Chapter 6: Near the End

"Nghh…." Shadow slowly got up and rubbed his newly bruised forehead, compliments of Sonic. "Ouch… My head…." Suddenly, forgetting about the pain, he remembered about his brother. "Sonic!"

"Heh, I'm glad to see that you're awake, Shads." A familiar, and slightly annoying, voice called out to him. He jerked his ebony colored head in its direction, and saw Sonic just lying there on a table, grinning.

"Hey, Shadow." Tails picked up something shiny off the floor. "Here, this dropped from your quills when you turned around." He placed the shiny thing into Shadow's open hand. It was a necklace, identical to the one Sonic wore, but this one was facing the opposite direction, and it radiated green, although it was cobalt blue. Shadow just stared down at it, only blinking every few seconds. When it seemed that Shadow wouldn't come out of it, Sonic whistled to get his attention.

"Shadow? What's the meanin' of the necklaces? Where did they come from?" Sonic asked, his eyes gleaming with curiosity, wonder and a bit of fear, as he gripped his shadow style necklace. The dark hedgehog stood up and walked to his nii-san.

"I got them when we were young.. I planned to give this one to you, but then those

DOGS came and yeah, I gave you mine so you could remember me and not forget."

"…I will NEVER forget you, Shadow." Sonic looked up at him

Sonic just stared at Shadow, then Tails and then at Amy. "I… I… It is a part of me, guys. It doesn't matter if I destroy, 'because it's me. But… I'll fight. I'll just stop it from taking over so frequently." He grinned, then asked, "So how does this thingy work, Tails?" Sonic pointed to the machine.

The orange kitsune's ears perked up when Sonic agreed to go along with the procedure. "Oh, it's quite simple, actually. All we hafta do is connect the brainwave measure sensors to your cranial diffu-" Tails noticed that they were all staring at him oddly. "Sorry about that."He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "All we do is knock Sonic out, hook him up, and watch. That's it."

"Oh, well, that's easy."Sonic smiled. "Tails, we wouldn't get anywhere without you. Good job, little buddy." Sonic then proceeded to give Tails a thumbs up, but then Shadow rushed up to Sonic, and gave him one hell of a punch. Sonic was out like a light.

"Chaos…." He rubbed his fist, "he really has a rock hard head."

Amy just stared.

"What the heck, Shadow?!"

He shrugged. "Tails said that he needed to be out…"

"Hey, don't blame this on me. We could've used a different method." Tails defended himself.

"Whatever."

Tails and Amy worked quickly and had Sonic connected to the machine. "Alright. Let's see if this works!" Tails pushed a button and the screen that they were all staring at flickered to life.

~Void~

Darkness. Chaos, how much Sonic hated it. He hated all of it, but that hate only gave Dark more power.

Sonic awoke on an invisible floor, shaking his head, he looked on and on into the vast black void that was mainly empty.

"Nice of you to join us, hero." Dark came out from in front of Sonic, his pupiless eyes glowing. "And by us, I mean Super, Darkspine, and I." Once their names were heard, they emerged from the shadowy darkness.

Super emerged from Dark's right side, and DarkSpine to his left. This was not the save super that Sonic often relied on in times of trouble. This super was different, his fur was all riled and his eyes… oh, his eyes lacked pupils, but instead contained swirls, as if to signify how corrupted he's become. "Surprised, Sonic?" He said. "I'm you, but you aren't me, Heh, not by a long shot." He grinned, showing his sharp fangs.

Sonic looked at DarkSpine, who just remained quiet, even his flame like aura seemed to settle. Then he finally spoke, "I'm a neutral being, Sonic. I might be powered by negative emotions too, but I helped save the Arabian Nights, remember?" He stepped away from the evil duo. Dark scowled.

"You'll join us once you witness the power that we have over this hedgehog vessel."

Sonic stood up and prepared for a fight when Dark and Super circled him, like a pack of ravenous wolves.

"Bring it on! I can take care of both of you guys!" Sonic yelled as he prepared to attack or dodge any attacks.

"You're cockiness will lead to your own defeat, Sonic. But, as you wish!" Dark led the attack on his host, and Super followed right after. Sonic braced himself against their energy filled attacks.

~Outside the Void~

Shadow couldn't stand it. Sonic was getting the crap beat out of him by his two Super Forms. "Damn it all!" He pounded his clenched fist into the wall.

"Tails, isn't there some way that we can help Sonic? Amy asked, worried for her old love.

"I don't know, I can try to hook one of us to Sonic's brain waves, that way we'll be able to fight alongside of him."

Once Shadow heard the spoken words, he volunteered. "I'll do it! I'll go in." Tails was speechless at first, but then nodded.

"Right. Get on the other table."

A few moments later (eh, felt lazy and sleepy…. And I was in the middle of a crisis), Shadow was KO'd by Amy's monster of a hammer. And in a few seconds, he was dropped into the battle grounds in the void.

~Void~

Sonic was injured to a great extent, but he somehow still managed to stand on his own two feet. (Episode 26, Anyone?)

"Don't count me out just yet…" Sonic said, loud to himself but barely a whisper to the others.

"You are so stubborn," Dark shook his head.

"But you're done with!" Super shouted and charged at Sonic like a wild bull aiming at a red target sign, his corrupted golden aura flaring.

It was an all out game of chicken. The only thing that different was that Super wasn't gonna move, and the only chicken there was Sonic.

But he stood his ground.

Just before Super made fatal contact, a bright light came in between the two hedgies.

"What?!" Super halted his attack and covered his eyes from the near blinding spark. Sonic kept his head down, avoiding eye contact with everything. The light then took a familiar shape.

"Shadow?" Super and Dark yelled out, simultaneously, in obvious anger. Shadow just glared at them, standing in front of Sonic, shielding him from any danger.

~Outside the Void~

Tails and Amy sighed a breath of relief when Super stopped his charge attack.

"Yo!" Knuckles came in the room with a "Santa's" Bag slung over his left shoulder.

"Just in time, Knuckles, come see-" Amy noticed the bag and paused. "…What are you carrying in that bag?"

"The emeralds…" He put simply. He was never an echidna of words, you know.

"Why did you bring then?" Tails inquired, not taking his eyes off the screen for one second.

"I had a hunch that said to bring them, so I did."

-.-'

Knuckles ignored Amy's face and looked over her shoulder, intrigued by what Tails looked at. He set the bag down and walked over to him, followed by Amy.

"What'cha watching?" He asked, seeing Sonic, beaten up badly, Shadow, standing over him in a protective stance, and Sonic's Dark Forms. "A new show?"

"Knuckles, honey, please tell me that you've seen the two bodies on the tables." Amy pointed to the unconscious bodies of Shadow and Sonic, whose fur was a bit darker now. Knuckles turned back and saw.

"Um, I have now. ^_^. Anyway, someone please tell me what's happening."

"Tails came up with an answer to Sonic's 'problem' and he invented that machine. It allows Sonic to fight physically (kinda) his dark forms, but they had him outnumbered, and losing the fight. That's why his fur is darker. But we sent Shadow in to help."

"That should even things out a bit." Tails added. And now they ALL started to stare at the screen.

~Void~

"Shadow…." Sonic looked up for once. "You came…"

Shadow noticed Sonic getting up slowly, despite his various injuries. "Of course I did. I couldn't stand it anymore. I couldn't let you have all the fun of beating these guys."

"Hmph, you think that you're going to win, now that he's here, Sonic?" Dark approached them, along with Super at his side.

"I KNOW that I'm gonna win! I always have! Never a single doubt in me that I wouldn't!" Sonic stood straight up, ignoring the pain that followed his actions.

"Are you up for it Sonic? I can fight them-"

"No, Shad. This is MY body control that we're fighting over." Sonic interrupted. Shadow's eyes widened, but then he let that go and grinned.

"Right. Sorry I asked. But hey, you want to try a new tactic?"

"Lay it on me."

"Let's try out the Chaos Fusion."

*~*~*

OKAY, SORRY FOR THE VERY LONG WAIT. Here's my excuse: lost the journal which the chapter was in, found it, typed a bit, unmotivated to finish, then I lost it again, then I found it and it repeats, until last Monday when I for some reason felt motivated to finish.

SORRY