On the ocean of No Place, Eggforcers on submarine fires on Dread's ship. Gwen and Sonic dives behind crates.

"You know these scallywags?" Dread asked, ducking from the lasers.

"Yes and no. Short version, they're after the Shard too." Sonic explained.

"What he said." Gwen said.

"You mean the Devil's Lighthouse. Let 'em have it! I already told you, I want nothing to do with it."

The Eggforcers turn and Gwen notices and leaps and grabs Dread in bridal style, getting him away from the shot. They look up at the cracked main mast and it falls back.

"By order of the Chaos Council, surrender or be destroyed." Rusty demanded.

"Rusty, this isn't New Yoke City." Sonic said, coming to his sister's aid. "Come on, let's talk this through."

"Quiet, hedgehog. I am addressing the captain."

Batten pointed at Gwen.

"She be the captain!"

Gwen blushes and glances away. Rusty didn't expect that.

"Gwen is the captain? How surprising, but also very expected."

"How did you get here?" Gwen demanded as the crew joins in with her.

"The tides of war have changed. And as for how I am here, all of the Shatterverse is now the Council's for the taking."

Gwen's eyes widens and comes to realization as she knew exactly how they managed to travel.

"Nine..."

"Last chance: surrender or sink." Rusty ordered, putting her thumbs down on her last sentence.

Batten turns to Gwen.

"What's the plan, Cap'n? Hang 'em from the yardarm, send 'em down to Davey Jones, cleave them to their biscuits?"

Gwen could tell what they mean by that and rather not know.

"Um... well..."

Rusty doesn't wait for her answer, growing impatient.

"Fire."

The Eggforcers fires lasers and Gwen and the crew falls back across the deck.

"The Angel's Voyage is holding up surprisingly well." Sonic commented.

"Aye, she's stronger than she looks." Sails said.

Dread picks up the hat and places it on Gwen's head.

"You gonna do something, Cap'n?"

Gwen glares with determination.

"Yeah. Ready the cannons!"

"Aye, Cap'n!" Rose saluted.

"On it!"

The crew brings out the cannons and aims it at the Eggforcers. Big helps bring in the cannonballs for them to fire.

"All hands, to arms!"

The crew starts firing as flames blew from the cannons onboard the ship. The lasers that the Eggforcers were shooting hits the cannons as they exploded. Some of the cannons hit the Eggforcers and on the submarine, leaving some burn marks or small dents. Rusty glares and extends her legs towards Dread's ship. She lands and Rose, Batten, and Sails draws their sword and starts attacking her. Rusty dodges them and disarms them, taking the sword from Sails. Dread, Big, and Sonic keeps firing the cannonballs. Gwen lands in front of Rusty, who glares at her and readies her sword.

"This doesn't have to be this way, Rusty. You don't need to be the Council's pawn anymore. You can still be you and have your own free will."

"Your words cannot stop me from destroying you, Iris."

Rusty attacks Gwen, who fends her off with her sword. Gwen dodges two slashes and blocks another blow. Rusty kicks her in the stomach, sending her down to the ground and Gwen's sword skitters away. Rusty steps toward Gwen and goes to finish her off as she slashes. Gwen blocks her with her knife she summons from her ruby. Rusty cuts her by the arm and clobbers her with the sword handle. Gwen tumbles into the deck. She struggles to get up as Rusty was about to approach her when Dread gets in front of her, protecting Gwen.

"Leave her be!" he growled, drawing his sword.

Rusty stares at him blankly and glances at the down Gwen over Dread's shoulder. She then tosses the sword away and leaves. She could see that the crew are losing against the robots as all the lasers hit the side of the ship. Rusty goes back to the submarine and looks back, seeing the damages. Sonic looks down and gasps, seeing the big hole of the ship.

"This is bad. Sails!"

Sails peek from the barrel.

"Okay, pal, I may not know you-you, but I know other yous, and they've all got gizmos."

Sonic looks back at the lasers and ducks before whispering.

"Tell me you've got a gizmo. And sis might need it."

"The only gizmo I need is me contraption and me brains." Sails explained, showing his mechanical third tail.

"You're a beauty, you know that? Just a beauty." Sonic smiled.

Their cute moment was cut off by explosions as Dread rushes over to them with Gwen in his arms.

"Sound the retreat before we sunk! Our captain is down!"

A chopper bot scans Sonic's shoes.

"Shard energy compass caliberated."

Sonic glares at it.

"That's not good. Come here!"

He tries to grab it, but the bot flies over Rusty.

"Perfect. We have what we need."

She faces Sonic and crosses her arms behind her back.

"This remarks the end of our time together."

The Eggforcers floats up in the air for a bit, ready to fire.

"Vaporize them. Goodbye, Sonic and Iris."

Rusty notices Rose through her right robot red eye scanner. Rose also notices her through her telescope and gasps as they look at each other.

"Who is that?" they said in unison.

Rusty starts glitching until she quickly shakes it off.

"Wait."

She looks at Rose for a moment and then faces the Eggforcers that stopped flying.

"Set course, and we will be on our way. No need to waste time destroying a sinking ship."

The submarine sails away from the Angel's Voyage. Barrels and crates floats around the half-sunken ship. The cat falls from the tilting deck. Gwen gets up, seeing her arm wrapped up and the ship sinking.

"Cap'n, we're taking on too much water." Sails said, holding onto the pole.

Gwen tries to waterbend to get the water out of the hole of the ship, but with one of her arm injured, it's not working as she struggles to at least move some. Sonic sees her in trouble and tries to steer the ship.

"Come on! I need you to steer!"

Batten rushes over to Gwen.

"No point in moving the water, Cap'n. Not when you're injured. And there's no point in steering a sinking ship, Sonic. She only goes one direction, straight down."

"But they're after the Devil's Lighthouse. We can't let them get to it." Gwen said.

"You can fix it, right?" Sonic asked nervously.

"Yes. I can fix this. I just need to think." Gwen said, looking at the mess and sighing in frustration. "This is why I don't want to be a leader! This is too much pressure! Wait... Dread! Where's Dread?"

Batten points to Dread in the boat behind her. Gwen rushes over to the side to see him lowering the boat down onto the water.

"Dread! Dread!! Where are you going? Dread!"

He ignores her and starts rowing.

"You're seriously just gonna leave your crew behind?! What about honor?! The Knuckles that I know would never give up! It's your most important virtue!"

"She's right! This Shard is our only hope of finding our home." Sonic added, looking at Dread.

"Your crew needs you! I need you! You're Knuckles The Dread, captain of the Angel's Voyage! Who loves adventures and treasure hunting! Dread, come back!!" Gwen shouted.

"I gave up years ago, Gwen, when I wrecked trying to get that shiny rock you're after." Dread said, looking at Gwen.

"We can still get it. With your captaining, my speed, and sis' water power, you're not gonna wreck on those rocks again." Sonic said, trying to change his mind.

Dread puts a thoughtful look on his face.

"He is fast, fast enough to get me past them rocks. Gwen can even make the water obey her command to avoid them."

"We can do it together! And me and sis can get home!"

"And I'll finally get me treasure." Dread concluded with a grin.

"And you'll forever be known as the legendary Knuckles the Dread! The legendary Knuckles The Dread! Isn't that what Emeraldas would want that for you?!" Gwen shouted.

"Aye. The legendary Knuckles The Dread."

Dread stops for a moment to see Gwen staring at him with plead as he couldn't help but be lost in those eyes that resembles Emeraldas. He glances down at the music box he brought with him in the boat and sighs.

"She would definitely want me to keep on sailing."

Gwen watches as his figure starts to grow smaller and smaller.

"Dread..."

"He gave up. He's gone." Sonic said, looking down with defeat.

"I-I'm sure we're going to be okay! Right, guys?" Gwen smiled nervously.

Rose smiles and salutes at Gwen.

"Aye, Cap'n."

Coconuts roll past Rose. She struggles to hold on, but ends up sliding down the deck.

"Oh, who I be kidding? We're doomed!"

Batten and Sails hangs onto the Crow's Nest as the cat and the frog are close to the water.

"Hold onto something!" Sails exclaimed.

Gwen holds onto the railing to keep herself from sliding down while Sonic struggles to hold his balance.

"Well, looks like we're going down."

Suddenly, Dread swings by and grabs Gwen by the waist. He takes his hat from her and places it back on his head.

"Ha! What kind of talk is that?" he laughed, looking at Gwen, who blushes.

"We're back! Arr!" Rose smiled in relief.

"I knew you'd be back, Captain." Batten said, making Gwen roll her eyes.

Dread and Gwen lands right where the steering wheel is.

"Batten, Sails, get below, pump up every floaty you can find." Dread ordered.

"Aye-aye, Captain." Sails said before flying off.

Dread faces Rose and the cat.

"Rose, Catfish, mend the mast as best as ye can, then hoist the main sail."

Rose and Catfish slides down to get to work. Gwen smiles and hugs Dread, surprising him.

"I knew you wouldn't give up. I'm glad you didn't abandon you crew. That's the Knuckles I know and love."

She gives him a kiss on the cheek and runs off to help take out the water with her waterbending. Sonic winks at Dread.

"What she says, except the 'love' word."

He then zooms off to help out Gwen. Dread blushes and touches where Gwen kissed him. He quickly shakes his head.

"I may be back, but it ain't for me crew." he said with a smirk.

Sails flies up with a line of colorful floaties and pulls it around the sides of the ship. Sonic bails water from the deck. Gwen moves all the water out from the hole of the ship with her waterbending before freezing the hole to cover. Catfish carries a stack of crates with the frog on top. Sonic runs above the water and gets floating barrels back to the ship. Dread looks around, smiling. Sails then patches the hole where the ice is with wood plank to make sure the hole is fully covered, knowing the ice will melt. He uses the contraption, a mechanical third tail. Dread looks up to Batten and Sails and throws Sails some colored lights and punches the broken mast back up. Batten gets hold of the Crow's Nest and Sails strings the lights around the mast.

"Pull!"

Sonic, Gwen, and Catfish pull the rope to secure the mast.

"Yes, yes! Weird, but yes!!" Sonic grinned.

"Whoo-hoo! We did it!" Batten cheered.

"And now the Lighthouse." Dread said, heading towards the stairs.

"Uh, Cap'n, haven't you always said that the way to the Devil's Lighthouse was..." Rose started, looking worried.

"Certain death." Batten finished her sentence.

"That I did. And it is." Dread grinned. "I've chartered a course in me mind. Don't ye worry, I have a plan. It's going to be legendary."

This made Sonic and Gwen looks at him strangely, raising their eyebrow as Dread walks away from them and his crew. Gwen starts to get a bad feeling about this and worries for Dread.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Angel's Voyage moves on. Behind the sails, Sonic spins in a tornado with Gwen making the waves to get the ship go faster. Sails watches from the Crow's Nest in amazement. Between Batten and Rose, Dread holds the steering wheel. The ship sails between the first of the sharp rocks. Green Flickies fly nearby. Sails looks ahead through the telescope at the submarine.

"They're slowing down, Cap'n."

Sonic stops running, making the tornado disappear. Gwen moves the water to make the ship go around and past the sharp rocks to avoid getting hit. She then stops and faces the crew.

"Yes, they're slowing down. Why are they slowing down?" Sonic said.

"That be because of the rocks." Dread answered.

"As in the ones you wrecked on before?" Sonic asked.

This made Dread's face drop with a frown at the reminder of his mistake.

"Aye, that be them." Rose confirmed.

"Guys, knock it off. You don't have to shove it back on his face." Gwen shook her head.

This made Dread smile appreciatedly at her. Sails calls out to them.

"Danger dead ahead! Danger dead ahead!"

He points to more rocks sticking up. Sonic turns to Dread.

"Dread, this is your second chance. You know how to do this."

"Faster! Runs as fast as your blue legs can go!" Dread ordered, turning to Gwen. "Gwen! Make sure those waters do as ye says!"

"On it, Cap'n!"

Sonic runs back to the deck and the tornado starts again. Gwen moves her arms around as she creates a bigger wave at the back of the ship.

"You tried to play captain, now see how a legend does it."

Dread spins the wheel and the ship weaves around rocks. The Eggforcers turns to notice Dread and others, catching Rusty Rose's attention as well.

"They are not slowing down. What are those fools up to?"

She turns to the controls and presses the keyboards.

"Chart a course to the island."

"After today, everyone will know the name Knuckles The Dread, and marvel. I said, faster!" Dread said.

Sonic and Gwen obeys as the ship heads for the tiny island tilted like a ramp.

"Watch it, keep us steady."

Batten runs over to the wheel and controls it as Dread runs to the back with Gwen.

"Hold on to your shoelaces!"

He leaps and punches the sterling down. The ships jumps off the island and flies over the submarine. Rusty watches with slight surprise. Dread smiles down at her with a gold tooth and Gwen salutes her with a wink. The ship lands and sails on. Rusty's face changes to unimpressed one. Sonic's tornado pulls the sails off.

"No, me sails!" Dread exclaimed.

Under dark skies, the ship spins around and comes to a rest.

"Curses!"

"That was incredible!" Sonic smiled.

"Aye, it was. But we're not done yet. We're out of sails."

"And that's bad, right?"

"No, it won't. Pass me the rope!" Gwen said.

Dread was surprised and threw her a rope. She ties it around her waist before running off to the bow and lands on the water.

"You sure you can do this?" Dread asked worriedly.

Gwen just smiles at him.

"I can do more than just waterbend. I'm going to create the biggest wave you've ever seen! Boots! Don't fail me now!"

Her boots beneath her began to glow and she starts rising.

"Ship off the starboard side." Sails informed from the Crow's Nest.

Just as Gwen was about to speed off, the submarine passes the ship.

"Full speed ahead now!" Rusty ordered.

Engines fire and the sub bolts ahead.

"I don't think so! Nobody gets a headstart without me!"

Gwen starts surfing on her feet, pulling the ship with her as she starts to go fast. Sonic, Dread, and the crew slides backwards at the sudden speed. Sails falls from the Crow's Nest and Sonic catches him.

"Well, I'll be a salty sea dog." Dread said in amazement.

"She's amazing." Sonic smiled proudly at his sister.

Gwen pulls the ship around the rocks.

"Get to ye battle stations!" Dread ordered.

"Yes!" Batten cheered along with the crew and Sonic.

In the Crow's Nest, Sails plays the lute like a rocking band. Gwen weaves around rocks and catches up to the sub. Rusty tracks her.

"The hedgehog is unaware of full capabilities of this ship."

Rusty punches a button and guns point out from one side of the sub.

"Oh no..." Sonic frowned.

"Arr, that's not good." Sails frowned.

They fire at Gwen, who dodges them and hurls a water at them, knocking some out. She struggles to dodge as much lasers as she can while throwing more water attacks at them as she swings her water whip while surfing.

"They're going for Gwen!" Batten shouted.

"Man the cannons! Give 'em everything we've got." Dread glared.

"Charge!"

Batten, Rose, Sonic, and Catfish aim cannons at the sub. Gwen looks up at Rusty and surfs ahead.

"Cap'n, we can't take many more hits like that." Sails said.

"She'll hold. Return fire!"

Three cannons fire cannonballs. A fourth one fires a seadog. Batten and Rose look at Catfish while Sonic looks horrified.

"Why did you shoot a seadog?! They're delicious!" Sonic screamed.

Catfish gives them a sheepish smile. Eggforcer fire upward. Their shots hit the cannonballs. Spotting the sea dog, the guns lock. The seadog lands on deck and the Eggforcer slips on it and falls overboard. The crew except Sonic cheered at the hit.

"Catfish, you beauty! Again!" Dread ordered, smiling.

The crew opens the barrel of seadogs. They load the cannons and aim. Sonic stares at the seadog with a sad look before giving it a quick kiss.

"See you, delicious thing."

He then places it in the cannon and prepares to aim.

"Fire!" Dread said.

They fire the seadogs and more Eggforcers slip. Gwen spots the blue beam on the mountain.

"The Shard!"

She makes the wave to help her go faster. Back on the ship, they opened another barrel of seadogs.

"Last case of seadogs, Cap'n." Rose warned him.

"Make 'em count."

The crew and Sonic aims the cannons.

"Fire!" Batten shouted.

More sea dogs fly and Rusty watches as they rain down. More Eggforcers slip and fall.

"Whoo-hoo!"

"Yes!"

Rusty slips too as she struggles to regain balance. Her hand falls on the keyboards, causing the sub to slow down. She falls off her command platform and bounces on the sub deck and falls overboard. Gwen speeds on.

"Watch out!" Rose warned.

The ship bumps into the sub.

"Heave to and prepare to be boarded!"

Dread jumps off from the ship and lands on the sub. Gwen stops and turns.

"Board?"

She looks up at her glowing blue hair strand and glares in determination.

"No. Not without me."

Gwen unties herself and surfs back.

Eggforcers fire at Dread and he leaps onto one and punches its head in. He jumps down and slashes others and kicks one off.

"And that's the last of ye scallywags. Come on, ye cowards, she's all clear!"

Just then, Rusty climbs back on with her robot arms and legs. She towers over Dread and raises her arms. More Eggforcers fly and land and surround Dread. He swings his sword, trying to take them down when they're not moving as they point shock weapons at him. Rusty faces him and grins. Behind her, Gwen leaps high from the water spout and spins down and joins Dread.

"You dare attack us?" Rusty glared.

"You don't know the half of it." Gwen glared back.

She runs around Dread then spins and slams into Eggforcers, breaking them apart. Gwen lands and bot parts fall around her. Rusty growls in anger. The crew and Sonic cheers and joins Gwen and Dread on the sub. More Eggforcers jump behind Rusty. One raises a shock weapon.

"Charge!" Batten shouted.

The crew and the bots fight. Batten flies with an Eggforcer after her. She swoops through a narrow gap between the ship and the boat. She turns and knocks the bot's arm off. An Eggforcer clashes with Sails. He takes the shock weapon and zaps back. Sonic kicks an Eggforcer and spin dashes another. Gwen slams a tendril of water onto the Eggforcers. More Eggforcers surround her and she immediately jumps into the water. Gwen surfaces on the water spout again and fires more water at them. She then shoot out icy spears towards the Eggforcers as it pierces their head and chest and causes them to fall into the water. More icy projectiles were shot out at the Eggforcers as Gwen helps out her friends. Rusty jumps to her platform.

"Enough of this. Squad three, get the Shard."

She punches the red button and the Eggforcers fly toward the blue beam on the mountain as Dread watches them.

"Sonic, Gwen, go! They're after the treasure."

Sonic jumps down to Dread after bouncing off the Eggforcers and Gwen lands gracefully in front of Dread.

"No, you go. We'll hold them off here." Sonic said.

"I'll go with you. Just to make sure you're safe." Gwen said.

"Wait, you sure? You're aware that Shard—"

"I know. But I need to be there for him. Something's not right with him and I want to help him."

Sonic stares at her for a moment and sighs, hugging Gwen.

"Just be careful and try not to touch the Shard."

"I will, bro." she said, hugging back.

Dread cuts down an Eggforcer and runs to the front of the sub.

"Blast. I don't think I can make it. It's too far!"

Sonic looks at him and grabs by the collar.

"Can't make it? Too far?"

"I think I can help with that."

"And how, Gwen?" Dread raised his eyebrow.

"You need to learn how to spin, bud!"

Gwen grabs him and throws him. Dread spins and knocks out Squad three. Gwen catches up to him by surfing in a big wave to move past the rocks.

"Do not let them get away. After them." Rusty ordered, sending off three more Eggforcers.

Sonic watches them go and turns to Rusty, who turns and glares at him.

"This ends now."

"Fine by me."

Rusty swings down from her platform and faces Sonic. Then they run at each other to bring out their attack.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lightning flashes up the mountain as Dread flies up at it and lands on grass at the bottom. Gwen not too long comes and lands after. At the top, a blue and purple shard floats in the beam.

"My beauty." Dread said with greedily.

This made Gwen look more worried now while looking up at the Shard.

"L-Let's just focus on getting it and go back to the crew."

Dread and Gwen turns and spots the Eggforcers. Dread runs to the front of the mountain and tosses his sword. He climbs with the spikes on his knuckles of his gloves. Gwen creates an earth column to help move her up to the mountain and grabs Dread. He was surprised at another power of hers as she keeps making the column extend forward. Lightning strikes again and it's close, which made her get a note to ready to redirect it.

Eggforcers fly toward them as two fly past them and up. Dread jumps on a third and punches its head and flies to another bot. He swings from its legs and flips behind it. The bot tumbles toward the mountain and Gwen jumps off the bot and flies up, grabbing Dread by the hand. At the top, an Eggforcer lands and reaches to the Shard. Dread and Gwen together leaps and destroys the Eggforcer with a punch.

"Hurry! Get it!" Gwen said, looking around for any Eggforcers on guard.

Dread looks up at the Shard and he begins to get deranged.

"At last. She be mine."

He reaches for it when he stops to see an image of... Emeraldas on the shard. He quickly shakes his head, thinking it's hallucination and that she's gone. The Shard then falls into his hands. Gwen turns and gets concerned to see Dread like this as he stares at the Shard crazily and greedily.

"Mine forever."

"Dread?"

The blue beam disappears after Dread takes the Shard. Gwen carefully and cautiously reaches towards Dread and grabs his face to make him face her.

"Dread, you... alright?"

His eyes softens to see worry in Gwen's eyes like she's... scared of him.

"I don't know what's going on with your head, but you've got to keep it together. Don't forget what you're fighting for."

Three Eggforcers fly toward the mountain and get closer to them. Gwen notices and gets on guard while Dread holds the Shard closer to him.

"No, she's mine. Mine!"

An Eggforcer swoops and misses when Dread jumps from the peak and ducks. Three Eggforcers surrounds Gwen and Dread as they brings out their shock weapons. Gwen gets an idea and takes Dread's hand while wrapping her free hand around his waist, knocking the Shard off his hands as it drops to the ground next to the peak.

"Shall we dance?"

"Huh?"

"I'll lead."

"Whoa!"

Dread didn't expect this as he was spun around and gets dipped down by Gwen as he had kicked something, which happened to be a big rock that Gwen earthbends. The rock hits an Eggforcer in the face, sending it flying toward the spinning tornado rocks. Gwen and Dread spins around each other as they dance before Gwen kicks the rock behind her. It hits another bot on the head, causing it to get it stuck inside and the Eggforcer falls off the edge. Dread kicks the rock up in the air while spinning Gwen around then dips her as she kicks the rocks backwards towards an Eggforcer. It hits the robot in the stomach and goes flying towards the sharp rocks, breaking apart into pieces. A last Eggforcer charges towards them and sends them off the mountain. Dread quickly lands on the platform while Gwen lands on the other. The Eggforcer looks up at the Shard and flies over to it. Dread and Gwen knew they need to act fast as they look at each other. Gwen smirks and brings up her hands and does her tap dance with her boots. Dread smirks back and copies her. They jump towards each other and then dance straight up as their boots clanked against each other. The Eggforcer notices them dancing up in the air and goes to attack when Dread and Gwen manages to take it down with a kick, sending it flying into the spinning rocks tornado. Dread and Gwen gazes at each other as their hands were intertwined, smiling. Dread looks at the Shard then to Gwen hesitantly. She nods to him that it's okay and he takes it, looking at it.

More lightning flashes and Dread looks up to see a strike hitting straight towards Gwen. He gasps and immediately wraps his body around her to shield her. Gwen looks shocked until she sees a lightning and it knocks both of them off the mountain. Sonic, who was running on water after defeating Rusty Rose and going back to Dread and Gwen for backup, sees them and gasps in horror to see them falling.

"Sis!! Dread!!"

He goes faster when he heard Shadow's voice.

"Sonic."

Sonic ignores him and catches both Gwen and Dread, who're unconscious from the strike.

"Got ya."

In slow motion, a shard flies towards Sonic's face. He cringes and disappears, dropping Gwen and Dread to the ground. The sun rises as the two sits up by the shard. Dread sees that they're alive and the shard before grabbing Gwen by the waist and spinning her around with a cheer. Gwen cheers along that they made it and stopped the Eggforcers from taking the Shard. He then places her down.

"We did it!" Dread smiled.

"Yeah. We did." Gwen smiled back.

She looks at the Shard and stops smiling as if she senses something wasn't right. Gwen looks back to where the crew are left behind to fend the Eggforcers. She turns to Dread seriously.

"Dread, I need you to promise me something."

He looks confused and concerned.

"Aye?"

"Promise me you'll protect your crew and the Shard at any cost. Do not let the Council get to it. The world is at stake."

"I... I will, Gwen."

Gwen nods and approaches the Shard. She stops and looks back at Dread.

"I will come back, Dread. I don't how long it will take, but I will be back. There's a lot going on."

Dread stares at her and nods. He approaches her and does something she doesn't expect. Dread kisses her on the lips before pulling away.

"You may not be me Emeraldas, but I won't ever stop loving you."

Gwen blushes and smiles before placing a hand on the Shard. A familiar spark lights up and she begins to feel more power than ever as blue and purple shard starts to lose its color halfway before she disappears. Dread stares in shock and grabs the Shard, staring to where Gwen had gone.

"Be safe, Gwen..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the void, Sonic lands against the big purple shard and finds Shadow floating across from him with the purple shard behind too.

"Shadow?"

Suddenly, they heard something and turned to find Gwen tumbling through the void to where Sonic had gone out. Shadow immediately acts and grabs her by the arm and pulls her close against his chest. Gwen groans and looks up to see Shadow.

"Shadow?! You're here?" she gasped, placing a hand on his arm.

Shadow hugs her.

"I'm so glad that you're okay. I was afraid that I was too late to save you."

Gwen hugs him back.

"Well, I'm still here. And I'm happy to see you again. You have no idea what we've been through."

Shadow kisses her on the head, which made Sonic groan in annoyance at this "lovely" reunion.

"Ugh! I don't have time to deal with whoever you are. Me and sis just wanna go home."

Shadow's grip on Gwen tightens, which startles her. He pulls himself away from Gwen and glares angrily at Sonic.

"Home? Home doesn't exist anymore... because of you!"

Shadow flies at Sonic with his fist raised. Gwen gasps in horror. Sonic yells in fright, trying to protect himself as Shadow punches him. Everything goes black.