Shadow wakes to Rouge discreetly brushing his shoulder with her wing, gentle but disruptive enough to get his attention. She glances over at the pool, clearly in indication to Tails and Knuckles, who have knelt down and appear to have begun speaking to Sonic. "How long was I asleep?" He asks quietly, trying to convince himself that he doesn't need any more. Rouge looks up at the light let in by the canopy, twitches her ear, then answers. "I'd guess about three, three and a half hours? More sleep than I've ever seen you catch at any given time, anyway. Sonic hasn't been here long. Apparently, Sonic can't actually see his surroundings, but there's objects there that reflect what the actual place around him looks like, so he gets lost and runs into obstacles easily." She steps back to allow him the space to stand up. Ash is crouched on a broken pillar, watching Knuckles and Tails, refusing to get closer but still intrigued, tail swaying slowly. Amber is poking the dirt below her, watched closely by Silver. Meanwhile, Elizabeth is approaching the Echidna and kit curiously, undoubtedly intrigued by the sight of a blue hedgehog being trapped in a reflection somehow. "Silver and Ash had a serious talk while she was helping him actually treat those wounds. At least, it sounded that way. Kept bringing up someone named 'Pyre'. The two clearly know each other, but I'm still unsure exactly how. Anyway, Sonic's just asked about you. Something about needing the use of Chaos Control." Rouge fills him in on what she'd picked up while he slept, an unspoken request that Shadow appreciates her compliance of. Sighing, he dips his head in acknowledgement and starts forward. "...weird. It's...sort of calmed down now? It's been a sort of roller coaster, but not a good one. Like one of Eggman's rides." Sonic laments, catching sight of Shadow and vigorously waving him over. "Shadow! Long time no see, buddy!" He greets, somehow just as energetic and cheerful as always. Shadow is sure that's probably comforting for Tails, though, as much as he may wish Sonic had seemed a little more serious. It's not exactly how the hedgehog rolls, either, to be fair. "Sonic." He says in response, intending to cut to the chase. "I'm glad you're up. There's something VERY important I need you to do." Sonic states, changing the tone practically on a dime. Shadow slightly raises an eyebrow. He expected a few jokes before Sonic got THIS serious about something. Maybe he'd missed the jokes, which he can very easily live without. "I was told. What is it you need?" The blue hedgehog wastes no time getting into his story: "After you all escaped with Silver, the Starfallen moved on almost instantly. Those trees didn't seem to do much other than restrain it at least until you guys left. It walked right up the steps to that big set of ruins that used to hold the Master Emerald..." As he describes the place, he occasionally glances at Knuckles, who listens with intent. "...and smashed the flooring at the top. Apparently, there was some sort of secret passageway that led under it, and the Starfallen ended up in this underground room, with another pool in it like this one. This one was a circular pool just below the floor level, like it was carved into the ground." Sonic taps the water, which ripples, but doesn't move much more than that. "It'd talk to Tikal there." This gets a shocked grunt from Knuckles. "She knew about this thing??" Sonic nods. "I guess so. Anyway, there was a table in the corner, where a little earring was. The Starfallen explained that Tikal had claimed it was capable of finding the Chaos Emeralds. It has it on right now, a little copper teardrop with a small shard of the Master Emerald inside, and so far, it's not sure how to use it." Sonic twitches his ear, most likely indicating which side the earring's on. Shadow nods, Rouge also paying acute attention. Since Sonic mentioned an earring, the bat had surreptitiously sidled up beside Shadow and was listening in. "I assume you want Shadow to use Chaos Control to steal it and keep the Emeralds away?" She infers, Sonic nodding "It's still looking for Amy, since it knows she's looking for a Chaos Emerald herself, and anyone else in general, so be careful, but hurry." Ash looks up. "Let me do it." She says, taking them all by surprise. "A few hours ago, you were against helping us at all." Tails objects, Knuckles crossing his arms. 

Ash scoffs, and leaps down from her perch, landing in a crouch and striding over. "I may not know much about you lot, but I know myself, and I suggest you let me to go retrieve this earring." She states, but Shadow shakes his head. "You don't know the true extent of what this thing can do–NONE of us do. But without the use of Chaos Control, you wouldn't stand a chance. Even I have only a slight chance of getting it. But at least I have one." Ash rolls her eyes. "If I'm gonna be part of this team, you should learn to accept my skills. Trust me, I can do it." She insists. "What makes you so sure?" Shadow challenges. "I'm what you'd call a master thief. If it can be stolen, you can bet I'll be able to take it. Stealing an earring off some hedgehog demon's ear? No trouble." She assures them, and Elizabeth nods a little. "Are you sure? When I fought it, it was strong enough to break out of my telekinesis. Maybe it's less powerful now, but even so, a straight fact is that you can't compete against Sonic's speed." Silver points out. "I'm well aware." She replies darkly, then points at Shadow. "You. You're fast. Those rockets on your shoes can't be just for show. You don't seem the showy type." Shadow growls quietly, but stays silent to allow her to continue. "Are you as fast as that one?" She points at Sonic. "Yes." He confirms. "What are you planning?" Sonic inquires, having moved up to see the interaction better. Or maybe he's sitting on it? Shadow can't truly tell. "If I'm not fast enough to hold my own against this Starfallen thing, then MAKE me fast enough." Elizabeth's ears go up, then lay flat down, then lift a little, tail twitching nervously, marking the first time Shadow has seen the cat give some sort of actual emotion compared to her normally very sweet demeanor. "We don't have time for that." Shadow says, though Ash waves her hand dismissively. "Then make some damned time. We have this ancient, otherwordly threat that almost killed my friend, and you're all too scared or weak to face it head-on. I'm not. But, I am cautious. If I'm going to engage something, I'm gonna do it RIGHT." She leans forward a little, seeing as she's taller than everyone else. Her height is comparable to Maria's, somewhere around 3'9" or at most 4'2". Taller than the average Mobian, for sure. "Even if you could beat me in a fight, that doesn't mean that you can have a shot at defeating the Starfallen." The wolf grins. "Good thing I don't need to beat it, then. All I need is to have a strategy for evading and anticipating attacks, then I'll find a way to counteract them. I need to give myself openings to get this bauble from it." Shadow and Rouge share a glance. The bat smirks at him. She clearly likes how the girl thinks. "Now, we have a directive, thanks to Sonic: Steal this earring. Stealing shiny jewels are my specialty, but even so, this won't be easy. Do we have any ideas? Other than the one you've already stated. I want to evaluate all our options before we rule anything out." Rouge inquires. They all stay silent, considering. "Tails, remember that machine you made? To catch me if I was on a rampage, or running too fast for whatever reason?" Sonic starts. The young fox nods. While it seems insignificant to Shadow, he does recognize it due to one sole fact: He's the only one able to rival or surpass Sonic's speed.

The device was made after the whole debacle of the Metal Virus. Apparently Sonic had some qualms of a similar problem happening, and having almost been consumed by the virus himself, wanted some sort of measure against it so his speed wouldn't be an issue for others. Shadow understands that, to a certain extent. While he wasn't directly scared for anyone specifically, he sure didn't like the notion that he was mindless, and would attack without thinking. He may be dangerous, but he doesn't want to be a constant danger to EVERYONE. He didn't like that he wasn't in control of himself. As for what it is, it's a cannon made to track Sonic at any speed, and entangle him in a net. Even if it doesn't wholly stop him, it's enough to slow him down and allow better measures to be taken. If the net were to miss, there's a patch of land Sonic would have to run over, which would open up beneath him and drop him into a cage of sorts. They made sure the material was strong enough that he wouldn't be able to break though it, so with luck, it'd work. There's one issue with the second method, though: there isn't a door out or in other than the trap door itself. If someone needed to go in there in order to, say, get the earring, they'd need to hope the Starfallen doesn't manage to escape or kill them in the process. "You want me to bait it into chasing me through the range of fire." Shadow says. "Normally, I'd say yes, but...it told me it's seen EVERYTHING. All the moments of our lives–specifically yours and mine, Shads. I don't know the exact extent to its memory, but I worry it might grow suspicious. We'll need to be smart. It can't suspect we'd be leading it somewhere." Sonic points out. Knuckles grins. "So we jump it as a group and beat it into a pulp!" He suggests, punching his fists together. "Love the enthusiasm, Knux, but we also should avoid a head-on assault." Sonic adds, and Elizabeth steps forward. "Perhaps it's not my place to ask, but I am curious, what specifically are your abilities and strengths? If we can make a sort of list of them, maybe we can pull off some sort of team effort." She points at Silver, then continues to point at them one by one as she continues. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I understand, you have telekinesis and one of those emerald things, which allowed us to teleport here, and so do you, Shadow. In addition, Ash was right–I highly doubt the special shoes you sport are a simple fashion trend. You share almost identical physical traits to Sonic, of whom I know is fast and has a record of being able to go up against any number of foes with impeccable speed, accuracy, and agility, not to mention keen reflexes. I'd assume you therefore share similar prowess in battle, too. You can use whatever 'Chaos Control' is, and from the way you hold yourself, you're practical and methodical with your actions, although you won't hesitate to use brute force if needed. Tails is smart, a technological genius of sorts from all the gadgets he'd mentioned to me earlier, and can use his extra tail to fly. You specialize in thievery and some sort of espionage, rather than be the main star of the show, you would rather hang back in the shadows to gain information, and I assume you have impressive hand-to-hand combat skills as well as extensive historical knowledge and understanding. Did I miss anything?"

She's met with stunned silence, she had managed to glean all of this in a handful of hours, going solely off intuition, her own actual sense, and whatever little things she'd picked up along the way. "Wow. Uh, yeah, basically. There's a little more nuance to a few things, like Shadow's use of Chaos Control and the Chaos Emeralds, but almost...almost directly on the nose." Sonic replies, the first to respond. "You picked up on all of that? Even I'm a little jealous." Rouge admits. Elizabeth smiles shyly, and Ash glances between the two with a suspicious gaze for a moment. "Chaos Control, what's that all about, then?" She asks, crossing her arms. "Sometimes, a Chaos Emerald is used to do something we can't do by ourselves. Often times, it's Shadow, using it to teleport from place to place, temporarily freeze time, or summon bolts of energy, but as the 'Chaos' part implies, there isn't really a known limit to what they can do. It's been said they can turn thoughts into power, if that's anything to go by." Rouge answers, and Ash nods. "Cool." She mutters, looking at the ground as though lost in thought. "Would it be helpful if we told you what we could do?" Elizabeth offers, and Shadow dips his head once, confirming he'd like to know. In theory, it'd make the planning of this a lot easier. "Alright. So, I usually work well in the background, I'm pretty observant, I often prefer to fight with a special mallet I have, but I can also do this." She holds up her hand, and with her other, brushes it. Instantly, a layer of ice begins to spread over her hand, encasing it. "I have a very specific mastery over ice. It's admittedly a little strange–I can create it, but I can't make objects entirely out of it, only cover the surface area. However, I can choose how thick it is, when or if it will melt, how clear it is, all sorts of meticulous little things like that. When I put them into little disks like this..." She holds up a gold-rimmed, ovular object, which she then throws at a wall. Upon impact, it shatters, then spreads, making a patch of ice about as big as a human. "Interesting...are you a sharpshooter, then?" Sonic asks. She shrugs. "I suppose. Ash has more to offer, though." She nods to her companion. "Well, for one thing, first and foremost, I can manipulate and create fire." She holds up her hand, allowing it to burst into green flames, matching the color of her eyes. "Not only that, but it burns hotter than normal fire. I also have these." She holds up her arms, making sure the ribbons are clearly visible. "These are a set of ribbons I've used since I first started travelling. They work like whips, but I can also tie these little blades I have to them in order to cause more damage or get a grip on most flat surfaces. I use them for most of my combat, but that doesn't mean I'm weak. I practice my agility and strength, leaving me flexible and nimble, but still able to throw around plenty of weight." She explains, and Shadow's able to see that. For one, she may be built thin, but there's clear muscle in her arms, and the fact earlier she scaled the pillar and jumped down from it so effortlessly says something about how sure she is of her own abilities. "What does Amber do?" Silver asks, the hedgehog looking up to stare at him for a second before returning to digging. "It doesn't do anything,as far as we can tell. It knows to stay out of our way, though, so we don't worry about them all too much, if I'm being honest." Elizabeth admits. "Oh..." Sonic murmurs, some unidentified expression crossing his face. "Well, here's what I'm thinking." Tails ventures, gaining the group's attention. Amber is busy staring at Sonic now, who has taken notice of them, but has decided to listen to Tails for the time being. "I think we might have a good shot with the machine Sonic mentioned, but it's going to be very difficult. Sonic's right, we should avoid attacking it, if we can. Instead, we just keep it distracted. We let it stalk a group of us, acting like we're either lost or we're looking for something in the area. Shadow, you'll have to be part of that group, the main target it goes for. I would volunteer myself, but I'll need to get the cannon ready." He explains, and Shadow nods. "And what about whoever else is in that group?" "They're more like background characters. We want the Starfallen focused on you. Their job will be to help drive the Starfallen into the trap." Tails turns to Ash. "And that should allow you to help take it down. Does that work for you?" Ash takes a moment to consider, then nods slowly. "You may be young, but your plans are as good as Lizzie's." She comments. Sonic smiles in the background, proud for his friend. "It's not perfect yet, I have to make sure there's no mistakes or ways to get it wrong, but it's an idea." Tails clarifies, ears lowered slightly. "How much time do you need to plan?" Shadow asks, waiting patiently for the young Mobian to think. "About...an hour, maybe two?" He grunts, then shifts positions. "How about a day?" Tails blinks, then nods cautiously. "Okay...any specific reason why?" The dark-colored hedgehog turns to Ash, who catches his gaze and holds it like a challenge. "You want to learn how to hold your own against this thing? Well, I can't show you all that it's capable of, but I can easily show you its speed."