Ultimate [uhl-tuh-mit].

(Adjective) - last; furthest or farthest; ending a process or series. Maximum; decisive; conclusive.

(Noun) - the best, greatest, or most extreme of its kind. Not to be improved upon or surpassed.

Mankind was preparing itself for war.

Again.

It was hard to believe that already so much time had passed since the last great conflict, during which peace had been bought at such a great price. A peace that brought with it the loss of so many friends…

And even in spite of that, it could not last forever.

Sonic sighed as he finally reached the top of a hill overlooking what was about to become the first battlefield of this war. The two human armies were almost ready to throw themselves at the remains of what had once been the lands occupied by the vanquished Eggman Empire, like a pair of kids fighting over the last slice of pizza. Which was kind of sad, really.

They never learn, do they? - the hedgehog asked himself, crossing his arms as he gazed toward the two armies which stood on opposite sides of the plain. The metal armor of the tanks and all other kinds of military equipment glistened with the hue of the setting red sun. Sonic shook his head at them with a scowl, like a grandfather observing his misbehaving grandchildren.

Indeed, Sonic was old now. The times when he could freely roam the planet at the speed of sound for days on end, had long passed. He could feel that in his aching joints, and saw it whenever he took a look at his own reflection in the mirror.

And yet, he ignored all of that right now. This human war was no trifle, he had to agree. Sonic the Hedgehog could not just remain idle, and allow the humans to destroy his beloved planet! The beautiful place he had fought so hard to protect, for which his friends had lost their lives, which had only just been rebuilt after the horrors of the last terrible conflict.

Something had to be done, whatever it was. And, again, it was him who had to do it.

Once more he fixed his green eyes at the battlefield. He was forced to strain them in order to make out the details in the twilight- his sight was not as good as it used to be.

What could be done here? Negotiations were out of the question- not with these guys… Perhaps he would be fast enough to disable the most dangerous war machines? At least some of them? He tried coming up with a plan in his mind, but all that brow-wrinkling only gave him a headache. Back in his day, all of this stuff used to be much easier…

"Ah!" the exasperated hedgehog whined finally. "Man, those people! Why do they have to have these stupid fights, anyway? I thought we were through with that after we defeated Eggman! I wish Tails was here… Or Knuckles."

Remembering his one-time allies made him feel really bummed. And feeling bummed always caused him to become angry. As Sonic ground his teeth, he watched the two armies below with an expression promising that he would teach them a lesson…

… even if it was to be the last thing he did.

There were thousands of them down there. The possibility that he would be able to stop them all, especially at his age, was highly unlikely. He hadn't fought in so long… He used to wish he would never have to do that again. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be.

"Well", he said to himself, preparing for the inevitable. "This has been a lot of fun, but I guess every adventure has to end somewhere… The best I can do, is go out with a bang."

With a feeling of nostalgia, remembering his good old days of heroism, he readied himself to run down the hill and rush straight into the heat of the battle which would most likely be his last. For the shortest while, he still wondered what would happen afterwards. And if it could have been prevented. Could he have stopped all of this from happening, somehow?

It was too late to look back, ultimately. The Chaos Emeralds were no more. Team Sonic had been disbanded a long time ago. All he had right now, was himself. Taking a deep breath, dismissing his dark thoughts, he prepared to throw all that he still had left in him into this final struggle.

But then he felt something.

Someone's presence behind his back made him hesitate. It was an odd, eerie feeling… Though there was no sound whatsoever, Sonic experienced something very specific, something he had not felt in years.

He had never exactly been able to pinpoint what it was. Some sort of an aura of especially strong Chaos Energy? Maybe. But could it really be the same thing he had felt all those decades ago?

As his heartbeat sped up in a surge of sudden excitement, he made a quick turn, expecting to see a long-forgotten ally. This was perfect! Perhaps, with him, this war could actually be won? Maybe…?

But would he really be willing to come out of hiding after so many years in order to concern himself with something he would probably call a petty, human war? That didn't exactly sound like him… But then again, who could say for sure?

Sonic squinted his tired eyes, smiling in anticipation. And there he saw him, amidst the evening twilight, looking exactly like the cloudy image the old hedgehog's memories provided him with.

He came out of the shadows as if he were one with them, pacing slowly amidst an aura of dark energy. Not a black quill on his head, not a white hair from the tuft on his chest had changed. His expression was grim, and his face bore that trademark frown Sonic recalled as the most striking feature of this mysterious being he had never even attempted to understand.

The blue hedgehog realized that he was now looking at someone who was over a hundred years old, yet it seemed that during the decades since they last saw one another, he had not aged by a single day. After all, the one who called himself the Ultimate Lifeform was supposed to have been engineered especially to be immune to the passing of time. Now it appeared that all these stories were actually true. Luckily.

Sonic was truly glad to see his old friend again. His presence, though so ominous, brought with it a spark of hope.

"Well, well, well…" he said, placing his hands on his hips. "Shadow the Hedgehog, in the flesh. Long time no see! A reeeally long time… Gotta hand it to you, you still are full of surprises!"

His once-rival, and later powerful ally in the war which finally brought Eggman to his knees, pierced him with a stare of his fiery red eyes. He did not share the blue hedgehog's glee. At first, it was hard for Sonic to make out what was going on in Shadow's mind upon encountering him for the first time in what seemed like aeons.

When Shadow spoke, his voice was rather cool and passionless, and his blue friend wondered if his words bore in them a note of sarcasm.

"You've grown old", he said, pointing out the obvious. Unlike Sonic, Shadow had trouble recognizing the voice of a juvenile Blue Blur in what now looked like the latter's elderly great-uncle.

"Heh," Sonic chuckled in response, scratching his chin which was covered with a scraggly grey beard. "Don't think too much of it. I can still take care of myself, you know!"

It seemed that Shadow was not listening to what his old comrade was saying, however. Instead, still gazing at Sonic closely, the black creature stood face to face with him, remaining silent for a while.

Sonic smiled, stretching out his hand in a gesture of friendly welcome. Shadow seemed to be ignoring it at first, but then ceased to stare into the blue hedgehog's eyes, briefly and firmly shook his hand, and said:

"Ah yes, humanity's hero."

He then went past Sonic, startling him, and standing on the hilltop with his arms crossed, threw a grim stare toward the armies gathered below.

"They never found out the truth about what really happened during the war, did they?" Shadow asked, his voice raspy and almost accusative.

Sonic knew what the other hedgehog was talking about… True, it was him who received most of the credit for saving humanity from Eggaman's final conquest. He had used that to live a comfortable life for years, even though it was technically Shadow, not him, who delivered the final blow which tipped the scales toward their final victory.

But Shadow had completely vanished right after those events. Since the world unanimously picked Sonic as their savior, he didn't really have a chance to object.

"Hey, it doesn't matter!" Sonic waved off Shadow's concerns, standing by his side. "What matters is that you finally came back! And now, together, we can do this! It'll be like the old days, just like when we defeated that nasty Biolizard. Remember? That was way past cool! And now, we can do it again, as a team! Only, uh… try not to do too much damage, okay?"

Shadow continued to gaze into the void, completely unaffected by Sonic's enthusiasm.

It's all so simple to him… he thought to himself, silently criticizing the other hedgehog for still maintaining his old carefree attitude. He then looked at the setting sun on the horizon. Even now, though old, he's nothing more than an immature kid.

As Shadow continued to say nothing, Sonic thought that he was being ignored. But that only made him laugh internally, as he still remembered that this was also his ally's typical behavior.

"Blaze has managed to transport most of the animal population to the Sol dimension," Shadow then stated out of the blue. "I took care of that to lower the number of possible casualties."

The black creature said those words as if he were carrying out a plan both of them devised just yesterday. Even though Shadow had completely vanished from everyone's sight, it now appeared that he'd been paying closer attention to the events unfolding in the world than Sonic had given him credit for.

"Huh?" asked the astounded Blue Blur. "Blaze? I didn't know you were still in touch with her…"

Shadow now pierced his former rival with another glare of heavy rebuke.

"I've not been wasting my time throughout these past five decades. Unlike you."

This announcement made Sonic scratch the back of his head in embarrassment…

"But even still, a great conflict is inevitable," Shadow continued after looking away into the distance, though again he sounded as if he were only speaking to himself. "That's why I came here. If I do not step in, the world will be in danger of destruction."

Destruction. Yes, both of them had seen enough of it during the last war they fought together. But then again, Sonic also remembered how much of that was caused by Shadow himself, who eventually decided to use all means necessary in order to stop Eggman…

That made the blue hedgehog feel much more uncomfortable. Dark memories were beginning to resurface in his mind, and he was now starting to wonder how exactly did his dark comrade wish to prevent this new conflict from happening.

"So… what's your plan, Shadow?" he inquired after another moment of heavy silence, as both of them observed the human forces moving into position. "At this point, it looks like convincing the humans to just chill out would be a bit hard to do."

This time, the black creature turned his way, looking as if he were genuinely astonished and disappointed by Sonic's approach to what was about to happen. As usual, their motivations and plans could not go hand in hand. With a distasteful expression, Shadow raised his head haughtily to make his announcement.

But what he said, Sonic was not ready for.

"Convince the humans to chill out? Why would I want to do that? If there's any way to stop their foolishness, it's by defeating them! This conflict which they're getting ready for, they've only brought on themselves. But, contrary to what they believe, it's not one from among them who's going to win it!"

Expressing his anger, Shadow swung his arm and pointed toward the humans gathered below in the manner of a judge delivering a verdict.

The red sparks reflecting in his eyes made Sonic feel even more anxious. This was exactly the sort of reaction he had feared his easily agitated friend might have...

"Heh-heh," he laughed awkwardly, putting his hands up in a conciliatory gesture. "Hold your horses there, Flippy! Do you remember what happened last time? There was a lotta unnecessary damage back then, you know…"

"It was a complete massacre!" Shadow retorted with a furious outburst, baring his teeth. "Must I remind you who was responsible for most of it?!"

"Well, it was Eggman, sure, but…"

"Yes! Eggman!" the black hedgehog shouted out the loathsome name. "If it weren't for him, Rouge and Knuckles would still be alive!"

Those memories Sonic had tried so desperately to move on from… all of them Shadow was now bringing back like a long-forgotten nightmare.

"Yeah, that's true, but…" the blue hedgehog stammered, mention of the most dreadful happenings of the war putting him in a state of confusion and sadness.

Shadow then startled him even more, taking a step toward his one-time ally and putting up his clenched fists as if he wanted to punch him in the face.

He was a raging ball of fire. Just as Sonic had witnessed him right after the final battle, fifty years earlier. To Shadow, it was as if no time at all had passed since then. The black creature took a couple of deep breaths, and then slowly spat out words which were filled with pure venom.

"I have killed Eggman with my own two hands. Something that you should have done much earlier! If you did, you'd have saved all of us a lot of suffering!"

By now, Sonic had lost any trace of his usual joyfulness. Facing these facts which, try as he might, he could not deny, even he had to hang his head in sorrow. He had always thought that Shadow's decision was wrong… But, remembering how much pain Eggman had caused even him to feel, he could, at the very least, understand it.

The faces of Knuckles and Rouge flashed in his thoughts, and he could not make them go away.

When the final battle seemed to have been resolved in the Resistance's favor, the Doctor orchestrated a surprise assault on Angel Island. He was using the power of a set of fake Chaos Emeralds, the technology of making which he had stolen from Tails' databases. In a heroic impulse of duty, being the guardian of the island, Knuckles rushed to save the Master Emerald. Rouge was the first one to realize that the echidna had fallen straight into Eggman's trap. Crushed with despair, the bat flew over to aid her friend. But it was already too late.

Sonic remembered the pain he felt as the air vibrated with the shockwave caused by Eggman's flagship firing at Angel Island. He also recalled the tears which appeared in Tails' eyes when they both saw the floating isle collapse into the depths of the ocean after the Master Emerald had been shattered.

With their leader gone, the Resistance was dealt a terrible blow. Sonic and Tails retreated, paralyzed by grief after losing their friends. But among the soldiers, there was someone who did not lose his composure.

Shadow.

In a flash, he stepped forward like a maniac, ignorant of all danger and bereft of fear. A monstrous battering ram, fueled by wrath, shouting to the skies his promise of revenge. A promise which he kept.

Shadow hunted down his creator's grandson in his own flagship, where he shattered the Doctor's fake Emeralds with the power of Chaos Energy which was instilled within him. When Sonic, Tails, and all the other soldiers of the Resistance saw Eggman's huge flying battery fall from the sky and crushing to the ground, creating a massive amount of destruction in its way, they knew that, as shocking as it was, Knuckles and Rouge's lives had been avenged.

It was then that Eggman's robotic armies collapsed. And Shadow vanished.

Looking at him now, Sonic couldn't find the right words to address him with. On one hand, he felt great guilt- a feeling he had almost forgotten about when the storm of war died down and the world celebrated their victory. But now, on this day which was seemingly the prelude to another destructive war, he also felt that, perhaps, if he worked together with Shadow, he could somehow still repair his old mistakes.

Raising his head with a sigh, he looked into his ally's angry eyes. This was no time to argue, or to try to justify himself.

"What's your plan, Shadow?" he repeated, expressing his will of cooperation.

Surprisingly, however, the black hedgehog did not respond to his apologetic tone with acceptance. Even now, he continued to stare at the human armies in disdain, ignoring Sonic and speaking as if he stood at the top of the hill completely alone.

"Pathetic creatures… Their insatiable hunger for self-destruction is a disease which infests this world. And I am the cure!"

Those chilling words caused Sonic to feel very concerned. Shadow was again beginning to show a side of him which his blue comrade had never liked… Having serious doubts about the black hedgehog's intentions, Sonic approached him with caution.

"Uh… What are you talking about? Don't you think you're starting to sound a bit crazy?"

Hearing that, Shadow turned around, looking as if he just realized that someone was speaking to him. He gazed at Sonic's face, startled by someone breaking his stream of thought like that. Then, he clenched his teeth again.

"There is no other way anymore. The humans have had their chance, and they've wasted it. If you know of anything else that can be done right now, go ahead and tell me- I'm all ears!"

Sonic scratched the spines on the back of his head…

"Sorry man, but I'm totally confused. Are we even speaking the same language? I still haven't got the slightest idea of what you're planning to do…"

Noticing that this was indeed the case, Shadow eased a bit, his anger replaced by an air of gloom. It seemed like he was about to do something he did not enjoy. And, in all honesty, neither did Sonic. Not in the least bit.

"This war must be stopped," the black hedgehog began somberly and seriously. "The humans are out of control. It looks to me that, whenever they are allowed to roam freely, they devour one another and destroy this world. This is what working for GUN has taught me."

Looking away, with a lot of disgust resounding in his voice, he then stated his gruesome intent:

"Before this conflict escalates, I myself will subjugate humanity under my own rule. Then, I will ensure that peace will last as long as I live- forever."

This was not exactly the time for jokes. And although Shadow did not sound like he actually enjoyed this dreadful little plan of his, Sonic, completely flabbergasted, felt compelled to say:

"Oh you have gotta be kidding me!"

Having left the other hedgehog in a state of unbelief and astonishment, Shadow crossed his arms in silence. And then, he slowly but very deliberately shook his head in denial.

"I never kid," the dark being uttered. He then pointed toward the battlefield before them. "Look for yourself! It is inevitable!"

Sonic could not believe his ears.

"Shadow, listen to yourself!" he cried out, trying to appeal to his comrade's common sense, which he hoped the black hedgehog still possessed. "Doesn't this sound familiar to you? Like what the black aliens, or a certain scientist once wanted to do? A certain mad scientist, who also dreamed of conquering the world, and enslaving it through raw force and fear?"

"Don't you dare compare me to the likes of Black Doom and Eggman, Sonic!" Shadow snapped at him. "I never wanted the humans to be afraid of me. Don't you realize that I only intend to do this to save them? But if saving them requires teaching them to fear me… so be it! You have no say in this matter. After all, you could have prevented this war from happening, and yet all you did was grow old, doing nothing!"

Now Sonic got a bit ticked off himself.

"Oh yeah? And what did you do, mister anti-social? As far as I know, after the war ended, you too went into hiding for somewhere close to five decades!"

Undeterred by his rival's accusations, Shadow maintained a grim expression.

"Hmph. I only made you believe that I did. You, and that fool Silver."

It now became evident that the situation was far more complicated than Sonic had initially thought. Complicated… and mysterious.

"What?!" gasped the bamboozled blue hedgehog. "What does Silver have to do with this?"

Instead of answering his question, Shadow suddenly rushed at his interlocutor, as if wishing to attack. Sonic, in spite of his old age, managed to dodge the assault, and soon found himself standing at a distance from his furious rival in a battle pose, panting.

The black creature looked at him in disregard.

"It seems that your memory is as weak as mine once was, Sonic!" Shadow hissed at him sarcastically. "Did you forget what was the reason for Silver to travel to our time in the first place?"

The other hedgehog still felt confused. Searching through all those distant memories, all he could remember was that Silver had initially tried to ward off the arrival of the demon Mephiles. But Mephiles had been vanquished, and the tragedy prevented!

Seeing that his words made Sonic hesitate, Shadow continued.

"Allow me to refresh your memory. After the last war, Silver came to me to express his gratitude. But he also told me to beware. He said that, even though Eggman was gone, at some unspecified time in the future, humanity would turn on me- the most powerful, and therefore the most feared creature they knew. This would start a great war, which would wipe out much of our world. Silver told me that, unable to kill me, the humans would eventually restrain me, and put me in the state of stasis again. It was then that I promised to him to vanish from the sight of humanity forever. But I did not leave completely. Although I remained in hiding, I kept my eyes open. And now, seeing that the world is on the brink of destruction again, I decided to step in, and fight a war that would end all wars. An ultimate conflict."

Now Sonic knew that Shadow was being serious. He recalled what he'd learned from Silver before Mephiles' light had been extinguished, and wished that he had indeed been the one to have revealed this information to his dark ally, years ago. Now, it was way too late- Shadow was already bent on executing vengeance on a race that had once wounded him so deeply, and for a crime which humanity had not even yet committed.

The Blue Blur stood firmly, his face bearing an expression of defiance and determination.

"You won't succeed, Shadow!" he addressed his rival with a note of warning in his voice. "This is wrong. You're always so sure of yourself, but someone will stop you eventually!"

The two hedgehogs started a staring contest, the will of each of them unbroken and unwilling to bend. Truly, is seemed that they were never destined to remain allies. Their goals were simply too differing, and it was just a matter of time that these two powerful creatures would stand in one another's way again.

"Puh," Shadow snorted, undeterred by Sonic's threats. "And who might that someone be? The humans are no match for me. And, for your information, Tails is already on my side, too."

"W-what?!" Sonic stammered.

He had not seen his old best friend in years, ever since the fox reached adulthood and decided to settle down. Although it was sad for Sonic to admit, they kind of drifted apart in the time of peace, when there were no more adventures to take part in together.

Shadow continued to gaze at the other hedgehog with an increasing feeling of superiority.

"Yes," he went on. "After the war, Prower Robotics took over much of the electronic industry which was once ran by Eggman. As the company's CEO, Tails is responsible for the production of most of the war machines you can see on the battlefield below us, even if he had recently transferred the management to his son. They are both deeply sorry for having armed the humans with their weapons of destruction. Because of that, it wasn't hard for me to convince Miles Junior to support my cause, and provide me with a fairly large robotic army. Especially after I put a gun against his father's head..."

Sonic clenched his fists. He was beginning to run out of options.

In the meantime, Shadow kept on pressing.

"Or maybe you had someone else in mind? After all, it wasn't the little two-tailed fox who was responsible for binding me in Silver's distant future…"

Darn it! – Sonic thought to himself. – How did he find out about that?

Seeing his rival's hesitation, Shadow continued, but this time, his voice lost much of its confidence.

"You're thinking of Omega, aren't you? I admit, that was the hardest part of making this decision… But I've dealt with that problem already. Some sacrifices… must be made."

Sonic looked toward the dark creature in front of him in shock.

"You… destroyed him?! Shadow, Omega was your friend! Why are you doing this?! That's not who you are!"

But the black hedgehog once again turned a deaf ear on his rival's objections. Even if the weight of guilt lay heavy on him, it could not make him lose his confidence and determination.

Shadow spoke heavily, yet he was completely sure that he was right.

"The world has chosen to become my enemy. I must fight, just like I always have."

It was unbelievable. Something had changed Shadow throughout all these years, enveloping him in a state of darkness he had once almost been able to leave behind. At this point, there was only one thing that could still be done. Sonic knew that. And that was exactly why he maintained his militant posture, getting ready to attack.

"I will not let you do this!" he addressed his rival with a final, yet serious threat.

Shadow raised his eyes at him almost sorrowfully.

"Of course," he muttered. "We could never see eye to eye… The only difference is that my way of thinking, which to you seems cruel and unjust, is unfortunately the right one. And I am the only one with enough guts to admit it. Just as the case had been with Eggman."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but you're pretty much alone on that!" the blue hedgehog retorted angrily.

Surprisingly, Shadow then began walking toward him, completely calm and unfazed. While his rival clenched his teeth, the dark being said:

"Sorry to disappoint you, Sonic, but you're the one who's alone."

"Oh yeah? And who do you have on your side, apart from Tails, whom you've forced to it anyway, and his robotic army of slaves?"

Shadow now looked at the old, furious Sonic with something that almost looked like pity.

"Do you know what Amy once told me about you?" he asked a very unpredictable question.

"Huh? Amy?" the blue hedgehog wrinkled a brow after hearing the name of another one of his friends he had not spoken to in years. "Why the heck would you bring her up, of all people?"

"Amy matured a lot after the war," Shadow continued his cryptic discourse. "So much so that she finally realized that her affection had been aimed at the wrong hedgehog. She received from me everything she had once wanted from you, but never got it. And she is still going to receive much more than that."

Now this was far above what Sonic was able to bear. Had he not been so angry, he would have burst out laughing.

"You're lying," he stated immediately. "You've gotta be making all of this up. There's just no way that…"

"You should have married her when you still had the chance," Shadow cut him off, speaking coldly and piercing him with a gruesome stare. "She used to be so infatuated with you… Now, she regrets it deeply. She knows that, of the two of us, you're the weaker one. When I told Amy about my plan, she was actually the one who encouraged me to follow through with it. Now, our children will reign along with me…"

Sonic did not believe in a single word of Shadow's ridiculous story anymore. He realized his rival was trying to provoke him, for some reason. And, he had to hand it to him- his plan worked perfectly. The blue hedgehog was so mad that he was almost getting ready to collect his remaining strength and spin-dash Shadow in the face, just like he did in the good old days. He did not show any of it, however.

His rival now stood before him doing something he expressed very rarely. Namely, Shadow was smiling. Or smirking, to be exact. Sonic remembered that the last time he saw him do that was when the black hedgehog delivered to him the news that he had just personally disposed of Eggman for good.

"This is also inevitable, isn't it?" Shadow uttered mockingly. "I knew that you would always remain stubborn in your misguided lawfulness. In fact, this is also the reason why I came here today. I knew that, sooner or later, you would attempt to oppose me."

In the meantime, Sonic was getting ready for a surprise attack, and not really paying attention to his grim nemesis' babble. He was more occupied with trying to call to mind all of the battle techniques he had not used in decades. Which was actually quite exciting.

Until Shadow said something which kind of burst his bubble, that is.

"Very well then. So be it. But I must warn you, Sonic- I cannot be deterred. This is what it all started with, and it will end with this, as well."

Then, all of a sudden, the black hedgehog took out and presented to his rival an item which made Sonic stand before him in amazement. A bright green gem the size of his fist. A jewel containing the ultimate power.

"That's the… Master Emerald!" Sonic gasped, now totally and thoroughly perplexed. "But… it was completely destroyed during the war!"

"Not destroyed. Only lost," Shadow corrected him. "I was able to recover it after a five-decade-long search. I have all the time in the world, unlike you."

Sonic was struck. At this point, he knew he had no real chance against Shadow. And yet, he remained defiant.

It was evident that Shadow did not want to fight with him. Because of that, he attempted to offer his rival one more proposition.

"Last chance, Sonic. Join me in conquering this world, and making it as it should be!" the black hedgehog said, though his words sounded more like an order.

But the Blue Blur, the world's hero, only put his hands on his hips and shook his head, laughing the idea off.

"You know I can't do that, Shadow," he stated the obvious.

The dark creature also smirked, sharing a communicative glare with the one who was now his enemy.

"Yes… I do know that."

And then he attacked.

The fight was a brief one, what was to be expected. It wasn't too hard for Sonic to recall all of his old tricks, and perform them with nearly as much speed as in the days of his youth, in spite of the pain he felt in his degenerated joints.

But with the power of the Master Emerald, Shadow was basically invincible. With the use of Chaos Control, he quickly brought his rival to the ground.

As Shadow towered over the injured and exhausted Sonic as the latter lay in the grass, vanquished, he muttered a brief taunt:

"No rings for you this time."

But then their eyes met, and Sonic saw that his rival did not exactly look like he enjoyed his victory. Instead, Shadow turned his face away awkwardly and, in a heavy, regretful tone, stammered:

"I am… sorry… that I have to do this."

Sonic, although he was in pain, smiled back at him.

"Yeah… and so am I! If I were only younger…"

"I know," Shadow answered him. "You were the only one who's ever been a worthy opponent."

Actually, these words were quite surprising to Sonic. He had always thought that Shadow had not had any respect for him whatsoever. Now it seemed that it was not so.

"Wow," said the Blue Blur faintly, continuing to smile. "I'm flattered… I guess."

Shadow then addressed him in complete honesty.

"I doubt that I will ever find anyone who can nearly equal my power like you did, Sonic the Hedgehog. Farewell. You will be remembered as this world's savior. I'll see to it personally."

Since the injured old hero said nothing in response, Shadow then brandished his gun, and aimed it at Sonic's head. Looking down the barrel, not losing even the slightest bit of his jest, the blue hedgehog commented:

"Huh. You still use these things?"

"They are the most merciful instruments of sending someone on their way to their eternal rest..." Shadow said to him softly.

Realizing that he actually did feel tired, Sonic turned his face away and closed his eyes in resignation. But before he heard the dark creature pull the trigger, he still whispered:

"That thing about you and Amy… Is it true?"

"Yes."

"Is she… happy with you?"

"She has always been. These are her words, not mine."

"Meh… I guess it's better for her that way. Take good care of her… and everyone else, for that matter."

"I will."

"Great. Now step it up! The fight was good, but I'm exhausted. How can you treat an old hedgehog like this, heh-heh…? C'mon, I'm ready for the end of this adventure!"

Shadow, with his head hung low, stood in front of three graves. The two older ones belonged to Rouge and Knuckles. A third, fresh one, bore the name 'Sonic the Hedgehog'.

The Ultimate Lifeform gazed at the tombstone for a while, contemplating what it meant to die. After all, death was something he would never experience himself. He was destined to live on forever, perpetuating his blue forerunner's mission of securing peace in the world. Or, at least, so he hoped.

"Rest well, heroes," he said, and turned away from the graves of his departed friends.

At the foot of the hill, he joined six other hedgehogs, similar to him, yet much younger. They were his offspring- the sons and daughters which Amy Rose had given him. Each of them were to aid their father in subjugating the world to himself, and later rule with him as keepers of the peace in all the corners of the world. Forever.

He looked at his children, his worthy lieutenants, with pride. All of them nodded, indicating that they were ready. Each carried with him a Chaos Emerald.

Shadow stood with them on top of a hill overlooking the human battlefield where the war was already raging. Behind their backs, there marched another robotic army, created by Prower Robotics and the consortium's owners- Miles 'Tails' Prower, along with his son.

Shadow sighed, looking as humanity slaughtered itself in front of him, preparing for the inevitable.

"It's for their own good, Maria. There is no other way," he whispered.

He would plant his black-and-red flag on all the continents. And then, there would finally be peace.

Shadow raised his own Chaos Emerald, activating his Super Form. Along with their father, his children did the same. The area was immediately shaken with an explosion of Chaos Energy, and a blinding golden flash.

As the army rushed into battle, following the Ultimate Lifeform, their invincible leader, a battle cry could be heard, rising toward the skies:

"All hail Shadow!"

THE END

Inspired by the 'Light Mobius' universe from Archie Comics, in which Shadow does indeed conquer the whole world.

Only the strongest will survive
Lead me to heaven when we die
I am a shadow on the wall
I'll be the one to save us all

- Breaking Benjamin, Blow me away