A/N: Hey look! Two chapters in the same month! Same week, even! Good lord! Hah. I have a brief confession to make here. When I left this part of the story last, it was actually an unfinished chapter, but I decided to roll with it and not bother anyone much with it. Just to clear the air a bit there. Now, on with it!

"Having fun?" A familiar voice called. Familiar, but still quite bone-chilling. Shadow looked up in surprise. It didn't sound like Jet, Wave or Nack, and to the best of his knowledge they were the only ones there. The rings were still rotating slowly, so he knew he was still experiencing time at a slower pace.

"What?" He looked around him, confused. It nearly took his mind off his current altitude, but he was quickly alerted of that again. He looked downward at the ground again, and saw the same spiked chain he had been stuck with already, but longer, and with a few more spiked implements protruding from the end of it. It glowed with a little more intensity now aswell. He gave it a testing flick. It felt powerful. He arched his back and felt something different, something affecting his position more than anything else. He looked toward one of the reflective rings, moving slow enough for him to see his reflection at more than a glance, and saw something behind him. Something large and black. The next ring came around. He got a closer look; a couple of feathers were fluttering off. One drifted into his hand, and he looked at it intensely. A few seconds passed, and he crushed the feather in his hand and smirked.

"So… the ultimate life form has reached his ultimate form…"

"What do you mean?" Shadow wheeled round in place, his new wings being instinctive already. Behind, him floating in the air, at roughly his altitude. The long flowing hood masked his face.

"It's not often that you come across someone with the integrity to withstand so much chaos flowing through their body."

"You!" Shadow recognised the voice now. "I'm never handing the emerald over!"

"Oh, I could make it well worth your while…"

"Bargaining? That's a new low…" Shadow scowled.

"Low? You're one to talk about low. If I remember rightly you used to be no stranger to a deal or two."

"Shut up! I'm not that guy anymore!"

"I'm sure you'll come around…"

"SHUT UP!" He yelled, and swung the chain towards the hooded figure. The figure dodged backwards, but then slowed down to a near stop. Over the course of the next few seconds, an orb began to appear over the figure. Shadow drifted in closer to get a closer look. He tapped it with his finger out of curiosity. It was solid. He waited. The orb remained, and the figure did not move. Hmm… he thought. Guess he can only use a limited amount of powers at the same time… then he looked round and saw the others, still standing there, awed at what was going on. He decided to make the best of the opportunity and flee. He kicked off the rigid sphere and skilfully through the twirling rings, not so much as brushing them. He flapped his wings a few more times to gain some more altitude, and swooped down to pick his three companions up in one go. He proceeded to fly along the halls, returning to the outside, having retrieved what they came for. With a quick glance behind him, he saw that Naugus was still inside his shielding orb. He grinned and redoubled his pace.

Kicking off a couple more walls and out into the courtyard again, he dropped down to the ground and released the three he was carrying. He made sure they wouldn't fall over before letting them stand. He took a few steps back and set the emerald down on the ground. Nothing happened. He kicked it a few yards away. Still, nothing changed.

"Goddamit, how do I get back from this?!" He shouted in frustration, trying to return his perception of time to normal. He thumped the ground, leaving two small craters where his fists were. He walked back over and picked the emerald up again. "Hmm… so it's a battle of wits, is it?" He gazed into the emerald, as if trying to see it peeking back out at him. All he saw was the reflection of an irate, black-furred hedgehog with equally dark coloured feathery wings. He cast the emerald straight up into the air, yelling again in torment. Upon reaching its apex, much higher than he would normally be able to throw it, it remained at that height, seeming to fall rather slowly. He watched it, trying to think of reasons why it could be doing this. He thought back to some of the physics Tails had idly spat out, trying to remember some. He played it back in his head and spoke it aloud. "So the gravity at that height is much lower, about seven metres per second squared…" then he stopped. That was it. "Metres per second… I'm experiencing time at a slower rate… and if gravity is measured against time… then I experience lower gravity!" He revelled briefly in his slight triumph of logic. When he had finished, he stopped dead again. Nothing had changed. The emerald was still tumbling gingerly from the sky, not showing any signs of reaching the ground anytime soon. "Come ON! Stop! Halt! Cease! Whoa horsie!" Still nothing. "Oh for the love of… I should be able to stop like…" he said, and he clicked his fingers. Upon the click, he arched his back involuntarily and all unnatural appendages began to retreat inside his body. Time slowly sped up to a normal pace, and the emerald fell at a normal speed again, landing with a thunk on Jet's head and landing squarely in Nack's confused hand.

"What in the…"

"Well… that was… simple…" Shadow gasped, a little shaken.

"What just happened? Why are we in the courtyard? And… how did we get the emerald?"

"Umm… it's kinda complicated…" He explained, just a little bit confused and embarrassed. "Wait a second… my arm!" He looked at his right arm, and ran his other hand up and down it in amazement… "It's… healed…"

"Whoopdee-frickin-doo…" Jet mocked, rolling his eyes. "Nobody listen to me, that's right…"

"Why, what happened to you?" Wave replied. Shadow was too engrossed in his own miraculous recovery, and Nack was juggling the shard of the emerald between his hands idly.

"I was down in the back corridors… I found them…"

"Found what?"

"Not what, who… the people of the city…"

"What… what do you mean?"

"I mean that the bottom of this big rock has corpses coming out of its asshole!" He cried out, almost in tears again. Nack nearly dropped the emerald. Jet took a moment to steady himself.

"Holy…"

"They were pretty fresh too… whatever killed them isn't far away. And I have a hunch who it was…"

"I don't suppose his name would begin with an 'N', would it?" Wave asked, knowing full well the answer.

"Uh oh…"

"Shadow…" Nack turned and looked at him worriedly. "What did you do…"

"I didn't do anything… but I have a funny feeling we should start running about…" Before he could finish his sentence, he heard what sounded like an explosion, coming from deep below the ground. The ground began to tremble and a couple of walls began to crumble. Rubble shook and rolled around. "…now?"