RtB: PenFullofChaos819 is not, nor will ever be, an employee of Sega. None of the company's characters are his property. Listen up people, I've might've figured out what happened and how to get me, ahem, I mean get us, out of this mess. But until I can make it work, I suggest you all condense your names for self-preservation purposes.

Knuckles: *Whining* Your fur's now whiter and prettier than mine PoC. My pride, my joy, and maybe even my fan-girls, are forever lost to me…

RtB: For real? I'm not even supposed to HAVE fur! Not to mention my voice is about a whole octave higher than it should be…well make that half an octave since it's Rouge.

Knuckles: *Pouts*

RtB: Oh screw it. How about you Met? Keeping it together?

Charmy: *Also whining* Let's not lie to ourselves, Rouge. We both know my life's been over since I discovered my jagged gluteus…

RtB: *Shrugs* So you need to avoid inflatable chairs and waterbeds, while you *points to Knuckles* have to bathe and condition more than twice a week. So what? Does anyone care how THIS *gestures to whole body* is going to affect me?

Charmy & Knuckles: Hmm…NOPE!

Rouge: …and so once again, we see that friendship triumphs over all *waves tiny flag*

-l-

Rising Pressure

-l-

One would think that when a paranormal girl springs you from a cell, she'd be kind enough to stick around and give you precise directions to…wherever it is you're supposed to be going. Tails had run out of this wishful thinking about twenty minutes ago, around the time he gotten lost in the countless weaving halls of steely grey. After finally confessing that he had absolutely no idea what to do next, the fox settled on observing his surroundings. His location, wherever it was, suffered from a total lack of personality. Except for the featureless white-ish grey walls and the reflective silver flooring, the place was entirely void of any sort of detail, in addition to being squeaky clean. Whoever lived here must be allergic to even the tiniest speck of dust, or so Tails mused. Perhaps the first, if only, eye-catcher lay in the place's nauseating navy blue lighting. Never had he seen any location, outside of a children's haunted house, lit up with so much aqua-hued fluorescence in all his days. Strangely though, he couldn't identify a single light source, not on the ceiling or anywhere else. Without an origin point, it was suspect to even say that this light did actually come from a type of fluorescent lamp, or any other kind of conventional light fixture for that matter.

Interesting and slightly off-putting as the subject was, Tails' primary concern was still this Tikal person. He'd called out for her numerous times just as she had instructed, yet no reply ever came. Just what exactly did it take to charm a semi-transparent echidna girl into talking these days? Joking aside, the fox knew he could really use a friendly voice of reason right about now.

"What ails you so? Did you already forget about me?"

That…most certainly didn't sound like Tikal. No, it was more like the other person, spirit, or thing he'd heard whispering inside his head. Whatever it was, it didn't sound exactly unfriendly. However, it's bizarre warning against Tikal earlier had Tails still a bit guarded about the voice' intentions.

"I hope you'll forgive me my crude introductions. I just couldn't bear to watch that witch deceive you."

Tikal? A witch? While Tails made no habit of trusting any sort of spirit, she hadn't seemed the unkindly or dangerous sort when they spoke. In fact, she'd been generous enough to set him free and give him a way to help Sonic. And besides, wasn't this the same crazy voice asked him to fight her off without any provocation? If anything, THIS creep was the one with rotten motives.

"I'm terribly sorry for that. I hadn't time to expose her true conniving nature. It pained me when she fabricated that tale about freeing the red one and aiding your friends, especially when she happens to be in league with the master."

The vulpine froze in his place, now giving the voice proper attention. Sure, he had no way of actually knowing who this 'master' person was, but he had a hunch that it was the same creep that had called him 'his puppet' and thrown him in a cell. But then if that was the case, why would this master guy send Tikal in to set him free? Where was the logic in that counterintuitive move?

"Your guess is as good as mine. I can, however, hypothesize that he's using the girl to gain your trust, so as means to manipulate you more easily. This is perhaps what he meant when he called you 'his puppet'."

Tails, though still managing to keep his head together, felt his palms start to perspire. One of these two jokers was lying to him; that was almost certain, but which one? He couldn't tell right off who he instinctually felt was more trustworthy, seeing how he knew next to nothing about either. In passing, an even scarier thought crossed his mind: Could it be that both were just yanking his chain for this master person's sick pleasure?

Catching himself, the vulpine pushed his cumulating doubts and confusion as far down as he could, aware that this snooping being in his head was probably still hanging on his every thought. So after riddling his options out as privately as possible, he 'said' to the voice "Don't think…for one second that I buy a word of that cute little hole-filled story of yours. In fact, I don't see why I should trust you OR Tikal, seeing as how you both could be against me for all I know."

"I see… I won't force you…Tails. I know how difficult it must be to trust me, a disembodied voice inside your mind. But, if you should even tire of her deceptions, I'm always here for you. I'll never leave you unanswered or lie to you. And to show how much I care, I think I'll give you a gift; something that I think will help you in the near future."

While not interested in the voice's 'affection', it's droning had sparked enough curiosity for Tails to ask "Hey, how do you know that name? And just what the heck are you trying to give me?"

"Something that every hero needs if he wants to sustain himself and his loved ones: Power."

L

*With Sonic's team*

L

It didn't have the forbidding, tyrant's utopia look about it. In most cases no one would even notice or care about the building's simple grey structure just looking at it from the outside. Still, knowing that Tails, the hazy lunatic, and possibly Robotnik were inside had Sonic wound up and ready to go at any time. And to further solidify the mission's importance, he also kept a firm eye on the sky to remind himself that time was short. It was his fresh reminder that, without the Chaos Emeralds and Tails' genius, there might be no way to reverse this dimension's constant degradation. Lately he could spend no longer than a few minutes, in one location, without causing veritable meteorological disaster. Part of him even wondered if the apartment that they'd first witnessed the change in had gotten any worse since he left. Something inside him said that he didn't really want to know, given how he already had, literally, a dark cloud over his head wherever he went.

"Sonic! We could use a little help down here!" He turned at hearing Rouge's sudden outcry. Racing down to the cabin below, the hedgehog saw everyone huddled around a pile of broken wood panels…next to a messy bundle of red and ebony fur. Though still breathing, it was clear that poor Shadow had gotten hammered hard enough with the collapsed door to be rendered completely unconscious.

Kneeling down, Sonic pulled off the excess bits of splintered wood and dragged the darker hedgehog out of the wreckage. While he did this, he swore he heard someone say "Come on gang, look on the bright side; at least his melon didn't get juicy on us." At this awkward remark, the team cast glares of disapproval and, in Maria's case, horror in the recently-woken crocodile's direction.

"Vector, kindly faint on us again until Shadow wakes up." Espio snidely told his boss whilst handing the blue hero a fairly flat pillow. Sonic then placed the cushion underneath their injured ally, only jump back when the dark one convulsed. Undeterred, the blur approached a second time, using caution to avoid causing Shadow any further pain. Suddenly, his lookalike's body thrashed again, now without any physical contact. Between his grunts of anger and facial contortions, anyone would think that Shadow was either going through a very unusual seizure or was having a truly hellish nightmare. Problems further escalated when the hero's 'patient' turned increasingly aggressive, throwing wild fists of fury in various, but not random, directions, as if he was combating some unseen foe. Sonic leapt in immediately when he caught his doppelganger gathering what he suspected to be chaos energy.

Struggling under Shadow's now augmented strength, the speedster required both Vector and Espio to pin back the striped hedgehog's arms and legs respectively. Sonic meanwhile clasped the dark copycat's shoulders, repeatedly saying his name and pleading with him to control himself. After few seconds, Shadow was successfully roused, but when he awoke Sonic was met with intense hatred swirling in his ruby eyes. Before the blue one could ask what was wrong, Shadow wrest one of his hands free from Vector's grasp, then pressed it against Sonic's chest while shouting "Away! Get away from me!"

Next thing the hero knew he was sent spiraling violently across the room. Fortunately, Sonic's abnormal reaction time allowed him to embed his feet, instead of his head, into the house's framework. Even so, the experience and sudden impact had the blue-hog sweating drops of apprehension so that he barely noticed the newfound aching in his legs. Amy and Amethyst quickly rushed to his side while the others all kept a safe distance from their dangerous comrade. Sonic, however, was quick to notice that Shadow did not still have rage written on his face, but rather a look of mortified shock with his jaw in a half dropped position. Given these signs, the blur approached the dark one against everyone else's warnings and said "Shadow…you back with us now?"

For a moment he seemed to be at a loss for words, but soon enough Shadow attempted to explain "Sonic…I didn't mean to…I…" he was almost overtaken by evident shame, but the hero's further coaxing encouraged the ebony mobian to continue "I must've seen a hundred images pass through my mind, most of which make absolutely no sense, but somehow I…I remember."

Sonic strained back a very unusual reaction, which came out as a snort. Trying not to attract attention only incriminated the hero further, until he could no longer contain himself and, much to the surprise of the team, burst out laughing "Wait, wait, wait, time out there! You're telling me that getting your noggin conveniently smashed right as we're about to attack the main man's fort brought back your memory? Wow I feel so clichéd right now." His divine words only served to confuse the less-knowledgeable group.

"No Sonic." Shadow informed him bluntly, not hiding how very offensive he found the blur's behavior to be "It's the same as the visions I've had ever since I was freed of that accursed face-guard, only much more vivid. I still can't remember anything about our foe or his schemes. I can only recall what it was like being his prisoner."

Though Sonic blew off his chance to apologize for jumping the gun, Shadow just ignored him, rose, and quickly headed for the now doorless threshold. Perplexed, the team followed him outside, while asking him numerous questions about where he was going and/or what he was doing. Shadow didn't seem to hear a word they were saying, as he simply kept on heading for the large structure the crazy specter's peculiar 'map' had led them to. It wasn't until Maria impeded in his path that the dark one stopped his approach "Hold it a second Shadow! Just what do you think you're doing?"

Restraining his wrath for her sake, he replied "What does it look like? I'm going to go in, liberate Miles, and kill that-that creature before he harms anyone else the way he did me." Trying to sidestep her resulted in him being blocked by Sonic, who shook his finger in disagreement.

"Sorry Shads, but no can do. You're not going anywhere until we've got a team and a plan ready." Having lost his patience, Shadow moved to strong-arm the hero out of his way, but suddenly found himself tied up in a lock of Espio's. In response, he the threw the chameleon a harsh elbow and turned to punch Sonic aside, but true to his name the supersonic mobian evaded and countered with an unhappy knee to his mimic's abdomen.

Angered, but secretly impressed by the faker's prowess, Shadow groaned out "You…you fools. You have no idea what that evil craft can to a person. None of you have the slightest clue what that mask does to your head. Yet you expect me to sit idly by while you waste time discussing strategy? Miles will have been broken by the time you decide to act! He'll be subjected to the worst forms of psychological torture until he becomes a slobbering, witless pawn for that DEMON in there!" Being so focused on his rant, Shadow didn't see Vector having to move the two sobbing younger girls out of earshot, or Rouge trying to comfort a quieter, but equally tearful, Amethyst.

Sonic frowned at the situation, but still kept up his attempts to reason with him "Look, I'm not any happier that my bud, even if he's not the little guy I grew up with, is getting his brain scrambled by some generic, megalomaniac punk, but you don't see me losing my head about, do you? And if you don't buy that, then what about Ame over here? That's her boyfriend in there, but still she chooses to be brave instead letting the pressure get to her. You're the only one that's being an insensitive, selfish prick about something you can't control."

It took a time of pause, one that felt closer to an hour than the minute it was, until Shadow showed any kind of reaction. While he must've contemplated Sonic's sound words to some degree, it wasn't until he took a good look at the trouble and chaos his impulsive actions had caused that he stood up calmly and said "Thirty minutes."

Most failed to take his meaning, but regardless the jaded anti-hero merely retraced his steps back in the direction of Tactichaos's ship. He left from their sight only after he clarified "You have thirty minutes and then I move with or without you. We can't afford to drain any more precious time on some group-therapy session. Make your every second count." No one could fully avoid being soured by his sudden, uncalled for display of heartlessness. Nevertheless, he had made a valid point in stressing their ever-narrowing window of opportunity.

So the group silently decided to take his advice, starting with Vector who ushered the team and escorted the children back to his ship. Rouge followed behind him, after being politely dismissed by a still shaken up Amethyst. Sonic was about to proceed after the bat, until he noticed Espio's empty stare in the vixen's direction.

Approaching the lizard from his side, the hero issued what sounded like an order "Say something to her." This statement his caused his stealthy companion to twitch slightly in discomfort. Meeting the hedgehog's gaze showed how lethally serious and non-joking Sonic really was about his 'suggestion'.

Despite this, Espio shook his head in reply while saying "No, it's not my place. Miles should be the one to comfort her, not I. How could you even suggest that I do something so dishonorable?" Hoping that he'd simply fallen victim to some manner of cruel prank, the reptile stared back at the hero, only to find that his expression remained unchanged.

"I'm not asking you to move in on her you spaz. I'm asking you to get her spirits up before we confront Tails. Like it or not, she's going to end up coming with us, and that means she'll need all the support and confidence she can get." With that Sonic stepped forward, leaving one final remark "If you really give a crap about her as much as you pretend to, then I'm sure you can find some 'honorable' way to make her feel better." Once he was finished, the blur left him behind in a flash.

Abandoned to his own thoughts, Espio felt torn between showing cowardice and neglecting Sonic's advice, or stepping up and humiliating himself for no purpose. He had to admit that pride could be quite a burden in cases like this. Determined to devote a healthy five minutes towards thinking things through, the ex-ninja set his mind to coming up with a plan.

"You okay?" how unfortunate that he didn't think faster. It seemed that when he didn't look for trouble, trouble went and found him anyway. Now pinned in an uncomfortable situation, Espio deflected some of the stress by asking her why she had approached him.

"You were just standing there staring at me, or something else, so I thought you had something to say." And this is what the common folk of the underground would often call an epic failure on his part. Though not fond of the term, he had to admit that it fit his screw up quite well.

But, as his training had taught him, he would turn this weakness, like any other, into an advantage. Restoring his famous state of calm, Espio nodded and said with firm certainty "Actually yes, I do have something to say." Stepping a bit closer, while keeping a respectful distance, he went on "Though I don't doubt what Shadow says to be true, I want you to know that I have the utmost faith in Miles." Pausing reflectively, the purple lizard let the truth pour out of him with no resistance "I've been his rival for longer than I can remember, but not because of a grudge or hatred for the kind of person he is." Closing his eyes, he revealed even more "I…actually I respect him. Miles, no…Tails, is the strongest opponent I've ever faced both mentally and physically. And I know from that strength that the only thing he really requires right now is for us to not give up on him. He needs us, but especially you, to stay strong for him. I know this is must be a difficult thing to ask, but I also know he would never want to see you mourning like this. I say this because you're the most important person in his life, and the same person that needs to support him when the time comes."

Incredibly stunned by Espio's completely uncharacteristic speech, Amethyst wasn't sure how to react. However, truly touched by his kind, if not a bit strange, sentiment, Amethyst leaned in and embraced the cold-blooded mobian while saying "Thank you…Espio. I'm sure Tails would be happy to know how much you care about him, about us."

After releasing him, the vixen retained her smile and returned to the ship herself, with her chameleon comforter still locked in place. Waiting until she was far enough away, Espio raised his head up to one of the nearby trees and said "You can come out now."

Just as he said this, a caught red-handed Sonic flipped off his perch and landed next to his golden-eyed ally's side "Awww…isn't that sweet! So I guess you DO have a soft-spot after all. I'm telling you man, I was this close to breaking out the tissues like three times." Paying no mind to how crimson-faced Espio had become, Sonic added in a more serious tone "So, how 'bout it? You feeling a little better now too?"

"Well aside from having to swallow my own vomit when I said those things about Miles..." Sighing he proceeded to confess "Yeah…I guess I am. I think I have my thinking straight again…no thanks to you." Which was of course the blender's way of saying 'Thanks, I appreciate it'.

Sonic chuckled and rudely, like he had with Shadow not long ago, slapped him on the back "Well I'm happy for ya buddy! But I kinda have one more important question to ask." Getting in close, far too close for the chameleon's liking, he asked "Did it make you feel all warm and fuzzy?"

Though initially befuddled by his implications, Espio's confusion soon turned to horrified embarrassment that prompted him to stomp off for the ship, ditching a very stupid and tactless hedgehog behind to hopefully suffocate on his own laughter.

L

*Half-an-hour later*

L

"So that's your master plan?" the still-edgy Shadow scoffed "You want to take two vulnerable targets with us instead of just going in by ourselves?" by 'vulnerable targets' he was disrespectfully referring to Rouge and Amethyst, who had been elected to be part of the 'attack team'.

Expectedly, this raised dissension in the ranks, which both Sonic and Espio were swift to put down. With the vote reaching five 'adults' against one, Shadow huffed and begrudgingly consented to what he considered to be bad judgment. Vector had volunteered to go too, but Sonic informed him, not deceptively, that they would need someone to have the ship prepped and ready in case something happens. Besides, there was no way they could leave the kids unsupervised. Once the choice was made unanimous, Vector announced randomly that he was also preparing some sort of back-up plan if worst came to worst.

"Just give this baby a holler, and let me do my magic!" Was all he would say about it as he strapped what looked like an audio bug to the cobalt-hog's fur. Sonic went on to ask why the croc had given it to him, to which Vector answered by saying "Why? You're our leader, that's why!"

"I'm the leader…? But…" Sonic checked the group for any argument on the matter. However, even the presently moody Shadow had no complaint to offer, so Sonic said "Alright then, but don't go expecting any more heroic speeches out of me! This hedgehog prefers action over talk…" seeing the accusing glances of both the ex-ninja and his former nemesis, Sonic amended "Well…you know, usually."

Provided with their new leader, the team left the craft and headed for the large structure at last. Checking out the scans Vector's ship had automatically made of the premises, it was decided that the route Shadow had been heading for would be more heavily guarded than a slightly hidden upper path.

"And to think you were just going to charge the front gate like an amateur. For shame…" Sonic teased, receiving a well deserved eye-roll from the team grouch.

During their trek to the facility's side, Amethyst was surprised when she detected something on her scanner. The procession didn't stop for her, but everyone was all ears for what she'd found "I'm detecting emerald signatures from inside the complex. They may be able to lead us right to…whatever that thing or person is. You know we really should find a name for that guy." Pressing a few more buttons on her miniature device, the vixen went on "Emeralds that have been recently active or moving can be traced by the faint trail of chaos energy they leave behind. It's something I figured out and recalibrated my scanner for when we first met up with Vector's team."

"Pretty interesting info Ame, but I think I found something a little less tech-y and more to my liking." the sapphire hedgehog grinned and jumped up to a fairly large shaft-like entrance "Open sesame!" he grunted as he removed the covering with relative ease.

"All that shouting is going undo the only advantage we have if the master of this place hears you." Shadow crudely advised, making Sonic shrug and hop down to their level again. Seeing how it was a fairly high jump, Sonic decided that one of the guys would each carry the ladies to the top. Rouge almost refused but was cut off when Shadow, with unusual haste, hoisted her up instantly. Sonic intentionally then, mostly to keep his mind off fear for his friend and the danger in general, amused himself by forcing Espio to carry Amethyst up, claiming he was too weighed down with heavy equipment (which was more or less true). This went smoothly up until the vixen suddenly let out a yelp of surprise.

"W-What's wrong? Did I hurt you?" Espio asked nervously, but saw that she was still too fixated on her scanner screen to even heed his concern. Convinced it wasn't him, he alerted the rest of the team to whatever she had found.

"I-I don't believe it. No…this is NOT possible." Her voice quaked and her forehead began to build a film of cold sweat.

Sure that he wasn't going to like her news, Sonic went ahead and asked the very question everyone wanted answered "What's wrong Amethyst?

Eyes darting across the scanner again and again, the vixen stood in a state of total denial "It can't be, my scanner must have a glitch. Otherwise…I'm seeing Chaos Emerald readings all over this place…at least twenty of them."

-l-

End of Chapter Thirty-Seven

-l-

Wednesday update…Wednesday update…WEDNESDAY UPDATE! I'm three inches from elated (which is better known as 'very pleased' XD) Another long one? Hmm…maaaaaaybe I'll tone it down next chapter just for reader's sake (I know how annoying overly long chaps can be if you're in a hurry). Thank you all again for the awesome support in spite of my occasional insecure moments (like last chapter). I'm a little overwhelmed by how much support I've gotten for this simple story. It makes me really happy :')

DanceDream: My timing his all over the place, and I know this one will jumble it up even more. DX Sorry about that. I say this to everyone, but I mean it: I know you'll get to it so I'm not concerned. Take your time :)

Ghostkid33: College is a beotch no? I'm coming up on my finals soon so I totally understand the delay. Still, I look forward to hearing from you.

Serenity: Your friend ravenclaww is simply awesome for allowing you to still provide feedback during these time crunches. I'm very glad you still like the funnies at the top, but I've got to admit that they aren't exactly stellar lately (my bad). To ravenclaww: Thank you again for the respect! Writing a long chapter can take it out of you with school and work, but if everyone likes it then it's all worth the effort :).

Infamousplot: I hope you get caught up soon (btw THANKS FOR THE EXCELLENT REVIEWS!). I wouldn't want you to miss all the ending action :).

Kindra Mckleen: I sort of wanted Shadow to do something like that XD. I was afraid I might be over-the-top with his caretaker-ness, so I tried to make him more like the 'real' Sonic in this chap. Tikal and Knuckles definitely have a kind family relationship going. I wish I had more time to flesh it out instead of squeezing it in as I have been :\. Ame is too sneaky for Sonic apparently XD I'm hoping this chapter didn't really slow down the action.

knight of the windZ10Z: You'll get to it, like everyone else. It doesn't help that I'm updating earlier. BUT I promise to not freak out like I did with others.

Sierra Zanimalini14: Glad you liked that part too :). While there's more Shadow and Sonic scenes here, ol' Shads is having a temper flare (somewhat reminiscent of his other self maybe? ;) ). Well the battle hasn't come yet, unless you count speedy putting Shadow in his place. But at least got them in front door, so to speak XD.

Super Shadix 520: I toned down the 'dude', now gimme mah cookie darmit (yes created a word to hide my bad language, so sue me XD)! It's good to know I didn't have a lot of errors in that mother of a chapter 0_o

Sparkling-nexis137: :D Sweet! I'm glad you like the body-switching nonsense. I don't know, I think I made Silver anywhere from slightly to way out of character, obviously for humor purposes only. Heh, well if you think about it this way, both sides just want to help the other out so at least it's not malicious deception. They trix becuz they carez! XD Hey at least they're all good guys/girls right?

draco'sfairmaiden: I might've said this in my pm, but yes, this chapter proved that didn't it? Shadow is now being kept in line by our blue buddy XD. I hope I can get to the Tails scene soon enough.

Cut Productions: I know you'll get to it soon enough. Btw, I haven't gotten a chance to look up your site yet, but I wish you luck on your next chapter that I am eagerly awaiting!

KillingKathy: I hope you find time to read this.

Until next time!