Sonic and Amy robe Sonic's bike back to the workshop to find the others scorched. Shadow explained that he had tried to Chaos Control them in, but it had stated that it didn't recognize any of their voices and started attacking with lasers. Shadow held in place, expecting Sonic to say that he would program them into the data. All he got was a, "Well, that's what you get for being impatient. Now head back to the cave. I want to do a little work."
A voice from behind stated, "Not going to happen, Sonic."
Sonic and Amy spun as there were two flurries of dark wind. One of them materialized into Zyx's Reaper form; the other circled him as he spoke. "So you've got the workshop now, huh, Sonic? That should be handy." He extended his scythe. "Drop, apprentice reaper!"
"Apprentice reaper?" Sonic muttered. "That can't be good."
The shadows slowly materialized. A deep metallic onyx, spotted in places with metallic grey. A robotic hedgehog, three curved quills around its head. It was Metal Sonic.
But it was another reaper.
Sonic spread his wings. "Metal Sonic again. What's your title? Because I'm not going to object to this one."
Metal Sonic threw his hand to the side. A black neon energy scythe emerged as he stated, "Reaper Metal Sonic."
Sonic nodded in recognition, then gave a Dracon roar. "You're going straight to hell, you know that, right?" He tossed the Bands of Chaos at Shadow and Silver. "Clip 'em on, you two!" Shadow and Silver looked at each other confusedly, then clipped on the Armbands; Shadow on his right, Silver on his left. Sonic was praying, "Please let this work."
Suddenly, there was a huge energy fluxuation that drew the two of them together. A massive energy burst caused Zyx and Metal to turn away but caused Sonic to turn forward to the single entity at the flux.
It looked like Silver, with five parted quills in front, bright silver fur, and cyan circles on his hands. But at the same time it looked like Shadow, with seven semiflared quills behind, red streaks over his body, and golden metal rings over his wrists. The figure's left eye was red; the right eye was gold. And a Band of Chaos was resting over each arm.
Zyx and Metal turned back to them as Sonic leapt out of the way. The reaper's apprentice simply stared, but was unable to scan the figure's abilities.
The true reaper, however, was confused. "Who are you? Are you Shadow? Are you Silver?"
The figure swung around, coating Zyx in a light white energy coating and sending him flying into the sky, then reared back and held a battle spear of black energy before flinging it at Zyx. The reaper was caught off-guard and was struck, hitting the ground hard.
A voice that mixed Chaos Artist and psychokinetic stated, "Shilver."
There was a blur as Shilver shot forward, slamming a psychokinetic fist into Zyx, then spun to embed a Chaos Blade into Metal Sonic. Shadow's voice called, "Silver! Let me take control!"
"Not a problem!" Silver's voice stated. The gold eye of the entity turned red, and Shilver leapt into the air after Zyx. Holding a Chaos Blade in one hand and charging psychokinetic energy in the other, Shilver slashed repeatedly through the reaper, then spun and slammed the psychokinetic orb into his brain. Zyx appeared paralyzed.
"And that's why I like my psychokinesis," Silver's voice called. "Shadow! Back up!"
"Alright," Shadow's replied. Both red eyes turned gold, and Shilver raised his hand. Zyx seemed under his control, as when Shilver aimed towards Metal Sonic, Zyx raised a hand and blasted Metal Sonic, draining the reaper's abilities - and the Reaper Metal form - from him. Zyx, however, managed to fight against it, then turn to Shilver, attempting to slash at him. Shilver leapt out of the way and formed two blades; one of black Chaos, one of white Sol. He leapt into a dual-bladed strike against Zyx, then leapt back.
Red eyes. Shilver dissipated the Sol Blade and formed a Chaos Plate, then flipped the Chaos Blade into a backhand grip. Twelve slashes, then the reaper's scythe dissipated them both.
Gold eyes. Shilver caught Zyx in a psychokinetic field and slammed him into the ground, then leapt into the air and delivered several bullet kicks to his head, then grabbed him physically and threw him a long distance away.
Red eyes. As Zyx shot forward, a Chaos Lance appeared in Shilver's hands, and he threw it with high speed towards Zyx's head. A huge explosion paralyzed Zyx in his tracks, then another, unpowered Chaos Spear knocked him into the ground.
Gold eyes. Finally, the reaper was caught in a psychokinetic field once more before being flung to the far side of Mobius. Shilver turned to Metal Sonic, who instantly flashed away in a blur of blue energy.
The left gold eye turned red, and Shilver finally turned to Sonic. "What is this?" he asked in both voices. "These Bands of Chaos are just... incredible! We didn't think that this power was possible!"
Sonic shrugged. "Not sure. You tired yet, or are psychokinetic and Black Arm working good together?"
"Working good. Why?"
"Because you detach the Bands of Chaos and you need to channel a lot of energy into them. Or wait a year. You think you could do that?" Shilver's eyes turned towards each other. Then they turned back to Sonic and nodded. "Alright then. But you've got to do it. Only the user can remove the bands."
One arm reached towards the other and pulled the armband off. There was another huge energy fluxuation, and Sonic was pushed back again. When the flux faded, Shadow and Silver were standing next to each other. Silver was holding the detached Band of Chaos. Even as they watched, the Bands slowly faded from gold to stone grey, and the topaz on each shoulder faded to a clear crystal.
"So it's true," Sonic stated. "You need to charge them with a lot of Chaos Energy or they're completely useless." Turning to Shadow, he stated, "I suppose I can leave that to you?" Shadow nodded, and Sonic sighed. "Well, that's all good then." He stepped up to the workshop and hit the button.
"Workshop of Miles Prower. State name and buisiness."
"Sonic the Hedgehog and Amy Rose. We need sleep."
There was the sound of mechanical shifting, and the door flung open. "Welcome back, Sonic and Amy. Beds have been set up for you two." Sonic nodded and stepped aside to let Amy walk in.
"Hey!" Silver called. "What about us?"
Sonic turned to them, unfolding his wings. "You have a cave that is a nerd's greatest wish come true. I'm sure you can find proper accomodation somewhere." He turned in, then closed the door behind him, leaving the other four standing there in complete confusion.