The rage inside of Shadow was overwhelming, and it showed in the form of his powers. He shredded through the F-6 Big Foots and their variations with his bare hands, as if they were melted butter. The men and women on the ground were not any luckier. The black hedgehog showed no emotion as he raised two fingers to a soldier and ran him through with a Chaos Spear.

This caused the others to focus their fire onto him, but before any of them could react, Shadow had disappeared from his position before reappearing in the midst of them.

"Oh, sh-!"

"Chaos Blast!"

The humans around him were then obliterated…not even a trace of them remained from the attack. The ones who remained stood far back, uncertain of what actions they should take…what actions they even could take against a being of such power. Shadow walked out of the crater he had created and towards the rest of his quarry.

He would not be stopped. Not by anyone or anything.

In the meantime, Sonic and Metal Sonic skipped from rooftop to rooftop above Station Square, their limbs clashing at high speed and sending booming shockwaves through the air. Wind and lightning sliced through the spaces between them, their elements clashing constantly with each other.

Metal Sonic had wanted to believe that the organic being had started to reach his limit after clashing against metal for so long, but his attacks were coming with more and more intensity as the fight wore on. His eyes were somehow steeled, moreso than the robot had ever noted.

Sonic reached for the robot's head and smashed it against his own, drawing blood while almost permanently scrambling his copy's sensors. Part of his good eye now had a crack in it as well, impairing at least 5.5% of his vision…that blasted organic. He was getting bolder by the minute.

"Metal! What is it that you're doing?"

The voice of his creator rang out through the audio equipment inside of his head.

"I am currently engaging Sonic."

"Disengage immediately and return to base. Something's amiss, and I need to find out what it is."

"…" If the robot could snarl, he would. This opportunity to eliminate Sonic…wasted.

"…" Sonic stood in his battle stance, waiting for the robot's next move. His muscles were still tensed up until the point where he saw Metal Sonic disappear into the clouds above.

Probably new orders from Eggman. I'll worry about that shortly…right now, I'll check out what's going down with the others.

"Sonic?"

He turned his head and saw Tails land on the edge of the roof.

"Hey there, bro. I know you've got a lot of questions…"

The fox nodded. "Can you answer any of them reliably, Sonic?"

"I don't see why not…if you're still willing to listen to a thief."

"Sonic…I've never doubted your judgement at these times. If you took the Chaos Emerald, I knew there would be a good reason for it. Whatever you can tell me, Sonic…I'm all ears."

"Yeah. No point in keeping you out of the loop any longer, kid…but I've got a few things I need to keep close to my chest. Y'want the long version or the short one?"

"Never mind that, Amy needs our help!"

"Amy? Nah, she's fine."

"Sonic, what are you saying? You know how strong Knuckles is, right?" Tails said with worry.

"'Course I do," he said with a smile. "Which is why I know that he won't get too far against her."

Knuckles was fuming at this point in time. None of this made any sense at all! He had trained for so long while on the island, only to be matched in strength by Amy Rose, of all the hedgehogs there were in existence. Shadow or Sonic, he wouldn't have minded as much…but this was just insanity. He had to end this and get back to Sonic, so that he could tear him apart for stealing that Emerald…

"It's about time…I finish this!" He dropped back and lit a fist up with electricity before punching forwards at Amy.

"Thunder Arrow!"

Knowing that she wouldn't have enough time to dodge, Amy placed both of her hands forward, making a heart shape with her thumbs and index fingers.

"Storming Hearts!"

The pink burst collided with Knuckles' attack in mid-air, throwing up smoke and debris in a thick cloud between them. Amy then noticed it getting warmer around her…

"Looks like I'll have to use it earlier than I thought. Hope it works out okay…"

She placed a hand over her chest, focusing her energies. At that moment, Knuckles shot forward at an incredible speed, his fists completely covered in white-hot flame. Amy's eyes widened at the display.

Overkill, much?

"Eat this!"

"Here I go…Chaos Sleight!"

Knuckles swung as hard as he could, throwing a vicious right hook that covered the entire area in a wave of flames. What remained of the asphalt below was liquefied and bubbling from the extreme heat.

"Maybe I overdid it…?" the echidna muttered. Sonic probably wouldn't be happy about this.

"Maybe just a little," a voice replied sarcastically. Knuckles turned to see Amy a ways behind him, fanning herself with her hands. The heat wouldn't do any sort of good for her quills. "Were you honestly trying to kill me, there?"

"Well, I-" He cut himself off, remembering why he was so fired up in the first place. "Hey, shut up! If you weren't so busy showing off, it wouldn't have gotten to that point!"

She shook her head. It was somewhat soothing to know that Knuckles hadn't changed too much. But only somewhat.

"How did you get that kind of power? Did you do something to yourself?"

"All I did was train, Knuckles."

"I find that highly unlikely. There had to be something else."

"No, that's all there is to it. I trained as hard as I could."

"Then why disappear like that? Sonic was worried about you for a good while."

"I know…I just didn't want to be a burden to anyone, anymore. I don't want to see him getting hurt protecting me, and I'm sick of being helpless. I didn't mean to worry anyone, but…"

"You just needed to be alone."

She nodded in response. Knuckles felt that he could understand her line of thinking at least a little now.

"I need to talk to Sonic…so I'll see you soon, Knuckles. Keep up the good work, okay? You look a lot stronger than before." She gave him a wink before leaving.

"Eh? Well, I have been working out," he said to himself proudly. "Wait…Sonic! I should have followed her…" Knuckles hit himself in the head. He had to stop making mistakes like that!

The echidna took off in his own search for Sonic. The screaming from those G.U.N soldiers in Shadow's path made him wince a bit as he ran.

"So…you can see the future?"

"More or less. It's set in stone for the most part, but there are things that I can change."

"Did you see…I mean, about Rouge…"

Sonic sighed. "Yeah…it hurt, you know? Not being able to do anything for her."

"Yeah…"

He patted the young fox on the shoulder. "It's not your fault…you did what you could."

"It's still so painful." The hedgehog's ears perked up as footsteps sounded on the gravel around them. He relaxed himself as Amy came into view.

"Hey, there."

"Hey," she said softly. "Sonic, I heard about everything. I know that what they're saying isn't true."

"Half of it."

"Say again…?"

"I did organize a kidnapping. But as for Rouge, I'd never do that sort of thing to her. You saw Shadow, right? He's completely lost it…"

"I know…but then, why? Why do something like that? And the Chaos Emerald…"

"Like I was telling Tails, I saw something when I touched the Master Emerald the first time. The Chaos Emerald is keeping me connected to that vision."

Amy felt her heart speed up. "You mean…you can see it…"

"…"

It's the same as my tarot reading…but… "How much can you…?"

"…Everything."

"Can we change anything? Is there something that we can do?"

"A few things. Just changing those little things could affect the ending in full."

"You mean like kidnapping the Princess."

He nodded. "I've gotta make sure that she stays safe, or else we're screwed. There are other things I need to do, as well."

"What about Shadow?"

"It's too late to do anything about him. He's bent on destroying G.U.N at the moment, and we'll become targets if we try to stop him. He's gonna be flying solo from here on out." Sonic clenched his fists tightly. "The end's coming into focus, at least."

"What about myself and Ellen?"

"That'll go in the direction that it's going in right now. Make sure that you keep her safe, though…she's one of the variables."

"And Eggman?" Tails asked.

"Eggman'll get what's coming to him in due time…it'll be obvious when." Sonic kept his information to a minimum, for their sakes. They didn't need to know the exact things that would happen…knowing that would fill them with despair, and that would be the worst possible thing. As long as they all had hope, the future could change, just enough so that everything would work out.

Amy…she'd be one to make it when it was all said and done. Everyone else, even Tails…he had seen it all beforehand, but none of the pain at seeing it was dulled. Rouge's passing still cut into him deeply.

"Knuckles is going to be after you," Amy noted.

"Yeah, I know. But I can't give up this Chaos Emerald any time soon. He's just gonna have to suck it up. Tails, you get back to the workshop and figure out a course of action for dealing with those aliens. Amy, you should get to safety yourself. I'm going down to Spagonia U to see the Professor."

"Make sure that you're careful, Sonic." She looked at him earnestly. "If anything were to happen to you…"

"Right." He started to take off, but stopped and turned back to Amy. "I know why you went away that time. You were trying to build yourself up, right? I can understand that, but…well, don't take this the wrong way, but it's a waste of time for someone like you."

Her eyes widened at that. "Sonic…what are you trying to say…?"

"What I'm saying is that you need to remember what you had before that training business you started. You need to make sure that you still have that part of you to draw from…your true strength, Amy. If you forget that, all that strength you've gained means nothing."

"I don't understand," she said with confusion. "I wasn't anything special in the past. I tried to change because I was a burden, and now you're asking me to draw from strength that wasn't there? Sonic…I don't get it."

"Just don't forget who you are, who you've always been. That shouldn't be hard to understand, right? I'll see you around."

He took off in a burst of speed, racing down the building they were on and back onto the streets.

Amy stood in place, trying to absorb his words. The person I've always been…? True strength? What could he mean by that? Before, I couldn't even take care of myself without getting into trouble. What kind of strength is he talking about from those days?

"Are you okay, Amy?" She looked over at Tails before pulling him close to her in a hug.

"I'm fine, don't worry. Listen…I'll stay right here as long as you need me, okay?"

"Thank you…" He pressed himself closer to her, trying to push the memories of the day further back in favour of her warmth. She sighed softly, looking up into the sky as she stroked his head with one hand.

What does the future hold for us all…? How much haven't you told us, Sonic?