Author's Note: The next few chapters will have quite a decent amount of recommended listening.

What the hell was that?! Shadow stopped in his tracks. Behind him was a path lined with torched and bent trees and foliage. In front of him, a bright light shone from somewhere in the distance, over the tree canopy, and was accompanied by a head splitting scream. An ominous feeling overtook him, and goosebumps ran up his arms. Whatever it was, I get the feeling it wasn't good.

Another earth shattering scream swept the air, and a distant rumbling quickly drew closer to Shadow's position. The sound of trees cracking and splintering reached his ears, and he went on full alert. Here it comes…

In the distance, through the trees, Shadow could see a massive translucent light blue wall making it's way straight toward him. The trees were effortlessly folded back on themselves as the behemoth made it's way though the forest. It was on top of Shadow in mere moments.

Is that… water? Shadow didn't worry about trying to comprehend it, he just had to stop it. He dug deep into his well of power, grabbing as big of a chunk as he could muster, forcing it outward from both of his hands. Shadow extended the reach of his Chaos power as far as he could, trying to block the way backward.

The mass of water slammed into Shadow's barrier, making a solid, audible noise as they collided. A strange, opaque phenomena took shape where Shadow's barrier ended. A thick, shining coating formed at the edges wherever the water touched, causing the wall to spread out even further than normal. Once it reached the outer left and right edges of Shadow's barrier, it blew past him, reforming on the other side and careening down the burnt path he'd created not too long ago.

Shadow could only sit and watch while maintaining his shield as the rest of the water in front of him followed suit, spreading out and around him, then continuing down the mountain.

Once all the water had passed, Shadow released his power and observed the shining coating that had formed between him and the water. It had created a circular cocoon the same dimensions as his barrier. He walked up to the cocoon, and broke off a piece.

This is… crystal? he realized. Whatever that thing was, when it interacted with my Chaos power, it turned to crystal… what the hell is going on here? That thing is headed straight for the village!

Shadow was forced to make a decision. Should he go back and face that thing? Or continue forward?

I need to protect Maria! Or course I should go back… no, it's way to fast for me. It would reach the village long before I did… and Maria would still be in danger. I need a faster way back, and I need to know what I'm dealing with.

Reluctantly, Shadow instead moved forward, leaving the crystal cocoon behind him and following the trail of devastation that lay before him.

(Recommended listening: "Big Daddy Dies" by Henry Jackman from "Kick Ass", the Movie score.)

The scene that greeted Shadow at the end of the forest was a grim one. At first, he was surprised and in awe of the structure of the Altar. He was quickly snapped from his reverie, though, by the sight of blood. Lots of blood. Huge splotches of blood covered the ground in several areas, with clearly dead bodies lying nearby. His eyes were drawn to the only thing moving; Tikal, weeping over a bloody mess of a corpse.

"Tikal!" Shadow called out. He made his way towards her, keeping one eye open for trouble. Here and there, he could see tiny eyes peering out at him from behind bushes, outcroppings, and pillars.

"Stay away from me!" Tikal screamed. Shadow stopped in his tracks. Her voice was deeply distraught. He could only assume the pulverized body she was kneeling in front of was her father. He knew there was no time. He knew that he needed information from her, needed her to get a grip on the reality of the situation and help him. But at the same time, despite the caliber of her father's character, Shadow couldn't force himself to push her.

Family and blood, one of the most highly regarded aspects of Echidna culture… and Tikal had just lost her father, someone she'd known her entire life. Shadow didn't know how to begin to fathom what she could be feeling at this moment.

"What happened here?" Shadow approached the subject carefully.

"My father…" Tikal began. "He lied to me, tricked me, and then sent his guards to attack me. Now, he is dead. And it is your fault…"

"… do you really think that?"

"Your appearance sparked insanity in his mind! He began this crusade because he believed you would lead us to prosperity! Instead… he has awakened Chaos itself, and brought his wrath on the Echida…"

"Chaos…" Shadow processed. "Is that the name of that… thing… I saw in the forest? What is it? How do we stop it?

Tikal chuckled, then laughed; it was a disturbing sound to hear. "Stop him? Stop Chaos? The God of Vengeance? Chaos is a Chao that has gone through the cycle of rebirth and death countless times, with enough power to destroy an entire planet. He is the guardian of the Chao that lived here at the Altar. You have the ability to control the Ancient Power, but Chaos is the Ancient Power! There is no way to stop him!"

"Are you listening to yourself talk right now?" Shadow decided to go for aggressive. "Chaos is pissed off, and he's heading straight for your village. Every Echidna on the island is gathered there right now. If we don't stop him, your people will be wiped from existence!"

"Chaos has absorbed the power of the Chaos Emeralds. This situation is more hopeless than you can possibly imagine. If Chaos was a God before he absorbed all the Ancient Power stored in the Emeralds, what makes you think we would have any chance standing against him now?Not even the Master Emerald could… could…" Tikal's voice trailed off.

Silence hung over them. Shadow waited, expecting her to finish whatever sentence she'd started.

"Could…?" Shadow repeated, feeling the weight of the time working against them.

Tikal lifted her head from her father's body and looked to the altar, where seven dull, colorless emeralds lay around the gigantic gem that was the Master Emerald. Her eyes opened wide with understanding as the pieces in her brain came together.

"The Master Emerald!" Tikal shouted, her face suddenly alive with excitement. "The poem! The Emeralds!"

"What are you saying?" Shadow asked, hoping Tikal hadn't lost her marbles.

"We may be able to stop this!"

(Recommended listening: "The Revelation" by Lorne Balfe from the "Assassin's Creed Revelations" Soundtrack.)

Maria knew not where she was, nor when she was. All around her was an infinite darkness. A small red thread appeared, thin and fragile, traveling alone in the darkness. Lost and alone, it trembled in fear and uncertainty. An overwhelming sadness gripped Maria as she felt it's solitude and pain.

Then, from far off in the distance, another thread appeared, joining with the first. Their paths twisted and intertwined, tied together as if by fate. From the two threads, a light began to shine in the darkness. The threads danced and flitted, their light growing ever brighter. Maria felt her heart rise with happiness, joyed at the two.

Then, abruptly, the second thread stopped dancing. It drifted off to the side, then began to fade. Once again, the red thread was alone, but now it was more than just afraid. It was furious. A red light began to emanate from everywhere at once, until the thread could no longer be seen in the turmoil. Finally, the rage subsided, the darkness returned, and the red thread once again continued on. Heartbroken, Maria continued to observe the thread's journey. For awhile, it's path remained unchanged. Until...

A piercing light shot through the darkness, radiating in all directions. Massive in size, it ran parallel to the red thread, then ran into it, forcing it to change it's direction. Maria gasped as she realized the spear of light was not a spear, but a tight knit of dozens of threads shining so brightly that everything seemed dim in comparison. The knit grew, shining all manner of color, emotion, and light. Slowly, the knit stretched into the distance. Maria's view pulled back, allowing her to see it from afar.

Mara gaped in wonder. She was looking at a tapestry, a picture of everything that had ever been, and ever would be. Images of the past, the present and the future all flew by her, making her mind reel. Everything was connected. Everything had a purpose. The red thread was the smallest in a unending work of art that extended to the end of time. But at the same time, that red thread was the most vital, the foundation for work that was to come. If that thread were to fail, the whole of existence would fall into chaos…

Maria opened her eyes, groggy and disoriented. A soft light was shining next to her, and she looked up to see Uden standing over her with a Ring, focusing on it and her.

"Uden…?"

"Maria!" Uden's eyes opened, the glow from the Ring fading. "Are you all right? How to you feel?"

"I'm fine, I think…"

Uden sighed in relief. "Shadow will be happy to hear it."

Shadow… In that instant, the whole of Maria's dream suddenly returned to the forefront of her memory. Everything she had seen, everything she had witnessed. The color drained from her face as an ill feeling came over her.

"Uden, we need to leave. We need to leave now!" Maria leapt to her feet, pushing a startled Uden out of the way as she yanked on her shoes and sprinted out of the door. Uden called out after her to no avail. She got about ten feet outside of the hut before a massive tail landed in front of her.

"Where are you going, little one?" The Prototype's deep, booming voice invaded her mind.

"I need to warn the Echidna!" She shouted. "We need to evacuate everyone! If we don't, everyone in this village is going to die!"

"Maria! Be reasonable!" Uden finally caught up to her from inside the hut. "Look, perhaps you are not feeling well, or had a bad dream. Come lay back down. You need to rest!"

"There's no time!" Maria tried to explain. She turned to the Prototype. "Help me! Help me save as many as we can!"

The Prototype paused in silence, thinking about her words and weighing them in his mind. Uden placed a hand on Maria's back guiding her back to the hut, attempting to console her with words of comfort. The behemoth growled and repositioned it's tail, this time cutting off Maria and Uden from the hut.

"Strange things have been happening around you lately, little one," the Prototype observed. "First, you spoke to many, then you spoke to me. Now, you warn of things that have not yet happened. Tell me, little one… what have you seen?"

(Recommended listening: "Sleepover" by Marius Vries from "Kick-Ass: The Movie" Score)

"What are these?" Shadow asked, looking down at five dull rocks, cut into the form of aesthetic gems. Tikal had piled them together in front of the Master Emerald, much to the curiosity of Shadow and the small blue beings around them.

"Chaos Emeralds, reservoirs of near limitless Chaos energy," Tikal briefly explained as she picked up a sixth rock a few yards behind the altar. She brought it to the pile with the others, spacing them out quickly, but neatly.

"Tikal, these rocks don't have any Chaos energy," Shadow informed her. "That's far from limitless." While the rocks in front of him seemed lifeless, the Master Emerald in front of him was anything but. There was so much power surging through it, he could literally see the energy pulsating within the Master Emerald like a heartbeat. There was enough power here to overload his own reservoir many thousands of times over, with extra to spare. The realization of the difference in power made his fingers twitch.

"Near limitless, and that is because Chaos absorbed every bit of energy residing within them," she corrected. "They are immensely powerful, each with enough power to have brought about untold devastation if delivered into the wrong hands. Chaos has all of it."

"Are they stronger than the Master Emerald?"

"No," Tikal answered, then looked down and away. "At least, not on their own. When brought together, the strength of the Chaos Emeralds magnifies, outstripping that of even the Master Emerald." After a moments thought, she remembered herself, and began looking around for the last Emerald.

"You seem pretty knowledgeable on the subject."

"My Grandmother used to tell me stories of the Chao and the Emeralds all the time, and even taught me a poem to remember it all. I always thought she had taught it to me because I thought it was fun, but now I wonder if she knew something like this might happen."

"You know a way we can stop Chaos?" Shadow asked, his interest piqued.

"Yes! I mean, no…" Tikal answered as she picked up the final Chaos Emerald, brought to her feet by one of the onlooking Chao who caught on to what she was doing. "But I think I understand the relationship between the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds. If I am right, the Master Emerald may be able to control the power of the Chaos Emeralds!"

The young echidna ran up the stairs to the altar, placing the final Emerald in line with the others in front of the Master Emerald. She looked at her arrangement for a few seconds, then at Shadow for a moment, then back to her arrangement before sitting cross legged on the ground in front of the set of Emeralds.

"So… how does this work?" Shadow inquired, still feeling the pressing concern of time running out for the village. "What can I do to help?"

"You must buy me time," Tikal replied.

"Wait, what?" the hedgehog stood, flabbergasted.

"I do not know how this works, Shadow!" Tikal admitted. "I am grasping at straws right now! The poem my Grandmother taught me is very long, and any part of it could contain vital information! And… I have not reviewed it… in a long time…"

"Wait… what?!"

"I was studying the languages! I never had time to reminisce on children's stories! I need you to distract Chaos and keep him from destroying everything, at least until I can make this work!"

"At the speed that thing was going, it's got to be on the footsteps of the village by now!" Shadow exclaimed. He looked behind him to the forest, and the long trek that had brought him there. There was no physically possible way. "How am I supposed to get there in time?!"

"In the old stories," Tikal turned, speaking from her memory. "There is legend of a master skill, known only to the greatest users of the Ancient Power. My ancestors were able to use it to travel far distances in the blink of an eye, and even manipulate the passage of time itself. They called it 'Chaos Control'."

"And? Am I supposed to magically know how that works?"

"This skill was discovered within one generation of the Echidna when we first received the ability to use the Ancient Power. You are far more adept with that power than they were, and you are much smarter. If you can figure it out, and if you can get to the village, I may have enough time to remember the whole poem. And if I can remember the whole poem, we may be able to sap Chaos' power. If we are lucky."

"Your plan has a lot of 'ifs'," Shadow shook his head, his confidence waning.

"Well," Tikal responded sarcastically. "If you feel that it is not worth trying, by all means, give up."

Maria stood in the Judge's box, high above the Echidna gathered in the village. All turned to listen to the voice of the outsider who spoke their language. She was glad that her notoriety worked well for her in this situation. At the very least, the Echidnas would hear her warning. Or at least, that's what she thought.

"So you are saying that there is a monster big enough to destroy this entire village headed here right now?" Kane, once again conscious and standing at the head of the village, addressed Maria's warning. "There are so many things wrong with that statement, I do not know where to begin."

All around the Judge's stand Maria could hear the murmuring of the Echidna, a majority scoffing at the danger and disregarding it as a post-event joke. A few concerned voices littered the crowd as well, but none with enough belief in her words to take action.

"You don't have the luxury of choosing whether or not to trust what I'm saying" Maria argued. "If I'm lying and we evacuate the village, I'm a nuisance. But if I'm not lying and you ignore my warning, everyone in this village will die!"

This time, her words had a little more effect. The listeners who'd been straddling the fence earlier began to move, grabbing friends and loved ones before heading for the village gate. Some scorners began to show concern on their face, unsure of their resolve to gamble with their own lives on the line. Still a majority took no action at all, still unconvinced of the eminent danger. This wasn't moving fast enough.

Maria climbed down from the Judge's box to Uden and the Prototype, standing silently on the sidelines. The aged Echidna's brow was furrowed, and the giant lizard shuffled restlessly, much unlike it's normally calm, purposeful demeanor.

"I can feel him," the Prototype growled. "I can feel his anger and malevolence… he is nearly here."

"I know," Maria agreed as she rested a hand on it's leg, physically and mentally exhausted. "I can feel it too."

"You shouldn't push yourself so hard," Uden scolded as he removed a Ring from his pocket and began restoring Maria's energy. "Shadow warned that your abilities would take a toll on you, and possibly injure you. I feel I have failed his request already just by letting you do this."

"Considering the alternative, I can't say that I mind too much," Maria honestly replied. "We need to get these people out of here, and they're not listening to me anymore."

"So, now what?" Uden asked.

"Plan B," Maria answered.

Author's Note: Every now and then, I'll read my email inbox, and out of the blue, two months after writing a chapter for this fanfic, someone will discover it, read it, review it, subscribe to it, subscribe to me, favorite the story, or favorite me. Then I say "Oh, yeah, I'm supposed to be writing that..."

Here's a big THANK YOU for all the loyalty and people who remind me to get off my bum months after the fact!