Sonic, Shadow and co are © Sega; all the other characters are mine.

Authoress' Note: You know what? I recently played with Sonic 1 for MD and it gave me such a huge inspiration (in comparison the moon is small…) that the part about the path will be much, much better than the part about the underwater temple.

Authoress' Note2: I'm glad that nobody was mad at me because I reduced the length of the chapters. Still, I'll try to keep them over the eight pages. I know how it feels… you always wanna read more…

RichaCo: Sonic and Shadow will have their hands full for a little longer (more than a little) because I discovered that I like to take it looooong…
For Chaos, I have a little plot for him going in my head, and you'll see it in this chapter. And I tell you that it'll be very interesting (at least from my end).

incomplete13: That is something that I'll explain in the last part of this fic (towards the end, or maybe a little sooner. It depends on how my mind works…)

Dragon Master Naya: Chaos can't talk because he doesn't have a mouth (he can let out that howl directly from his water body (like a resonation), I think), but you can hear his thoughts through some sort of mental link that he has (and he share it only with the ones that he chose). The trick is… that you don't actually hear the words (like "Hello there, how are you?"), but the direct meaning of them.
Hope I explained myself clearly. If you have some question regarding this (ore something else), just ask. I'll be more than glad to answer you.
For the Ghostbusters thing… Although I really enjoyed the joke (made me smile widely), I'm afraid that Rouge is not going to call them. You'll find whom she called right in this chapter. Enjoy!

Now… How the hell I'm gonna make Chaos interact with Sonic and Shadow?
This is quite the question, I must admit…
PS: Hey, how my writing skill has become? Too much descriptive? Too much little dialogue?

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CHAPTER TWELVE

Everyone Wants Those Two Hedgehogs

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"So they have successfully escaped…" The general said without looking at the man that was standing in front of his desk; he was upset by the fact that they had lost them and he purely hated their luck. The man sighed and turned his armchair around, so he was finally facing his subordinate "Commander, we need to secure them as soon as possible. The top-secret project can't go on without them, and the truth about the two incidents happened on ARK must stay secret."

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How much time he was walking, he wasn't sure; one, maybe two hours. Sometimes the blue hedgehog would wake up, but for only some seconds; it seemed that he was trying to regain consciousness so he wouldn't be anymore a burden to him. But no matter how he tried, every time he would wake up the tiredness would just push him back to sleep.

Shadow's mind went back to the place they were in; it seemed that they had ended up into a giant corkscrew, always going down and turning to the left. Luckily that part was just bare rock without any sort of trap, and that the air was less hot than before; the downside was that it was dark and damp, and that the metal stumping was increasing in intensity.

Shadow yawned and stretched as far as he could go with his blue doppelganger in his arms; he was starting to feel tired too, but he decided to go on for a little longer. Even if this place was without traps, it was not a good place to take a rest; there was something wrong in the place that he couldn't understand, and his sixth sense was telling to him to not stop there.

Suddenly the fur on his back stood on end; that was a really bad sign. Not wanting to know what was coming, he started running as fast as he could, but because he was tired and because he was carrying Sonic, his pace was considerably slowed down; he was just a little faster than a good human runner at his max.

The black hedgehog knew that whatever was coming his way was gaining on him, and quickly too; he had to reach the end of the giant corkscrew before it, or they would be both dead. He gritted his teeth and strained his legs to go a little faster; no way that he was going to lose, no way that he was going to die here and lose the only member of his family in the process.

Shadow bit back a scream of pain; his legs weren't capable to sustain that type of run, but he was too weak to activate his special shoes. Soon an orange light illuminated the corridor from behind him, and he instantly knew what it was; lava.

When he thought that his legs would fail him, he saw the end; the passage was four feet from the ground, and right in front of it there was a hole that was five feet long.

The hedgehog had no time to plan the jump, so he had to take the risk; he just hoped that his legs would endure the shock. The hole approached and he mustered all his strength on his legs; at the edge he crouched, and used the speed to his advantage.

Shadow extended his legs and he felt himself go airborne; like he hoped, he had perfectly aimed the entrance, and he soon touched ground. His legs instantly gave away and he fell forwards; in the little time he had, he swirled around and hit the ground with his back.

Not caring about the pain on his legs he raised his head; Sonic was safely laying on his stomach and his head was well away from the ground. He sighed and let his head rest on the new ground; that run greatly strained his legs and the fall gave him a not too soft blow on his shoulders, but he had successfully saved the blue hedgehog from further damage. Not to mention that he successfully escaped from a sure death.

The black hedgehog remained on his back for some minutes, letting his legs rest from that strain; when the pain subsided, he sat up. Sonic was still in his arms, and it seemed that he wasn't going to wake up soon; Shadow just hoped that he was ok.

Looking at the corkscrew path, he noticed that the lava was still flowing down, and that it was falling in the hole right in front of the entrance; why it started going down only when he was almost at the end was a mystery. Maybe it came down at regular intervals; that explained why he didn't felt uneasy, yet his sixth sense was telling him to not stop.

Shadow sighed and stood up, noticing that he could feel no more his legs; he knew that they were there, but it was like they weren't. The only pain that he could feel was the one in his right wrist; luckily he was so busy in there that sometime he wouldn't feel it.

Another thing that he noticed was that now the stomping noise was almost unbearable for his ears; turning around he felt what little energy he had recovered go away. Almost on the verge of giving up, he slowly fell on his knees; in front of him a big square piece of iron with spike on its lower side was being slowly pulled up by a thick chain, then it would stop for a fraction of a second and after a click it would heavily fall down on the ground.

Shadow slowly inhaled and exhaled to prevent himself from going into a 'crying from despair' mode; after he felt calm and collected he turned off the torch that was into his left hand and clasped it back on Sonic's left wrist. It took him a little effort to complete the task, but in the end it was firmly secured on its rightful place.

The new corridor was fifteen feet wide and it had an orange coloration thanks to the light that came from the lava that was into two fissures at the sides of the path, right near the wall; the deadly contraption was ten feet from him, and under it several pieces of skeletons were constantly beaten to dust.

The black hedgehog examined the whole thing carefully for a way to surpass it; it took six seconds to go up, and nothing to come back down. Just behind it there were two rows of spikes arranged in a alternate way that was coming out of the ground every three seconds; after the spikes, two feet away, there was something that looked like a hole full of lava.

Shadow stood up and took his time to find the right time for passing that; when he managed to time the cadence of the two traps he walked near the 'Spiked Mincer', how he called it, and waited for it to came back down. When the thing slowly started raising he waited until it was high enough to let him pass full standing up.

The spikes on the ground came back up and he waited a little; as soon as he felt it, he ran. The Spiked Mincer was almost at its end, but a second for him was enough, were for a normal being was too scarce; the spikes retracted and he ran forward again. The heavy trap fell on the floor as soon as he left the ground under it.

His perfect timing made him touch that two feet of safe ground without getting a scratch on his or Sonic's body; he sighed with relief as he felt that he was momentarily out of danger. Returning back to his present task he looked at the pit; it was at least ten feet longs and took the entire wideness of the corridor. Right on the center of the pit there was a block of marble that was two feet wide and two longs; it was one foot out of the hot liquid.

Shifting a little on his feet he aimed at it and, just hoping that it could support his and Sonic's weight, he jumped; his landing on the block was successful, but his moment of rejoice was ruined as he felt that the cube of marble was slowly going down.

Not wanting to wait for it to completely go under, he jumped on the other side and turned around. To his surprise the block of marble was going back to his previous position with the same pace as it was going down with him on it; he lifted an eyebrow at that. He never heard of big pieces of rocks that could float like that on lava.

Shadow sighed and turned back to face the right way of the path; it was without Spiked Mincers, holes for the hidden ones or pits. But if it was so plain, then why his sixth sense was screaming for him to get the hell out of there?

Suddenly his ears picked up a faint sound coming from the dark and distant ceiling; his eyes widened in sudden realization and he immediately started running forwards as fast as he could. He nearly lost his foot every time there was something really heavy that hit the ground behind him; in the end, however, he managed to outmatch them.

His heart dropped as he came to a premature end; it was a wall without openings, stairs or other things that could help him get out of there. He turned around and saw what was coming down; they were something like the Spiked Mincers, but they were littler and they were lacking the spikes. The things were just a little less tall than him, tubular in shape and took almost the entire wideness of the corridor.

Four more to go, and it'll be the turn of the one right over his head.

He pressed his back on the wall and hoped that the one over him would miss him.

Three…

His heart fell once again and he felt his eyes well up with tears as he saw the spacing between the already fallen Mincers; the one over his head would surely squash him and the hedgehog in his arms.

Two…

"There's always an exit to every situation…" Shadow looked down at Sonic; it had been just a faint whisper, but his keen hearing had picked it up like it had been spoken normally.

One…

With no time to wonder, Shadow started looking around frantically; if what Sonic said was true, then maybe…

His eyes fell on the ground; there was a circular dip that marked the landing spot of the Mincer. Strangely enough there was another circle into that, and it was raised. It was enough wide to let two standing hedgehogs stand there; not wanting to waste the golden opportunity he stood on the circle and slipped his arms around the blue hedgehog's torso, so he could held him into a standing position.

Zero. The next one was his…

His eyes closed and he tightly held Sonic for fear to lose him; he knew that the Mincer would come down in any moment, but for some unknown reason it was like an eternity to him. Also, even if he knew that the spot where they were standing was safe, he couldn't stop his mind from being scared to die.

It was fairly strange; before he fully knew Sonic, he wanted to live just to keep his promise to Maria, but now it was so different. The blue hedgehog had filled him with that strong wish of life, and now he wasn't capable to renounce at it.

The Mincer fell and Shadow nearly lost his balance because of the shaking and strong wind caused by the impact; his eyes snapped open. They were still alive, and right in the center of a holed Mincer; the heavy thing was different from the others as it was not only holed, but also just a foot high. And meanwhile the other had only a chain, this one had four of them, five feet longs, that connected into a larger one.

Shadow smiled and greatly felt relieved; they were still alive. He gulped down his emotions and sat on the Mincer as it was slowly being pulled back up; he pulled his blue double up with him and put him between himself and a chain "Thank you, Sonic."

The ebony hedgehog smiled as he saw that the other hedgehog had a faint smile on his lips; even if his body was not working like he wanted, his senses and his mind were full aware and doing their job.

The hedgehog looked up; the ceiling wasn't visible, and something told him that this was another long ride. And maybe Sonic was finally going to fully wake up too…

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Chaos was running as fast as he could through the rocky desert; he had tirelessly ran for the entire day of yesterday and night, and he was now really close to the mountains. Behind them, he would finally find the end of the path and, hopefully, the hedgehogs.

Suddenly the water being stopped and looked towards east, where the sun was just peeking from the horizon; he could sense an emerald, but the strange thing was that it was moving towards his way. He fully faced the direction and narrowed his eyes; something on the back of his mind was telling him that whoever, or whatever was carrying the emerald was coming his way for his.

Chaos turned his head to look at the mountains at the north, then back at the plain that was stretching on the east; with a quick decision he started running towards his original objective. If he remembered well the site was right in the middle of a water area with ancient ruins, and that would greatly advantage him in the battle; he just hoped that it hadn't changed over the millennia.

The water creature increased his run, but he suddenly stopped as a bright light appeared right in front of him; his hand quickly traveled over his eyes to protect them from the intensity of the light, and when he took it away what he saw made him take a step backwards.

It was huge, brown and gray, and it had a huge, but controlled, hunger for Chaos Energy; the thing reminded him of a lizard and she had on her back some sort of round broken machine. The beast seemed to have been through something hellish as there were several scars on her body, but she seemed to quickly recover; even her left fore leg and both the hind ones were slowly reforming. She lowered her head to look at Chaos, then she shifter her hidden eyes on his emerald.

Chaos narrowed his eyes; there was no way that the big lizard was going to take away the Chaos Emerald that he possessed. He took a step backwards and brought his right arm behind his back; it was a clear sign that he wasn't going to give the gem away that easily.

The lizard growled in response and fully raised her neck to let out a powerful growl; she wanted the emerald, and there was no way that a watery thing would prevent her from getting it. She reared her head backwards and with a swift forward movement she released a huge black sphere of energy.

Chaos jumped to the right side and successfully avoided the blast; he ran towards the now lowered lizard's neck and reared back his right arm. The blow released was powerful enough to make her head and neck go to the left; when the movement stopped she found herself gazing at her side.

The BioLizard's head returned to look at Chaos; he was strong, yes, but she wasn't going to forfeit the fight. She wanted the emerald at all cost; the others were momentarily unattainable, and his was the only one at her reach.

The water beast stared back and narrowed his eyes; this was going to be a tough fight. Not to mention that both of them had a Chaos Emerald from where they could attain supplementary energy.

Suddenly in Chaos's mind a thought made its way to his conscious area; she wanted the emeralds because she was hungry for their energy, but there must had been another reason. He knew that the lizard was in full control of it and of her thoughts.

The water creature stared up at the lizard; what was she planning? Surely not something good.

The BioLizard seemed to sense his confusion over what she wanted to do and in response she raised her head toward the sky and let loose some short cries; then she lowered it and raised her right foreleg and smashed it hard on the ground, crushing whatever was under it.

Chaos' eyes widened; what she wanted to do was to be venerated like a god and bring destruction and despair on the planet, and to do that she needed all the seven Chaos Emerald. The water beast narrowed his eyes and clenched his right fist; he was going to deliver another blow at her head, but stopped as she looked in the direction of the mountains on the north.

Once again, Chaos' eyes widened in shock; she also wanted the two hedgehogs, and she knew where she could find them. Thanks to his involuntary lead…

He pondered; what she wanted from them? He sensed her anger towards them, but there was more. Before he could answer his question he had to duck to avoid another of her black spheres; he stood up and looked at her with narrowed eyes. This was not the time to wonder, but the time to fight a powerful opponent.

Chaos avoided another energy attack by jumping left; he ran to her side and delivered a blow on some fissures that looked like gills. The lizard threw her head backwards and let a pained scream resound on the air; after that she looked back down and growled deeply. He had hurt her, and now she was angry.

The BioLizard turned around with her body and delivered a mighty hit with her neck to Chaos' right side; the water creature was flung several feet away, and he splashed on the ground. He reformed and shook his head a little to get rid of the dizziness that he was feeling; she was stronger than he was, but on the other hand he was faster than she was.

He looked back at her and instantly understood that she was aware of their differences too; he had to be careful from now on. His adversary was intelligent, and she was surely going to play some dirty tricks.

Chaos swore that she was smiling; it was not visible on her mouth, but something on the back of his mind was telling him that she was doing it. He saw the lizard threw her head back and scream; some seconds later a bunch of red things appeared floating around her.

With a swift forwards swing and another scream the BioLizard threw the red things at Chaos; if she had the possibility she would have laughed madly. Soon, her 'laugh' stopped, leaving a shocked feeling in her; the water creature was dodging all her explosive projectiles.

When he saw that he was almost done dodging the new attack, Chaos gripped a projectile in a way that didn't explode and threw it back at his enemy; the red bulled traveled quickly, and collided into the BioLizard's open mouth.

The big beast threw her head back again, and let another scream leave her throat; that was it, that made her more angry than she actually was. She quickly looked back at him and growled in anger; she didn't want to lose again.

She opened her mouth and started charging up for another energy sphere; some seconds later she aimed her opponent and fired. The black sphere was bigger than the others and the purple lightning were more frequents; the energy attack traveled faster and collided with its target.

When the dust cleared the BioLizard felt pleased with herself; the little water beast was nowhere to be found. She raised her head and looked around for the emerald that he had; after several seconds of search she growled in frustration.

What she missed to see was that Chaos was slowly coming out of the ground at her back in a form of a puddle; he silently reformed his body and burst into a sprint towards the lizard letting a war like scream resound on the morning air of the desert.

The BioLizard whipped her head to look at her back, but ended in only getting a mighty uppercut from her enemy; her head flung upward and she let out a low cry of surprise. Luckily for her, her thick skin was preventing any damage; after the strength of the blow died down she looked back down, only to find that Chaos was not there.

After delivering the uppercut at her head, the water creature had run on her other side; he knew that her skin was too strong to be hurt in any way. He had to find a weak spot, or this would prove to be a defeat on his part, and a fate worse than death for the hedgehogs; he knew it.

Chaos examined carefully her side; the only things worth of attention were those gills. He had delivered a blow before, and she seemed to have felt the pain of it; he clenched his right fist and started to run for the hit.

He was nearly there when he saw the enemy turn around; he threw himself on the ground and felt the air above his water body move like a gust of wind. He stood up and ran out of her range; he had avoided a hit, but he also lost the possibility for one of his own.

Chaos stopped and turned around to face the BioLizard; she was looking right at him. They both knew that a minimal distraction made the other win the battle.

The lizard opened her mouth and let loose a barrage of black sphere; the attacks were faster than Chaos, but luckily the azure creature avoided them all by melting into the ground. When he reappeared he was right in front of the gills on her right side.

Chaos ran forwards and hit the gills with all his strength; meanwhile the lizard screamed in agony he ran away from her physical range. The BioLizard lowered her head and tried to bite him; she missed the hit only by a few feet.

The lizard stared at him for a few seconds; he was too agile for her to hit. She had to think about something that could help her to get him, or this was going to be a loosing fight for her.

Chaos stared back; he knew that now his opponent was going to use dirty tricks to get him. He had to pay more attention at her from now on.

The two opponents stared at each other for several seconds, contemplating at their next move and at the next move of their opponent; both knew that the other knew. If both fought honestly the fight would surely end in a draw; but neither he nor she wanted to lose.

Chaos narrowed his eyes, making the lizard preoccupied over what he wanted to do; she backtracked just to be safe, but she became shocked as the water creature ran to her side, standing out of her reach, aimed her gills and extended his right arm. Again, she felt the pain of the hit and screamed.

Tired to be continuously hit by some walking water, the BioLizard waited for him to extend again his right arm to deliver another hit; she backtracked and watched him ran to her other side. She also attacked him to cover her real intention, but missed voluntarily; she needed him to attack.

When Chaos extended again his right arm the big lizard swung her head and intercepted it; the water beast stared in shock as his opponent bit down on his arm. The arm exploded in various drops of different size that fell everywhere on the ground, wetting it; the Chaos Emerald, however, remained into her mouth.

Chaos recalled back the water that he lost and reformed his arm; looking up his eyes narrowed in rage. The lizard had tricked him pretty well, and now she was showing him her trophy between her jaws; with a pleased growl she threw back her head and swallowed the shiny gem.

Chaos nearly boiled from the anger that he was feeling; he had lost, and now the hedgehogs were in deep danger. He saw her look at the northern mountains and emit a low pleased growl; his eyes narrowed more, there was still time to prevent her from getting them, and if that place was till water base, he could easily outmatch her.

The BioLizard committed the error to not mind anymore her adversary; she didn't even felt him cling to her tail as she teleported away from the desert and to the new site.

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Rouge dialed a number on her cell, then another interminable sequence "Now we only have to wait for my friend to come here and help us." She said placing the little phone on the desk of the computer.

Knuckles crossed his arms and leaned on the wall "Your friend?" He asked raising an eyebrow. His eyes had an unknown sparkle to him, and he was trying hard to not narrow his eyes.

The white bat saw his eyes and smiled widely; she wasn't expecting that hint of a gaze that soon. She sat on the chair and crossed her legs "He's a friend of mine since we were little. We both took the way of the spy. We also have our personal secret code." She explained smiling widely.

Tails and Amy stared at the two treasure hunters with wonder; there was a strange friction going between them.

The echidna hinted a sigh and stood up "Can we trust him?" He asked uncrossing his arms. He couldn't understand why he was so upset at the fact that she had mentioned a friend; it was like he wanted to bash whoever he was.

Rouge observed him; it was clear as a sunny day. He was jealous; his eyes were betraying him. The only question was if he knew what he was feeling; being cooped up on that flying island for his whole life made him a simple person, who didn't know what jealousy, love and other deep sentiments were.

The white bat was just grateful that Eggman discovered his island and brought the fight over it; between the doctor and Sonic, his flat life was literally messed up forever. He also told her that now he was happy to have friends like Sonic and Tails; and his mind seemed freer from his duty.

Knuckles raised an eyebrow at her silence "Rouge?" He asked almost waving a hand in front of her eyes. The female snapped to attention and looked at him "Sorry, I was thinking about something." She said hiding the fact that she was thinking at him "Anyway, yes. We can surely trust him. We can say that he's like a brother to me."

The echidna felt the need to take a deep breath of relief; after he heard her tell him that he was just like a brother to her he felt really relieved "When he'll be here?" Rouge snickered uncontrollably "Knowing him he's going to storm here as fast as he can. That means a hour maximum."

Suddenly the bat turned serious "Anyway guys, and gals, we have to keep our eyes really open for the GUN agents. I know them pretty well, and they are surely planning a raid on this house." She then turned to the fox "Tails, have you something that could help us? I don't know… something like cameras or perimetrical sensors?"

The vulpine thought for several seconds at what the bat asked, then his fingers snapped "I have some infrared cameras." He saw Rouge nod her approval and after a quick smile he dashed out of the door to go into his basement, where he kept everything he had but that he didn't use often.

The female treasure hunter looked at Amy "Can you go help him? We need those cameras set up as soon as possible." She said smiling politely. The pink hedgehog nodded and ran after Tails screaming at him to wait for her.

Now only the two treasure hunters remained in the room; a silence dropped between them. It was long and uneasy, and Rouge decided to break it by flopping on the chair sighing; the male looked at her "You ok?" He asked a little concerned.

Rouge nodded "Yeah. Just a little under stress. This situation is turning out to be more complicated than the whole ARK and Chaos incidents put together…" The echidna walked behind the chair and started massaging her shoulders "I know… Sonic and Shadow are who knows were. And it seems that everyone is after them for their own interests. Not to mention that Chaos is in here too…"

The bat nearly melted when he started the massage, but she managed to let only a delighted moan leave her throat "How many sides are involved in this story?" She asked relaxing under his strong, but gentle touch "Well, we are one. Then there's this GUN, the BioLizard, Chaos and lastly Eggman." He paused a little "I think that it's all."

Rouge sighed and let her eyes close "Five… and we are all after them… why?" Knuckles stopped briefly, but resumed as soon as he realized that "Well, we are on their side, so this make us the good people. Then there's Chaos, but the GUN report didn't say why he was after them. This makes him a neutral side… for now."

"Eggman wants them dead, so he can go on with his plan…" She continued for him "The GUN surely wants them for unknown military purposes. But the BioLizard? Is she here to just kill them and destroy the world like Gerald programmed her?" She asked to herself and to Knuckles.

The echidna passed to the base of her neck "I think that she has something specific in her mind. If she just wanted to kill them and destroy the world she would have started it as soon as she put foot on the planet…" Rouge sighed once again "You're right, Knuckles… you're right…"

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Now, I'm really proud of this chapter! Sonic 1 really gave me the Inspiration (note the capital) I needed. I'm so happy that I could touch a star with a single jump *Smiles and dances around with chair*
And what about the 'Chaos against BioLizard' idea? Isn't that something like 'epic'?
Sorry about my enthusiasm, but I'm really, really proud of this chapter.

And remember! Reviews are always welcomed! They keep me into the go. Without them I usually slack off…

Az