Growling under his breath, "Knuckles don't you dare jump."

Laying a hand on his shoulder, "Just stick to the plan. He won't jump."

Knuckles jumped.

Eyes narrowing dangerously, "I don't care about the plan anymore. Go save him. I'll take care of Mephiles."

Worried for the one she took care of, she nodded, rushing to help him.

And he ran to the dark being, red eyes burning with ever growing anger.

________________________

Mephiles went to walk away, but was stopped by a kick to the side of his head. The sound caused the three mourning members of Team Sonic to look up.

Shadow stood tall, eyes shinning with hatred towards his look alike. Mephiles looked at him, growling.

"Shadow!?" The three on the other side of the gap shouted in surprise. Shadow's ears twitched as he looked towards them.

"You're alive!?" Tails gasped out.

"Of course." Shadow huffed. "I'm not an idiot. I know not to stay on a burning helicopter."

"What happened!? Did you cause that explosion!?" Amy asked.

"No. I had some help." Shadow crossed his arms.

As if on cue, a loud shrieking could be heard and the group looked down to see Sticks and Knuckles swinging on a vine. The shrieking came from Knuckles. Sticks looked up and gave Shadow a thumbs up, crawling up the vine with Knuckles following her. The three sighed in relief.

Shadow smiled, seeing that Knuckles was safe and that it seemed Sonic was too. The moment was cut short, for Mephiles had tackled him.

Team Sonic noticed this and decided that they were going to help Shadow. Mephiles stopped them by summoning clones of himself to keep them on the other side. Shadow growled and kicked him off, quickly getting up.

The more Knuckles tried to get to Shadow, the more Mephiles' clones blocked his way. He tried his best, as did everyone else, but it was basically no use. They decided to deal with the clones until there was a clear opening.

Sonic was in no condition to fight, and he knew that. But there was no way that he'd sit in the sidelines and watch. He blocked out his pain as he tried to fight like he usually did. The other's noticed his pain, though, and they weren't going to have him any more hurt than he already was.

"Sonic!" Amy shouted as she hit two clones in a row with her hammer, them disappearing by a puff of smoke. "Go sit down! You're hurt enough!"

"No way!" Sonic shouted, spin dashing into another one while wincing at the pain it caused. He really did struggle too much with the tight ropes, and it might've been a bad idea to kick his captor with his bound legs when they were leaving the place with the emerald.

"Sonic! Sit down!" Amy glared towards him, anger and worry present in her eyes. And that one look made him give up and sit on the sidelines, massaging the aches on his legs. He hasn't moved them in what felt like forever, them being bound and all. Content with their friend on the sidelines, the rest of Team Sonic continued to go through the Mephiles clones.

Sonic stared at his friend's seeing them struggle to keep up with the ever growing clones. There had to be a way to stop him. But what? There had to be something he was missing, something important.

Then it hit him.

The large emerald.

It had to have enough power to stop Mephiles! And Knuckles could probably use it easily!

With that thought in mind, Sonic snuck off, in pain still, to the room where the emerald was held captive. Knuckles saw Sonic leaving, and followed him.

Meanwhile, Shadow found himself up routing trees just to hurt Mephiles in someway. The dark being just seemed to dodge every one, using the shadows to come and go as he pleased. Finally, he found his opening, grabbing Mephiles by the wrist and dangling him over the gap.

Mephiles didn't react. "You know you can't kill me, Shadow."

Shadow's ears went back, seething, "You lied to me! You used me! I don't care if I can't kill you. I can do worse."

Mephiles still didn't react. Instead, his other hand shifted into a pointed end and plunged itself right in Shadow's right eye. Shadow let out a blood curdling scream, alerting the others to what was going on. Shadow threw Mephiles off him and held his eye, screaming in pain. It was the worse physical pain he's ever felt.

Mephiles stood up from where he was thrown and walked towards the hurting hedgehog. "You can die, though. If you're hurt badly enough."

Shadow thought that it would heal quickly, like all of his injuries did, but it didn't. The pain didn't go away; it didn't even lessen. He felt Mephiles grab him by the throat, opening his working eye to look into the reptilian green's of the other.

"Pathetic." Mephiles sneered. "You aren't even good at being a weapon. You really are just a mistake."

The clones disappeared, Sticks, Amy, and Tails looking confused before turning their attention to the two on the other side of the gap. Their eyes widened at the scene.

"M-Mephiles!" Shadow growled out, gripping the other's arm that was holding him up. The pain in his eye was beginning to be too much for him. His vision faded in and out, and for the first time in his life, he felt as if he'd pass out. He hoped he wouldn't.

________________________

Meanwhile, Sonic quickly ran to Shadow and Mephiles' house, Knuckles close behind.

"Sonic? What are you doing!? We have to help Shadow and the others!"

Sonic jumped and looked to Knuckles. "Knuckles! I am helping, trust me!"

"How?" Knuckles tilted his head curiously. Sonic simply turned around and pressed two hidden buttons on the side of the house. A door opened, where a staircase leading downwards was. A faint, green glow illuminated the stairs and Knuckles felt a familiar energy go through him.

"This is where Mephiles took me when he found me trying to help Shadow." Sonic explained while leading Knuckles down. The closer they got to the source of the green light, the more energy Knuckles felt. It was so familiar, though he couldn't figure out what it was. At least, until he saw the cause of it.

"That's...." He trailed off breathlessly, sudden flashes of memory coming to him, the energy basically coursing through his entire body. "That's the Master Emerald....."

"Mephiles said that if you got a hold of it, you'd have full control. You'd be able to stop him." Sonic said, also feeling the rush of energy, though it wasn't too familiar to him.

"Knuckles...." The two jumped at the sudden voice.

"Wh-What was that?" Sonic looked around, not finding the source of the voice.

"I know that voice from somewhere...." Knuckles said, looking straight at the emerald.

Suddenly, a light orange, echidna girl appeared, her form ghost like. She smiled calmly to the two who both jumped back, eyes wide.

"You see her too, right Knux?" Sonic asked, hoping he wasn't going crazy. Knuckles nodded, trying to remember why she felt so familiar.

Then it hit him.

"Tikal....?"

She smiled and nodded, walking closer to him. "You've grown so much, young puggle. The emerald has finally been restored, and you can be it's guardian."

Knuckles didn't know what to say. It was strange, seeing another echidna after so long. "H-How are you here? I-I saw you-"

"Shhh...." Tikal soothed motherly. "I am a part of the emerald as is all of our ancestors before who have guarded it. Now, go, quickly. You must save your loved one."

"Shadow...." Knuckles' eyes widened as he realized he left Shadow and the others to fight. "I-Is he alright!?"

"He'll be fine if you go now. Take the emerald and use it to stop Mephiles. I know you can do it."

Knuckles nodded, determined to get back to Shadow. Tikal disappeared, and Knuckles picked up the emerald before running out, shouting to Sonic, "Come on!"

Sonic had to stand there for a second, blinking confusedly, before he raced to catch up with the red echidna.

__________________________

Shadow struggled in Mephiles' grip, blood pouring down his cheek from his still injured eye. Mephiles chuckled darkly, reptilian green eyes shining with malevolent delight. He felt himself dangle over the gap, the only thing keeping him from falling being Mephiles' hand around his throat. He looked, with his uninjured eye, towards the tense team, noticing that Knuckles and Sonic were nowhere to be found.

He sighed, not finding any way out of this mess. Mephiles' grip started to loosen, the delight growing.

"Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog."

Tears spilled down his cheek, mixing with the blood; Mephiles knew how to get to his head. Those were the last words Maria had said to him before she... died....

He closed his good eye and waited for gravity to do the rest of the work. He slipped out of Mephiles' hand easily, the feeling of air hitting his body hard as he fell made him almost forget what was going on.

Two words stopped everything, though.

"Chaos Control!"

________________________

The words came out of Knuckles almost as if he said them a thousand times. Time slowed almost to a stop and he was able to take in the scene before him.

Shadow was falling, blood and tears staining his muzzle, one eyes closed shut painfully, and the other closed shut peacefully. Mephiles stood at the edge, eyes shining ruthlessly. Tails, Amy, and Sticks looked on with horror, all the Mephiles clones gone.

He slowly walked towards the love of his life, standing at the edge of the gap. The Chaos Control could last as long as he wanted it to; he was the guardian.

Setting down the emerald, Tikal appeared beside him.

"A-Am I too late? His eye...." Knuckles felt tears arising. "He's hurt!"

"He's fine." Tikal said gently. "You aren't to late."

Knuckles simply nodded, taking a running start before jumping, grabbing Shadow, and imbedding his namesakes into the taller gap (the one Mephiles was on). He climbed up and set Shadow gently on the grass, kissing his forehead gently. Tikal appeared beside him, holding the emerald.

"It's time to defeat Mephiles once and for all."

"Right." Knuckles nodded, standing up. "How do I do that?"

"Use the Master Emerald to seal him in this." Tikal handed him a dark scepter. "He won't be able to break out."

Knuckles held the delicate object in his hands, hoping his clumsy ways won't kick in. He took a deep breath, looking to Tikal. She smiled encouragingly as she disappeared.

And the Chaos Control ended.

_____________________

Shadow had known those words, trained with those words. He knew what those words were, but he didn't know who used them.

That is, until it ended and he found himself on safe ground, Knuckles standing proudly in front of him. A large emerald was set beside him as he faced towards Mephiles, who also knew what had happened.

"How did you get that!?" Mephiles growled, but he wasn't talking about the emerald.

He was talking about the scepter in the echidna's hand.

Knuckles said nothing. He just closed his eyes and let the chaos energy wash over him, the scepter hovering slightly above his outstretched hands.

"The servers are the 7 Chaos. Chaos is power... Power enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos." Knuckles' voice seemed to echo, and to him it sounded like Tikal was joining him.

Around him, seven emeralds appeared seemingly out of nowhere, aiding in his power. Mephiles looked on, trapped by the energy, his form slowly melting into a dark substance. "NO!"

When Knuckles opened his eyes, Mephiles was gone, along with the seven emeralds. The scepter then disappeared, Tikal assuring him in his mind that it was somewhere safe.

He smiled happily. "I did it!" He looked to his confused friends, them all smiling with relief. He then turned to Shadow, who was passed out. Worried, he ran to him.

'Do not worry, Knuckles. He was just a bit overwhelmed by the amount of Chaos energy.' Tikal reassured.

He sighed in relief and picked him up, holding him close.

Everything was okay....

Everything was okay....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[Lava]

2071 WORDS OMG THAT'S AMAZING!!!!

Anyways, the next chapter is the last :p

See y'all for the finale!!!! <3