Okay, this may be a little bit of a nerdy fanboyish thing (ok it is totally...anyway), but it has been driving me nuts that some fans think that Chaos Control does not canonically need a Chaos Emerald (or a suitable substitute) when there is so much evidence that it does.
Profiles in manuals and online nearly always mention a Chaos Emerald with Chaos Control:
"He is given the ability of Chaos Control to distort time and space using the Chaos Emeralds" - Sonic Channel
"Possessing the power to use Chaos Emeralds to perform Chaos Control..." - Sonic Rivals minisite (the American version is gone but the European version is still up)
"Shadow has a special ability called 'Chaos Control' which allows him to warp time and space using Chaos Emeralds" - Sonic Adventure 2 manual (the Sonic Heroes manual says something very similar, possibly others also)
Most importantly, spoken words and actions in cutscenes almost all agree on this:
"It's not his speed, he must be using the Chaos Emerald to warp" - Sonic in Sonic Adventure 2
"It was a Chaos Emerald, wasn't it? But... there's no way you could have activated the Chaos Control... using an Emerald that's fake." - Shadow in Sonic Adventure 2
"With a Chaos Emerald, I control time and space" - Shadow in Sonic 2006
Fans who say that Chaos Control can be used without an Emerald tend to point at Shadow's game where Black Doom flees with the Emeralds and Sonic Battle where Shadow's Emerald is given to Emerl as the best evidence for their point. However, it has been shown time and again that one does not need to be physically holding any Emeralds to use their power:
In Sonic Adventure, Perfect Chaos drained the negative energy from the Emeralds as they orbited his head
In Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, and Sonic 2006, multiple Super forms exist at one time
In Shadow's game, Black Doom warps the Black Comet down to earth with Chaos Control without physically touching any Emeralds (and after just explaining that he needed all seven to perform such a powerful warp)
Sonic X supports this in episodes 46: Sonic Vs Shadow and 77: Cosmo's Work (in fact in 46's Super Transformation, a Meterex is holding 2 of the Emeralds)
So looking at it with that in mind, since Black Doom only floated away with the Emeralds right at the end of the cutscene before Final Way, it likely suggests he was never far away during the level.
Also Emerl (and the 7 Emeralds) were never far from Shadow either. (Although it was never really explained what he needed it for, a possible explaination for what Shadow meant when he said he no longer needed it was he no longer weakened and in need of a crutch for his earlier injury)
Mostly instances in gameplay where Shadow used Chaos Control or a related power without an Emerald can be dismissed as Sonic Team not wanting to compromise the gameplay for the sake of the story (like the mysterious 8th Chaos Emerald in Team Dark's team blast in Sonic Heroes). Although one final instance is Shadow's opening cutscene in Sonic 2006, where he disappears in light after talking to GUN and no Emerald or other power source is around. But that game was messy enough (Silver's speed up anyone?) to consider the possibly of a mess up by the people Sonic Team hired to make the CG movies for the game.
Profiles in manuals and online nearly always mention a Chaos Emerald with Chaos Control:
"He is given the ability of Chaos Control to distort time and space using the Chaos Emeralds" - Sonic Channel
"Possessing the power to use Chaos Emeralds to perform Chaos Control..." - Sonic Rivals minisite (the American version is gone but the European version is still up)
"Shadow has a special ability called 'Chaos Control' which allows him to warp time and space using Chaos Emeralds" - Sonic Adventure 2 manual (the Sonic Heroes manual says something very similar, possibly others also)
Most importantly, spoken words and actions in cutscenes almost all agree on this:
"It's not his speed, he must be using the Chaos Emerald to warp" - Sonic in Sonic Adventure 2
"It was a Chaos Emerald, wasn't it? But... there's no way you could have activated the Chaos Control... using an Emerald that's fake." - Shadow in Sonic Adventure 2
"With a Chaos Emerald, I control time and space" - Shadow in Sonic 2006
Fans who say that Chaos Control can be used without an Emerald tend to point at Shadow's game where Black Doom flees with the Emeralds and Sonic Battle where Shadow's Emerald is given to Emerl as the best evidence for their point. However, it has been shown time and again that one does not need to be physically holding any Emeralds to use their power:
In Sonic Adventure, Perfect Chaos drained the negative energy from the Emeralds as they orbited his head
In Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, and Sonic 2006, multiple Super forms exist at one time
In Shadow's game, Black Doom warps the Black Comet down to earth with Chaos Control without physically touching any Emeralds (and after just explaining that he needed all seven to perform such a powerful warp)
Sonic X supports this in episodes 46: Sonic Vs Shadow and 77: Cosmo's Work (in fact in 46's Super Transformation, a Meterex is holding 2 of the Emeralds)
So looking at it with that in mind, since Black Doom only floated away with the Emeralds right at the end of the cutscene before Final Way, it likely suggests he was never far away during the level.
Also Emerl (and the 7 Emeralds) were never far from Shadow either. (Although it was never really explained what he needed it for, a possible explaination for what Shadow meant when he said he no longer needed it was he no longer weakened and in need of a crutch for his earlier injury)
Mostly instances in gameplay where Shadow used Chaos Control or a related power without an Emerald can be dismissed as Sonic Team not wanting to compromise the gameplay for the sake of the story (like the mysterious 8th Chaos Emerald in Team Dark's team blast in Sonic Heroes). Although one final instance is Shadow's opening cutscene in Sonic 2006, where he disappears in light after talking to GUN and no Emerald or other power source is around. But that game was messy enough (Silver's speed up anyone?) to consider the possibly of a mess up by the people Sonic Team hired to make the CG movies for the game.
