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

Firehedgehog: Well, thanks again for the support given to me in chat

N. Harmonik: Hey, a new reviewer! I'm always happy to se new people here!

Tarem: You make me happy with those words. Thanks!

Chaos Flower: Thanks, and sorry for that looong delay. Anyway, hope this is soon enough

Aless: Well, Chaos and BioLizard will probably have another fight, but I don't know when.

NamelessMoonshine: Yay! She lives! She lives! It's been quite a time since I last heard from you.

Anyway, I know how you feel in this period… I passed through it too, only that I never truly cared about studying… I'm such a lazy girl…

RichaCo: You don't even know half of it, so read on to find what happen in that city.

Authoress' Note: Ok, this is a rather short chapter, but I got to a point where I couldn't go on anymore for this piece. Hopefully next will come up faster than it happens lately.

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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Master Of Chaos, Keeper Of Order

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After countless tunnels and turns, the trio finally reached a small rocky chamber inside the mountain; it was a somewhat roundish room, fifteen feet for fifteen and six feet tall with various old pipes running in the far end wall. Two of them, adjacent to each other and at least two feet wide, were laying on the floor near the left wall, and upon them a bed made of straw and a thick and worn out brown blanket. The room was properly lit up by some small crystals, scattered on the ceiling, that gave off a soft azure light.

The bat entered in the room and, instantly noticing the warmth, she turned to the echidna with a plain question featured on her face.

The Guardian placed the two bags that was carrying on the floor near the right wall and pointed the pipes "There's really hot water running in those pipes. It warms the room, and don't ask me why there's no humidity in here, because I don't know it myself. Maybe it's because we're near the island's core, which is full of lava."

Amy stared disbelieved at the red male "Wait! You're saying that we're in a volcano?!?"

Knuckles shook his head "Not really. It is more like a mountain filled with dormant lava."

Rouge put the bag she was carrying near the other two and walked to the pipes; placing a hand on one of them, she noticed that they were hot, but it was bearable and inviting. She turned around and walked to the makeshift bed; it was large enough to hold two of them.

The pink hedgehog almost threw her bag on the others and went to sit on the bed; it was soft and the fact that it was placed on two pipes granted it a very comfortable warmth.

Suddenly, Knuckles straightened up and a second later he clenched his fists; his eyes narrowed at a point that they seemed to be just two fissures in his head and an angry snarl escaped his clenched teeth.

The female treasure hunter looked at him "What's up?" She asked in a confused tone.

The echidna turned around and started running out of the small room; before disappearing into the darkness he glanced back at the bat "The Master is in danger!"

Rouge looked at Amy "Stay here." She commanded, then she ran away without waiting for an answer.

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The presence of the two Metals made the air still and extremely heavy, like something was going to explode soon. To say that the tension in the room reached the stars, was saying little…

Chaos had every ounce of his attention on the two robots; he knew that as soon as something suspicious moved, hell was going to break loose.

In the corner of his vision, he saw the small orange fox immobile; he was stuck with pure fear. He could feel it radiating from his young mind like if it was a thick wave of water.

The water beast's eyes narrowed by a fraction; not even he had managed to bring all this fear on the fox, so this meant that these two metal beings were serious business. Probably more than him.

He returned his mind on studying the two new threats; although metallic, they were shaped like the two hedgehogs and possessed what seemed an appearance of strength about them. Chaos looked in the red eyes of the blue one, and even if for just a little moment, he feared.

Even if those eyes were artificial, he could feel a strong and dark will coming from them, and they would never stop until they achieved their goal; that is why he felt scared. He knew, in a remote part of his mind, that if he failed, the two hedgehogs would be lost forever, and with them the safety and the peace of the world.

The one reminding him of Sonic slowly took a step forwards, leaving his black double behind "Chaos, you may be strong, but you're no match for us. Step aside and let us 'take care' of the hedgehogs."

Through his fear ridden mind, Tails felt shocked. Metal Sonic had something different about him, and it certainly was not what he said…

After a moment of thought, the fox realized that it had been how he said it; even if the voice was still robotic, it was no more flat and monotonous, but it held tone.

When he realized that, Tails felt doomed; how he was supposed to act now that Metal Sonic had real intelligence in his head?

He slowly glanced at the water beast and noticed that he hadn't moved, and by the look that his slightly narrowed eyes gave, he wasn't going to move for all the gold in the world. Despite the deep fear, his young blue eyes started slowly looking around for a way out of the current situation; his eyes fell on the opening, and that was when he saw something shrouded in the stormy darkness that made him want to scream with all his lungs.

However, he only managed to emit a small whimpering noise; rushes of adrenaline were released in his system and a small part of his mind screamed for him to run away as fast as he could. Too bad that he was frozen on the spot with pure and deep fear…

The two robots turned around as the deadly scared whimper came from the fox and noticed that he wasn't looking at them, but at the opening; curious about what could make the young vulpine forget about them, they turned, and where threw on the ground by something big and brown.

When Chaos saw the BioLizard hurl her head through the hole made by the two metal beings, he found himself release a short sound filled with surprise; he was so focused on the two metallic hedgehogs, that he had totally forgotten about her.

However, he found that the BioLizard had chosen a good time to come into the scene as the two metal beings were now trapped under her jaw; a hiss later, Chaos remembered that the huge lizard was not here to help him, but to use the hedgehogs for her own purposes. Luckily, she was unable to reach them with her continuously moving jaws.

The water being looked around for the orange fox, and saw him pressing himself on the opposite wall with a extremely scared face in an attempt to get as far away as he could.

Chaos returned to face the two hedgehogs; even with all that was going on, they just slept, oblivious to whatever was happening around them. With a quick, yet careful yank, the blanket covering Sonic was taken away and used to wrap them into a secure and somewhat warm bundle.

He took the two in his hands and with a kick to the bed, he freed his way to the broken door; moving quickly, he transferred the bundle in his left arm and grabbed the terrified fox with his right hand, dragging him to his feet.

Tails was too focused on the BioLizard to notice that he was being dragged away; the fear that she instilled in him was too much for him to bear and think at the same time.

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When he opened his eyes again, he saw a multitude of masses of colors swirling around and changing from one to another; they seemed far away, and at the same time, they seemed right in front of his nose.

Sonic was feeling groggy but managed to move his eyes around; he knew the place. He had been here several times to collect the Chaos Emeralds in the past.

Moving was out of the question, for an unknown reason nothing in his body but his eyes could move; even breathing was very limited. However, despite the tiredness, his mind was somewhat awake and capable of reasoning.

'The Chaos Realm… why am I here? I never looked for the entrance… not in these days. Before the Chaos incident the emeralds reappeared on their own and never returned to this place…'

His green eyes examined every inch of that world 'Strange… I can't see anything more than the swirling colors… usually there are paths that lead either to an emerald or outside, but this time… there is nothing but a colored void…'

He tried once again to move, but it was like he was an iron statue; after countless attempts, realization finally settled in his mind. Unable to scream in frustration, he closed his eyes to block the ethereal light and let his mind wander in his memory to prevent going crazy.

However, as much as he tried, he simply found himself thinking back at his situation and how he ended up in it.

'If this goes on… I might go crazy… I need to find a way out…'

Before he could even start thinking a plan, a presence loomed over him; he opened his eyes and gazed at whatever the thing was.

It was human shaped and barely visible, but that was it. Not even a detail to tell him who the person was. The transparent figure raised a hand towards him, and in that instant, everything shifted to a dark place with a light over him and a humanly figure shrouded in darkness doing the same gesture of the ghostly one.

The moment lasted just a second, but it was enough to make the blue hedgehog want to scream and ran away as fast as he could. However, not being able to move, it took minutes to calm his racing mind before finally relaxing.

'I definitively want to get out of here ASAP.'
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Shadow was heavily confused. A moment ago he was running down a corridor in the test area, and now he was just standing in front of a metal door. He looked around in the corridor to see that nobody was there; like before, the ARK was silent dead.

He sighed and looked back at the door; something in his heart was telling him to go inside. He stepped back a few feet and examined it.

This was not like any other door as it was lacking the sensor that granted everyone to enter without punching a button or pulling a lever; instead, it had a small console on the right side and something that had a particular shape . Shadow remembered that it was used to scan someone's eyes.

He sighed; surely his eyes weren't in the database of the little machine and the metal door was too thick to kick down with physical strength alone. What he needed was someone that had access to the place or another way in.

He knew that the ARK in his mind was empty, and that left outside the option of someone that could help him get inside, voluntarily or not; his eyes scanned the corridor once again in hope to find or remember another way in.

That is when a grate in the metal wall caught his attention; he walked up to it and let out a thoughtful murmur. It was an air duct, and it was big enough to let his young body crawl in it.
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Knuckles ran up the steps of the altar and sighed upon seeing the Master Emerald still there; he walked in front of it and placed a hand on its green surface 'I'm here, tell me.'

Something crossed the mind of the echidna and he growled under his breath; he turned around and looked at the bat that was slowly making her way up the steps, as to not disturb him. His eyes narrowed at her presence; he still didn't trust her when near the Master. The only ones that could stay near it without him getting nervous were Sonic and Tails, but he would never admit it to anyone…

Rouge stopped at the end of the steps and looked at the Guardian "I see that the Master Emerald is still safe."

Knuckles briefly glanced behind his back "Yes. But GUN is coming this way for it."

"How many?"

The echidna shrugged "A few humans and at least a dozen of robots. You know, the ones with the red shield."

The female treasure hunter made her way in front of the emerald and stared into its depths, ignoring the warning grunt from the male "So they're here for this lovely jewel… I wonder why…"

After some more seconds of staring, she turned around and faced the echidna "Say, Knuckles. Back on ARK you told us that the Master Emerald can 'counterattack' the Chaos Emeralds, right?"

The Guardian's gaze turned from wary to slightly confused "Yes. It can stop the Chaos Energy's flow. Back on ARK I asked it to stop the link between the Chaos Emeralds and the BioLizard."

Rouge paled slightly, and prayed that what she was thinking was just a stupid and impossible idea "Knuckles, if the Master Emerald can stop so easily the Chaos Emeralds, and considering that Shadow was created using them… what could happen if the Master was used on him?"

Knuckles looked at the green gem "Depends on how much he's tuned with Chaos Energy… in the worst case it could kill him instantly…"

The bat looked away from both emerald and echidna "What… what about Sonic?"

"Regardless of the way he's linked to Shadow, he is like him in every way and will suffer the same fate as him. But it's not only that, if triggered wrongly the balance of nature could be destroyed…"

Rouge's eyes widened and her mouth hung slightly open; now she would never try to steal it again, not even under the order of the president himself…

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Tails' legs slowly started working as the water creature dragged him down the corridor and as far away as possible from that room; soon he was able to run on his own and he felt Chaos letting him free from his grasp, using the now free arm to hold the important bundle he was carrying.

Finally, after interminable minutes of running, Chaos slowed down and stopped; he looked down at the hedgehogs. He could leave them with the fox and go back to the island, but whenever he thought about it he just felt that he couldn't do it. Why they were so important to him? After all he knew Sonic just because in the past he was his enemy and he knew Shadow just to be a hedgehog like the blue one. Not a good excuse to be so attached to them…

"We should get out of here as soon as possible. The BioLizard can't come in, but those two robots can easily catch up with us…"

Chaos looked down at the orange vulpine at his side; he was shaking and his ears were flat against his head. A clear sign of fear. Yet, the water one noticed that the fox was keeping it at bay with an amusing strength of heart.

Tails looked into the green eyes of Chaos, then he shifted his gaze on Sonic's emotionless face "He would never be scared in these situations… he very rarely get scared… not even in front of the BioLizard he got scared… that is why I…"

The water creature looked between the young fox and the blue hedgehog; how could a lone hedgehog…?

"I know what you're thinking…" The small fox interrupted him, "How could he do all of this single handedly? I really don't know how, but Sonic is special. Not just because he is strong, fast, smart and can use the Chaos Emeralds, but there's something in him that gives you what you need the most. In my case it's courage and self confidence. Once you know him, you can't leave his side. At least I feel this way. Maybe Knuckles too…"

Tails started walking again, followed by the azure creature, down the corridor "And I think that Shadow feel it too, maybe even more than us all put together. That is why he is still around Sonic and has changed so much in so little time. I'm sure of it."

Chaos looked down at Sonic; thanks to the young fox, now he had understood what was happening to him a little more, and maybe he could find out what it was. However, a loud crash and a scream coming from one of the corridors behind them, made the unusual duo remember that they were in the middle of a chase and that they were the ones that were hunted.

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Wew… Finally done… how much it has passed since my last update? A month? Maybe two? I'm really sorry people!

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

Az