Eggman stood in front of the control bank for the Cannon where five of the seven chaos emeralds rested in their slots. Shadow had one, and he had gone to retrieve the other from the heroes. Eggman remained convinced that they had two, a real one and that fake. How else would Tails have managed to build such an accurate replicate? Or power the Cyclone's main cannon? Eggman was still in awe of Tails, the kitsune was merely a child, and yet he'd built a mechanical walker strong enough to defeat Robotnik's own, and there was that emerald he'd built. If he had not been so easily tricked, he could have proven very dangerous for Eggman and his plans. Perhaps he might be coerced away from the side of the heroes now his idol was dead...

Eggman paced impatiently. The so-called 'Ultimate Life form' was taking too much time. There were a mere five minutes left until Eggman was due to fulfil his threat- and without those two chaos emeralds, he couldn't meet the deadline...

What was that? It sounded like something was advancing rapidly down the barrel of the cannon! Something big and metal. There was a thump as it became wedged in the barrel. Eggman rushed to his machine, wondering what to do. He stared upwards, trying to see up into the hole in the ceiling where the barrel began. It was dark up there, but he thought he could just see the gleam of blue metal. Behind him, blue light flashed.

"I have the emeralds, Doctor," the deep, haunting voice of Shadow exclaimed. Eggman turned.

"What took you so long? Don't just stand there, load them into the cannon!" He fumed. They both faced the machine, looking upwards again. It sounded like there was some sort of animal up there, frantically pulling at something wedged in the cannon's barrel.

"What's wrong with you?" A deep but feminine voice caught Knuckles' attention. He gritted his teeth. Rouge! He had hoped he had seen the last of her.

"Why should you care, Bat Girl?" he mumbled, not even looking at her as he passed. She noticed his empty, torn rucksack.

"Where's your emerald? Did Shadow steal it?" Rouge shouted after him. Knuckles ignored her, so she flew after him.

"He did, didn't he? Eggman needed one more emerald to fire the cannon, and Shadow's given him yours!" Rouge continued.

"Shut up," Knuckles moaned. The last thing he needed right now was someone mocking him about his failure. Mobius and the Floating Island were at the mercy of Eggman, and it was his fault. He did not need reminding.

"So why the hell aren't you headed for the control room to stop Eggman firing the Cannon? It has to charge up before it can fire, you know," Rouge said. Knuckles didn't know. He stopped and stared up at her.

"I don't know the way," he said. He could have followed his emerald sense, of course, but it was difficult to follow it accurately in a building. Rouge sighed.

"I'll show you," She said. She flew ahead of the echidna a little way, but he did not follow.

"Why would you do that?" Knuckles demanded.

"Look, 'kidna, I'm not the enemy. I was sent by the government to spy on Eggman. Your jewel was just a...tempting extra that I happened to discover. I knew he was there when he tried to steal it-I was following him. I do not work for Eggman!"

"Why should you want to help me?" Knuckles said, suspiciously. Rouge squealed with frustration.

"Why must you be so stubborn? Mobius is my home too!" she shouted. "And you did help me," she added, in softer tones. "You saved my life. I owe you. Now come on!" Knuckles followed her when she took off again. This way he would not have to tell Sonic and Amy that he'd failed, just yet. And if Rouge were tricking him, she would pay dearly.

"There's some sort of animal up there, Doctor!" Shadow said.

"Well...get it out!" Robotnik cried, baffled.

"I don't think that's possible without damaging the Cannon," Shadow said, inspecting the base of the cannon, where several spheres rotated in mid air. Staring at the machine, capable of such destruction, Shadow felt chilled. What would happen if it were charged with the green gem that he had stolen from the echidna? It looked like an ordinary chaos emerald, but it was clearly far more powerful.

"Give me those emeralds!" Eggman said, snatching the green one. "We'll fire the cannon anyway. Whatever it is up there, it'll be disintegrated by the blast anyway."

The Cannon emitted a small squeal, and the scuffling noises became more frantic. Eggman ignored them, placing the green emerald in place and roughly yanking the blue emerald from Shadow's grasp. He made some speech about having the world at his mercy and the power this cannon gave him. Shadow was not listening. The creature in the barrel had stopped moving, but he could hear it crying now. The pathetic sound made Shadow uneasy. The creature was terrified and helpless. Shadow could hardly bare to listen to its suffering. This was not what Maria would want. This was not what he wanted. Suddenly, he leapt forward and grabbed the green emerald from its slot. It was smouldering hot, so he threw it across the floor.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Eggman screamed at him. Shadow looked up to meet his gaze, but was distracted by the monitor above it. It showed a flashing red warning sign that had hitherto remained unnoticed. As he stared, the face of Gerald Robotnik appeared. Eggman turned and followed Shadow's gaze.

"It is my grandfather!" he muttered in astonishment. The figure on the monitor began to speak. Behind Eggman, a large dent appeared in the ceiling. Shadow looked up as another dent appeared. Something was firing down at the ceiling from above! He assumed a defensive stance. Part of the ceiling began to cave in.

"STOP! Give me back my emerald!" Knuckles and Rouge arrived just in time to see Tails' Cyclone fall through the ceiling. Tails dropped down after it, landing heavily in the cockpit. Then the entire space Colony began to move.

"Tails!" Knuckles exclaimed. He looked immensely relieved.

"What's going on?" Shadow demanded. In his panic, Eggman had barely noticed the sudden arrivals. He had been frantically jabbing at the console, and finding it would not respond, was now racing towards the door.

"It's a self destruct programme my grandfather set up! We're set for a direct collision with Mobius!" he cried, disappearing down the corridor.

Shadow turned and glared around the room. Knuckles had retrieved his emerald, and tenderly inspected it for damage. Rouge had produced a small device, which she was shouting into, and Tails was tending to his Cyclone. The blast caused by Shadow using Chaos Spear with the master emerald, had ricocheted Tails directly into the barrel of the Cannon. He was unhurt, by the Cyclone was badly dented, and the right leg had been melted by the heat of the explosion, rendering it useless. Tails had eventually managed to blast a hole in the ceiling of this room by firing at the inside of the Cannon's barrel with the Cyclone's weapons. A moment ago, Shadow had pitied this creature, and now he felt no desire to attack Tails. That echidna on the other hand...

"It's all true," Rouge said, to no one in particular. She had said it quite softly, but in such a tone, that everyone turned to face her. She wandered over to a window. "Come and see for yourselves. You can just about see Mobius in the distance. We are headed for a direct collision, and at the speed we're travelling...we'll be destroyed on impact. And so will Mobius..." Knuckles joined her at the window. From here, Mobius was still a smallish blue and green sphere with mottled white and grey wisps of cloud drifting around it. It was beautiful; but its presence directly in front of the space Colony was ominous.

Shadow joined them to see for himself, but Tails seemed afraid to look. Instead, he had climbed back into the cockpit, turned the machine on, and fussed with the onboard computer.

"What are you doing Fo-...Tails?" Rouge asked.

"I'm looking for the power source of the Colony," said Tails. "If we could find that and destroy it...maybe that would stop the Colony colliding with Mobius." Rouge stared over the kitsune's shoulder.

"You hacked into the colonies' computer files?" She cried in wonder. Tails nodded.

"Most of them. Some were locked by and entirely different security code, I couldn't get into those. I guess they had to do with the programme Gerald Robotnik set up," Tails said, solemnly. His console beeped, and he opened the file it had found.

"That's about Shadow...I thought you were looking for the Colony's power source?" Rouge said.

"I was...?" said Tails, sounding genuinely confused. He scrolled the page down to reveal crude sketch of a creature nothing like the black hedgehog they had known by that name. It was a grotesque lizard like creature carrying a large black cube on its back. A lattice of thick wires fed from something on its back to something that was not included in the sketch. The Colony's power source was this creature. And this creature was Shadow.

"What are you doing?" the black hedgehog demanded, shoving Tails roughly aside, so he could see the computer screen. For several long moments, he leant heavily on Tails' shoulders while he read the text frantically. He growled. He made a lunge at the computer screen, but Knuckles ceased him from behind, tearing him away from the Cyclone. Shadow yanked himself free from the echidna's grasp, and Knuckles rose, ready to fight.

"Later, 'kidna!" Shadow spat. He leapt to his feet, and skated fast through the door. From outside the room, they heard Amy squeak Shadow's name in surprise, before she appeared, helping Sonic to walk.

"Tails!" they both cried. "No need to explain things, we saw the ...uh...broadcast." Sonic added; referring to Gerald Robotnik's recorded speech. "Hey you don't still have those files you stole from 'botnik's computer, do yah?"

"We've been reading them," said Rouge. With Amy's help, Sonic hobbled over to the Cyclone, where he shock himself free of her grasp and leant against the left side of Tails' walker, watching the screen. His hands felt unusually cold on the kitsune's shoulders, and he seemed short of breath.

"That's the power core?" Sonic exclaimed, astonished.

"Seems that way," Tails replied. "But if we take out this creature...and the backup generator...that should stop the Colony colliding with Mobius."

"Okay. Let's do this!" Sonic commanded, forgetting his ankle and standing upright. Everyone winced. "Or maybe not." he sighed, sitting next to the Cyclone. "Guess I'm outta the action." Rouge made a scoffing sound.

"...You could borrow my Cyclone!" Tails suggested. The hedgehog brightened.

"Could I?" he asked, grinning.

"Sure. The right leg's completely melted, but it can still fly, and the weapons seem okay."

"Shouldn't someone go after Shadow... he seemed sorta upset?" Amy said.

"Why don't you go?" Knuckles retorted, in a tone tainted with distaste. The pink hedgehog frowned at him and went stamping out of the room. Rouge glanced thoughtfully towards the door then took off after Amy in the next instant.

"Where d'you 'spose 'Botnik got too?" Sonic asked, fiddling with the controls in Tails' Cyclone. It rose into the air, and hovered in place.

"We don't have time to worry about that," Knuckles said, grimly.

"Right. You guys go after the backup generator. I'll wait here for Amy and Rouge. Meet us back here as soon as you can. That way no-one will get lost...I hope," Tails said.