Sparky the Seventh Chaos, thank you very much for your review! Since you like it so, this chapter's for you! Hope this piece of art is as good as the others!

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The plane flew on over the ever-changing landscape, signals from Tails' Emerald detector guiding it to its destination. Shadow had regained some of his strength, though he was by no means back to normal. He and Sonic stood together in the small space available on the back of the plane, wind whistling past their ears. In the cockpit, Tails made minor adjustments to the controls, taking the plane up slightly to give them a more favourable wind. Suddenly his ears twitched, and he bent a little closer to the controls. The wind carried his mutter back to the other two where they stood in front of the tailfin.

"What is that...?"

Sonic shouted ahead, the wind whipping his words away as if determined that they should not reach Tails.

"What is it, Tails?"

"Another energy signature, a Chaos Emerald - and something else as well, if this thing's right. Whatever it is, it's in the air and coming our way - fast!"

Sonic and Shadow exchanged glances. "It's that Black Crystal thing again, isn't it?! He's as persistent as Eggman! But how did he get a Chaos Emerald so fast? He can't have got far from the Mystic Ruins before we did!"

The thought occurred to Sonic and Tails at almost the same time, Sonic fractionally faster.

"Knuckles!"

"Angel Island!"

Shadow's expression became somewhat worried. He had seen little of the Master Emerald's guardian, but what he had seen told him that Knuckles was a determined character who would not be beaten easily. If Black Crystal had bested him so quickly, they were really going to have a fight on their hands. The plane bucked slightly as a crosswind caught it, and Shadow fell to one side, almost dropping from the plane before the better-balanced Sonic grabbed his shoulder and held him upright.

"Thanks, Sonic..." It still felt a little strange, working with instead of against the hedgehog so similar to him who had only a few days ago been his adversary. But it felt right, also, and conflicting emotions no longer warred within him as they had at times before. Sonic kept a firm grip on his shoulder, holding him steady as Tails flew the plane onwards, speeding to reach the Emerald before Black Crystal could. It felt good to have allies like them.

"He's fast - he's closing in on us! I'm not sure whether he'll reach us before we reach the Emerald!" Tails' voice cut into Shadow's thoughts again. Sonic's hand tightened in a reflex action, Sonic not even really noticing as he called back,

"Put on all the speed we have! We've gotta get there first!"

"I'm trying, Sonic, but I don't think we can go any faster without damaging the engine!"

Sonic leaned forwards as if willing the plane to go faster. Shadow twisted around to see a dark speck in the air behind them.

'If that's him, we have to go faster!' he thought. 'But how...?' As the Tornado 2 raced on at the limit of its capability and the speck that was Black Crystal grew slowly larger behind them, everyone's mind was fixed on how they could get to their destination still faster...