Author's note: Hot (chili) dog, trying to keep consistent dialogue in this chapter was like herding cats. But star stickers (and very big thank-yous) awarded to E-Rank, 000Marie198, Maraja Sargasso, Noonui, and blu berry 3.14 for their wonderful feedback! And motivation by proxy.

Also, every time I edit this chapter it somehow comes out longer, so I need to stop myself by posting. :3

Chapter 10: My Kingdom for Some Clarity

Sonic was currently sitting cross-legged on the floor—if you wanted to call it that—having not moved much since his earlier meltdown over their foodless environment.

Tails stood next to him, having already done a ton of sitting and thinking (and pestering) since he himself had arrived in this reject warp zone.

The hero had at least recapped his and Shadow's events since Tails got kidnapped (granted, that word was questionable and a digress that the kit decided to mentally shelve for later), and even Shadow provided some blunt inserts to the parts where Sonic had been out cold.

Namely, that the Ultimate Lifeform had supposedly recovered easily from the blast of negative energy, and saved Sonic's hide with the assistance of a Chaos Emerald. Well, at least before Artificial Chaos decided to teleport them to this otherworldly jail cell.

There was a lull in the conversation now, both because Tails' mind was whizzing through the facts and developments that had led to this oddball situation, and because he was frustrated from—in his opinion—far too slowly slotting the jigsaw pieces together. Meanwhile, the rest of his team (and enemies … and acquaintances) were far beyond making small talk at this point.

Knuckles had since calmed his pacing, but was plainly unsettled by the turn of events. He had faded into the static, away from the group but not far. Tails could take a couple steps towards him and see the echidna's telltale locks materialize from the far end of their visible space. He looked like he was sitting similar to Sonic, in fact, likely meditating or doing whatever it is Guardians did to connect with the Master Emerald, or Chaos.

Or maybe he was practicing a new anger management technique.

Shadow and Rouge were within sight. They were conversing quietly with one another, though about what Tails couldn't even begin to guess. Whatever it was, they were definitely keeping their voices low. Probably spy stuff.

Rouge had certainly been discreet since Tails was teleported here. She purposely riled Knuckles up with her quips about the emeralds, but she seemed to be reluctant to voice anything around Eggman.

Again, probably spy stuff.

Eggman had not been very forthcoming about much of anything, either. Of course, by the time Tails had plopped into this new existence, it was clear that Knuckles had threatened the evil doctor to Angel Island and back about how this was all his fault.

Tails was honestly surprised that Eggman wasn't sporting a black eye, or a broken leg for that matter. Supposedly, the weird static surrounding them not only made someone disappear like a blip of bad reception, but also made them not … tangible?

So as long as Eggman kept his distance from the enraged Guardian, he would remain unscathed. Somehow.

Geez, this place was trippy.

"So…" Sonic started randomly, breaking Tails out of his thoughts. "Artificial Chaos? Seriously?" he doubtfully probed.

"Not in the sense that we know them," Tails answered, a scowl briefly shooting towards Eggman, who was currently using Cubot as a makeshift stool.

Sonic followed his brother's accusatory stare. "So what did Eggy do?"

It didn't seem like the doctor was paying any attention to his fellow prisoners, but he nonetheless responded to the hero's blame with, "Don't give me that look."

Eggman hadn't even bothered glancing in their direction when speaking. Instead, he continued to study the fluttering image of one of the ARK's various rooms, barely visible through the curtain of dilapidated dimensional wall.

"One mustn't let opportunity knock without inviting them in," he added.

Sonic dramatically rolled his eyes, while Knuckles spoke up from somewhere within the fog with, "Stop talking already."

"So … how are they different?" Sonic asked Tails, effortlessly jumping to his feet and putting his hangry tantrum on hold (for now).

"Artificial Chaos was engineered with a specific type of energy."

"Negative energy," Shadow chimed in, stepping forward. Rouge followed suit, both agents now listening in.

Tails gave a short nod. "You can call it that, but the truth is it is Chaos energy. Just … not the Chaos energy we're familiar with.

"Dr. Robotnik—er, Gerald Robotnik—called it the shadow of Chaos." The young fox couldn't help but notice a flash of recognition from Shadow at the term, though the dark hedgehog chose not to comment. Turning to Sonic's confuddled expression, he clarified, "Fourth-dimensional Chaos energy."

Sonic blinked. "Um. What?"

"How inept of a rodent must you be to have a snot-nosed kid explain to you what fourth-dimensional Chaos energy is?" Eggman condescendingly spoke up, languidly walking up to them with his hands behind his back.

"Hey!" both fox and hedgehog chorused.

Eggman snorted, holding his giant nose higher into the air. "My grandfather was indeed versed in the methods of Chaos, but he was too meek to utilize his discovery to its maximum potential."

Tails' arms annoyingly motioned at their surroundings. "Right. Because this is so much better?"

The doctor was not fazed. "Barely a hiccup in the grand scheme of things."

"I don't have hiccups," Cubot pointed out, his head slowly coming out of his compact cube shape now that his creator had decided to not use him as a chair.

"We're stuck in some broken-down pocket dimension because you thought it would be smart to give Artificial Chaos unlimited power!" the fox accused.

"Unlimited?" Sonic piped up.

"It is smart, you little pest," Eggman said, ignoring Sonic. "How would I know that they'd try and gather the Chaos Emeralds for themselves?"

"Do you have any idea what they're talking about?" Sonic stage whispered to Shadow.

He also ignored Sonic, his glare at Eggman dead set. "How did you give them unlimited power?"

A hand that was behind the doctor's back came up to twirl his mustache. "Wouldn't you like to know," he snidely noted. After a pause, however, he arched a brow at the black hedgehog. "Though, I suppose you are a second-generation Artificial Chaos, are you not?"

"I am not artificial Chaos," Shadow snarled through clenched teeth.

Eggman shrugged. "Call it what you will, it's not true Chaos energy that courses through you." An odd smirk crossed his lips at Shadow's seething expression. "At least not fully."

One of Sonic's hands went to the side of his head. "My brain hurts and I'm not even hearing big words being thrown around."

Tails' eyes darted between Eggman and Shadow, his mind racing as those final pieces of that puzzle started to come together. "Shadow … is made from fourth-dimensional Chaos energy?"

Shadow's death glare landed on the fox, but the kit's gaze was on the golden wristbands adorned to the black hedgehog, as well as the similar rings wrapped around his ankles.

"Your inhibitor rings limit that power, of course!" he excitedly explained. "And without them, that power may very well be unlimited, except perhaps if there is a counterreaction this energy has to the Chaos energy of our world?" Nose crinkling, Tails' out-loud thinking became garbled, thoughts processing and skipping to the next tangent too swiftly to form any coherent words.

Eggman harrumphed condescendingly, but did not say anything further. Rouge smirked, one hand on her hip and amusedly watching the hedgehogs, both of whom had their arms crossed, albeit Shadow looking far more annoyed at the fox's eager pacing.

Sonic merely sighed, a weathered sound of experience from the genius fox's thought process.

Somewhere in the midst of his rambling, Tails tapered off and glanced up, staring off into the middle distance as his words returned to a recognizable language. "Clearly that might be the limiting factor—"

"Clearly," Sonic agreed blindly.

"—but that still doesn't explain why these creatures want the emeralds."

"Right. That's the confusing part about all this," the hero dismissively affirmed.

"And you let this buffoon control the emeralds willy-nilly?" Eggman scoffed, shaking his head.

"What have you done with the Artificial Chaos?" Shadow interrogated, lips in a snarl as Eggman aimlessly strolled.

"Why, only what my grandfather was unwilling to do."

"He worked with an alien race to create a Chaos-yielding army. The bar isn't exactly set high, here," Sonic volleyed. Shadow sent a warning scowl at the hero, promptly shutting the former up.

"I thought all the Artificial Chaos had been taken by the Black Arms?" Tails questioned the doctor. "Er, well, before the Black Comet was destroyed, I mean."

"Nearly all of them had. But only a few were needed to transfer the power they harbor."

"A few?" Tails skeptically repeated.

Eggman simply sneered and added, "When one disregards the speed limit, anyways."

"Ugh, stop talking in metaphors," Sonic whined, pulling on his ears out of aggravation.

One of Tails' fingers tapped on his muzzle, his focus resolute. "So … Artificial Chaos has their own version of an inhibitor ring, I guess? Or did?"

Tails wasn't sure why he expected some sort of verification from Eggman—Sonic always did call him an eternal optimist—but Orbot forgot whose side he was on when he responded, "Actually, their inhibition comes in the form of—"

"AH," Eggman loudly cut off.

"Wait," Sonic declared, squinting hard with his attempt at keeping up, "you're telling me Shads takes those bracelets off, and he becomes whatever that craziness out there is, complete with lightning mumbo jumbo?"

Tails blinked at him. Shadow's face settled on deadpan. Eggman rubbed the bridge of his nose and said, "You truly are an imbecile, aren't you?"

"That is not true," Shadow stated, and Sonic appeared rather appreciative for the patronage before the darker hedgehog continued, "I am not more powerful without my inhibitor rings."

"Of course you are," Eggman disputed.

"It is not more powerful," Shadow insisted with a low growl, "because it is not sustainable."

The evil scientist chuckled. "Not even close to correct!"

"Then tell me," Shadow demanded.

"Why? This is too much fun."

There wasn't much warning before the Ultimate Lifeform had pummeled into Eggman, sending him skidding along his back several feet, a livid hedgehog standing on his chest and poised to punch.

"Shadow!" Sonic yelled out. Knuckles finally decided to rejoin the party at that moment, approaching out of the fog and heavily arching a brow at the scene he walked in on.

Tails could see the spiteful smirk on his muzzle, though.

Despite the position (and the wind knocked out of him), Eggman only chortled. "Did you never think to ask?" he spat at Shadow. "You don't even know what you are, and yet somehow I'm the villain in all of this."

"This is the least you deserve," Knuckles antagonized.

"No," Sonic emphasized slowly, shooting his echidna friend a fierce but brief glimpse. "Come on, Shadow, this ain't gonna solve anything."

Knuckles rolled his eyes at that, but thankfully kept quiet.

The tension in the space remained for a few, agonizingly slow seconds, before Shadow seemed to collect himself and begrudgingly stepped off the large human. Shadow's gaze couldn't help but travel to the golden elephants in the room, one hand almost absently coming up to briefly twist the ring on the other.

"I know what I am," he finally answered to the silence. "And these … limit Chaos."

"Yes," Eggman agreed coolly, struggling to sit up. A cruel grin formed when he added, "But which Chaos?"

A spark erupted in Tails' head, tails swishing eagerly in response. "The fourth-dimensional Chaos—negative energy—negates our Chaos energy?"

Eggman let out a breathy sigh, still seated upon the nonexistent floor. "And the door prize is awarded to the circus animal of the bunch."

Tails was unperturbed by the insult, mind already racing anew. His pacing resumed before he stated, "But if that was the case, unlimited negative energy could completely neutralize the Chaos of our world!"

Knuckles sliced the air with his arms to cut off the fox. "Whoa whoa whoa. You're telling me those creatures have the power to absorb the Master Emerald?!"

"Not absorb, more like neutralize it. And way more than that, Knuckles—" the fox answered, "if Artificial Chaos is made from fourth-dimensional energy … that means Gerald Robotnik essentially created a dimensional rift to obtain it." A lingering pause came after that, followed by a glare at Eggman. "And you just left it open?!"

Back on his feet (but not without plenty of straining to get to that position), Eggman's hands calmly went to rest behind him. "My grandfather honed in on this power decades ago. He created a weapon that could wield the power indefinitely, and then," he stopped, frowning at Shadow with distaste, "quite literally handcuffed the creature from becoming the true Ultimate Lifeform."

"That is not how these work," Shadow argued, teeth clenched. He held up his wrists in emphasis. "They control the amount of Chaos in me. Without them I am drained—"

"You fool," the doctor harshly broke in, "you're not being drained! You're feeling the Chaos you're familiar with neutralize, but still have unlimited fourth Chaos without those stupid rings!" Another longer sigh escaped, this time exasperated. "If you had ever been taught to hone that power, that is." With a tsk, he shook his head. "Gerald did you a disservice."

Utter rage conflicted with confusion and radiated off Shadow as he digested Eggman's explanation. His hands were pulled into tight fists, an obvious internal battle waging. After a moment's hesitation he shifted—as if ready to strike—and Eggman took an instinctive step away. But Shadow did not advance; instead he moved farther into the fog, frustration evident in his demeanor, but keeping whatever violence he had in mind at bay. Tails felt a pang of empathy for the elusive hedgehog, and even Rouge appeared worried as she gingerly followed to stand next to him.

Despite his actions, Shadow didn't fully disappear into the static. Between that and refraining from his characteristic shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later, Tails supposed progress was being made.

Sonic was also watching on with a deep frown. Turning to Tails, he disagreeably hummed. "I dunno, those things felt pretty draining to me."

That got his sidekick's attention. "That's right—Tikal had you wear them to Chaos Control here!"

"Yeah, that was a trip," he replied saltily. "Anyhow, I'm pretty sure I don't have negative energy flowing through me to drain, or absorb, or neutralize, or whatever the word you guys want to use is."

"But maybe you do!" the fox exclaimed excitedly, jolting Sonic out of his sagely nodding. "If negative energy is Chaos energy from a different spacetime than ours, accessing it via a dimensional gateway or wormhole or what-have-you would of course be an exponential amount of energy and would neutralize our own third-dimensional Chaos on Mobius, BUT fourth-dimensional Chaos energy is still Chaos, so it stands to reason that it exists in the here and now with us, as a part of the Chaos energy that we're used to (but at a microlevel of its intensity elsewhere), and Dr. Robotnik only opened a rift into a point in time and space where that energy is concentrated. Or perhaps multiple rifts in the timeline, where he's pulling Chaos from everywhere and—"

Somewhere in the midst of his eager babbling, he heard Sonic groan and ask Rouge and Shadow, "You getting any of this?"

Shadow unsurprisingly did not respond, but the white bat had a brow dangerously raised. Her arms were loosely crossed, hips jutted out to one side. Eventually she hummed and shrugged at the blue hedgehog. "Sounds like spacetime Chaos somehow zaps our version of it, Shadow is made of both—but with rings limiting the amount of spacetime—and the doctor here decided to break that tech on Artificial Chaos to essentially give them unlimited time-warped Chaos."

Tails' tangent faded as he joined Sonic in their wide-eyed stare at the spy.

Her second shrug was less dramatic than the first, and she nodded towards Sonic. "And possibly all Chaos creatures are made of both energies—like you, Blue—but not at Shadow's level, which is why his gold rings still do the trick at draining." A yawn escaped and she patted her mouth delicately. "Oh, and it appears we're trapped in a dimensional rift, probably caused by unlimited spacetime Chaos flowing out of those creatures."

"Based on my calculations, that is 94% likely," Orbot agreed, coincidentally hovering just beyond Eggman's reach. "The perpetual fluctuations suggest a parallel dimension that is not quite powerful enough to sustain form. At least not yet." The robot's fingers tapped together anxiously when he noticed his master's intense gaze. "This ... is all speculation, of course."

"Oh!" Tails loudly interrupted again, causing a majority of those listening in to jump, and—for a certain blue hedgehog—nearly choke on his own spit.

"Sorry," Tails said without an ounce of austerity, "but this place! The concentration of the energies, with Chaos from spacetime essentially nullifying our own Chaos … the dimensional rift would be exponentially expanding—!"

"Nonsense," Eggman calmly disagreed. "They simply have control of this dimension, and have imprisoned us here to take control of the emeralds."

"Why would they even need them?" the kit argued. "According to you, they're akin to paperweights compared to wherever this other negative energy is coming from!"

"With the emeralds in their possession, they can fully deplete them, and then all you pathetic Chaos controllers will be powerless."

"Pssh," Sonic swatted the statement away with a wave of his hand, "they can't take my speed."

"Oh?" Eggman scoffed. "And how much of that speed comes from your natural Chaos absorption, hmm?" He glanced over at Knuckles, then, and added, "Or your strength?"

The echidna shot him a withering glare, but the doctor had already turned to Tails. "What about your ridiculous flying? You think that would be possible without the Chaos saturating our planet's atmosphere?"

A tense silence erupted between the group as Eggman walked back over to Cubot, lightly kicking him. The robot understood the rude gesture, because he compacted himself down into a cube, allowing the heavy human to sit once more. "With our Chaos gone, then there will truly be no stopping them."

"Except me."

Everyone's attention diverted to Shadow.

"Perhaps," Eggman carefully responded, "if my grandfather had bothered to teach you."

Shadow was ready to retort, but Tails cut him off by anxiously stating, "Something's not adding up."

"Yeah," Knuckles agreed firmly, stepping forward. He punched his large fists together and said, "no one seems to be talking about how we are getting out of here."

"I second that," Sonic concurred.

Tails' face furrowed in thought. While he could agree that the Artificial Chaos had been after the emeralds, it certainly didn't feel like they'd been out to get him, personally. This was almost like a ... byproduct ... of something else. He opened his mouth to say as much, but the impatience of his two teammates was evident. They needed out of here first, with explanations later.

Flipping a mental switch, Tails quickly scrutinized the situation and remembered something. He glimpsed at Knuckles, who in turn narrowed his eyes at the fox.

He went for it anyway. "Shadow ... could you potentially do Chaos Control with the Master Emerald again?"

"Yes," he guardedly replied. "Potentially."

"But it's not here," Sonic said to Tails.

"Not all of it, no." The fox tried to make eye contact with Knuckles again, but the Guardian had already turned away, muzzle high in the air.

"No."

"Knuckles—"

"N. O."

Tails grumbled, "You want out of here or not?"

Sonic was watching on in mild amusement, but his eyes sparkled when Knuckles reluctantly pulled the sliver of Master Emerald out from beneath one of his locks. A closer inspection, however, showed the green color was dulled and opaque within.

"It's drained," Sonic sighed out sadly.

"It is not drained!" Knuckles defended, pulling the shard close to his chest. "It's just … reduced."

"Holding out on us, Red?" Rouge asked, her own eyes on the broken piece of emerald. Knuckles suspiciously eyed her while shifting his hold away from the bat's line of sight. Which, of course, only made her wicked smile grow.

"It's drained and useless," Knuckles suddenly agreed with the others.

Sonic snorted at that, while Shadow simply shook his head. "There is not enough power to perform Chaos Control."

The hero tapped his nose inquisitively. "How come that dusty rock ain't like the rest of that static mess outside?"

All eyes fell to the blue hedgehog. "What?" Knuckles finally got out.

"When you took that nibble, it made the rest of the big guy cuckoo," Sonic tried to explain.

Crickets should've been heard in the distance. "Again: what?"

Shadow audibly groaned. "He is asking why the rest of the Master Emerald is untouchable."

"Oh ... yeah, that's on purpose," Knuckles answered nonchalantly. He received a few rather surprised glances—namely Eggman and Rouge, who had not been given the full recap from Knuckles that Tails was provided.

When the Guardian noticed their shocked expressions, he frowned. "What? Any fractured element in the gem, while still holding its basic powers, makes it that way."

Sonic had been privy to this information earlier, as well, but he nevertheless decided to play the devil's advocate. "Okay ... but why have you never done that before? Like, y'know, maybe during the other half-dozen times someone's tried nabbing it?"

That earned the hero a rather deliberate stare-down. "It's uh ... a new trick I learned."

Knuckles was not much of a talker to begin with, but his attempt at non-verbal communication was somehow worse. Sonic merely tilted his head and confusedly asked, "Why are you making that face?"

That made the resulting expression on the echidna deepen. Tails winced at it, while Sonic worriedly asked, "Dude, you're not going to be sick, are you?"

Meanwhile, the rest of the crew was clearly suspicious about the whole thing and prepping to give the third degree.

They didn't have time for this. Tails let out a breathy harrumph at the scene and opted to spell it out for everybody. "Knuckles took a piece of the emerald and essentially begged Chaos to keep it together."

Being a kid had its perks, because Tails was fairly confident Knuckles wouldn't use him as fish bait on Angel Island. That didn't stop the murderous look that was aimed his way, though. "Could we not discuss everything with everyone, Tails?"

The kit gave a half-apologetic shrug of the shoulders, while Sonic snapped his fingers and said, "THAT makes more sense."

Shadow seemed perplexed by this information. "The Chaos monster is inside the Master Emerald?"

"Monster?" Knuckles repeated with repulsion, murder eyes shifting to the black hedgehog.

This of course didn't faze the Ultimate Lifeform one bit, his own stance growing defensive at Knuckles' actions.

"Chaos is in the Master Emerald, Shadow," Tails neatly reworded, stepping between the two hotheads, "and because of that he's an added barrier of protection against Artificial Chaos." The fox turned to face the echidna. "Right, Knuckles?"

The death glare did not waver, but the Guardian at least grunted in acknowledgment.

"Dude, the big guy didn't even say hello to us," Sonic complained.

"This does not change the situation," Shadow reasoned. "We do not have enough Chaos energy to escape this dimensional plane."

Tails scratched behind one of his ears, smiling sheepishly at Sonic. "Don't suppose you have my Miles Electric with you?"

"Ha! I wish, li'l bro."

"Do you honestly think Artificial Chaos would allow you to keep that device before being sent here?" Eggman chastised. He gave Knuckles and his piece of the Master Emerald a patronizing glance. "They certainly would have confiscated that pathetic souvenir, as well, if it had any capability."

The kit was ready to accept the doctor's logic (as much as it pained him), then stopped with widening eyes. "Wait!" His hands fumbled around his appendages, searching. "I still have the … the …" his scrambling came up emptyhanded, and he started frantically checking around him. "Where is it?!"

"Where's what?" Sonic asked, frowning at his sidekick's change in attitude.

"You looking for this, hon?"

Tails' saucer eyes somehow widened further at Rouge holding up an orange, shining jewel, before they narrowed annoyedly. "How did you—" he bolted up to her, cutting his own sentence off before demanding, "Gimme that!"

Her smirk grew as she freely handed the gem into Tails' outstretched hands. "Can't blame a girl for trying."

Tails downright glowered at her, but brought the jewel over to Sonic.

"Creamsicle!" the hero happily proclaimed, holding it up not unlike an actual creamsicle. "Nice!" He tossed it lightly in the air, his brow creasing ever so slightly. "How come they didn't swipe this from you?"

"I don't know," the fox answered truthfully. "Eggman's right, in that any concentrated Chaos they would have likely taken from us. This is not true Chaos energy … well, it is, but a variation of it, more or less." A finger tapped his nose in earnest contemplation. "If I had to wager a guess, since it's not pure it's probably not detectable to them, at least no more than the Chaos that essentially exists in our atmosphere and inside of us as sapients. Well, the sapients that can absorb Chaos, that is, but—"

"Okay, okay bud, I get it," Sonic swiftly interrupted, all too aware of the tangent his little brother was about to dive into. "Well, here ya go." With a light throw, the fake Chaos Emerald cleanly landed in Shadow's hands, the darker hedgehog himself looking downright appalled at suddenly possessing it.

"No," he immediately said.

The hero made a face. "No?"

"No." The orange emerald was instantly returned to Sonic's startled hands. "I'm not performing Chaos Control with a fake emerald."

"Why?"

"Because it is not possible," Shadow said matter-of-factly. Sonic and Tails' mouths opened, prepared to retaliate that fact, when the hedgehog clarified with, "…For me."

Sonic swallowed hard, staring at the dimly pulsing gem in his hands.

"But you can," Shadow relented.

Sonic's grip on the emerald tightened as his head lolled back in irritation. "Ugh, but last time I did it I felt like a dried-up sponge for weeks—"

"This one is different!" Tails blurted out defensively. A timid smile formed when Sonic shot him an incredulous glimpse. "Er, well, at least I think it is."

"Very reassuring, bro."

"I can try and stabilize it," Knuckles commented, holding up his sliver of the Master Emerald for emphasis.

Sonic cringed. "Knux, come on," his hand motioned at the faded rock, "that thing's duller than a butterknife right now."

"There is still energy here, hedgehog," the Guardian barked. "I can focus it, get us out of here, and get the Master Emerald repaired." His stern gaze fell on Eggman, who had weirdly kept quiet through the latter half of the conversation. He was keenly listening in, however, because he made fast eye contact with the Guardian.

Knuckles gripped his prized possession tighter. "Then we'll see who's the strongest Chaos controller in Mobius."

The doctor just laughed. "Oh ho ho ho ... I'm happy to play along, if only to watch you all fail."