Chapter 29- A Lost Soul

Sonic ducked under the speed of the lightning-challenging punch Shadow had just aimed at his head.

Quick to retort, Sonic hooked his glowing arm and drove it at the Dark Super hedgehog. Shadow caught the fist easily in his hand with a clap and spun his body around, coming at Sonic with a high kick to the head.

The sudden leg-attack caught the Super hedgehog off guard and hit him straight in the jaw, earning a yell of pain from the hero.

Quick to release his grip on his former rival, Shadow charged at the airborne Sonic and kneed him straight into the back with such force that a loud crack rang through the air.

The speed demon grimaced out of pure, hot pain before falling to the ground in a heap, his Super form still in tact to his own personal relief.

"You have no chance against me in this form, moron," Shadow quietly taunted, his yellow and black body landing next to Sonic's fallen one.

Through the dirt covering his face, the golden hero managed to weakly smirk.

Then, in a sudden gust of wind, Sonic disappeared in what appeared to be five horizontal lines, washing his body away and out of Shadow's sight.

Vermilion eyes widened as the obsidian-tainted hedgehog scanned the area, looking anywhere and everywhere for his counterpart.

Sonic's position became perfectly clear to Shadow when a loud swirl of energy accompanied by a battle cry rang through the air above Shadow's head.

Right above him, in front of the raging waterfall, Super Sonic dived headfirst at the power-lusting Shadow, a swirling orb of icy blue energy in his right hand.

Shadow's eyes narrowed slightly at the sight of the attack. Apparently, it was Sonic's newest that was just developed recently.

In fact, the ultimate life form himself had only seen Sonic use it on one other occasion.

Flashback

Shadow jumped back a few feet to allow the hedgehog some space, as he had no idea what attack he would be using so it was in his best interest to steer clear.

Holding his right hand open-palmed in front of him, Sonic's brows furrowed as he began concentrating energy into it.

Soon, a light blue energy sparked to life within the hedgehog's hand, manifesting itself until it grew into a large sphere, about the size of Shadow's Chaos Spear, only unlike the ultimate life form's attack, Sonic's orb wasn't giving off an abundant amount of energy sparks and crackles, but seemed to be swirling within itself, like a miniature hurricane.

With a small smile, Sonic's hand stretched out behind him as he took off, dust and sand flying up behind him and onto a shocked black and red hedgehog.

'When did he learn such an attack, it's similar to my new Chaos Spear!'

Algos, in the mean time, was standing up straight again, more than aware of the blue hedgehog's approach.

Growling to himself, the sand manipulator summoned a large wall of hardened sand in front of him for protection.

'Now all I have to do is wait, if he alters his course, he'll lose speed and I'll be able to catch him,' Algos thought slyly.

Sonic's eyes turned into slits at the sight of the sand wall being summoned. With a loud battle cry, the hero's speed increased so that he was going double as fast as he was before.

Green eyes widened in anxiety, and fueled by pure adrenaline, Sonic's right arm darted forward and pierced into the sand wall, completely shattering it, as if it was glass.

Shock overcame Algos' features as neither Sonic's attack nor his run weakened or broke at all, continuing straight for his foe.

With one final leap, Sonic was in front of Algos and with all the momentum he had accumulated during his run, thrust the attack straight into Algos' chest.

"Shining Lance!"

The icy blue light of the attack overshadowed both Algos' and Sonic's features as the attack crashed into Algos' exposed chest.

With the sand hedgehog's stubborn feet still planted firmly into the ground, Sonic's mighty attack sent him flying backwards, his feet leaving two long, skinny trails burrowed into the sand.

The wind whizzed by Algos' ears as he continued flying until finally hitting a large, sand covered boulder, completely destroying it and sending up a cloud of thrown up sand.

The boulder collapsed into itself from the force of the impact, burying Algos with it.

End Flashback

"The Shining Lance, eh?" Shadow mused quietly, watching the Super hedgehog tear through the sky at him like a flaming, golden arrow tipped with cerulean.

Slowly, the black and yellow hedgehog raised his own hand, this time to eye-level, summoning a swirling, crimson aura around it with a dark smirk.

The vermilion energy mixed with the yellow and obsidian already surrounding his body, making the new source of energy that was slowly traveling up his arm turn a heavier red than before.

"I know all about your attack, and that you need a direct hit after gaining a large amount of momentum for it work," the ultimate life form sneered as the heavy crimson energy swirled around his right arm, completely covering it.

"Chaos..." Shadow growled in a low, rough voice as he drew his arm back, bending his body towards his withdrawn arm as well.

Up in the air, Sonic's eyes widened momentarily from behind the swirling energy ball of his Shining Lance.

'Crap, I can't move!' the golden hedgehog yelled in his mind in a panicked voice.

"...BLAST!"

The ultimate life form's arm shot forward faster than Sonic had expected it, sending a huge rippling shaft of crimson-light energy from his arm and towards Shadow's counterpart.

The blast of red light illuminated the sky and valley in a light fuchsia momentarily before white light poured into the scene, shifting the colors of the area back to normal afterwards. Shadow smirked as the last of the hellish red energy left his arm. Slowly, the black and red hedgehog lowered it.

Sonic was no longer in his sight.

Ruby red eyes scanned the area in case the speed demon tried another sneak attack but by what Shadow could tell, the blue one was hit head-first with the attack.

'How foolish,' Shadow sneered in his mind, 'To attack head-on when he knew what I had in store for him--'

Shadow's eyes widened.

'Unless--'

The ultimate life form's train of thought came to an abrupt halt when a fist gloved in snowy white crashed against his jaw, sending him spiraling into one of the large boulders that bordered the side of the waterfall.

Grimacing as his body hit the unforgiving stone, the energy vortex surrounding Shadow faded away into nothingness.

Managing to keep his eyes open, Shadow caught a glimpse of Sonic charging full speed at him, the hero's golden fur glittering under the harsh and bright sun above.

More waves of pain shot through the black hedgehog's body as Sonic dug his fist into the ultimate life form's stomach, unwillingly causing him to arch his body forward and spit up a small pool of blood.

Releasing a furious roar of anguish, both mentally and physically, Sonic grabbed his dark counterpart by the neck, squeezing as hard as he could and causing the obsidian hedgehog to wheeze and choke for air.

Using his left leg as a pivot, the Super hedgehog spun around, making a full one hundred-eighty degree turn and launched the Dark Super hedgehog in his grasp high up into the air.

Waves of cold, fresh air filled Shadow's lungs as he greedily sucked in the life-giving oxygen. Managing to figure out in less than a second where he was, the ultimate life form performed a vertical spin and landed safely on the top of the right boulder on the side of the waterfall.

With one knee on the ground and the other supporting one arm, Shadow grasp his throat with his free hand, attempting to collect more air into his nearly crushed lungs.

His recollection was cut short when Super Sonic burst into his sight in a flash of gold, crashing against the black hedgehog with all his might, inadvertently sending both warriors tumbling on the cold, rocky surface.

Sonic was back on his feet before the yellow and black one was but chose not to attack, rather letting the dark hedgehog regain his own footing as well.

The dark hedgehog was mildly surprised at Sonic's hesitation as he managed to hold back a few winces of pain, staring his counterpart directly into the eye.

"Why won't you listen to me?" Sonic finally asked after a heavy silence that burdened both hedgehogs.

Shadow's upper lip twisted into a small sneer at the legendary speedster's sudden question but he chose to remain silent.

"Why won't you listen to reason?" the Super hedgehog asked again, taking a step towards his friend.

Shadow's raised lip lowered back to its original position. "Reason means nothing to me, neither does your worry about what I do."

Scarlet red eyes belonging to Sonic widened slightly as he took in a shallow and sharp breath.

"I have no further interest in you or anyone I've associated myself with," the evil-tainted hedgehog continued, this time nonchalantly, "So stop concerning yourself with me."

It took Sonic a while to take in the new information the black and yellow hedgehog was so unkindly presenting him with at the moment but he managed to keep his composure.

Bubbling inside of the hero at the moment were many emotions that quickly shifted about to become dominant.

First there was confusion.

Then sadness.

Then pain.

And finally anger.

"How can I?" Sonic shouted, raising his index finger and pointing it at the ultimate life form, "You're my friend! How can you expect me not to care when you want to do something so dangerous?"

Shadow lifted his head slightly, raising his chin and regarded the yellow hedgehog in pure nonchalance. "You have no business meddling in my affairs."

The Super hedgehog shook his head angrily, as if not wanting to accept the black and yellow hedgehog's words. "Bullshit! I'm your friend! Has everything we've done together become completely meaningless to you because of your revenge? Do you not consider me your friend?"

A moment of silence overtook the heavy conversation before finally, after what seemed like an eternity to the raging Sonic, the ultimate life form slowly closed his eyes, betraying almost a hint of sadness.

"It wasn't meaningless," Shadow explained quietly, his eyes still closed, "Through it all, you have become my friend..."

Sonic unwillingly widened his bloody red eyes in complete shock at the Dark Super hedgehog's words. His mouth slowly opened and remained agape.

Shadow just called him his friend? If that was true, why was he doing all of this and stabbing him in the back?

"...However," Shadow's vermilion eyes snapped open and directed themselves at Sonic, narrowing slightly, "I cannot be burdened by this friendship if I wish to attain power and kill my brother."

"Don't you understand?" Sonic shouted, swiping his hand through the air, his eyes leaving all features of shock behind, "If you go to Mephiles, there's no telling what he'll do! You might not come back..."

Sonic's voice dropped a great deal, lowering only to a whisper. "You might die."

Shadow didn't miss a beat before he responded. "I don't care. Must I always repeat myself to you? If Eclipse dies as the result of me going to Mephiles, that's all that matters to me. These friendships I have created with you and the others hindered me. They need to be destroyed..."

Then, taking Sonic completely by shock, Shadow disappeared from his line of sight. Panic overtook the hero as he scanned the area with his scarlet eyes, searching for any trace of the treacherous hedgehog.

The speed demon could've sworn his heart stopped when he heard Shadow whisper from behind him.

"...And I'll start by destroying my bond with you!"

Less than a second later, Sonic felt the ultimate life form grab him by the throat, causing the super-sonic hero to start gasping desperately for air.

With a earth-shaking roar, Shadow's grip on Sonic's neck tightened, forcing the hero to grimace before he felt air whizzing by his ears.

Shadow had just jumped off the huge boulder.

Sonic's eyes suddenly became hollow at the dreaded realization that Shadow really was trying to kill him. He had tried to deny it through the whole fight but somehow it just now clicked in his mind.

The worst part was he couldn't get out of this hold even if he wanted to.

He was going to die.

With another roar resounding his own strength, Shadow lifted the golden hedgehog up so he was positioned just to the side of his head.

This was it, the final killing move. There was no way Sonic would recover from this one.

It was another technique Shadow had developed over his training, the final one to be exact and by far the most lethal when it came to physical combat. He had decided to name it according to its frightening ability to instantly kill:

Hell Hound Fury.

Mere feet away from the hard and rough terrain at the bottom of the boulder, Shadow began to move Sonic's body down in a slamming motion at incredible speed and power. With a sickening and thunder-rivaling crash, Shadow slammed the Super hedgehog onto the rocky ground neck-first, earning him another noise, this time a thunderous crack.

Shadow's body landed with a much smaller crash a millisecond after Sonic's body had collided with the ground, with the black hedgehog landing on his feet, releasing his grip on the yellow hedgehog's neck.

No noise followed the landing, even the roar of the nearby waterfall seemed to mute. All Shadow could do was stare at the motionless body of his closest friend that he had just choke-slammed into the rocky ground.

Slowly and shakily, the Dark Super hedgehog scooted away from Sonic's body, strangely still retaining its golden color.

But Shadow took no notice to the small detail of Sonic's fur, only his wide open, dull eyes and his motionless form...

...Before the ultimate life form's head reared to the side, just barely stopping himself from throwing up.


Sonic's...dead. Can this be true? Is it all over for everyone's favorite blue hero? Find out in the next chapter entitled Crimson Darkness!