Luff: Hello peeps, new episode for you! Sorry it's late but we've been out a lot as it's a holiday!

S. Chensu: But anyway, here are the reviewer replies!

RichaCo- We'll see about them, we'll see. You'll have to continue reading to find out. Yes, we know, get Rouge and Knuckles back together. There will be developments soon, we promise. Maybe.

Streek471- Thanks for reviewing; you're the first new reviewer in a while. But anyway, your idea is partly true with Marie but the problem is, your idea is more for a thought we had for the second series. If there is one.

Yugi and Mai- We will not give into your demands of changing things before it's time to! But here is the next chapter for you and it's nice to know you think it's so great.

the funk master- New reviewer! Thankies for the review and it's nice to know you appreciate the story. Hopefully it'll continue to improve for you.

Luff: On the last point we made to Streek471, there may possible be a second series. We've had some ideas and even done some writing for it but we won't put it up unless people want it.

S. Chensu: It would be nice if we did put it up though; it's shorter than this one is. No more than 25 episodes we think.

Luff: But until then, we don't own some things although we do own others.

S. Chensu: Warning for this episode! There is something that happens between Sonic and Shadow, which will make at least three people leap to the wrong conclusion that they are gay. We've already said several times that there is no gay stuff in here at all, the strange behaviour will be explained later.

Luff: So don't moan! Off we go.

Episode twenty-four: Going through phases

Sonic got very little sleep that night. Kensa was right, it was windy and Sonic was cold. Shadow seemed to be asleep, he hadn't moved recently anyway but Sonic was wide-awake. The recent events had made Sonic wonder about Kensa, Shaylea and Gregg and who they were. Something was niggling at the back of his mind about Kensa and Shaylea. He had never seen them before but...it was like he knew who they were. It was the way that Kensa acted, it was very similar. Shaylea, it was harder to define but there was something there.

Sonic turned over and nearly ended up on top of Shadow. He didn't move and Sonic quickly edged away, very embarrassed. He lay there, facing Shadow and stared at his face. He seemed to frown, even in his sleep and Sonic wondered what had happened to him. He of course knew about the whole ARK thing but he didn't know why Shadow wanted to destroy the world, unless it was for the same reasons as Gerald Robotnik. He did change though, right at the end. His reason for that was unknown too. And he still hadn't asked Shadow what he meant when he said that he thought Sonic was the ultimate life form.

It can't be true; I have a mum and dad! Sonic thought. Shadow was created by scientists and I've never known any scientists apart from Eggman. And he definitely didn't create me! Shadow is the ultimate life form. He said so himself, when we first met. But what if he was wrong? Then I am the ultimate life form and we're here for a reason... The book must be right! I wish we could see it for ourselves though, I want to be sure... He sat up and careful not to wake Shadow up, he looked over to where Shaylea was.

She looked fainter than usual; maybe that was what Kensa had meant when she said it was going to be windy. He hoped she was going to be ok, Kensa looked really upset about it.

No wonder though, if you were a prisoner in a place like this, the only way you'd remain sane was if you had someone to talk to... Feeling the wind chilling him, Sonic laid down again. He stared at Shadow in surprise, seeing him twitching and occasionally muttering something. Not sure of what to do, he continued to watch Shadow as he shook slightly before opening his eyes.

Shadow stared at Sonic, feeling himself go bright red as he realised that Sonic had been watching him.

"Shadow, are you ok?" He asked, sitting up slightly.

Well now's a good time as any to tell him... Shadow thought. "Yeah, I just had a nightmare, that's all."

"What was it about?"

"I'm in a room, I think and a light appears in the middle. A creature's appearing but it's so terrible that I don't want to see it. It comes though but I can never see it. Then it leaps forward and knocks me over..." He paused, shuddering at the memory. "Then I wake up. Things like that wouldn't usually worry me but I've had the dream before."

"That usually means it's very important. Maybe the creature you see is the thing we've got to face." Sonic suggested.

"We'll know when we see the boss of this place." Shadow said.

"Why do you say that?"

"We're meant to defeat the boss and the Arc thing said that they would come back in a few days to take us to him."

"I wish they would have actually said a number of days. A few days could be anything..." Sonic said gloomily.

"And Shaylea needs to be up and about by then or they're going to realise that they've been talking to us." Shadow added. They fell into silence for several minutes until Sonic suddenly remembered something.

"They said that he couldn't affect humans... What does that make him then? Maybe he can't kill anything."

"There are other ways of killing someone apart from physically hurting them." Shadow pointed out. "Maybe he has special powers like Shaylea and Kensa do."

"That reminds me... Do you get that feeling that you know them but you can't quite be sure what it is?"

"No, not really. Maybe they remind you of someone you met a long time ago when you were fighting against the professor."

"Yeah, maybe..." Sonic suddenly felt really tired. It made sense; after all he hadn't actually got any sleep, unlike Shadow. "God I'm so tired..."

"Didn't you get any sleep?"

"No, I couldn't. The cold was keeping me awake..." They both noticed that it had got even colder, if that was possible. Sonic drew the blanket over him and closed his eyes, trying to keep as still as possible. He felt the cage move slightly and opening his eyes, he saw Shadow moving towards him. He looked extremely embarrassed so Sonic closed his eyes and leant against Shadow. Suddenly he felt a lot warmer than before and he smiled.

"Any better?" Shadow whispered.

"Yeah..." Sonic said sleepily, snuggling up to him.

Sonic opened his eyes several hours later and gasped at the heat in the air. He practically ripped the blankets off of him and sat up, looking to where Shadow was. He was staring at Shaylea, who seemed to have turned into a ball of fire. Sonic knelt beside him and his eyes widened in worry.

"What's happening to her?" Sonic exclaimed.

"She got bored with making the place windy so she thought she'd turn up the heat a bit." Shadow said.

"A /bit/? I'm boiling! I hope Kensa comes back soon, I don't know how much I can take of this." Sonic paced the cage, made difficult by the fact that it was very small.

"I think that's her down there..." Shadow commented and Sonic looked to where he was pointing.

True to his word, Kensa had just arrived and seemed extremely distressed by the temperature of the room. She floated up to the chunk of ground that was still hovering in the air and rushed over to Shaylea.

"How long has she been like this for?"

"I don't know, maybe a couple of hours-" Shadow started.

"A couple of hours! I hope she's going to be all right..." She went into her cage and ignoring the flames, placed her hand on Shaylea's forehead. She was whispering something and slowly, the flames became subdued. Once they had gone completely, she stared her hand and the burns faded away. She left the cage and sat in front of Sonic and Shadow who were staring at her with a mixture of puzzlement and surprise.

"What was that about?" Sonic eventually asked.

"Shaylea's going through..." She waved her hands around, trying to think of the word. "Phases. The wind didn't matter so much; she doesn't hurt herself doing that but with fire... It's a dangerous weapon and if she doesn't concentrate properly, she sets herself on fire too. Obviously she can't at the moment because she's unconscious so I just have to make sure she's ok." Kensa explained.

"Is she going to go through anymore...phases?" Shadow asked.

"Yes, I don't know how long for though." She looked at Shaylea and smiled. "She's going into her third phase already." They were going to ask her about it when they felt the room shake. Sonic and Shadow were knocked over and once they had managed to get back up again, they were very nervous.

"Err, Kensa..." Shadow said apprehensively. "What is her third phase?"

"Oh, earth. The ground shakes for a little while, hopefully it shouldn't be too serious." Sonic raised his eyebrows.

"/Shouldn't be too serious/? The room isn't the only thing that's shaking!" She realised what he meant as she heard his voice quiver too.

"Don't worry, there's only one small problem." She said, trying to smile.

"What?"

"She has been known to make rooms collapse." She said quickly. Seeing the expression on their faces, she gasped. "Oh no, it's no like that happens all the time!"

"That's all right then." Shadow breathed a sigh of relief.

"Just occasionally..." She added quietly.

"A great reassurance I'm sure..." Sonic muttered. Shadow decided that now was the time to change the topic of conversation.

"So then, did you find any of our friends?"

"Oh yes, I forgot about that!" She laughed but then turned serious. "Yes, I did find some...one."

"You couldn't find the others?" Sonic asked.

"There are usually two of us, just remember that." She said coldly. "And they're so spread out it's hard to keep track of them. I would usually track their mental signals but as I do not know what they all look like, I cannot picture them."

"Who did you find?"

"A fox-"

"Tails?"

"Well, she did have more than one tail now that you mention it." She said thoughtfully.

"No, Tails is his name." Shadow suddenly thought. "You said 'she' didn't you?" He turned to Sonic. "That must mean it's Marie then."

"Yes, she had a red dress on and a bow in her hair." She looked sombrely at them. "I'm sorry I didn't find any of your other friends but I couldn't risk it. The boss is starting to become aware of them and is keeping track of everyone who goes near them." She paused. "And although I can travel a lot faster than Shaylea, she can go for longer. I don't have a clue where most of them are and couldn't risk becoming stranded."

"Don't worry if you can't find all of them, but have you seen anyone else apart from Marie?"

"Yes, I have. I saw an echidna and another fox-"

"So you did see Tails! And Knuckles too. Were they both ok?" Sonic asked.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you. I never actually saw what happened to them, I only told them about you two before leaving. I'm not supposed to help, I attract too much attention." She moved slightly closer to the two hedgehogs. "If it's any consolation though, from what I can tell of the two of you, particularly Sonic, you have been through so much together that I'm sure they'll do fine."

"It's not them I'm so much worried about, it's Marie. She's never done anything like this before, we don't even know how capable she is." Sonic said.

"You have nothing to worry about, I can tell you that she's fine, just a bit scared about what's going on."

"What I don't understand is why Tails isn't with her! He should be helping her but he's gone off in a totally different direction." Sonic said angrily. "The whole group should have stayed together!"

"Maybe they shouldn't have..." Kensa muttered but seeing their puzzled looks, she brightened up. "They couldn't stay together, Acumen wouldn't let them." She indicated the room. They noticed for the first time that the rumblings seemed to have grown less and the room only shook occasionally.

"What do you mean?" Shadow asked.

"This place is alive, I suppose. It can sense how many people enter it and if they are stupid enough to wear their emotions on their sleeves then it can sense that too. Basically, it knew when your friends entered the gate and it sensed certain feelings that they might have had." Kensa explained and Sonic interrupted her.

"Like love?"

"Yes, love is a prime example. If they aren't aware of what Acumen is doing, it can turn people against each other and cause discord amongst them. That is usually enough to split most small groups up. However, there are some people who can't be affected like that and so Acumen physically separates them." She finished.

"So they all got split up for various reasons and are now in completely different places?" Shadow inquired and Kensa nodded. "But they're all still in this place, surely it can't be that big? And if it is, will they actually be able to get back together again?"

"No one's quite sure how big it is, some people say the place has to power to change its shape and size. However, it likes playing with its victims before it kills them so there will be something that everyone can see and they will eventually reach it. It depends on how hard things are made for them."

"Will it kill them before they reach this thing?"

"No, not deliberately but...if the person hasn't got a strong sense of will then they will not make it. The more inexperienced you are, the harder it makes it for you."

"So Marie could die?" Sonic asked with alarm.

"However, that said, Acumen will not let just anyone in. You have to have a reason to be here. Her reason is known only to her and me."

"And you're not going to tell us?" Shadow said.

"No, I will not. I have strictly speaking said too much already. I will not go out again, it is Shaylea's turn now." She walked over to her and looked at her. "I think the third phase is over..." She looked up and screwed her eyes shut. "And so the fourth phase begins..." She whispered.

"What is the-" But before he could finish, Sonic felt a raindrop fall on his head.

"Rain..." Shadow muttered.

"Water is Shaylea's favourite element and power so it could last for some time. Once it's over though, she'll wake up. Then we can look for your friends properly..." She faded away and Sonic and Shadow were once again left on their own.

They put the blankets over them so they didn't get wet as they thought about everything Kensa had said. Sonic though, couldn't help wondering about the reason why he couldn't get to sleep in the first place. He really wanted to ask Shadow and finally put the thing that had been plaguing him to rest but he couldn't. What would he say? Seeing Shadow looking at him strangely, he tried to think of something to say.

"Well, that was certainly a lot wasn't it?" He said pleasantly.

"Understatement. But one thing's worrying me...remember when you asked Kensa if love was included in emotions that could be sensed and exploited?" Sonic nodded his head. "Do you think that would have affected Knuckles and Rouge?"

"No, surely not. They wouldn't let themselves listen to such stupid things...would they?" Sonic suddenly looked worried.

"Maybe you didn't notice how bad things got between them..." Shadow commented.

"Even I noticed that things weren't perfect...but they seemed so happy before! It's all changed since Knuckles snogged Gillian at school. I don't really see what Rouge was complaining about though, she wanted him to do it."

"I think she was just upset because Knuckles was so against it at first and then seemed to enjoy himself." Although he hadn't been there, there were so many worries about them two amongst the group that he knew the story as well as they did.

"Hopefully when everyone is back together again and when we see them, we can talk some sense into them. Until then though..." Sonic shrugged his shoulders.

"We should probably just worry about /if/ we see them again. From the sound of this boss person, we're going to be facing a hard time."

"It can't be worse than the Finalhazard, can it?" This time, Shadow shrugged his shoulders and the thought of something worse than Biolizard forced them into silence.

I nearly died because of the Finalhazard... Shadow thought. Could the same thing happen with this creature? Or will it be different? Maybe we won't actually survive this time... We won't be in our super forms for a start off and the last time I used Chaos Control I was so weakened I don't think I could do it again... And Sonic wouldn't be able to do it on his own... He turned to look at Sonic and found him deep in thought too. He's been like that recently. I wonder what he's thinking about? Maybe he's wondering about when we faced the Finalhazard together... I remember the last thing I said to him, about him being the ultimate life form... Is he?

He turned to stare at Sonic again, who was too absent minded to notice that the blanket had fallen off him and he was soaking wet.

"Sonic, you're looking a bit wet." Shadow said loudly and Sonic shook his head, feeling how soaked he was.

"Damn it, I forgot all about that! Now I'm drenched..." He put the blanket back over himself and looked over at Shaylea. "I hope this finishes soon."

"Me too." There was an awkward silence. "Sonic, are you ok? You seem to be troubled by something." Sonic frowned and looked away.

"No, not really. It's just that..." He turned to Shadow again. "I've been thinking about what you said to me, you know, before you fell after the battle with the Finalhazard..." His voice trailed into silence.

"I've been thinking about it too and I still stand by my words." Sonic looked surprised. "But maybe if we see the Book of Knowledge, we'll find out for sure."

"Yeah, you're probably right..." Sonic looked up and so did Shadow.

The rain was beginning to lighten and slowly but surely, it disappeared and Sonic and Shadow removed the blankets that were covering them. They heard the door open and looking down, they saw Kensa rushing towards them. She stood in front of the cage and opened the door to check on Shaylea.

"Will she wake up now?" Shadow asked.

"Yes, I don't see why she wouldn't..." She lifted Shaylea up slightly and shook her gently. "Shaylea, wake up..." She whispered. Slowly, she stirred and she opened her eyes, looking around.

"Have they gone?" Kensa nodded her head. "That's a relief then." She sat up and spotted Sonic and Shadow. "You're still here eh? I thought they would have taken you away by now."

"You've only been unconscious for about two days, they said it was going to be a few days." Shaylea looked surprised at this.

"Two days? How have you managed to look for everyone on your own?"

"I haven't, I've only been able to find one person..." Kensa said quietly.

"One person? We've got to go and look for the others now then!" She sat up and merely shook Kensa off when she tried to keep her down. "I'm fine!" She snapped, stalking out of the cage. "What are you waiting for?"

"Just need to get Sonic back in his cage..." He did so and once they were both locked; Kensa and Shaylea set off wordlessly to find Sonic and Shadow's friends.

Luff: Lots of info there, no one's asked any questions about the place they're in but if you were wondering, hopefully it's enlightened you.

S. Chensu: and the people who've been asking about the mysterious shadows, hopefully this episode will have made it obvious to you too.

Luff: Next episode is up Monday 3rd May because of exams and it'll be from Eggman's point of view.

S. Chensu: Ooh, I like this episode; it has lots of pretty things in it!

Luff: Whatever. We still haven't written anymore, we should do soon though. Until then, review!