Author's note: Y'all, did you know there's an official pizza text emoji? 🍕🍕🍕 I am overjoyed by this nonsense (and probably way behind the times, but eh). Also, so not the free pizza 000Marie198, Noonui, and E-Rank wanted, but ... um. Bon appétit?

Oof, I hope it works on the phone app, too. 0.o

(And of course a big fat THANK YOOOUUU to them for the reviews and support :3)

Chapter 13: And Then There Was One

The void was not something to make light of. Shadow had felt the twinges of disconcertment in his own short time here, even though time did not seem outrightly relevant. After all, no one was complaining about needing sleep or taking a hygiene break. Sonic had whined about hunger, but Shadow was convinced that was baseline for the blue hedgehog.

It was impossible to tell how much time had passed. Conversations came and went, and while they were remembered, the minutes or hours that spaced their encounters were hazy, at best.

It was deliberate confusion, and likely caused by being in some transitional state of existence between worlds.

This explanation did not ease the unsettlement, however.

Rouge was next to him, arms crossed as she surveilled Eggman and his robotic henchmen. As before, the doctor was acting unperturbed by the nature of the situation. In fact, he appeared bored, occasionally commanding holographic images for Orbot to project.

An untrusting Shadow wasted no time inconspicuously reviewing these images, as well, but a majority of the information was nothing more than blueprints to robotic minions, some familiar, some not. Eggman was simply reviewing and tweaking his designs to pass the time. Or at least pretending to.

"Something's not right, hon."

Shadow glanced at his G.U.N. partner to acknowledge her statement. She had not looked away from the human, but did outwardly sigh with annoyance.

The hedgehog frowned as he followed her scrutinizing gaze. "That is an understatement, considering our current circumstance."

She hummed, "No, not just that." Her head nodded in the doctor's direction. "He's hiding something."

While certainly not surprising, Shadow probed anyways. "How so?"

"He was already here when I showed up. He was rather surprised to see me."

"Why does that alarm you?"

Rouge's stare finally shifted to Shadow. "Well, his first line of questioning started with wondering why I had been in possession of a Chaos Emerald."

Shadow's brows raised with interest. He grunted in agreement and said, "Then he was aware the Artificial Chaos would try and collect the emeralds."

"Bingo. Quite different from his monologue earlier."

"Why did you not mention this previously?"

"With Red here? Darling, we both know how that boy acts before he thinks. Blue, too." She shifted in her stance, eyes returning to Eggman. He had noticed their monitoring and purposely shifted so his back was facing them. "He's not going to spill, and I for one am a little tired of being hung out to dry, here."

"Fair point."

"Still doesn't answer that million-dollar question, of course."

Shadow answered without looking, "Why the Artificial Chaos need the emeralds."

"Mm-hmm."

"Uh, guys?"

Shadow and Rouge glanced left at Tails, who had approached out of the static. His hands were in front of him, fingers twisting together anxiously.

Rouge beamed a toothy smile his direction. "What is it, cutie?"

Tails swallowed heavily, keeping his eyes on the floor when he spoke. "When you both got here, did you feel … drained, at all?"

The G.U.N. partners exchanged a glimpse with one another at the odd question. After a moment's thought, Rouge shrugged. Shadow didn't respond one way or the other.

Seeing as though Tails was awaiting a verbal reply, Rouge added to her answer with, "No. I was dreadfully hot, though."

Tails' interest piqued at that and he looked up. "Really? Like an internal deregulation from the teleportation itself, or perhaps a side effect when Chaos energy is not readily available?"

Shadow couldn't help but smirk as Rouge gave the kid an impressive blank face. She composed herself before saying, "Um, not quite. Considering I was transported from some wintery forest to this balmy getaway, it wasn't as if I had time to update my wardrobe."

The fox's frown was muddled with confusion, making Rouge roll her eyes. "I was wearing a heavy jacket, honey."

"Oh." He sounded disappointed, but wasted no time in gearing back on track. "Shadow, what about you?"

Shadow let out a perturbed breath. "What information are you attempting to extract?"

Two tails snaked around to further the fox kid's anxious demeanor. "Well," he said, eyes traveling to the floor, "I was asking Knuckles when I got here, and he said no, but I think it was because he had the piece of the Master Emerald to protect him." Nose crinkling, he added, "I did feel pretty tired—drained, I guess—but nothing like Sonic when he got here, and I was wondering if it had something to do with that inherent Chaos energy that's supposedly inside most Mobians, at least to a certain degree?"

Tails carefully peered up at the two agents as Rouge hummed thoughtfully.

"Well, Blue is certainly a fountain of that stuff." Her arms crossed over herself as she playfully bumped into Shadow, earning herself a curt glower. "And I'm guessing my partner's intimate relation with negative energy makes him immune to this side effect?"

Shadow balked. "Intimate?"

He was ignored as Tails brought a finger up to his muzzle, considering Rouge's response. "Perhaps." With a finger snap he exclaimed, "Actually, according to Eggman, if the negative energy is limited for Shadow due to the inhibitor rings, and the true Chaos energy is not, I would think that Shadow would have felt the loss … unless of course Shadow has some—like you said, intimate—control of the negative energy—"

Shadow seethed.

"—possibly even regulated through the inhibitor rings! In a way that would allow a form of auxiliary replacement of the true Chaos energy without the side effects Sonic gets.

"Which would also, uh…" It was at this point that Tails' distracted, wandering eyes met the warning gaze of Rouge, followed by Shadow's death glare. The fox kid smartly opted to cut off his own diatribe with a sheepish shrug. "Um, right. It's … a theory to look into. When there's time."

The bat let out a long, exhausted breath as she waltzed away into the static. "Oh, well, I'm sure you have lots of time to study your theories. Alone." She paused. "All the time in the world." Right before disappearing, she added with a mutter, "And then some."

"Huh? Why would—" Tails stopped, then forced a pained smile. "Oh, I get it. Because we're stuck here."

Shadow's death glare had not wavered. Tails eventually made the mistake of glancing his way, and his ears obediently lowered when the hedgehog threateningly laid out, "Do not use the word 'intimate' with my name in a sentence ever again, if you value your—"

Someone decided to change the universe's television channel, because Sonic snapped into existence.

And apparently that ethereal someone had a terrible sense of humor, as Sonic's sudden state of being was astonishingly close to Shadow's current location.

The blue hedgehog was a hefty cannonball as he came careening spine-first into Shadow, who barely had time to bend down into his own defensive stance. They collided and rolled, one flailing like a ragdoll instead of a sapient while doing so.

When Shadow came to a stop, he charged to his feet, fist at the ready. The supposed hero was unconscious, but that still didn't stop Shadow from rearing that same fist back. Despite one's state of consciousness, you did not knock the Ultimate Lifeform down.

"Sonic!"

Of course the annoying fox child would get there first. Tails was already at Sonic's side, checking him over for injuries. "Oh jeez, what happened? Can you hear me?"

The blue hedgehog moaned and said, "That was a wild trip." He lightly pushed Tails away, but made no attempt to sit up, much less open his eyes. "And yes, bud, just—not so loud, 'kay?"

Anger bubbled to the surface as Shadow approached, but he wavered when a distinct energy slipped through his senses.

"You've brought a Chaos Emerald with you."

Finally opening his eyes, Sonic seemed to notice Shadow for the first time and—not at all reacting to the fact that he had just used the black hedgehog as a demented idea of a life net—knowingly nodded. Unsteadily sitting up with Tails' help, Sonic reached into his spines to retrieve it. "Yup, and it's all yours, too." He tossed the yellow emerald to Shadow, before falling to the floor, startling Tails in the process. "By the way: ow."

"About time you returned, rodent."

Staying supine, Sonic half-heartedly saluted in Eggman's direction. "Apologies, Eggy; didn't realize ten minutes was too long."

"Ten minutes?" Tails asked incredulously. "Really? Wow, there must be some sort of time dilation here. I can't say for certain, but hasn't it felt like—"

"Hours."

"Days."

"A millennium."

Everyone—including Eggman—stared at Rouge. She only pouted and said, "This girl's got plans on the outside, you know."

"Oh-kay," Sonic answered slowly. "Well, it's been ten minutes, and we need to get back, 'cause Knux is repairing the Master Emerald as we speak."

"Are those artificial monsters still there?"

"Yup. But real Chaos is there doing his watery Chaos thing." Sonic groaned, hand coming up to rub his eyes. "Can I just say though, so much for the Chaos Emerald protecting me from all that negative energy? Ugh."

"Well, it must have done something. Last time you were unconscious for an—" Tails paused, considered his response, and ultimately ended with, "um, a while."

"I think I'd rather be out cold."

"Stop whining already, you petulant pest."

"Nah, I leave all the whining and dining to you, Eggman, if ya catch my drift."

"The only drift I catch, hedgehog, is your horrendous dander trails. You might be fast, but you are certainly not covert."

"Sir, I commend your jab at the hedgehog. Well done," Orbot dutifully commented.

"Leave it to Ego Eggo over here to have a live studio audience everywhere he goes," Sonic grumbled.

Cubot somehow found the perfect opportunity to clap at that.

Their bickering commenced, but Shadow tuned it out. His focus naturally gravitated towards the feel of the yellow emerald in his hand, relishing in the true energy it emitted. While his understanding of negative energy was inadequate—along with exactly how much of it he was potentially composed of—at least this real Chaos energy was familiar, and empowering.

It was hard to dismiss that loss of energy in this interdimensional space, now that he was in possession of a Chaos Emerald. Even if he would never openly admit it.

Rouge came up to his side and smiled at the jewel. "Our ticket home never looked so ravishing."

Shadow briefly nodded, opening his mouth to respond, but something about Sonic's words sunk in enough to make him scowl at his rival, instead. "Chaos Control did this to you?"

The squabbling between Eggman and Sonic had apparently not ceased, but Shadow's firm interruption thankfully silenced it.

Tails had managed to help Sonic into a sitting position during this time, but with no apparent help from the latter. Sonic lazily peered at Shadow's awaiting expression and provided him a lopsided grin. "Heh, um … no. Not exactly." With one struggling heave upwards, Tails brought Sonic to his feet, and was even able to let go so the hedgehog could relearn the definition of stability.

Not without some precarious and ridiculous teetering, however. Shadow's impatience was tried, his hand wringing the Chaos Emerald with aggravation as he waited for Sonic to prevail in bipedalism.

Finally Sonic clarified, "I … so, funny thing about Chaos Control and this place: it doesn't work."

Shadow scoffed. "Of course it does."

"How did you get back, then?" Tails asked Sonic more reasonably.

"Past-life experience." Sonic received a collection of blank stares. "Instant playback." Still nothing. "Knux threw me into a stream of negative energy again."

"Ah," Tails said, but frowned. "Well, technically, he didn't do that the first time around—"

"ANYhow, yeah, fun times," Sonic interrupted loudly. "But Chaos Control on the way in is a no-go."

Shadow shook his head. "You are inexperienced."

"All right hotshot," Sonic threw out haughtily, "if it does work, explain to me what you focus on in this land of 404 World Not Found."

Tails snorted, catching everyone's attention. "That was a computer joke," he explained. On the receiving end of those same blank (and now exasperated) stares, he defended, "What? I'm impressed!"

"It is precisely what you focus on," Shadow argued sharply at Sonic.

"Seriously? You're telling me to focus on nothing?"

"Yes."

Sonic dramatically rolled his eyes. "All right, fine, let's see you—"

"Chaos Control!" In a millisecond, Shadow had transported to the other side of the group, still very much within their vacant prison.

"Oh," Sonic weakly noted. "Well then." He smartly left it at that.

Despite Shadow's clear one-upping of his rival, he did notice that Sonic was actively stretching and maintaining his balance without issue, a stark contrast to his first few minutes of materialization.

Tails noticed, as well. "You look like you're recovering faster."

Sonic half-shrugged. "Eh, I suppose the real emerald helped a little."

"Where's the fake one?"

Sonic blanched. "Uh."

Tails waved off Sonic's guilt. "It's all right. I didn't think it could be used for more than one Chaos Control, anyways." A worried expression crossed the fox kid's face and he changed the subject. "You sure Knuckles will be okay?"

"Pssh, yeah. He had the rest of the Chaos Emeralds doing some nifty energy tornado around him, plus Chaos for a bodyguard. He'll be fine." There was a little harrumph after that, followed by a mumbled, "Minus his lowkey betrayal in the end, there, which will definitely be refunded."

Shadow secretly wished he could have been there for that moment.

Sonic loudly and obnoxiously clapped his hands together, but only succeeded in startling Tails and Cubot. "All right Dream Team, let's get out of this joint!"

The ARK

Tails wasn't sure what he expected from Chaos Control, or if he had truly expected anything. The trip was slightly jarring but at the same time—not?—and a million questions started formulating on how one was dematerialized and rematerialized so easily, if an actual wormhole was formed or if matter was simply transferred into Chaos energy—or perhaps surrounded by Chaos energy as some sort of vehicle?—which allowed for safe but fast phasing through space—

"Yo, ARK to Tails!"

"Huh?" Tails blinked. Sonic was waving a hand in front of him.

"You okay, bud? You aren't gonna barf, are you?"

"What? No," he retorted, blinking again and taking the time to check out their immediate surroundings. A bright yellow-white cascade of raining Chaos energy encircled them, and a quick check behind revealed the Master Emerald, radiating bright green with pulsing hair-thin cracks along its surface.

Knuckles made no attempt to acknowledge the newly crowded space, even with Sonic, Rouge, and Shadow all huddled within the Chaos Emeralds' protection. He remained kneeled in front of his charge, chanting in ancient Echidnean.

Tails supposed if there was an ongoing time dilation in their former incarceration, perhaps only seconds had transpired since Sonic had left with the real emerald.

The kit's ears pinned down from the thunderous explosions occurring beyond their new entrapment. Chaos 2 was partially visible through the forcefield, lengthy arms swinging every direction to divert the negative energy beams that three Artificial Chaos were throwing their way.

Arguing arose out of that noise, as well, and one of his ears instinctively twitched towards a familiar, albeit irritated, voice.

"—is not how we do things!"

"That is of no concern of mine."

"Shadow!"

Sonic sounded mad. Like, about-to-lose-workshop-privileges mad. Tails tried to catch up in the conversation, taking in his older brother's visible frustration, Shadow's stubbornly crossed arms, and Rouge's—well, apparent boredom over the whole thing.

Knuckles was still keeping his focus on the Master Emerald.

Realization struck, and Tails' eyes searched the area.

"Where's Eggman?" he probed, despite being fairly confident on the answer.

"Ask Shadow," Sonic snipped, still frowning at the Ultimate Lifeform, and the latter ignoring it completely.

"You won't retrieve him?" Tails confirmed.

"No."

"Which would make us no better than him," Sonic firmly disagreed through clenched teeth.

"He has brought this situation upon us, and has wrought far more damage than benefit upon Mobius."

"And we've stopped him every time!"

"Taking the source out of the equation is the most strategic tactic."

"We aren't military!"

"Speak for yourself, hon," Rouge inputted nonchalantly.

"Okay, okay, wait," Tails interjected, stepping forward. "Let's just … take care of the Artificial Chaos first. Then we can discuss getting Eggman out of that prison." Looking at Sonic directly, the kit added cautiously, "We all know he won't be of any help right now… We could even be putting him in more danger out here. …Right?"

Sonic's eyes fleetingly drifted to Tails, before preferring to glower at Shadow. Tails' earnest compromise was not in vain, though, as eventually the tension slowly but noticeably eased from the hedgehog's muscles. "Fine. Yeah. Let's take care of the fake dudes first."

"Cool! Great," Tails concurred, then wavered. "Uh, exactly how do we do that?"

"Use them."

All four non-meditating Mobians turned towards the solitary meditating one.

Sonic stage whispered, "Did … was he talking to us?"

"YES," Knuckles growled, not moving from his bent-over position. "Take them and help Chaos."

Tails did a double-take when he saw Shadow grin.

"Very well."

With blasts of bright orange rocket flames, the spinning emeralds above were transported into Shadow's hands. The cascading wall of energy surrounding them dissipated, and another flash later showed that Shadow had zipped over to Chaos 2.

Unbelievably, the creature simply handed its two emeralds to the hedgehog.

"Well, that's a first," Sonic commented.

The Artificial Chaos had only increased their attacks during the brief exchange, but Shadow bolted around the de-transforming Chaos, knocking all three enemies out of the room before they could regenerate negative energy.

Within the next second there was a blinding white light that flooded the entire area, forcing Tails to shield his eyes. His vision cleared quickly, but by then Chaos 0 and Super Shadow stood side by side.

"Hey!" Sonic called out. "Sharing is caring!"

It was super noisy and Shadow was glowing, so it was hard to say for certain, but Tails swore that Shadow tsked his response. Nonetheless, another couple of super bright flashes later, Sonic was also in his super form.

Flying about the room in crazy swirls of yellow translucent energy (a rare but characteristically ... peppier version of his usual self), Sonic whooped, "Now that's what I'm talkin' about!"

Rouge let out an annoyed humph. "They could at least hand out sunglasses."

A sudden bolt of lightning cascaded across the storage unit. Tails reacted instantly and grabbed Rouge's wrist, yanking her a foot sideways. The energy ricocheted off the Master Emerald—right where she'd been standing—and into the room above.

Wait, room?

Before either of them could speak, Rouge jumped farther out, countering Tails' grip on her wrist with her own and pulling him with her.

Another charge of negative energy chased the first, clearly trying to hit them as it grazed past. It barreled straight into the giant gem before rebounding into the ceiling two floors up.

It was becoming quite evident that the Artificial Chaos had been throwing countless rays of negative energy this way already, considering there used to be a ceiling above. Now Tails could see a broken computer room of some kind, and beyond that a giant veranda.

"I guess we're both knights in shining armor," Rouge said and winked at Tails.

The kit blushed and let go of her wrist. "Uh, thanks and—thanks?"

"Nice double-save!" Sonic congratulated as he dashed up to them. He didn't wait, however, and grabbed both sets of arms to drag them behind the Master Emerald. "But, uh, sit tight here for now, capiche?"

"Wait, what about Knuckles?!" Tails argued.

"I'll watch his back, bud. Shadow and Chaos got the fakers."

Tails wasn't entirely convinced, but he didn't have time to say anything before Sonic was gone. An equal number of white and yellow blasts of energy were going in every possible direction, enough to wonder how the structural integrity of the ARK was still holding. Tails worriedly glanced around the giant jewel's pointed edge to get a better vantage point, not even realizing until then that the green gem was perfectly level and hovering inches off the ground.

The thin cracks on the Master Emerald were a luminescent jade that still pulsed misty trails of Chaos energy, but were far less daunting than what they had been on Angel Island. Tails wished (and not for the first time) that he had his Miles Electric with him.

Another million questions were populating in the kit's mind. Why did the Artificial Chaos want the emeralds? What was that out-of-phase reality they had been trapped in (and that Eggman was still trapped in)? What had Eggman been hoping to accomplish by unleashing the negative energy that supposedly made up the Artificial Chaos?

And what unforeseen dangers had also been unleashed from his actions?

If Tails could make it to the ARK's mainframe, perhaps he could retrace the logs to see what Eggman or the Artificial Chaos had been up to. Maybe even hack into the security system to help stop it. Would any of the active remote sensors of the ship still be in working order?

An abrupt brightening from each of the Master Emerald's cracks made Tails' thought tangent stop. He squinted as pure white energy poured out where green wisps had been lazily oozing. The fox warily backed up, next to Rouge, just as the crevices burst yellow-white gales of steam. Neither Mobian could react, but as soon as it released the energy faded completely.

"Whoa," Tails said with wide eyes, unharmed by the close encounter.

Rouge agreed with a hum, but took a moment to brush back her hair. She smiled at the gem in front of them. "Well isn't that a sight for sore eyes."

Tails followed her gaze and slowly nodded, mesmerized at its pristine, crystalline form.

The Master Emerald was repaired.

Rouge's large ears twisted and she frowned at Tails. "Hey, where'd the party go?"

Tails' own ears strained, unable to see much from their tight space. It was obvious that the battle between Artificial and true Chaos had grown distant, considering the muffled and trailing explosions. The storage room was strangely silent, now, and not even Knuckles' recitation carried over from the opposite side.

"Knuckles?" the kit uneasily called.

When no one answered, worry won out and Tails moved to check on him.

He'd gotten all of two steps before the entire jewel vanished, without a sound or even a flash. Somehow it just … blipped out of existence. Knuckles was unconscious on the floor only a few feet away, his palms still upwards from his previous chanting, mouth partially open as if he was gaping at the newly empty spot between him and Tails.

He would have been, had he been aware. Tails scrambled over to his side, shaking his shoulder. "Knuckles? Knuckles, wake up!"

Somewhere in the hall outside of the storage room, or what was left of it, Chaos 0 pitifully howled.