The crazed fox scientist was getting closer, for he had a slight advantage, just a bit more power then the Mobiuns and Quicktails he fought. Flick noticed this as he was carried away towards the crazed fox, but why was this creature that had him working for Cobalt? Surely he knew that the white fox would turn on him and do the same as he had done to Bujin, who had become a soulless, insane monster.

Suddenly, the dog carrying him stopped, he wasn't even past the invisible border. He turned to see if anyone was following him, then looked at Flick, surprised that the fox was silent and unresisting.

Instead of going on, Kight leapt to the forest floor, looking as if he was waiting for someone. Flick tilted his head at his captor, but the gesture of curiosity went unnoticed, or ignored.

There was a blast of light nearby, a bright blue and blinding almost. When it disappeared, a small golden-furred hedgehog stood in its place. Maria. In her hand was the chaos emerald from before. Chaos Control. The dog stared at her, this was not who he had been waiting for, why was she here?

"I came to play with Flick! Is he done with the dentist yet?" She asked, skipping toward them.

To the left of them, came what the dog had been waiting for, the scientist, and a tank similar to the ones he had been riding, but smaller, small enough to go unnoticed with the other ones rampaging. It tore through the forest, leveling trees and plants. Headed straight for them.

Kight leapt out of the way quickly. But looked down, and saw the little hedgehog. She wasn't moving. Just staring.

The dog didn't hesitate; he leapt back down, grabbing her as well and leaping back to his place in the trees that weren't in the way.

Cobalt stopped the machine in front of his tree, glaring.

"I WANTED to run her over. Put her back down. She's annoying!" The white fox said to him, pouting it seemed.

Kight seemed to think for a minute, looking at Maria, then the fox.

"You're mean!" Maria stuck her tongue out at Cobalt and blew a raspberry at him.

"Well?" The fox waited, expecting the dog to put her down; after all, he was the one paying him.

"No."

"Good then… …. WHAT?!" The fox started, looking up at him in shock. He had said… no?

"You're mean!" He mimicked Maria and stuck her tongue at him, to the golden hedgehog's pleasure. She giggled.

"You… YOU… YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO WORK FOR ME!" The fox appeared to be having a tantrum. But it wasn't all words. He got back into this tank, disappearing under a hatch. The machine reared up, aimed at the trio. But it was too late. They were already gone.

Jazz stood up, sighing. While coming back to report to them about the battle, Mina had healed his leg right up. It was some sort of magic, but the green hedge-fox didn't care. It fixed it, and that's all he cared about.

Now she was reviving Shadow, but it was taking longer then they had thought. Omar would be last, as they had chained him up to the wall just in case he tried to get away.

Tails didn't seem to be to worried about Flick, until he almost slapped himself as he remembered that the poor fox was a mute, and that the only thing that the gray and red fox's phone was useful for was for relaying background sounds around him.

Meiou had taken Maria out to get something to eat, but now he came running back into the ballroom where they had all been staying, panicked.

"She's gone! She just grabbed the Chaos Emerald out of my bag and disappeared, saying she was going to go play with Flick! I didn't even have time to stop her!" The dark furred rabbit said, pulling at her ears. "I didn't even KNOW she knew Chaos Control!"

Jazz thought for a second, then leapt up through the already broken glass ceiling to go after her. If Shadow woke up to find his daughter missing, he would go berserk.

The hedge-fox leapt easily from tree to tree, keeping his senses alert for any sign of the girl. She couldn't have teleported far… Could she? She didn't even know where the fox and his captor had been going after all.

He stopped, flicking his large fox ears side to side. What was that he heard? Yes it was her, but she was laughing… She must have been heading away from the battle, she wouldn't be laughing if she saw that.

Jazz turned toward the direction, and his jaw dropped. It was the ninja dog again! He was about a mile away across the tree tops, but Jazz had no trouble seeing him, especially with the eyes he'd inherited from his father. Bujin had given him a combination of hawk eyes and owl eyes. They were… heading back towards the ball room. Jazz narrowed his eyes in suspicion, and followed them.

This time Kight used a side door instead of the ceiling. If he wasn't out to shock and surprise them, then why destroy too much of their stuff? Walking into the ballroom, Shadow was just beginning to wake up, the first thing he saw was his previous adversary mongoose holding Maria's hand.

The black hedgehog looked confused for a second, the ran for her. Kight immediately let go of her hand and backed off. The fox wasn't paying him to bother them anymore, so why start a fight? Anyway, he was going to give that fox something to REALLY worry about later…

Flick, who had walked in next to him, ran over to Tails, and in a quick display of expert charades, explained what had happened. Sort of. There was an extra part about him attacking the scientist that none of them believed for a second.

They continued to stare at Kight suspiciously, until Jazz came in through the same door not too far behind him.

"Teh white fox… Seems ta be having a fit, and is now being beaten back. He can't concentrate, with his two side-arms gone it seems." The hedge-fox said, snickering. He didn't flinch or seemed disturbed by the blue ninja dog's presence at all, and the others began to relax.

"Well, we had better go wake Omar up then. See if we can fix him." Shadow said, heading toward the room where they had locked the green hedgehog up, Maria trailing behind him.

The other's followed him, and after a shake of his head, Kight as well.

Tails, having lived there before, used the code that opened the door, and they found that they didn't need to wake the hedgehog up, he was no longer sleeping. But he wouldn't look at them either, nor would he speak.

"Omar." Shadow said.

He didn't say anything, his eyes averted onto the floor. He wasn't even fighting against the chains…

"Omar!"

Nothing.

"Dad…?" Jazz said, trying not to hope too much.

The chained hedgehog's ears pricked for a moment, but then dropped back down. He sighed.

"Just leave me alone." Omar said, still not looking up.

Shadow, Mina, Kight, Meiou, Maria, Tails, and Flick all left out, but Jazz stayed for a bit longer. There was a long paused before either of them spoke.

"Ya mother is locked away in Cobalt's base, along with Shade an' teh others. Out of all of them, only a few were just 'locked away'. Teh rest are in a separate area of teh base, Cobalt's play things. They're guarded only by teh same machines, not much else. Shade is like I was, a slave. He thinks teh fox is a parent. Gettin' in won't be a problem, gettin' out will. It has many defenses for an escapee, from lasers to electric shock traps." The green furred hedgehog finished, and wouldn't say anymore.

"So… Teh knock on teh head brought ya back?" Jazz asked his father, still standing.

Omar didn't say anything for a moment, then nodded.

"Next time… Don't stop at that. If that hadn't knocked meh out, teh outcome would have been worse. Finish meh."

Jazz shook his head, not knowing what to say. Truly his father was back, but he wasn't asking for death at the moment, just if the fox turned him again. He only wanted to live, until he had seen the captured to safety.

"Could ya do meh a favor, though I shouldn't beh asking…" Omar started. "Pull these chains off of meh so I can help ya'll."

"They won't trust ya. I'm not sure I do at teh moment." Jazz replied.

"Ya don't have ta. I don't expect ya to. I'll go alone. For all teh fox knows, I'm still in his control."

Jazz looked behind him to make sure no one would see. He knew it was a risk, a high one at that. His father could still be in the control of the fox, just acting like he had returned to his old self. But then again… An insider, even Omar at that… It would be invaluable.

He knelt down and with a blast of chaos power to each of the lengths, severed the chains from the wall, leaving the shackles and about two feet metal chain attached to the arm-lengths. The legs he did more easily, leaving the shackles alone on the legs.

Omar stood up, though he was taller then his son and could have looked down at him easily, he hunched, making himself shorter, looking still looking away. But then, he DID look into Jazz's eyes.

"I will free them. Ya have meh word upon that." The hedgehog turned, and with a blast of energy, blew away the bars from the window. He didn't look back as he leapt out, and Jazz watched him speed away from the palace.