Darkness was the only thing Shadow felt when his eyes opened. He touched his head lightly, surprised at the calmness of the room. Having seen the situation he had gotten into, he had almost expected to wake up in some sort of murderous pain yet he couldn't feel even the slightest headache coming on. He tried to make out any shapes in the room, but nothing was visible through the dark. Slowly he sat up and shook his head. Great. This will be fun to get out of. Using the soft, cushioned wall, he pushed himself up and stood silently, then cautiously took a step. Step after step, he felt his bare foot sink into the fleecy, soft floor. After walking around blindly with his arms held out for a second, his fingers brushed the opposite wall. Huh? He turned back around and within seconds, his hand was on the wall he had just come from.

Taking a small step back, he ran straight into the wall, sending himself flying instantly into the opposite wall. He bolted up, bouncing back and fourth from wall to wall in mere milliseconds. He came to a slow stop, trying to mentally picture what the tiny room looked like.

Staring up, he exhaled quietly. "Where am I?" Then again, louder. "Where am I!" He listened to his own echo mysteriously ring through the cramped space. "WHERE AM I?" Not receiving an answer, he growled and pounded his fist into the plush wall. To his shock, his hand sunk deep into the once solid wall, pulling him in. Quickly, acting on instinct, he placed both of his feet on the solid part of the wall and leaned back, using his free arm to pull. But before he could stop it, his legs had been pulled in, too, and he was sucked in.

Suddenly, he was falling in a white light. He squeezed his eyes shut, blinded by the brightness. Cool winds blew up through his quills, faster, faster, faster…

"Shadow."

Pryingly, he opened his eyes. Being face down, naturally the first thing he was the ground hundreds of meters below him. Don't panic, he told himself mentally"How do you know my name!" he demanded, already knowing who he was dealing with.

"I have decided your punishment," began the genie, ignoring his question. He floated beside him as though his company was a complete stranger. Eyes closed, he continued. "Are you ready?"

"You can't kill me," Shadow stated calmly while using the wind to guide him into a better position. He stood in midair beside the genie, bracing himself for whatever happened next. "If this is the best you can do-"

"You cannot even begin to fathom what I am capable of. But, we are a bit short with time, so I will make this simple for you." Shadow raised an eyebrow. "When you wake up, you will be in my place, in the lamp. You must wait until you are found, then grant the wishes of whom ever happens to stumble upon you- your master. But," he paused to make sure Shadow was listening. "There are two things you need to remember: You cannot go free until you have granted your masters three wishes, and you cannot abuse the wish. You will have all my powers, so," he paused to looked down and smirk, "think a little this time, fool."

As he looked down, Shadow felt nothing but a pounding in his chest, a spinning in his head and eyes. No collision with the ground, no crushing impact. He was thrown back through the wall he had fallen from before he knew what had happened. He slid across the floor and lay there numbly. He groaned. It feels like I've been cut in half. What was that? After a few minutes of recovery, his eyes came in to focus. Gold lanterns lit with a shimmering amber fire illuminated the room, showing the plush walls he had fallen through to be a deep, majestic maroon. He slowly stood, but something wasn't right. Something was missing.

Taking a deep breath, he looked down. And there, where his legs should have been was a trailing stream of black- a genie's tail.

When Sonic ran, he ran for one of three reasons: Either he was running for the sheer adrenaline and feeling of speed, he was running from Amy, or, on rare occasion he ran to think. And this morning, as he stepped out of Tails' workshop into the brilliant, morning sun, he wanted a good thrill. While rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he smiled to himself.

Within seconds, he was into the forest, madly dodging tree after tree and maneuvering easily around anything in his way that posed a threat to him. He let the wind lap his cheeks as he dashed back and fourth. He had never cared about the chill in the air when he ran. Seeing the first, small buildings of the city flashing through the trees, he grinned his famous grin and picked up speed. Time to paint the town blue.

Amy rolled slowly out of bed, lazily bringing up a hand to turn the knob on the back of her clock. Grabbing her housecoat, she trudged over a few boxes into her kitchen. She smiled at her white washed walls, her box filled, brand new house. She poured herself a glass of juice, set a slice of bread in the toaster and walked to her window to see the sun peaking up through the towering pine trees.

This is nice, she sighed happily. It's so good to have my own house, especially being that it's in a quite neighborhood. I was getting tired of living in that awful apartment block with noisy people acting like they owned the place. Thank God for Tails! With all the technicalities of buying my own house, I don't think I could have done it without his help. She took a sip of her juice and looked over the dozens boxes cluttering the living room. I really should do something to help him out. He's been busy lately. Hearing the toast popping up, she turned from the window and set the toast on a plate. Quickly, she spread a spoon of raspberry jam across it, making sure to cover the whole toast, then put the jam away. She was back at the window just in time to see a sharp, blue flash run through the trees.

"Sonic!" Running through the boxes and eating her toast at the same time, she didn't see the lamp cord lying on floor. Before she knew it, she was knocked to the ground, sending her toast flying across the room. She pushed herself up, though her chest hurt, and flew into her room. She pushed a dress over her head, flattened out the creases and then threw on a headband. Washing her hands quickly, she finger combed her hair and, being careful not to trip this time, walked back through the boxes to the kitchen to grab a container of cookies she had made the night before. Slipping on her shoes, she was out the door.