SonicSonic54321: Yes, Shadow's finally starting to come around, as will be much more evident in this chapter and the next. And Lethal Highway is essentially in the same area as Westopolis, just in a different level.

Cf96: Well, he was in self-denial at one point with the whole android thing, but now that that's cleared up and behind him, he's on the road to self-assurance! :D

Chapter 19: Standing at the Summit

~Where Is My Happiness?~

I'd left Lethal Highway at least twenty minutes ago- I wasn't going to waste time standing around moping about my misfortunes. Sonic had stood where I'd left him, watching me leave until I disappeared over the horizon of the skyline. He'd warned me to stay away from Tails if I knew what was good for me…but how could I?

"It's my fault the kid was forced into hiding," I murmured, newfound guilt bubbling to the surface. "I don't blame him for running off…but I need to find him before it's too late…if it's not already."

I was wondering why Sonic hadn't been looking for him, but then it occurred to me that maybe he had been caught up with finding the Emerald, and then suddenly found himself coming to my rescue at Omega's insistence…once again making the situation fall into my blame.

It was night again, and I knew that in only a few short hours, Black Doom would launch his plan of devastation unto the world, with or without all the Chaos Emeralds…hell, him even having one was dangerous- just take a look at the ruins of Central City! A few blasts with the one emerald at the world would surely be enough to destroy everything!

Despite the fact that it was the beginning of the night again, the world around me suddenly grew brighter, and I realized I wasn't paying attention to how far I'd been walking. I was now on the outskirts of some outlandish city, with streets practically painted gold and filled with colors and lights that would shame the sun.

It reminded me a bit too much of Casino Park…and I thought I was going to need some sunglasses.

"Ugh…where is that two-tailed fox!?" I yelled to the heavens, staring into the night sky and begging for an answer with my eyes.

And quite shamefully, I was also going to blame myself for what happened next.

As if the universe wanted to give me a small break for all my troubles, it gifted me with the answer to my question…just, not in the way I would have liked.

The sound of a plane falling out of the sky had been faint, but I had picked it up, and quickly turned my head in its direction. The artificial light coming from the area ahead of me lit up the sky just enough for me to make out the outline of a navy blue plane.

"Hey…isn't that TAILS?!" I cried, suddenly running along the plane's angle of descent. I couldn't tell precisely where he was about to crash, but I swear I could hear him.

"Mayday! Mayday! Can't anyone hear me!?" he practically sobbed.

I definitely could.

"Something's shot down the Tornado III!" he cried. "I'm about to crash land in Eggman's theme park…please, someone respond!"

He tried to regain control, but apparently everything was jammed. He got closer and closer to the blinding city below…

…but even with the horrendously bright lights, there was no mistaking the luminescent glow of the Chaos Emerald at the front of the plane. As soon as I had identified it, my jaw dropped.

"The Chaos Emerald is in his plane?!"

Hot damn, I should've known that…

Said emerald was flickering intermittently, as if whatever was channeling its power into the plane had been damaged. Eventually, the nose of the plane had violently exploded, and the next thing I knew, Tails was spinning and toppling out of the sky, plane and all.

"WAAAAAH! Someone, HELP MEEEEEEEeeeee...!"

I tensed up, watching the trail of smoke cut the night sky completely in half.

On one hand, I had just gotten incredibly lucky. All I had to do was find where the plane crashed and take the emerald- no hassle with Tails whatsoever!

…but still, he wouldn't have even been here if it hadn't been for my reckless actions of yesterday…

Making up my mind, I swallowed and marched straight into Circus Park, bracing myself for whatever trials awaited me beyond.

Circus Park-

"The Chaos Emerald Tails dropped has got to be around here somewhere…" I trailed, storming into the park with little hesitation. "…but an equally puzzling question is where Tails went?"

The yellow path ahead was lined with joyous Egg Pawns, blinking lights, and spontaneous signs that conveniently popped up to point me deeper into the park. I walked cautiously past the Egg Pawns, expecting some sort of attack; they just grinned at me with creepy smiles and kept waving me into the park.

"…if it wasn't for the Chaos Emerald, I'd definitely be taking the long way around…"

I started skating ahead, pleased at not having any battles slowing me down, but it was so hard to see. I could barely see my hand in front of my face for Pete's sake…and I must've been seeing things in the haze of the yellow lights, because I almost thought I saw Tails' small form slumped against the equally yellow wall.

"…Tails?"

His ears twitched at the sound of his name, and as I approached him closer, I could see that he was badly battered from being tossed out of his own cockpit…but then, where had his plane landed?

I was almost close enough to touch him when his eyes shot open; the first thing they saw being me. He was instantly paralyzed with fear before gathering his bearings and scrambling off, jumping over the ledge and careening away from me as fast as he could.

"…think you can outrun me?!"

He didn't respond; his legs moved faster and faster until he pushed off the ground and started twirling his tails. Just as I reached forward to grab him, he took off into the air, easily flying out of my reach and hurrying off. I kept relatively close to him, expecting him to drop his guard for even a second just to glance over his shoulder to see if I was still there.

But he definitely was smarter than I gave him credit for; he locked his eyes forward and just kept moving, swerving around the multicolored pillars that reached to the sky and ducking under bridges that crisscrossed over our heads. I was so busy watching him effortlessly dodge everything that I had forgotten to dodge myself.

"Nggoooh-!"

I had tripped.

"Of all the indignities…" I rumbled innately, standing back up as quickly as I had fallen. I was in the process of brushing myself off when Eggman's monitor hovered over to me, looking less than pleased.

"There you are, Shadow. I was wondering where you went after leaving me to burn in my own Hot Shelter," he huffed indignantly.

"Better than burning in hell, ingrate…" I murmured under my breath. "In any case, what's going on here?! Is this some kind of pathetic scheme to go against my demands?"

"I'm not dumb enough to try that; I'm currently still trying to get out of Iron Jungle," Eggman scowled. "Omega is in here destroying absolutely everything, and I'm not looking forward to being caught in the crosshairs…actually, it was just a few moments ago that my drones started sending me alert messages about attacks in my park, so I deployed my monitor to check it out…and here we are!"

"I'm just here to pick up a quick souvenir and be happily on my way," I told him. "I'm not behind anything."

"I know you're not; not right now, anyway," the doctor sniffed, and I was getting pretty tired of the way he was speaking to me at the moment. "Not only has there been a crash in the far end of my park, but GUN soldiers have discovered this place is mine and are storming around shooting up my robots!"

"And this is my problem, how…?"

I heard him smack the nearest thing in the background- probably being an unfortunately placed Egg Pawn. "Because you've forced me to pull out of this war, and me attacking back would give me a reason to keep fighting! This whole thing is your fault, so you rid my park of all these GUN geeks!"

"Tch, it's not my fault GUN didn't get the memo that you're not a threat anymore." I folded my arms. "They're after me just as much as they want to see you brought down."

"Then wouldn't it be beneficial for us if we were to work together?" Eggman surmised, and I shook my head.

"I've got some more pressing matters to attend to aside from protecting your precious park from soldiers. …why does this even exist anyway?"

Eggman went from being furious to being delighted. "I'm so glad you asked! In my travels for these last three months, I've managed to collect enough rings to build this little amusement park! Can you believe all of this is powered by four hundred rings!? It's absolutely phenomenal! It was going to be the start of my next latest and greatest scheme, but then the aliens attacked, and I had to shift priorities- HEY! Where'd you go?!"

I had started walking off after hearing "I'm so glad you asked!"

. . .

My little meet-up with Eggman served to throw me off of Tails' trail, and in the mess of lights, music, and far too many attractions, finding him was like trying to find an orange needle in a yellow haystack.

In fact, I would've run straight past him if I hadn't heard his sniffling.

"Huh…?"

I glanced around, not seeing the fox at first, but catching sight of a small opening underneath a stack of blocks off to the right. It was quite inconspicuous, but I was only drawn to it by the sound of the sobs coming from it.

I walked over as quietly as I could, ducking down to peer under the blocks. Sure enough, in the little alcove was Tails, all balled up with his tails wrapped protectively around him, and he was crying gingerly.

I didn't know what to do.

"What am I gonna do…?" I heard Tails blubber, and I jumped from his sudden words. "I've lost my plane, I've lost connection to my friends, I've lost the Chaos Emerald…and the Black Arms are going to find it, and the world's going to end, and I'll be to blame!"

He fell into another crying fit, and I sighed under my breath, taking a seat at the entrance of his little hiding place.

"If the world does come to an end, there'll only be one to blame…" I said quietly, but it was enough to make Tails' fur stand out on end. "…and I guess at the core of it, it's me."

Tails instantly uncurled and backed as far away from me as he could, going on the defensive.

"I don't have what you're looking for!" he hissed at me, hot tears stinging his eyes. "The Black Arms have probably taken it by now, so just leave me alone!"

I had a hard expression on my face, trying to convey how serious the situation has gotten.

"Tails, I'm not going to hurt you."

"Th-that's not what I was told," Tails whimpered, scared to death and afraid to move. "After I gave you GUN's emerald, I was told that you were going to do whatever it took to get the Chaos Emeralds…and I was told to run and hide and not come back until the aliens left, with the Emerald so neither you nor the aliens could get it…"

He took a breath and gulped, hanging his head.

"I'd been flying in the Tornado III ever since, but just as I passed over Circus Park, I was shot down, and I tried contacting anyone, but no one responded…"

He picked his head up, now glowering at me.

"For all I know, you're probably the one that short me down, just so you could get your hands on the Chaos Emerald!"

I was surprisingly a bit stung by the accusation. Yesterday, it wouldn't have been shocking if I had done that, but today…well, things had changed.

"Tails, you absolutely have to listen to me," I told him, and he gave me skeptical look.

"I only listen to my friends."

Yowch.

I snarled, shredding my semi-nice routine and making Tails shudder at the rapid mood whiplash. "Yeah? Well, that means they're the reason that you lost your plane then, isn't it?"

His ears drooped. "Well, I-"

"It is absolutely critical that the Black Arms do not get their hands on any Chaos Emeralds." I got straight to the point. "Especially since they've taken one from Sonic."

Now I had Tails' full attention.

"Wh-what?! Sonic found a Chaos Emerald…?"

"Yes, and Black Doom stripped him of it right in front of me. Now he has one, I have four, Rouge is on her way to one…and you have one, meaning that you and Rouge and currently in danger. If he could easily take Sonic's emerald, I'd really hate to think of how he'd steal yours…"

Tails bit his lip and looked panicked, even trembling slightly. I honestly had never seen him so disturbed out of his wits.

"Why is this so hard…?" he sighed, grabbing at the ground below him. "Even fighting Eggman was never this stressful, except maybe the incident with the ARK…"

I felt myself twinge at this, but there was no time to question it. I grabbed Tails by the wrist –he yelped like I was manhandling him- and pulled him out of his little hiding spot.

"Look Tails," I began, standing him straight and holding him by the shoulders to prevent an escape. "There's only one way we can all get out of this. You need to give me your emerald so you can call Sonic without fear of being traced for the Chaos Emerald. Then you guys can plan out what to do next."

"And what are you going to do after that?" Tails asked, and I had been hoping I wasn't going to have to answer.

"I'll cut you a deal. I'll tell you everything I know about Black Doom's plan, in exchange for helping get to the seventh Chaos Emerald," I explained. "You all save the world from destruction, and I prevent the Emeralds from falling into the Black Arm's clutches and I get my memories back. We all win!"

Tails started looking skeptical again. "That proposition sounds awfully like it falls majorly into your favor…"

I smirked at him. "Well, isn't that how a deal is supposed to go?"

He stared blankly back at me.

"…that was a joke. It's okay to laugh."

"…try again when your jokes is less dry than Knuckles' sense of humor."

Challenge accepted.

"…disregarding that," I continued quickly, shaking my head. "Take it or leave it, Tails. It's the only way we can all get out of this…otherwise, I go take your Emerald by force, swipe the one from Rouge, and then fail to get the one from Black Doom because I can't get to him without your help, and-"

"-the world ends, yes, I've gotten that point," Tails mumbled, staring at the ground. He looked seriously deep in thought, and I let go of his shoulders to relax him more. "…before I agree to this, Shadow, can you tell me one thing?"

"That depends if I agree with it."

"…did you tell anyone that I gave you GUN's Chaos Emerald?" he asked quietly, suddenly finding his shoes much more interesting than me. I rolled my eyes and folded my arms.

"Of course not, although I should share that all your friends think I assaulted the Air Fleet just to nab the emerald and Sonic nearly beat me up over it."

Tails cringed. "Mmph…I'm sorry…"

I just unfolded my arms and held out a hand. "So do we have a deal or not? I only have so much time I can spare, you know."

Tails made a face at me, but even if he had some sort of counterstrategy hidden away somewhere in his mind, he still had no choice but to trust me.

"…all right," he finally mumbled begrudgingly, hesitantly shaking my hand. "But you'd better start spilling right now."

I shrugged and glanced up at the sky. "Long story short, from what little Black Doom told me, I'm led to believe he wants to fire the Eclipse Cannon at the world, but that's just my estimate from seeing what was done to Central City…"

"Whoa…what?" Tails breathed, sounding more stunned than shocked.

"There could be more to it, something he chose not to reveal to me, but that's the gist of what I've gathered so fa-"

"Shadow…that's the exact same plan you had eight months ago," he interrupted me, and I halted midsentence.

"Wait, excuse me-?!"

"I don't know if you remember or not, but there were some Chaos Emeralds on Prison Island, and you had this plan to blow up the island after you and your cohorts retrieved them-"

"Yes, I remember that," I cut him off curtly. He gulped and carried on.

"W-well…you, Rouge, and Eggman went back up to the ARK, and while Eggman was gloating on every screen in the world, you fired the cannon…and blew up half the moon!"

That horrendously shaped moon…it was like that…because of me?

"If the world didn't comply with your demands, the cannon would have been fired again, this time aimed at the world itself…" Tails trailed, shaking his head.

I was silent, soaking in this new revelation. That would answer why I had been explaining the cannon's functions to Eggman in one of my visions…and it would give me a motive to be at Prison Island anyway…but then, where had the plan gone wrong?

I was dying to question Tails further on this, but if that was truly where Black Doom was going with his plot, then we needed to get moving ourselves. I turned back to Tails and punched a fist into my palm.

"That brings me to why I'll need your help soon. I believe Black Doom took the red Chaos Emerald back to his home base for safe keeping, or straight to the ARK to put it in the Eclipse Cannon. I'd just Chaos Control up there and get it myself, but Doom is somehow able to warp my destination and end up where he wants me to be. And somehow, he has done the same to Sonic…"

Tails folded his arms and looked gravely serious. "Okay. What do you need from me?"

"All you have to do is convince everyone to take to space via spaceship, and I'll get on too so I can take back the red Chaos Emerald!"

"…how am I supposed to convince them that letting you on board is a good idea?!"

"I'm sure you'll figure it out," I huffed. He sucked in his cheeks. "…just pitch the idea to Sonic and trust me for once. I know he'll go for it."

Tails rolled the thought around in his mind and his grave look became more determined as he clenched a fist.

"All right…if we're really going to go through with all of this insanity, the first thing we need to do is go to where my plane crashed."

"A hunch tells me it's on the complete other side of Circus Park," I grumbled.

"Of course." Tails didn't look too pleased at this either, but he didn't let this deter him. "Guess we'd better get going!"

"About time," I murmured, letting him lead the way so we could just leave.

Things had really gotten unnecessarily complicated.

. . .

Even with all the arrows pointing out the way for us, getting through the crazy carnival was going to be much more work than it needed to be. The place had us leaping off of blue and purple balls, bounding off of elevating platforms, and trashing Egg Pawns.

Well, me anyway.

Tails had it easy- flying around all the obstacles without a care in the world. He even did a twirl around one of the poles I had to slide down, and on the next straight away I glared at him.

"I can see you managed to gain Sonic's show off traits…" I trailed. He just hovered around me while scratching the back of his head.

"Er, sorry…I just get a tad carried away sometimes. Can't you fly too with your rocket shoes?"

"Yes, but doing that saps a lot of my internal Chaos Energy," I explained, and his eyes widened with interest. "That's why I save it for emergencies."

"Oh, I didn't know that…"

"A lot of people don't."

Out of courtesy, Tails stopped flying and landed next to me, just in time for the two of us to hit a Boost Pad. We rocketed forward, and the brilliant world around us blended into one color. Tails was always fascinated by this, and I could tell by the sudden look of wonder that crossed his face.

I was just trying to hold off a seizure.

I did front flips off the Egg Pawns and ricocheted my way up the walls, reaching higher ground in a flash. Tails, however, beat me to the top with his unnatural flying capabilities, and I glared at him again.

"What?!" he asked frantically. "What am I doing wrong?"

"You know, you could be giving me a hand here," I huffed, pulling myself onto the next platform.

"I didn't think you wanted help! If I tried, you'd probably smack my hand away and be all like, 'Don't touch me!'"

I smacked my forehead.

"Well, I'm making an official request now. This'll go much faster if we help each other."

Tails nodded in understanding and quietly trotted behind me. The next time we came to a high ledge, he wasted no time in grabbing my arms and carrying me up, and it was indeed faster. However, once we reached the top he very abruptly dropped me, and I leapt to my feet and hissed at him.

"The hell was that for?" I demanded to know. "Think you're some kinda smart guy?!"

"To be frank, yeah," Tails replied with a shrug, hovering just out of reach of my fist. I felt a growl build in my throat, but I just whirled around and kept going, allowing him this one victory. He lowered himself back to the ground after a few seconds, returning back to silently trotting after me.

Man, this was awkward. I'd rather be back on the Air Fleet.

"Ooh, a zipline ride!" Tails suddenly cried, pushing past me and sprinting ahead. I stumbled to the right, then looked up to see what he was so excited about.

Attached to a zipline was a handle to hang onto, and according to Tails it was supposed to be some kind of attraction. With a rather loud whoop, Tails jumped up and grabbed the zipline, rocketing away.

"Hey, wait for me!" I yelled after him, grabbing the next one and taking off after him.

"Wheeeee!" I heard him wail, and I shook my head.

"I fail to see the entertainment in this."

We descended into a tunnel of overbearing flashing lights, accompanied by some crazy sounding circus music. At the end of the tunnel, the zipline ended abruptly, careening us into the air and bouncing us on conveniently-placed midair balls.

"Only Eggman could build this kind of thing," I murmured under my breath.

Upon landing, Tails scrambled ahead, racing up several inexplicable flights of stairs. I chased after him, easily catching up…especially since he was halted by a line of Egg Pawns.

"Hm, they don't look so friendly anymore!" I exclaimed, leaping over Tails and kicking two of them right off the edge. He snapped out of his brief moment of shock and lunged at one too, sweeping it away with a lash of his tails. More came flooding down from the top of the stairs, the whole pack moving as one. Tails tried charging head first into the fray, but I yanked him behind me and took put my rifle.

"One shot with this will take care of them," I hummed, pulling the trigger. One shot struck the middle of the pack, and the aftermath demolished all the rest. Once the debris had cleared, Tails jumped in front of me and gawked at the gun.

"Whoa, that was amazing! How did you dispatch all of them in a single shot?!"

"It's just how the gun works," I explained. "…although, it belongs to the Black Arms."

"Well, of course," Tails muttered, leaning in a little too close to the rifle for my liking. "I'm not even sure if I could design something like that…I'd love to try, but I don't think Sonic would be too pleased about it."

"We can gush about the gun later," I insisted, tucking it back into my quills. "We still have ground to cover."

"Right, right. Sorry."

I broke out into a run as Tails stumbled after me. Seeing as he couldn't keep up, he started flying over my shoulder determinedly.

The mood between us was rather silent, since we'd already discussed all that was important. I just focused on grinding the rails, riding rockets, and maneuvering around everything while Tails would dictate what direction we should go every once in a while.

"If you hit that spring up ahead, we can go even higher!" Tails told me, gesturing ahead. Sure enough, there was a spring resting ahead, and I threw myself at it top speed, causing me to careen high in the air. At some point during the ascent, Tails latched onto me and carried me upwards. I knew he just wanted higher ground to scout around for the wreckage of his plane, and I couldn't help but feel a little bad for him.

"…I guess you put a lot of work in that plane, huh?"

"Yeah," Tails sighed, as if it was a long story. "It's the third plane I've owned, but the second one I actually built…that was successful, anyway. I remember that clunky gray one I built nine months ago, back when I was first testing using the Chaos Emeralds as an energy source…"

We landed, a lot more gracefully this time, and Tails let go of me after I was set on the ground.

"…out of simple curiosity, why the interest in planes?"

Tails literally beamed at the question, and I was almost tempted to take it back. But he bounced ahead of me and happily started rambling about his experiences.

"Well, if you want a long story short, when I first met Sonic, it turned out that he had crashed his plane on the island I used to live on. I was only four and a half at the time, but I managed to tinker with it and fixed it, and then I used it to save Sonic's life…"

"What happened to it?" Talking to him caused him to walk a lot faster, and while that was beneficial, I still wanted to know the full story.

Might as well get what I can.

Tails didn't look too happy to answer this one; his ears drooped as he recalled the event. "It was during the Chaos crisis…the Egg Carrier had just launched out of Mystic Ruins, and Sonic and I were giving chase in the Tornado. But the technology was so advanced on it –at the time, anyway- and it shot this huge laser that took out one of the wings…and ultimately destroyed it."

"Ouch," I murmured quietly. Tails shook his head.

"I was disappointed, but Sonic was devastated; I could see it in his eyes, and he loved that plane so much... I almost thought he would be upset when I showed him the Tornado II that I built, but he was so happy and proud of me…"

His eyes softened a bit as he turned back to me, an ambivalent look on his face.

"After this…I'm probably just going to have to start from scratch again," he said heavily, as if it was something he had just come to terms with. "Maybe...this time, I'll make it look like the original Tornado, but with all the upgrades! Oh, I bet Sonic would LOVE it!"

I just nodded slightly- I didn't exactly share his enthusiasm, but I wasn't about to crush it either. Still, apparently this had huge meaning to Tails, because he smiled again, and it was just so contagious. I could only wonder how Knuckles managed to deal with two smiling fools…

"Anyway, um, Shadow?"

Tails' voice went from exuberant to meek again, and I just raised an eyebrow. "What's up, kid?"

"I'm…sorry I dropped you before and for being so scared…" he confessed, biting his lip and looking away. "I guess…now that I think about it, it's not you that I'm afraid of. I'm afraid of what'll happen if I make the wrong decision…we can't know what's going to happen, and I'm trying to do what I can now…but everyone was relying on me to protect that Emerald and now maybe it's gone-"

"Tails."

I stopped him with one word, and he completely froze, still in mid speaking pose and everything. I huffed, put my hands on his shoulders, and kneeled down to his level.

"Listen. We both know that I have made some terrible decisions in the past- and plenty just during this invasion alone," I began, shaking my head. "But despite that, I'm still going to see to it that we all get out of this mess relatively unscathed. Even if you've messed up in the past, Tails, things turned out fine, didn't they?"

His eyes watered a bit as he recalled something particularly painful, and he nodded slowly.

"Y-Yeah…like when Sonic had given Eggman a fake emerald, and I completely blurted out the truth to him because I was frightened…" he swallowed hard, and my eyes softened. "…and Sonic was almost blown up because of me and my big blabbermouth."

I blinked at this- that was something I certainly wasn't aware of- but my grip on his shoulders tightened.

"And Sonic's still here isn't he?"

"Y-Yeah…"

Unfortunately. I think the guy's harder to kill than cockroach.

"I don't want to make another mistake like that, Shadow," he admitted to me, and he hung his head. "That's the reason why I personally didn't want to trust you before…it wasn't because of you, and that's not fair to you, and I'm still sorry…"

Truth be told, I did pity him, but I wasn't bold enough to hug him- I was going to let him save that for Sonic. Instead, I made him lift his head back up and look me in the eye.

"We can try as we like to stay within our comfort zones, but we all have to face the unknown eventually. We may not know how to handle it initially, but until we do know how, we just have to hold our head high, take a deep breath, brace ourselves, and face it head on…"

I forced a minute smile onto my face, and he looked stunned at its mere existence. Choosing to ignore his fleeting moment of shock, I carried on.

"Not to bring in another Sonic analogy, but he does face new and…incredibly unusual…things all the time, and you don't see him cowering in a corner, do you?"

"Not unless there's water involved," he giggled slightly, and I cracked a smirk just at the image of that. However, his smiled sagged slightly as he shrugged. "Even so, he has way more courage that I do…"

"Maybe not." I stood back up and started walking again, Tails still at my side with far less hesitation. "Perhaps his courage is just a different one than you have. You can face things that others can't, and Sonic can do things you can't…hey, even Knuckles brings his own brand of bravery to the table, with all that honor of his…"

"Then…I guess you must have a different kind of courage than all of us combined," he stated quietly. I flicked my ears at this.

"What makes you say that?"

He stared straight ahead. "Well, you've had to face loss of family, a fall from space, amnesia, the possibility that you may not be who you thought you were, and you're taking on the Black Arms by yourself…"

He smiled slightly at me, winking afterward. "Guess that takes some crazy courage, huh?"

"Hmph, not as crazy as the blue idiot's…"

"He's not an idiot!"

"Well, he's blue."

"That has nothing to do with anything…!"

The light bickering continued throughout the duration of our trip through Circus Park.

. . .

Heading into the deeper regions of the park, things got really trippy.

"I wonder how Eggman managed to make it seem like the stars around us are swirling…?" Tails had asked, but I ignored the question as I punched out an Egg Pawn. "Ah, it's making my head spin!"

"You can ask the doctor the next time you seem him," I susurrated. "I get the feeling that we're closing in on your plane…"

"Maybe all the Chaos Emeralds that you have can sense the fifth one nearby," Tails suggested. "They usually glow intermittently when they close in on each other."

I'd never thought of trying that, actually. I just thought I had sixth sense or something.

Contemplating this new information, I looked back and realized that I guess I had sensed the Chaos Emerald that had been on Sonic's person, but I couldn't pinpoint where it was, precisely.

"I guess I'm not as fine-tuned as I thought," I pondered aloud, sliding down a pole into a lower area.

"Yeah, that's more of Knuckles' expertise," Tails explained, floating down after me. "Since he's with the Master Emerald all the time, he had this echidna sense that goes off whenever he gets close to an object endued with Chaos Energy. It's how he finds the pieces of the Master Emerald when its broken. S'why we dispatched him to Central City to hopefully find something."

"Sounds useful," I replied truthfully. Once I reached the ground again, I raced off, bounding through Eggman's rather annoying attractions and following the path the emeralds were laying out for me. Tails and I jumped onto a grind rail and slid our way into another area. I couldn't help but be reminded of Omega and chuckled once under my breath.

"What's so funny?" Tails asked instantly after, and I nearly fell off the rail. Sheesh, he had good hearing…

"Nothing, just a thought."

Tails smirked behind me. "Didn't sound like just a thought…"

"Let it go, Tails…"

"Okay, okay, Nippy."

Afterward, the two of us latched onto a rocket and soared upwards again, only to descend back down via a parachute. Tails looked like he was having far too much fun on the way down, while I tried to picture how ridiculous we looked.

"Hey, that was kinda enjoyable! Maybe I should try skydiving one day!" Tails exclaimed excitedly. "After all, there was this one time Sonic jumped out of the army's helicopter on a makeshift street board and-"

"I think you need a safer idol, Tails," I commented, but I doubted he heard me with all the childish boasting he was doing. At least he was still moving forward; for that I was grateful for. Just when I thought he about to start up an intelligent conversation again, something caught his eye, and the next thing I knew, my wrist was caught in his hands.

"There's a circus tent up there!" he wailed, pulling me anxiously behind him. "I wonder if there's a performance going on in there!"

"Tails, the world is ending! There's no time to go to the- HEY!"

"Hey, what if my plane crashed in there?" Tails snuck in slyly, and I grunted in defeat; I couldn't argue the possibility…but most certainly the probability.

We burst dramatically inside, only to be faced with an empty tent. Tails looked visibly heartbroken while I wondered if four hundred rings weren't enough of a budget for Eggman. Tails then glanced up and suddenly grinned deviously.

"Hey, Shadow! There's a tightrope up there…and flaming hoops too! Bet you can't walk through them."

"I don't have time to be a one-trick poodle pony for you, Tails."

"Oh, okay. Just a little too much for the supposed Ultimate Life Form, I guess."

Five seconds later, I was standing several feet high in the air and wondering what had possessed me five seconds ago. Three flaming hoops circled the outside of the tiny tightrope, and I could see Tails foolishly simpering on the ground below.

I swear I saw Sonic in him for the slightest of moments.

Just to prove his little smug demeanor wrong, I started crossing the tightrope, walking through the first of the rings. It wasn't like it was that hard- I've done worse.

"Go Shadow!"

"Shush- you're breaking my concentration."

"Sorry!"

I huffed and kept crossing, hurrying my pace just to get it over with. I did make it to the other side, only to learn that the only way out of the tent was via the top. I poked my head back out into the night, only for Tails to pop up next to me.

"Well, that was cool, but a little less exciting than I was anticipating."

I just groaned and grabbed him, grinding on a rail down from the top of the tent to an area below. This led us to another zipline (which Tails grabbed onto and I grabbed onto Tails) and sent us somewhere else completely.

"Ugh, how big is this place?!" I complained when we stopped, discovering more of a path up ahead. More arrow signs decided to spring up, and Tails smiled.

"We've gotta be close! Those arrows are pointing to the exit!"

"Oh, you don't say. I hadn't noticed that up until this point," I deadpanned. Tails glared at me.

"Well, there's more in number this time, Smart Alec, so that's why we're almost there."

He huffed, puffed out his chest, and marched onward with an indignant flair. I just folded my arms behind my head and sighed. I did have to admit, the fireworks were also becoming more abundant, and the display actually was eye-pleasing. However, Tails was apparently so persistent about almost being at the end that he didn't even comment on them. I was about to point them out to him when he suddenly careened ahead of me with a newfound flair and speed.

"THE TORNADO!"

Tails sprinted over to the wrecked pile of blue metal like meeting an injured friend for the first time in months, sliding on his knees and patting the nose of the plane. I was afraid he was going to break down again at the sight of such a wreckage of something he worked so hard on, but he managed to snuff up his sniffles, reach into the front of the plane, and pull out the yellow Chaos Emerald.

"Wow, talk about damage," he quivered, shaking his head. "I really will have to start from scratch…but that's okay. I think I really needed a redesign anyway."

Tails turned to face me, the yellow emerald glowing almost affectionately in his palms.

"It's funny…I always seemed kinda partial to this emerald…" he hummed lightly. "After all, it was the one that Station Square awarded me, and it's also the one I successfully cloned…"

"I know the feeling," I stated, showing him the green emerald. "I happen to have quite a connection with this one for whatever reason."

"Cool!" he exclaimed, then looked at the emerald with a wistful smile. He glanced back up, trotting over to me and holding out his hand. "I may be fond of this Emerald, but I guess it's yours for now."

His smile brightened, and I smiled slightly myself.

"I wasn't supposed to give this to you; wasn't supposed to give it to anyone…" he mumbled, shaking his head. "But…I think I'm doing the right thing this time. Take it, Shadow, and get your memories back, okay?"

I nodded, accepting the Emerald with far more ease than I originally envisioned. "I will; of that you can be sure. Now you go back to your friends and show them you're all right, understand?"

"Y-Yeah," Tails nodded, a little stunned. "Are you still going to need a lift into space?"

"Probably."

"Well, I won't be ready instantly- can you give me two hours?" Tails asked pleadingly. I nodded.

"Yeah- time may be short, but counting your two hours, I believe there's still a good amount of time until the Day of Reckoning occurs…that's ample time to formulate a plan, but still…"

"All right- I'll get on it as soon as I can!" Tails exclaimed, giving me a thumbs up. "Just leave it to me!"

I gave him a final nod. "Okay. See you later."

I started walking away, not completely sure where my next destination was, but I knew I was going to have to confront Rouge at Death Ruins sooner or later. However, contemplating my next move was put on hold when something's arms wrapped around me. Thinking it to be Doom's Eye, I was about to launch a counterattack, only to realize it was just Tails hugging me.

"…what are you doing?"

"I just wanted to wish you luck," Tails murmured. "The risks are higher than ever now, and there might be a chance you won't come back, so…good luck, Shadow. I believe in you."

He let go of me after that, taking off into the air and giving me his final goodbye in the form of a salute. He then tore across the night sky faster than I had ever seen him move, powered by a new flame of determination that had just ignited. I held the fifth emerald gingerly in my hand, rolling it around to certainly make sure it was real…just in case.

"I guess he wouldn't power his plane with a fake," I concluded, putting it with the rest and finally setting out to end this prolonging nightmare…

...and now we know why in Unleashed and Lost World why the Tornado is red again. :D

Anyway, this is the last chapter that's in proper sequence- the rest are out of order until Final Haunt, because if I kept going with the semi-hero path and then launched straight into the hero path, it would create a huge plothole that I'm unable to solve (and also involves Shadow going into space twice, which would make no sense to go, come back down, and go back up again AND would also result in several contradictions with Eggman). So sorry for sequence breaking, but it's better than ridiculously jumping around and potentially ruining the story.

So, next time, as Tails prepares a ship and crew to go into space to help Shadow get back the seventh emerald, Shadow heads into Death Ruins to get the sixth from Rouge, only to end up with more than he expected...