Shadow raced all the way to the train station before trying Chaos Control. He skidded on the railing, eyes burning with determination as he slowed to a shaky halt, still having to re-master his jet skates. "Chaos.. Control!"

Nothing.

He shouldn't need an Emerald, right? But.. then, did he need to be near the Master Emerald to do it? No, maybe if he was just in a close enough range of a Chaos Emerald, that would suffice. Or perhaps he still hadn't gotten his thinking on track. He was still bent on getting his powers back, and that had been slowing him down before.

Without giving himself any further time for thought, he sped towards the restaurant, hoping nothing especially terrible had taken place yet, despite what he knew. Rouge wouldn't have taken off like that if she wanted him to stay back. That made Shadow come to a complete stop, only a few streets back from his goal.

Did she want him to go back? Was he being set up for a trap? He couldn't help but think that it could be the case... but he pressed on, anyway.

He felt a fleeting sense of relief when a GUN mobile unit came into view, until he recalled the letter. He grew worried they had a part in that. He could tell even before he rounded the corner, there was some sort of battle breaking out, and he immediately worried for Sonic's safety. Sure, he could handle a couple of these guys easy, but this many tanks and mechas, and this much gunfire spelled trouble.

Especially considering one unit didn't exactly fall under the same category as the others. Shadow had full access to military vehicles, and he'd never seen it a day in his life. Making sure to keep an eye on it, considering Rouge let him know Eggman was involved, he dove in blindly to the center of the circle. His jets kicked off in front of the restaurant door, dropping him with a crunch of glass beneath his feet, and he found the Commander tossed aside like a ragdoll, with Topaz screaming orders at the men by their side. She seemed to be handling the situation well enough for him to let it go for now.

In the corner of his eye he caught Eggman, grinning much too wide for his taste, and with a screeching of crushed and shredded steel, he knew where Sonic was. The only problem was.. whose side was each on? It seemed both Eggman, judging by his grin, and Sonic were fighting GUN, but why was Eggman's machine not taking part?

With the barrage of gunshots and missiles, all aimed at the now downed tank in an attempt to destroy Sonic, Shadow couldn't hear himself think, and he was trying to question the logic behind diving in to the ring of fire to pull Sonic out and ask. He had faith in Sonic's speed, however, and expected he'd let Shadow know what was going on in some manner within a matter of seconds.

After bursting out the side of the military vehicle, shredded metal going everywhere, it had erupted in an explosion as Sonic shot past Shadow through the air, a determinedly crazed look in his eyes that wouldn't ordinarily be there. Shadow reacted by reaching out as if to literally grab his attention, "Hey!" But Sonic treated him as if he were invisible, and he instantly knew what was happening.

As Sonic's feet made contact with solid ground, Blue nearly stumbled at the missile that fired and narrowly missed him, grazing the peach fuzz on his stomach.

He smirked, unphased and apparently unaware of the darker hedgehog as he headed towards another military vehicle, this time to use to throw with strength he strained to possess due to past injuries. He was being so careless, you'd think maybe this was going to be one-sided. He was already noticeably scratched up.

Meanwhile, Eggman was heading back towards his invention to seek refuge in while all of this was occurring. He'd get a good eye's view of everything going on from there without worrying being in the line of fire.

Shadow took off after Sonic, trying to call out to him over the noise, but it was just too loud. Judging by the way the other was fighting, he was going to be stuck cleaning up a few more cuts than before. Quite a few. It occurred to him that his real target should be Eggman, and he smoothly darted back through the open fire, catching a glimpse of him making what appeared to be his timely escape. He growled, heading straight for him when he was cut off by an unexpected blow to the chest. He tumbled back onto his spines, blinking up confusedly at a robot. "You've got to be kidding me!" He stumbled to his feet, jumping to avoid a second assault, and landed on its 'head'. He didn't have long to look for the Doctor before he was thrown back again, this time by another mech.

Were they crazy? Just how much had those two scumbags run their mouth? He hissed at a pain in his shoulder, this time seeking out Sonic. He was sure Eggman had time to get away by now, and this was too much artillery for the hedgehog to take on.

He caught just a flash of blue and dove after it. When he caught up and found Sonic engaging himself with yet another machine, he grabbed onto his arm, forcing him about to face him. "Stop this, you idiot! You can't win like this!" And Shadow wasn't stupid enough to start helping take down GUN. He was well aware of the consequences. Smoke soiled the air as the booming of artillery and distant human cries rung out. The blue hedgehog was ready to cause as much commotion as possible.

A pain surged through Sonic's chest as he visibly flinched. His eyes grew pale, his vibrant green hue beginning to fade into the whiteness of his eyes.

"Shadow..." A voice, torn between his actions escaped from his mouth, making Shadow's eyes widen at the tiniest hints of hope ringing through. That is, before a tight fist followed, slamming into his chest as he lost another ounce of control, and a darker energy started to fuel his war path. Shadow's hold on him at that point failed as he stumbled, glaring for good measure.

Well, Shadow concluded as he clenched the white fur on his chest, Sonic was certainly feeling better. He made the guess that was about the last time he'd like to get hit there, and coughed to put an end to any shuddering breathing he'd started. Taking only a split second to recover, Shadow dodged more bullets by less than an inch, and felt himself ushered forward by the explosion of a missile right on his tail. As tempted as he was to attack Shadow again, Sonic was immediately distracted by even more bombardment of ammunition being fired in his direction. He did a clever back flip to avoid being impaled by bullets, and immediately his clouded eyes searched for his new target, a single military agent. Before he had the chance to attack, however, Shadow interrupted.

The black hedgehog had hooked his arm around Sonic's chest. Doing the only thing he could think of, he began to try and pull him out of combat, kicking on his jets as he slid in and out of giant equipment. He held tight, hoping Sonic wouldn't slip out of his grasp before he could at least get them out of the dead center of the mess.

What he got was a glare and an eerie smirk from the influenced hedgehog. Shadow's teeth clenched as Sonic's fingers sunk into raw flesh, purposefully seeking out skin already tainted to be sore, like the other's chest. Fingernails were dragged in roughly but the body Shadow held onto started to shake violently.

A black aura began to waft off of him as the green color from his eyes was practically nonexistent. His coat of blue fur started to turn, changing into ebony that matched the other's coat. He fought relentlessly for control, ending up unleashing something more powerful than he could deal with.

"Dammit," Shadow spat, holding on as long as he could, but his body screamed at him to react to the surging pain, and at last, he did. His arm snapped back, slipping free of those undesirable nails. He spun about to face the hedgehog, eyes widening at what was happening to him.

He'd never seen Sonic take on this dark aura before, and he searched once more to the Doctor, hoping for some kind of explanation. But he couldn't see where he went. He wondered if he might have taken refuge in his own machine, but he was too preoccupied to find out.

He threw a warning glare at the other, jumping to the side to avoid more fire. The army was already heading their way, and he'd only managed to get them a block away.

Sonic's hands clenched into fists at his sides as the dark energy rolled off of him like thick, ominous smoke. He stared relentlessly, itching to release this built up power, and with him in his way definitely wasn't a good thing.

In a split second, Dark Sonic lunged forward, forcing his shoulder into the other's as he plowed through him, back into the battle they had previously left with a speed that greatly outmatched his previous record. Despite how obvious the outcome of a fight with GUN may have been before, now it appeared it was one-sided, but Sonic had nothing to worry about.

He immediately dumped off Shadow to continue what he had previously started but for different reasons. They seemed a lot more fun to deal with than one insignificant hedgehog that was in his way. Something had definitely triggered a darkness inside of him and now it wasn't about the control Eggman possessed over him before.

From Eggman's point of view, he had switched to a screen that monitored a closer view of the two previously fleeing hedgehogs; a bad feeling surging in his gut as his hair nearly stood on end at the accidental mess he made out of the former blue hero.

"This isn't good." Eggman grumbled under his breath, tempted to flee immediately or see if he could intervene. From his stand point, he wondered whether or not Sonic was out of range in order to reverse the effects he had on him. Maybe then he might calm down — but the only way of lifting from his control was to do that in the first place. He had no influence over him now whatsoever.

Shocked at how fast the other moved, Shadow's mind was still working when Sonic slammed into his frame. He grunted as he was cast aside like a doll, gaining his footing with a wide step as he turned about with the force to watch him race back into the crowd of what could be plastic army men. He swallowed, mind racing as he took in just how fast Sonic was.

Was that pure Chaos? He couldn't tell, but he was fairly certain that's what it looked like in action. Well, time to test out his own powers. He pushed off the ground with his back foot, going straight into his jets as he darted about, slipping by a missile. He felt a bullet or two whip through a quill, making a touch harder to keep his balance for a moment.

One wrong move, he told himself. It was difficult keeping his eyes this aware; he definitely needed Chaos Control right about now. He hated to admit it, but it looked like it was a free for all, every man for himself, and he had to tear through these mechs to keep up with the black blur. With a low growl that grew into a scream of rage at a particular tank, Shadow managed to pull off a Chaos Attack, slamming into one machine, teleporting behind another to knock it to the ground. He downed four before dropping to the ground, panting on one knee.

He couldn't stay in one place long, however, and jumped back to avoid another barrage of fire. He caught Sonic out of the corner of his eye and attempted Chaos Control, shouting the command to himself, to no avail. "Dammit!" He was trying too hard again. One more try, however, and he had it, keeping pace with the other. He scowled as he threw himself into the hedgehog, hoping to tackle him to the ground.

Whereas Shadow had trouble, Sonic had been avoiding every shot fired at him like this was child's play. The missiles were too slow, nothing seemed fast enough. He was tearing through tanks like they were made of paper, doing an exaggerated job on each one by ripping into them multiple times. An emotionless look was on his face, his mind unable to be persuaded by a currently absent conscience. Shadow's intervention once more wasn't going to deter the uncharacteristic lust he had for destruction.

He rolled with the other's advances, grabbing onto his shoulders and twisting around so that the two landed on the ground, with Sonic on top. The look on his face was like something from a horror film. He looked nothing like the Sonic the other was all too familiar with. Everything about him has changed. Shadow stared up, absolutely horrified at what he saw in the other's eyes. He was still trying to figure out how Sonic pulled off that ridiculous speed when he changed positions.

Dark Sonic grabbed his neck with one hand, squeezing to the point he was dangerously close to crushing his throat. Shadow reacted immediately, grabbing hold of the other's wrist with both hands. He felt the blood flow to his head slowing, the pressure in his temples increasing as his ability to breathe gradually became nonexistent. He squeezed his eyes shut, opening one back to watch the other. He knew there was no way he was doing this on his own... it just wasn't possible.

As he started to stand with him, dragging him up and outstretching his arm so he lifted him off of the ground, it appeared he hesitated before deciding Shadow's fate. Maybe a terribly faint glimpse of control being attempted from inside the cold exterior that presently faced Shadow. Whatever it was, his attention was distracted the second a stray bullet stabbed into his hip, a feeling that went dully noted.

He dropped him and turned, eying the direction it would have came from, pleasantly finding more military vehicles to destroy as pain fueled his fury. Shadow gasped as unexpected relief came over him, dropped to his knees weakly. His head was spinning, but he couldn't stop now. He stumbled to his feet, before he had time to recover, reaching a hand to massage his aching neck. His eyes widened as he began to fully appreciate the damage that was taking place. GUN was dwindling down to their last numbers, even with back up.