"Incoming!" Frost shouted as she and the rest of the group tumbled from the Chaos Warp and into the hallway of a building. "Whew! That was actually kinda fun!"

Shadow sighed as he got up and dusted himself off. Even in his new crystalline form, his landing had hurt a little.

"Fun for you, maybe..." Rouge muttered as she fixed her hair. "Where are we?"

"We're in Harmony Castle, a relative of mine lives here." Honesty replied.

"Honesty...?"

They turned to see a woman in a white dress and appearing to be a hybrid of a fox and a hedgehog at the end of the hall.

"Good morning, Queen Marea." Frost greeted.

"Oh my goodness...!"

The queen's eyes lit up and she ran over to Honesty, hugging him tightly around the neck. "Uncle Honesty! It's been forever!"

Honesty blushed. "Hi, Marea."

"She's your niece...?" Rouge asked.

Yeah... She's my oldest sister's daughter, and with me being the youngest, Loyalty is a lot older than I am."

"Frost!?"

Frost and the others whipped around as a young voice called out, and an orange cat came running down the hall. "Tangerine!" Frost caught him in her arms, hugging him tightly. "Oh, thank the stars...! You're okay."

Tangerine hugged her back. "B-But I thought they got all of you! Mama and Denim, and-"

"They got the others, but not me." Frost smirked as he pulled away from her. "Though I'm not really surprised that they didn't get you, either."

Tang blushed. "Yeah... Nobody really notices me."

"Well this time, that was a good thing." She turned back to the others. "Shadow, Rouge, this is my youngest brother, Tang."

"Whoa!" Tang rushed over to Shadow and looked him over. "You're made of crystal! Frost, look!"

Frost pinched her nose As she shook her head. "I know, Tang... I saw."

"It's only temporary." Shadow muttered, crossing his arms. as his wife giggled.

"He and Asha have been here for a few days." Queen Marea explained.

Frost stiffened. "A-Asha's here too...?"

"Yes... Is that a problem?"

"No! No, at least... I don't think it will be."

"What's wrong?" Rouge asked.

Frost grimaced. "Well... Asha's one of the world rings."

"The same world rings that caused Sonic to manifest an evil poisonous being in his body that nearly killed him?" Shadow asked irritably.

"That wasn't my fault!"

A white wolf came out of the hall as well. "Sonic absorbed the rings of Rage, Sadness and Hatred! My ring is wishes, so I had nothing to do with that!"

"Nobody's accusing you, Asha." Frost assured, giving a look to Shadow before returning to her brother. "Do you guys have any ideas on where they may be holding the others?"

"If it's Anarcians, why not Anarcia, or whatever?" Rouge asked.

"Too obvious, and if it was Strike, then he's banished from Anarci, and would be holding them somewhere else."

"And it would be pointless to keep them all in one place," Asha explained. "They'd just combine powers and get loose again."

"I think I heard one of the soldiers mention... Chelar?" Tang answered.

"Chelar. That isn't too far from here."

"Yeah, but that place is going to be crawling with soldiers, and it's on the other side of the Wastes from here." Marea replied. "How do you plan on getting there?"

"We have a plan, Marea." Honesty replied. "Don't we, Frost?"

Frost nodded. "Tang, stay here with Marea and Asha. We'll head to Chelar and investigate."

"Just... Be careful, Frost!" Tang hugged her again. "Don't get captured!"

"I won't. I promise." She turned to Shadow. "We're gonna need your chaos control."

"But I don't know where we're going." Shadow replied.

"Don't worry, I do. Just warp, and I'll direct you."

Shadow jumped as she grabbed hold of one of his back quills, and a surge of energy washed through him. "Okay..." Rouge took hold of his hand, and Honesty had a hand on Frost's shoulder. "...Chaos...Control!"

The added Chaos Energy surged, and for a split second, he couldn't think straight, his mind was a fuzzy blurr. When the light faded and his mind eased again, he found himself looking out over a dark, weary landscape, sparse of trees and buildings. "Is this Chelar?" he asked.

"No... It's Alikadar..." Frost murmured. "...But I can feel Sky's presence. He's close."

"One of your siblings?" Rouge asked.

"Yes. The cyan emerald."

"You got an idea on where to start looking?"

"I'd say that big spooky place up ahead." Shadow replied, pointing to a massive building with multiple levels and a fence around it. "Looks like a prison to me."

"Yup..." Honesty replied. "Well, here we go..."

________________________________________________________________

"Gyah! Where is she!?" Blaze cried.

She looked all around the room, then saw a plume of yellow feathers peeking out from behind the couch. "Gotcha!" she shouted, jumping onto the couch and looking down at the phoenix as she squealed and took off again. "When I agreed to babysit this toddler, I thought you two were going to help me!"

"We are...!" Tikal panted, leaning over the bannister as Cosmo joined her. "She's just harder to hold down than a dark chao on a bath day...!"

"I don't understand that reference... But I'll take your word for it...!" Cosmo replied. "Do you think we bit off more than we can chew?"

"I don't know. You're the one who said it would be easy because there's one of her and three of us."

"Yeah. Silly me..."

Emberly giggled, then gave a big yawn.

"Oh! I saw that yawn, Emberly..." Blaze teased.

Emberly smiled, then came over to Blaze, reaching up for her. Blaze sighed, picking her up and letting Emberly rest her head on her shoulder as she yawned again.

"Aww...!" Tikal squeaked softly. "Where's a camera when you need it...!?"

"Looks like all that chasing her around was worth it...!" Cosmo sighed with relief.

Blaze gave a soft smile as she rocked back and forth to assist in her charge falling asleep. She'd never thought herself to be the type to be good with kids, but sometimes... She yearned for some of her own. Perhaps this little adventure would help her along that path.

"Maybe..." she whispered, putting a hand on Emberly's back.

____________________________________________________________________________

Shadow looked around as they once again exited a warp, looking around the dark space that smelled of cigarette smoke and mold. "Feeling anything, Frost?" he whispered.

"Yeah... Sky's on this floor somewhere."

"Can you dim your glowing a bit, Shadow?" Rouge teased as her husband lit up like a holiday tree.

"I'm a Chaos Emerald's vessel, Rouge. When have they ever not glowed when they had power?" Shadow asked.

"Shh..." Honesty hushed. "We're in enemy territory. The reptilians might already know we're here."

"That's the only good thing about the Anarcians. They're all cold-blooded and go down easily with a touch of my ice powers." Frost whispered.

They paused as they heard a loud screeching sound come from down the hall. "What was that?" Rouge asked.

"That would be my brother..." Frost murmured, then hurried down the hall. "Sky!?"

"Frost!?" A voice shouted.

"Sky!" Frost placed her hands on the door. "Are you okay?"

"No! I'm not okay! All they've given me for provisions is stinkin' peanut butter crackers!" Shouted an angry voice on the other side of the door. "I'm on the verge of a mental breakdown from the smell!"

Frost rolled her eyes. "Big baby... One second, we'll get you out of there."

The trio turned as they heard hissing, and her eyes widened a little as several snakes came up the steps. "Great, legless lackeys...!"

"Going sssssomewhere...?" One of the snakes hissed. "I don't think ssssso...!"

Frost placed her hands on her hips, then gestured to Shadow. "After you, Ultimate Lifeform."

Shadow grinned, cracking his knuckles as Chaos Energy shivered across them. "Why thank you, Princess...!" He murmured. "I haven't given a good beating in months!"

The soldiers' sneers faded as the hedgehog dashed towards them, being flung across the room by Shadow's powerful swings.

Rouge stepped back at Frost's request, then twisted into a Screwkick that slammed into and shattered the door.

"Hey hey hey!" Sky shouted as dust and debris filled his cell. "Watch the kitty cat stuck to the wall!"

"Sorry, baby brother." Frost replied as she stepped into the cell and froze the chains until they broke away from the wall. "Let's get moving before Shadow gets tired."

She watched a snake fly by, then Shadow came over with a confident smirk. "What is this 'tired' you speak of?"

"Ha ha. Anyone else here, Sky?"

"Ruby was with me for a while, but then they moved her when we got into a pun battle and drove them bananas." He smirked. "Link up?"

Frost took his hand. "Go for it."

Their hands glowed and Shadow stiffened as he began to glow too. "...Two floors up." He responded as the light faded.

"Agreed. Shadow, you're on point."

Shadow nodded, then they followed him up the steps. The sound of hissing met their ears, but a quick burst of energy from Shadow took out the initial force. "Okay, where's your sister?"

"Ruby!" Sky shouted.

"Took you long enough." Came a mutter, and Sky went to one of the doors, putting a hand on it before yelping and pulling back.

"OW! Are you fire-blasting the door!?"

"I got bored. Why'd you try to touch it?"

Sky growled, then stepped back as Frost came up to the door.

"Keep doing it, Ruby!" Frost explained. "I'm gonna freeze it from this side and try to shatter the door!"

The return of hissing told her that the snakes had recovered from Shadow's initial burst. "Cover me, guys!"

"No problem...!" Rouge shouted, throwing another screwkick and knocking back a snake into the wall. "Kinda reminds me of our old missions, huh Shadow?"

"Yeah. Reminds me of that mission in Spagonia where you knocked out that thief with your purse."

"He was trying to take my engagement ring! He deserved it!"

They turned from their fighting as the door broke away with a crash, and a red cat came jumping out into a fighting position. "Let's blow this popcicle stand!" she shouted, her braid swinging with her movements.

"I'm with her!" Rouge replied. "No point in overstaying our welcome!"

"Grab on!" Shadow shouted, feeling the surge again as he felt hands grab onto him. "Chaos...Control!" He closed his eyes as the white light washed around them, opening them again as the hands left his arms.

"Is everyone okay?" Rouge asked.

"Y-Yeah... Wait, where's Ruby and Honesty!?" Sky asked.

Frost gasped as the building exploded into flames, then saw Ruby and Honesty appear near a tree several yards from the building. "Honesty!" She rushed over, hugging him. "You're okay...!"

"Oh gee, don't care about me, huh?" Ruby teased.

"I know how much you hate being touched, Ruby..."

"What happened!?" Shadow asked, gesturing to the flaming building.

Honesty blushed. "I uh... May have let one loose then had Ruby ignite the result before Chaos Controlling us out."

Shadow shook his head. "...You're insane."

Honesty shrugged. "I don't get to let loose much..."

"For good reason...!" Ruby groaned, coughing and plugging her nose. "Remind me why I agreed to ignite that...!?"

"Because I asked nicely... And maybe deep down... You missed me?"

Ruby sighed, then put an arm around the skunk. "You know I did, kiddo..."

Shadow smirked, then a wave of exhaustion crashed into him, and he fell to his knees with a whimper.

"Shadow!?" Rouge bent down. "Are you okay...!?"

"Y-Yeah...Just...Tired." Shadow murmured.

"He's used a lot of Chaos energy warping us around today." Frost replied. "Sky, Ruby, I'm leaving it to you guys for now."

Her siblings nodded, and Rouge helped Shadow back up to his feet, his arm over her shoulder. "Let's head back to Mynria..."