Chaos: Dear Lord, there's more. Run for your lives! But back to business, (of a strange kind) this chapter is actually my favourite so far, what with all the parody and unconnected lines. (grin) This whole humour thingy is a wide market; lookit all the reviews!

Flower: Enjoy, and Happy Easter! Review Responses!

Amy Rose – Heh heh heh, I'm glad Shadow doesn't know where I live… (shudder)

SallytheRabbit – Yay, everybody seems to like OOCness. (grin) Happy Easter to you!

Mythica – Thanks! I just love usurping characters and clichés and all the rest of it.

SonicRules – It can't be that good! (grin, sweatdrop) There're loads of stories better than this one!

Mirage the Cat – Jolt Soda, eh? (ponders upon the insanity that could ensue) I like that idea!

Kirbs – Still freaked out, huh?

Midnight el Gatito – Oh, you think Shadow was bad in the last chapter? (grins devilishly)

Random Passerby – Wowow, what a review! I was just looking for a word to describe myself and, oh yes, 'unique' is perfect. (grin) May this story continue forever and never accomplish anything! (salutes the story… and the hyper frame of mind that induces it)

Chibi – I guess Shadow is fun to torment because he's so goddamn unfunny. (grin) Hey, I'm glad you like it so far!

Prince Izzy – Mmm, cocktail sauce… (drool) … but anyway, glad you like. Hehe.

TacoMonkey – Everybody loves pretzels! (grin)

Tarem – Indeed, how do we describe Shadow's personality here? It's… well, um… interesting?

SoMe fan – Club Rouge is Rouge's club, from Sonic Battle. And how Shadow got onto the Island? (points to plothole in the last chapter)

Littlefreakofnature – Gotta love the pretzels!

Dragonmaster Kyra – If ffnet allowed chat format then nowhere would be safe! (deranged laughter)

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Shadow had, upon realising that he could finally gain an unfair upper hand on Sonic, gone into an uber-uncharacteristic phase of happiness! Dear Lord, save us! Any and all passer-bys took one look at him skipping (YES, skipping) along the street, promptly panicked and began running in completely random directions.

Unfortunately this resulted in lots of accidents, mass destruction, and a medical bill a mile long. But we won't go into that...

Anyway, Shadow finally reached Night Babylon once again, warbling 'I'm singing in the rain' in a rather muffled kind of way from beneath the Master Emerald. Naturally, he failed to notice that it was still sunny beyond the cloud of bliss.

Rouge's nail varnish cracked.

She squealed in surprised shock... and then the awful sound reached her sensitive ears also. "Aaaaaargh! Make it stop!" she screamed, clutching her head. It sounded as though an entire herd of sheep were drunk, and were tumbling through a river while wearing helium masks.

(It may be noted at this point that Rouge has a rather over-active imagination.)

And, Rouge noted through the agony, the sound was coming closer. Gasp! The bat frantically scrabbled in her pocket for the earplugs which she kept with her for no apparent reason, and then darted for the baseball bat beneath the bar counter.

Shadow was just hitting a rather painful flat note - "I'm seeeeeeenging in the RAAAAAIN..." - when he kicked open the door of Club Rouge... and a large blunt object was brought down on top of him.

"Dieeeee!" Rouge yelled, for lack of a better phrase. An incredibly loud crash followed...

... and a rather surprised, not-very-dead Shadow was left holding the last fragments of the Master Emerald. There was a long, shocked silence. A piece of emerald clattered to the ground a few feet away.

Then Rouge started screaming.

"Taaaaaaails!"

Tails gave a muffled yelp of surprise, tried to sit up, and then remembered that he was lying underneath the Tornado II, repairing the wheels from the last Sonic-directed landing.

He muttered a swear word that a fox of his age shouldn't have known, rubbed his head, and then slid out and sat up properly.

"TAI- oh, there you are." Sonic said, pushing open the door with a bang that shook the room. Several delicate gadgets slipped off the shelves and plummeted to their doom.

Now Tails was not in a good mood. "What do you want?" he said bluntly, rubbing some dust from his fur.

"Check it out!" Sonic chirped, holding out a shard of green. Tails took one look, paled as he recognised the Master Emerald, and promptly slid under the Tornado again.

"Oh, no, nonono, not another of your crazy adventures. Count me out!"

"Oh, Taaaaaails..." Sonic whined.

"No!"

"Go on."

"NO!"

"... I have pretzels..."

A wise move. A moment later Tails slid back into view, folding his arms and scowling. "Alright. But I want them in five equal monthly instalments."

And thus the Great Adventure begins! Sort of! In a mild, bribe-induced way!

Oh, forget it.