Chapter 14 "Only One Sonic…"

A light flashed in Shadow's deep eyes…and a girl's voice echoed…

"Shadow…" it said.

Shadow recognized it. "Maria…?"

But…the tone quickly changed…to a wise sounding one…

The blackness turned to light as Tikal stood there in front of him. "The chaos emeralds are power…power enriched by the heart…"

"Am…am I dead?" Shadow said in a weak voice, not able to see himself at all…only Tikal's presence.

She smiled compassionately. "You have cheated death many times strong hedgehog…I told you before that gifts can be earned back…do you remember that? …you gained your memory…by figuring out the truth…and putting it behind you…next was time for a very different test…you were given abilities when created by Gerald Robotnik…but you were also endowed with the chaos emeralds' energy…you stand on very deadly ground Shadow the hedgehog…you had not understood your true purpose…you are a cheater of death…and by keeping your heart pure as you saved that young girl and as you smashed into that window…the chaos emeralds glowed…did you not understand how you gained the strength to free her…? …the chaos emeralds take what is in our hearts and turn it into power…I made a promise to keep the balance and guide those who use the chaos emeralds…and so I shall guide you one last time…"

"I don't understand what you're saying! Why can't you speak clearly instead of riddles?!" Shadow shouted.

Tikal closed your eyes. "In living, the price was your abilities…in this death, is the reward of each…life…and your abilities…"

Tikal suddenly vanished into thin air, and Shadow's eyes opened.

he felt himself energized, and though laying in broken glass, he was alive…he got up rubbing the dirt off of his face, and saw the tornado reaching closer.

Amy and the girl were long gone and the people had all evacuated.

The chaos emeralds at his feet started to glow, and he picked them up.

Shadow smirked. "CHAOS…CONTROL!!!"

Shadow found himself on the top of the hill where he'd found the part of the broken Death Egg.

There he expected only a clear view, but he found something quite different.

On top of the Sonic statue…stood the terrifying structure of what first glance you might guess as Sonic.

"Metal Sonic." Shadow scoffed.

The golden statue reflected shocks of lightning back and forth.

"There can only be, one Sonic." Metal Sonic dared to say. "That includes the identity thefts."

Shadow snarled with angry eyes.

"Foolish mortal, your life will soon be forfeit. Are you not witnessing my power?" Metal said in his monotonic voice, holding his hand to the sky as lightning filtered through it, and through the statue.

The gold began to melt with the heat and Metal Sonic took to the sky as it did, his rocket shoes allowing him flight and speed.

Sonic's statue…melted into a puddle of golden rain.

Shadow looked up at the sky once more. "How are you doing this?!"

"My so-called master, created a second Death Egg, did nobody wonder how it shattered to pieces? My unworthy adversary, it was me who shattered it and propelled the few pieces to earth, how can I become mortals' master when there are no mortals left?" Metal said, his computerized voice having no emotion at all. "That undeserving other Sonic still stands there to this day, stuck in one of the last missing pieces of the Death Egg, never to bother me again. And the once powerful space station is now creating this storm. Soon, no city will be left standing, and no impersonation will stand in my way."

Shadow felt a chill run down his spine. "The ARK…but how? It was left over Earth."

"Stupid life form! This IS earth, in the distant future, now that you've seen what I can do, you might as well surrender to me."

Shadow half smiled with a cocky look on his face. "You really have no idea who you're dealing with do you?"

"As I said once before, all living things will soon kneel before their new master, one of them being you." Metal suddenly lodged himself into Shadow's chest.

Shadow clenched his fists. "CHAOS CONTROL!"

He suddenly appeared in mid air, behind Metal Sonic, and took a quick jab at his face.

"You may know every move that Sonic once made." he vanished again with his chaos emeralds. "But that won't help you-"

Shadow threw a mighty kick into Metal's sharp body. "AGAINST ME!"

There was a huge brawl lit up in the dark, glowing streaks of red and blue lit up the sky as both threw the other into buildings and into the ground and into objects.

One of Metal's punches lodged Shadow down into one of the cracks in the ground, he barely flipped out of harms way as a roof fell into the pit.

Metal was winning for now; he'd gotten more then enough advantages on his terrain.

They had put themselves now…in the eye of the storm, the wind so gripping that they were lucky they were so incredibly fast.

"Let's see how fast you really are." Shadow said, egging him on.

Shadow started to glow red as he ran through the damaged city, turning and flipping and racing every road or slit there was, trying to shake him off.

Metal wasn't running, he was flying, and turning left and right as the buildings came closer in view.

As of now both of them were in harm's way.

Metal ran straight through one of the buildings, blowing it to bits as he did so, following close behind Shadow.

Suddenly…Shadow stopped.

The storm's end was in view, and any closer to the tornado's edges and he would be blown away.

Metal glared at Shadow, not knowing why he'd stopped. "Inferior creature, can't even outrun me."

Shadow yelled. "No stop! Idiot! You're running straight into the tornado!"

Shadow tried to scream over the storm, but it was being drowned out by the lightning and gush of wind and torn apart buildings.

Metal Sonic now realized…he wasn't in the center of the tornado anymore…he'd ventured too far out of it.

He crashed through a building…looking alarmed…and the wind started to get too much for him.

The lightning shocked and latched on to his medal being, attracted to it, and…that was the last moment Shadow saw him…

End chapter