Well, this is it guys. The very last chapter of "When Darkness Rises." That is partly the reason why I have kept you all waiting for so long. The other reason is all the things that have been going on. End of School, Christmas and other stuff.
So here you all go, the Good Ending to my first fanfic! Enjoy!

For a short while the group just stood there, the others coming around and waking to a horrible sight. As long as the younger members didn't have to see what he went through. The room was only filled with sobs and whines before a low voice filled the room. "Someone get Omega running again." Making an attempt not to cry anymore, Tails began to work on the disabled machine being accompanied by the walrus. Long minutes went by and they had finished getting the arsenals system online once again.

*E-123 OMEGA COMING ONLINE* he buzzed. *CURRENT MISSION, ESCAPE ARK. TIME REMAINING: ONE MINUTE, SEVEN SECONDS AND COUNTING* The sudden alert made everyone jump in horror.

"We have to get out of here now!" Silver yelled as he traded worried glanced with everyone. "Or we are going to be blown to bits!" Wiping the remaining tears from her stained cheeks, Sally regained her footing and stared at the now immobile robot that had put an end to Sonic's life. She returned her gaze to the corridor the team had entered from.

"We can use the warp ring here. It will save our energy and now we have to carry someone…" she shook off the memory. "Rotor, if you please?" Not saying a word, the lilac walrus lifted the crumpled hero off the ground, not seeming to care about the blood that slowly dripped from his wound and ono his hands.

"Someone get the warp ring out of my pack!" Rotor said, trying to keep his cool despite the situation. Immediately after he had said that, Tails quickly fumbled through the bag, his hand soon closing over something. His worried expression changed to even more worried when he grasped the object and pulled it out. In his hand was a golden object, the Warp Ring! But large dents covered its shiny surface and it was bent in a strange way.

"It should work right?" Charmy asked, a fearful expression also lining his face.

"We'll find out!" Tails said and threw the object in front of him, making it bounce strangely before it fell to the ground. The team let out a gasp of horror and stared at the object which now lay useless on the ground.

"I-I thought Warp Rings were unbreakable…" Knuckles murmured.

"Afraid not" Shadow replied.

"Can't you use your powers Silver?" Blaze asked worried. The psychic user shook his head hesitantly.

"I can but I can't carry all of you at once." Silver said with despair. "There's just too many of us. Even if I could, I wouldn't be fast enough to escape the explosion…"

Omega once again interrupted the team. *WE MUST MAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION!* he alerted. *TWENTY THREE SECONDS REMAINING.*

Shadow then looked at Knuckles with an idea in his head. "What if I used the Chaos Emeralds to use Chaos Control and get us all out of here?"

"How are we sure we can trust you?" Knuckles snapped, beads of sweat dripping down his forehead.

"We don't have any other way!" Amy screamed. "Stop complaining and get over it!" Knuckles knew it was the only way but it took time to channel enough energy to teleport so many. Without another moment's hesitation, Shadow closed his eyes, yellow energy enveloping him.

*FIVE SECONDS AND COUNTING* Omega said.

Sparks of electricity surrounded him as if he was a living lightning bolt.

*FOUR*

The light continued to grow until it was too bright for the heroes to look at him.

*THREE*

"Come on Shadow!" the ebony hedgehog heard some of the other Mobians yell.

*TWO*

He opened his eyes and was ready.

*ONE*

"Chaos…" he began.

The timer gave a quick array of beeps before lighting its fuse, causing a vicious ball of fire to erupt from the Annihilator and itself. The ball grew to an enormous size, engulfing the ARK in the process and leaving nothing in its wake.

White. That's all Sally could see. She couldn't see anyone or anything else. It was just white that completely surrounded her. "Am I… dead?" she thought. Sudden thoughts flew through her head until she came to a conclusion. "I guess Shadow didn't have enough time…" At that thought, the light began to glow burning bright, making the princess close and cover her eyes with her arms.

"My head…" that was the only thing that came out of the princesses mouth. She felt the bright light subsiding around her and decided it was safe to re-open her eyes. Being cautious if the light was still there, ocean-blue eyes scanned their surroundings shortly before opening wide in shock. She was… in a forest, on the ground, staring directly at the crystal clear sky. Leaning up, she looked further more looked around. The lush forest was certainly familiar to the princess. It also wasn't far from HQ which made her breathe a sigh of relief. She was exhausted, sore and depressed, making her sigh sound more upset than relieving. Focusing more on the ground this time, she found the rest of the team lying in the leaf litter, also in the same state she was once in. Almost all of them were once again regaining consciousness, groggily rising to their feet as well as the auburn princess.

"Are we dead?" asked a certain red echidna under his breath. He was still clutching his head as if he was making an attempt to stop the storm in his head.

*NEGATIVE* replied a robot. The mechanical voice was all too familiar to the Mobians, making them less worried of where they were (Cuz a robot can't go to heaven.) *ACCORDING TO MY SCANNERS, WE ARE SEVERAL METRES FROM THE ENTRANCE TO FREEDOM HEADQUARTERS* Sally's suspicions were correct.

"For now, let's get inside and deal with the matter at hand." She spoke so everyone could hear her.

"What matter? We stopped Eggheads plan!" boomed a familiar voice.

"The matter is that Sonic's-" she turned around and paused her sentence. That voice… was she hearing things? It couldn't be him. But she was seeing it as well. Maybe she was hallucinating as well? But the rest of the team was looking directly at him as well, mouth agape. Could it really be him? The figure blinked a few times before breaking the silence.

"Uh… is everything alright? And what were you going to say? I'm…?" Sally rushed towards the blue figure and embraced him in a tight hug, catching the Mobian by surprise.

"You're alive Sonic! You're alive!" the princess cried out, joyful tears welling in her eyes. "B-But how?" The hedgehog seemed quite confused.

"I've been alive this whole time. Are you okay?" the blue blur asked as he returned the hug. Sally looked up at him.

"You don't remember anything about the battle?" the auburn girl asked, tilting her head slightly.

"Heck yeah I do! We completely scrapped Eggman's robot and blew up the Ultimate Annihilator!" Sonic replied with a cocky grin.

"But, you were impaled and…" Sally couldn't finish the words. Just thinking about it made her want to cry but it was like it had never happened. Sonic pulled her away with yet another confused but shocked expression on his face.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Have you not seen? I am perfectly fine!" Sonic gestured to himself and he was right. Where his deep wound had once been was nowhere to been seen and all the blood that had been spilled had vanished. Sally could easily see that his fur was also replenished of its navy colour.

"I still don't understand…" the princess thought. "He was gone when we left the ARK and teleported here. Unless…" She looked at him with a big smile. "Enough about what happened today! Let's get back to HQ and celebrate our victory!" Excitement filled the eyes of the team as they started talking about the return of their favourite blue friend, also making their way in the direction of the base. Team Dark began walking the opposite direction.

"We must be off now" Shadow said over his shoulder. "G.U.N will be wondering where we are."

"Shadow wait!" Sally said as she walked up to him. The ebony hedgehog paused and stood there, not bothering to turn his head. "I just want to thank you for what you did. I- we really appreciate what you did. And I know that you helped Sonic." Shadow's ear flicked at the sound of those words. Personally he was quite shocked that anyone would thank him. Shrugging of the comment, he, Rouge and Omega continued their way.

"I did what must be done. But next time, don't bet that you'll be lucky. It was fortunate enough I managed to get you all out of there in time. And don't expect me to be so generous either." With that, the group of three walked into the deep part of the forest and vanished out of sight.

"Sal! C'mon!" Sonic said from behind her. At the sound of those words, she turned around with a smile and ran in his direction. She may as well enjoy herself while everyone was together. She knew that soon enough Silver and Blaze would need to return to their dimensions and the Chaotix would have to return back to Angel Island. And she knew that Eggman's plans had been foiled yet again by the courageous team. She knew she'd have to have as much fun as possible while it lasted.

Walking back to the HQ with Sally, Sonic was glad that the team had defeated Eggman again. He still chuckled mentally at every time the man's schemes had been sabotaged. "I honestly wonder if he would ever give up trying to destroy us but I highly doubt it. That's why I have the Freedom Fighters by my side to protect the innocent from his evil clutches at any price." Thinking about those last three words. "What was Sally even talking about?" he thought. "Impaled? She must've been thinking things." Shaking off the thought, he continued with the princess to their base. It wasn't the end, not yet, the doctor always had some tricks up his sleeve and Sonic would be there to take him down.

That sums it up. I'm sorry if the story seems rushed at the end but I hope the chapter was good.
THE STORY IS NOW FINISHED AND I AM DEPRESSED! I loved writing this and it sucks that I have to finish it now.
So to all you readers, thank you for reading this. It means a lot that so many people like it. And if you did, don't forget to look at my other stories by going to my profile. I am hoping they are just as good.
For now, THANK YOU, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEARS FOLKS!