Chapter 26

The group soon met up with Tails, Silver, Blaze and Diesel. The ship was too big to continue up any further. They decided to continue on foot. While Sonic and Manic recounted their escapades over the last four years, Rouge told of her encounter with Blade. Espio had a bit of explaining to do. Jet and Wave grudgingly followed with their boards tucked under their arms. Tails and Blaze lagged behind a little, talking leisurely.

"Have you ever heard of Nazo?" Blaze asked, casually.

"No. Why?" Tails found cause for concern. "Is there something we should know?"

"Well, he's a big one in the future. Nobody really knows where he's from, some say he's an alien, some say he's an ancient being from thousands of years ago… personally, I think he has something to do with Naugus."

"Anything in particular we should know about this Nazo guy?"

"He is quite powerful. He could destroy the world completely if he wanted to, but he's too sadistic to just snuff it out like that. He'd rather have the whole world suffer for thousands of years."

"How come all these villain guys are immortal?"

"Yeah!"

"Well, Eggman isn't. Sure, until Naugus came along, he was completely incompetent."

"Maybe Naugus gave him 'Villainology 101'." Blaze quipped. Tails giggled.

"Something about this doesn't feel right…" Shadow was uncertain.

"What did you say there?" Amy was the only one who heard.

"This place feels empty… like there's nothing up here."

"You mean Iggy isn't up here?"

"I don't think so. It could just be a ruse to lead us away from him or what he's doing."

"Hmm…" She retreated into her mind to think this over. Shadow remained quiet.

A massive wooden door stood in their way.

"Do you think maybe he's compensating for something?" Manic jibed.

"Stand aside." Blaze stepped forward with her ever-imposing flamethrower. The oak door burnt away in a matter of seconds. "Who needs to pick a lock when you've got a flamethrower?"

"Indeed. I've been expecting you…" A voice said through the smoke.

"Naugus!" Sonic shouted loudly as he jumped through the flames.

"There we go with the hero mentality…" Rouge rolled her eyes.

The room was a nicely furbished office, with a desk at the far side of the room. The chair was turned around to face the window, through which Sonic could see the sun nearing the horizon. The clock on the wall read 8 PM.

"You've displayed quite an impressive range of skills in getting here. None of your furry brethren have ever gotten close to where you are now."

"Cut the crap, Iggy! Show yourself!"

"Certainly brash, aren't we? It's a shame that you wasted all that energy getting here, and all in vain…" The chair swivelled round to reveal that it was empty.

"What?" Shadow jumped in through the flames. Sonic walked up to the desk.

"It's a recording!"

"Bastard…"

"But how did he know what I said?"

"Um… smart recording?"

"I realise that you may have had the curiosity to check out my desk." The recording was coming from a small box on the table. One by one, the others came in to the room, as the flames burnt themselves out. "This might be the time to inform you that your curiosity will not go unpunished."

"What?" A metal wall slammed down where the door had previously stood, much to Knuckles' alarm, as he was the last in.

"There is a bomb in my desk with a fuse of 60 seconds, starting now. It will take you at least that time to find it and open it, let alone defuse it, so don't bother trying. I doubt even your half-breed Kitsune friend could do it in that time." Tails made an expression as if to say 'What the hell is he talking about?'. "Seeing as you have precious little time to live, I might aswell let you in a little secret. It seems the batgirl did some work for me and found the pieces of the master emerald." Knuckles flared up. He turned to Rouge. He was furious.

"YOU FOUND THE MASTER EMERALD AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME?!?" He grabbed her by the neck and started throttling her.

"KNUCKLES, WE HAVEN'T GOT TIME FOR THIS!" Sonic forced them apart.

"In addition, it is currently in the care of a teenage rabbit…"

"Cream!" Amy turned pale.

"…so it shouldn't be too hard to repossess."

"IF YOU TOUCH A HAIR ON HER FLUFFY BUTT I'LL SHOVE THAT EMERALD SO FAR UP YOUR ASS YOU'LL START CHOKING ON IT!"

"And once I repair the emerald, nothing can stop me ruling the world with you out of the way. I believe an evil laugh is in order. MWAHAHAHAHA…" The recording couldn't continue any further, as Shadow had put his chain through the box. Interestingly, his gun was still there and he had not transformed into 'Dark Shadow'.

"He's got a date with ol' Vengeance here…"

"Not if we don't get out!"

"I have an idea!" Knuckles yelled. He ran over, picked up the desk and tossed it out the window.

"Ah-ah-ah! Not so fast. One of you might have noticed that the desk wasn't nailed down, so I placed a second bomb in the floor. You have 60 seconds." A second recording played out.

"Oh, for fuck's sake…" Knuckles punched the wall. The open window caught Jet's eye. He ran towards it and leapt out.

"JET! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?"

"Wait, I think he's on to something…" Wave jumped out after him. Sonic watched both of them ride down the side of the building on their airboards.

"I don't suppose he could have thought of the rest of us…"

"Look. We could stay here and definitely die or jump out and probably die. Which do you want to do?" Amy suggested.

"Way ahead of you." Tails leapt out the window, back first.

"She's got a point." Manic followed. Amy, Sonic, Nack, Knuckles, Blaze and Diesel also jumped out. Espio started climbing down the outside of the building.

"Pity you don't have wings…" Rouge glided away, floating slowly to the ground. Shadow looked at the chain now hanging from his arm. He jumped out the window, and swung the chain into the wall. It scraped against it, occasionally finding a grip and slowing him down enough to put his feet on the wall.

Finally, only Silver stood at the edge. He sighed. He watched the others fall away, possibly to their deaths. He looked round to the centre of the room. The ticking got louder. It stopped. That made his mind up for him. He leapt out of the window, and heard the explosion behind him. His back felt hot. He wasn't on fire, but the gases pushed him further from the building.

About halfway down now, Sonic saw himself level with Amy. He couldn't hear a thing from the rushing of air past them. Nonetheless, they seemed to understand each other. They reached out and pulled themselves together. They were upside down and plummeting to the ground with tremendous speed, but that didn't stop them. The whole world ceased to exist for one brief moment, when the closed their eyes and kissed, one last time…