This is a fanfiction, and as such, most of the characters in the story are not mine. Most characters are © Sega, and are not used with permission.

Chapter 6: Once More, into the Threshold

Shadow and Omochao returned to the former's basement, Bunnie was the only one waiting for them.

"I take it things didn't workout so well."

"No kidding. Where's everyone else."

"Rouge and Tails are out collecting more rings. Omochao told them to."

Shadow looked behind him. "When was that?"

"It was just before we left. You don't remember because time has changed again after our attempt, and in that timeline, I didn't ask; but in this timeline, I did."

Shadow started on the knot holding Omochao in place. "I'm really starting to get tired of this."

With a tug, Shadow unravelled the cord and sent Omochao tumbling to the ground with a thud.

"O.K. This time we'll go back a bit more, say 5 minutes or so and find Sonic before he even gets there."

Omochao picked himself up and walked next to Shadow. "Can I offer a suggestion, trying to save Sonic seems a little drastic, perhaps we should just try to help Sally."

"And how do we do that?"

"Uh... How about a little slam-bam thank you ma'am? That cheers people up."

"Try again shorty."

"Maybe booze?"

"Oh, that should work." Bunnie rolled her eyes, then nudged Shadow's shoulder. "We can get her drunk and yah can bang her into next year."

"Considering all the trouble I'm going through this way, I might just consider it."

* * *

Rouge and Tails returned almost an hour later.

Rouge met Shadow and Omochao in the kitchen, and dropped her stash of Rings on the table. "Returned already? So how did things go?"

"Not great, we stopped the robots that did kill him, only the robots that came from behind got him."

Tails dropped his load next to Rouge's. "So what's the new plan, you gonna go stop those other robots?"

"Not advisable." Everyone turned to Omochao. "You do not want too have to much overlap of your appearances."

"We'll go back a bit more, and redirect Sonic before he even gets there."

Shadow opened his pack to check his supply. About half of the rings he had were still fresh; he exchanged the dead ones for the supply that Rouge and Tails brought, bringing the total to almost 200.

Shadow looked at Omochao. "Do we really need this many?"

"You never know. Better be safe than sorry."

"Have you figured out where Sonic is going to... was going to be?"

"I've been analyzing it, and I know where his path will cross. I can direct us to that spot a few minutes before he shows up."

Rouge was helping Shadow fill his bag. "Do you know what you're going to do to stop him?"

Shadow smirked. "He's looking for me, right? All I've got to do is get him to see me and to have him follow me as far away as possible."

Omochao turned his head as if he was contemplating the simplicity of Shadow's idea. "Sounds about right to me."

* * *

Back on that depressing night, a green flash lit a small area of the woods; when it faded, Shadow stood in position with Omochao strapped to his back like before.

"So how long before Sonic comes through?"

"I calculate about a minute and a half."

"Then we wait."

Shadow crossed his arms and stood, looking out into the darkness, waiting. Omochao wanted to pass the time with a little small talk.

"A little ironic, isn't it."

"Huh?"

"I know about you, Shadow; you were created by a creature called 'Void' for the sole purpose of defeating Sonic, and you're now trying to save him. Doesn't that seem odd to you?"

Shadow didn't want to bother answering the question, he dare not admit that the current situation did faze him quite a bit. He was so caught up in helping Sally, he didn't even stop to consider how he felt.

Deep down, there was a fight going on in Shadow's depths. Part of him so wanted Sonic back, he was the Yin to Shadow's Yang, a piece of himself that was missing since this day. But another part was screaming in anguish, Sonic was his nemesis, and it wearing tearing as his soul that Shadow was trying to save the blue hedgehog.

"Mobius to Shadow, come in, Shadow."

"Leave me alone."

In the background, Shadow could hear the telltale hum of Sonic whistling through the air.

"He's coming, he'll be here any second."

Shadow prepared himself, although his whole plan was just to stand there and let Sonic see him. Unbeknownst to the black one, behind him a tree started to glow red. With no sound, a large hole ate through the thick trunk.

"Alright blue boy, come to papa."

Shadow didn't notice the tree until Omochao heard the branches rattling in the wind.

"Uh, Shadow, behind us."

Shadow turned and saw the massive green shrub falling on top of him. He had no chance to move, and was trapped under the green.

While Shadow and Omochao struggled under the brush, Sonic came whirring by, totally passing by the tree with the two time-travelers trapped within. By the time Shadow fought his way out and poked his head out of the leaves, Sonic was already long gone.

"Sonic! Damn it, where'd this tree come from?!"

Shadow got himself completely free after a few seconds.

"Damn, he's long gone. Wait a minute, I'm faster than that little dweeb."

Shadow charged the Chaos Control and fired into the darkness, desperately trying to catch the blue one. Sonic held a several second lead, but Shadow was catching up. Shadow knew where Sonic was heading, which helped as he couldn't see him yet.

Through the woods, a blue streak was being tailed by a bright green comet. Slowly the gap closed, but there remained a good distance between the two.

"Sonic! Sonic!"

It would not matter how loud Shadow called, Sonic was too far away and the thick trees muffled the call.

For the first time, Shadow caught just a glimpse of Sonic in the distance. With his quarry in sight, Shadow pushed himself on. But as he shifted his direction to home in on his target, Shadow caught something coming towards him from the side. Shadow glanced to his right and saw a fierce ball of yellow energy firing straight at him.

A quick shift to the left and the energy passed right by.

"What the Hell was that?!"

Shadow didn't have time for an answer, another shot came straight at him from the other side. Another jump carried Shadow and Omochao away from the second assault.

"Why do I get the feeling that we're not wanted here?"

Shadow ignored Omochao's inane comment and raced on, trying to reach his double while dodging the incoming blasts. The oncoming fire was making it difficult to progress. Shadow wondered why Sonic didn't notice the shots, either seeing or hearing them; it was obvious that someone was going through great pains to make sure that nothing interfered with Sonic's path.

The attacks were getting more fierce, more fire focused on Shadow's position, making his path more perilous. A tree before him was hit and fell into his path; Shadow ran over it without much hindrance. Another tree fell, this one was a little slow and Shadow ran under; in the process, Omochao got a face full of branch.

"Ptooie! Watch the branches!"

Shadow didn't answer, he was too busy trying to avoid more incoming fire. A quick dodge right, followed by a jump that was a fraction of a second too late.

A blast just beneath Shadow's feet propelled him into the air, his Chaos Control smashing whole trees to sawdust in his high arc. He hit the ground hard and tumbled forward another few meters before coming to a stop. He picked himself up and rubbed a sore spot on his head.

"Shadow!"

Shadow looked forward to see that Omochao had landed a good sprint away. The robot was pointing down, and Shadow saw all his rings scattered on the forest floor. He checked his pouch and found only a handful of rings had survived the fall still in his possession, and all but two were drained.

Two seconds to kaboom...

Shadow charged forward as the last two Rings gave up their energy, grabbing any Power Rings within reach. Shadow traversed a wide arc, picking up as many of the Power Rings he could find in the vicinity. On the way, he picked up Omochao by literally throwing the small guy over his head and letting him grab the spines on Shadow's back.

"That was close."

Shadow looked behind him. "And we're falling way behind."

Shadow was about to return to the race and try desperately to catch Sonic, only to find that something was in the way.

Before Shadow stood a tower of red light, a glow in the form of a warped man standing more than 2 meters tall, easily dwarfing the hedgehog that stood straight at no more than one.

"What are you?"

The fire did not answer, but instead it swung out one fierce arm in a gesture to Shadow to leave this time. Shadow tried to stare down the menace, despite the disadvantage in height.

Off in the distance, Shadow could hear the echoes of gunfire. It was too late, Sonic was already at the battlefield, and his death was assured, again.

"You monster. Why?"

Nothing.

Shadow screamed with rage and charged the flaming monolith.

"Chaos Spear!"

The ghostly creature seemed to slide out of the way of the of the blazing streak of light; the Spear continued on, and struck a tree in the background, shearing off several square feet of bark. With the attack passed, the creature paused and swung its left arm through the air in a powerful swath, forming a large red ball of energy that flew towards Shadow. The ball was far slower than Shadow's Spear, and the hedgehog easily dodged it. The fiery ball exploded well behind him.

"It'll take more than that you walking candle."

Shadow ran out of the clearing, hoping to use his hyper speed to encircle the monster; but from the trees in his path, another flaming beast slid out. Shadow stalled, and watched another creature come out. He and Omochao looked on as they found themselves surrounded by several of the menacing creatures, 6 to 8 by Shadow's quick count.

"Shadow, I think we should be heading home."

Shadow wasn't listening, he was too busy shaping up the opposition and planning his attack.

"Shadow? Shadow, there's nothing more we can do here."

"I can think of one thing."

The Chaos Control flared, and Shadow let out a horrible scream.

"We're gonna die."

Omochao hung on for dear life as Shadow charged two of the fiends.

"Chaos Spear!"

Again the darkness was lit up by Shadow's standard energy attack, but like the first one, these two hauntingly slid away.

Shadow had rattled a major hornet's nest now, and the 7 aliens swirled around him. At first they fired bolts of red energy at the hedgehog; though they were slow, much slower then Shadow, they exploded upon impact, creating shockwaves that could knock an elephant a good three meters. Although Shadow was too busy to notice, the flaming strike left no mark on the ground; the flames that came from the explosions simply rolled over the terrain without leaving a mark.

The enraged hedgehog threw himself at the horde, dancing in between the hot bursts of energy raining in his path.

Omochao was still firmly clamped onto Shadow's spikes, holding them for all he was worth. With every explosion that went off around him, his metal grip only tightened.

"Are you trying to kill us?!"

Shadow paid Omochao little heed as he left a glowing green trail through the woods, zig zagging between the pillars, homing in on the seven haunting vapours.

His opponents moved like nothing Shadow had seen before, they glided through the air with great ease; and although they weren't very fast, at least not in Shadow's sense of the word, they moved quickly enough to avoid him. It was almost as if they could fade into the night and reappear else where; for no matter how fast Shadow ran, the creatures were always in a circle around him. Everytime the black hedgehog got close, they opened a hole in the circle to let him out; then when he returned to confront them, they would envelop him again.

Getting ever more furious, Shadow fired his Chaos Spear at the whispy targets, but it was to no avail. Shot after shot missed the mark horribly, despite the speed advantage. Some shots would crash into trees long before reaching the target, others just missed as the quarry slid away; while the rest were simply off the mark, lacking the clear mind needed to properly guide them to their intended destination.

The spectres responded with their own strikes, glowing red spheres of pure energy. They moved slowly in comparison to Shadow and his Chaos Spears, but these attacks were always on target. They never hit a tree, they never flew past the target, nor did they go wide. They always drove true, aimed straight for the hedgehog, or the ground at his feet, exploding no more than a few metres from Shadow's current position.

Omochao was not having a good time, hanging on for dear life, swinging around like a neophyte in a bull riding competition. As Shadow bobbed and weaved, he would often find himself almost thrown clear off into any number of bushes, branches or a very large rock he barely missed. On one particular turn, Omochao had to swing his legs around to kick off from a tree that his metal hide was about to be permanently embedded into. All of this would have been Hell even without the fire fight.

As the battle trodded on, Shadow was getting fiercer, losing himself in the lust of combat. With each passing instant, his mind filled with more thoughts of hatred and rage; soon, he would be beyond rational thought. Shadow's pace became more erratic, and he fired his Chaos Spear almost totally at random.

The demons showed no change in their pattern, continuing their assault on Shadow, and steadily moving through the darkness. Shadow was becoming an increasingly more dangerous, and equally vulnerable target. His actions were growing more and more chaotic, but to these beings, chaos was their element. The more enraged Shadow became, the more mistakes he made, and the tighter the noose was closing.

They drew him out, making short appearances from all sides, just long enough to draw his attention and to get him to strike; quickly fleeing before the dark one could even get his shot off. For the most part, they didn't even have to attack, Shadow was wearing himself raw with his relentless fury. With each second they distracted Shadow, they moved in closer; working with clockwork efficiency and teamwork, the phantoms had little trouble getting into position. With all in place, it was time to spring the trap.

Off to Shadow's right, another red flash crossed the corner of his eye, drawing his attention, and his attack. The ghost was long gone by the time Shadow fired, but another had rushed ahead, coming at Shadow just as the white bolt left his hands. One massive arm swung at Shadow's head, trying to take it off with long slashing fingers. Shadow shifted to his right just in time to avoid the strike, only to run straight into another. The hedgehog hit the brakes to avoid another outreaching arm, almost running into it when when the trailing Omochao slammed into his back. Two more came at Shadow from the sides, forcing him to leap back to avoid them, then another jump to avoid the first one.

All of the creatures were now swarming the pair; Shadow was totally pinned down, and as his previous bouts with Knuckles proved, hand-to-hand combat was not his forte. Shadow tried to break free of the swarm, but every opening was blocked before he could even make a break for it. Desperate, Shadow tried firing the Chaos Spear, but the monsters were still able to avoid, and then closed the hole, preventing Shadow from trying to follow his attack on the way out.

Shadow was really getting pissed now; picking one of the demons, Shadow charged, ignorant of the others. Leaping to avoid the large hands, Shadow made for what resembled the thing's head, and burst into his spin attack. The vapour pulled away, just missing the fur and steel cyclone. The others came around Shadow as he recovered from his attack, but he wouldn't relent, and launched the spin attack again.

The pillars of flame had a difficult time keeping Shadow in place with this lopsided attack, warped a bit by the extra weight on his back; working hard to keep him under control while avoiding being decapitated. The cage was falling apart, and Shadow was getting more opportunities to break loose. One more spin attack was enough, and the swarm dispersed, letting Shadow and Omochao escape. Shadow's ruby eyes focused on the path before him as he floated through the air, leaving the menace just a few metres behind. But one of the fiends had broken off and was now coming up Shadow's left side, swinging its mighty arm, hurling a red flare right in Shadow's path.

The blast completely blindsided Shadow and Omochao, knocking the pair through the air and rolling through the brush. They came to rest on the cold hard ground; Shadow was face down in the dirt, and through the whole ordeal, Omochao was still clenching onto Shadow's spines. This was quite fortunate for the former as he was knocked unconcious and the Chaos Control had faded. Omochao released his tight grip in order to move up Shadow's back to see if he was alright, other than the fact the the dark one was out cold.

"Shadow? Shadow? You O.K.? It's a good thing I was here or you would have blown up. Hello?"

Omochao knocked on Shadow's head to try and wake him up. A weak grumble came from his mouth, signifying that he was certainly alive; but Shadow was definitely not in fighting form, and those behemoths were circling around. Omochao watched the oncoming spectres, sitting for a moment on Shadow's head before rising to face the monsters approaching the stricken hedgehog.

"You did your job, now leave."

Shadow looked on from his face down position to see the red vapours fading into the night.

"What? Where are they going?"

"They did what they came to do, destroying you was not it. Since there is nothing more to do here, I suggest we return as well."

"You little punk, there's something you're not telling me."

Omochao reached over and grabbed Shadow by the neck, then pulled the two together so they looked eye to eye. Omochao's eyes were normally an odd yellow with a spiral pattern, but now they glowed red. With the dark blue color of Omochao's metal and the night sky, to Shadow the small robot looked like two burning lights with a red mouth, bordered on both sides by a ghostly gray.

"I said we're going home."

Shadow was genuinely startled by the dark appearance of the robot; although he knew that Omochao's face was essentially locked, it seemed as if the comically eerie face had become mortally serious.

Not wanting to argue, Shadow reluctantly activated his Chaos Control, and the pair disappeared in a green fire.

To be continued