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

Authoress' Note: WOW! A record update! Enjoy!

Dragon Master Naya: He'll materially show up in this chapter. And I literally have no clue how to make Chaos interact with them… Between him and the BioLizard was rather easy since they both can't talk, but with the hedgehogs it'll be hard since they can talk… oh well… I'll think about it when I'll get to the problem.
PS: Just for curiosity, where do you live?

RichaCo: Ahem… I wrote a whole battle against Sonic, Shadow and the BioLizard in the second chapter of this fic, and she made an appearance in the ninth chapter too…
If you're crafty, you can understand what she wants from them by a hint in this chapter.
For Rouge and Knuckles, I think that you'll have to wait. If my mind works on that, it'll be next one.
PS: You'll probably be very happy since I updated this soon.

Notice: Keep in mind the Aquatic Ruins of Sonic 2. It'll help you.

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CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Battle In The Water Ruins

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Shadow looked up and hinted a smile; on the end wall, near the ceiling there was a ten feet tall opening. Two little falls of lava, one on each side and a foot wide, were falling into two big bowls of five feet of diameter; then, the excessive hot liquid fell into an opening in the wall next to the basins through the open mouth of Lauren.

The black hedgehog stood up and picked Sonic in his arms; when the Holed Mincer reached the opening he jumped for fear that the trap was or going to squash him under the ceiling or going to fall back down.

He landed on the new ground and turned around; the Mincer stopped on the ceiling and never came back down again. He turned back again and stared at the corridor; a deep sigh left his lungs in a fed up manner. What he saw was another pit of lava, but this time it was ten times longer than the previous one and the blocks of marble were ten feet from each other "Wonderful…"

A sudden light movement coming from his blue double caught his attention; he kneeled down and gently put him on the ground, holding up only his upper body. The blue hedgehog's eyes flickered open just by a crack "Hey…" He muttered managing a faint smile.

Shadow sat down and shifted around a little to find a comfortable position for him and Sonic; he found it in having his left leg spread forwards and the right one folded under it. His left arm was keeping the blue hero up and his right one was resting lazily on his folded leg "Hey…" He greeted back "How are you feeling now?"

Sonic's smile flickered a little; it was like the hero was struggling just to keep it "I won't lie to you, Shadow." He paused and shifted a little to find an even comfier position. Two seconds later he gave up as he found that the black hedgehog had already found the best one "I have a heck of a headache."

Shadow hummed amused "Well, after all what you went through I'm surprised that you have just a headache." He said looking up at the pit for a second. He looked back down as he felt his double sigh heavily "No, Shadow… this is different from a normal headache. My brain is throbbing heavily and it's like my own skull is crushing it. The pain is almost unbearable…"

The ebony hedgehog fell silent; he could see Sonic's distressed status only by looking in his eyes. They had changed from a lively green to a dull one and his pupils were wide and a little vacant.

The blue hero turned his eyes to the pit of lava "We should continue…" He said trying to fully sit up. Shadow stopped him by putting his right hand on his right shoulder, and had to grit his teeth at the pain from his wrist "With you in this condition? I'm not sure of it, Sonic."

Sonic looked back at his black counterpart "I can manage, besides this is not a good spot to rest. The hotness of the place will quickly deplete what little water we have left in our bodies. And if we stop we will die since nobody knows that we're here."

Shadow hummed and watched the bubbles of lava explode as they reached the two inches of diameter "You're right, Sonic. But you know that moving with you in these conditions is risky…" He said sounding preoccupied.

The blue hero smiled "Why are you so preoccupied for me?" He said sitting up with the help of the other hedgehog. He watched as his double thought at what to answer; seconds later he sighed and looked down at the ground "Well, Sonic… it's because… of my brother…"

Sonic raised an eyebrow "Your brother? You have a brother?" He asked with a shocked, but faint voice. The blue hedgehog watched as the other gave him only silence; why Shadow's brother was involved into the fact that he was preoccupied for him?

Not being able to think straight with his splitting headache, he placed his right hand on Shadow's left shoulder "Shadow?"

The black hedgehog glanced up briefly, then he resumed staring at the brick surface "Well… it's more right to say that 'I had'…" A pause to take a breath "After an explosion my brother came here and had a family…" He looked up to watch in the green eyes of his counterpart that were slowly releasing tears "Yes Sonic. You're the last of his family… and that makes you my family…"

Sonic stared disbelieved "After five long years… I finally know…" He would have cried out loud for that, but that would have aggravated his already terrible headache. The blue hedgehog placed his other hand on Shadow's other shoulder "Why… why I didn't think about it sooner? It was too much to be just a normal coincidence."

Deep into his vacant eyes Shadow could see happiness "I'm sorry if I didn't tell you sooner about this…" He said a little sadly. He saw the blue hedgehog slowly and faintly shake his head, then stop abruptly and bring his left hand over his closed eyes "Don't worry about it." He said waving on the spot.

Shadow placed both his hands on his shoulder and prevented him from falling down; whatever he had, it gave him great pain and a little vacant gaze. Also, little movements gave him a heavy dizziness.

Shadow hated to move him in these conditions, but like Sonic had said, they couldn't afford to stop; now more than before they needed to get out of that hellhole. He slowly helped the blue hedgehog on his feet and watched his behavior; upon seeing that he waved dangerously he brought his right arm around his neck and placed his own left arm around his waist "Damn it, Sonic. You're in a really bad shape."

Sonic murmured under his breath and let his body go limp; the black hedgehog looked at him preoccupied, then he slowly accompanied the hero back on the ground and massaged his back. The blue hedgehog stood on his fours and let his head hung loose; it seemed that he was going to throw up soon.

Fortunately Sonic's stomach was empty, and the hedgehog had only two fits "I think… that this is not… a good sign…" He muttered trying to subside the dizziness he had. A minute later he slowly sat up and barely opened his eyes; as soon as he did that the dizziness increased. He moaned again and closed his eyes, his right hand traveling over them "Definitively not a goon sign…"

Shadow sighed for the nth time "I guess that I'll have to carry you around… besides, I don't think that you'll be able to jump across the pit of lava in this status…" He said picking him up slowly to prevent further dizziness.

Sonic gritted his teeth and successfully stabilized his stomach before he had other fits "Anyway… how do I call you now? 'Great uncle'? 'Uncle'?" He said smiling and putting his right arm around Shadow's neck.

The black hedgehog smiled amused and shook his head "You're amusing Sonic… really! You're in this status and the only thing that you can think about is how to call me?" He commented using a soft tone of voice. And it seemed that the blue hedgehog was really grateful for his choice.

Sonic chuckled faintly "So… do I have to call you 'great uncle' or 'uncle'?" He asked again closing his eyes. Keeping them open was giving his already headache a mayor boost, and it was already unbearable at that point; no need in increasing it.

Shadow stopped on the brim of the pit "Do you want to be called 'nephew' or 'grand nephew'?" He countered back taking aim for the first block of floating marble.

Sonic hummed under his breath in a thinking fashion "You know what?" He paused for a hum from the other hedgehog "That doesn't sound right."

Shadow was on the point of jumping, but when Sonic spoke he stopped dead in his track and righted himself "What do you mean with that?" He received only silence as the blue hedgehog was once again unconscious.

He looked down at him and frowned; Sonic was definitively in a really bad shape. Maybe the combination of the blood loss and the nasty hit in the back of his head procured him something bad; with a determined expression he looked up. He had to get out of that place; Sonic needed medical attention, and fast too.

He took a quick aim and jumped on the first block, but unlike the other this was going under faster; not wanting to feel lava on his persona he jumped on the next one, and had to duck as he felt a click and a successive clink on the left wall. Feeling that the block was stable he looked at the right one; right at his head height there was a fist-sized hole.

Murmuring something under his breath over the line that he was tired of the place and that he wanted to get out, he took aim for the third block; with a jump he landed on it. He jumped again as the marble slowly went down.

This went on until he arrived on the other edge; with a sigh he walked away from the pit. After two minutes of walk he found himself in front of a new blind alley; he slowly made his way in front of it and examined the wall.

It was a plain brick surface with some horizontal holes that drew an ascending path that went right; they were two feet wide and an inch tall. They were too distant from each other to use them for climbing; if there was something into them, like a table, he could easily jump from one another.

Taking a step backward to examine better the wall, he heard a click resound into the empty air and something fall behind his back; he turned around in the new obscurity and growled frustrated. He was trapped, and the only way out was up.

Suddenly something metallic resounded in the air and from the darkness over his head he could see orange; his eyes widened in sudden realization. Lava was coming down his way, and in a second or two he would be submerged by it; looking around in the increasing faint light he saw something came out of the holes in the wall. By a quick examination he could understand that it was a square piece of rust metal.

Not thinking about the fact that those things were highly unstable under his weight, he jumped on the first, then to the second; every plate gave off under his weight and fell on the ground. When he reached the third plate a column of lava hit the ground, quickly filling the hole; the column itself gave him only two feet and half of space.

Shadow continued to jump from plate to plate not minding that the fur on his right side was slowly burning; he also didn't notice that his and Sonic's body were sweating profusely for the excessive hotness. His pace increased as the hot liquid was quickly gaining on him.

After interminable seconds of quick climb he finally reached the top; he jumped on safe ground and turned around. The lava was almost near the top, but when it almost reached the brim the fall slowly stopped; now the hot liquid was only a foot away from breaking free from the hole.

A sudden burning sensation on his right side made him wince visibly; he looked down at his arm and his eyes widened. His fur was totally burned and his dark skin presented a visible burn that was covering all his arm, minus his wrist and hand; his left leg was suffering from the same problem, like his torso, a little of his face and Sonic's legs.

Luckily the bandages gave much of his lower legs some sort of protection, so only his ankles and knees were really damaged; also, being nearer to the lava, the blue hero's ankles were more burned than any part of his body. His shoes, like his, instead, were like new since they were built to sustain the great friction of when he was running at great speed.

Shadow growled under his breath, but stopped soon as Sonic murmured something; with a sigh and a shook of his head he walked to the wall and carefully sat him with his back on the vertical surface. He kneeled down in front of him and examined the bandages; their edges were black and he was undecided if leaving them there or not.

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The BioLizard appeared on a raised block of ground big enough to keep her out of the water; her massive tail hung loosely down and into the water. The ruins were full of plants with red berries, and sometimes the rich vegetation directly supported a building; but this was not where the majority of the decaying buildings were, for they were resting underwater.

This was what Chaos hoped for; the place hadn't changed too much over the millennia. There was just more vegetation and the water was five feet higher than last time he had been there; also, the area was bigger and in the distance he could see two or three tall standing buildings. They were like the ones he saw on the city that he attacked six months ago.

Looking around, the water creature noticed the exit of the path; it was well hidden by the local plants and it seemed that the lizard didn't see it yet. He let his grip on her tail go and silently slashed into the clear water; his mind instantly scanned the surrounding underwater area and memorized it like the back of his hand.

After he finished Chaos looked up at his enemy; she was looking around for the hedgehogs and she was unaware of him. His eyes narrowed in decision; she was unaware of him? Good. He had the advantage of surprise attack, and he wasn't going to ruin it.

He swam to her right side and positioned himself right under the gills; with a powerful thrust he jumped out of the water and extended his right arm. The blow was terribly powerful and made the lizard throw her head up and scream with all her lungs; the cry sounded extremely pained.

The big creature whipped her head to her right and saw something familiar splash back into the water; she growled angered and frustrated. Her enemy had followed her, and he seemed settled on preventing her from taking the hedgehogs.

She lowered her neck over the water surface and looked under it; she saw something pass quickly, then she had to scream in pain again as she felt that he scored another hit on her left gills. When the pain subsided she looked at her left and once again she saw something underwater disappear amongst the algas.

Chaos poked his head out of the water right in front of the BioLizard's muzzle; the two looked at each other in the eyes for a brief moment before he narrowed his and whirled around to give a backhanded slap on the left side of her head.

The lizard's head was swung to the right and when she looked back the water creature was nowhere to be seen; she growled lowly and thought at a strategy to get rid of him. What came into her mind made her think; she was there expressly for the hedgehog, but what about him?

The mad beast watched as Chaos pocked his head again out of the water; he was fifty feet away from her block of earth and out of her physical reach. She stared at him and slowly opened and closed her mouth; his energy was too different from hers and the hedgehogs', but she could still try.

In a provocative intent, she reared back her head a little and attacked him with an energy sphere; Chaos avoided it by going under and the attack made the surface water fly up in the air for several feet. The lizard, then, waited for him to attack her, and when she heard him jump into the air she whipped her head around and caught him in her jaws.

The watery creature was shocked at that, and didn't react when he felt her throw her head up; in his mind he wondered what she was trying to do. Not really wanting to wait for her to show him what she wanted to do, he made his body explode into several spheres of various dimensions; the globe containing his brain and eyes flew directly into the water.

There, Chaos recomposed his body and swam further down; when he nearly reached the bottom he took time to think. Why the lizard wanted to swallow him? What was the benefit in having a creature that could control water into her body? Surely it would be a suicide since once inside her he could dehydrate her in a matter of a second…

Showing his questions aside he swam near the surface and calculated carefully the distance from his position to the weak spot of the enemy; it was almost twenty feet away, and the fact that she was looking the other way gave him another golden occasion to score a hit.

Before he acted, however, he took some seconds to think; the lizard was now trying to capture him, and jumping out of the water was going to give her a good opportunity to do it. A long range attack was surely the best idea; it would be less powerful, but it was better not going under her physical range.

Chaos reared back his right arm and shot it out of the water as fast and powerful as he could; the hit was successful, and the lizard screamed in pain again. When his arm returned of his normal length he dived down and waited a little; everything here was in his favor, and this time the victory was going to be his.

The BioLizard looked frantically around for her enemy; some seconds later she screamed again. After the pain stopped she let her head hung low, near the surface; there was nothing that she could do to outmatch him there. The environment was greatly in his favor, and the possibility to extend his arm and deliver a good hit on her made him an impossible target.

The lizard raised her neck and looked at the water in front of her; she could see the tiny creature made of water watch her from under the surface. His green eyes were shining in victory as he knew that in that place he was now invincible; also, they were telling her that he wasn't going to stop until the hedgehogs were safe from her.

With a growl of frustration and resignation she decided that for the moment she had to retreat; she was angry because she didn't get the hedgehogs, but at least now she had two emeralds at her disposal. With a snort she teleported away; she knew that he was going to warn them, and that the next time it was going to be harder to get them.

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Rouge yawned and stood up from the chair "Better go see how the kids are doing." She said to the echidna. The bat slowly walked out of the door with him right behind her; she turned her head around and smiled "Thanks for the massage. That really helped."

Knuckles smiled back shyly "It's nothing Rouge. You really needed it." He said following her to the basement.

When the two walked into the new environment, their eyes widened in shock; the table on the center of the room and a copy machine right next to the stairs were the only free thing. There was a long table that was following the walls, and over it there was every sort of gadget; from robot parts savaged from his adventures with Sonic to airplane's pieces.

Attached on the walls, almost one over another, there were several blueprints of inventions; a single bulb of light in the center of the room provided the light to see. Tails was on the opposite corner from the stairs, and Amy was in front of them; both were searching for those infrared cameras.

The echidna cleared his throat and attracted the two's attention; he crossed his arms and looked at the fox in a schooling manner "What's with all this mess?"

The young vulpine smiled embarrassed "I suppose that sometimes I could come down here and straighten the place, but I often forget that I have a basement…" He said fidgeting with his thumbs and index fingers.

Knuckles smiled and chuckled "C'mon Tails, I'm joking!" He uncrossed his arms and walked in front of him "Besides, I'm not your father…"

When the male treasure hunter talked of being a father, Rouge mind elaborated something that really surprised her; what she imagined was how would her and Knuckles' children look like. Her cheeks became red and when he turned his eyes to her she deliberately walked to the opposite table, faking to admire the first blueprint that came under her eyes.

The pink hedgehog watched the scene unfold, and smiled inwardly; some seconds later she walked next to the female treasure hunter and nudged her on the ribs "You should tell him…"

When she felt something poke on her ribs, Rouge nearly jumped on the ceiling; she looked at the girl and smiled, the pink on her cheeks still there "I know… but… I'm scared…"

Amy nodded "I know… I was kinda scared too when I first meet Sonic, but after I told him that I loved him… well… it was all easy."

Rouge's eyes widened in shock and confusion "Wait! He refused you, didn't he? If so, why are you still following him?"

Amy smiled sadly "Well, he refused me, yes. But I love him too much to renounce at him… and I know that deep into his heart there's something for me." She said leaking a single tear from her right eye "I don't know if it's just a deep friendship or something more… that's why I'm still trying and hoping dearly that it's love what he holds for me."

The bat's eyes softened at those words; the young hedgehog was deeply in love with the blue hero, and she would have done anything for him "You know what? You should stop asking him to marry you every time you see him. Sonic is a free spirit, and he would surely die to find himself tied to someone in that way."

She paused and placed a hand on her shoulder as she saw her tear-streaked face "Now, I'm not saying to stop loving him… I'm just saying to give him his space…" She said smiling softly "And when he will understand what he truly feels for you he will tell you… be just a friendship or love."

Rouge then brought the pink hedgehog's ear near her mouth "You should also show him what you are made of and how deep and sincere your feelings for him are. And stop being so girlish and be more mature… that's why he always let you behind. Last thing… drop the whining."

The two females parted and looked at each other "So… how my suggestions sounds?"

Amy smiled widely and nodded her head "Thanks Rouge, that'll help me a lot." She said hugging the treasure hunter "I think that I'll also stop hugging him like I always done. Last time I hugged Shadow believing him to be Sonic, and I was sure that he was going to kill me…"

Both female were abruptly taken back to the real world when Tails yelled happily at the top of his lungs; the two looked at him perplexed, but soon smiled as they saw him and the echidna with two medium boxes containing the cameras.

The four walked up the stairs and into the workshop; the two males put the boxes near a workbench and opened them. Tails quickly looked into them "We have a total of five infrared cameras and three normal ones."

Rouge hummed to herself and took a thinking position "Now what we have to do is to find the better spot where put them…"

A sudden crash coming from outside made the inhabitants of the house jump on the spot; they all ran outside and Rouge chuckled to herself on seeing a red, white and blue hang-glider equipped with an engine on the lower area of the hill.

She walked down the steps and looked for its passenger "Jo, you ok?" She asked seeing that the rider was fighting with the harness.

The human male looked at her and smiled back "I'm ok, I just landed badly thanks to someone that tried to shot me down…" He said waving to the surroundings steep hills.

Rouge eyes widened and frantically helped his friend get out of the flying machine "They're already here!" She exclaimed under her breath.

Upon seeing the angry and distressed face of his friend the man quickly got out of the hang glider and ran after the bat; when they passed the other three he heard her command them to return into the house.

When they were all into the workshop she closed the door and looked at them all "Since we're under GUN eyes I'll make it short. This is my friend Johnson Kaler. John or Jo for friends." Then she turned at him "I think you already know who they are, right?"

The human nodded quickly "So, I suppose you called me because of a really big problem, right?" He asked looking into her aqua eyes.

Rouge sighed and closed her eyes "I'd rather say 'huge problem'…" A pause to take a breath "It's three days that Sonic and Shadow are missing, and on their tails there are five sides." She said holding up her open hand to show him her five fingers.

"The bad guys are the GUN, that wants them for who knows what military purposes. Eggman, that wants them dead so he can conquer the world, and the BioLizard, that has an unknown purpose." She took a deep breath and let it out "We are the only good guys that are after them. Chaos is in here too, but at the moment we don't know why he's after them… we just hope that's he's on our side."

The human nodded in understanding and followed the bat into the computer room with the others "I'm sorry if I sounded rough, but we are really deep in trouble, and we need all the help we can get. Are you on our side?"

John smiled widely and sat on the chair that was little for him "Are you kidding, Rouge? I'm always on your side." A pause to crack his fingers "So, what do you want me to do?"

The female smiled back "Crack into GUN's computers and get what you can. Also, try to find something about Sonic's family… Amy says that on common net there's nothing regarding that topic, and that he doesn't even have a birth certificate."

The man turned around to face the computer "Leave it to me, Rouge! I'm one of the best hacker on this continent." He said confidently. He then turned around to face the group "If the owner of this computer let me use it."

Tails smiled "If it's for Sonic I'll gladly let you do it!"

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Poor Sonic… I made him kinda sick…

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

Az