Sonic had always possessed tremendous agility. Being able to twist and turn his body at lightening speed was what had made him famous. It had taken a little bit of practise but by now he could transfer those skills into the art of Extreme Gear surfing.

Pulling the board close to himself in mid air, he could use his centre of gravity to perform tremendous acrobatic twirls and spinning all while doing continuous back flips.

He always had an audience. Amy and Sera were down there on the Oasis surface watching him and Knuckles had just joined them. Showing off was an instinct hardwired in Sonic's very self so he couldn't resist doing some extra special stunts to both impress the ladies and to make on of his rivals jealous.

The Echidna just watched his aerial antics with a disapproving look on his face.

"I'd have thought he'd be above showing off by now." He commented.

"Not a chance of that happening any time soon." Amy sighed as she leaned back in the long grass. Sera was nearby watching Sonic flip back and forth, her tail swaying behind her lazily. "Don't usually see you outside the Energy chamber." The pink hedgehog added.

"Yeah… well, I er… I needed to get some fresh air." Knuckles said, preferring not to speak about the confrontation between Hyper and Rouge. As far as he knew, it was still going on. It was only by luck he had managed to tip toe his way out of that cat-fight.

"The race finals for the Ex Galactic Grand Prix tournament will commence in three hours." A female sounding voice beamed out from the city of Babylon in the sky above. "Will the finalists please convene at the old Babylonian Stadium prior to that time."

Sonic landed with a soft thud nearby, successful catching his gear under one arm and righting himself up with a wide proud smile.

"Nice moves." Knuckles admitted folding his arms.

Sonic straightened himself up and let out a pensive sigh. That had done him the world of good. Now he felt like his old self again.

Prometheus was here somewhere and Sonic would get to the bottom of this by finding him.

It was just taking him a little longer than he thought it would.

Little at the moment made sense. Solaris, Iblis Trigger, Iblis, Black Doom... hopefully Prometheus could shed some light on it.

"Not very impressive for someone of your reputation." Sonic's ear pricked at the sound of that voice and staring up, he caught sight of another audience.

Watching them from a tree branches nearby was Jet. The Babylon Rogue had a wide smirk on his face with his arms folded in his lap.

"You…" Sonic muttered.

"You know, I've been watching you throughout this competition." The hawk admitted. "And I got information from that fool Eggman about your past racing career.

Not bad blue boy I'll admit. You even managed to beat my Rogues. But compared to me, you're a chump amateur."

"Did he just call me 'chump'?" Sonic breathed with a mixed expression of awe and outright anger slowly spreading on his face.

"You see, as long as you're a ground based mammal you're going to be going nowhere." The rogue added with a sadistic expression on his face as he pulled down his orange tinted goggles over his eyes.

"But if you want real speed you have to become one with the wind. Without wings you might as well kiss the ground and go home." Launching up into the air, he seemed to almost vanish disappearing into the green of the leafy canopy, leaving a long series of irritating laughs in his wake. The taunting continued in echoes for a moment before disappearing.

"Who does he think he is?" Knuckles asked, barring his teeth.

"Well he's a hot favourite to win the tournament for one thing." A voice added in. Looking back they saw a human like being approach them through the long grass.

He looked human by the quills on the side of his neck and sharp teeth defiantly weren't part of the human anatomy.

"Piranha?" Sonic asked looking a little surprised. "Just what are you doing here?" The man adopted a stunned expression as if that question need not be asked placing his hands on his hips.

"You honestly think I'm going to miss out on an adventure like this?" He asked in reply with wide eyes. "You may not even know it, but you guys, you especially Sonic, are at the centre of intrigue the likes of which I've never seen.

And I've a mole in the Federation government."

"Media gibber aside, what's this all about?" Sonic asked him finally loosing patience.

"I was concerned about you when the Order of Thunder publicly declared you excommunicated so I came to see how you were doing." The man replied.

"They what?" Knuckles began. Piranha tapped a button on his wrist watch and a holographic projection of a news broadcast. Sonic managed a frown at the sight of one of the Order's head priests, the Reptilian Balthazar, standing in front of some reporters making an address.

"The faithful of Zeus do not take heresy lightly.

The crew of the ship known as the Blue Typhoon have profaned against the memory of our patron, professing the lies of Cronos as truths.

These lairs threaten the stability of our faith and are a danger to any society. I call upon any law abiding faithful to join me in pursuing these dangerous outlaws and bringing them to lawful and religious justice."

"You're lucky you're in Falcon territory." Piranha muttered, pressing the button again and the image disappeared. "The birds don't give a flying heck about religion so they won't touch you."

"Great… Meow, first time I get away from Federal bodyguards and I'm in a collective bunch of targets for religious nut jobs." The cat-girl hugged her knees closer to herself. "Daddy will never let me live this down."

"It's mostly posturing." Piranha told her. "They won't try anything in public… they're a popular faith but not so much that they can get away with attacks in broad daylight.

At least… not after that Solaris thing… watchdogs are all over them."

"Solaris?" Sonic repeated. He'd heard that before. Arch, one of the high priests alongside Balthazar had mentioned it in passing.

"It's a rumour going around in the Media that the Order of Thunder, alongside Merchant kingdom scientific corporations, Combined Federation government and with some financial assistance from the Fenrir royal family attempted to recreate and utilise some of the advanced technology left behind by the Titan civilisation.

It was entitled; Solaris Project, and kept top secret.

Urban folklore also states that they even found one of those bloodlines Gaia told you about… but I don't image they'll be willing to share too much information with us about it.

What the purpose of this project was and how they went about doing it is a mystery, one journalist's have been trying to solve for quite some time. This is beyond top secret stuff. Neither the Kingdom nor the Federation is letting any details out."

"Gunman on grassy knoll huh?" Sonic asked.

"I beg your pardon?" Piranha started looking confused.

"Never mind, what you got for us?" Amy cut in. Piranha coughed and reached into his jacket, pulling out a large leather skin book with some odd writing etched into the cover.

"Being from a backward little world like this 'Earth' of yours, you're not aware of the legends of Iblis and the demons of Erebus." He began, flipping the book open

"Will you get to the point?" The pink hedgehog asked with an irritated look on her face hardly found of the notion of their home being referred to as a backwards little world. Piranha coughed nervously and started again.

"According to the doctrine of the Order of Thunder; the universe and all universe's beyond it are kept in check by a system of balances.

I'm sure you've heard somebody tell you that every reaction had an equal and opposite reaction?"

"Chuck may have mentioned it and I may not have been listening." Sonic muttered putting on an odd face.

"Well…" Piranha carried on anyway. "Since there is so much life and creation in the realities, an equal amount of death and destruction had to exist to counteract it.

This is how Iblis came into being. Little is known about him accept that is a malevolent engine of destruction that had been unleashed once before, devouring an entire solar system before he was sealed again by Zeus."

"Devoured?" Knuckles repeated looking a little confused.

"Iblis is depicted in folklore as a planet eater." Piranha elaborated. "It is said his hands can crush moons and his mouth swallow a world.

Anyway, he was tricked into entering the realm of the dead and had dwelt there until released by the Titan Cronos."

Sonic blinked. Cronos? Now they were tying in to the story Gaia Hertia told him.

"When released, Iblis destroyed the planet of the ancients and ate its solar system before Zeus finally managed to send him back. It was this final act that actually killed Zeus and set him up as the Order's martyred patron saint."

"Void mentioned Titans before didn't he?" Amy asked, suddenly remembering it.

Knuckles nodded

"Yeah, when we were helping out Blaze with her home world, Fellena." He said. Sonic cast his mind back to that time when they had travelled to another dimensional realm to help the felines against a mysterious force that controlled a ravenous plague called the Dragon Blood. Void had indeed said he suspected something called 'Titans' to be behind it. Did he mean these Titans?

Was Blaze's 'Dark-One' the Titan Cronos? Was it the Black Doom?

"So, what you know about these Titan's anyway?" The blue hedgehog asked.

"Not much apart from legend and myth." Piranha confessed. "Most agree the title refers to a civilisation that lived in this galaxy long before our own. In fact, the Sand Ruins a little north of Babylon are believed to belong to them.

After going through the old myths, one underlining thing kept popping up; some referenced to both Iblis and Zeus."

"And what was that?"

"Angel Wing."

Sonic put on one of his classic confused expressions.

"Don't ask me. I haven't the faintest clue what it is either." The sharp toothed man admitted shrugging his shoulders. "The only detailed reference I could find to it went like…" He paused to flip through his book to a passage he had underlined.

"And the sky broke open through the morning glory and the Angel Wing breeched the gap between worlds, carving the air like a knife and the grand devourer reached back to create the door."

"Meow. That's not much to go on." Sera muttered looking furlong.

"I'll crack it given enough time." Piranha stated confidently.

"We can figure all this out later." Sonic said calmly, cupping his Rengoku under one arm and managing a sly grin. "Right now I have a score to settle with Jet."

"Be careful Sonic. You'll be facing Jet on his home turf." Piranha reminded him. The blue hedgehog managed a large grin.

"Don't I know it?"

-

Alone with his thoughts, Shadow had plenty of time to think and to ponder. Trying to make sense of all of the information going around inside his head he wandered alone across the grassy fields of Fenrir. Sonic and the others had already left but quite frankly that did not interest him at all.

Trudging his way up towards the hills to the east of Soleanna, the dark hedgehog could not help but to think on what Krish had told him. The brand on his arm... What hold had it given Black Doom over him?

What part did the prophecy of the Trigger of devils play into this?

Shadow was well aware of this story… both Maria and the Professor had mentioned it. On Earth, the story was that prophecy of theorized event, like a singularity, talked about in both ancient myth and in recent scientific discussion.

No one knew precisely what it meant or what would happen on that event, only it would be triggered by a catalyst.

Was he that catalyst, as Black Doom claimed, or was it a lie to secure his aid? And what of Black Doom's promise? Could he really fulfil it like those ancient murals depicted he could… or had that all been a lie, propaganda crafted in stone?

Or perhaps he had allowed Black Doom to deceive him, wanting to belief it so badly that he blinded himself.

Despite his desire, his deep wish to see Maria again... Shadow could not help but have doubts.

He placed a hand to his head and sighed. Shadow was certain the key to all this lay in his past... in the memories that were missing. The ones Gerald had removed.

Standing atop the hill in a small grove of tears, Shadow paused and stared up at the cloudless blue sky.

"Just what does all this mean?" He asked out load but the sky didn't answer.

The only indication he had to something happening was when the world around him started to darken as if night was coming in a matter of seconds. Glaring around in alarm, Shadow watched in stunned silence as everything completely faded to be replaced by the endless sea of stars that was space. The ground disappeared from under him and Shadow floated there.

Instinctively he took in a deep breath fearing the air would be sucked out of his lungs. Surpassingly the air came without any difficulty and Shadow found that he could breath without problem.

Even more surpassingly, just below him as if it had always been there was the planet Earth. It was just as he had observed it from the ARK, a blue sphere with a white encircling atmosphere.

"Shadow… you seem troubled."

Turning, Shadow confronted the visage of Black Doom. He immediately noted that here, Black Doom did not appear as a transparent projection but rather as a solid object without distortion. "So troubled in fact that you did not retrieve those two Chaos Emeralds as ordered. And now they lie in Sonic's hands. This is the second time you have failed me."

"Alright, enough." Shadow nearly spat. "Just where have you brought m?." Some resembling an ironic smile seemed to twitch in the etched lines down his front of his face.

"Perhaps you should ask…when?"

At the black and red hedgehog's puzzled expression, the demonic being gestured off to his right along the planet's orbit.

"Behold." Shadow turned and stared. Then his mouth went dry, and his eyes dilated.

Flashes of laser fire shot through space as dozens of shuttles and a few battleships moved in towards an orbiting giant station. The defences of the station were putting up a good fight but they were being worn down bit by bit by the relentless assault. The shuttles, fighters and battleships were attacking with almost fanatical devotion, the bombardment never ceasing not even for a moment.

This was a moment that Shadow was more than familiar with. The station under attack was the ARK.

This was the day the military, manipulated by the Foundation Organisation, invaded the Colony.

One of the battleships burst through the defence grid and rammed itself into the Colony's docking bays. Once an airtight seal had been secured, dozens of soldiers began racing out into the colony. Any lab personnel were arrested on the spot and civilians and soldiers was killed without mercy.

"This… this has already happened." Shadow stuttered, trying to place some logic into what he was seeing but events carried on just as he remembered.

"Yes… this has already happened." Black Doom whispered. "What you see before you are memories. Your memories. Memories of events that shaped your entire existence.

Memories you seem to have forgotten…"

Shadow wasn't listening. His attention was instantly drawn to the space side corridor that ran along the ARK's under sector. The wall facing open space was clear and inside he could see two people running hand in hand from soldiers that were chasing them.

"No…" He started. "Anything but this…"

Despite his protested, the two figures kept running. One of them a human girl with blonde hair and the other a mobian hedgehog.

Suddenly, they ran into a dead end as a lockdown door had slammed down blocking the corridor. Unable to run they were cornered by the soldiers.

Shadow wanted to cover his eyes, not to look but his arms were frozen at his side and he was unable to move them an inch.

The soldiers raised their rifles and aimed them right at the hedgehog. Just as they fired, the girl hurled herself down trying to push the hedgehog out of the way. In the action one of the bullets struck her in the chest.

The sound of that one shot seemed to echo louder than all the others.

"Reminders were necessary Shadow." Black Doom carried on and the illusion around them was disbanded and the black hedgehog was left crouching on the ground of that same hill, holding back tears. "Despite all this incentive you have wavered from your task."

"Alright Black Doom, cut the crap!" Shadow snapped cutting him off standing back up, snapping around to face him with the glistening sparks of salt water trailing from his eyes. "Tell me everything! About Nexus and the demons that lurk within."

"Demons?" Black Doom repeated, his third eye widening a little. "How little you understand. Demon is simply a word used by the lesser to describe an entity with power that surpasses their own.

If they perceive that being as good they call it an angel, and if bad, a demon.

In truth there is very little difference between angels and demons. They are of the same species." He spread his arms out wide. "I and my kind, locked away inside this dimensional prison, are the last of an ancient culture that was nearly destroyed eons ago."

"I want answers right now!"

"Answers to questions spawned by the ranting's of traitors and weaklings?" Black Doom asked. "Do not presume me blind. I know full well about your conversations with both Miles Prower and Krish Kra Pal."

Shadow shut his mouth.

"I know you better than you know yourself. You wish to know more about Nexus and the nature of those imprisoned within."

The black hedgehog jabbed a finger forward.

"Then Nexus IS the prison you told me about?" The demonic like being went silent for a moment, all three eyes regarding Shadow with a new curiosity as if he was pondering why his agent was suddenly so defiant.

"What difference does it make whether it is?" He asked finally. "Nexus is a dead realm, a place of unending shades and utter darkness. I and my kind wish to escape this purgatory. Is that so wrong?"

"That was Krish's goal." Shadow reminded him. "And I can tell you for nothing that was wrong enough."

"Krish was an emotionally retarded fool." Black Doom scoffed. "When his physical body was dissolved by the Black Arms and his mind cast into Nexus, he faced the prospect of gradually going insane, as a few of my kind have.

He was little more than a spirit and in that dead place, he would have remained for eternity.

I, in my eternal mercy, granted him a reprieve from that fate. I taught him our history and our culture, trained him in how to use his unstable powers.

And in return he betrayed us, effected his own return while leaving us to rot. Many of my fellows thank you and Sonic for destroying the traitor." Something of a glimmer of humour seemed to spark in the three eyes. "You have been mislead Shadow, but I'm prepared to forgive you. All is not lost just yet. There is still chance for you to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds and crack open our prison with them."

"You need more than the Chaos Emeralds for that." The black hedgehog whispered almost under his breath.

"True… I do, but the Chaos Emeralds are your primary concern for the moment. I have other agents fulfilling the remaining conditions needed for escape. That should be an irrelevance to you."

"You still should have told me!" Shadow snapped, oblivious to the fact that he was being watched. Observing both himself and the demon from a distance was Storm, watching through a pair of binoculars standard Combine Federation military issue. The enhanced sound was also allowing him to listen in on the conversation as well.

"I can see you have been shaken Shadow so I am prepared to make you a deal. One you may find quite appealing." Black Doom carried on after a pregnant silence. "Retrieve both the Chaos Emeralds and another item for me and I shall reward you prematurely."

Shadow froze.

"Fulfil the first part of the Ritual of Prosperity by bringing me these items and I will restore Maria to you. The two of you will then be my right hand in this universe and will open the gate for me."

"What's the catch?" The hedgehog asked.

"I may be a caring soul, but I am not foolish." Black Doom told him, narrowing the two smaller eyes. "I will have 'insurance'. A hold on your precious adopted sister and if you betray me, she will pay the price."

Shadow held his breath. Conflicting emotions were boiling to a pitch inside him.

Still… he reasoned that he had already signed a contract and set himself on this path. Despite the doubts, he had to go through with it. Now it was do or die.

"I agree." He eventually said. "What else do you need?"

"Eons ago, a colossal behemoth graced the galaxy with its presence, a vessel that transcended the limitations of three-dimensional space." The demon stated. "It is the key and the Emeralds are the lock. Bring the two of them together and the gate will be primed to open.

Bring me the Angel Wing."