Knuckles wanted to start giving the briefing right away, but first they had to move away from the coast a bit. Perfect Chaos was fidgeting restlessly, and there were tidal waves.

"First, the bad news." The echidna drew in his breath once they were at a safe distance. "Fiolet's tapped into the Master Emerald. He's now going to be completely Chaos enabled; he's definitely going to have greater power and the ability to use Chaos attacks and defenses. Also, Tikal suspects he's gained the power to change form at will, instead of having to die and return to mist form in between."

"And there's good news in this?" said Shadow grimly.

"There's a loophole," averred Knuckles. He gestured back to the shrine. "I smashed the Master Emerald as a last-ditch way of preventing Fio from getting at the Chaos Power, but I was too late. Still, the Master Emerald is broken now, and the pieces are scattered all over the world. I told Chaos it was Fio's fault, so he's going to give him hell now, but he's only going to hold up for a little while. We need to act." He looked to Sonic, Tails, and Amy. "Do you remember that chant Tikal taught us, back when it first broke?"

"Yeah, I think so. 'The servers are the seven Chaos' . . . " Sonic began.

". . . 'Chaos is power, power is enriched by the heart'," Knuckles took up the thread. "'The heart is the controller. The controller serves to unify the Chaos.' There's a double meaning in that. On one hand it means that a properly attuned heart can harness the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds—it's why some of us can use Chaos energy. On the other hand it describes the role of the Master Emerald as the Chaos Emeralds' heart and controller. It rules over them."

"I remember!" cried Tails. "Back on the ARK—you got it to stop the Chaos Emeralds from charging the Eclipse Cannon!"

Shadow winced slightly. He had no memory of that series of events himself, but he'd been told about it in enough detail to know it wasn't one of his best moments.

"Right, right," Knuckles rattled on. "It controls their power level, it can charge them up into Super Emeralds—and it also forces them to scatter if they ever get used to win a fight."

"You mean the scattering is the Master Emerald's fault?!"

"You make it sound like a bad thing," said Knuckles reproachfully. "Think of what would happen if they didn't fly off after every victory! If the wrong psycho got hold of them, nothing could ever stop him!"

"So it's a safety measure?"

"Yeah. But now that the Master Emerald's broken, it no longer controls them. They won't scatter."

"We can stay Super forever?" said Shadow, his eyes flashing.

"Not individually. Going Super is exhausting, so you'd still pass out eventually, and the Chaos Emeralds don't have infinite power either. But when you drop out of Super, they'll just rematerialize around you and you can pass them on to the next person. At least until the Emeralds run out of energy themselves, which should be quite a while."

"So . . . A Chaos relay?"

"Not just Chaos. Not all of us can use that, but we need to mobilize everyone. And we need to do it now."

The others nodded grimly and scattered without another word. Knuckles paused for just a moment to glance over his shoulder to the sea. Far off in the distance, a massive blue shape reared out of the water—and beside it rose a matching form, dark translucent purple. The ocean boiled and foamed around the two beasts as they grappled, jaws locked over each others' throats, gigantic bodies thrashing and heaving.

"Hang in there," muttered Knuckles, and took off to start the preparations.

Within fifteen minutes, the entire region was buzzing tensely. Ten minutes more, and it seemed like the whole world had suddenly joined into one anxious hum, a barely-contained undercurrent of frantic preparation. G.U.N. units across the world armed for battle, calm but stern emergency warning messages were sent out on all media networks, and uneasy families began gathering in storm cellars or huddling around the nearest live newsfeed, waiting for the call to hide or flee. There was no panic, not yet; most people had faith that the Mobians would triumph as they always did.

They didn't know how serious the situation actually was.

Sonic and Shadow made two separate whirlwind rounds of the area, alerting the other Mobians for battle. The plan spread by word of mouth, crackling back and forth in an eerily unchanged format. This was no time to succumb to the vagaries of inaccuracy.

The plan was to spread the Mobians out as far as possible. Those who couldn't use Chaos would fight to the best of their abilities, and G.U.N. squadrons would attempt to keep up with the action, hounding Fiolet with assorted weaponry. Meanwhile, those who could go Super would be running the main offensive, passing the powered-up state from one carrier to the next. It was no good trying to make everyone go Super at once; they had to spread out their power over time, not blow it all in one battle out of thousands.

And it would take thousands of battles. Perhaps even millions. Somehow everyone tacitly understood that the only way to defeat Fiolet would be to kill every last one of his forms, every last species, real or mythical, that had ever existed. And even that was assuming that such a thing were still possible now that he had Chaos powers—which it probably wasn't.

In other words, everyone tacitly understood that they were about to lose.

But then again, hope springs eternal. They had been in seemingly hopeless situations before—and either way, they couldn't just give up and stand aside as the world was driven to its knees. Better to be able to say they had tried.

Since going in and out of Super form used up more power than simply passing the energy along, they were going to make every effort to transfer the Super state constantly, without "dropping" the Chaos Emeralds. For this purpose, Rouge and Silver were assigned to be "fliers," monitoring the battle from overhead and communicating with the others by walkie-talkie, telling them where to get backup or where to go to pick up the relay. The whole system would depend on which direction Fio ran while fighting, so there was no use in trying to plan a course.

Lastly, Vanilla and the children were at the highest risk. Conditions were deemed too unsafe for them; they were Mobians and thus prime targets, but too defenseless or young to throw into a battle of this scale. G.U.N. offered them shelter in the underground tech room, about as safe as it was going to get. Tails and Sonic nearly got into a row when Tails refused to go with the other children, but the fox was unshakably determined to take part in the fight. Sonic, looking torn but proud, conceded gracefully. Tails was assigned to be another "flier."

Now all that remained was for everyone to take their positions, and for Vanilla and the children to be safely evacuated—all before Perfect Chaos finished fighting Fiolet. Ironically, the last one to get to the shelter was the one who was practically there already.

"Kiddo, get it together!" called Rouge, turning around and around. She was attempting to keep a visual track on Maria, who was tearing around the G.U.N. library like a thing possessed, scattering books and call cards in her wake.

"Just a few minutes!" she panted. "I need to gather all the books so we can study them while we're down there. Just a few minutes!"

"Maria, we don't have a few minutes. You need to get into cover with the other kids, stat. Leave the old books, it's too late for that!"

"Never too late," insisted Maria, heaping armloads of literature into an enormous cardboard box. "I might still be able to find something that could help you at the last minute! Just one breakthrough, that's all we need!" Tossing in the last of the books, she began to tug furiously at one side of the box, trying to drag it across the floor.

"Kiddo—" began Rouge.

"I'll manage, just let me get it moving!"

Omega stepped in and herded the small hedgehog aside gently.

"Allow me. I am better suited for weights of this size."

"Phew. Thank you!" smiled Maria, pulling her disheveled hair back from her face and catching her breath.

"All right, you've got your books. Now scoot!" ordered Rouge. Maria nodded and began to hastily gather up the last few odds and ends she'd left scattered around the library, stuffing them in the pockets of her dress.

"What the—" Shadow, coming in through the doorway, stepped around Omega who was towing the box of books out. "The library picked a lousy time to relocate."

"And Hermione Granger here is solely responsible," said Rouge drily, as Maria finally grabbed the last of her things.

"You're still trying to find something?" asked Shadow, his tense expression softening slightly. "You don't have to worry about that, Maria. We've reached the point of no return—it's today or never."

"I know, I know, but I can't just give up. I'll ask the others to help me read through them all, and maybe we can still find something."

"Oh, Charmy and Marine are just going to love that," grinned Rouge.

"I'll convince them," said Maria, venturing a tentative grin back.

"Pity the poor bee," deadpanned Shadow. "He thought he could enjoy an emergency evacuation. Then you hit him with an ancient textbook."

Maria chuckled briefly, but soon sobered and looked up at Shadow earnestly. "So. Today or never. I . . . " She glanced away. "You will be careful out there, won't you? Promise?"

"We'll try," said Shadow. It was the only honest answer he could give. Maria drew in her breath and bit her lip, but nodded.

"Good luck," she smiled shakily, and scampered out the door after Omega. Rouge glanced over at Shadow's expression and gave a bleak chuckle.

"Awww. Expecting a hug, were we?"

"Zip it," muttered Shadow, turning away. "No. And she's outgrowing that—"

"Eep! Almost forgot!" cried Maria, suddenly skidding back through the door. She threw her arms tightly around first Shadow, then Rouge, breathlessly ordered "be careful!" one last time, and disappeared again in a whirl of blue and blond.

"Wellll." Rouge raised her eyebrows, smirking.

"Zip it," reiterated Shadow, but couldn't resist a sheepish answering smirk. Still, as they headed out his eyes strayed back down the hallway, darkening.

"She'll be fine," said Rouge gently. "Don't worry about any old hand-waving maybe-prophecy. G.U.N.'s about the safest place she could be right now. They'll look after her."

"They'd better," said Shadow drily. "Because do they ever owe me."

Rouge winced and gave him a pained smile. Nothing was said for a while as they wove their way between hordes of scurrying agents, all suiting up, stocking up on ammunition, checking their weaponry. The air throbbed with tension and adrenaline.

Omega soon joined up with his teammates again, clanking a little more heavily than usual; he had restocked his own arsenal to the bursting. Usually he went into battle vociferously proclaiming imminent destruction, but now he was unusually quiet.

"What's on your mind, big guy?" asked Rouge.

"Turtle soup."

Shadow watched from a small distance as Knuckles stood at the edge of the ocean, waiting. A sudden freak wave dashed against the low cliffline, splattering what looked like water at the echidna's feet—only this substance clung to the ground instead of running back downwards. Otherwise, it didn't move; Chaos was exhausted.

Knuckles crouched beside the quivering blue gel, humming something soft and soothing. A strange gelatinous shudder, and the blue mass spat up seven glimmering stones, letting them tumble across the grass. Knuckles looked up long enough to nod to Shadow, then turned back to the ancient water spirit, murmuring something that sounded like praise or comfort. Tikal hovered by his shoulder with advice.

Meanwhile, Shadow stepped forward and picked up the seven stones. He watched as a purple stain spread across the water nearby, sending out crackling bolts of Chaos. Taking a deep breath, he lifted his hands and let the Chaos Emeralds drift upwards, rise to circle around him, shimmer and melt and merge into him, filling him with an indescribable searing power. His fur flashed gold just as a sleek purple form leaped from the water.

Thus it began; nobody wanted to think about how it would end.