Ok, here's chapter 4.

Reviews go a long way toward stroking my shameful ego.

Consructive critcism would also be nice.

'So, you've decided to speak with me. I'm also glad to see that you are alive' the voice in Shadow's mind rumbled.

'That's nice, now let's cut to the chase' Shadow demanded. 'What are you?'

'Narrow minded, mortal' the voice seemed to chuckle. 'I have been many things. A warrior, a savior, a murderer, a peacekeeper, destroyer, vengeful spirit, amalgam of rage, master, student, brother and even a friend. But more importantly, you should've asked-'

'Who are you?'

'Much better, you're learning already' the voice remarked, sounding pleased. 'You may call me Oblivion, though I'm sure you've guessed that much by now' it practically purred.

'Yes, I did. But that's beside the point' Shadow snapped. 'I have some questions to ask, and you will answ-'

'Fool!' Oblivion guffawed. 'You seem to not realize that I am the one in a position of dominance, here!'

Angered at the interruption and bold statement, Shadow roared 'What are you talking abou-!'

'You seek power, your allies are injured, you do not have the strength required to bring them to safety so you've come to me, wondering if I can assist you in some way, obviously' it assessed, leaving Shadow flabbergasted at its accuracy.

Placated with the knowledge that this, entity, and he were on the same page, he asked 'well, can you?'

'Child, it is not a matter of if I can, but rather, if I will'

'And why won't you!'

'I merely wish to know if you are truly worthy'

'Worthy?' he echoed'then why was I able to wield this sword in the first place!'

'You are one of the millions, no, hundreds of millions of people, with a strong heart and mind, capable of speaking to one of my kind and coincidentally hold our sealed forms, that is all'

'Then, what's the problem?'

'Show me that you are one of the select few thousands, capable of acquiring your hidden potential, of harnessing my true power!' it bellowed.

'Hmmph, what do I have to do, answer some questions or something?" he scoffed "I accept your little challenge."

'You ignorant fool, overconfidence in your abilities will lead to your death, I hope for your sake, that you are the victor, otherwise, death will be your reward.'

With this statement still ringing in his ears, Shadow found himself in a world of endless swords, surrounded in the distance by massive ethereal gears in the distance, eternally grinding. The cloudy crimson sky only serving to highlight the barren field of hardened, flattened dirt, casting flecks of red shadow onto the blades embedded into the ground, as if bright scarlet blood ran down them, proving that they had served their purpose, to take lives.

Shadow couldn't speak, rendered speechless by the grandeur of the place he had been taken to.

'Welcome to the proving grounds boy, or rather, the warrior's yard' Oblivion's voice announced, startling Shadow from his reverie. Looking towards where the voice had come from, Shadow noticed a stranger covered from head to toe in a loose fitting hooded black cloak.

'How did I get here?' he demanded.

'Whatever do you mean?' the figure mocked. 'Your actual body has yet to move so much as a muscle.'

'How is that even possible?' he muttered, then shouted 'Don't toy with me!' Just now noticing that his blade and sheath were not with him, he understood 'ah, this is still, my mind?' he asked.

'Very good!' the cloaked one cheered. 'Now I won't need to perform this test wearing a stupid hood' Oblivion commented, throwing off the cloak and allowing a nonexistent breeze to pull it away as Shadow stared at the newest occupant of his mind.

'Surprised?' Oblivion asked, disappointed. 'And you were doing so well too' he pouted.

'Mephiles!' the dark hero roared, grabbing the sword closest to him - an ebony colored falchion with scarlet honeycomb patterns adorning the entirety of the blade - before charging towards the demon, fury burning in his crimson eyes.

Shocked, the manipulator of time held his hands out in front of him, blades of his own - a silver katana and an obsidian dagger held in the reverse grip - simply materializing in the palms of his hands. 'Perhaps, imitating this form from your memories was not the correct choice?' he mused.

'Die!' he screamed, swinging the blade at his apparently revived nemesis.

Oblivion easily deflected the strike and sent Shadow flying several feet backwards with a well placed kick, managing to disarm and disorient the hedgehog in one fluid motion. 'Come now, I have to explain the rules of the test first' he chided.

Shadow recovered from his flight and landed on his feet, pulled another blade - with a floral shaped hilt and jagged edged katana length blade - from the ground and charged, only to see that Mephiles had vanished. I in his place was, himself, wielding the same silver and black weapons instead.

'Are you ready to hear me out now?' Oblivion asked with a smirk, one that didn't quite belong on Shadow's face. And then he noticed the eyes. Where there should have been startling garnet, the eyes of this copy were a deep soulless black, no pupil or iris or sclera could be distinguished from the abyssal darkness of these eyes, speaking volumes of the difference in these two Shadows.

'I suppose, you can do a bit of explaining' Shadow conceded, lowering his sword but not even thinking of letting it go.

'This' he indicated the strange realm they were in 'is where you will be tested, to see if you can handle my power' he proclaimed.

'I understand, but, what's with all of these blades?'

'Oh, I forgot!' Oblivion scolded himself 'This' he indicated the entirety of their location in a broad sweeping gesture 'is my warrior's yard, a place where I can reproduce any weapon that I've ever seen.'

'Why is it in my head then?'

'Since we sort of share a consciousness, you have the skill too' a pause 'actually, that is what your test will be' he decided, head nodding in agreement.

'…. Wha?' Shadow offered, confused.

With a sigh, Oblivion dropped the two weapons in his grasp to the ground, held a hand up in the air and had the same exact sword in Shadow's grip appear, an flawless copy. 'That, the requirement for being able to release my unsealed power' he replied.

'How do you expect me to do something like that?' Shadow deadpanned.

'It's simple, really' the doppelganger airily replied. 'Just imagine your weapon fitting into the palm of your hand, the texture, the weight, the very materials that make it up. This is the power of my Warrior's Yard' he advised, facial expression evolving into one of predatory anticipation. 'Let us see if my copies are still any good' he mused, stalking towards Shadow.

Shadow struck first, only to be blocked just as easily, again and again, strike after strike before Oblivion sent his replica crashing against the original katana with a staggering amount of power, shattering both blades and sending Shadow skidding along the ground as flying shards cut his hands and arms.

Numbed and gasping for breath, Shadow dropped the now useless hilt as he clumsily staggered to his feet, unable to use his arms for the moment. However, he rushed to meet the copy, arms dangling behind him until he suddenly vanished in a flash of green light.

Composed, Oblivion snatched Shadow's foot right out of the sky as it aimed for his side and tossed him back to the ground, a strangled grunt forced from his throat as he lay there on his back, pain coursing through his body.

'Come now, surely you can't be so weak inside of your own mind?' Oblivion jeered now standing over the downed hedgehog. By the time he noticed the scarlet tint covering Shadow's body and the triumphant grin on his face, he had already sprung his trap.

'CHAOS! BLAST!' A crimson wave of energy erupted from Shadow's body, destroying everything in a four meter radius, leaving Shadow standing in a small crater, still steaming from the sudden burst of raw chaos.

'Well, that is rather surprising, who'd think that you knew a few words of power?' Oblivion murmured from behind at the edge of the crater, pleased at the display of destructive power. 'However' he stated, loud enough to make shadow whirl around, the façade of weakness now gone 'your goal is to perform the blade manifestation skill, as I've shown you' he instructed, forming yet another blade - a thin rapier - in his hand ' or do you require another explanation?' he boasted, the inappropriate feral grin back on the duplicate Shadow's face.

'What do you mean by "Words of Power" Oblivion?' Shadow asked.

'You may not call me by name until you've proven yourself' he replied 'now, on your guard' came the warning. 'Dark: Pulse'

Shadow was not at all prepared for the thin halo of dark light that extend outwards from Oblivion's torso, so he did what his instincts told him and jumped into the air, completely avoiding the simple attack, watching it harmlessly dissipate until a foot collided with the back of his skull, launching him into the ground, glaring at the lookalike standing in the air as he struggled to his feet once more.

'So, what else can you do?' he goaded the Ultimate Life Form.

Grinding his teeth together, Shadow silently began to form a chaos spear in one of his hands and then abruptly stopped, having felt a foreign energy source mix in with the raw chaos, disrupting the attack. Frustrated, he began again, but was unable to separate the two energies and thus, no chaos spears.

Noticing the frustration on Shadow's face, Oblivion understood, having gone through a similar dilemma, a long time ago. 'So you can feel it now' he stated.

'Feel what?' Shadow demanded, confused.

'Why, the aether of course.' Seeing the bewildered look on Shadow's face, he siighed 'the basis of my power, you will need to learn how to channel it, if I am to lend you any of my strength.'

'And, the fastest way to teach me how to use…. Aether, is through this test of yours?' Shadow surmised.

'If only it were so simple' the copy added, shifting into the form of Mario - startling Shadow, because those eyes did not belong on anyone of this world - for a split second, before choosing the outward appearance of Mephiles once more 'It is the only way' and floated towards the battered hedgehog, forming a simple iron straight sword, devoid of any guard and accentuated by the menacing hook at the tip. Landing on the ground in front of Shadow with barely a sound, the two looked each other in the eyes and then the Mephiles lookalike struck.

Taken by surprise, the sword hit, the crisscrossing afterimages of a myriad of slashes already fading, leaving shadow confused as he turned to look at his opponent after simply materialized behind him, his back turned. A moment later, pain blossomed all along his torso, bringing him to his knees as he clutched his chest, gasping for breath.

'For all of that speed, you're still rather slow' Oblivion observed, shifting into an image of Sonic, not bothering to look at the hedgehog.

Growing angry at being looked down on - by that idiot/rival, no less! -, Shadow attempted another Chaos Spear, not caring about the opposing energies, he surged to his feet shouting 'Chaos Spear!' releasing a few pitiful sparks that died moments afterwards, but more importantly, shards of various metals were mixed with the sparks and managed to shower Oblivion in the conjured debris, one going so far as to draw a paper thin cut along his cheek.

Oblivion looked just as shocked as Shadow, neither saying a word until the former heaved a sigh.

'I guess that can be considered a pass for now' he shrugged.

'Huh?' Shadow offered, then promptly collapsed, drained of all energy.

"Shadow?" Sonic asked, noticing the sword in his - tentative - friend's hand change into some sort of large, sinister key for a moment, and then change back right before Shadow crumpled to the ground with a groan. Confused, he examined the other hedgehog, noticing the sweat and heavy breathing afflicting him. 'Fine one second and exhausted the next?' "What just happened?" Sonic thought aloud. Lightly slapping his face, Sonic waited for a reaction, calling his name every so often, worried. Preparing to slap him again, his arm was caught in Shadow's grip.

"I'm fine, you idiot" he replied through a swollen cheek. "How long did it take for me to…. Come back?" he asked, letting go of Sonic's arm.

"Gone?" Sonic echoed. "You mean, right after you acted all cool with the "I'll do this" quote?" he asked, to which shadow nodded. "Oh, three seconds, I guess, then you collapsed right after for maybe ten more seconds, and now, here you are" he finished.

"That's all the time I took, could've sworn it was at least an hour or something" he noted, muttering the last part to himself.

"Nope, you pretty much blinked and then fainted" Sonic snickered, receiving a growl from the ebony hedgehog.

Leaning against a tree to help him sit up, he icily replied "I don't faint."

"Sure you do."

"I. Do. Not."

"Whatever you say" Sonic rebuffed, ignoring the venom laced in that last statement.

"I hope Tails finds helps, soon" Shadow offered.

"You and me both, man. You and me both."

"This is bad, this is really really bad" Tails repeated, flying further and further away from the ruins and the camp, yet still unable to get any sort of signal. 'That isn't right' he observed, alighting onto a tree branch to further inspect his wrist communicator.

"These are connected to dozens of satellites" he thought aloud "there should be no reason I can't get any signal now that I'm so far away from whatever was interfering, unless." Taking off his communicator, he flipped it around and removed the bottom casing, stifling a curse at his discovery. "Dang, that really was a burst of high pressure" he stated, recalling the inability of he and his friends' to move, shortly after discovering the ruins. "It was strong enough to shatter the crystal and internal circuits. Everyone else's must be ruined too" he sighed.

'We have no means of communication until I get back to my lab in order to fix this, not good at all' he mused, crestfallen. Jumping to the ground, he decided to walk back to camp, his tails tired after the frantic search for a communications link.

A few minutes later, something seemed to lightly pull at Tails' mind or body, urging him to alter his direction. Allowing the feeling to lead him on, the boy came across Omega's unresponsive body, impaled into the base of a tree. His feet sticking out of one side while his face was on the other, his arms and torso held immobile in the center of the tree. The sight would've been comical, had tails not seen his green knapsack sitting neatly in front of the robot, a leather bound book resting atop the bag, a burning ember - the symbol of fire - etched into the front of the book, the roman numeral one under it.

'Well, that isn't my book' he concluded, rushing to assist his mechanical friend. "Omega, power on" he commanded.

No reaction.

'It was worth a shot.'

Groaning, he spoke aloud "maan, this sucks, in order to get at Omega's control panel, I need access to his torso." Eying the tree his friend had managed to lodge into, he sighed again 'maybe, I can just burn through it' he thought. "It's worth a shot" he resolved, holding his hand out in front of him, fingers splayed, then muttered "Fox Fire" causing a single blue ember of fire to manifest on each of the tips of his fingers, creating five in all. Holding his wrist in his other hand, he took aim at a portion of the tree directly over Omega and sharply uttered "Release!" launching all five bolts of flame at the plant, scorching the bark clean off of the tree where they hit 'that's all?' he thought, raising an eyebrow at the strength of the tree, watching a slowly dying piece of charcoal bounce off of Omega's head and onto the book…. Then vanish as the book flared a bright red before returning to its dull brownish color.

Tails stared at the book for a moment, puzzled. Omega penetrated the confusion by returning to life as well and stating "I am stuck, Tails, our enemy, Doctor Eggman, has left a tome with instructions on how to free me, I suggest moving with haste" he relayed, managing to sound annoyed, even with his robotic tone.

"Tome?" he echoed, looking at the leather bound book, the burning ember from before now resembling a completely different object as he walked closer to retrieve it and his knapsack. Thinking better of it, he decided to sit at the base of the tree and examine the book more closely 'this isn't an ember at all, it's a hand of sorts' he discovered, then checking the spine for some sort of title 'firebolt?' he gleaned.

"Tails" Omega started. "Do you know the status of our comrades?" he asked, managing to sound worried.

"Sonic and Shadow are pretty beat up, though Shadow did get a cool new sword" he began "but Rouge and Knuckles were unconscious when we showed up, what happened?" he asked the robot.

Omega lay silent for a moment, before starting with "I am ashamed to say" another pause "we were defeated by Eggman" then added "single handedly."

"What!" Tails shouted, shock and disbelief etched onto his features "That's impossible" he breathed out. "The three of you not only had him outnumbered and tied up, plus, he's Eggman!" he reasoned.

"He not only broke through the ropes using naught but brute strength" Omega continued. "He then overpowered the three of us with lightning based abilities and sheer power" he stated, almost dejectedly.

"It's alright Omega" Tails consoled the automaton, patting its head, thinking 'Lightning?' and 'overpowered all three!' while staring at the book in his lap, wondering why Eggman would leave any form of assistance, especially for his enemies 'it has to be a trap' the boy reasoned, but opened it anyway, flinching as a small piece of paper fluttered out of the pages and landed in front of him.

"Do not demean me, Tails" Omega warned, growing frustrated at being pet as the child clung to his face, cowering from a piece of a paper. "Release me, now."

"Oh, sorry Omega" Tails apologized, chuckling nervously as he removed himself from omega and retrieved the slip of paper. Flipping it over, he read the paper aloud, for Omega's benefit.

"Dear Tails, I do believe that you will be the first to discover this little book I've left. Treat it with care, for awesome power is contained within these pages and I figured you would be able to read its pages, seeing as fire isn't my element. To ensure that you read this tome of the fire mage, I've left a bit of motivation for you in the form of Omega. I do believe that he is very much stuck in this tree, but the first incantation "Firebolt" should be more than enough to burn it down if the force of the attack doesn't simply shatter it. I look forward to our next meeting, you'll progress quite nicely. Hopefully. Yours truly, Ivo Robotnik." Noticing a small scrawl at the edge of the paper, he read it aloud as well "P.S. Don't let anyone else know of this book, the mages guild wouldn't appreciate it, I'd assume." Spotting another, he read it as well "P.P.S. All hail the Eggman Empire!"

Omega beeped in disgust, struggling once more to release himself from his wooden prison, blowing a gasket as a result. "Error!" he shouted "hip socket B has been shattered, entering recovery mode" then promptly shut down.

"Omega?" Tails sighed, knowing he wouldn't get any response for a while. "Well, I guess I better get started on this thing" he announced opening the tome. "Let's see…. Firebolt…. Sounds cool enough…."

"So…." Sonic hazarded, attempting to engage his companion in conversation "Up for some tic tac toe, rock paper scissors, I spy, truth or dare or something?" he asked.

Shadow simply ignored him.

"Oh, I see" Sonic smirked "Scared of losing, I get it."

"You take that back" Shadow growled.

"Or what?" Sonic challenged.

Shadow lunged at the blue hedgehog.

"OK…. One more…. Shot" Tails panted. Covered with patches of soot and smelling of smoke and singed fur. He looked at the opened book in his left hand while raising his right to point at the tree Omega was still stuck. The tree itself was covered in scorch marks, and bits of the tree looked as if it had been scooped off with a hot spoon, as evidenced by the three smoking gouges on the edges of the tree.

Tails stared at a specific page in his book, eyes narrowed in concentration as his hand began to slowly clench into a fist, a pale orange glow manifesting in the center. Abruptly, his eyes widened and his hand stayed in its half fisted position, the orange glow still there. He focused on the glow for a moment and suddenly it intensified into a deep red-orange, the color of a roaring flame. Without wasting a moment, his hand shot out towards the tree, releasing the glowing orb of energy in an instant.

It streaked out of his hand -leaving a trail of orange in it's wake- as the firebolt smashed into the side of the tree, effortlessly plowing through the bark and into the tree itself, shattering that section of the tree in an explosion of heat and scorched splinters.

Tails stared at the gaping Omega sized hole in the poor tree, arm still outstretched, mouth noiselessly opening and closing in shock.

Roused from the impact, Omega started back up. "What is the current situ-" he stopped abruptly. "Scanning" he announced. "I see, good work tails" he praised as he started rotating his now movable arm before changing it into a flamethrower and promptly setting the tree -and himself, inadvertently or purposely- on fire.

Taken out of his stupor, the young fox rushed to the robot's aid but was unable to get any closer, due to the intense heat of the fire. "Omega!" he shouted, desperate to hear a reply.

"Do not worry tails. My armor plating may withstand multiple times this level of heat. The fire will weaken the structure of this…. Prison, in order for me to release myself as you rest" Omega called from within the flames, attempting to reassure the boy.

"I guess you know what you're doing" Tails hesitated, scooting away from the single burning tree. "I guess I'll wait, then" he sighed, sitting down and placing the book inside of his knapsack. 'I think it'll be fine if I let Sonic know about this' he ruminated.

Sprawled on their backs in the grass as they attempted to catch their breath, Sonic and Shadow agreed to a truce -at least until their bodies weren't quite so sore- for the time being, opting to recover their strength and watch over the still unconscious Rouge & Knuckles while Tails searched for a means of transportation.

"When are these two gonna wake up?" Sonic thought aloud.

"Whatever happened, it must have been pretty intense" Shadow speculated. "Thankfully, they don't seem to be in any immediate danger, but we need Omega here, just to make sure."

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure Tails must've found him or something. It's probably why he's taking so long to get back" Sonic shrugged -even though Shadow couldn't see him- in the grass.

"I guess it's better to be optimistic for the mo-" a breeze picked up, the smell of smoke wafted in as well, stinging the two hedgehogs' nostrils.

"You smelled it too" Sonic stated, whispering.

"Yeah, but I don't see any smoke from a fire" Shadow replied, just as quietly.

"That means someone has to be close by, right?"

"We can't move the others around too much, but we also don't know if whoever's approaching is friend or foe…." Shadow trailed off.

"We'll have to set up an ambush, just in case" Sonic decided.

"Alright, we won't be able to do much in a fight, given the condition we're in though."

"We'll have to make do & hope for the best, is all" sonic supplied, as the two of them silently leapt into the tree cover.

"Hey, where'd Sonic and Shadow go?" Tails asked himself, as he and Omega walked into the clearing.

"Scanners indicate that the two have hidden themselves in separate trees, In order to overtake any unsuspecting enemies" Omega stated.

"Well, dang" Sonic cursed, dropping out of a tree right behind Tails, startling the child. "Those scanners of yours are pretty nifty" Sonic observed.

"Yes. Yes they are" Omega agreed.

"Uh, where's Shadow?" Tails asked, peering upwards into the trees in an attempt to spot their ebony companion.

"Right here" Shadow replied, - having dropped behind Tails only a few moments ago - startling the fox once more.

Sonic chuckled, watching his friend try to regain some of his composure. Then he smelled the smoke and singed fur rolling off of Omega and tails, noticing the sooty patches covering the small fox. "Busy day, Tails?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"You don't know the half of it" the boy sighed.

"Omega. Status report. Make it brief" Shadow commanded.

"The doctor, Eggman, managed to singlehandedly defeat Myself, Knuckles and Rouge" was his succinct reply.

"Well damn" Shadow offered while Sonic whistled.

"Looks like egghead got an upgrade, I guess" Sonic added.

"Are your heal units and first aid equipment still in working condition?" Shadow asked.

"The heal units are in working order, although your injuries do not require the use of one. Where are Rouge and Knuckles?" he asked.

"Right over here" Sonic lead them to their still unconscious friends. "Hey, can you scan them, to, you know, see if everything's alright with 'em?" he asked the robot.

He obliged, wordlessly running a thin blue beam of light over the two unaware figures.

"Well?" Shadow prompted, anxious.

"No internal damage has been detected. Additional scans indicate that Brainwaves are normal as well." Omega listed off.

"So….?" Sonic prompted.

"They'll be fine, they're just sleeping, after having been knocked unconscious" Tails interpreted.

"Well, that's a nice bit of good news" Shadow breathed out in relief.

"Yep, now we've just gotta figure out how to get back" Sonic mused, looking at Omega appraisingly.

"Is there a problem, Sonic?"

"Omega!" Sonic started, inspiration having struck him. "Enter. Vehicle mode!"

All was silent.

Tails sighed and shook his head, disgraced.

Shadow smacked the blue hedgehog in the back of the head, because - it was fun - he deserved it.

"Alright" Sonic sighed, rubbing his sore head. "Let's pretend this never happened?" he offered.

"There isn't much to forget, you've always been stupid" Shadow, replied.

"And you've always been an asshole!" Sonic retorted, his finger in the other's face.

"You. Are an idiot" Shadow huffed, swatting the finger out of his face.

"You. Are a dick" Sonic mocked, crossing his arms.

"That was really clev-"

"For the LOVE of god, SHUT UP!" Rouge screeched, roused from her comatose state.

"Rouge? You're alright?" Shadow asked, ignoring Sonic.

"Other than the electrical burns-"

"And a wounded pride, courtesy of Eggman" Knuckles joined in.

"…. That too" Rouge allowed. "I'm feeling pretty chipper" she answered, voice dripping with sarcasm.

After a moment, Knuckles piped up. "I hurt."

"That's nice" Shadow replied offhandedly, checking Rouge over for any wounds he may have missed.

"Douche" Knuckles muttered as Tails and Sonic began to poke and prod him with their fingers and - in Sonic's case - feet. "Ouch! Ow. Please stop" he begged.

"You think you can walk?" Shadow asked Rouge while Omega rescanned her. "I don't know if moving you myself would make things any worse."

"I' couldn't get up if I wanted to, and trust me, I don't" she reassured him. "Just, be gentle?"

"I won't allow any harm to befa-"

"My god, just kiss her already, shads!" Sonic interjected, earning chuckles from Tails and knuckles, although the echidna winced in pain afterwards.

"Chaos. Spear."

After various acrobatics, many fallen trees and some intervention from Omega, Sonic and Shadow regained consciousness twenty minutes later. Grinning from ear to ear, Sonic could only say "and this is why we're best friends."

"I disown you" Shadow grumbled, refusing to look at the blue hedgehog.

"You didn't deny it!" Sonic chuckled as the two of them got to their feet and meticulously dusted themselves off, eerily mirroring each other's movements.

"If you two are finished being stupid" Rouge groaned from the floor - Knuckles yelping in the background as Tails attempted to move him - "We'd appreciate some help."

"We'd already be home if Shadow hadn't lost the Chaos Emerald" Sonic sulked.

"Stop crying about that, it's better off this way anyhow" Shadow rebuked.

Rouge cleared her throat, annoyed at their antics as Knuckles screeched in the background again.

"This mission just couldn't end any sooner" Rouge seethed. "I hate hospital visits.

End Flashback.

That'd been months ago. Rouge and Knuckles recovered in the hospital after two weeks. The Doctor had yet to resurface. Sonic and Tails went back to bumming around with the rest of their friends. Shadow had taken to arguing with Oblivion whenever the job gave him some alone time, hence the temporary apartment away from "Club Rouge" at the moment, despite Rouge's protests at losing her rent paying companion.

"Oblivion" Shadow called, walking into the kitchen, "manifest."

The sheathed sword in his hand shimmered, emerging from the sheath in a flash of ebony light.

A mirror image of Shadow - disregarding the pitch black eyes - stood before him, smirking.

"Must you always be so theatrical, Oblivion?" Shadow sighed.

"Yes, I do. Now make food and invite this ninja friend of yours, his shuriken will be very helpful. Mention them" he ordered.

"Don't tell me what to do" Shadow barked, waving the - now empty - white sheath threateningly. "I'll call Espio over in a bit."

"Excellent" Oblivion purred, causing Shadow to twitch.

"Please don't do that" Shadow asked. "Or at least not in my body…. Or the body of anyone I may know" he sighed in relief, noticing the smug look on his doppelganger's face recede.

"Fine, fine" Oblivion relented, facial expression back to neutral. "Eat plenty, you'll be doing practice swings with the gold sword today" he added offhandedly.

"That thing breaks every twelve minutes & its heavier than reason and logic dictates. As such, I refuse" Shadow deadpanned.

"Then make a better one, you could use the practice anyway."

"Sitting down for eight hours in order to meditate so that I can produce gold out of thin air was fun for the first twenty minutes, then I realized it was draining my chaos reserves at an alarming rate and passed out when it was over" Shadow growled. "Explaining this to Rouge, who now thinks that you're an actual person - and an alchemist, to boot - was not fun" he explained.

"Which is why you need to grow stronger, hence the gold sword" Oblivion reasoned.

"You're just a sadistic bastar-" his wrist communicator blared, Tails on the other end. He answered, the sound of shouts and explosions filled his ears. "Tails, what's going on!"

"Shadow, Eggman's attacking Angel Island, the Echidnas can't fend off all of these new badniks and Sonic hasn't come back!" the fox shouted.

"Tails! Slow down!" Shadow roared, drawing a confused glance from Oblivion. "Where do I have to be?"

"Come to the Master Emerald shrine! Knuckles, watch ou-" the connection ended.

"Well?" Obivion prompted.

Shadow grabbed a piece of toast and fastened the sheath to his waist. "Change back, it's time to put this training to some use."

"Don't get cocky" the lookalike warned, disappearing in another flash of black light, the sword now sheathed. 'You're just an untalented novice, at the moment.'

Shadow smirked "this'll just be test of what skills I'm lacking, then" he replied. "Chaos Control."