"So we can beat Void!." Tails finished explaining his plan to Shadow. Shadow thought it over.

"You know, you're a smart child. Smarter than people, namely the doctor, give you credit for." Tails was falttered by Shadow's compliment. Shaadow rarley admitted somebody was good at something. "You have potential."

"Does this mean you'll help?" Tails was hopeful. "Ya know, Rouge was really worried about you. It was her who told me and Sonic about your leaving and all."

"Rouge...I'll never see here again." Shadow said plainly. Tails cocked his head.

"Whatever happened to the whole afterlife idea?" Tails knew he was wearing Shadow down.

"What about it. Rouge and everybody will be happy. I won't be joining them." Shadow explained.

"Why?" Tails asked.

"You really are just a child. Do you really expect to see me there?" Shadow asked.

"I do now, because you won't help us." Tails admitted.

"I'm evil. I'm a demon. I'm going to hell, Prower!" Shadow shouted, his eyes returning to their normal state.

"C'mon, Shadow...You're...Uh..." Tails didn't know what to say. If he said the wrong thing, he could blow all hope.

"Say it!" Shadow picked Tails up by the chest fur and held him close to his face. Tails could smell his breath and the anger on his face.

"You're...Ummm!" Tails was speachless.

"Enough!" Shadow threw Tails down hard. "Leave." Tails stood up and brushd himself off.

"You!" Tails and Shadow turned to see a pissed Blaze and a smiling hedgehog walking tword them. Blaze ran up to Shadow and stood less than an inch from him.

"What makes you think that you can decide to help or not?" She demanded.

"It's my choice." He told her.

"No! No, it isn't! You are possibly the only other being in your world or mine besids myself than can use these emeralds to their full power, and gives you a responsibility!"

"Don't tell me..."

"Shut up! I'm not finished! You must have some reason to live! Why would anybody under any circumstance throw it all away?"

"Throw it all away..."

"I liked you, Shadow! You seemed smart, logical and dare I say it, kind!" Blaze was out of breath.

"If you knew what I did, you wouldn't think that of me." Shadow assured her. Thoughts, voices of the past suddenly filled his head.

"I control you!"

"Please, Shadow, I beg of you!"

"Shadow! It hurts!"

"You disobeyed me, Shadow!"

"I found you, Faker!"

"Are you the original?"

"Then who...or what, is standing in front of me?"

"Bring hope to humanity..."

"I'm willing to listen." Blaze told him. "A friend once told me...a friend of a friend is a friend's friend. Sonic is my friend, and you are friends, in a way, with him. So you and I...we're...friends...right?" Shadow studied her face. She was being cincere.

"Yes. We are..." his face cringed. "...friends."

"Touching, really, but we gotta hurry! Amy's place is fully visible in this world now! We're running out of time!" Sonic reminded his friends. A loud rumble was heard.

"And so, it begins!" Void materialized once more to talk with Sonic and company.

"You're back!" Sonic pointed out the obvious.

"Of course. I wouldn't mis this for the worlds!" Void luaghed. The world continued to shake.

"And the worlds won't miss you either, Void!" Sonic antagonized the creature as his continued laughing. The ground began to shake.

"Then the feeling is mutual." Void declared. "Goodbye, Sonic!"

At Cream's house...

"Emerl! What's happening?" Cream hugged her robotic friend. Emerl released a high buzzing noise.

"Strong signals from the Chaos Emeralds!" G-Mel cried out. His eyes flashed.

"Cream! I can't contain it. It's like...double the maximum!" He began to spark. Cream hugged Cheese close.

"0101010100010110110110010101" G-Mel was loosing control.

"Cream! Dear, are you okay?" Vanilla entered the room. "The house is collapsing! We must go!" She cried.

"Cream...Run...Please run to safety..." G-Mel warned.

In The Mystic Ruins...

"I think I got a bite, Froggy!" Big bellowed as he tugged on his line before a massive tidal wave engulfed him. The cat floated away with his life belt as he watched the wave carry his amphibian friend away.

"Froggy! Don't leave!" Big pleaded as the small frog swam to escape the wave.

On Carnival Island...

"Vector! Espio! We gotta go! The whole island is sinking!" Charmy cried as he flew into the main room of the Chaotix Detective Agency's headquarters.

"No!" Espio said swifty. "I will go down with my ship."

"Espio, you're nuts!" Vector punched his lackey in the head. "Let's go, boys!"

On Angel Island...

"I hate guardina this emerald...what a waste of a life..." Knuckles said to himself as he sat on the stairs in front of the Master Emerald. A sharp green shard struck the back of his head.

"Son of a bitch!" He screamed as he turned around to see the Master Emerald in shards with Chaos Zero standing in the center of the mess.

"How...Chaos...?" He asked the creature.

"It's...time..." A ghastly voice said.

"Knuckles! Please! Contain Chaos! Fight, Knuckles! Fight!" A girl's voice whispered to Knuckles.

"Thanks, Sonic. It's been fun!" Void was still laughing, untill his laughter was interrupted by a Chaos Spear. Void fell to the ground, and before he could get back up, he was struck by a piercing wind fallowed by a burning sentsation. Shadow, Sonic and Blaze closed in.

"Good game!" Void shouted as he retaliated with a beam on unexplicable type, sending the three heroes back.

"Take me up, Tails!' Sonic commanded. Tails held Sonic's hand and flew him above Void. Sonic jumped from Tails' grapsh and curled into a ball as he dived for Void. Void smiled and warped dimensions. The next thing he knew, he was on the ground with Sonic on top of him.

"How?" Void did not understand.

"The worlds are too close together, Void! Your chance to kill us has long past!" Tails boasted as he landed near Blaze and Shadow. Void growled and punched Sonic hard in the stomach, sending him flying backwards. Void once again entered a laughing fit.

"Get your hands off my man!" A squealing voice was heard as a large hammer whacked Void from behind.

"Amy!" Everybody was happy to see Amy and Rouge, totally visible now. Shadow was focusing energy for a Chaos Blast and Blaze creating a fireball. Void flew up out of reach and began charging an attack of his own.

"Let's go, kid!" Rouge called to Tails and she took off after him. She delivered a swift kick to his chin, and then releaded an arial bomb resembling herself after him. Tails whipped out his laser gun and shot Void square in the stomach. Void flew back and knocked right into Rouge's balloon, then fell to the ground. Sonic spindashed across him numerous times. He didn't feel right temming up on Void like that, it was unfair, six versus one, but this was no time for morals. Amy pummled him with a storming heart attack before Blaze threw the biggest fireball she had ever created at him. She wished they could have used their super forms, but using the emeralds when the worlds were in this state, was very risky. Shadow walked up to Void, who was lying down in a ditch, embers around it. Sonic, Amy and everybody backed off and watched.

"Shadow, you saw my vision. I saw...I heard..." Void tried to reason.

"I did." Shadow admitted.

"You can chnage the future. Use your chaos energy, discover your sol energy. You said it yourself. You're a demon. A devil." Void was brainwashing Shadow, and that was Shadow's weakness. Everybody has one, even the ultimate life form. Void waved his hand, and the preciousestone appeared broken into tiny shards.

"Don't destroy the world, Shadow. Maybe I was wrong. Let's rule it, you and I. Just like Eggman Nega wanted. We can do as we please. You can have salvation from your sins with the aliens. You can loose the fake soul you possess and decide for yuorself. Blaze and Rouge willbe yours to do with as you please. You can torture Sonic and break him!" Void's voice was violent. Blaze and Rouge backed up even more. Tails hugged Sonic, as did Amy. Void held the shards out to Shadow.

"Take it, Shadow. Take it and let's rule the world!" Void smiled. Shadow looked at the object being offered to him, then at the charging Chaos Spear in his hand. He stopped charging the spear, and the lighting dissappeared. He reached out and took the preciousestone. Amy put her head on Sonic's shoulder and began to cry. A tear leaked from Tails' eyes. Rouge and Blaze hung their head. They had trusted him.

"Goodbye, Void." Shadow karate-chopped Void's neck. Void said nothing.

Note: Only once chapter to go.