Beyond Unleashed

by Carvcr Edlund

SonicX meets Sonic unleashed! There's romance, action, suspense, horror, everything! With every chapter containing excitement, there's never a dull moment. The heroes are being put into situations they haven't had to deal with before, will they prevail? Or will the blue speedster give up on himself and his friends? Read to find out! (Sonamy, shadouge) rated K for violence and lang

10. Chapter 10- Trust Issues

AN: sorry, I had a bad case of writer's block on this chapter, but my friends helped me get past it. So my hiatus is over! I'm sparing you a long author's note because I feel bad for making you guys wait so long for this chapter. I promise it's a long chapter XD Happy April the first!

Chapter 10: Cheese the Chao's POV

chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao. chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao CHAO CHAO chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao CHAO CHAO CHAO CHAO CHAO chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao CHAO CHAO CHAO chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao chao!
...

...

...

...

...

...

...

APRIL FOOLS! Here's the real chapter :P

Chapter 10: Trust Issues

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Miles "Tails" Prower

I came to watch with Sonic mostly for moral support. I knew he wasn't gonna like what he saw, so he needed a friend to be there for him. At first, he seemed really interested in how things were going. He even told us that he thought his split transformation was 'way past cool', Which he only says about things he really likes.

I guess he did have a reason to be proud, he was taking out enemy robots like they were nothing more than annoying bugs. It did look pretty awesome.

But as the events unfolded on the screen, Sonic became less and less enthusiastic. First, when he started chasing the Metarex after they had already started fleeing, he leaned back, which is the body language for someone who doesn't want to be involved in what he is seeing. When he actually split into two Sonics, his eyes widened and he crossed his arms, which is mostly interpreted as shame or a self-protective gesture. I could tell he really didn't like the dark version of himself, because whenever he spoke, Sonic would look disgusted and ashamed. When his two halves started fighting, he visibly became alarmed. I could tell he had a lot of questions. But he just remained silent and kept watching.

The cameras switched to our group talking about what to do for a while, and at certain ideas, Sonic would nod his head in agreement or look horrified, like he knew it was a bad idea. When the idea to trap him in Eggman's machine came up, he didn't nod his head or look horrified. His expression told me that he didn't know what to think. He hadn't said anything since his comment about his split form. At the same time as the me on screen said it would probably work, he slowly started to nod his head. He seemed to have figured out what we meant about him turning back to normal. But that still didn't explain to him why he attacked us.

When we had decided on our plan of action and it came time to decide who would go, he looked really ashamed at the lot of us for leaving Shadow alone to fight him.

"Really? Not even Knuckles would help you?" He asked Shadow incredulously. The black hedgehog next to him shook his head sadly. It was then that I realised that I was not the only one watching Sonic's reaction to the video. Shadow and Doctor Eggman were paying just as close attention.

The camera angle switched again to show Shadow standing outside our ship thinking about how to lure Sonic to the trap. After a minute, Shadow pulled out his fake emerald. Sonic looked impressed at his preparedness. Then Rouge came on the intercom from Eggman's ship.

Sonic shook his head almost like he found it amusing. Shadow clenched his fists. I guess he was still touchy about Rouge for the time being.

The Shadow on screen tossed his emerald up and teleported as he caught it. The camera angle switched again to show the chase. The explosions had stopped, so we could hear everything Shadow taunted the Sonics with.

Sonic looked over at Shadow and raised one of his eyebrows questioningly. Shadow shrugged.

"Hey, I only said all that stuff to make you follow me." He explained, without a hint of remorse.

Sonic rolled his eyes but didn't say anything. He turned back to the chase on the screen. When it finally got to the part where his dark half managed to hit Shadow, he inhaled sharply.

The cameras switched to show the inside of the ship as Shadow crash-landed. Everyone in the room reacted differently when Shadow hit his head against the metal floor with a loud CRACK!

Eggman had already seen it and was prepared with his eyes closed and head down so he didn't have to watch it again. Shadow put his hand to his forehead tenderly, looking a bit concerned. I tensed up and clutched the couch while my tails fluttered nervously. Sonic's eyes widened in shock and he put his hand up to cover his face as he jerked his head away to the side. I saw a tear fall down his cheek before he quickly wiped his face and he forced himself to look back.

Shadow leaned forward, this was the part he had been waiting to see.

We all watched apprehensively as Rouge flew to Shadow's side and checked him over. Shadow was sitting with us, but ridiculously, I found myself hoping that Shadow was going to be okay. Shadow was glaring at Rouge resentfully, but when she had finished patching him up with her clothing leg and Amy's dress hem, she did something strange. After she had done all she could for him, she put her head in her hands and said something that made Shadow soften his gaze.

"Oh, Shadow, please be okay..." She whimpered, sounding like she was about to cry.

"Rouge..." He said softly, for once without any contempt.

On screen, Amy went over and put a hand on Rouge's shoulder, making her wipe off her tears and stand up to face the opening of the ship. Both Sonics landed dramatically, with twin looks of hatred on their features.

When they told Rouge to get out of their way, Sonic flinched and clenched his fists. He probably couldn't believe that he would attack an enemy that was already down. He must have been so ashamed.

When Rouge shouted that they would have to go through her if they wanted to get to Shadow, the ebony hedgehog looked at the ground ashamedly and gratefully. When the twin hedgehogs on the video laughed and agreed to her terms, Sonic sunk in his seat in shame and glared at himself on screen with hatred. I wanted to tell him that it wasn't his fault, that he hadn't been in his right mind, but it wouldn't have mattered, he wouldn't have listened to me anyways.

Shadow was paying very close attention to the video now. When he saw Sonic's reaction to the double Sonics, he nudged the blue hedgehog; but Sonic didn't react, he just continued to stare sullenly at the events unfolding on screen. Shadow looked at Sonic a little worriedly, but then turned back to the screen because Rouge had just yelled 'now Eggman!'. The Sonics had just walked on the centre of the room. Before Rouge had finished yelling that, a machine had sprung up from the floor and trapped Sonic in an energy field. Other than a slight twitch of his ear, my friend didn't react, and he just continued to stare unresponsively at the screen.

Sonic remained like this for the rest of the video. He watched the video, but no matter what happened, his expression never changed,and he didn't move or show any hint of a reaction. It really wasn't like him, and even Shadow and doctor Eggman had stopped watching the tapes to look at Sonic with concern. Eggman was worried. It was like Sonic was looking at the screen, but he wasn't seeing it.

When the last news report had played, showing the interview of two children who had run into 'the doomsday beast', the screen went dark and the lights turned back on. Nobody moved. Sonic was still looking at the screen, he hadn't moved an inch since he'd become unresponsive. That alone had me really worried. Sonic can never stay still for longer than a couple of minutes at a time, yet he had been frozen in place for over an hour now.

"...Sonic?" Eggman asked cautiously.

Sonic seemed to realise the video was no longer playing. He shook himself out of his daze. He looked around to see that we were all staring at him.

He put on a weak smile. "Well, I still don't remember any of that, but at least I know what happened, right?" His fake smile faltered for a second and I could see that he was really upset.

"Sonic, are you okay?" I asked my friend.

"Yeah, of 'course I'm fine, lets go meet up with the others." He lied and quickly changed the subject.

"Okay... Sure Sonic." I said, but this wasn't over. Sonic was definitely not okay.

He got up. "C'mon guys... You too Eggman." He said, starting to walk out of the room.

Eggman looked surprised to be invited along, but obliged, hopping out of his hover chair-thing to follow his blue nemesis.

Shadow jogged to catch up to Sonic. "I need to go talk to Rouge, are you sure you're okay?" He asked him.

"Yeah, go on, I'm fine. Tell the others that we're coming, and meet us in the cafeteria." He said, faking another smile. Shadow nodded and ran ahead.

We'd skipped over a lot of the uneventful bits in the video, but it had still taken up most of the day. My watch said it was 3:00 pm. We followed Sonic to our ship, somehow, he still remembered the way out even though it had been a long time ago, and even I had no idea which way we were supposed to go.

Soon, we made it to the cargo bay. Knuckles was back with the master emerald, but his efforts seemed pretty half-hearted. When we came in he jogged over to meet Sonic. He appeared not to notice how upset Sonic was.

"Hey man, why's Eggman here?" He asked.

"I need to talk to everybody, including him." Sonic replied, not looking at Knuckles or slowing down for him either.

That's when Knuckles noticed that something was up. "Sonic, are you okay?" He worried, trying to keep up with his friend.

"Just fine." Sonic replied, then continued before Knuckles could say anything. "Do you think you could help me get everyone to the cafeteria?"

"Uhh, sure man. No problem, I know where they are, we'll meet you there." Knuckles didn't seem convinced that Sonic was okay, but he ran off to go get everyone anyways.

"Looks like we'll just go straight there then." Sonic mused out loud, changing his route to head towards the cafeteria. We were all silent the whole way there.

When we got there, we found Shadow and Rouge sitting by themselves at the end of the one big table. They had a glass of water each, but they hadn't touched them. They were having a quiet conversation when we walked in, but they broke off when they saw us. We all went and sat down. Well, me and Sonic sat down, Eggman was too big for the chairs, so he stayed standing in the corner. There was kind of an awkward moment of silence before Rouge broke it.

"So, how are you doin' big blue?" Rouge asked, leaning forward interestedly.

"Huh?" Sonic had been staring at the wall looking to be pretty deep in thought, and hadn't been paying attention.

"Well, you've obviously got something on your mind, I wanted to know if you were okay." Rouge explained. "But if you don't want to tell me, its okay, I won't intrude." She quickly added, looking at Shadow.

Sonic almost looked like he wanted to say something, but at the last minute hardened his expression. "I told you guys, I'm fine." He said expressionlessly, leaning back and crossing his arms. He leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling, going back to thinking again.

"Sonic..." I said, trying to get him to talk to us.

"No offence Tails, but back off." Rouge warned me, trying to sound nice about it. "If Sonic doesn't want to tell us, he doesn't have to."

I sighed and nodded, leaning back in my chair. Sonic turned his attention to Rouge and opened his mouth to say something. But just then Knuckles and the rest of our friends ran into the room. Amy ran straight over to Sonic. He put his fake smile back on and stood up to give everyone else room to sit. With the extra two people at the table, there was just enough chairs for everyone but Sonic (and Eggman). Everyone immediately found a place to sit and without saying a word, looked at Sonic expectantly.

He cleared his throat. "Okay, now that I've seen what happened, its obvious something needs to be done." He started, seeming slightly uncomfortable with everyone (including Eggman and Shadow) staring at him.

"About what? You're back to normal now, right? It's over." Chris interrupted, looking confused.

"Not exactly, last time I turned into that creature you saw, it didn't just go away after one night. I turn into it every night. And there's the whole issue with Gaia having been released... No, it's not over yet Chris." Sonic explained.

"Every night? But then..." Chris looked worried.

"Yeah, from sundown to sun up. Except last time I was in control of myself. This time I'm not." Sonic paused and took a deep breath before rushing through his next explanation. "Which is why I need to talk to all of you. You need to be ready to put me in a cage, and keep me there, no matter how I act, or what I do."

Immediately, nearly everybody at the table stood up to protest. That included me. It was an overlap of shouting and general displeasure, and nobody's voice was discernible in the din. Shadow, Rouge, and Eggman were the only people not trying to make their voices heard. Sonic just took it for a minute, waiting for us to calm down, but when there was no sign of us stopping, he spoke up.

"Hey, look at it this way. Either I have you guys contain me, or I can have Eggman over there keep me in a cage. I'm sure he wouldn't object. Either way, I am not hurting or breaking anything else." He stared us all down stubbornly.

The room was silent. Sonic kept glaring at us all like we were disobedient students. I really didn't want to put Sonic in a cage. He's my best friend, and the only person who stood up for me when I was bullied. We've been together since the day we met, and I know him better than anybody. He hates being trapped, and for him to voluntarily ask us to contain him, he'd have to be terrified of what he might do otherwise.

I wanted to scream and shout and tell him that I didn't care what he might do or what he says, I didn't care because he's my best friend, and I just couldn't do that. I can't put Sonic in a cage, I just can't. But I didn't say anything. Because Sonic is my best friend and I recognised his look. He was not going to back down on this, no matter what. And I really didn't want to leave him in the hands of Eggman.

I got up and ran over to hug my friend. "Okay Sonic, I'll do what you say. But only because I know you really will go to Eggman if we don't do it." Sonic relaxed and hugged me back.

"Thanks buddy, I knew I could count on you." He said as he lifted me off my feet and hugged me tight. It felt like the good old days again, before we met Amy, Knuckles and the rest of them. Back when it was just me and Sonic against the world. Sonic put me down after a second and looked back at the rest of our friends.

"Does anybody else have any objections? Because I need to know that I can trust all of you to not let me out." He asserted calmly.

Our friends looked around at each other. Amy and Knuckles in particular seemed to be reading each other's minds. Knuckles got up.

"I'm pretty sure I speak for all of us when I say that we can't put you in a cage. It goes against everything we know about you and being your friend." I felt Sonic's grip on my shoulder tighten in alarm, and he stiffened up again. Knuckles seemed to notice, so he hurriedly continued. "But also, being your friends, we know when you won't take no for an answer. We won't put you in a cage Sonic, but we won't stop you either, and we certainly won't let you out if that's what you need from us." Behind him Amy, Chris, Cream, and Cosmo nodded their heads in agreement.

Sonic relaxed again and half-smiled. I guess it was better than that horrible fake smile he'd had before. "Thank you," he sighed, "that's all I needed to hear." he paused, and turned to the large human standing in the corner. "Now Eggman, down to the reason that I asked you to come. We've used up most if the day already, I'd say we have about two to three hours before sunset. From those reports, it seems that we'll need a pretty durable container to hold me. You said you were working on a cage, is it done?"

The doctor nodded. "I still have to work on the hinges so that you can't break them open, but I believe that it will be able to hold you just fine. If I had more time it wouldn't need hinges..."

"Good. If they're okay with it, Tails and Chris can help you finish it, and we'll need to bring it to our ship. You will let us use it, right?"

"I would more than appreciate the assistance, and of course you may have my cage. It was built to hold you, willing or not, and it would be a shame if I wasted all that effort and it was never put to use."

Then Sonic and Eggman looked at me expectantly. I had no idea what it was about. When they just kept staring I got a little weirded out. "What?" I asked.

"I thought you were paying attention, Tails. Are you willing to help Eggman out or not? We are a little short on time." Sonic explained somewhat impatiently and a little disappointedly.

"Oh, right. Sure, I'll help." I flustered, embarrassed.

"Thank you," the doctor nodded his head gratefully, then turned towards the only other human in the room, "how about you Chris? Are you willing to help? The more geniuses working on it, the stronger it will be."

Chris shook his head. "No, I'm sorry, but there is no way that I can take part in building a cage for Sonic. I'm sorry, I just can't." He looked away.

"That's fine Chris," Eggman conceded with a hint of sympathy, "Tails and I should be more than enough to finish the containment unit in time." He deliberately avoided the word cage.

Sonic sighed and rolled his eyes. "It doesn't matter what you call it Egghead, it's still a cage." Oddly, Eggman smiled when Sonic teased him. I guess even the doctor was happy that Sonic was sounding a bit more back to normal.

Sonic turned in my direction. "Thanks for offering to help him Tails, you two should get going though, we only have a few hours before sundown."

I checked my watch, he was right, sunset is at 5:48, and it's already 3:30.

I nodded to Sonic before walking over to Eggman. "Lead the way, doctor." I invited, gesturing in the direction of the door.

"But of course, Tails" Eggman agreed and got up to walk back to his ship.

And I followed my greatest enemy to his ship so that I could help him build a cage for my best friend. Yep, just another normal day for the heroes of Mobius.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Knuckles the Echidna

I watched Eggman lead Tails away with mixed feelings. On the one hand, Tails is Sonic's closest friend, and is probably the only one of us who could make Sonic see sense and regain faith in himself. On the other hand, the kit was siding with Sonic and his insane decision to have himself locked up. I know I said that I won't interfere, but I can't stand by and just watch my friend and leader beat himself up over a few mistakes he made because he wasn't in control of himself.

After Tails and Eggman left, there was a kind of uncomfortable silence while most of us looked at Sonic, and he remained standing awkwardly at the head of the table, behind Tails' empty seat. This lasted for about thirty seconds before I got fed up with it.

"Well, sit down then. And explain to us the real reason that you want to be put in a cage." I demanded, not giving him any room to argue with my glare.

Sonic sighed heavily and sat down at Tails' spot. Everyone but Shadow leaned in to hear what Sonic had to say. The blue hedgehog looked unusually uncomfortable under all our gazes, he usually loved attention of any kind, and looking like he wished he could turn invisible like Espio is really not like him.

"Knuckles, I don't want to be put in a cage, but I need to be put in one. You've seen what I've done, I can't be trusted." Sonic looked pretty depressed, like it was hard to say, but he was resigned to the idea that it had to be done. I felt bad for my friend.

"C'mon Sonic, that's not true. It wasn't that bad..." I coaxed. Shadow snorted from the other end of the table. I turned around to glare at him, only to find him smirking back at me. Sonic paid no attention.

"I know you guys don't like it, but it is true. It's bad enough that my stupidity got Amy hurt, but then I couldn't control myself and my dark side got loose! I attacked a fleeing enemy, I almost blew us all up, I nearly killed Shadow, I scared Cream! And when you all tried to help, I attacked you! I-I..." Sonic put his head in his hands and couldn't continue.

There was a long silence while most of us pitied Sonic's situation. I had no idea of what to say. Here was my best friend, probably the only person in the universe who I would follow into a fight, and he suddenly hated himself. That is just so un-Sonic. I could hardly recognise the blue hedgehog in front of me. What happened to the confident, outgoing, completely crazy, funny, 'I'm gonna take a run around the planet a few times' Sonic that I'd come to know and respect over these past few years? Who is this scared, sad, and angry hedgehog in front of me?

Suddenly, Shadow stood up and walked around the table to stand in front of Sonic. The dark one put a comforting hand on the blue one's shoulder. Sonic looked up, surprised to see Shadow. There were tears running down his face.

"I-I'm sorry, Sha-" Sonic started to apologise, but was cut off.

SMACK! Shadow backhanded Sonic across the face.

"HEY!" I stood up indignantly, along with Amy and Chris. Cream and Cosmo whimpered as Sonic's head snapped to the side from the force of Shadow's slap. I started to storm my way over to Shadow, but Sonic held up a hand to stop me.

"No Knuckles, I needed that." His eyes were closed and he was rubbing his red cheek, but he looked much more calm than before, and looked more like himself than before as well. After a second, he opened his eyes and glared at Shadow. Then he grinned like the annoying idiot he is, and spread his arms wide, exposing his chest. "Is that all, Shadow? I'd image you're more angry with me than just that."

Shadow smirked, aware of the challenge. He looked like he was going to hold himself back, but as soon as Sonic started to relax, Shadow struck. He swiftly jabbed Sonic in the gut, causing the blue hedgehog to double over and make a coughing sound.

"That is for thinking you could almost kill me." He swept his leg under Sonic's legs, causing my friend to fall over. "That is for nearly blowing all of us up." He waited for Sonic to stand back up. Most of us were frozen in shock. Sonic wasn't even fighting back, he was just taking it all with an expression of acceptance on his face. When he finally stood up, Shadow slapped him again, this time on the other cheek. "That is for giving up." Sonic rubbed his cheek, wary of another attack as Shadow advanced again.

Then the dark hedgehog did something none of us expected. He walked up to the blue one and wrapped his arms around him in an embrace. Sonic jerked, but did not pull away. It didn't last long, Shadow was not one for affection. He pulled away, leaving his hands on the blue hedgehog's shoulders. "That was because you needed it." Looking at the two of them at that moment, I could almost believe that they were brothers.

Sonic looked gratefully at the older hedgehog. He then grinned, just like his old self. "So does that mean you're done with beating me up?"

Shadow shook his head in disbelief at the younger hedgehog's ability to brush the tense moment off. "I suppose, for the moment. Don't make me do that again." The ebony hedgehog took his hands off the blue one's shoulders and walked back to his spot at the table. Those of us who were standing slowly sat down. Personally, I was just happy that Sonic was back to himself. I couldn't stand seeing him being so hard on himself like that.

Sonic sat down, with a goofy smile on his face that told me that any doubts he had about himself had been crushed. "All right guys, I think I have a compromise for you."

I was skeptical. Was he talking about the cage? Is he going to decide not to use it? "So, lets hear it!" I replied, hoping he was going to drop the cage idea.

"Unfortunately, I'm still going to need the cage." It's like he read my thoughts. "But, I want you guys to release me if I'm still myself. Now that I thought about it, thanks to Shadow, I may not be out of control when I change. Changing back and being normal today could have ended it. There is still a chance that my dark half could just be resting during the day, and I will go crazy as soon as I transform. I really don't want to cause any more damage, so that's why I want to be in the cage, just in case. But if I'm normal, or at least, not dark, you can let me out. In fact, I really want you to let me out, because I hate being locked up. So, is it a deal?"

I nodded along with my friends. At least he wasn't acting like he wanted to be caged up anymore. And I could understand not wanting to hurt anybody, that made sense.

Chris spoke up. "But how will we know that you're yourself?"

"Hmmm... Good point Chris, I didn't think about that. Maybe a password or something? But I don't know if my dark side can remember that or not. Plus I'm not that great at remembering stuff either."

Amy snapped her fingers and stood up. "When you were a dark Werehog, you couldn't talk! That's how we'll know! If you can talk, then you're normal, if you can't, then we have to keep the cage closed." She looked really sad. "Oh Sonic, if you have to stay in the cage, I'll stay with you all night! I'll make sure you aren't lonely!" She ran over to hug him. He looked kind of surprised, but accepted the embrace.

"Uh, thanks Amy, you really don't have to do that. You need your sleep."

"I don't mind Sonic, maybe I can try to calm you down! It worked own on the planet, and you were so cute, well, before you found out you couldn't talk and went crazy again!" She grinned like it was no big deal.

I cleared my throat. "So... If you talk, we'll let you out, right?"

Sonic was still blushing from Amy calling him cute. What a dope. "Oh, right. Yeah, that should work. I could talk when I was normal, so if I can't when I'm dark, then that will do."

Tails came running back into the room, surprising all of us. "Sonic! The cage is done, do you wanna test it? We also need some help getting it to our ship, cuz it's pretty heavy."

Sonic grinned at his friend. "Sure thing Tails! Knuckles, Amy, can you two come with me? The rest of you can come too, if you want to." Tails seemed surprised to see his friend in such a good mood, but didn't question it.

"Yeah, I'm coming." I asserted, standing up.

"Me too!" Amy jumped up and ran to open the door.

"Sorry Blue, but I'm gonna sit this one out. And Shadow's staying with me." Rouge called, making Shadow sit back down.

The dark hedgehog rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever."

"I want to come too, mister Sonic!" Cream ran up to us, grabbing Sonic's hand. Her Chao followed behind her, accidentally running into her in its haste to keep up.

"I would also like to join you." Cosmo shyly got up from her chair to follow Tails out the door.

Everyone had made their choice, so we all followed Tails back over to Eggman's ship, minus Shadow and Rouge.

Tails seemed pretty excited to show us what he and doctor Eggman had been up to. He switched between running and flying the whole way, all of us had the run to keep up. Cream had some trouble keeping up with the rest, so Sonic picked her up and carried her the rest of the way. She loved it, and so did Cheese.

We finally made it to the right room, and Sonic ran in first.

"Whoa... Crazy..." Sonic was in total awe of whatever he saw in the room, so naturally, the rest of us immediately wanted to get a look at it.

What I saw when I got into the room was a not just a cage. It filled up half the room, and looked more like a huge clear box rather than a barred cage. There were thin metal wires running through the clear material, and I didn't notice them at first. There was a huge door that even Eggman could walk through without having to duck his head. There didn't seem to be any hinges on it, and I wasn't sure how it opened because there were no handles either. There was even a bed sort of thing inside, as well as a few barred windows along the sides most likely for air, but possibly for communication. The whole thing looked more like a room than a cage, and I wondered exactly what Eggman had been planning to use this cage for, and how long. It was not at all what I had been expecting, and I felt my jaw drop at the sight of something so crazy and intimidating.

"TA-DA!" Eggman exclaimed, walking out from behind the 'cage' he had taken his red coat off, and had rolled his sleeves up to work on the box. He looked way less evil at the moment, more like a mechanic than a mad scientist. He was grinning proudly at his huge contraption, and seemed pleased with our impressed expressions.

Sonic quickly got over his initial shock. "Wait, this is the cage? I was expecting something... More, cage-like. Is this made of glass? How's that supposed to contain me? How do you open the door? By the way, this looks awesome."

Most of us were amused with Sonic's enthusiasm. Eggman seems pleasantly surprised.

"Well, Sonic, I'm glad you like it. Yes, it is a cage, and I am 100 percent sure that it can withstand any attack you throw at it. The door opens when given the correct voice pattern and password. At the moment, only Tails and my own voice can open it. The door opens pneumatically, it seals itself completely when locked, and it cannot be forced open in any way. That was Tails' idea. And if you don't mind me asking a question, why the sudden change in mood?"

Sonic whistled. "You sure it won't break? I'm gonna have to test that out." He then smiled cheerfully. "And as to your question doctor, the answer is Shadow."

Eggman looked a bit taken aback. "Wait, did I hear you correctly? Shadow cheered you up? As in, Shadow the hedgehog, the Ultimate Life Form? The one that never smiles?"

Sonic, Amy, and I laughed at Eggman's disbelief. I decided to answer. "Yup. That Shadow. You know any others?" That sent Amy and Sonic into another round of laughter.

Eggman just shook his head, confused. "Well then, if you three are done not making sense, then maybe you should test out the cage to settle your doubts about how sturdy it is. I am willing to bet that none of you will be able to make even a small crack." He grinned again, and his glasses flashed mischievously.

We stopped laughing, and Sonic waved Amy and I over.

"All right guys, so here's the plan, I want to make sure that this thing is as strong as possible, so Amy, you use your hammer to attack the edges, try to make the seams come undone. Knuckles, use your fists to pound on the glass as hard as you can, don't hold back, even a little bit. I'm going to try spin dashing it multiple times from different angles, that will possibly shake it apart. You guys got it?" Sonic looked at us expectantly.

Amy and I nodded our heads, and we got into position while Sonic backed up to take a running leap at it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Sonic the Hedgehog

Wow, what a day. First I wake up in some forest on Mobius, now this. Eggman's really outdone himself on this one, but I still can't really see how this clear material is going to hold me back, it looks too much like glass. Amy and Knuckles got where I told them to go, and I backed myself up against the wall, trying to give myself as much space to build up momentum as possible.

I held back for a second, positioning myself so that I could use the wall to push myself off before giving my friends the thumbs up. I really hope this cage is tougher than it looks. "All right! Lets do it!" I yelled, pushing off from the wall with as much force as I could.

Amy swung her hammer as hard as she could at the edge of the box, and Knuckles unleashed a full-force punch on the wall of the box. I shut my eyes as I began my spin, rocketing towards the cage at about eighty miles per hour. I wish I was going faster, but I didn't have much space to work with.

I hit the box with a lot of force, definitely enough to smash any Badnik to bits, but all I heard was a dull thunk as I made contact. Unfazed, I pushed off with my feet to angle upwards and hit the box again.

I must have smashed into the thing at least a dozen times on each side, but the cage was way tougher than it looked. Eventually, I started to get a bit dizzy from all the spinning and crashing, so I stopped attacking it and landed on top of the box. Knuckles was still pounding away on his side of the box, landing punch after punch, not letting up, and not getting anywhere. Amy was attacking the seam of the box with as much power as she could get with her Piko-Piko. The bolts hadn't loosened at all, and I couldn't tell that it had even been attacked. Both of my friends looked really frustrated with the cage, and neither of them were putting a dent in it. My head hurt from a couple of poorly aimed spin-dashes, so I jumped down from the box rather than spin or flip like I usually do. Amy and Knuckles looked up from their tasks, and ceased attacking when I put my hand up. Knuckles looked to see if he'd made any damage to the box, there wasn't even a scratch.

"Geez, Eggman, what's that thing made out of?" I rubbed my head where I had smacked it into the cage. Three times.

Eggman grinned proudly. "Just a material that I've been experimenting with, it is a mixture of what the Metarex are made from, as well as few extremely hard substances that I have found in different places in the universe. I managed to make a clear variation, and then I reinforced it with the stronger opaque wires running through it. No one alive could break through this stuff. Sadly, it does not work as armour for my robots, as it blocks radio signals. That is one thing that I haven't been able to work around, but as soon as I can, my robot armies will be undefeatable!" He laughed maniacally, and I rolled my eyes. Even if his robots had really strong armour, that didn't make the stuff on the inside un breakable, and it certainly can't stop me from pushing them away with a good spin-dash before taking out the signal that keeps them following orders.

"All right doctor, I believe that this cage is me-worthy, so how are we going to get it to the Typhoon?"

"Well, I was hoping that you might be able to chaos control it out of here. It is much too heavy to carry out, even for my robots. I have a few fake emeralds here, and I know that you've used one before to teleport. Do you think you can do it?"

I thought about it. My first chaos control hadn't been that great of an experience. It was with a chaos emerald that Tails had made for his plane to fly from. It left me feeling really dizzy, and super nauseous. And Eggman probably had those Metarex Emeralds, which made me feel really sick too. I hadn't ever tired to teleport with something before. I'd only ever gone on my own. Once. But I should probably try, maybe it will be easier with a few of the emeralds to use the power of.

"I'm not sure if it will work, but I can try. This is really more of Shadow's thing though."

Eggman nodded. "I understand, we'll have to get him if this doesn't work." He pulled out a couple of emeralds and tossed them to me. As soon as I touched them, I felt like I was going to throw up, but I held it back, and put one in each hand as I put both my hands on the cage.

"So Tails, where am I taking this?" I realised that I had no idea where I wanted to teleport to.

Tails looked up from his watch. "Oh, right. The cargo bay should do, I don't think there are any other rooms that are big enough to hold it, anyways."

I nodded and concentrated. The nauseous feeling was growing, and I had to get this over quick. "All right guys, hold on." Everybody grabbed onto the box.

I closed my eyes, imagining the empty corner of the cargo bay, between the wall and the X-Tornado. I pictured the Master Emerald as it was the last time I had seen it. I thought of every little detail I could about the cargo bay, even stupid little memories that didn't really have any meaning. Then I imagined what this box would look like in the empty corner of the room, and how much space it would take up. I remembered to focus on each of the people that I was taking with me as well. I called on the chaos energy in the emeralds resting between my palms and the box. The energy rushed to meet me, and I focused it all into this vision I had created.

"Chaos Control!" I shouted, and nearly fell over when there was a horrible gut-wrenching twisting feeling that took over me for a second before my feet hit solid ground again, and then I fell over. This teleport was way worse than my first one. I dropped the emeralds as I hit the ground, they were making me feel really sick. I opened my eyes again, and thankfully, I was in the cargo bay. It had worked. I sat up and looked around. The cage was there, exactly where I had pictured it. All my friends were there, and so was Eggman. Everything was exactly how I had planned for it to be, which made me really relieved as I flopped back onto the floor. I really hate teleporting, I have no idea how Shadow does it.

"Sonic! You did it! Sonic?... Sonic?" Tails ran around the box to find me. "Sonic, are you okay?" He offered me a hand to help me up.

"Uggghhh" was all I could manage. I took his hand and got myself standing up, using the cage as support. Tails quickly took the emeralds away and gave them back to Eggman, who put them back into his pockets. That helped relieve my nausea. I still felt really dizzy, and I'm not sure if I really screwed up with chaos control, or it was just my vision, because there were two Tails' in front of me. I shook my head to shake myself out of it. That was the wrong thing to do. Shaking my head brought on another wave of nausea, and I ran to a corner of the room before throwing up. Ew. Thankfully, that was it, and I started to feel a whole lot better, until I could only see one of everybody.

Amy ran over to me to make sure that I was okay. I felt so embarrassed, I was probably all gross, but she didn't care, she just wanted to know that I was okay. "Sonic, come on, tell me you're okay." She demanded, making me looked at her. Looking at her eyes helped my head to stop spinning, and soon enough, I replied.

"I am never doing that again." I said, crossing my arms. Amy nodded and smiled.

Knuckles thumped me on the back. "You had us worried there for a while, man."

"I'm fine, I promise." I grinned at my friends.

Eggman rolled his eyes. "You didn't have to do that, you know. If you couldn't handle it, we could have gotten Shadow. You don't always have to play hero, Sonic."

I stuck my tongue out at the doctor. "I can handle it, I did get us all here. And I didn't know it was gonna feel like that, otherwise I would have gladly gotten Shadow. Last time it wasn't nearly that bad."

The doctor nodded. "Perhaps it has to do with these emeralds, Shadow doesn't seem to have a problem with them, but you don't seem to like them very much."

I rolled my eyes. "Ya think?" I asked sarcastically.

"Hey, guys. It's almost five thirty. Maybe we should set up the cage." Tails stated, looking up from his watch.

Eggman nodded, walking over to the cage door and holding down a button. A tinny robotic voice played. 'Identification, please'

"Ivo Robotnik." Eggman responded.

There was a pause before the door replied. 'Identification accepted.' There was a hiss, and the door slid open.

"Perfect. Now, hedgehog." The doctor turned to me. "In you go. We don't have much time left before dusk."

I gulped and walked into the cage, alone. Eggman pushed me the rest of the way in when I hesitated, then pushed the button again. The door slid closed as I turned around to glare at Eggman. The doctor waved to me as the door hissed, making itself airtight again. I stuck my tongue out at the doctor again, and turned my back on him, walking over to the flat bed on the floor in the middle of the cage. I sat down on top of the blankets, they were actually pretty comfortable. I sighed as I leaned back and looked out of the bay window to watch the sun slowly disappear behind the planet.

We all watched the sun as we waited for 5:48 to arrive.

AN: Cliff hanger! Dun, dun, duuuuuuun. Hopefully it won't last very long, I'm back in the groove. TOTALLY over my writer's block XD. I hope you all have a great April fools day! Play loads of pranks on all your friends! Sonic the hedgehog approves this message XD. Okay, so I see lots of other authors role play with the characters after their chapters, so I kinda wanna try it out. Just for fun XD

Sonic: soooooooo... Do you want to tell me what's gonna happen? Because this cliff hanger is killing me!

Me: nope, sorry, no spoilers!

Sonic: awwww, come on, you can tell me, I'm the main character! *pouty face*

Shadow: I have a few questions as well. *crosses arms*

Me: forget it Sonic, you can find out when I write it. What do you want to know, Shadow?

Shadow: first of all, why on Mobius did I hug Faker? That would never happen. Also, what the heck is going on with Rouge and I? Why are we all on our own in the cafeteria?... Not that I'm complaining...

Me: well, ummmmmm... Sonic needed a hug. That's why you hugged him. You can't tell me you don't ever bro-hug anybody. And as for you and Rouge, you'll see *mischevious smile*

Shadow: no. I don't. Especially not Faker. And you will tell me now, or I will chaos blast you into the next dimension. *threateningly touches inhibitor rings*

Me: nope! You can't make me! *saves document and turns off computer*

Sonic: wait... What just happened?

Shadow: I don't know, but I'm looking for someone to blame. *glares pointedly at Sonic*

Sonic: uh-oh, ummm, gotta run! See ya later Shadow! *runs away at top speed*

Shadow: *pulls out Swiss roll* yum. *eats the whole thing in one bite* *walks away, satisfied.*

-Kthxbai, Silverfangirl96