Chapter 4: Transcendence

"Well, well, well," Eggman sneered as Sonic and company walked into a large chamber. "I'm pleased to see you made it here in one piece. My security didn't give you too much trouble, did it?"

"Save the formalities, Eggman," Sonic snapped as he defiantly strode into the chamber. "You asked for the Silver Wing, and so I have it."

"Good," the evil scientist grinned. "Then put it right there, and I'll let Misty go." He pointed to a small pedestal in the center of the chamber. Sonic did as he was told, while Eggman walked over to a large monitor which was now buzzing as it displayed numbers arranged in an incomprehensible pattern. His smirk turned to an angry frown as he read this, and he turned back towards his nemesis.

"You little liar!" he snarled. "This wing is a fake!"

"Sorry Egghead, but this is as real as they come."

"Then why does my detector say otherwise?!" Eggman leered at him menacingly. Tails and Knuckles gulped, and the doctor's grin returned. "But no matter. I expected you to trick me like that, so I made sure your visit would not be unprofitable to me." With that, he yanked on a lever, and a sudden whirring sound surrounded them as a dark, sinister mass swirled around them.

"Gah! What is this?!" Knuckles cried.

"I knew this was a trick!" Tails shouted.

"It actually wasn't a trick, you mutated fox," Eggman growled. "If you had actually brought the real Silver Wing, you wouldn't be caught in this storm right now. But as it is, you tried to trick me, and now you'll pay the price!"

A sudden pull from above negated gravity's influence as Sonic and his friends were pulled into a void that suddenly appeared, only to disappear just as quickly, and the swirling mass with it.

Eggman's eyes widened. "That wasn't supposed to happen…"

"Whoaaaaaaa!" Sonic cried as he fell to the ground face-first, Tails and Knuckles right beside him. He regained his bearings quickly and stood up, spitting the dust out of his mouth as he did so.

"Yugh. That doesn't taste very good," Tails imitated him.

"Ouch," Sonic rubbed his head. "I hit my head on something."

"Yeah, my head," Knuckles imitated him.

Tails looked around, confused. "But where are we now?"

Sonic and Knuckles did likewise. "This is strange," Sonic mused. "Tails, do you have your GPS?"

"Yeah, here," he nodded, pulling the device out. To their dismay, the screen was completely blank. "What? What is this?"

"Dead batteries?" Knuckles suggested.

"I charged it this morning! That's impossible!"

"And we used it to find Eggman, didn't we?" Sonic added. "So if that's the case, it must be our location...wherever that is."

"How do we find out?" Knuckles wondered.

"If you men weren't so adamant, you could ask for directions."

The three of them froze. "Who's there?" Knuckles asked.

"I know that voice," Sonic gritted his teeth.

"You're very perceptive, blue twerp!"

"Oh, great," Tails groaned. Two humans and their Meowth dropped from the ceiling. The humans were dressed in white suits with big red R's plastered onto their shirts. The woman had fiery magenta hair styled back in a huge curl, while the man had shoulder-length lavender hair.

"That's right! Now, prepare for trouble, it's just what you see!"

"And make it double, cuz we're in HD!"

"I'm gonna throw this game in the trash!" Knuckles shouted, interrupting them. They glared at him in anger. "We don't have time to listen to your stupid motto! We're lost, we don't know where we are, and we need to find answers! We're not dealing with you today, so shut up and leave!"

"We know where you are," Jessie of Team Rocket said.

"We can help you out," James added.

And why would we trust you?" Sonic folded his arms across his chest.

"You wouldn't," Meowth smirked, imitating him.

"I thought so. Then we need to find someone we can trust."

"But who can help us?" Tails wondered.

"Just say please."

They perked on hearing that voice which, while not always welcome, was still trustworthy in a pinch.

"Shadow!" Sonic exclaimed.

The ultimate lifeform stepped out from the shadows, arms at his sides. "Long time no see, Sonic. Think you could lend us a hand?"

Misty sat in the large cell, hugging her knees fearfully and shivering slightly as the air blowing in rustled her. Eggman said he would be back in a few minutes if things went according to plan. It had now been ten minutes, and she feared that Sonic hadn't shown up at all. She was growing ever more anxious with each minute that passed.

Finally, the door opened, revealing a surprising sight. Eggman was there, but he looked neither happy nor angry. In a rare turn of events, he looked distraught.

"What's the matter?" she snarked. "Lost the wing in your obnoxious blazer?"

"The wing they brought me was a fake," he replied immediately. "I made sure they paid the price."

"What did you do to them?!" she shouted angrily.

"That's what worries me."

Her eyes widened in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I used a new secret weapon I created. I've tested it to perfection, but the second I used it against them, something strange happened. They disappeared into a void of sorts."

"A void?" Misty repeated in worry.

"I meant to punish them, but now I don't know where they are."

"You're sure they're not dead?"

"If I wanted to kill them, I would have electrocuted them," he grumbled at her. "Death would be too merciful for them at this point. But they're alive. If they were dead, my tracker would have told me. I don't know where they are now, but they're alive. Don't worry about it." That last sentence was laced with sarcasm.

Misty looked even more worried now. Eggman's schemes never go wrong in this sense. Oh, Sonic...where are you now?

"Say that again?" Sonic's jaw dropped.

"This is the distant future," Shadow repeated himself. "We're standing in the ruins of the Indigo Plateau."

"How did you get here?" Tails asked.

"Well you see, what happened was –" James stared, but Shadow swatted him.

"That's no concern of yours," he replied. Tails was about to object, but Sonic stopped him. "All that matters is that we get back to our time."

"As soon as possible," Knuckles nodded.

"What difference would that make?" Meowth reminded him.

"Yeah, good point."

"So how do we get back?" Tails asked.

Shadow gestured to the ruined Plateau. "We need a space-time rift. That's what brought us here in the first place, and that worries me."

Sonic raised an eyebrow (or whatever he has). "Why?"

"That's no concern of yours," Shadow snapped.

"Right," he shrugged uncertainly. "So how do we make this space-time rift? We don't have that kind of power, do we?"

Shadow looked him square in the eye and held out his palm in a familiar shape. Sonic observed this and nodded in understanding. "I get it. Your Chaos Control will create this rift, right?"

"No." Everyone looked at him in surprise. "My Chaos Control alone is insufficient."

"You mean...you need someone else to use Chaos Control? You need...me?" Shadow nodded. "Well, I don't have an emerald on me, so how will this work?"

"There are many things time can affect," Shadow explained, then turned to Knuckles. "But the Chaos Emeralds serve something that transcends time. They cannot be erased."

Knuckles raised his eyebrow, or whatever he had. "The Master Emerald is here, too?"

"Of course. It transcends time. Did you not know that?"

"The emerald has shattered a few times in its existence. How does that work?"

"It makes little difference."

Knuckles nodded. "The Master Emerald has many mysteries to it. No guardian has ever seen everything it has to offer us."

"So the Chaos Emeralds are here," Tails spoke.

"If we could get your GPS to work, finding them would be a cinch," Sonic sighed.

"So what are we gonna do?" Knuckles kicked a rock in disappointment.

"We can help."

Everyone turned to look at Team Rocket, puzzled. "You?" Sonic was skeptical.

"What are you gonna do?" Tails asked, getting defensive. "Wire it to blow up?"

"Don't be hasty," Shadow stopped them. "They helped me fix something, and they're in the same predicament as us. They can help."

"We'll get that PSG working again in no time!" Meowth cheered.

"That's GPS, Meowth," James corrected him.

"Don't blow my cool."

"All right," Sonic nodded. "What are we waiting for? Let's get this chili dog fixed!"

Team Rocket derp-faced. "Um…"

"Just don't dignify that with a response," Shadow held a hand out to stop them before they could say anything else.