Sprinting faster than sound, he sped through the city, searching for the next Emblem. Three of his friends were out of that horror, but he knew seven more were still to be found. Their pictures flashed through his head: Tails, Rouge, Amy, Shadow, Eggman, Espio, Cosmo, Vector, Charmy, Vanilla, who was left? Who had been captured, and who had been… destroyed? He shuddered and ran faster. THUD. In his head he felt the familiar pain and he grinned dangerously. Rage replaced sorrow, and he turned, following the pain to its source. This time there would be no escaping his wrath.

In the center of town, a slim black suit was standing stock still, locating the renegade. Puzzled, it looked closer at its track. The signal was getting nearer to this location! It straightened. Preparations to make…

SLAM. The next image was that of the inside of the closest building.

He grinned devilishly again. Tricked the stupid thing. You can't track something accurately when it moves the speed of sound. Rage flowed through him again, and he strained to keep it in check. The suit extracted itself from the building and faded into the shadows. He snorted.

"Coward."

He felt a surge behind him and went flying from a kick. He bounced off the wall just in time to avoid a barrage of knives. He kept jumping between buildings, barely keeping up with the sly bot. He thought of his friends, one of them trapped inside that stupid machine. He became angry, so angry, the fury emanating off of him. Suddenly, he stopped and jumped back to the middle of the compound. "No." he said quietly. "NO!" Blue and red energy swirled around him, deflecting the knives. "NO NO NO! CHAOS DESTRUCTION!" A huge tornado of energy ripped through the city, destroying everything in its path. He leaned down and panted, then he paused, shocked, as the realization of what he had done occurred to him.

"I haven't used Chaos since… he escaped."

When the smoke cleared, a large portion of the city was leveled, with only two things standing: Sonic, and a madly sparking mech. The mechanical shell rattled, flashed, and rusted into nothing. Inside, Rouge the Bat stood, weaving slightly. She grinned, and said, "Whaddya know? I guess you're stronger than they gave you credit for." She stumbled, kneeling on the ground with a hand bracing herself. She coughed, spattering the stone red. She reached in her suit, and produced a small rectangle of metal.

"This is my tracker. Find… free them." She vomited blood. "I'm out of this game, but not the war." She tossed the tracker to him, then held up her arms, covered in electronics, and slowly shifted form to appear as… a blue hedgehog. He understood instantly. She looked at me, then showed a different box, one attached to her leg. It began to tick, counting down. She smiled faintly.

"Run, Sonic. Run. There's more for you yet."

He ran. Behind him, a massive explosion reverberated through the already devastated city. Tears formed in his eyes. "She may have been a cheat, liar and thief," he whispered. "but she died a hero." His eyes hardened. "And I'll make sure that she, nor any of them will be forgotten!"

/

A grey-white silhouette stood in the distance, watching the castle and the scurrying robotic figures inside it.
"The time has come, you and I, to meet and finish what we began." He chuckled. "And by that, I mean your death." He laughed menacingly. Red light flared and he swept out his arm. A beam of energy slammed into the distant tower.

/

Sonic:

"What the h*** was that?" I said, blinking sleep out of my eyes. I had heard a dull explosion. Warning sirens blared and Eggman's auto-secure-bots sprang to life. I laughed shortly.

"I guess Eggs did a good job, but I don't remember asking for goddamn alarms." I leapt to my feet and spun to the balcony, and saw something I couldn't believe: HE was back. Nazo.

Reaching back in memory, I recalled how we had met…

Nazo was the collection of negative Chaos energy in the Emeralds. When they had been used for evil, his energy grew. Eventually, when it had grown to great to be contained, he had been released. He had promptly captured all the emeralds and turned into his blood-red counterpart, Perfect Nazo. That was the first time Shadow and himself had turned into Shadic, to defeat him. When the battle had ended, there was no trace of Nazo, so they assumed he was dead. Now… I turned and looked into the courtyard, where Nazo was having a merry time destroying robots, easily avoiding harm. I grew annoyed, and decided to end it. "After all," I thought, "with a new power source, I should be able to defeat him without much effort."

I dropped off the balcony into the courtyard. I kicked Nazo in the back, ending his reverie. I commanded the robots to leave, confident I could win without their help.

He picked himself up and turned to me. "Well well well, if it isn't the spiky blue imbecile Sonic. I do hope you've enjoyed yourself while I was gone."

I smirked. "Yup, and still am. Tell me, how was death?"

He scowled. "Worse than your feeble imagination could ever visualize." He turned his back and spread out his arms. "Do you see the intricate black marks on my shoulders and arms? In our last encounter, you managed to permanently damage my essence. I am no longer 'alive' in a true sense. I am unable to eat, unable to sleep, and unable to truly end my life. I am now a being of pure energy, and I cannot harm myself." He turned back to me and smiled. "Which is why I attack you. Either I win, and finally kill you, or I lose and you manage to stop my existence. I win either way."

"I pick option B, 'cause I think you're gonna lose, especially in my new HQ. So," I crouched. "any last words?"

He smiled wider. "Just one: DIE!" He launched a barrage of energy beams at me. I dodged, weaving in and out. I punched at his head, but it passed through and I jumped back. He laughed. "I said pure energy, you fool!"

"Fine by me." I said, pulling together Chaos for an attack. "Try this one on for size: CHAOS BLADES!" I spun several discs of energy at him. He knocked several down and avoided the rest.

"I see you've improved. Not notably, but improvement nonetheless." He swept another set of missiles at me. I didn't even bother to dodge.

"CHAOS DESTRUCTION!" A tornado of pure power swept up his attack easily and slammed into him. He rocked back a step, then shredded his way free. He grinned. "A battle worthy of us at last. CHAOS SPEAR!"

I caught his bolt and tossed it back. "How about a taste of that, times ten? CHAOS STORM!" I said dramatically. A hail of bolts appeared, hitting him again and again. He just kept grinning though, and endured it, healing his injuries with a waved hand.

"Very well, time for a house special:" he said, chuckling. "CHAOS TORRENT!" A huge beam of energy sliced across the hall at me.

Negatem sounded shocked. "That's where Shadow learned it!"

"What?" I responded, puzzled, back to him. I rolled out of the way, nearly getting scorched by the blast. "I don't have time for this right now! Focus!" I thought angrily at Negatem. The battle continued. I understood that I couldn't hit him physically, but Chaos attacks did little damage. I frantically dodged with every ounce of my speed. Back and forth the attacks flew, each getting larger and harder to control. I realized that it was very possible for me to lose this battle.

"Time for a last-ditch effort." I muttered. I then concentrated. I held out my hands and brought all the Chaos I could muster into my palms. A dark ball of energy appeared, growing larger and larger. Soon it was as big as the room we were in. Lightning flashed on its surface, throbbing darkness boiling within, the energy barely contained. I gritted my teeth and held it together.

"Remember this? You tried to destroy the Earth with it. Now it's my turn!" I pushed out and released it: "CHAOS DEATH!" The sphere impacted on Nazo and exploded with enough force to sweep away all the broken robots and open a large hole in the ceiling.

"Hah," I panted. "Gotcha, jerk." I slumped on the floor. Smoke swirled around, and silence reigned.

A fist caught me on the back of my head. "Takes more than that to kill me, idiot."

I went flying up, to be caught by a teleported Nazo's kick and blasted back to the floor. He landed, then threw me in the air with an uppercut and spin-kicked me in the face, sending me soaring again. Jumping up, he punched me in the stomach and double-fist slammed me across the yard. He used Chaos Control time after time, sending me reeling like a bloodied pinball. I tried to regain balance by spinning when he appeared again and sent me careening into the wall. I turned slowly, bleeding from my mouth, nose, and numerous wounds all over my body. Nazo didn't even look winded, striding up to me. He grabbed my throat and picked me up.

"Is that all the famous Sonic the Hedgehog has? Pathetic." He raised his hand and red light concentrated. "Say your prayers, before I destroy you, impudent whelp."

I shut my eyes thinking, "Okay Negatem, if you've got anything left, pull out all the stops!" I was sure he had nothing left.

A deep voice echoed in my mind, "AS YOU WISH!" I felt something wrench free of me. The shadows around in the courtyard swirled and evil laughter sounded eerily. The darkness coalesced into the shape… of a hedgehog. It laughed, "At long last!" and punched Nazo off me. I slumped again and watched the battle continue.

"Since when can he physically emerge?" I wondered. Nazo was shocked that he could be hit, and shot out a few Chaos Torrents. Negatem brushed them off with a thought. Negatem then blasted Nazo with beam after beam of Chaos Death, rattling them off like they were nothing. When the barrage finally stopped, Nazo looked pretty beat up, steaming slightly in the morning air. He drew himself together.

"I see you still have a few tricks left, devil spawn. But I will-" Nazo stopped abruptly, looking down. Negatem had sprung at him and latched razor-sharp teeth onto his neck. Nazo's whole body pulsed, once, twice, and he visibly faded. His mouth gaped silently for a moment, then he screamed. I couldn't look away. It looked as if… all the energy that was Nazo was being drained away. "Sonic! What are you doing?" His voice got smaller and smaller, seeming less soild with each passing second. "No! No! I give up! Please stop! I-" Nazo choked, pulsed once more, and vanished completely. All that was left of him were two bloodstains where his feet had been standing.

Negatem shook himself, seeming more real and less shadow than before. He turned to me, smiling hungrily. His eyes were deep, fathomless black holes, and he was slightly hunched, holding up his clawed fingers. Small patches of darkness flittered over his body.

I spoke to him, "Hey, umm, good job, but don't you think that was a little excessive?" I admit I was intimidated.

He grinned, bloody fangs dripping. "No. And thanks to your deceased friend, I am finished with you. I have sufficient power to be free of confinement."

My eyes widened. Free of confinement? "What? But… You… What are you?"

"I was the Shadow Emerald. But now, I am something far greater than you will ever understand, or ever control again." He lashed out with a claw. "It would be my greatest pleasure to kill you now, with your filthy, constricting morals and conscience. However, I owe you some small gratitude for releasing me, and I do pay debts." His black eyes bored into me. "Some of them. So I will send you away from here. But be warned, foolish hog, I am in control now, and if you try to oppose me, you will pay far worse than you can imagine."

He waved an arm, and all went black.

///