"Long time no see, big blue. Although it hasn't really been that long."
Sonic kept up his cocky smile as Rouge maintained her flirtatious façade. Neither broke eye contact, until Omega interrupted. "Enough with these distractions! Priority goal: Terminate Dr. Eggman!"
Sonic's smile dropped as he realized what was gonna happen. Even though Rouge was definitely here for the Emerald, Omega's one track mind would lead him to target Eggman and Metal Sonic immediately, regardless of their sub-mission. "Shoot! Metal, head back with Eggman to Cream's place, then!" Sonic ordered, forgetting the earlier information they'd gotten.
Metal shook his head and played a new message, an audio clip he'd just received, conveniently-timed, from Gemerl. *Cream, Cheese, and I, Gemerl, have joined forces with Shadow the Hedgehog.*
Sonic's eyes widened as Rouge giggled deviously. "Seems like Shadow accomplished what he set out to do. As expected from him," she taunted.
This time it was Eggman who ordered his robot. "Teleport us to the Chaotix Detective Agency, NOW!" Metal activated his Chaos Control and with a few beeps and blips, they vanished.
Omega was furious at this turn of events, but his anger subsided for him to return to the mission at hand. "Sub-priority re-engaged. Retrieve the Chaos Emerald."
"You're not gonna take this Emerald," Big declared. "Froggy is using it now, and I promised to give it to Sonic when he's done!" Big got in a defensive stance, pulling out his fishing rod-umbrella. He gripped Froggy under his arm.
Sonic assessed the situation and realized the numbers were even. Big was capable of fighting Omega, ridiculous as that may have sounded. Which meant Rouge would have to fight him…
"Hey, Rouge! Dunno if you noticed, but it's two versus two. You know there's no way you can beat me, right?"
"Oh, honey, please. Did you forget? I train with Shadow of all people. I can deal with you speedy types. You hedgehogs are all the same. Even if I can't land a hit on you, you won't be able to land a hit on me, either."
Sonic wouldn't have realized she was bluffing if Omega didn't blow it a second later. Though he made no gesture, he spoke out loud through an obvious communicator. "Sonic the Hedgehog is fighting for the Chaos Emerald. Assistance necessary, immediate backup required." Upon hearing this message, Shadow sped up, and began closing the gap.
"Exactly!" Sonic remarked with snark. He pointed at Rouge. "If you think you can fight me, what are you calling on your edgy boyfriend for? Seems to me like Omega realized you guys are in over your head!" Though he didn't show it, he was worried about what would happen if Shadow showed up. Could he and Big really fight Team Dark?
Rouge's façade dropped as she glared angrily at her partner. "What the heck did you go and do that for?"
Omega responded matter-of-factly. "Your bluff is pointless if we cannot deliver. Do not forget he has a Chaos Emerald. At any second he can stop time and escape with the cat." With that statement, he fired a ball of energy at Big, who whacked it away with his closed umbrella, defiant as ever.
Sonic grinned. "Spot on, Omega. In fact, I think I'll do just that, thanks for the idea. Alright Big, let's get outta her-"
As if on queue, Shadow appeared right in front of Sonic, and outstretched his arms straight in front of him, aiming his palms to face Sonic.
"Chaos Control!"
Sonic had no time to react as Shadow's attack took place. Nothing around the group changed. Time didn't slow or stop, and space wasn't distorted. But Sonic had stopped talking and was frozen in place. His mouth was still agape, and he maintained the same battle-ready stance he'd been sporting since Rouge had revealed herself, but he couldn't move or even speak.
Shadow was clearly focused, as his technique required immense concentration, but he managed to dish out a snarky comment. "This makes, what, the second time I have to bail you out?"
Rouge was pleasantly surprised to see Shadow arrive just in the nick of time, and laughed out a response. "Both times there was a Chaos Emerald in play. I'd say that's fair justification, Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome. The real question is how you were able to warp here and perform that little trick on Sonic. I thought he said he wasn't susceptible to that kinda thing anymore? How can you use your Chaos Control so powerfully without an Emerald?"
Shadow grimaced as he began to answer, still holding strong to keep Sonic frozen. "Firstly, once I sensed the insane amount of Chaos Energy nearby, I could teleport immediately to this location. Secondly, I only need to be in close range to the Emerald to access its full power. Not like this blue buffoon who needs to hold it in his hand to use it. That's how I'm able to pull off this little stunt. Thirdly, I wanted to save this technique for later, but here we are. It takes a lot out of me, but essentially I've frozen Sonic in a sort of time-cage. It's confined to him and it's the only way I can contain him since he can still move if I stop time completely for everyone. The stopped time is concentrated on him. Keeping him isolated is a chore, so we need to stop running our mouths. Beat that cat and take the Emerald!"
Rouge and Omega wasted no time in dispatching Big, who fought valiantly to defend his friend. While Rouge flew in for close combat, Omega stayed at a distance, readying his double-barreled laser gun and Omega Shot to shoot at Big. Being the wall that he was, Big wasn't going down easily as Rouge tried kick after kick to knock him down. She couldn't sweep his legs and trip him up, his stance was too firm. He shrugged off any kicks to his body or arms, and his head was nimble enough to dodge any obvious incoming blows. He tried and failed to swat her with his umbrella, though he successfully brushed away the various Heart Bombs she threw out. He couldn't quite grapple her with the fishing rod, as she was too agile to be trapped in it. Rouge then leapt out of the way to let Omega do his thing. Big's umbrella continued to prove itself surprisingly sturdy and durable as he opened it up to deflect Omega's attacks. The robot's various Omega Shots bounced right off, crashing into the surrounding trees and flora, starting a few small fires. His lasers proved ineffective as Big twirled his umbrella, spinning it fast enough to deflect the lasers skyward, hitting the tops of the surrounding trees. While Team Dark wasn't remorseful for the new forest fire, Big had to push his thoughts of anguish at his burning home in the back of his head to keep defending his best buddy.
Big could also tell he was fighting a losing battle. Even if Sonic and Shadow were preoccupied with each other, even Big knew two against one wasn't good odds. And if the robot kept shooting at him or the bat kept kicking him, eventually he'd falter and drop his pal. "Don't worry, Froggy. I'm not gonna let them take your Emerald."
As Rouge kept sending kicks in Big's direction, Omega was about to get serious, morphing his arms into his Omega Machine Guns. Big readied his umbrella to continue defending. And then something strange happened that caught everyone's attention.
Sonic's hand slowly clenched into a fist.
Even though it was visibly clear that he was still affected by Shadow's technique, Sonic was clearly attempting to fight it. His arms and legs were in-sync, moving at a snail's pace, obviously straining in the face of Shadow's attack. His mouth shifted positioning, no longer foolishly open but now baring his teeth to show his struggle, his jaw locked.
Shadow shouted with uncharacteristic panic. "Finish the job now! If he breaks free I won't be able to use this technique again. He'll have conquered it and figured out a way to beat it. Hurry up and beat the cat!"
Sonic groaned out, "Sha...dow…Fa…ker." Though incredibly strained, Sonic had taken almost a full step towards Shadow, who's roar of effort to keep Sonic frozen bellowed around the forest, scaring any remaining Flickies and Rickies that hadn't already left the blazing forest.
The Chaotix Detective Agency had almost no time to mourn their separated comrade when Metal Sonic and Dr. Eggman in his Eggwalker appeared in a flash of Chaos Energy. Tails and Tangle were bewildered, remembering they were supposed to be backing up Sonic. Charmy was the first to leap into the action, ready to attack Eggman. "I'm gonna sting you, you bad man!"
Vector intervened, running over to stop Charmy, who was attempting to sting Eggman but was blocked by Metal Sonic. Before Metal could retaliate, Vector pulled him away. "Hey, beebrain, they're on Tails' side now, remember? No friendly fire!"
"Oh, yeah, sorry, heheh," Charmy laughed, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
"Wait, what are you guys doing here?" Tails inquired. "You were supposed to help Sonic find the Chaos Emerald."
"And you were supposed to convince these idiots to join you, yet I can't seem to find the most competent member!" Eggman fired back. "For your information, fox boy, we ran into some trouble! The purple cat has the Chaos Emerald, and before we could secure it, Team Dark showed up to crash the party."
"Whoa, Blaze is in this dimension?" Tangle asked excitedly.
"No, no, not her," Eggman affirmed, waving his hand dismissively. "The fat one. With the frog. That's not all! Metal Sonic, play the second message you received."
The robot did as instructed, playing Gemerl's message. *Cream, Cheese, and I, Gemerl, have joined forces with Shadow the Hedgehog.*
Tails, Tangle, and Charmy were shocked, mouths agape. Vector bent his head, clearly downtrodden. "Guess this means visiting Vanilla is off the table, huh?"
Tangle looked at Tails. "If we can't go to your house and we aren't welcome at Cream's place or Angel Island, where are we gonna go?"
"It depends," the young prodigy answered. "The more people we team up with, the harder it is to have somewhere to stay, as weird as that sounds. As it stands now, our allies are a bit scattered. Amy's still dealing with the Restoration stuff at the moment, and Vector and Charmy are here. That also means searching for Chaos Emeralds might be a bit easier, though."
Vector remembered something. "Oh, yeah, you guys keep talking about the Chaos Emeralds." He moved his arm to behind his back and pulled out a sparkling, yellow Chaos Emerald.
Everyone except Vector and Charmy gasped in unison, the latter of whom buzzed around the gem, proclaiming, "Ooh, shinyyyy…"
The excitable Tangle was the first to speak up and ask the question everyone was thinking. "Whoa, Vector! How the heck did you guys get your hands on a Chaos Emerald?"
"One of our clients couldn't cough up the dough he'd promised during a case, and instead paid us with this little rock candy," Vector explained, shaking his index finger as he did. "I've been keeping it locked away ever since. Looks like ol' Vector's good for something, eh?"
"I suppose that makes for a suitable entrance fee," Eggman grumbled.
"And speaking of not paying up," Vector continued. "You. Eggman," he pointed. "Back when your blue Badnik over here went crazy, you promised you'd pay us for rescuing you, as soon as you conquered the world. Last I checked, you managed to conquer the world some time ago, and we formed the Resistance. So my question is, where's the moolah? Show me the money!"
"Wait, Vector," Tails interrupted. "Can we put it on a tab? We're kind of in an urgent situation here."
Vector stroked his chin. "This guy, who builds massive killer robots on the daily, constructs huge metal fortresses every other week, and has casinos set up everywhere, doesn't have the money to pay up?" He looked back at Eggman and pointed again. "I'll forget about it for now, pal, but don't think you got off easy. You're lucky my friendship with Sonic and Tails here matters more to me than your debt!"
Things weren't looking good for Big as he continued to deflect shots from Omega and tank attacks from Rouge. Rouge realized they were getting nowhere and decided to put her special training to use, and poked Big hard in the back of his neck. A proven pressure point! "GUH!" Big cried out in pain as he collapsed, the large thump of his body echoing around the flaming forest. He dropped Froggy and the Emerald, awakening the startled frog.
"Score," Rouge purred, in her sultry voice. "Come to mama!" She darted over and picked up both Froggy and the Emerald in one fell swoop landing next to Omega.
Though he could barely move, Big outstretched his arm in Rouge's direction, on the verge of tears. He shouted, "No! Froggy! Buddy!"
Rouge took pity on the cat's cries and tossed the frog back in his direction. Froggy landed on Big's back, not suspecting a thing, though he was a bit agitated to have his Emerald stolen from under him. Big's cries subsided into sighs as he buried his face back into the ground, tired of the ordeal. That's when Sonic made his move.
"Heeeeere's Sonic!" The blue blur bodaciously broke free and boosted into Shadow's black body, ramming him into a nearby tree. "Playtime's over, Shadow!" He declared as he held his double against the tree with his elbow.
"I'm drained now, Sonic, but I'll destroy you next time our paths cross." Shadow coughed out. He warped out of Sonic's grasp to Rouge and Omega, and the dark trio vanished before his eyes. Though he may have been able to stop them had he pushed himself, three against one weren't good odds, even if Shadow was tired. Sonic's real concern was his friend Big, whom he ran over to help out. As Team Dark warped back to Cream's house to reconvene with their teammates, so too did Sonic teleport with Big and Froggy to the Chaotix Detective Agency to reconvene with his allies.
AN: Shadow trapping Sonic in that time-prison thing is supposed to be reminiscent of the Hit vs Jiren fight in Dragon Ball Super's Tournament of Power (it IS an ability he can do though, since Sonic Rivals is something to go by. Your opponent is frozen but the moving environment isn't. I haven't gotten to a point where I'm making up moves yet). Whether it carried over successfully is a different story, completely subjective to the reader.