctly strained now. "The damned—"
There was a sudden sharp whine, and the connection cut out. The others exchanged worried looks. After a few excruciatingly long seconds, the connection came crackling on again.
What followed could have been the soundtrack of Armageddon. The connection kept failing and restarting, but during the periods when it was connected, the only sounds coming through were crashes, explosions, and the screech of breaking metal.
"Shadow? Shadow, what's going on?!" Rouge shouted into the communicator. They heard the faintest hint of a ragged breath being drawn for a second, but then it was gone. More crashes, the signal flickering in and out. Shadow's location, indicated by a tiny red dot on the comm's GPS map, leaped around erratically.
"He's Chaos Controlling all over the planet," said Rouge grimly, watching as the marker suddenly winked out of existence and reappeared in Apotos. "And he must be rematerializing in all the wrong places . . . "
The ever-growing crowd of listening Mobians shifted uneasily, biting lips, scraping feet, exchanging hopeless glances. It was maddening, sitting here just listening and not being able to do anything—but what was to be done? Shadow wasn't staying in one place long enough for anyone to get to him with the antidote.
Eventually the marker stopped moving, and the connection reestablished and didn't die. Rouge called out several times, but met only silence.
"I'm guessing he's passed out again," she said dully, "in Mazuri."
"On it!" barked Sonic, taking off in a cloud of dust. Rouge looked around at the others.
"I guess you can all go to bed. All you can really do here is stand around and be bored. Run 'long now."
"We're staying," said Knuckles matter-of-factly. "You never know. If there's any way to help, we want to be there for it."
Rouge sighed, but nodded resignedly and stepped away. It seemed like a long time before a sudden rustle of movement came over the radio, immediately followed by the eerie warble of signal distortion.
"Shadow?"
"Yeah." His voice was hoarse, and she could almost hear him gingerly flexing each muscle, testing every limb, weighing the feasibility of sitting up. He sounded battered.
"Are you okay?"
"M'great. Cut the chatter, lemme rest."
"You don't sound okay."
"Knock it off. I'll just sit here and bleed for a while . . . "
"You're bleeding?!"
"Mmh, a bit. Arm, nose, mouth, and—oh, lovely. I look like a creepypasta."
Rouge tried to ignore the somersault her stomach performed—not only at the mental image, but also at the fact that Shadow was making light of it. He was one of those perverse souls who only develop a sense of humor if they feel it'll annoy the Grim Reaper.
"What happened to you?"
"Random Chaos Control. Think I covered half the damn planet . . . Chaos Spears were still going the whole time. Mowed down everything I showed up near. Showed up in a godforsaken factory at one point. Some kinda crusher closed on me once or twice before the Chaos blew it to bits."
"Oh God, Shadow . . . "
"M'not complaining. They're still going now—the Spears, I mean—s'when they stop I'll start worrying."
Rouge closed her eyes, biting the knuckle of her thumb. There was so little she could do.
"Shadow, don't you dare try to get up. Stay right there. Sonic's coming for you, okay? He'll be there in a few minutes."
"Screw him," growled Shadow. "Don't need any more pain in my neck."
"He's bringing antidote. Stay put, you hear me?"
Shadow snorted rebelliously.
Sonic arrived only a few seconds later, the sound barrier crumbling before him. Shadow wasn't too hard to find; he was still blazing with a whirling storm of Chaos Spears, glowing bright enough to see several miles away. Fortunately it was nighttime in Mazuri too.
"Shads!" called Sonic, skidding to a halt. "Gosh, are you okay?"
"Great, Faker," growled Shadow, glaring up at him. Despite the fact that he was nowhere near healed, he began to clamber to his feet, stubbornly determined not to betray the slightest hints of weakness.
"Shadow, get down!" protested Sonic, looking on in horrified fascination as a still-blazing Shadow hoisted himself upright and stood, swaying drunkenly. "You're gonna get yourself killed!"
"Shaddup," growled Shadow, breathing hard but somehow miraculously still standing. "I'm fine. Get lost."
"Yeesh . . . Y'know, on one hand, I can kinda relate," said Sonic ruefully. "I'm not big on needing anyone's help either. I don't think too many people are."
Shadow glared at him silently through a wavering curtain of energy, defying any mortal pretence of understanding him.
"It's not easy," sighed Sonic, rocking back on one heel with arms folded contemplatively. "But it's something you've gotta grow into eventually, y'know?"
Shadow rolled his eyes and began to turn away.
"Yeah, then we'll do it the hard way," said Sonic resignedly, and dove. Without warning he broke through the wall of shimmering raw power, his hands grasped Shadow's shoulders, and before Shadow even knew what was happening he had been gently but firmly forced to the ground and a little flask had been pressed into his hand. At this point the burning became too much, and Sonic threw himself clear with a yelp.
"Dammit, Faker." Shadow sat up partway and watched in disbelief as Sonic sprawled back, shivering and smoldering.
"Yeah, you're welcome," panted Sonic, his voice a mix of sarcasm and the tight restraint of pain. "Just drink the stuff."
"It's gone," said Shadow ruefully, pouring ashes from his hand. "Most of the Spears are coming from my hands, Faker. I can't hold anything."
"Ohhhh, that's just great!" groaned Sonic, sitting up and spitting on his scorched arm. "Why didencha tell me that before I got myself stir-fried?"
Shadow shook his head mutely, privately marveling at Sonic's unique blend of caring, daring, and utter stupidity. He almost felt like he should apologize for the burns, but it wasn't really his fault and he wasn't in the habit of apologizing anyway.
"You must have taken ten Spears at least," he said instead. "You should be dead right now."
"I'll take that in the nicest possible way," chuckled Sonic glumly. "Yeah, I know. You're losing power, Shads."
Shadow glowered again.
"It's true," said Sonic gently. "We're guessing you burned through your whole stock that one time, and now you're mostly running on a little background Chaos radiation, not enough to do real damage. You might run out all the way eventually." He tilted his head. "You don't need Chaos to stay alive or anything, do you?"
"Don't know," said Shadow, quietly letting the cloak of bravado slip off. "Don't think so."
"Just in case though, I brought this," said Sonic. "Here, quick recharge!"
He tossed, something green glinted through the air and shot through the vortex, and Shadow caught reflexively. His eyes widened; it was the green Chaos Emerald he'd left behind at the cave.
"Dammit Faker, no—"
Too late. He felt a massive wave of Chaos energy crash through his body, and the world disappeared into a splash of angry red.
"It's started again!" said Rouge, staring at her communicator's GPS. "He's started Chaos Controlling all over the place."
"And something's happened to Sonic!" said Tails anxiously. He and Sonic had a communicator-slash-tracking-device system of their own, but Sonic's signal had just stopped moving. While Rouge's communicator continued to roar with the crashing and destruction following Shadow, Tails called out anxiously over the seemingly dead connection linking him to Sonic. It was a miserable few minutes.
At last there came a muffled groan, and Sonic's voice returned.
"Wowwww . . . Tails, izzat you?"
Sonic! You're alive!" cried Tails. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, pretty much. But the antidote disintegrated when he touched it, and the Chaos Emerald just gave him more power than he could handle and he pretty much just blew up."
"Chaos Blast?!"
"Yeah. And now he's left the Chaos Emerald behind, but I think the power boost sent him back into the Chaos Control cycle. Sorry . . . "
"You did your best," said Rouge crisply, turning down the volume on her own comm. "You in one piece, Blue?"
"I'm okay. Knocked me out for a minute there, that's all. I'll be coming back for another bottle of the antidote, tell me if he stops moving around again, okay?"
"Roger, Sonic," said Tails resignedly. "Be careful."
Meanwhile, Shadow had to admit, at least to himself, that he was starting to have more than he could take. He kept flashing all over the planet, appearing somewhere new every few seconds, sometimes in the night, sometimes where it was day, in rainstorms, in deserts, inside the walls of buildings—which promptly disintegrated under the hail of Chaos Spears and came down on top of him. The continuing torrent of Chaos energy tumbled him against obstacles and burned through his body, hot and relentless, eating away at his cells. He bore it stoically, but he wondered if he wouldn't burn up somehow.
Slowly his energy began to run out again. The pauses between Chaos Controls became longer and longer, giving him some time to get his bearings and catch his breath before getting whisked off again. The Spears were becoming erratic too, sometimes blazing full-power, sometimes receding to a sullen glow underneath his fur.
At last he materialized inside some strange building, in a large, metal-plated chamber, scented with steel and chemicals and perhaps floor cleaner. It seemed oddly familiar. Still, what he noticed most at the moment was that he wasn't spewing energy too violently, at least for now. Flopping down on the cool lemon-scented floor, he let himself rest a little before the next bout of unwilling teleportation.
A soft patter of feet approached from another room, coupled with a light yawn. In the doorway appeared a little nightgown-clad figure, rubbing eyes and fumbling with a hairbrush. Shadow felt his world collapse around him. Of all the people he didn't want to see this—
A little cry of surprise, and the hairbrush clattered to the floor.
"Shadow?" cried Maria, scampering forward. "What happened? Are you all right?"
"Careful!" said Shadow warningly, sitting up and shaking his head hard. "Don't come closer."
"But you're glowing!" protested Maria. "And you're hurt—what's going on?"
Shadow struggled to back away as Maria crouched down next to him, her eyes wide with concern. He could feel the waves of Chaos building up in him again, and as desperately as he wanted to keep them down, he knew he would be going up in a blaze of energy any minute now. God forbid Maria should be standing next to him at that moment . . .
"Look, Maria," he said as levelly as he could manage, his breath coming unevenly. "You have to stay back. I'm all right, I swear, but it's not safe for you. Just go on, I'll be leaving in a minute—just—"
He gritted his teeth as sparks of greeny-blue energy danced between his fingertips, hinting at the inferno to come. Too close, too close—why didn't she get back already—
"You're not all right, you're hurt," said Maria, with that quiet stubbornness that Shadow—usually—admired in her. "Here, let me look at that cut."
"No!" Shadow felt the searing current start up in his limbs again. "Maria, don't—"
She didn't even flinch at the sharpness of his tone; she merely swayed forward to balance with one hand on the floor and reach the other gently towards the gash on Shadow's forehead. This was not going to happen . . .
"Get . . . back!" barked Shadow, lashing out. Maria gave a startled cry as she stumbled back, coming up against a wall. Shadow didn't even get a chance to see if she was all right before he disappeared in a howl of blue Chaos.
The rush of adrenaline seemed to have reactivated the energy drain, because the Chaos Control started happening every three seconds again. Shadow half-ignored it, numb to the world. Forget dominant trait, it was starting to feel like the venom was stripping away everything that he'd ever valued. His self-control, his independence, his usually endless stamina, his unshakable mastery of every situation . . . and to top it he'd been forced to hurt the one he'd cared about the longest. Maria was going to want some answers, too; she'd have to know about Fiolet now. Provided she was all right, that is . . .
The Chaos Control seemed to be getting sentiently malicious. It threw him into the middle of highways, dangerously close to a forest fire, somewhere deep under the sea, where it suddenly seemed to stop functioning and left him to search for the surface, lungs burning, for almost a full minute. He lost track of how many times he'd been yanked across the world and tossed somewhere he had no desire of being.
At last the rush of Chaos seemed to peter out, receding again to the weaker current of Chaos Spears. Fortunately it had last dropped him in a field, not somewhere dangerous. Hovering on the edge of consciousness, he blinked slowly around, wondering where he was. The sun seemed to be rising . . .
"Shadow!" There was a familiar rattle of wings, and suddenly Rouge appeared next to him, blurry but unmistakable.
"Maria, how's Maria?" he asked immediately, his breath quickening.
"She's okay. Eggman called us asking why you'd been burning holes in his base, and he mentioned she's a little shaken up, but unhurt."
Shadow allowed himself to relax, sighing.
"You're something else," sighed Rouge, tousling her ears. "My gosh, how are you?"
"Tired," said Shadow softly, and Rouge winced. He must be worn near to nothing if he'd admit even that much.
"Well, you have some aim," she said, scooting as close as the Chaos Spears would let her. "You're only half a mile from where you started."
"Sorry I can't stick around," said Shadow, grinning darkly.
"You're not going anywhere. I doubt you have enough energy left in you to Chaos Control across a kitchen."
"My point exactly."
"Oh, for—you can forget about dying," said Rouge vehemently. "You will not, you hear me? I absolutely forbid it."
Shadow raised an eyebrow, ironic even through half-consciousness.
"S'that an order?"
"It is, actually. I swear, if you die, Omega and I will kill you."
"Continues to amaze me," mumbled Shadow, smirking, "how much effort you two put into annoying me."
"It's the national sport," retorted Rouge, managing a smile. "Here, take this."
The ebbing stream of Chaos Spears seemed to part around Rouge's hand like water around a stone, and something black-and-red glinted into Shadow's blurred vision. Without thinking he grabbed it, and immediately felt the last few shreds of Chaos wash out of him. He barely had time to cast Rouge a reproachful look before passing out.
"Don't worry, that's an expected side effect," sighed Rouge. "Rest up."
Ironically, the Ordonium collar Fiolet had used against Shadow was also keeping the Chaos away from him long enough to give him a little respite. It had been a bit of a gamble, since Shadow's unbridled Chaos flux meant that the stone would banish all of the Chaos in his body. There had been a less-than-slight possibility that it would kill him; luckily, it seemed to have not. Rouge settled back and shook her head silently, wondering how much beating it had taken to reduce the Ultimate into this battered mass of quills.
A purposeful clank of metal approached, and Omega strode swiftly up to the bat and unconscious hedgehog. A lot of the others trailed behind him, but stopped at a respectful distance, knowing there wasn't much they could do and not wanting to intrude on these tense moments.
"How's he doing?" asked Rouge quietly, looking up as Omega sidled closer. His scanners trilled softly for a moment.
"Vitals much weaker than usual. Some at critical levels. Massive internal damage."
"But he's gonna live, right?"
"With luck," said Omega cautiously. His voice barely varied from the usual monotone, but a muffled beeping from somewhere deep in the back of his innards indicated that his panic alarm was barely keeping on mute.
"Will he get better if he waits, or worse?" asked Rouge.
"I do not know . . . "
Rouge sighed. What with all his scanners and databanks and mathematical precision, it was easy to forget that Omega didn't really have the answer to everything.
"Well then, we're doing it now."
Fishing out the cyan Chaos Emerald, she pressed it into Shadow's other hand and closed his fingers over it. Shadow flinched and groaned, opening his eyes slowly. A pulse of green light shimmered over him, but promptly died. It flickered a few more times as he blinked, trying to sort out his surroundings.
"What . . . did you do, for the love of—"
"What's wrong?"
"Feels like it's . . . tearing me in half . . . "
Rouge grimaced. Having a powerful source of Chaos in one hand and a powerful negater of Chaos in the other evidently wasn't much fun, but at least it was keeping him conscious and simultaneously non-exploding.
"This one's Knuckles's; we figured a kids' dose wouldn't be enough. Drink up."
Shadow blinked at the flask uncomprehendingly for a minute, then clamped it between his teeth and tilted his head back, tossing down the antidote.
"And it's a full dose, too," remarked Rouge bitterly. "At least you hope so."
Shadow squinted at her for a moment, his expression unreadable, then let his eyes slip closed. The erratic flashing of barely-restrained Chaos energy slowly died away, and the faint fluctuation of the Emerald in his hand turned to a steady glow. Unlike the others, he didn't wake up again a few seconds later.
"Sensors seem to indicate an increase in latent Chaos energy," ventured Omega. "However, his vitals are still critically low. He requires immediate medical attention."
"Yeah . . . " Rouge tousled her ears wearily, feeling three or four hours of lost sleep catching up to her all at once. "Let's get going."