FINALLY things are becoming a little clearer on your behalf. I think. I hope.

Okay, so Tails has found out what's inside of him. Sort of. He's had a conversation with it at the least. Shadow, meanwhile, is now on his tail - or tails – hoping something hasn't happened to the fox.

Just want to clarify that the creature inside of Tails isn't related to Mephiles in any way. Would just like to thank Tailsisreal for pointing this out XD I haven't played '06 in such a long time I've pretty much forgotten the main plot. This chapter is a bit more humorous – SonAmy fans are gonna love it. I think. Also, I've thrown in a bit of Tae Kwon Do, so if you're Tae Kwon Do-ist (eh?) like me, then you'll probably recognise the move pretty fast. Considering you've done it before.

WOOT! My request for more reviewers actually worked! ^_^ welcome aboard Kitsune-awesomeness, Lloyd Redgrave and shadow zombie! Yay :) (insert some random clip of me getting the glow sticks out and doing the ping-pong rave to All I ever Wanted).

Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic or related characters, or Amadeus and Rosemary Prower, they are all copyright of their respective owners. The only characters I do own is Artemis and what's-his-name (not going to give it out just yet, jees -.-') that's infected Tails. If you count him as a character /:l Meh. By the way, Read, Review, Enjoy!

Chapter 10: She's lost it...

Sunday morning came. The sun would have sat neatly on the horizon had it not been obscured by dark clouds that had formed over night. As morning dawned in Sapphire City, everyone woke to their normal routines. Watch the news, eat breakfast, get the children changed for their own daily activities. And possibly go shopping if need be. Tails lay on the floor, fast asleep, next to Sonic who lay snoozing on the bed above. Neither of them stirred, neither of them shown any signs of waking up any time soon. Last night's events had caused them to lose a lot of energy very quickly, even if it is hard for them to do so in the first place.

While the duo slept undisturbed, the rest of the house had already begun to awake. Artemis had already made his way downstairs along with Rosemary. While Artemis quietly ate his breakfast, Rosemary turned on the television to view that morning's news. After a few minutes of the reporters explaining the usual things like the weather and Government activities, they went on to the more serious news.

'...Late last night, a very powerful bomb was set off at Crateméro's Gorge' the female reporter, a green squirrel with a large tail that reached to the back of her head. 'The source is not yet known, but it is supposedly the work of either the infamous Doctor Eggman or possibly Sonic the hedgehog. This theory is doubted, but the reason being is because his companion Tails' ship has been found in the area.' Rosemary raised an eyebrow as a picture of the wreckage came up on the screen. It's a wonder they're still alive. Investigators are looking for any signs of what has happened. No one has been injured, but a forest fire, which has been quickly disposed of, had been started.

'On a side note,' continued the male reporter, a grey wolf with a surprisingly calm face that didn't intimidate everyone that seen it 'something has been found underneath the gorge. Our reporters at the scene cannot get any information as of yet as the area is still too dangerous to investigate further, but -' the news abruptly stopped. To be replaced by Eggman's oversized red nose and moustache. Rosemary jumped out of her skin at the sudden surprise, while Artemis started shouting 'bad Eggman! Bad Eggman!' at the screen, obviously remembering the sinister kidnapping that he had committed just two nights ago.

'Good morning Mobius!' Eggman shouted in a very cheery voice, with a smile larger than his nose, as the screen zoomed out to reveal the rest of himself, standing proudly with his fists on his hip. 'If you're watching the news, then you'll be wanting the latest! If you know about Crateméro's Gorge, then you'll probably know about mine and Sonic's brawl. Well, I think I am very pleased to say that I have finally won!

'You heard me right!' He carried on as shock flooded everyone that was watching. Eggman had set up the broadcast to show up at the time of the news Mobius' great defender is now six feet underground! That is, if his body survived the heat. As for his friend Tails, I'm pretty sure he's bit the dust too! So I suggest you surrender to me immediately, or else! You have three days to respond, so make your decision fast.' The screen came up with Eggman's logo, before returning to the news. More would have been said had both reporters not been gaping at the camera, completely incredulous as to what had just been said.

Shadow stood on top of the rooftops of Sapphire City. It was unusually quiet, even for this early time of the morning. He looked across the city, gloomed by the dark clouds above. Having already checked the house of its occupants to find there weren't any, he had now set off to find out where Tails had run to. His best bet to draw out the two-tailed fox was to wait for Eggman to make a move. Unlike the rest of Mobius, he hadn't found out about the so-called 'catastrophe' yet.

A lone car passed the building Shadow stood on top of. Something's not right Shadow thought to himself as it turned a corner and disappeared behind another building. The streets are usually packed at this time. But Shadow still had his mind set on fulfilling his goal and let the mysterious lack of congestion sail away. He doubted it would concern him, so letting it get in the way would only cause more problems.

Tails woke to find he had been sleeping on his left arm. He rolled his eyes, knowing what would come next when he rolled off of it. As expected when he sat up, he couldn't feel anything in his arm. It was actually possible to stab it and he wouldn't be able to feel a thing, until the blood came flooding back. As it did, the cold feeling rushed down his arm, followed by pins and needles as his nerves and muscles came back to life with the renewed oxygen. Tails flexed his fingers before standing up. A shuffling sound suddenly met his ears and he looked round to the source, to find it was just Sonic rolling around in his sleep. Hope you're okay Sonic... Tails thought to himself before setting off downstairs.

Tails entered the living room to find Artemis in his red pyjamas with his legs crossed and tails wrapped around his body, watching morning television shows and Rosemary with her feet curled underneath her body, yet again in her dressing gown.

'Morning' Tails said to the two.
'Morning. Apparently, you're dead,' Rosemary said as Tails sat down. Tails, taken aback, merely exclaimed 'huh?!' with a very confused expression.
'Doctor Eggman decided to tell the world that you and Sonic died in some explosion. Do you mind telling me what happened last night then?' Tails sighed. He knew it was an inevitable question, so he had spent most of the night devising answers to everything that would be asked. They were mostly true, with just a few things 'modified' or left out, so it wasn't really lying.
'All right,' he said. 'Me and Sonic were in a fight with Eggman. The robot he used against us blew up after I shot it down. And as for how we ended up here...' Tails' voice trailed off, leaving his sentence unfinished.
'Well, it seems as though you and Sonic have some explaining to do, since everyone now thinks you're dead,' Rosemary concluded and Tails nodded in response.
'We might do it next time Eggman strikes, so it gives us an advantage over him,' Tails begun thinking on his feet again. It would be the most helpful since Eggman wouldn't use much force to take over now that his arch nemesis was presumed dead. He would just send out basic robots to roam the streets instead.

'Oh ho hoo! Hee he haaa haaa!' Eggman giggled in delight. He had been doing this for so long, he had nearly neglected to start the production of his robot army. Nearly. The machines were now operating at their highest possible speed, robots being finished faster than you could finish a cup of tea. The first batch had already been set off to Sapphire City. He wanted to take it over first merely because it was the closest, and it held the University that would become very handy to him when building bigger and better robots. He had actually begun to wonder why he hadn't tried to do so in the first place. Ah yes. Sonic he reminded himself. Him getting in the way would explain why I never tried before.
'Doctor, don't you think you're over reacting?' Decoe exclaimed.
'Nonsense! I've won! I finally beat that infernal hedgehog!' Eggman shouted at a taken aback Decoe, before he started giggling uncontrollably again. Decoe sighed and exited the room to check up on the robot manufacturing statistics, or at least make sure Bocoe was doing his job properly, instead of pressing the wrong buttons, like he had done last time, so left Doctor Eggman to his excitement.

Eggman, after several minutes of uncontrollable laughing (and possibly losing a few pounds due to the continuous rocking back and forth), finally checked up to see how his little army was going in Sapphire City through the Egg-dragonfly. His smile almost faded immediately. Oh. This will be fun to watch!

'AAARRRGGHHHHH!' the scream sounded out throughout the expansive street. The robots, although built with no emotions whatsoever, were retreating rapidly from a force that would have Knuckles begging for mercy in mere seconds. One such robot was pounded into the ground by a very large, red and yellow hammer.

Amy rampaged at the runaway robots, all bearing Eggman's logo. It wasn't the robots that made her angry – it was the face that the logo held. She had hated it before, but now she despised it to the point of pummelling even the slightest glimpse of it to a pulp. Which was exactly what she was doing. She savagely chased the fleeing androids. One that couldn't keep up with its team mates was shortly pounded by a crushing blow from above. Amy flattened the metal to a pancake, stamping as hard as she could and whacking continuously at the pile. Her eyes were not blazing fires, but roaring infernos. No one had seen her so angry in living memory. A reporter's chopper hovered above, recording the action. The cameraman hoped she didn't turn on them.
'EGGMAN!' she shouted at the top of her lungs, still stampeding towards the robots that were now trying to leave the city via the quickest route possible. Amy chased after them, waving her Pico-Pico hammer as if she were trying to swat a very annoying fly. 'EGGMAN! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU...!'

Is that... Amy?

Tails thought as he watched the news report. I know she can get mad when she wants to, but... I better tell Sonic before she does something drastic. Tails leapt to his feet, went in to the hallway and climbed the stairs to the top. He barged into Sonic's room, to find him still fast asleep on the bed.

'Sonic! Sonic! Wake up!' Tails yelled as he shook the hedgehog violently. He had no idea why he was overreacting, but it seemed to him that if he didn't, then Amy would do something she would probably one day regret.
'Huh? Who?' Sonic jolted awake, asking random questions.
'Sonic, quick, you need to hurry!' Tails said in a panicky voice.
'Why, where's the fire?' Sonic replied as he stretched and yawned.
'Amy's gone berserk.' Sonic's eyes widened at this. Unbeknownst to Tails, he had completely misinterpreted the message and ran over to the window to see if she was at the front door. I haven't even done anything this time! Have I?!
'How long d'ya think it'll take for her to get here Tails?!' Sonic said exasperatedly as he turned round to the dumbfounded fox.
'I didn't mean it like that. Listen...' Tails quickly explained the message that had been broadcasted to every citizen on Mobius and what Amy was doing in the middle of the City. '...so I guess she thinks your dead.'
'I better go tell her I am alive, before she goes on a murderous rampage. Although by the sounds of it, she already is.' At this, Sonic headed for the hallway.
'Wait up Sonic, I'll come with you!' Tails shouted over his shoulder, chasing the hedgehog down the stairs and out of the front door. The duo sped off towards the centre of the city, where Amy was still having her tantrum. Hopefully, the sight of Sonic would calm her down.

Come on... where are you?!

Shadow was once again poised on the rooftops, watching what remained of the squad of robots with the pink hedgehog in hot pursuit. Shadow begun to get side-tracked towards the reason why Amy was so angry. What's wrong with her? She's acting as if Eggman's just killed someone she loves. Humph, well there's only one person she loves and I highly doubt he's actually lost to Eggman... He continued to watch the unnecessarily violent hedgehog smash any robot that got with arm's distance until they resembled pancakes.

'You... killed... my Sonic! When I'm through with you Eggman... you're going... to be joining him!' Amy had completely lost the plot. If the police had dared to approach her at the time and she didn't fight back, she would be sent strapped tightly in a straight jacket and sent to the nearest Asylum ASAP. Lucky for her, the police didn't even want to be in the same street, thinking they would be her next victim if she seen someone that resembled Eggman in any shape or form. Instead, they just hung back and let her deal with them. Actually, she was doing a pretty good job at getting them out, so they seen no reason to intervene.

Sonic and Tails followed a series of streets and side streets, just guessing and following the faint sound of a helicopter to find where Amy was. Eventually, they arrived at the street through a back alley a hundred metres behind Amy.
'Amy! Wait!' Sonic rushed off towards the distraught hedgehog while Tails hung back, seeing as there was nothing much else he could do.
'Amy!' it was faint. She could hardly hear it. All she could hear was the blood pounding through her head. 'Amy!' She thought she was hearing things. She tried to block it out by pounding ruthlessly on the flattened android on the floor. 'Amy! It's me!' Her hammer stopped in mid-air. Now she knew she wasn't hearing things. It sounded too real. But... It can't be... Her head slowly turned over her shoulder. There he was, running towards her, waving his arms frantically, trying to make himself seen. Amy dropped her hammer and ran towards the blue hedgehog, tears starting to stream down her face.

As soon as Sonic was in arm's reach, Amy jumped on him and pulled him in a bone-crushing hug. Sonic's eyes rolled up as he tried to gasp in air, his diaphragm's movements restrained by the pink hedgehog's embrace.
'Sonic! I... thought... you were dead.'
'Well... I'm not... Amy... please! I... can't breathe!' Amy, reluctantly, let go and Sonic gasped in the air. 'What'cha... think you're doing Amy?'
'Well, Eggman said he had killed you, and, well, you know...' was Amy's reply. Well with the news of my supposedly dying Sonic thought to himself it was pretty predictable. Sonic nodded to show he understood and watched the retreating robots exit the city, to everyone's (including their own) delight.

Except Eggman, who banged on his controls and tried to order them to go back, but it was no use. Instead, Eggman just went and started banging his head on the controls. Lifting his head up slowly, dropping it so it made a dull thud on the keyboard, and then repeating this. Again and again.

Tails stood at the back alley, watching Sonic calm Amy down. Then movement on the other side of the street, above the buildings, caught his attention. He looked up. But nothing there. It was probably a bird. Tails waved it away from his mind and continued to watch the comforting unfold. Then a thud sounded behind him. Tails spun round to look at the culprit.

'Sh-Shadow? Is that you?' Tails said as he squinted at the black and red hedgehog, almost invisible in the low light.

Shadow didn't say a word, but instead lunged straight at Tails to deliver a punch that would knock him out instantly. Without even thinking, Tails reacted. Remembering one of the take-down moves Knuckles had taught him for his birthday, he took a step back with his right leg as he seen the fist raise. He timed the grab perfectly – with his right arm, he grabbed Shadow's right wrist on the outside. Tails then twisted Shadow's arm, so that his elbow was pointing upwards, rendering it harmless. With all of the force he could muster, Tails smashed down on Shadow's arm with his own free arm, just above the elbow, forcing the hedgehog to the ground. It all happened so fast, Shadow was already on the floor by the time he realised what had just happened. He struggled to get free of the unbreakable lock, but it was no use. Shadow groaned. Taken down by someone half his size. And nowhere near his strength. If Shadow cared, he would be severely embarrassed.

'Let go!' Shadow shouted over his shoulder as he tried to struggle free. Tails applied as much pressure has he dared to keep Shadow grounded. But he had to be careful – too much pressure would break his arm easily. But it was hard. Fright told him to keep pushing until he couldn't push any more.
'Wh-What is it you want Shadow?' Tails exclaimed as his body shaked with adrenaline. 'What have I done? I haven't done anything!'
'Exactly! Now let me go so I can do it for you!'
'What are you talking about?!' Tails was so confused, it made his head spin. He had no idea why Shadow wanted him so badly, but he knew it couldn't be good. The last time Shadow had wanted someone, nothing had stopped him from getting to her.
'Shadow?! Tails?! What's going on?!' Sonic, along with Amy, had rushed over to see the commotion. 'By the way, where ya been Shadow? How'd ya -'
'It doesn't matter,' Shadow butted in. 'All that matters is that he's stopped,' Shadow motioned his head towards Tails. Tails looked at Sonic with a 'please tell me what's going on' expression. Sonic merely shrugged, just as clueless as Tails was.

'Shadow, we don't know what you're talking about. Please just tell us!' Tails exclaimed as Shadow tried to pull his arm away from the grasp, which only caused Tails to push down even further to keep hold. Shadow gave a short gasp of pain and bared his teeth.
'It... must be stopped. Or we're all doomed,' Shadow managed to say. Sonic and Tails exchanged the same look as they had just done.
'What's 'it' exactly, Shadow?' Amy unexpectedly spoke out.

Before Shadow could answer, Tails' grip loosened slightly. The hedgehog felt this slight lapse and suddenly jerked his arm away, ripping it out of the arm-lock. Shadow jumped to his feet as Tails fell backwards into the alley wall. Shadow immediately lunged for the fox, while simultaneously taking out a chaos emerald. Sonic reacted to the lunge and threw all of his weight towards Shadow, tackling him against a nearby street bin as Tails and Amy made a quick dash for the nearest exit to the city. The force knocked out the wind from Shadow, leaving him gasping for air as his solar plexus was squeezed against his back bone. Alright, that should give us some time Sonic thought to himself.

The back of Tails' head was throbbing from the impact. But he didn't worry about it – all he thought about was run. Run. And keep running and don't stop. He had a vague idea on what Shadow was really talking about. But how could he know? No one does, not even Sonic.

'C'mon Tails!' Amy called over her shoulder. Tails realised how much he had fallen behind and sped up his pace to catch up. Just as he did so, Sonic came up on his left.
'So, what exactly are we running from?' Sonic said. Tails shook his head, pretending to have no idea why Shadow wanted him. 'Let's go a bit faster,' Sonic added and rushed over to Tails' other side and lifted a surprised Amy off her feet. 'C'mon Tails!' Sonic called as he begun to speed up. Tails spun both tails and begun propelling himself, slowly matching Sonic's speed as they raced through the open fields that outlined the city and towards Angel Falls.

Shadow gasped for air as he lay on all fours, clutching his stomach. They got away... Great. I'll have to track them down... But I need to gain his trust... Maybe telling him what it is would help. Shadow finally caught his breath and stood up. They'll probably head back to Angel Falls, so I'll go there. If that thing gets out of control, we'll all suffer. Shadow turned out of the alleyway and skated off towards Angel Falls, tailing the others that were no longer anywhere to be seen.