Yellow-white light filled his unfocused vision, bright but not painful. Swirly wisps of glittering mist fluttered and waved around, always out of his reach, taunting him with their hypnotizing games of tag and synchronized dances. There was no real direction and everything was up, down, left and right, like in space. Unlike the cold vacuum of the universe, though, the place he was floating in was filled with debris – from the smallest rocks to the largest boulders, trees and even a rundown house with a wild-looking garden – that were flying everywhere, following various paths and sometimes colliding with each other, either reducing themselves to dust or joining together to create a larger masses.

It was slightly disturbing to see how much wild chaos there was within that strange place, but he wasn't afraid of it. Besides, he was feeling too sleepy and comfortable to bother with thoughts that involved his death, or him becoming insane. He liked the place, felt at peace with himself and at home, and there was no pain, only a distant stiffness in his muscles and a memory of a headache.

Tired of his blurred vision, the hedgehog closed his eyes , barely acknowledging that something was approaching him. He suddenly felt hot and he groaned, bringing his left hand up and trying to ward the heat off with little success, twisting his body and trying to escape. But he was too weak to move and, within the strange space, it seemed like he couldn't be able to run away. Many voices, faint and distant, surrounded him and called his name, beckoning him to do things he could not understand.

Then, suddenly, the air became heavy and his lungs struggled against the pressure, transforming the peaceful moment into a nightmare. He was feeling like he was trying to breathe underwater or was falling through the planet's atmosphere again, and he had no strength to fight the awful feeling off. But as he felt that he was close to falling into oblivion, the pressure was wiped away by a presence that he didn't recognize, but at the same time felt familiar.

"Shadow…."

The voice had the strange effect of feeling like it was one, but at the same time more than one. He felt confused by it, but the tone of whomever was talking to him was gentle and soothing, something that reminded him of Maria, his lost friend.

"Shadow, come…."

Even with his eyes closed, he could feel the space around him shift and change. The floating objects disappeared in a twisted lurch, the colors faded away and the warm, chaotic light was replaced with a cool, calm darkness.

"We do not wish to harm you."

Shadow almost rolled his eyes and scoffed. "I know that," he rasped out, pausing and wondering if he should open his eyes and see exactly where he was now. He didn't know how he could understand the intentions of this voice composed by many, but he was too tired to even try to understand it. All that mattered now was that he was at peace and there was no pain. "Who are you and what you want?"

For a strange reason, he knew that the owner – owners? – of the voice was smiling in amusement. "Always to the point, aren't you?"

Growling lightly under his breath, the hedgehog forced his eyes open to look at whomever was speaking and found himself halting every movement and every thought.

The black expanse he was in revealed more than just a dark, cool and calm emptiness. Small, glittering dots randomly hung in the distance, sometimes close to each other to create a cluster, sometimes so far away from each other that felt somewhat lonely to stare at. At his left there was some sort of misty formation that ranged from dark brown – almost dark red – to dark green or dark blue; and under him, motionless like everything else, a giant spiraling form of brilliant dots of red, blue, and yellow lights.

"Shadow!"

The vision disappeared with a silent pop and his blurred eyes focused onto what appeared to be the inside of a small cavern made of wood. A crackling fire to his right provided the enclosed place with warmth and light, making it more homey.

Confusion and dizziness enveloped his mind and the dream he just had faded away, leaving him empty of something. However, even if the memories were slowly fading away into oblivion, the dream left the feeling of peace so deeply rooted in him that, in the end, he couldn't help but feel relaxed and untroubled.

"Where…?"

His voice was raspy and tired, and his throat hurt with every little movement. Even swallowing what little saliva he had in his mouth was painful. Moving his body wasn't any easier than talking because of his stiff and tired muscles and the dull ache pervading his right side.

"I'm not exactly sure, but I believe we are somewhere within the Emerald Forest," Knuckles's voice was calm and collected as he kneeled next to the hedgehog. "And you shouldn't move," he added as he caught the black hedgehog trying to sit up.

"What do you mean, I 'shouldn't move'?"

Shadow wasn't a hedgehog that would be stopped by dull pain, but as the Guardian placed a hand on his left shoulder to halt his progress, he paused and looked up at the echidna with a raised eyebrow, waiting for an explanation.

"I mean it, Shadow." Knuckles took his hand away and pointed at the hedgehog's right side. "Not only will you be in pain, but your wound could reopen itself, and you can't afford losing more blood than you already have. Ultimate Life Form or not. And don't touch it," the echidna's violet eyes narrowed to tiny slits as he slapped a wandering hand away from the tender flesh. "Cauterizing it helped with the loss of blood, but, sadly, the downside is that you have nasty burns."

Shadow stared at him with a matching expression, disgruntled at how he was being treated. No one told him what to do, but when he tried to defy the Guardian's words and sit up, he had to agree that it was best to lay down and remain immobile. The pain from his right side was searing and he was left concentrating on not losing his composure and screaming.

Still, Knuckles caught his distress and let out a small sigh. "Told you," he commented as he stood up and looked down at the wounded hedgehog with crossed arms. "Look, I'm not keen on leaving you alone, especially with the others still not awake, but I need to go out and see if I can find something to eat."

Shadow began to growl softly, but stopped short and nodded. Food sounded extremely good at that moment .

The echidna stared at the prone hedgehog for several long moments, frowning as he thought about if it was really a good idea to leave him without someone else keeping an eye on him. He had tried to wake Tails up so that the responsible kid could take care of whatever could happen, but the young fox was too exhausted, and Sonic…well, he doubted Sonic could be awakened at all.

Amethyst eyes turned to look at Sonic, who was laying on the other side of the fire. He absolutely had no clue what had happened to him, but the end result was that he had been "locked" in his "super form" and the effect didn't seem to wear off at all despite the unconscious status Sonic had been in for hours.

Sonic was currently floating a few inches from the ground, his golden fur reflecting light everywhere and illuminating the shelter more than the fire could . He appeared peaceful, but not the usual relaxed and happy peacefulness; it was an odd sort of peace, as if the world wasn't touching him. Even the floating dust seemed to avoid him, leaving the empowered creature perfectly clean

Knuckles had tried to wake him up, but when he had touched him, Sonic felt like he wasn't completely within their world, stuck between their plane and somewhere else. Present, but at the same time, not. And that had weirded him out so much that he had instantly took his hand away.

Knuckles was worried, because the only thing -or better, things- that had felt that way were the Chaos Emeralds. They were physically within their dimension, but at the same time, part of them was located somewhere else. Still, when he had gone super himself, the echidna had never felt like he was on more than one plane of existence, nor had he felt Sonic being like this when they had fought together against Metal Sonic, when he had granted them part of his powers.

Humming under his breath, the Guardian promised himself that he would discover what was happening as soon as he was back from his hunt. "Try to not move, Shadow," he said again, this time more of an advice than a command. "I will probably be out for a few hours, but I might be back sooner or later than that. It all depends on what I find and when I find it."

"Fine by me," the black hedgehog grunted in reply, placing his left hand on his stomach and gently massaging the skin with his fingers to relieve some of the soreness located close to the long wound on his side.

Knuckles nodded and turned to leave. The two of them weren't the best at communicating, especially with each other. Sonic was the guy that made them talk, and without him poking and pressing buttons, they just kept to themselves. That was the reason why Shadow's reply didn't bother him at all despite the annoyed tone it seemed to have.

Knuckles walked out of the alcove and through the rain, leaving Shadow alone with two unconscious Mobians. Not that Shadow was bothered by the lack of activity; it gave him time to think and brood about what he considered important.

Like not being able to remember the past couple of days. Even the dream that had left in him a sense of being really important was fading into oblivion, leaving him frustrated and restless. Yet, despite hating the fact that he was prone to amnesias, the black hedgehog rubbed his eyes with his left hand and sighed, calming down. Months ago, after the whole Black Arms ordeal had been solved, he had promised himself that he wouldn't brood about lost memories and, at least this time, the memories that were lost were of a couple of days, not years.

Red eyes stared at the empty air for long seconds, then Shadow turned his head to look at the fire. Sometimes he could see specks of reds and oranges dance amongst the burning logs. It was a spectacle that reminded him of the alien attack on Westopolis, but at the same time, it was different. While Westopolis's fires were wild and dangerous, this was controlled and warm, bringing him a feeling of safety that he could rarely feel.

A shifting and a murmur brought him back to reality, and Shadow found himself quickly glancing towards the source of the sounds he was hearing. They were coming from the other side of the fireplace, but because of the burning wood blocking his view, he couldn't distinguish whether it was Tails or Sonic.

Unable to see who it was or sit up, Shadow waited for whoever was waking up to make the first move. There was the sound of something dropping onto the ground, then another light murmur soon followed by stirring.

"Has anyone taken the number of the train that hit me?"

Shadow almost rolled his eyes at what the other hedgehog had groggily said, but he was secretly relieved that someone was finally awake. Even if it was that annoying blue hedgehog by the name of Sonic…

"Took your sweet time to wake up, Faker," he called to Sonic. Don't tell me that Eggman did manage to hit you good…."

There was a long moment of silence filled with more shuffling, then a light snort. "Shut up. You know how much I can withstand, so, whatever Eggman did, it was big." A brief pause and Sonic looked around, confused. "How did we get here anyway?"

Shadow glanced at the fire and tried to see past it to look the other in the face. When he could see nothing but flames, he turned his gaze upwards once again. "I'm not exactly sure. Probably a Chaos Control."

No way he was going to reveal that he was being affected by amnesia again. Especially not to his rival. He just hoped that this time it would be a temporary condition and that his memories would come back soon. He hated not having answers. It made him feel helpless, and that was something he hated even more.

"I can't remember a Chaos Control...." As much as he tried, Sonic couldn't feel troubled at all by the lack of memories, and because of that, his voice was light and free of worry. "I actually can't remember what happened. I remember we infiltrated Eggman's base, but after that, things get hazy and then completely black until now. How long have I been out?"

Ignoring the sudden urge to question the other about his lack of memories regarding their recent fight, the black hedgehog hummed gently to himself in thought. "Perhaps a couple of days, I'm not sure. You should ask the Guardian."

Silence filled their shelter again, which, strangely enough, unnerved Shadow more than it was supposed to. Shadow was left to wonder why the talkative hedgehog on the other side of the fire was being so withdrawn and not freely speaking his mind like he usually did . If Sonic wasn't being Sonic, then something was wrong.

"Where's Knuckles?"

The sudden question almost startled Shadow out of his skin. "Out hunting for food," he replied emotionlessly, resisting the itching need to cross his arms to avoid disturbing his still fresh wound.

"Shadow?"

The black hedgehog mentally groaned, torn between being glad that Sonic was being his annoying self once again after his brief spell of quietness, and being bothered by it. Of all the few people he knew, he had to be stuck with Sonic and his best friend who was too deep asleep to wake up and entertain Sonic.

"What?"

"You ok? You haven't moved from where you are laying since I've woken up..."

Sonic's voice was genuinely worried and Shadow's annoyance melted away with a single deep breath, leaving him as weary as he had been when he had woken up. He didn't reply at first, but listened to the small sounds that filled the air until Sonic stood up and walked around the fire.

"Shadow...?"

Now Sonic's voice was a mix of confusion and worry as he kneeled next to him, watching as the black hedgehog closed his eyes. Despite not being the best person to deal with the wounded and comfort them, especially the very introvert ones, he placed a hand onto Shadow's shoulder and gave a very gentle, and hopefully reassuring, squeeze.

Although he hated the contact, Shadow couldn't help but feel relieved when the pain and soreness ebbed away, leaving his mind in a state of drowsed peace. Both fortunately and unfortunately, however, the moment lasted only until Sonic took his hand away from his shoulder, abruptly waking him up.

"I'm fine, hedgehog. Leave me alone," he answered as he inwardly fought against the returning pain.

"Sheesh, Shadow. I just want to know how you are...." The blue hedgehog sounded annoyed as he plopped on the ground, cross-legged. "What's up with you anyway? Loosen up a bit, will you?"

Shadow growled in his throat and made the mistake of rolling on his left side to sit up to face Sonic. The gasp that left his mouth was loud and echoed through the shelter as he bent forwards and put a hand on the fresh scar on his side.

It hurt, terribly, and for a moment the black hedgehog was left with the feeling that any more movement would reopen the wound Knuckles had so carefully sealed with fire. But then the pain was gone and his side felt like it had never been damaged in the first place. Free of the agonizing pain once again, Shadow slowed his breathing to a regular pace, and promptly realized that two hands were clasping his shoulders, steadying and preventing him from collapsing to the ground in an uncomfortable heap.

"Shadow, you're... hurt."

"Tell me something I don't know, hedgehog," Shadow grunted in reply as he tried to swat Sonic's hands away, but had no will to do so. Instead, he secretly reveled into the peace

"You know, you should take it easy..."

Sonic sounded and looked unhappy, but the black hedgehog wasn't listening anymore. As his red eyes finally rested onto the form of his rival, small pieces of an unseen puzzle slowly came together enough for him to understand why the contact with the rival numbed the pain. It was the same feeling he had when he came in physical contact with a Chaos Emerald.

His red eyes looked up and down the new, yet old appearance of the other hedgehog, recognizing it instantly, but at the same time feeling that there was something different. Something so subtle that he couldn't figure out. The fur was of the same golden color as whenever the hedgehog used the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds, and the eyes were of the same shade of red that spoke of infinite power. But it was when he looked into those ruby eyes that he had to use all of his willpower to not back away. There was something unnerving within them, something that did not belong to the real world.

He closed his eyes and sighed in tired annoyance. "Has no one taught you about personal space?" he countered weakly, torn between punching Sonic for touching him and let him hold his shoulder so the pain remained nonexistent.

Sonic theatrically rolled his eyes and helped the black hedgehog lay down again. "I just want to help you, Shadow. Why can't you just accept it?"

Shadow glared at him. "I didn't ask for your help. Besides, I believe you have a bigger problem to take care of."

Sonic's face morphed from nervous to confused. "A bigger problem?" he asked, tilting his head slightly to the side and blinking at Shadow almost stupidly. "What bigger problem?"

The black hedgehog narrowed his eyes, but instead of hitting his look-alike, he sighed and let the other lay him down back onto the ground, this time a bit closer to the fire, without protesting. "Haven't you seen the condition you are in?" he asked, snorting.

When Shadow was laying on the ground, Sonic slightly moved backwards to let the other have his private space and looked even more confused. "Conditions? What conditions? I feel fine...."

The black hedgehog sighed deeply and mentally counted to three before glaring at his rival. "Look at yourself, Faker."

At hearing for the second time the nickname Shadow had given him, Sonic narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. "You know, I have a name. I'd like if you would use it," he said as he poked the other on the shoulder. "I never called you that way after the whole Ark incident got solved."

Red eyes disappeared behind black eyelids and Shadow sighed gently. "Just... look at yourself, Sonic. Perhaps you're not as fine as you think...."

Sonic frowned in confusion, but decided that protesting or asking for a clear explanation from his rival would be way too hard to accomplish than just looking at himself. Not having a mirror to look at his face with, however, he stood up and looked down at his body, pausing several seconds.

"Hey, aren't I supposed to be blue?"

"You see now?" Shadow asked, not opening his eyes and trying to go back to sleep. He wasn't going to ask Sonic to block out his pain, so he decided that falling asleep was the best alternative. "You have a bigger problem to think about. So leave me alone."

The unnerving silence lasted for long seconds as Sonic was left confused and lost. "Shadow... do you... do you know what happened?"

Mentally screaming in frustration, Shadow silently cursed the golden hedgehog for his inappropriate question and resisted the urge to turn his back to him. "No. And now leave me alone."

The dry answer made Sonic understand that Shadow had decided to close their conversation there and then. Grumbling something under his breath about ultimate life forms and their sour moods, the hedgehog stretched and left Shadow alone. Why Shadow defined his conditions a big problem was beyond his comprehension. Sure, his fur was gold and his eyes probably of a ruby red, but he felt fine. Actually, better than fine. He hadn't felt so great in a very long time.

"Fine," he muttered loudly enough for the black hedgehog to hear as he turned around to face his best friend still sleeping next to the fire. "I'll leave you alone."

Pausing only a moment to give Shadow the chance to say something else, Sonic made his way around the fire and next to Tails, crouching down to check how the kit was doing. Besides his dirty fur and a few scratches here and there, he looked fine. Just worn out.

Glad that the young fox was okay, Sonic sat down next to him and sighed. Even if he didn't want to admit it, he had to agree with Shadow. The fact that he couldn't remember what had happened - how he had ended up absorbing the Chaos Emerald's energy and why he hadn't powered down already - was a problem. Not something he would worry about when his friends were hurt - yes, despite all, Shadow was his friend - and they were all lost somewhere in the world, stuck within the hollowed trunk of a giant tree.

"Well, no need to worry now. I'll figure something out soon. Between Tails and Knuckles, I'm sure it won't take long to understand what happened," he muttered to himself, stretching out and flopping down onto the ground, one leg over the other and his arms behind his head to cushion it.

.

.

It was only a couple of hours later when Knuckles finally came back, awakening both hedgehogs from their naps. He was drenched from head to toe, his dreadlocked quills heavily dripping with water, and was carrying a bundle of leaves in his arms. With every step he took, his shoes made a faint squishy noise, and as he made his way to the fire to warm up and dry himself, he left behind a visible trail of water on the dusty ground.

"You're awake," he stated in a matter-of-fact as he watched Sonic stand up from his spot and wave at him. "How are you feeling?"

The golden hedgehog tilted his head slightly to the side. "Why is everyone asking me how I feel? Do I look like I have a wide gash on my side?" His voice was a mix of annoyance, sarcasm and confusion. "Seriously, I'm fine. You should ask Shadow if he's fine. He doesn't want to admit that he's in pain." He loosely pointed to the other hedgehog with his thumb.

Said black hedgehog was glaring at his rival. "I'm fine, hedgehog. Stop bothering me," he growled, gritting his teeth as he tried to sit up despite Knuckles's earlier words and the pain from his side.

The Guardian looked at the two as he placed the bundle of large leaves near the fire and started to get rid of the extra water on his fur and quills. "Stubborn hedgehogs..." he mumbled out to himself. He didn't care if the two rivals heard him, nor if they considered it as an insult.

Which Sonic did. "Hey..!" But he didn't continue protesting. Instead, he scurried around the fire and crouched next to the bundle Knuckles had carried inside. "What did you find?" he asked as he poked and prodded at the vines tying the leaves together.

Knuckles's left eye was almost twitching. "Will you stop being so annoying?"

Sonic simply ignored him with a roll of his eyes and hastily unwrapped the bundle, revealing several fruits that varied in shape and color, and what seemed to be an oversized critter. Not wanting to taste raw meat, he reached for a large round blue fruit and nibbled at it, his mood instantly lifted by its refreshing taste.

"By the way, what's up with the size? Everything here is giant. Trees, fruits," he poked at the critter with a finger, feeling disgusted at seeing a dead creature in front of him. Even if he accepted death and ate meat, that didn't mean that he liked seeing something like a deceased rat-thing, especially if he had to eat it. "Animals... Knuckles, do you really think I'm going to eat that?"

The Guardian sighed heavily and grabbed the creature from the bundle of fruit and turned away, doing what any hunter would do to cook a freshly captured prey. "If you don't like it, don't eat it," he grunted. "The meat is for Tails. If I remember correctly, even if he can eat fruits and vegetables, he needs meat to get the needed energy for the day."

Sonic turned his back to Knuckles, and, grabbing a few more pear-like fruits, walked to Shadow and, still upset with him, almost dumped the food on his chest. "Don't bother," he waved a hand in the air dismissively. "I'm not helping you. I'm just doing this so I won't have to help you when you stand up and double over in pain when you try to reach for something to eat."

The black hedgehog gritted his teeth, but refrained from verbally retaliating. There was a sense in what Sonic had said and if he thought the same way, Shadow could believe that the other hedgehog wasn't helping him, but merely preventing from having to help him.

It was with that thought that he grabbed a fruit and stared at it. It was two times bigger than any other fruit he had seen, and if he hadn't nailed it with his small claws, the pear would've rolled out of his grasp as soon as it was held vertically. The fruit, a bright yellow color, was soft and, by the scent coming from it, it seemed to contain a lot of sugared water. Perfect for helping him heal faster.

Ignoring the pain that shook his body every time he moved, he brought the fruit to his mouth and started to eat it. At first he was slow and collected, but with every bite he took he became increasingly faster. He hadn't realized how hungry he had been until the first bite reached his stomach.

It was only after two large fruits had been consumed within a few minutes that the black hedgehog felt satiated. Glancing at the other two Mobians, however, he noticed that Sonic was still on his first fruit while Knuckles was starting on his second giant grape. It was so odd to see the golden hedgehog not be as hungry as he usually was.

A murmur filled the air and three pair of eyes moved onto the shifting form of the young fox. After several moments Tails sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. His nose twitched at the scent of cooking meat, and his stomach immediately growled loudly.

His azure eyes then locked onto the ruby eyes of his best friend and the thought of eating was forgotten. "Sonic!" he exclaimed, standing up so fast that he almost jumped into the air. "You're awake! You're ok!"

Sonic smiled at the enthusiasm showed by the kid and waved at him. "Hey, Tails. Nice to see you awake! Want something to eat?"

Ignoring Sonic's peculiar conditions, Tails rushed up to him and the echidna and crouched in front of the several fruits. He pointed at them all in turn a couple of times, then picked a round green one with rough skin and nibbled at it before staring at it in contemplation. Its taste was something that lingered between sweet and watery, and even if it wasn't the young fox's favorite flavor, he appreciated the mix and finished it without a word.

"I'm glad you're alive, Sonic," he spoke softly, almost afraid of saying something terribly wrong. "I thought... I don't know... I can't remember clearly, but someone was screaming. It was horrible..."

Sonic turned to face Tails and stared. "It must have been Shadow..." he said, sitting down and starting to play with the half eaten fruit in his hand. "As you can see, I'm perfectly fine. Well, counting out the weird fact that I can't power down, anyway. But really, I'm fine. No need to worry."

Tails nodded and wiped his eyes, wiping away the few tears that had dared to fall. Sonic's reassuring voice always did wonders with taking care of his worries.

Nodding, the kit turned his head to face the golden hedgehog and smiled. "Yeah, no need to worry. But... Sonic?" Here he frowned and fully turned around to face the hedgehog. "How is it that you haven't powered down? I thought that you couldn't sustain this kind of power for too long...."

Happy to see his little brother back in his analytic aspect, Sonic shrugged and shook his head in resignation. "I don't know, Tails," he replied as he sat down next to him and played with a piece of cold coal. "I woke up this way. I can't even remember what happened after we infiltrated Eggman's base."

Tails turned his head to look at the echidna sitting a bit to the side, not really participating in the conversation, but listening closely nonetheless. "Knuckles, what do you think happened? Could the loss of memory be some sort of side effect caused by... whatever happened before we ended up here?"

A red eyebrow lifted and the Guardian hummed for a few seconds before he looked at the kit. "It could be... I don't remember clearly either, but if a huge amount of Chaos Energy was released, the massive outburst could have caused a partial loss of memory. I don't know, however, if it'll be temporary or permanent. I'm leaning for temporary, though."

Enraptured by the short, yet revealing answer given by Knuckles, the young fox nodded his head and gave him his full attention. "A massive outburst of Chaos Energy? Could it have been caused by Sonic powering up? Eggman was in possession of all seven Chaos Emeralds...."

"Normally, harnessing Chaos Energy directly from the emeralds doesn't produce such devastating effects, but..." Here Knuckles paused and thought carefully about how it could be possible that something stable enough to be used without too much thought regarding danger could have turned out so catastrophic. "But if whatever machine Eggman had used on the emeralds had collected a huge amount of energy from them, it could be possible that Sonic using the Chaos Emeralds could have triggered the collected energy into blowing up, causing an uncontrolled Chaos Control amongst other weird effects."

It made sense, Tails decided. "And part of that amount could have been shifted into Sonic instead of blowing up, granting him a prolonged period of time he could remain powered up," he concluded, snapping his fingers into the air while his eyes shone with accomplishment.

The moment of triumph, however, was disturbed by a cough and a wave of a hand. "Hello, I'm here, remember?" Sonic spoke, feeling left out. "I'm glad you're enjoying all the scientific explanation and theories behind the workings of Chaos Energy, but...I don't feel any surplus of energy. Actually..." he paused and tilted his head, looking pensive. "I can barely feel it...."

"Don't say absurdities, hedgehog," Shadow suddenly spoke, idly watching his hand play with the core of the fruit he had devoured. "I could feel it when you touched me. A huge amount of it. Just like a Chaos Emerald. Infinite power trapped within a small vessel."

His red eyes moved from his improvised toy to stare directly into Sonic's. "Why don't you use this power to just take us out of this hellhole?"

Baffled, the golden hedgehog stared at his rival for several seconds before shaking his head and crossing his arms. "I told you, Shadow; I barely feel it. And I know that no amount of concentration will help me harness it."

He placed the half eaten fruit back with the others and stood up abruptly. "I'm going to take a quick run around here. I'll be back soon, don't worry." And before anyone could protest his decision, he left in a quick jog, disappearing into the forest.

Running through the rain, he discovered, wasn't being the usual hassle it had always been, and the mud on the ground didn't seem to hinder his footing at all. Despite the fact that he was still touching the ground with each step he took, Sonic felt like he was hovering instead of running, and that gave him an odd sense of euphoria. If before he loved running because it gave him a sense of freedom and massive rushes of adrenaline, now he felt like he was rediscovering the joy of darting from place to place, skillfully jumping and sidestepping obstacles.

He stopped on top of a rocky formation and stared at the surroundings, marveling at the colors and taking in the particular scent of wet wood and mud like he never had before. Crouching down onto his haunches, the golden hedgehog looked down at a large leaf and watched as the rain slowly dripped on it, following the veins and tears in small rivulets.

He knew that it was a mundane thing, that there was nothing new with it, but for some reason, Sonic felt enraptured by the sight. He stared it for long minutes until his attention got captured by a beautiful song. Lifting his eyes away from the leaf, the golden hedgehog turned just in time to see a bird that he had never seen before fly through the trees.

The creature's feathers ranged from vivid yellow on its body to intense red on the wings, tail and head. They glittered each time the animal moved, seemingly setting it aflame while its deep blue eyes scanned the forest from its vantage point.

When the creature sang, the ethereal melody echoed into the forest as clearly as a bell would do in a small, quiet town. Sonic became fascinated with the animal, feeling some sort of familiarity coming from it, but as he pondered at why he felt that way, the bird disappeared into the forest as it came, leaving an odd cold behind.

The golden hedgehog shivered and shook his head, getting rid of the spell of wonderment he had gained from the bird. He stood up and, even if he had taken several twisting turns, turned towards the direction he had come from without hesitation. Since he had awakened in that sort of condition, he felt that his sense of direction had sharpened to the point that he felt he could pick the right direction even if he was locked into a room without windows.

Throwing one last glance towards where the bird had disappeared , Sonic shook his head and chuckled as he jumped down from his rocky perch and started to jog towards where his friends were taking shelter from the persistent rain. Perhaps Shadow was right. Even if he felt fine and better than usual, the fact that he would stop running - which was his favorite thing - to watch rain dribble down a leaf was something uncharacteristic of him.

He mindlessly sidestepped a tree and jumped over a fallen one, then stopped abruptly, warily looking at the air. He felt the skin along his spine crawl and had to close his eyes and take deep breaths to calm himself. He felt divided and nervous, yet there was a sense of familiarity in the back of his mind.

He rubbed at the bridge of his nose and wobbled on his feet for a second as strong nausea overcame him. He felt like the world around him in that moment twisted, rolled and moved into several different directions at once. He instinctively crouched down and placed his hands on the muddy ground, anchoring himself against what he knew was a solid and unmoving surface.

Then he felt like he was slipping forwards. With a soft cry of surprise, he dug his feet against anything that could stop his uncontrolled fall. Then, when he thought that the world would simply go upside down and he would fall through the sky, it stopped. The nausea ceased and, still clinging to the inclined ground, Sonic opened his eyes.

And found himself somewhere totally different than where he had been before he had closed his eyes. Slowly standing up, careful to not slip towards the bottom of the valley, the hedgehog looked around and rubbed his forehead, smearing his fur with mud. First he was unable to power down, then he took interest in water and leaves, then the bird and now this....

Sighing in defeat, Sonic easily made his way to the top of the slope and took in his new surroundings. If before he had been running through a rather leveled zone of the forest, now it looked like it was hill after hill.

"Great..." he muttered, hitting a fist against the wet bark of a large tree. With the luck he had that day, he wasn't ruling out another accidental Chaos Control. "Just great...."

But as he was starting to believe that he was lost, Sonic felt the sudden urge to follow the valley he was facing. Blinking, he shrugged and a moment later he was sliding down the slope he had climbed, grinning and generally having fun when he acrobatically sidestepped an obstacle that appeared in front of him. It was like snowboarding, only that there was no snow and he didn't have a board.

With a long whistle and a laugh, he slid past a tree and stopped at the bottom of the slope, half-crouching with one hand onto the ground to stabilize himself. He stood up and didn't bother with cleaning his fur from all the mud. The rain would eventually clean him, and he liked the scent of wet earth and wood. It made him feel... more alive.

The air was cold and pungent, filled with sounds and scents that the hedgehog profoundly appreciated as he made his way through the huge forest. He ran for miles, not really focused on it, but at the same time feeling like he exactly knew where he was going and where he had to be, until he came into a small dip into the ground. It was surrounded by moss covered rocks and vegetation with large leaves. Easily jumping down into the dip, Sonic looked around and was pervaded by the same fascination he had earlier, attracting his attention to the small details of the rock and how well the green balanced the dark grey.

The scent of mud and wet wood returned, making him close his eyes and squeeze the bridge of his nose in an attempt to resist the spell that was coming over him once again. However, the fragrance of wild flowers sent the golden hedgehog into a swirl of confusion and bliss.

"Come on, come on..." he spoke to himself as he placed his free hand on a mossy boulder to steady his stance. "You have battled against deadly machines and angry gods, you can't let a simple smell overcome you."

Battling the overwhelming feelings, Sonic shook his head and regained control of himself. When he felt that he wouldn't be taken over by scents or details, he opened his eyes and looked at his surroundings again. Thankfully, he remained 'sane' and noticed something that wasn't part of the forest laying behind a cluster of vivid red flowers.

Curious, he crouched in front of the bush-like plant and parted the flowers, vines and small branches to check behind them.

"Well, what do we have here..." he commented as he reached under the vegetation to retrieve what had attracted his attention. Taking it out and holding it up to his eyes, he grinned at his lucky finding before he frowned in confusion once again.

The Chaos Emerald he was holding was transparent, its facets only faintly reflecting his face. Red eyes examined the core of the mystical gem carefully for several long moments before Sonic understood that the emerald was empty. The infinite power that he normally could see within it was absent, both in positive and negative, rendering what once was one of the most powerful source of energy in the universe to a simple transparent rock.

Standing up and easily jumping out of the dip, the golden hedgehog walked in the direction he had came from without taking his eyes away from the powerless gem. That the Chaos Emerald was empty was a bad thing, he knew that, but for some strange reason, Sonic didn't feel worried. He knew that because it was infinite, Chaos Energy couldn't simply end.

"I have to let Knuckles see this. He knows his stuff better than anyone else put together..." he murmured as he finally looked away from the transparent emerald in his hand and onto the path he was walking.

He was walking uphill now, following a small path made by wild animals and running water that hugged the entire length of the hill. It was fairly linear, but sometimes it would wind around a tree or rock and, as he went further up, the path sometimes would overlook a deep and narrow ravine with a raging torrent at the end.

Although he was never scared of heights and narrow passages, Sonic was glad when he finally reached the top of the hill.

He then walked along the top of the hill for maybe a hour or two, with the forest getting increasingly dark as the day turned into evening. The only positive fact was that it had stopped raining and he was oddly unbothered by his slow progress on the unstable terrain. To pass the time, he had started to whistle a tune that faintly recalled the cry of the beautiful bird he had seen earlier, and it was in the middle of repeating it for the fifth time that his ears picked up a distant sound that made him pause.

He stood motionless, his ears swiveling left and right at any small noise that broke the silence. He remained there for long seconds, maybe even a minute, and although his muscles itched to move, he remained where he was, not wanting to lose any tiny sound.

When he was losing hope to hear it again, the sound came again and Sonic managed to pick up the direction it had come from and, because of the near absolute silence of the forest, he had even recognized the call to be Tails screaming his name.

He smiled widely at that. The young fox, unlike him, was prone to worrying over certain things, and his disappearance for those long hours had surely sent the kit into enough worry to call his name from time to time. It warmed his heart how his "little brother" cared so much about him, and, to not further prolong Tails's suffering, he called back with all the voice he had.

This time he had gotten really lucky, and Sonic knew it. After all, being lucky was part of his charm.