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

Chaos Flower: I think that Chaos was just tired after the huge amount of Chaos Energy used to bring Sonic back. For that update thing you ask, well… let us see each other on msn so I can answer all your questions.

Shadow Of Oblivion: Well, thanks for the compliments and I dearly hope to not disappoint you in the future.

Shadowkyzr (x2): Here's the next chapter! YAY!

RichaCo: Well, humans do what they can do. But since those are medics, Sonic and Shadow are safe. And here's the answer to your wondering about Knuckles.

Firehedgehog: Hey! Here's the long awaited 20th chapter! YAY!

Chibi Yoshi: Normal people are too scared to try to arrest him, that's why he can run around freely.

Dragon Master Naya: Yeah, that is true.

Knux: No problem with that. I'm happy to just know that you're reading my fic.

Aless (x3): Well… I can't say that Chaos is gonna have time to lay back. He'll be busy. And when I say busy, it is busy.

Sonicx667: I'd like to do that, really.

Ngrey651: With this fic Chaos became one of my favored characters too. I'm happy at how he came out.

Liebchen: I'm sorry, but I assure you that I never stopped thinking about this fic.

Tarem: I'm happy to see that my work inspired someone

Authoress' Note: Well, people. I'm really, really sorry for this delay, but I really had a nasty period (in the end I got even fired from work) and a hell of Writer's Block caused by the stress. Sorry again.

Authoress' Note2: Guys and gals, I'm really, really happy. With chapter 19 I scored 16 reviews and this makes me really happy. Happy because when I started writing I never would have imagined to reach this success. Happy because even if I took all this time to upload this chapter I know that you are all there (weapons included) waiting for the update. Happy because I reached a good writing style that I never imagined to reach. Happy because I love this fic. Happy just because today I feel happy.
Anyway, now I'll stop babbling and ranting about how happy I am and I'll let you go on with the chapter. Enjoy.

Authoress' Note3: I have to thank Firehedgehog and Gryph as they helped me a lot through this chapter. They gave me ideas and info. Thanks a lot!

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CHAPTER TWENTY

Tails' Predicament

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The BioLizard was on top of a hill, looking at the city and not bothered at all by the ongoing storm. She could feel the emerald and she knew that the water one was holding it; hopefully, once found, she would also find the two hedgehogs.

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When she opened her eyes, she saw just green; there were also some darker shapes, but other than that it was just plain dull green.

If to see was something almost impossible to do, she could hear perfectly. All sort of noises that were new for her.

She tried to move, but she could just twitch a few muscles here and there on her body. The rest was just plain unresponsive.

Time passed with her just looking at the shapes and listening to the strange sounds coming from outside; in that time she also felt her little green world shrink around her little by little.

More time passed and finally her world started to crush her; a shape loomed over her and wiped the round edge.

"We should really change this tank… the prototype has grown too much…"

The noise sounded distant and muffled, yet it was right there. She knew it.

There was another noise, but it was too far away to be clearly comprehensible.

A click sound and her world fell apart. She closed her eyes as warm was replaced by cold, security by insecurity and more importantly, she found that she couldn't breath at all and that her body was being crushed under its own weight.

"It seems that she's even too weak to survive out of the stasis tank…"

The sound now was strong and clear, so she opened her eyes to see where it came from; what she got was a world full of colors, lights and shadows. She tried to raise her long neck, but she just managed to move it a little.

Something big and bright colored stood over her "Poor thing… I feel bad… the results were wrong and I ended up creating a creature too weak to even live normally…"

Another creature, like the one that was in front of her, come into her visual field "Professor? The S0-1 and the S0-2 are ready to be taken out of the gestation chambers."

The first creature, the one with long flexible things over his mouth, sighed deeply before moving its head up and down once "Ok, help me with her, then we'll take S0-1 and S0-2 out for the first tests."

Considering that she was long as half the creatures were, it took both of them to lift her up and take her around the place.

"It's… it's heavy…" The second one wheezed as she was placed on something shiny and cold.

A hissing sound reached her hidden ears and a few seconds later a smaller creature was in front of her face with curios eyes.

"Grampa? Why she's not moving at all?"

The one with the flexible appendage over the mouth looked at the smaller one "Well, Maria. She can't move because she has no strength at all…"

The little creature looked at her with sadness in the eyes until another hissing sound resounded in the environment. Moments later a fourth creature was over her.

"Is this… the new specimen?" It asked examining her with uncaring eyes.

"Oh, no. This is the prototype, we had to take her out of the stasis tank because she became too big for it. The new specimens are this way."

The creatures walked away, only the smaller one remained looking at her with sad eyes "It must be really unpleasant to not be able to move, right?"

Suddenly the tall creatures started to fuss over something and the little one was sent away; after some seconds the one with the flexible appendages over the mouth walked to a table next to hers and placed something on it.

She felt a strange feeling on her body and she was drawn to that something; in that moment she knew that she needed to know what the tall creatures were looking at. With a newfound strength she used her hind paws and helped herself to raise her neck.

She looked closely and saw something small, defenseless and almost unmoving; she was puzzled, something in them was making her feel better. Also, her attention was so focused on the new creatures that she barely noticed the tall ones were looking at her with amazement in their eyes.
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With a low grunt she started descending the hill, settled on getting at least the emerald.

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The twin tailed fox walked into the white corridor with the doctor he had met at the entrance at his side; his shoes making a soft 'tap tap' on the beige linoleum.

"So… Sonic has few possibilities to…"

Tails was unable to go on with his sentence, unable to think that his best friend could even die in a moment or two.

"I'm afraid that his conditions are really bad. Very few people have survived something like this, and if he doesn't get better on his own we might need to operate him. And that is… risky…"

Tails' ears drastically dropped down and he looked down at the floor, almost stopping "There's… no other way?"

There was a pause of several seconds before the human sighed deeply "We already did all we could do to lower the pressure…"

The two came to a door and the fox waited as the human slowly opened it revealing the inside.

He stepped in and he just stared, listening to the continual bips produced by the two machines near the beds; something azure near the window moved and caught his eyes.

He looked at it and gulped a little, feeling uneasy "Chaos…" He whispered.

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Chaos walked to the window, examining the outside; he had been in a city before, but his mind was so full of hate and sorrow that he never noticed how it was.

Tall and dark buildings stood high in the stormy sky with their own light coming from their inside; it was interesting at how they could stand against a storm this strong so well.

A small click coming from the door made him turn around and slightly raise his guard; who was coming? An enemy or a friend?

He let his guard down a little as he saw the same human that he communicated with and a small innocent looking fox just in front of him; his arms lowered and relaxed. He had already seen that fox somewhere.

"Chaos…" The young vulpine whispered with uneasiness in his voice.

The water creature bent his head a little to the side and when he saw two bushy tails nervously wave behind the fox, he immediately understood who he was.

It was the same boy that was usually at Sonic's side.

Chaos felt relieved; finally someone could help him in protecting the two hedgehogs. He looked into the young fox's eyes for a second, then he diverted his gaze on the beds.

Tails followed his motion with his own eyes, then jumped as a soft click broke the unnerving silence. The fox turned around and found that the doctor had left and closed the door behind him; now he was alone in a hospital room with the same water beast that wanted to destroy the world and with two hedgehogs in coma.

The fox looked again at Chaos, who was slowly advancing on him; he instinctively started taking a steep backward every one the water creature took. When he thought that he was going to bump on the door with his back, Tails saw the other creature stop and look at Shadow as he started murmuring something in his sleep.

The water beast instantly forgot about the fox and walked next to the black hedgehog, trying to figure out what he was mumbling about.

Could he possibly trying to tell him something? Maybe something about the other hedgehog? After all, before he told him that Sonic could still be revived despite the fact that he had no Chaos Energy left.

Moments passed in uneasy silence, then the black hedgehog just went back to a quiet sleep.

The water creature relaxed; as long as Shadow was quiet, the other hedgehog was ok.

Tails stared at him in bewilderment; he knew that Chaos was protecting them. Knuckles had told him so; he expected to receive a suspicious glare from him, but instead he found himself to be ignored as soon as he heard the black hedgehog's mumble.

This proved that he wasn't only trying to protect them, but that there was something else between him and those two; something that he knew Chaos would never be able to share with anyone else like that.

The fox slowly started walking near Sonic's bed, trying to not look suspicious and avoiding making Chaos mistake an action for another.

The water creature turned around and looked at the vulpine as he slowly advanced, cautious and slightly unsure on how to behave in front of him.

Finally, Tails was able to reach the bed of his acquired big brother; slowly, so not to disturb him or bring him pain, he sat on it and stared. Some seconds later he took the hedgehog's gloveless hand in his and started fidgeting with it; even if it was warm, it was somewhat deprived of life and never responded to the stimulation given by him.

The fox couldn't believe his eyes; Sonic, the same hedgehog who used to be full of life, was now laying before him in the brink of death. A lump formed in his throat and tears started falling down his eyes; it was heartbreaking to see him like that.

He hunched over, sobbing quietly "It's not true… It's not true…" He stopped to take a shaky breath, "Sonic… Sonic is not like this! He's… He's lively! Not a… a…"

He never brought his sentence to an end as he collapsed on the soft surface, holding his best friend's hand and crying uncontrollably into the mattress.

A presence loomed over him and he slowly looked at his side; Chaos was there, confusion and a little of concern in his eyes.

"Please… please, tell me that this is not Sonic. It can't be Sonic."

Unfortunately, deep down he knew that it was him.

Chaos watched as the distraught fox buried his head back into the soft and white surface of the bed; now, how he was supposed to act? The lizard was coming, he could feel the emerald within her get nearer by each passing second, but the fox needed time to get together to help him.

Seeing that the little vulpine wasn't making any progress, he placed his hand on his head; hoping that the same gesture used with a crying chao could comfort him. The fox slowly looked up at him and sniffled a couple of times; as soon as the water creature noticed that he had stopped crying, he motioned with his head the door.

They needed to go, and time was short.

Tails slowly shifted his gaze to the door, and after a second he wanted to slap himself hard for forgetting about his mission; Sonic and Shadow were not safe here.

The fox sat up again and rubbed away his tears with his right glove; after taking another shaky breath he jumped down from the bed and walked out of the room. In the corridor he looked back and forth for the same doctor he had talked before; he found him talking with a nurse near the stairs. He approached him and called his attention by faking a cough.

The human stopped talking with the woman and looked down at him "Yes?"

"I need to speak with someone in charge."

"I'm the floor manager."

"Good," The fox said nodding once, "I need to speak to you of something really important."

The man raised an eyebrow, but quickly dismissed the nurse and followed the vulpine back in the room; he closed the door behind his back and watched as Tails went to the window. Chaos was still at Shadow's side.

"Neither Sonic nor Shadow are safe here. I have to take them somewhere else. But I'm unsure how to do it and if it'll imply problems for them." He said turning and looking at both hedgehogs.

The doctor walked at the foot of the bed where the blue hedgehog was laying and placed his hands on the metal bar "Shadow could be transferred without many problems, but I'm worried about Sonic. At the moment his conditions are stable, but he could take a turn for the worst at any moment. This means that he need to be continuously monitored and treated properly."

"I… I know… but remaining here will be dangerous for them… and for the world."

The human sighed lightly, he didn't like this, but if the fox was right he needed to take action as soon as possible "Well, I'll talk with the principals and see what could be done."

Tails looked at him with a smile "Thanks, doctor."

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Knuckles landed in front of the steps of the Master Emerald's altar and sighed with relief; the big gem was still there in all its glory. He walked up the steps of the shrine and stopped in front of the green emerald; sighing a little again, he placed his right hand on it and started thinking at where he needed to go.

'Please… I beg of you, take me there.' He closed his eyes, "Take me to the bay near Tails' workshop." He finally whispered.

The Master Emerald shone brightly for a second, then the island started moving towards the bay. The Guardian smiled; in one or two hours the island would reach it.

He walked away from the huge gem and sat on the stairs, relaxing a bit; he looked up and through some of the higher clouds, he managed to see the morning sky. For no apparent reason he started thinking about his life.

He couldn't remember who were his parents and how he ended up alone, but he vaguely remembered that at first he was kind of scared; after that, life went on. Day in, day out… always the same old thing repeated endlessly.

He would take strolls around the island to see if there were intruders, but thanks to the course that the flying land was following, nobody knew about it, and in consequence nobody came…

That is… until that day of one year and half ago…

A fateful day for the echidna; his life immediately changed from day to day, events out of his grasp pulled him into more events without a way out for him to reach that solitude he was so used to.

At first he hated it. Hated the fact that a single blue hedgehog could do all that. Hated the fact that he was starting to envy him for that freedom he had. Yet, after almost two years, he was fond of him.

Knuckles closed his eyes, a small smile on his lips; so much misunderstanding was between them that they almost killed each other. But finally, after the Chaos incident everything was cleared out.

The Guardian stood up and sighed absentmindedly; he had changed, and all thanks to that blue hedgehog 'What is your secret, Sonic? How is it possible that you made me change so much in just two years?'

He opened his eyes and looked at the horizon; he could see a thin gray line that marked land and hoped that Rouge and the other were ready when he arrived there.

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Rouge looked out of the window with a powerful binocular provided by Tails' storage room; besides the black clouds she couldn't see anything else. She sighed and lowered the object from her eyes 'Angel Island is probably amongst the clouds…'

Amy walked in the room with a brown bag "Rouge, there's not much in the cabinet. Just a few rolls of bandages, a bottle of antiseptic and one box of painkillers…"

The bat turned around and looked at her with a slightly worried face "That could pose a problem. I just hope that they are not that injured. News just said that they were taken away with ambulances…"

The pink hedgehog smiled "I'm sure that they are ok. Especially Sonic."

Rouge sighed "I hope so, Amy. I hope so."

"So, Rouge. After we're all on Angel Island, what we're going to do?"

The bat returned looking out of the window with the aid of the binocular "We'll wait for Sonic and Shadow to heal completely, then we will discuss on what course of action we will take against GUN, Eggman and the BioLizard."

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Tails entered in a room with a table and eight doctors sitting around it; he walked up to the long desk and placed his palms on the wooden surface. A look of pure determination in his eyes.

The floor manager had said that he had called all the responsible of the hospital, and that they were discussing over his request. However, that was almost half an hour ago and he didn't had all that time…

So, now here he was, right in front of the higher members, trying to find words that could convince them that the hedgehogs needed to be moved as soon as possible without giving away what was happening in the world.

No need to cause panic…

"Please, listen to me. Even if Sonic and Shadow are badly injured it is extremely important to let me take them somewhere else."

A brown haired woman adjusted her glasses "Listen young fox, there's no better place for them to stay. Here, they are safe and have the needed medical attention. If we move them we might loose them." She said sternly.

The fox sighed, closed his eyes and shook his head "I'm not sure if I can say what's going on…" He opened his eyes and looked at her "But I do know that this place is not safe at all."

"Why would be that?" A male with black hair and eyes asked crossing his arms.

"I suppose that all of you know Dr. Eggman, right? Well, know this. This time he is only one of our problems. If Sonic and Shadow are going to stay here, not only their lives are in danger, but also with their presence here they will endanger all the other people."

Tails closed his eyes again and sighed deeply, asking himself why he was there, arguing with humans that didn't know anything about what was going on, and not planning for a way to take them outside the hospital without the needed permission.

Maybe it was because if he did that he would not only drag another side into play, but also because he wasn't a medic and a wrong movement could compromise both hedgehogs' health.

He stood up from the table and started pacing back and forth with his left hand on his hip and the right one rubbing his eyes "Listen, I know that moving them is really risky, but like I said before, this place is not safe for them."

"We will ask the police department to send guards for them, but we can't afford a transfer. Not with them in that status." Another female doctor chimed in, "Besides, there's that… that… that water thing in there. Only a fool would try something with it in there."

Tails found himself growling under his breath, a little angry at how she talked about Chaos. But that was normal; besides him and his friends that were involved in the incident six months ago, nobody would truly understand why the water being acted like that.

He shook his head again and sighed to keep his control; this was not the good moment to get angry. He looked back up at the eight humans "Chaos will not be able to protect them from now on. Not without…"

He was interrupted by a scream and a crash; he turned his head to the door and in a sudden realization he ran out of it.

He quickly reached the room of the two hedgehogs and had a shiver after seeing that the wooden door was broken and a man in a white coat was laying near the opposite wall; Chaos was standing in the doorway with eyes narrowed.

The group of doctors that where in the meeting room talking with him reached the corridor and stared deep in shock; after some seconds, the young vulpine turned around "It is in the best interest of everyone to let me take away both hedgehogs. Trust me."

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It had been almost an hour and half, and finally Angel Island was in the process of landing; the huge floating land slowly nestled itself in the bay near Tails' workshop without causing havoc at all.

Some minutes later a red dot started gliding from the edge of the island towards the small house on the hill with haste.

Knuckles managed to land near the porch and walked up to the door; he knocked on it and after some seconds of waiting a white bat opened it "Welcome back, Knuckles." She said smiling.

The Guardian smiled back with a hint of red in his cheeks "C'mon," He said stepping into the house, "We better move."

Rouge nodded and preceded him into the hangar, where some bags were lying on the ground with Amy checking their contents to make sure everything was ok. The hedgehog looked up and smiled upon seeing the red echidna "Hi Knuckles!" She exclaimed in her usual cheery voice.

She stood up and looked at the bat "I've packed all the essential. Even some food for emergencies."

"Very well," Rouge responded nodding, "Let's go."

Knuckles took a backpack and whore it on his back, then he used his two hands to take two more; the bat and the hedgehog took the last two.

The echidna looked at them and nodded "I'll lead you to the place, then me and Rouge will come back for Tails and the others."

Even Amy had to nod in approval at those words; Knuckles sounded so authoritarian in that moment that she couldn't disobey him…

The trio hastily walked out of the workshop and made their way to a small cave that had formed after the last crash; they walked into it and the pink hedgehog started whining about the lack of light.

Since Rouge was a bat and Knuckles was used to it, Amy was the only one that had problems in the cave; she often tripped or bumped on something, stirring up more whining.

When they were halfway up, the female treasure hunter stopped and sighed audibly "Amy, I know that you can't see much in here, but please, stop whining!"

The pink hedgehog mumbled out a sorry and resumed walking up the cave, hoping that the dark cavern would end soon.

Finally, after ten minutes of careful navigation, the three came out of the dark cavern and squeezed their eyes for the sudden excessive light.

Knuckles pointed to the mountain that rose right in the center of the island "That mountain contains an intricate labyrinth of caves. It's really easy to get lost."

Rouge smiled "Good idea, Knuckles. Good idea."

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Tails sighed for the nth time in five minutes; the doctors had agreed pretty fast after Chaos put out of commission the disguised GUN agent that was trying to take the hedgehogs away, but they were taking extra time on organizing the transfer. And this was not good.

Time was against him and his friends and, thought he perfectly knew what could happen, he never dared to think what would have happened after the time at their disposal expired.

With a shiver of uneasiness, he resumed what he was doing before he stopped to think; pacing. He twitched his tails nervously and glanced back at the water creature that was still at Shadow's side; inwardly, he wished he could be as calm as Chaos was.

He sighed once more; the waiting was so enervating that he almost went crazy. He brought his right hand over his head and lightly scratched it near his ear 'Damn… they are slow… too slow!'

Suddenly, his ears twitched; there was a strange hissing sound that came from outside the window. Without thinking too much at what was making that sound, he turned around and froze instantly.

A lightning crossed the gloomy sky, reflecting off the shiny surface of their metal bodies; two pairs of red eyes were fixated on the room, indifferent of the pounding rain.

Chaos sensed the fox's fear and looked at him, then he glanced where his azure eyes were looking at; on the other side of the glass surface there was something.

The water beast was unable to examine them that the whole wall blew away with a loud bang; debris the size of a head flew everywhere and Chaos had to take Shadow in his arms, swirl around, go to Sonic and protect the both of them from the menace.

Tails, instead, as soon as he saw the wall fly towards him, he just curled into a little ball on the ground and dearly hoped that nothing would hit him; luckily for him, only the smaller pieces hit him, and he wasn't hurt at all.

However, when he looked at the new hole, he dearly wanted to be unconscious; the most feared robot, the only one that could compare his best friend, was there, standing just a few feet away from him with a perfect copy behind it.

The two robots, however, weren't focusing their attention on the small fox, but on Chaos and the hedgehogs he was protecting so hard.

The water creature stood back up from his hunched position and turned around to face the new enemies; his eyes narrowed.

He didn't like them for anything.

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

Az