Shadow took in a sharp breath, then desperately attempted escape. Sonic's speed had increased by tenfold, and also his strength. Shadow didn't stand a chance. Sonic grabbed Shadow's wrist so he couldn't escape, then simply flicked his forehead with a smile. Shadow cried out in pain and attempted to grab his face to soothe it, but Sonic kneed him in the stomach before he let him go. Shadow cried out in agony and dropped to his knees, clutching his beaten stomach. Sonic landed in front of him and watched him wail in pain, then cough up a mouthful of blood onto the floor.

Then he performed Chaos Control to many miles away with what energy he had left.

"Damn you, Sonic… I will last longer than two minutes, then I'll show you…" Shadow spat. But there was a flash of light and he was proved wrong. Sonic was in front of him. Shadow couldn't tell whether Sonic had teleported or flown the distance. He was so fast in the form, it was hard to tell. Shadow teleported again, but Sonic did the same, following him, even teleporting to places before Shadow even arrived. It was as if Sonic could sense where Shadow was going next. His senses were heightened tenfold too.

Shadow tried to teleport again, but he was out of energy, and failed to draw any from the emeralds possessed by Sonic. The dark hedgehog was one his knees, Sonic held his chin, forcing Shadow to look up at him.

"If you give up now, Shadow. I don't blame you… 1 minute was admirable," Sonic said. His words were meant to be in concern, but were taken as a taunt. Shadow grit his teeth in frustration, surely that had been longer than a minute. He tried so hard to escape again… but he was all out of energy.

"Damn it, Sonic…" Shadow rasped and fell forward, into his arms. Sonic caught him and held him there.

"Shadow… don't beat yourself up about it… I'm in my super form, of course you weren't going to beat me," Sonic said, and laid a soft hand on top of his dark quills. Shadow was hurting all over, inside and out. The pain would cease if he transformed as well, but he wanted to prove himself so badly.

"Sonic… one more minute… please," Shadow begged.

"Shadow, I don't want to hurt you anymore. Just transform and we'll fight for real," Sonic pleaded. Shadow shook his head and attempted to run, but Sonic kept his grip on Shadow so he could escape. With one hand, he held Shadow by upper arm, with the other lightly pushed against his stomach, thus pushing into the damage he'd done earlier. Shadow choked and squirmed. "You think you'll last a minute of this?"

Shadow bit his lip and nodded his head. He closed his eyes as tightly as he could, but it didn't stop one of his tears of pain from escaping.

"No, transform," Sonic said, giving him a light punch, hoping that would entice him. Shadow cried out again, then trembled in pain.

"I'm the ultimate life form… I can last…" Shadow rasped, the words hardly left his mouth, he was in so much pain. Sonic cringed, he hated doing this to Shadow. By the time he'd thought to himself about this, a minute was nearly up. He watched Shadow heave heavy breaths of desperation, it was as if he wanted the pain to end, but couldn't bring himself to ask for it to stop.

"It's been a minute," Sonic said. Shadow looked at him in disbelief.

"You held back… why didn't you give it your all?" he said bitterly.

"I didn't need to," Sonic said. This caused Shadow great offense. The dark hedgehog growled in anger and transformed in a flash of light. He became a slightly lighter yellow to Sonic, and his spikes rose up a little more. But, he was still in Sonic's arms, so he decided to change that, and pulled back to break free, but Sonic didn't let go. "Shadow… do we have to do this?"

"Of course!" Shadow snarled. "I need to put you in your place!"

"But… both of our injuries are gone now… couldn't we just call it quits and say we're even?" Sonic asked. Shadow smirked, to him that was a sign of weakness.

"You, submit? If we end this now, then you forfeit and I win," Shadow said smugly.

"No way! I said we call it a draw! Why should you win!?" Sonic asked.

"Because you're the one asking to call it quits," Shadow said. "You're obviously too weak to fight me, so you're attempting to call a draw just so you don't lose."

Sonic frowned, then pushed Shadow forward into the side of a large rock formation. It caused a dent and a few cracks, and Shadow was pushed up against it.

"What are you doing? You could have blasted this whole thing to pieces with my body! Why aren't you trying?" Shadow said angrily. "Why don't you want to hurt me?"

"Because, I feel bad for hurting you earlier. You were helpless. I should have just left with the emeralds and put them away for safe keeping. But, I turned into my super form… and when we're done, the emeralds will be gone again."

Shadow's eyes widened. He forgot about that part.

"So… I have to find them all over again!" the dark hedgehog said in alarm. Shadow kicked out with both feet, which pushed Sonic away several meters. Both of them floated several meters above the ground. "I should put you down for interfering with my plans!"

Sonic smirked.

"Is the Prince of the Black Arms going to send out an order for my execution?" Sonic teased.

Shadow smirked.

"No, I'll carry it out myself," he announced, then created a sphere of Chaos energy ten times larger than his body and aimed it at Sonic. Sonic's eyes widened; Shadow was about to show that he wasn't kidding when he said he would do anything to reach his goal. Even if that meant disposing of a friend, and that friend, was Sonic.