(((well, you may or may not have read my roleplay yet, but if you haven't, go ahead. Might as well. This story is slowly going nowhere...in my opinion. I mean, when is it going to end? I feel like going with the ending I devised some time ago, but there's so much that leads into it, and so much manages to happen between point A and point B spontaneously that I have to elaborate on THAT as well and...as you can see, it's one giant tangled mess. u.u well, I might as well solve all of the smaller mishaps sooner than I'd like, but I need to end this somewhere. One night seems to stretch on forever! Let's have daybreak, shall we?)))

Sonic in Shadow's body: I'm... too sexeh fo' mah gloves... too sexeh fo' mah shoes... too sexeh for mah neato highlighted quills, yah! -does a little dance-

Shadow...in SONIC'S body: good lord. ;;; make him stop...

Sn: I'm just too sexeh! -breakdances-

Sh: rrrgh. -angryface!- (I miss my faces...)

Sally: wow...he actually IS sexy though... drrrrowl... -bites fist-

Rouge: I'm so confused...

A: ok, enough stalling u.u I need to finish this thing in the next three chapters or I'll simply go insane.

Knux: as will we. AND I WAN' MAH CUDDLEBEAR BAAAACK!

Sn: you said that last chapter. Or the one before that? No, definitely last chapter.

Espio: Definitely. Definitely. Definitely my fault...

Sa: my God, he's cracked...

E: excellent runner. I'm an excellent runner. Sparkly...

$& Sonic- in any way shape or form- is not of mine owning. Tha!#$

Chapter 19- Discovery

"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Oomf!" Sonic, discovering the maneuverability of his newfound jet shoes, was testing them out...unfortunately not minding the placement of walls too well... But then again you have to consider the body he inhabited wasn't his and had been presumed dead for several hours...

"SONIC! CUT IT OUT!" Shadow screamed at his counterpart in Sonic's own voice.

"Eeeheeheehee! You have no idea how funny that sounds!" Sonic hopped to his (or rather NOT his) feet again and scooted off elsewhere in the large transport.

"It's the injections..." Sally explained. "They're not really meant for... well, living people... It may have had a somewhat-narcotic effect on him..."

"I see..." Shadow bore on Sonic's simple features his own permanent scowl as he contemplated means of undoing the predicament.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Fuunnnnnnnnnnnn! Sally, come dance with me!" the misplaced hedgehog squealed in Shadow's normally-sane voice as he swooped out of a back room.

"Sonic, you need to sit down..."

"Awwwh! But I'm having so much fun..." he skated in a circle around the princess, then took her hands in his, pulling her along.

"SONIC! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!"

He obeyed, dropping her hands and hiding his own behind his back like a scolded child would.

"I want you to sit down and stay there until I say so. Understood?"

"Yes, Sally." He looked at the floor, downtrodden.

"Now."

He skated to the cot and sat obediently.

"Now, Shadow, do you have any ideas?"

"Well...I have one." He began. "The power of the Dark Emerald did this. Now, that emerald in its entirety must be at least twice as powerful as the Master Emerald right now. It sounds far-fetched, but hear me out. It was able to create its own dimension, and took on actual form as the demoness Itshell. She was able to fuse two physical bodies, trapping the souls in her dimension. Now, if the Master Emerald can do even half of that, we may be able to jolt our souls into their respective shells. Do you understand any of this?"

"I do. It sounds plausible." Tails commented as he walked up to them. "I say we give it a try. Oh, and the radar's working. Itshell's two miles from us."

"Good. I'm going to go monitor that. Tails, you help Shadow. And keep an eye on Sonic until the agent wears off..."

"MA'AM, YES MA'AM!" he saluted snappily.

"Oh, goodness..."

--.o:o.--

Both Itshells sneered, then looked to each other.

"Should we tell them? Should we even consider the last resort?"

"Absolutely. I think it's time to put an end to this disturbance."

The rigthand Itshell stepped forward, sighing heavily.

"What the hedgehog said was true." She began. "I did need you two alive and well, even in your non-physical forms. But now that I've had time to replenish my original strength, all I really need are your combined bodies. Your souls are useless to me now." She smirked. "Thank you for being so cooperative... especially you, Karpa." She winked.
"It's been fun." She raised her sword once more.

Tarsa thought to herself silently, beads of cold sweat accumulating on her forehead. 'Maybe if I just wish her dead, she'll keel over... yeah... Keel over now! Damn, didn't work. But I have to do something... If only I had like a bazooka or someth-'

Suddenly, a bazooka appeared in Tarsa's arms.

"Oh my."

She grinned, hauling the thing onto her shoulder, aiming the giant barrel at one of the adversaries.

"Bye bye now."

With a loud "FOOMF!" the rocket was launched, creating a fantastic explosion upon impact with the echidna. The twins cheered, hugging each other.

"One down, one to go!" Karpa shouted with glee.

But alas, as the smoke cleared, it revealed a slightly more chagrined Itshell.
"That was NOT polite."

"Oh, dear." Tarsa dropped the weapon, blinking innocently.

She parried an attack from the one while Karpa made an attack on the other. They paired off in their own separate matches.

"I know! I want a sword!" a katana appeared in the blue echidna's hand.
"TWO swords!" another appeared in the opposite hand.
"HUGE swords!" the size of each tripled and the tips dropped heavily to the sand. She squeaked, trying to lift them.

Itshell laughed at her. "Be careful what you wish for, Tarsa love."

"Ok, make them LIGHTER!"
She was able to swing them upward, crossing them and swiping in a scissorlike motion, removing the dark one of her head.

"Oooo... That must have hurt..." She dropped the swords, looking down uneasily at the collecting pool of blood around the decapitated body. The head itself had rolled into the surf.

"K...Karpaaaaa?"

The yellow echidna ducked beneath a swipe from her enemy's sword. "WHAAAT?"

"She... She's dead..."

"Good for you! Mind helping out?" She screamed, slashing a reasonably- sized cut in the opponent's gi.

"Yeah! Yeah, sure..." she picked up the swords again, rushing to her sister's aid. She didn't notice, however, as the body slowly thinned to nothing in an instant.

Itshell chuckled darkly, the sword of her other half appearing in her empty hand.

"Fools! How could you possibly defeat me?" she grew slightly, her gi going from its deep black to a fiery red.

"DAMNIT!" Karpa lunged, her clawlike blades sinking into the evil one's chest. To her surprise, the blades melted, some of the molten metal searing her gloves and sizzling against her exposed skin. She cried out and backed away, holding her injured hands with involuntary tears welling in pale pink eyes.

"Give up. You're dead either way, might as well."

"How dare you ask a Fairchild to surrender!" she shrieked raspily. "Tarsa, your turn!"

The sister gulped forcefully, raising her swords and mustering some courage before charging the villainess with an ardent warcry...

((and I'm spent. Ok, I'm going to branch off a bit, give this thing a rest for a change. Later dudes.))

Sn: damn, just when I was beginning to enjoy myself…