Chapter 57: Four Minutes to Midnight

"We can't fight them all." Shadow's voice was hoarse, his mouth a grim line. Both hedgehogs were watching as more and more shapes were bursting forth from the battlefield's earth, lurching, staggering, half-formed and screaming. At the same time, soldiers of all armies were scattering and clambering backwards in terror. More than half of the plain seemed to be engulfed in a sea of writhing black bodies.

"We...we have to," Sonic said, obviously trying to keep his voice steady, but unable to conceal the despair that was clearly trying to creep in at the edges.

"But what are they?!" Lara-Su stammered, her gaze flitting from the chaos on the plain to Sonic and Shadow's grave faces, her dreadlocks flying.

"They are the Black Arms. An army created of his blood," Shadow replied, only Sonic noticing the bitter edge of his tone as he knew his partner had to be thinking of how the very same blood was of course also running in his veins. "They feel no pain, no fear, no mercy, and they are too numerous to take on."

"No matter. We will fight to the last warrior standing," Knuckles replied, and it wasn't even said in a boastful growl, just in a tone conveying that this was nothing but an immovable fact. "But if there's one thing my mother taught me about fighting against an enemy that uses magic, it is that you go after the caster first. Where is Black Doom?"

And as if in answer to his question, it was then that the sky split wide open.

xxx

The minutes were ticking by like drops of Chinese water torture.

Or at least, Knuckles thought so. It was daylight, technically, but by now the sickness of the entire planet was evident. Instead of a normal dawn, a strange, greenish twilight had crept across the horizon this morning and laid itself across the landscape, turning familiar surroundings into uncanny copies of their former selves, as if their world had vanished overnight and been replaced by something alien and sick.

The echidna supposed that if they bothered to switch on the news, there would likely be all sorts of emergency broadcasts, interviews with clueless scientists and probably hysterical mobs people on the streets in the bigger cities. Not here, though. Here it was silent, apart from the ticking clock.

They had done all they could. Now there was no more need to talk.

Occasionally, his eyes flitted over to the status bar on the monitor, detailing the progress of their experiment, their last chance to prevent the end of the world. Currently it hovered at 43 percent completion. Knuckles wondered whether they would live to see it reach 100.

All of them were exhausted, but too strung out to sleep. Instead they sat, him, Rouge and Tails, in the fox' workshop like zombies, too tired to do much more than stare at the screen with the numbers.

Rouge had brought them a diamond as clear and pure as light made glass. Knuckles had moved his home, and with it the Master Emerald, to hover directly above Tails' house so the fox' machines could syphon as much power as possible into it. And the kit had worked for an entire day and night prior to recreate a machine that could fashion a normal gem stone into a copy of a Chaos Emerald, so it could maybe replace the missing one and stabilize the atmosphere of their world before it was too late.

Now that the process had started, Tails had said, there was nothing more they could do but wait.

Even Sonic and Shadow, who still had not regained even a bit of their memories, had become strangely subdued over the last few hours, as if even they sensed something was gravely wrong. They sat in their chaos-proof containment chamber, Sonic curled up and cowering against Shadow's side, the black hedgehog just silently staring at them until all three of them had become too uncomfortable to remain in the underground lab any longer and instead had relocated to the fox' workshop on the ground floor.

The greenish light was falling through the windows onto the cluttered surfaces. None of them seemed to want to sit where it touched. And so, the minutes were ticking by in synch with the decimal percentage of the screen slowly climbing upwards and Knuckles only idly wondered whether it mattered whether he went to sleep, because this already seemed like a nightmare.

There was a shift on the couch and he turned his head. Rouge was groaning a little as she straightened herself, wings on her back flapping tiredly as she made her way a bit unsteadily across the workshop toward a small fridge jammed underneath a counter.

"Say, kiddo," she said, glancing over her shoulder, "There's not by any chance anything stronger than soda around in your place, is there?"

"Hm, wha'?" Tails blinked, startled from his daze. "Oh. No. Sorry. Technically, neither Sonic nor me are of age, so..." he rubbed the back of his head a bit awkwardly.

"Huh. Right," Rouge replied, seemingly a bit surprised by the reply. Then she cocked her head.

"Hey, tell you what, how about I head back to my club and get us all a little drink? I sure could use something now..."

Knuckles raised an eye ridge. "Alcohol? Now?"

"Yeah," the bat nodded, standing up again. "In fact, I don't think I've ever felt like there was a better moment." Her lips twitched into something that could almost be called a tired smile. "How much time left until Doomsday, fox boy?"

"I, uh, would appreciate you not calling it that," Tails replied with a bit of a wince, before glancing at the clock. "If we can't stop it, then the total collapse of the Chaos field will happen in about two hours."

"Plenty of time for me to get to my place and back again, then," the white bat nodded, starting to walk to the door. "See you in a bit, boys, okay?"

"I'll walk you out," Knuckles said, quickly standing up and catching up to her in the small entryway, leaving Tails looking after them on the bench in the workshop, looking mildly puzzled.

"Why, Knuckles," Rouge gave him one of her old smiles as the echidna opened the door. "So well-mannered of you. No ulterior motive?"

"Why are you so set on getting us drinks all of a sudden?" Knuckles asked, with a bit of a frown. The smile on the bat's face dimmed a little and became lop-sided, Rouge looking a bit awkward now, crossing her arms and looking to the side.

"Oh, well...it's a bit stupid, I suppose. I thought if there's nothing left for us to do at all, then...might as well make the most of the time we have while we can. And if he hasn't until now, let the fox kid experience all the joys of a good buzz. Who knows, he could even be the first one lucky enough to never have to face his hangover."

Knuckles gave her a flat stare. "Don't be morbid."

Rouge sighed: "Sorry. I tend to be when things don't look great. But. Well. The other thing was that I remembered that I hadn't yet cleaned up the leftovers from breakfast in my kitchen, and...I dunno, I kinda didn't want the place to be untidy in case the planet explodes. Stupid, right?" She gave a feeble laugh.

"No," Knuckles said quietly. "I don't think it's stupid." He awkwardly laid a hand on her shoulder.

"You will come back, right?"

"Sure will. Don't you worry about that," Rouge replied, one of her hands briefly brushing over his. "You look after fox boy while I'm gone. And when I'm back, either we'll have a drink to celebrate us saving the planet, or...well." She gave him another, slightly sad smile. "If there's going to be an end to this world, who'd want to face it sober?"

xxx

It looked like a tear in the universe itself, a black rip consisting of distorted Chaos energy miles above the battlefield. There were swirling vortextes inside it, flying debris, red nebulae and dying stars, seemingly ready to rend the dimension apart and bathing the plain in an unnatural light. Underneath, it looked like hell had been unleashed, the Black Arms marching and tearing into the soldiers, friend and foe alike, the ground almost mirroring the split sky above in its chaotic mixture of crimson and black.

"Im...impossible," Knuckles sounded like he was choking, the echidna and his sister staring at the fissure in the heavens, eyes wide and overwhelmed.

Sonic and Shadow were less so, having seen displays like this time and time again, the two interdimensional travellers regarding the tear above them only with twin expressions of grim finality. Sonic clenched his fists.

"Dammit, Shads...this isn't fair..."

The black hedgehog wordlessly gripped his hand. No. It's not.

"Sonic, Shadow, what is happening?" Lara-Su's shrill voice rose above the din of the chaos erupting around them. "Where did Black Doom go? What did he do?"

"He has used the power of the Emerald to transform," Shadow replied, his tone rough as he looked up, squinting, "And if I'm correct, he should appear right-"

And, as if on cue, there was a second flash of dark lightning and the alien king materialized again against the torn sky, his form changed almost beyond recognition.

"...there," Shadow said, swallowing, as the new monster unfurled his fleshy wings, their span alone more than twenty times his original size. Two heads were sprouting from opposite ends of a four-legged trunk and both roaring vengeance, his gnarled and twisted body still spasming and mutating even as they watched.

"Devil Doom," the black hedgehog supplied grimly. "My 'father's' most powerful and final form."

"How...how can we defeat him?" Knuckles rasped, obviously trying to keep his voice calmer than the slight tremble in his hands suggested was really the case for his composure.

Shadow closed his eyes. "We can't."

"What?!" Knuckles whirled on him, grasping both his shoulders and seemed ready to shake him, wild eyes and bared teeth betraying his panic. "My tribe is dying on that field, hedgehog!" he roared. "You need to tell me-!"

"Black Doom has transformed with the power of one Chaos Emerald that holds the power of seven in this world, Knuckles!" Sonic cut in, grabbing the echidna's arm even if his strength was no match for that of the son of the Guardian, the tone of the blue speedster bordering on desperation now. "There's nothing that equals-!" he started...and then abruptly stopped himself. Green eyes met crimson as both hedgehogs now shared exactly one thought.

No. There is exactly one thing whose power is equal to that of seven Chaos Emeralds.

Sonic looked at the echidnas.

"Knuckles. Lara-Su. Where is the Master Emerald of your tribe?"

xxx

"Is she going to be back?" Tails asked as Knuckles re-entered the workshop, alone. The echidna sat down on one of the armchairs heavily.

"I think so," he said. "To be honest, I think she probably just needed a bit of...alone time. To get to grips with everything."

Tails nodded at his words, blue eyes tired and understanding and for a moment Knuckles was tempted to wonder what kind of world this was that the idea of someone needing a few moments to themselves before facing their potential death wasn't even anything novel to a nine-year-old. Knuckles wasn't great at small-talk (to be honest, he could possibly be classfified as positively abyssymal) but he still tried to cast about in his brain now for anything to talk about, anything that could maybe cheer them up even a little bit...

"So, what do you think the end of the world would look like?"

He was then also tempted to head desk just a little bit.

Tails looked at him a bit oddly, but then seemed to decide that right now, it didn't matter much, so he just looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully as he started talking.

"Well...I'm not sure. All of the Chaos energy that permeates everything could become unstable and ignite. That would mean the world ending in fire. Or," he said, tilting his head the other way, "the collapse of the Chaos field could disrupt the planet's alignment enough that we kilter out of the sun's orbit and the world ends in ice."

"...I see," Knuckles nodded grimly. "There's really not anything we can do here?"

"Nothing apart from hoping," Tails said, looking at the floor and biting his lip.

"Right," the echidna nodded. "In that case...I'll see to the Master Emerald for one last time and then come back down here to you, kid." He patted the fox lightly on the back (which nevertheless nearly knocked the kid off the couch...) "Let's at least not die alone, okay?"

xxx

"W-what?" Knuckles stammered, obviously completely blind-sided by the request. "It's stored in the sacred mountain, but-"

"It's the only thing that can stop Black Doom now," Sonic said, his tone urgent, desperately willing the echidna to believe him in this, "We might be able to use it. Can you take us there?"

"It's that mountain at the horizon. You can see it from anywhere," Lara-Su cut in, pointing to a looming shape in the distance, that was not only the highest point they could see, but also, Sonic thought, looked just a bit like Hidden Palace Zone.

"Okay," he nodded, then turned to Knuckles. "We need to go. Now."

"It's a week's ride!" The echidna exploded, staring at the both of them with wide eyes. "And it's the most sacred place of my tribe, we can't-!"

"Believe me, distance's gonna be the least of our problems," Sonic muttered. To Shadow, he said. "You take him. Let's go."

What the – hey! Are you mad?!" Knuckles shouted, just as Shadow had scooped him up in his arms at Sonic's nod. The blue hedgehog looked at the echidna, and it was testament to just how dire the situation was that he didn't even crack a smile at the ridiculous way the unwilling echidna prince was now hanging in the Ultimate Lifeform's arms.

"Maybe. But this is literally our last chance. We need the power of the Master, or this war is lost, Knux." He took a breath. "And believe me when I say I know exactly how protective you are of that thing. But this is the fate of this entire world hanging in the balance and this is the last shot we have, so..." he bit his lip. "Will you trust us?"

"I..." the son of the Guardian was silent for one, two moments, but in the second that nobody spoke, they all heard the screams again.

Knuckles's mouth became a thin line.

"...yes."

"Right. Lara-Su, tell your people and anyone who'll listen that as soon as he's finished transforming, they need to stay out of Devil Doom's way, okay? If everything works, we'll be back before you know it. I promise."

The echidna girl stared at Sonic, then at the sky with the monstrosity inside it, then at the battlefield, and then finally gave a curt, hard nod. "Alright."

Shadow almost shook his head. Echidnas, he supposed. The world could be burning and they wouldn't give up. And then of course, he would be damned if he knew what it was, but there was just something that made you want to trust that blue hedgehog, believe everything he told you even when the situation was at its most bleak and hopeless...

"Bring my brother back safely or else!" Lara-Su was already running down the hill, chaos-enflamed swords drawn as she charged toward the parts of the Black Arms closest to the echidna tribe.

"We will!" Sonic shouted after her, before turning to Knuckles, now actually looking a bit apologetic. "And as for you, it, uh...might actually be best if you close your eyes."

Shadow nodded. "Yes. And try to stay conscious, if you can."

Knuckles blinked. "Wait, wha-"

And that was the last words any of them could hear, because the second after that they were already off, the sound barrier shattering in seconds as the two fastest things alive were now giving everything they had to be just in time to save the world...

xxx

"M-master?"Manic, earlier that day, kneeling next to Silver on one of the towers of the castle, stared at the sky which was looking ever more like there would be a storm soon. "What will happen next?"

Silver looked down at him. It had been late last night when they had managed to bring the castle under control with the help from the order of the Chaotix, and ever since then, it had been a whirlwind of events that the telekinetic hedgehog could barely keep up with. All he could do at the moment was to try and take care of Manic, the young, green-furred slave having latched on to him since Sonic had dumped him in his arms like an overattached duckling. This was at least something he knew how to do, and he could scarcely recall ever having had such an affectionate pet slave in his care like Manic...absentmindedly, the silver hedgehog ran a hand through the green fur on his head, before he could remind himself that he wasn't supposed to do that any more. Treat him like your charge, not your property, that had been the idea, that was what he and Sonic had both been hoping for.

And, since a messenger had arrived some time ago, telling them that as of this morning, war had officially broken out on the battlefield, it seemed the blue hedgehog was still hell-bent on achieving just that.

"I don't know, Manic," Silver said, truthfully. They were atop the castle's highest tower and he was staring at the horizon with eyes narrowed into a squint, but there was nothing of note but the faintest trails of smoke rising and the wind that had started to smell burnt.

"Master...do you...?" Manic asked, the words coming out only hesitantly. It had taken some time for Silver to get him to speak at all when not spoken to, but the slave-trainer was nothing if not good at his job, and altering behaviour with positive reinforcement came easy.

"Yes, Manic?" Silver asked, giving the other an encouraging smile, "What is it?"

"Do you...think they're winning?"

Perhaps Silver had been about to reply, but it was also at this particular moment that the sky above their world broke apart, day turned into eldritch night and the Earth started to shake as Black Doom called forth his army of the Undead.

Silver looked at Manic with wide eyes as the panicked screaming in the castle started.

"...you know, I really hope so, because otherwise we're probably dead."

xxx

Their surroundings were nothing but a blur. They were running one behind the other, Sonic in the lead bearing the brunt of the air resistance and creating a slipstream for Shadow to skate in while the black hedgehog was supporting the load of the echidna in his arms.

For once, Shadow supposed he should probably be grateful for Sonic always running off, because the blue speedster's world exploration previously now meant that the other knew which way to take toward the mountains, which route to take where you could really run.

Sonic wasn't looking back, looking back was impossible at their speed, but he didn't need to. Shadow would be able to keep up. Sonic knew that Shadow would keep up if it killed him.

The blue hedgehog only hoped that their echidna friend wouldn't throw up. Vomit wasn't pretty at Mach 3.

The battlefield was already a faint smudge behind them, the hedgehogs leaving the plain and shooting up a mountain valley instead, covering stretches of land that would have taken anyone but them days to cross on foot. The mountain was already looming close now, both of them tearing along a cliffside, Sonic hurling himself across boulders and Shadow following after him effortlessly, leaping and bounding up the rocky terrain until they came across what almost seemed like a kind of path, following it right until -

"Well. This kind of looks like the entrance to the shrine in Sky Sanctuary Zone, so I hope that's it," Sonic said, even he now sounding somewhat out of breath. Behind them both, there were now massive streaks in the rocky earth, testament to braking skills acquired over years of practice.

"Is this the right place, Knuckles...?" Sonic asked, eyeing the echidna curiously. The son of the Guardian appeared to be a pile of red-furred trauma in Shadow's arms as he looked, but at the address managed at least to open his eyes and blink blearily at Sonic.

"Wha...uuuuh," he groaned, then raised his head an looked around them. "...oh. Yes. Yes, we're here," he said, sounding a bit disbelieving even as he formed the words, but then at least began stirring in the black hedgehog's hold. "Right. You can let me down now." Shadow managed to set him down gently, and in what really was a credit to echidna endurance, the son of the Guardian even managed to stay standing, one hand braced against the stone wall. Sonic and Shadow watched as he ambled forward, making for what could have been a door in the tall and forbidding mountainside looming above them. There was a kind of indentation with two deeper holes inside it next to the door and Sonic at once understood what it was meant for as Knuckles balled his fist and pressed it inside, his knuclaws fitting into the hollowed-out shape perfectly. There was a rumble and the door slid open, revealing a dark stone corridor leading downwards. Knuckles reached up into an alcove, grabbed a torch stored there and struck it against something that let it burst into flames, before giving both Sonic and Shadow an expectant look.

"Well? You coming?"

"You're...surprisingly calm about having travelled at a multitude of the speed of sound," Shadow stated, even as both of them were now following him into the mountain, Knuckles threw both of them a look, and right then the exhaustion and sickness in his face was obvious, but his voice was steady.

"I'm not," Knuckles said. "But back there my people are dying. I can't afford to panic. And now you have to walk straight behind me, because this corridor is littered with death traps."

Sonic and Shadow exchanged a glance.

"...fair enough."

They walked on as the door by some unseen mechanism was sliding shut behind them again, Knuckles' torch now the only source of light in the darkness. In front of him, Shadow could sense Sonic stiffen as they were now trapped in between stone walls again. He absentmindedly ran a hand down his partner's neck and back and tried not to get distracted when he could feel his supposed slave relaxing under his touch.

And then even that thought was banished from his mind as they turned a corner and the corridor opened up into a chamber radiating an amount of Chaos energy that hit Shadow like a sledgehammer.

"There," Knuckles said, as both hedgehogs piled into the chamber – no, the cavern, it was huge – the green glow washing over all of them. "The Master Emerald, the sacred treasure of my tribe. Now what?"

"Wow," Sonic breathed softly as if he hadn't even heard the question. The blue hedgehog was taking in the sight of the jewel that looked completely identical to that of his homeworld, which he had seen many times, but which nevertheless always managed to inspire some awe in him anew. Twice the size of your average Mobian, it was perched on a stone pedestal much like the one on Angel Island, complete with seven pillars surrounding it, even if the pedestals that in their own dimension sometimes held the Chaos Emeralds were empty here. There was a set of steps leading up to the altar, and everything, including the non-magical crystal sticking out of the cavern's walls was alight with the emerald glow playing over the stone, the light curling and twinkling in places like reflections off a water surface.

"Hey. It's already been ten minutes since we left the battle field. Focus," Shadow snapped his fingers in front of the hedgehog's face and Sonic obediently twitched back to attention.

"Right. Yeah. General world saving, got it."

"Yes. General world saving," Shadow repeated dryly. "What do we do now?"

It was at this point that Sonic started looking a bit sheepish.

"Um. Yeah. To be honest, I had hoped I would have a plan by now."

Shadow had to resist the urge to facepalm.
Sonic, apparently interpreting both Knuckles' and Shadow's sudden stony expressions rather correctly, hurriedly threw up his hands.

"Hey hey, I'm sure this is still the right thing to do! I just...haven't done this before, okay?" he said, before glancing at the Master Emerald and then slowly starting to ascend the stone stairs, approaching the jewel like one might a sleeping but dangerous animal.

"What is it you want to do?" Knuckles asked, striding forward and catching up to the blue hedgehog, his movements smooth as the echidna was obviously a lot more accustomed to and at ease in their surroundings.

"Well..." Sonic stopped next to the Emerald and turned to the son of the Guardian, looking a bit unsure. "Me and Shadow can use the Emeralds to become a lot more powerful. I was thinking that maybe with this we'll stand a chance of stopping Black Doom."

"I may not be able to use it, Sonic," Shadow said, coming up the stairs to stand next to them, voice tense. "My creator Professor Robotnik designed me for the express purpose of being compatible with the Chaos Emeralds, never the Master."

Knuckles was beginning to frown at their conversation, probably because to the echidna they had to be making next to no sense, and Sonic quickly cut in.

"Maybe, but we'll have to try. Knuckles, if that's okay with you...?" he asked, raising a hand toward the Master Emerald and glancing over at the echidna. Shadow correctly guessed this was because even if this Knuckles had never tried to hurt either of them, there were by now years of ingrained reflexes in the blue hedgehog related to trying to touch any Emerald-shaped objects in the presence of anything even vaguely echidna-like. After all, there was something you never quite forgot about the first time a two-spiked fist had landed in your face.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about, but I'll do anything to save my tribe. Go ahead," Knuckles said and Sonic nodded.

"Okay. You too, Shadow. Here goes nothing. One, two..."

Both him and the black hedgehog raised their arms at his count, and then laid them squarely against the side of the Master Emerald at the same time.

There was a bit of an awkward moment when, as a result, absolutely nothing happened.

"Er. You know, this usually looks a bit more impressive -" Sonic began, blinking, and Shadow could see the minute tightening of his fingers against the stone's surface because now this was starting to go bad, now they were seriously running out of options if this wouldn't work, now there would be people dying because of their failure -

"Guardian," Shadow said, cutting through Sonic's babble and forcing his own voice to remain steady, "Do you think you could help here? Possibly activate the Emerald or something? Pray?" Shadow asked, the artificial hedgehog raised by a family of scientists uttering the last word with the tone of a master builder being forced to resort to lego bricks.

Knuckles' eyes narrowed. "I'm not the Guardian yet, only his son," he said, slowly, "but then again, I have a feeling that to you two status never mattered anyway."

And then before either of them could say anything, Knuckles had already raised his hands, closed his eyes and then began to recite words that sounded as ancient as time itself and seemed to not have changed a bit, no matter the era or the place or the universe...

"The servers are the seven Chaos..."

And then, everything seemed to explode.

xxx

"Mother!" Lara-Su was running across the battlefield, trying to reach the shaman of her tribe. Behind her was pure chaos now, echidna warriors everywhere on the retreat, trying to form close-knit groups and ranks to protect each other against the onslaught of the dark king's monstrous troops.

"Mom! We need to tell everyone to go on the defensive!" Lara-Su shouted, breathlessly trying to yell as loudly as she could and avoiding a stumble at any cost. Falling on a battlefield ravaged by stampedes of panicked soldiers and animals would be certain death. And truth be told, Lara-Su was hard-pressed not to panic herself at this stage; she had tried, oh how she had tried to look as brave and as steadfast as her older brother, but ever since this morning there had been something, something she couldn't name that set her teeth on edge and had her nerves scraped raw. Right now it seemed to be in this strange wind that had started to pick up as she ran, a wind that didn't seem to originate from anywhere and it let her fur stand on end. She stumbled to a halt on top of the low hill that her mother was standing on, where Lara-Lee was surveying the battle and directing the leaders of the various echidna factions to strategic weak point of attack. At her daughter's arrival, she looked up.

"Lara-Su! Oh thank Chaos you're still alive!" she breathed, smiling in relief even if she couldn't afford the time to hug or kiss her child in the heat of battle. "Where's your brother?"

"Sonic and prince Shadow have taken him to the sacred mountain!" Lara-Su gasped, "They said it was the only way to win this."

"What?! What in the name of our ancestors are they planning to do there?"

"I...dunno..." Lara-Su panted, stumbling the last few metres towards her mother. "But whatever it is, I really hope Knuckles can calm the Master Emerald down again, because I think at the moment...whatever Black Doom is doing to the world...it doesn't...feel...so good..." she swayed a bit on her feet, letting Lara-Su take a few alarmed steps toward her. "They said they'd be back real soon, that we should hold our positions and try to evade the king's attacks until they're here, and...and..."

And then, without so much as a word, the youngest of the Guardian line collapsed.

"Lara-Su!"

Lara-Lee was at the side of her prone daughter in an instant, cradling the head of the young adult that only yesterday seemed to have been a freshly hatched puggle.

"Mo-mom...?" Lara-Su whispered, obviously fighting to retain consciousness. "Something's so wrong...I don't know what's happening any more..."

"I know. It's Chaos. Those with an affinity for it feel it," Lara-Lee replied softly, brushing the sweaty dreadlocks out of her child's face. "Black Doom is tearing the world apart."

xxx

Power was rushing through him and Sonic could only open his mouth and scream. This was different from the energy he had been channelling when using the Chaos Emeralds. They were the servers. Now he was connected to the Master and it felt like he had stuck his fingers into the electrical socket of the universe.

"Chaos is power, enriched by the-!"

Sonic could hear Knuckles chanting, calling forth ever more of the ancient and impossibly powerful force that to Sonic felt like a tidal wave of fire and ice, threatening to drown him. He and Shadow were standing next to each other, facing the Master Emerald and pressing both of their palms against it, Sonic's hands by now feeling like they were burnt, frozen and pierced by a thousand needles all at once. And he knew Knuckles wasn't even finished yet, could feel the bulk of the power waiting to be released, teetering on the edge of its crystalline prison, ready to crush him as soon as the incantation was complete – but that was what needed to happen, they needed everything the Emerald could give if they wanted to transform -

"The heart is the controller..."

Sonic gasped, feeling like he was suffocating. He was trying his hardest to tame the Chaos hammering into him, somehow make use of it, but it was too different from the energy of the normal Emeralds. This was the Master and it was daring anyone but the Guardian to command it. Sonic tried to stifle another groan; he wasn't much good with consciously trying to control Chaos in any case, had never needed to, this area of expertise much more belonged to-

And then his concentration broke completely when out of the corner of his eye he could see Shadow cry out and tumble backwards from the altar.

"The controller-"

" SHADOW!"

"-serves to unify the Chaos! CATCH HIM!"

Sonic could barely tear himself away from the overwhelming glare of the Emerald, but he managed to lash out with one hand and grab Shadow's wrist before he could disappear over the edge of the pedestal. The black hedgehog's eyes were closed, his body limp, black fingers not closing around Sonic's wrist when the collared hedgehog grabbed him tight – right until Knuckles had spoken the last word of the incantation, that was.

Shadow's eyes flew open and Sonic suddenly knew how a live wire of 10 000 volt had to feel. His left hand was still pressed to the Emerald as the full force of Chaos crashed straight through him.

To be continued...