At this point, nothing Rouge had said truly mattered. I knew what I had to do, and there was no turning back.

I quickly left the Ark and hopped on a supporting rail. The intruder was on the far east corner, so it would take me a while to get there. I couldn't warp unless there was an open space, but with all the buildings and roads in the way, I'd have to fly through.

The rail sent me quite a ways, but I quickly launched off of it. I landed on a steep path, then glided down it without pause. Several meteors fell, which wasn't surprising at this altitude, but regardless, they were still annoying.

I took several more paths and hopped onto another rail as I neared an open area. Snagging my chance, I launched myself into the air and activated a Chaos Control. It successfully took me over to the area where my intruder had been indicated, a small passage that stretched for several miles until the Eclipse Canon came into view. As I entered, I found out that the intruder was the last being I had expected.

"Ha, you never cease to surprise me, blue hedgehog." I said walking over to him. He was slightly startled, but instantly got over it. "I thought that capsule you were in blew up in space?"

"Heh, what can I say? I die hard!" He began walking, as did I. "You know, it's your fault I'm still around," The hedgehog flashed his fake Chaos Emerald.

"Hm, you managed to use Chaos Control with an artificial emerald?" I asked with slight disbelief. "So there really is more to you than just looking like me. What are you, anyway?"

"What you see is what you get, just a guy who loves adventure! I'm Sonic the Hedgehog!" Sonic picked up his speed to fast jog.

"I see. But you know," I turned my thrusters on and began to glide ahead, "I can't let you live!" He smirked and charged past me. I picked up my own speed even more as we entered the main road.

"All right Shadow, time for me to finish this!" Sonic shouted. We were both running at a near mach speed. After a few more seconds, we'd have each created a sonic boom.

"Before this is over, I'll show you the true meaning of Chaos Control!" I entered a chaos void and dashed over to Sonic. I prepared to strike him from the side, sending him over the edge of our bridge, but he managed to react quick enough. He fell to his hands and did a somersault under my kick, then, using his hands to support his body, managed to spin low kick at me. I hopped over it and dashed ahead of him. He instantly caught up and tried his homing attack on me. I picked up more speed, and avoided him long enough to create a miniature sonic boom. The energy propelled me forward while sending Sonic flying back.

"Agh!" Sonic cried. He did a back flip to regain his balance and land, but the bridge was already falling apart. There was no way for him to make it back up, thus making me the winner. "No! I'll use your, Chaos Control!"

I turned and witnessed Sonic send all of his energy into the small emerald and warp in front of me. He didn't even hesitate before dashing off again. "This is the ultimate!" I shouted, using a more enhanced Chaos Control. I flew forward into Sonic and this time struck a punch. Sonic took it and flew over the support rails causing him to plummet into the atmosphere. But I knew I couldn't let him have a chance. "Time to put this to rest. Chaos Spear!" I focused my all of my strength to summon several thunder bolts that would follow the hedgehog.

"Yow!" Sonic cried, joyously. He had been able to muster enough speed to sprint on the bottom of the bridge, then come out on the other side and grind on the railing. My lightning bolts also followed him, but only struck the bridge support. Sonic smiled and waved to me as my bridge began to collapse.

"No!" I shouted. I dashed along the path that I could and was barely able to hop back to the main road. I then continued my pursuit. "This is it! Chaos blast!" I focused my remaining energy into a final blast, causing an eruption from the inside of my body. A giant energy blast shot out, nailing Sonic directly. Surprisingly, he stood his ground, then, in the midst of my attack, he jumped behind me and held out his emerald again.

"No, this is it!" He shouted. I could see the flare in his eyes as my blast finally finished. "Sonic Wind!"

A small wind came by, then turned into a rapid blue cyclone, constricting me. I saw Sonic run away as I was sent flying into the atmosphere. With no other choice, and having already failed, I decided to retreat. It would be pointless to chase, there was nothing he could do to stop me at this point.

This was it, all of the pieces were set, the emeralds had been collected, and the eclipse canon had recharged. I knew what was coming, and even if Sonic destroyed the canon, it wouldn't make a difference. The world's fate was sealed, my revenge was near its true end.