A/N: Okay, I'm officially out of chapters. From here on you will be getting them as they come, hot off the presses. Well. Not exactly, but you get the idea. Shows how slowly I write ; anyway. Have a nice chapter!

--

With burning hatred in his heart, he flew for his life. Every muscle, every sinew, every cell in his body concentrated on avenging his people. These ruins were the last residence of all the avians… I must be one of the last alive, he thought. Just me, Wave… maybe two or three freedom fighters… As he continued on this melancholic train of thought, another thought suddenly hit him like a ton of rough granite bricks. Those bodies were relatively fresh… no more than a day old… that means… the killer could still be… oh fuck. He redoubled his pace. Gotta warn the others…

Shadow had given up on the rocket-skates function of his boots and had taken to running. Rounding corners at hectic speed, he would occasionally run along the wall for a good ten metres before kicking off it to round another corner. Nack and Wave struggled to keep up, forced to abandon their vehicles because of the twisting, convoluted tunnels. They stopped to catch their breath as Shadow began scaling an impossible wall of rubble, with the aid of his chain.

"Oh fuck off…" Nack managed between pants as he watched the black hedgehog assail the obstacle. Shadow leapt on to the top and paused. He looked over his shoulder at the other two and called back;

"What are you waiting for?" He promptly jumped down.

"Ugh… surely it can't be much further…" Wave panted. She looked round as she heard the noise of an airboard behind her. She looked over her shoulder to see Jet round the corner behind them at speed. He grabbed Jet and Nack by the scruffs of their necks and hauled them on to the back of his board as he proceeded to kick off the various rocks and stones to climb the wall of rubble in front of them. Once he was able to kick over the top, he released the two of them at the top of the wall and kicked his board away. He landed roughly on his feet. Nack and Wave cautiously descended the wall as Jet waited.

"Come on, we're nearly there!"

"Have you known all along without telling us!?" Nack replied irately.

"No, I can see it!" Jet pointed through the open double doors, which Shadow had already proceeded through.

Shadow treaded cautiously into the cavernous dome. His chain rattled on the metal floor of the room, very different from the catacomb-esque tunnels they had just emerged from. He stepped up to the edge, where he could see to the rounded floor. The room took the shape of a giant sphere, with a few signs in Arabic here and there, usually with an airboard next to it. There were even a few airboards scattered around the place. Seemingly floating in the centre of the room, most likely under its own power, was the piece of the emerald. It glowed faintly, and was pulsing slightly. However, between the emerald and him was a greyish blur – with wind moving off it. It was also making a fair amount of noise.

"Shadow, Shadow… hey, what the…" Jet bounded in.

"…I don't remember this being here…" Wave followed closely.

"What is this?" Shadow asked after a brief pause.

"This used to be the testing room and sometimes arena for Extreme Gear. It was built down here after they developed ones that could ride on walls and ceilings. But… whatever that is was never there before…"

"Well inside 'whatever that is' is the piece of the emerald,"

"Shit, you're right." Nack sauntered in, casually.

"Hmm…" Shadow thought hard for a minute. "Fetch me a pebble from outside."

"Fetch a pebble from outside," Nack mocked as he returned to the pile of rubble to find a small stone. He lobbed it at Shadow who wheeled round and caught it, without so much as looking at it. His chain traced a circle around him. He took a step back and motioned for the others to do the same. He hurled the pebble forwards, and it immediately chinked off the blur with a few sparks and landed on the ground next to his feet. He examined the stone – chipped. Blunt impact. "I have an idea…" He said to anyone who would listen, not caring who. He closed his eyes and concentrated, attempting to block out all the surrounding noise. He tensed up, then relaxed his muscles, letting energy flow into his core. After what felt like an hour but could only have been a few minutes, he opened his eyes. The world appeared different now. Everything was blurred slightly, but moved a lot slower. The blur in front of him was in fact three rings, sharpened at the edges, spinning around the floating pedestal of the emerald. They were spinning at a more reasonable speed now, and he could easily step through it if he wanted to. He looked round at the others. They were moving at a negligible speed – he could wave his hand in front of their faces and their eyes wouldn't even move.

He took a step up to the edge of the platform. The spinning rings were still moving at a fair pace, but slow enough for him to navigate safely. He took a run at the edge and dived head first through the first sizeable gap he saw. His chain clipped against the closing metal rings, but cleared it before the gap closed. He grabbed on to the central platform as soon as it was within reach, and his chain swung over to the other side, making it easier for him to pull himself up. He clawed up on to the platform, and slowly climbing to his feet. He could feel the throbbing, pulsating energy from the shard, glowing stronger now. He paced around it, observing it, determining what to do with it. He put his hand over it, and could feel a radiant energy off it, not heat, not light, but some kind of other energy. He touched it briefly. It felt no different than any other piece of glass, or smooth surface. He scooped it up in his hand and tossed it around a little. He held it in his right hand, with the chain extending from his wrist. The chain glowed a little, and small seams of yellow light emanated from it. He closed his eyes again and concentrated on the emerald, trying to extract the awesome power contained within.

Then suddenly, for a brief moment, he felt the world black out, and all he saw was this light, this energy, the heat he felt crawling along his arm. All he could do was stand idly by as it filled his body, warming him, filling him with power. It began to swell in him, making him feel pressure inside him, making him feel nearly ready to burst…

… But he didn't. Instead he snapped back to consciousness, with new vigour. The first thing he noticed was that the world in front of him was now completely still. The next thing he noticed was that he was several feet in the air.