A/N: Okay, it's been four months since the last update, and I apologize for that. Though it does make me pleased to see that more people have put this story under their favorite. The reason for the update for this story taking so long this time is because I've gotten a little distracted by other ideas of mine I've been thinking about typing down.

Disclaimer: It's obvious I don't own the franchise, or else I would actually try to make something good with it.

Chapter 28: Truths and Goal P6

Within the central area of the space colony, Shadow was standing with his arms crossed as he stared out a window next to himself where an explosion was taking place. He had mentioned his little skirmish with the two tailed fox named Miles Prower to Robotnik earlier, and the human made it perfectly clear how much he despised the boy. When they saw the fox and his friends on the security cameras, the mad scientist said he would take care of it. There was no doubt in the hedgehog's mind that the young lad was in the center of the blast outside, and was now gone from this world.

"Based off of the doctor's reaction, I thought there would be more to the fox than that," Shadow said with a solemn look. He then thought back to his fight with the younger anthropomorphic being back on Prison Island. "I guess I gave him too much credit as well."

He then decided to check on the machine that was using the Chaos Emeralds to build up power for the cannon: dubbed the Eclipse Cannon. When he got to the bridge of the room, he saw Rouge getting ready to take the six Emeralds they had collected so far. She had halted when he had made himself noticed and had walked across the bridge to the center of the room.

"So that was your plan from the very beginning," said Shadow as though it was anything but unexpected. "Or was it a direct order from the President?" this caused the bat to raise an eyebrow in curiosity and surprise. "Now I know who you are. You're that government spy, Rouge the bat, aren't you?"

"And just where did someone like you come across such information?" said Rouge with a hand on her hip, and a grin on her face. Honestly, she was a little impressed by the hedgehog since spy records aren't easily obtained even by those within the government. "Decided to do your homework on me?"

"Don't flatter yourself," he said with a wave of dismissal from his right hand. "For the last fifty years I've kept my awareness despite being in suspended animation the whole time. I wasn't always left alone down there. Soldiers were ordered to check up on me, make sure that I wouldn't be waking up any time soon. They talked a lot. One of the recent things they had began talking about before I was free was you."

"So if you knew about me the whole time, then why did you allow me to stay and snoop around?" she said, her grin never leaving her face as she tilted her head.

"I had never seen your face before until you introduced yourself, so I couldn't be sure you were the same Rouge I heard so much about," he said with his arms crossed. "Plus, I knew that even if you were a spy, you would still obtain the Chaos Emeralds GUN already had and bring them to us, if only to gain our trust."

"Even so, it looks like things aren't quite going your way," she said, both hands on her hips as she continued to literally look down at him from above. "I heard there are a few trouble makers on the ARK that are working to sabotage your plan as we speak. Trouble makers that the good doctor has had problems with in the past," she moved one of her hands away from her hip and rotated it a little with the palm facing upwards. "My job is basically done, so...I think it's time to take what's mine and get out of this place."

Shadow inwardly smirked at the spy's words. She must not have seen or heard the explosion from outside, or else she would have known that Robotnik had already dealt with their trespassers. She must also be delusional if she thinks he's going to let her take anything of value with her.

"You are one pathetic creature!" he said as he turned his back to her and uncrossed his arms.

"Hmm, look who's talking? What about you?" she said with a knowing smile, just before she started gently flying down to where he was at. "Here are the results of the research project called the ultimate life form," she took out some documents labeled "Project Shadow" with a picture of a giant reptilian creature with a long neck with some cables running along it from some sort of disk-shaped machine on its back. "But, if this picture is of the real ultimate life form named, Shadow...then exactly who or what is standing in front of me?"

The two then had a bit of a stare down, and would have continued to do so, but Shadow was soon contacted through his communication device. "This is Dr. Robotnik! I have found all seven Chaos Emeralds! Shadow! Someone is trying to get to the Eclipse Cannon. There's not much time left before the cannon fires again. Get over there, now."

"If you want to live, leave the Chaos Emeralds where they are!" said Shadow with contempt before turning his back to the bat and beginning to walk away. "The fake Emerald is good enough for you."

"Do you actually believe that you're the real Shadow?" she said in what almost sounded like pity.

"No doubt!" he quickly said.

"Even your memories might not be real, you know," said Rouge, her voice definitely filled with pity this time.

"Even if my memories are not real, it's still me, Shadow," he said as the confident and commanding tone he had before became more solemn and desperate. "And I will fulfill my promise to Maria, that's the only thing that matters to me now."

With those words, he left and headed outside of the ARK to get to the Eclipse Cannon. He had to make sure he got there in time. He had to make sure that everything would work out. He had to make sure that his promise was fulfilled. By the time he reached halfway into the tunnel that led outside, he was met with quite a shock.

"You're still alive," said Shadow, his eyes wide as he looked the two tailed fox over.

"You're that hedgehog, Shadow, from Prison Island," said Miles, while holding the fake Emerald in his right hand with a tight grip. The hedgehog gave a nod, then the fake Emerald was tucked into its owner's fur. "I guess it was too much to ask for the other side to keep thinking I was dead for awhile longer."

"How did you survive anyways?" said Shadow as the two of them started sprinting towards the exit, switching between keeping their eyes on each other and the destination at hand. "Don't tell me that you somehow used Chaos Control with that fake Emerald of yours."

"Huh?" said Miles with a puzzled look before shaking it away and replacing it with a half-amused smile. He began spinning his tails around behind himself, while the foe was transitioning from running to skating. "No, I couldn't begin to figure out how you did that with a real Emerald. Doing that with a fake would be impossible for me."

"Then how?" said Shadow, cocking his head as he lowered one eyebrow and raised the other.

"Well it may be a fake, but it's still as sharp as the real thing," said Miles before chuckling a bit. "So I just cut my way out through the glass."

"I'm beginning to see why the doctor has such a hard time with you," said Shadow before smirking in amusement. "I thought you were just a lucky nuisance that dived in without a thought, but now I see you're actually very intelligent," he closed his eyes for one moment, and let out a hmph-like laugh as he thought about his dead friend, Gerald. "An old friend of mine would have liked to have met you."

"Was he anything like Robotnik?" said Miles, the exit just some feet away now.

"He wanted to help make the world a better place, and believed in making people happy through the power of science," said Shadow, both of them quickening their pace even more.

"Sounds like a nice guy," said Miles with a thoughtful look, the two of them having gone outside of the space colony and racing full speed ahead.

As they both tried to reach the Eclipse Cannon, Shadow would tackle the yellow-orange lad from the side, nearly making him lose his balance. Miles, in retaliation, would fire an energy blast from his arm cannon, which would slow the enemy down from having to dodge it so much. The young lad couldn't afford to use his tails to fight, or else he risked slowing down and falling behind, and getting the speed he needed with his tails pushing him forward wasn't as quick of a process as he would like it to be. Picking up speed wasn't as big of a hassle for the hedgehog, but being fired upon had made it difficult to get close to the adversary, and no Chaos Emerald on him meant no Chaos Spear to attack with.

Shadow eventually managed to get close enough after dodging several blasts, and deliver a swift tornado kick to the gut. The fox recovered quickly though and threw his golden ring while kneeling on one knee before his assailant could dash off on his own, but the hedgehog avoided the projectile by a few inches. Before Miles could use his connection with his thrown weapon, it had been grabbed by the enemy and thrown back at him with great force. Instinctively, he crossed his arms over each other in front of his face in an X-formation to defend himself. When the attack hit, it barely hurt because the arm cannon took the brunt of it. Luckily, the red weapon was still functional; though it did receive a big dent in it.

After removing the ring from his other weapon, Miles fired another blast, making his target jump back before turning around and running off. The two tailed fox then went after him, picking up the speed that he had recently lost as he did so. The hedgehog would skate swiftly as he avoided any attacks shot his way. The two were soon neck and neck once more, but the hedgehog was still no easy target. That's when he decided to shoot something else instead since he only needed to slow the older male down.

With that in mind, the young genius shot a few more blasts in front of themselves, directly on the bridge they were on, on Shadow's side of it. He had charged up his arm cannon to have enough energy to leave potholes slightly bigger than either of their feet wherever he fired. The sight of the enemy tripping and stumbling as he fell behind told the furry fellow that the plan had been a success...or it was, for the black hedgehog soon adapted to the situation and started jumping between the potholes in quick burst. Shadow was now right behind the young fox, almost within reach of his tails. If he were to attack from behind, Miles would have no way to defend himself without losing speed once more, and giving the enemy the advantage.

Then, suddenly, for some unexplained reason, some of the pieces to the space colony started falling apart from above them. It was all coming down fast, and it would be fatal as far as they both knew. The two of them began to pick up speed like never before in their attempt to beat the other to the destination, and before their path could be blocked by the falling parts of the space colony. However, it doesn't look like either will be able to make it through, and the twin tailed lad was more than likely going to get crushed.

Just as Miles had expected to be buried in a pile of space station parts, he felt a powerful kick to his back that practically made him slide forward to the other side to safety. He fell to his hands and knees once he stopped, and looked over his shoulder to see the path behind him blocked and no enemy nearby. He figured the older fellow must have been trying to make him lose his footing with that attack in the hopes of him falling over and getting squashed by all the falling objects.

"I guess I got lucky," Miles murmured to himself before continuing towards the Eclipse Cannon.

When he got close enough, he flew up to the barrel of it and jammed the fake Emerald inside. He called Gamma and Amy, the latter of which being ecstatic to hear his voice, and let them know what he had just done. Then everything began to shake, and he could see some red lights flashing inside through the windows. He didn't know what was going on, only that this wasn't supposed to happen.

A/N: It didn't feel right to have our hero win the fight, but he still needed to get to the cannon before Shadow did.