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

Knux: Yes, yes! Reviews do me a lot of good. The more people reviews, the more I write happily, and the more the chapter is good.

Firehedgehog: Now, now, now… don't we fret over things… put down that mallet… or someone might get hurt…
Wriggle around in seat Eheh… thanks for the compliment. And yes, I'm redoing them because I'm fixing errors and the way they are written (paragraph and so and so fort), and I might rewrite the first three once again, and give every speakers their own paragraph, but for now they'll do. I have to go on with the fourth and the next ones until I say so.
No, I don't have AOL, I have ICQ and MSN Messenger (probably dead since I'm not checking hotmail by a huge period of time). I could get it, but at the moment, even if I get it, we couldn't chat because I don't have a household internet. So I'm forced to take my bike, go down in center (not much… a few kilometers) and pay for the connection.
Then there's the question of the time zone (I'm Italian), and that is probably going to kill what little possibilities we had…
Now, I'm searching for a job, but my city is small, and there are not many jobs here… but if I get one I could pay the many bills and finally get a new connection. Hopefully for the next year. So, just hang around, I might find a way.

RichaCo: Y… Yosh? Anyway, happy to hear you love this fic. Well, I'm going to just say that the problems for Chaos are just at the beginning. Read and discover what I mean. What have I done to Sonic? Uhh… I just killed him… Runs away Read and discover what happen next!
Anyway… Returns and hands him a blue and black badge with the number 50 on it Hooray! You'll get this for being the 50th one that reviews here! Great goal I must admit. I'm too happy with this .
PS: Now, thanks to you I started to like the couple Knux/Rouge…

Kyzr: Well… that… umm… yes… I can only tell you to read the chapter

Aless: Don't worry about that. It happens. Once I couldn't even leave a review because FF wouldn't log me in…
Anyway, happy that you liked the chapter, and if I'm not mistaken, this will be better.
No, there are no super emeralds in this fic. Just the plain ones and the Master.
For the most important question (Sonic is truly dead?), well… read this to discover what my mind has done.
For the prequel/sequel… I'm not really sure if I'm going to do it. When I'm done with this fic you'll understand better, and maybe I'll ask the readers if it's a good idea. But for now… On with the show!

Chibi Yoshi: I know, I know, I know. Evil Cliffhanger… You have to thanks Za for that. In that moment she hit me over the head with a shovel and I blacked out. She took control of the body and she just wrote it.
Anyway, Start crying for the happiness you really admire me and respect me so much? Sob Thanks sniff I'm so happy! Sniff sob
Anyway, if my predictions are true (hardly), this fic will be probably around 200 pages when I'm done.

--------------------------------------

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Prelude To Chaos

--------------------------------------

The General looked at a paper on his desk, then he sighed and scratched his eyes "Tell me why we have so much troubles in getting those two hedgehogs back."

His friend, who was sitting on the other side of the desk, sighed too "I truly do not know that. Maybe because something superior is on their side."

"You know that I don't believe in those things…" The first one responded shaking his head a little "There's no God or entity that are watching us from above."

"Then what about Chaos? Isn't he something that goes beyond us?"

"Yes, but he is not invincible. That blue hedgehog proved it. And Project Shadow is like the other, and he was created by Gerald Robotnik. So that make them not omnipotent."

The scientist looked out of the window "Anyway," He said looking back at the other human and picking a paper from a folder in front of him "I examined the leftover of the blood samples of both hedgehogs and…"

"And?" The General asked taking the offered sheet.

"Even if much of the DNA was lost for some unknown reason, the remaining ten percent…"

"I see, the remaining are perfectly matching each other." The other man concluded for him looking at the paper with several numbers and other things.

There was silence for several seconds before the General handed back the paper to the scientist "Do we knows why the DNA was ruined like this?"

"Well, I managed to decode the leftovers, and they are just their normal genes. What was lost is the part with their special ones, probably infused with Chaos Energy, or better made entirely of it. The thing that I can't understand is… How could that part of DNA disappear like that? There's no trace of it anywhere."

"Disappear?"

"Yes."

The General hummed for several seconds "What would happen if the two hedgehogs remained without this energy?"

The other shrugged "Probably they would die, and without an energy source the Chaos Energy based DNA would dissipate like it happened with the samples."

"It is possible to build a weapon that could take away enough Chaos Energy to make them just powerless? It would be a useful weapon even against Chaos."

"I'm not sure of it. The only known thing that could stop Chaos Energy is the Master Emerald, but the only one capable to use it is its Guardian. And Knuckles the Echidna will not use it against his friends."

The greedy General hummed once again, then he pressed a button on the intercom "Yes?" A male voice asked in response.

"Lieutenant. Take two squadrons of Hunters and depart for Angel Island. Bring back the Master Emerald with you. Do whatever you want. Kill the Guardian if necessary, but bring back that emerald. It's an order!"

"Yes sir." The male voice responded unsure of the order, but being just a lieutenant, the man at the other end of the line couldn't do otherwise but to go and take back the Master Emerald.

The General looked at the head scientist in front of him "A few hours, and you'll have that stone at your disposal."

--------------------------------------

Eggman stared at the screen of the computer, where he saw a newscast. He turned around and faced his two best robots "Go to Green Lake City and kill Sonic. If you can, kill even Shadow, but your main task is that blue hedgehog. Without him the others can't stop me."

The two mechs nodded, then turned around and started leaving the room.

"Ah. One more thing. Beware of Chaos. GUN says that he wants to kill them, but I'm sure that he's there to protect them. And he's more powerful than you two."

Metal Sonic turned its head to face his creator "But he's slower than us." It said leaving the room alongside the other robot.

The evil doctor chuckled happily "This time, Sonic, you will lose. Now my robots truly have an intelligence."

--------------------------------------

The huge lizard was resting in the center of the core; she looked at her legs and gladly noticed that they were finally complete. She stood up on her new legs and walked around, trying them out; she stopped and returned in the center, where she just lay down.

The healing process was done, and it unexpectedly made her hind legs grow; she was finally complete and the life support on her back was now just a broken ornament.

A sudden sensation interrupter her moment of joy and she raised her head; the sensation was telling her that huge bolts of Chaos Energy were released from another Chaos Emerald for some unknown reason.

She pondered a little, then she teleported away, back on the planet; near the zone where she felt it. Might as well go and give a check at what was going on there. The hedgehogs could be involved, or however badly thing could go, she could get another Chaos Emerald.

--------------------------------------

Chaos stared.

That was the only thing that he was able to do. He did not even realize that the human moved away and brought the hedgehog on the ground, behind him, where he started trying to reanimate him.

When he realized it, Chaos saddened; he knew better than the human did. Sonic could not be brought back to life. Without Chaos Energy he wouldn't be able to.

The water creature looked at his right arm, which was still standing where the hedgehog would be; a second later he lowered it and slowly turned around, unconsciously assuming a slightly hunched position. There was great tension in the air and everyone was hoping with all their hearts that the man would be successful.

But Chaos knew too well. It was too late.

A moan caught his attention and he moved his head in the left direction; it was Shadow, who had a pained expression. He was moving, even if slightly, and continuously moaning something. It seemed to be really important, at least to him, who could feel the effort that the black hedgehog was doing just to try to say something.

He walked over and brought his head near his, trying to figure out what he was saying; unluckily, it was just a garbled mess of moans.

He placed his right hand over his forehead. He knew that the hedgehog felt the death of the other, and so he started moaning; maybe with that gesture he could make him acknowledge his presence near him, and maybe he could find another way to tell him what he wanted.

Suddenly, Chaos lowered a little his head; that was a stupid thought. How could they interact like that?

He was going to take away his hand, but the fact that Shadow stopped every movement made him stop even before he started moving. Had he truly felt his presence?

The water creature concentrated harder, and after several seconds something that was not his crossed his mind. It had been very quick, but it had been as clear as a sunny day.

He straightened up and turned around, looking at the dead hedgehog on the ground; he saw the human stop and shakes his head. In consequence to that, the other five saddened and looked at the ground in despair.

Chaos, instead, was more thrilled at what he felt from the black hedgehog. It was not a word, nor a thought; just a direct meaning, like his way to communicate with Tikal. And there was a human word to describe that meaning.

Life.

The question to how Shadow knew how to do that would have to wait; right now the important thing to understand was why he meant life in that particular moment. Could possibly be that the blue hedgehog was still alive even without Chaos Energy?

The water creature walked over the fallen creature and stared at his body. How could he possibly be still alive?

Chaos felt the anger rising in his mind and he felt an unwanted need to unload it; luckily he managed to calm down before someone could get hurt. That was not the right moment to get violent; he needed to solve the puzzle.

The human stood up and backed away, still ashamed at his failure, but the water creature paid no attention to him; he was too much into his thinking to notice his movement. If Shadow was right, then Sonic could be brought back to the living world.

But how?

Normal living creatures, if stimulated enough could produce energy to start living once again, then Chaos Energy would slowly come back with time. But with creatures like him and the two hedgehogs was completely different. Chaos Energy couldn't be produced; probably, the only exceptions were the Chaos Emeralds and the Master one. But he himself wasn't sure of that.

He slightly raised his right arm and looked at the red gem; a body couldn't produce that type of energy, but what about directly receiving it from its source in huge quantity? Could it be done?

He narrowed his eyes and picked up the hedgehog in his arms; there was only one way to discover it, and he would be damned for the eternity if he didn't tried it.

Chaos walked to the desk, and with a quick swing of his right arm he freed it from all the junk that was on it; he placed Sonic on it and stared for a moment at his hands. A second later he closed them in fists and started collecting energy from the Chaos Emerald in both of them.

When he felt that the charge was powerful enough, he placed his right hand on Sonic's chest and the left one on his head; a moment later he released the charge and the hedgehog arched his back for the shock produced by the huge amount of energy that passed through his body. After the charge ended, he went limp again on the table.

Chaos narrowed his eyes; it could be done, he just needed to force the energy to stay in his body long enough to permit some sort of linkage that would bring him back.

He resumed channeling energy on his closed fists, with the aim to make this one more powerful; the humans moved around and silently watched Chaos' efforts with a little renewed hope.

The water beast stopped charging and released it once again into the limp body in front of him; like the previous time, however, Sonic just arched his back for the shock and went still again. Chaos growled and once again repeated the procedure, ending with the same result.

After the seventh try, he looked at his hands; what was wrong? Why he couldn't do it? Was he missing something important?

Anger, desperation and sorrow filled his conscience; he didn't want to fail. Not after what he, and him, went through…

He raised his right arm into the air and gathered as much energy as he could. He didn't want to fail; he wanted him to come back. Wanted him alive.

And with those thoughts he brought down his hand and hit the blue hedgehog's chest with enough strength to destroy a wall; as soon as his hand connected with the smaller creature, an intense white light erupted from the collision point.

Everything disappeared from his mind and for a moment he saw darkness; he felt someone grab his right hand and a feeling of gratitude crossed his mind. Then everything came back; sounds, images and the feeling of reality.

A quick look at his surrounding told him that he was now on the other side of the room; leaning amongst the rubbles that came from the wall behind him. He slowly stood up and looked at the humans; everyone was rubbing their eyes in an attempt to get rid of the effects that the bright flash gave them.

Chaos looked at Sonic; he was still laying there, unmoving, but this time he felt that there was something different about him. It was the drain.

He slowly made his way to Sonic and pondered why he was feeling so light and why he was seeing two images instead of one; maybe it was because he had used too much energy and was now barely able to stand together. At the moment he just wanted to become a puddle and rest, but he shoved it away and placed his right hand on his chest.

A wave of joy and happiness pervaded him; he did it. Sonic was back.

The hedgehog's heart was slow and his breathing almost absent, but he was alive, and the fact that he was faintly draining energy from the emerald told him that he was out of danger.

"A… alive?"

Chaos turned around as a human spoke; he looked at him, then back to the hedgehog. After a second he returned his eyes on the human that was slowly walking next to Sonic; he shakily placed his finger on his throat, and after a few seconds he started crying for the joy "Alive… he's alive…" He murmured.

The other five stared at the water creature in deep silence, then a grating sound came from one of them.

"Guys! You ok in there? It's been more than half an hour! Should I send another squad?"

The human near the stairs snapped out of his trance and hastily picked up that strange little machine from his waist "N-n-no! We are ok!"

"You sure?"

"Y-y-yes!" He stammered back "Captain! That GUN officer was terribly wrong! Chaos is not holding Sonic hostage! He saved him! He was dead and he saved him!" He nearly shouted in excitement.

The water creature, which still had his right hand on the blue hedgehog's chest, tilted his head a little to the side. GUN? What was he talking about?

"Hold on! What are you saying?"

The human looked at Chaos "W-well… I don't know what really happened, but it seems that Chaos is protecting Sonic and the other hedgehog. The GUN officer was wrong saying that he was going to kill them!"

The good beast looked at him deep in wonder. Kill them? Who was this one that was saying false thing? What was going on?

"Anyway, are they alright?"

The human holding the black hedgehog walked to the table and carefully put him next to the blue one; Chaos noticed that he had stopped moving and mumbling, and that now his expression was more relaxed.

The man holding the little thing walked over them and sighed "They are alive, and judging by Chaos' calm behavior they are not in danger of dying… but they are really messed up…" He said eyeing their bodies "They are badly burned, and the bandages on Sonic's legs are red, meaning that there are cuts. Also, it seems that they haven't eaten for some time now. I can see their ribs…"

"Hang on. Some paramedics are on the way with two stretchers."

"Understood." The human said closing the communication and putting away the mechanism.

He sighed and scratched his head "What a day…" He murmured.

--------------------------------------



Shadow was running down the corridor, following that sensation given by his hidden memories; he turned a corner and felt a glacial shudder ran down his back. He gasped and arched his back, bringing his hands at the base of the back of his neck.

After toppling on the ground, he stood on his knees and elbows, still clutching the back of his neck; it was a horrible feeling and his eyes started releasing a few tears. He tried to say something, but a lump in his throat was preventing every sound from coming out.

The hedgehog tried to stand back up, but ended in only curling up in the near corner with his face on the wall. He removed his hands from his neck and slid down, becoming a little tight ball of quills; he coughed and moaned something. It was like if a part of him was being torn away from him.

Not knowing how, his mind went to the blue hedgehog and a part of it started producing an unpleasant thought; another one, however, was fighting it and telling him that Sonic was still alive.

This went on for several minutes, until he started crying "No…" He moaned out with a cough "He's alive… someone… please someone… save him… he's still alive."

A presence loomed over him with concern and curiosity, and with all its attention towards him and at what he was trying to say.

Shadow took a shaky breath "Please, save him. He's still alive, I know it! I'm sure of it! Don't let him die…" He closed his eyes, releasing another single tear "Alive." He said quivering from sorrow, pain and fear of loosing someone dear to him.

He thought at a lively Sonic, ready to bolt into action without a second thought and with his usual grin 'Alive.'



Sonic fell on his knees, trying to breath; seconds later he doubled over and rolled on his back. His body became numb and the darkness started to slowly crawl forwards from the back of his mind.

This time, however, he wasn't going to allow that; he concentrated on staying conscious and fought back the pull towards it. His eyelids dropped, leaving just a crack to see the black space he was in; even if he decided to fight, he knew that it was a loosing battle as he felt that he was lacking the energies to do it.

Suddenly, a bolt of energy crossed his body, reviving him for a fraction of a second and pushing away the darkness; unluckily, it came back as soon as the warm energy left his body. The second charge was more powerful, leaving him pondering at whom was helping him.

He knew that the energy that he was receiving was Chaos Energy, and that no normal people and nor machines could do that; after the seventh bolt he inwardly smiled. He could faintly feel his anger, desperation and sorrow.

'Chaos.'

For one last time, the one that was giving him those jolts of energy repeated the process; the charge crossed his entire body, erasing the darkness in his mind and the numbness of his body. Sonic smiled and placed his left hand over his chest, where he could feel something.

Then, like it always happen in the dreamland, everything melted away, leaving a perfectly conscious Sonic in a warm and peaceful environment where he could just relax and rest.

--------------------------------------

Tails started to repeatedly bang his head on the side of the Tornado II, attracting everyone in the house "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" He looked at the ceiling and slightly brought his hands up "How could I forget? How?!"

Knuckles raised an eyebrow "Tails? What happened? What did you forget?"

The fox turned to him "That!" He nearly shouted pointing the nose of the blue biplane.

Rouge looked at it "I don't see anything…"

"Exactly! There's no Chaos Emerald! Thus the plane can only reach the Tornado's max speed even if it's in special mode!"

The echidna cringed a little to those words "This mean that…"

The young vulpine threw his hands up in exasperation "Exactly! It'll take me more than two hours to reach Green Lake City! And in the meantime GUN has free opportunities to recapture them!"

Knuckles placed his hands on the fox's shoulders "Calm down Tails! There's Chaos with them! I'm sure that he'll throw hell at whoever try to harm Sonic and Shadow."

Tails sighed and looked down "How can you be so sure?"

"Because Chaos was born to protect." He responded smiling reassuringly.

The young male looked up at him "And if he fails?"

The echidna chuckled lightly "He will not fail. Not this time. Thrust me."

Tails nodded "Maybe you're right, Knuckles. Well, I should go now."

The fours watched as the fox hopped in the Tornado II's seat and turned the engine on; the plane roared with life and within seconds it was running on the runway and up in the sky.

Rouge walked next to the Guardian and looked at the gloomy sky "How can you be so sure that Chaos will not fail?"

Knuckles smiled "I'm not sure of it myself, but a week ago, before the whole ARK incident started, Tikal informed me that he was starting to change."

Amy raised an eyebrow "Change?" She asked "You mean like that time Sonic made him a good guy again?"

The echidna shook his head "No, no… not like that… even Tikal is unsure over this changing… she just felt it."

There was silence in the little hangar, until Jo walked behind the Guardian "Should we go?" He asked eyeing the first Tornado.

Knuckles nodded and walked to it; with a jump he reached the top wing and crouched in the middle, gripping the onward edge with his powerful hands. The human followed him and examined the pilot seat.

Rouge walked next to him and examined it too "Jo… Are you sure to be able to fit into this tiny place?"

The taller male smiled at her "Rouge, I may be a human, but amongst my race I'm one of the smaller ones. I'm just five feet and two inches tall."

The bat looked at him with half closed eyes as he climbed and managed to stay into the seat without problems "See?" He asked smiling once again.

The female treasure hunter sighed "Ok, ok, ok. Just be careful. I don't want to have to stop Tails from a rampage fit because you destroyed Sonic's biplane."

Knuckles looked at her "Hardly. Tails is not like that. He will just pick up the pieces and put them back together once again."

The red biplane's engine roared to life and the Tornado slowly started making its way to the runway "Knuckles! If the coordinates are right we should reach Angel Island in a hour or so."

The Guardian nodded his approval and clutched the edge of the upper wing better; seconds later they were up in the sky like the fox had done.

Rouge looked at Amy "C'mon. We should pack what we need to take with us."

The pink hedgehog nodded her approval and the two left the hangar to complete their task.

--------------------------------------

Look! I resurrected Sonic!
Angry mob stops and lowers the painful weapons
Well… happy now that Sonic is back?
Mob nods
Good.
Anyway, it seems that thing will go from bad to worse for our heroes. What will happen?
We shall see only in the next chapters! Until next.

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

Az