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Chapter 48- Friends of Old and New

There was only silence. No words, no sounds, no whispers. It was as if someone had hit the pause button to life itself. All eyes in the large chamber with its roof blown sky-high were focused only on Shadow's right hand.

Garnet eyes grazed over the revealed hand, raising it slightly to examine it like an artist would his work. The ultimate life form's eyes narrowed slightly as he pulled back the sleeve of his coat covering his arm to his elbow.

The grotesque half-transformation of the Dark Super form reached all the way to the middle of his forearm, were it simply bled into the betrayer's natural fur colors.

Sonic's mouth moved to form words, but no sound came out. He was in complete and utter shock; there was just no other way to put it. Was it some sort of side-effect from using the Dark Emerald after two years?

The sapphire hero gasped suddenly. Of course, how could he have forgotten? He had seen that strange transformation before, two years ago, when he and Shadow had fought by the Lake of Tears.

Flashback

Emerald eyes widened and pupils shrank to the size of pinpoints when Shadow finally faced him. A single bead of sweat ran down the side of Sonic's tan cheek as his mouth went agape.

The ultimate life form's gaze was nonchalant, his lips were completely straight...

And his ebony eyes bore directly into Sonic's shocked jade ones.

The cerulean hero unconsciously gulped as a few seconds of heavy, pregnant silence passed in between the two.

Shadow's eyes were completely black. That fact kept on jumping around in the blue one's mind like a rubber ball in a blank, white room. What happened to him? Was it some side effect from the usage of the Dark Emerald?

End Flashback

"Shadow," Rouge gasped, her mouth dry. The huntress' eyes were completely wide; her entire body was devoid of any motion. She just stood there, as if frozen, staring at the arm of the black hedgehog.

"...It's getting worse, I suppose," came Shadow's nonchalant voice, ringing through the air like a bell that was the key to awakening everyone from their staring trance.

Sonic snapped back into reality, his eyes immediately narrowing into slits at the ultimate life form's sudden confession. "You mean this has been happening to you all this time?"

A few moments of silence, then Shadow slowly turned to face his blue adversary, letting his arm drop back to his side, sequentially letting the sleeve of his coat hide his tainted arm and hand once again.

"Its a price that I'm willing to pay. You should know that better than anyone, Sonic," the black and red hedgehog responded coldly, his soulless red eyes focusing upon Sonic.

"I can't believe you! You weren't like this when you wanted revenge on G.U.N. all those years ago, so why are you doing this now?" the blue speed demon hissed. "Are you willing to let darkness consume you, to turn you into a monster, all for the sake of killing your own brother?"

For the first time since their encounter, Shadow's ruby-red eyes narrowed slightly, but just enough for Sonic to catch. The first emotion the ultimate life form had displayed: annoyance.

The blue blur blinked, Shadow appearing right before him, his white coat fluttering and then settling against his body from the sudden jerk. His left hand, the one remaining pure from the tainting touch of the Dark Emerald was stretched out, palm flat, and pointed at Sonic.

"I've explained this to you before," the ultimate life form deadpanned, dark purple crackles of energy dancing over his hand. "You cannot fathom the pain of being betrayed by someone you thought was your companion, your friend and your brother."

A dry, sad smile touched Sonic's lips at Shadow's ironic words. "You're wrong, Shadow. I know exactly what if feels like to be betrayed by someone like that. But vengeance isn't on my mind; it's the slight shimmer of hope to save you."

There was another slight pause and for the first time the speed demon thought he had finally caught the crimson-tainted hedgehog off-guard. But then, there came another reply, followed by a steadily growing light of violet.

"...Our circumstances are not the same, Sonic. We were merely allies, not bound together by the distant illusion of family and love. My path lies with my brother, with his death...with mine."

Sonic gasped, his cyan-green eyes suddenly widening at the midnight-colored hedgehog's talk about his own death. "What are you saying...that you're willing to die just to kill him?"

Shadow's cold nonchalance broke for an instant, letting a weak but dark smirk show through his stolid facade of indifference. "...I've told you before, Sonic. I'm willing to sell my soul and body to the devil himself as long as he dies."

The brief shimmer of the old Shadow was gone in the next instant, leaving Sonic with waves of nostalgia washing over him like a giant river. Then, the orb of energy within Shadow's palm completed. Before the hero so much as could blink, the ultimate life form released the ball of spiraling energy at point-blank range.

"Sonic!" Amy and Rouge cried out simultaneously, both making a mad dash for the sapphire-blue hedgehog.

Knuckles cursed under his breath, leaving the now-awake Tikal's side to sprint after them. Shadow had shown that he had no problem ramming through them both with his Chaos Spear, so he couldn't just let them charge at him blindly.

'Why doesn't that asshole help out?' the echidna warrior thought, momentarily eying the still motionless Chaos standing in the corner of the chamber.

A split second before the Chaos Nightmare of the dark hedgehog scorched Sonic's face, it became encased within a neon green aura, holding it steadily in place and preventing any harm from being done to the hero.

Rouge, Amy, and Knuckles all stopped dead in their tracks at the sudden event, rendered speechless. Even Sonic seemed to be in shock, completely oblivious to the fact that the ultimate life form had almost succeeded in killing him.

There was a burst of orange and red before a ball of flame roughly the size of a chair whizzed through the air, sending waves of heat dancing across the room. The ball flew past Knuckles, Amy, Rouge, and Sonic, heading directly for the red-streaked hedgehog in the room.

Before the ball of flames could consume him, the ultimate life form warped away in a photon of crimson light, a mere flash in the face of the all-consuming fire that hit nothing but the ground, scorching it black with a small blast.

Shadow reappeared back perched atop of the rubble on the outer rim of the room, his red eyes scanning for the source of the attack before they finally stopped at a single spot behind the rest of the heroes.

"I did not expect you two to show up."

There were two taps, indicating feet hitting the ground, catching the attention of everyone minus Chaos and Tikal. The four remaining heroes whirled around, their eyes landing on two figures standing in the center of the chamber.

The first was a purple feline with brilliant golden eyes. The three stray lines of fur on top of her head were pulled back into a small ponytail, and a crimson red jewel was melted into her forehead. The cat was adorned in a violet shirt, white pants, and white gloves with fuzz on the rims. Her long tail lashed out behind her, a stolid expression on her beautiful face. On her feet were simple red running shoes.

The second was a hedgehog not unlike Sonic or Shadow. Although, as Sonic was blue and Shadow was black, he was a snowy white.

Like his female companion, the hedgehog's eyes were a shiny golden color. He had two long quills sprouting out of the back of his head and five arranged in a star-like pattern jutting out from his forehead.

On his hand were white gloves, topped off with golden cuffs, both of which had rings of the same strange neon color shinning in it. On his feet were black, white, and yellow boots, also with the strange glow and golden cuffs.

Sonic almost choked on his own saliva in the presence of the two newcomers. "Silver...and Blaze?"

Tikal's heavy-lidded sapphire eyes almost doubled in size. 'It can't be! The fourth incarnation!'

The first of the two mentioned, who was now sixteen years old, smiled slightly at the blue hedgehog in a form of greeting. "Hey, Sonic. Long time no see."

The other, now also sixteen years of age, nodded slightly out of respect, her eyes never leaving the ultimate life form perched above them on top of the rubble.

Silver's eyes narrowed before he waved his hand to the right, his hand beginning to glow. Perched atop the rubble, Shadow had regained his cold indifferent look, cracking his head to the side just in time to barely avoid a purple orb of energy encased in a neon aura flying by him.

The white hedgehog cursed slightly, releasing his hold on the attack, the neon color disappearing as well as the violet attack.

The violet-furred feline beside him raised her left hand, summoning a flame within her palm as if her fingers were a lighter. The ivory hedgehog raised a hand, non-verbally telling her not to attack, as his golden eyes hardened.

"Shadow, I expected many things from you, but not this."

The black and red ultimate life form tilted his head to the left ever so slightly, his white coat fluttering around his body with the touch of a soft breeze. "I'm not interested in you two. Leave now and I won't kill you."

"Forget that!" Blaze interjected, speaking for the first time since the encounter, "What happened to you? You're not the same Shadow that helped us beat Iblis three years ago!"

Shadow's dead crimson eyes fell upon the cat, making shivers claw up her spine. It was like staring into the eyes of a statue.

"The Shadow you knew is dead. Cast away. Forgotten, along with the false illusions of friendship."

Silver took a step forward. "Shadow, please! Don't you remember us sealing Iblis and Mephiles away together, us protecting Elise, us defeating Solaris?"

Once again, the midnight-colored hedgehog's gaze shifted onto the white hedgehog. "I remember it all. But it is all meaningless to me now. Leave now, before I decide to make a whim of taking your lives."

The ivory hedgehog smirked darkly, getting into a crouched battle stance. "Make any whim you like Shadow, but I won't abandon my friends. I'm not like you."

Something suddenly flashed across the ultimate life form's garnet eyes. It was an emotion. An emotion that used to burn in those eyes all the time before it was extinguished by Mephiles. Sonic and Rouge caught it immediately.

Both pairs of green eyes fell upon Silver and Blaze, who were now standing in Shadow's path, about to feel the emotion that the dark hedgehog was expressing.

Anger.

Then there was the tell-tale flutter of white fabric before the dark betrayer charged at the newcomer duo, a record-breaking formed Chaos Spear sizzling within his Dark Super form-infected right hand.

There was a crack within his indifference. It was small, but a tiny droplet of the old Shadow they all knew poured through that crack, that barrier that he had set up around his emotions, around his true self. Just like his older brother wanted him to.

The battle had commenced.

Blaze immediately threw the ball of fire within her hand at the speeding black hedgehog. Silver's hands glowed neon green as he cut his hand across the air. A nearby piece of rock from the destroyed ceiling glowed the same green color before levitating off the ground and flying at Shadow as well.

With his natural eyesight made for speed, Sonic was the only one that caught the ultimate life form elegantly spinning in mid-run to avoid the ball of flames before slashing the neon green-covered rock in half with his screeching Chaos Spear.

Blaze cursed, summoning two more fireballs, one in each hand and beaming them both at Shadow. Silver remained silent, activating his psychokinetic ability in both of his hands and ripping ten boulders out of the rubble around them, sending them all at Shadow.

The sapphire-blue hedgehog watching the action blinked once, and he missed it all. All of the flame balls had missed the black hedgehog by a mile and all ten boulders were cleanly sliced in half.

Shadow halted his charge, letting the ivory coat settle back against his body, the yellow Chaos Spear still dancing in his hand, giving off crackles and spurs of energy.

"Blaze," Silver called, getting the attention of his female companion beside him. Their eyes met and she nodded, knowing exactly what he had in mind.

Once again activating his mysterious powers that resided within his being, the time-traveling hedgehog raised at least twenty boulders and rocks of various sizes into the air, letting them hover above them all in a protective circle.

The violet cat's head turned upwards towards the levitating rocks before she pointed her palm at one, shooting a blazing sphere of fire at it and causing it to ignite in a fiery inferno. She pointed her hand at the next one, also shooting a ball of fire at it which caused it to catch flames.

Blaze repeated the procedure eighteen more times, more rapidly than the first two times, until all twenty boulders hovering above them were caught in an inferno.

Rouge gasped slightly at the display of raw power, from the both of them. When she first met Silver, he could lift four objects at a time, but now it was twenty, even more. And Blaze could rapidly summon fire like it was mere child's play.

Perhaps they had all improved. A shadow fell over her face, her eyes redirecting towards the sky above them. Clouds. Dark clouds, filled with rain.

"Meteor Shower!" Silver bellowed, thrusting both of his glowing arms straight forward to point them at the motionless Shadow.

As commanded, the twenty flaming rocks hovering above the two encased in a neon green aura flew towards the ultimate life form at break-neck speed. Waves of heat scorched the air as the rock slowly began to melt under the heat of the powerful flames surrounding them.

Shadow's vermilion eyes narrowed slightly as he let the golden Chaos Spear within his hand sizzle and die away. It was soon replaced by a color of crimson that spread across his hand like an outline, encasing it and creeping up his arm.

From there on, the flow of red energy spread across his chest, even covering his white coat, reaching up to his head, other arm, and lower body. The backstabbing hedgehog that shined of hell fire remained completely neutral as the fiery rocks neared him by the second.

Then, inches before they burned him to a black crisp, Shadow released the concentrated garnet energy surrounding him. A giant shock wave of crimson spilled into the area with a loud boom, vaporizing any last particle and molecule of the flaming rocks heading towards him in a sea of bloody red.

"Chaos Blast."

Sonic's emerald-green eyes unwillingly widened. 'That Chaos Blast! The amount of energy he put into it...unreal.'

The waves of crimson died away after another second or two, revealing the unharmed Shadow standing there in the same stance as before, unmoved and uninterested. There was a slight pause during which no one moved or spoke. It was shattered like a glass window hit with a hammer by the ultimate life form.

"I don't have anymore time to waste on you weaklings."

Shadow raised his right hand, Sonic once again wincing at the display of the poisonous black and yellow colors on it. The sleeve of the dark hedgehog's coat fell down to his shoulder since his arm was totally vertical as if he was holding an imaginary pop-fly baseball just caught.

There was a crackle of energy. Another, two more. Then they danced madly within Shadow's palm, spreading down to his arm and reaching to just below his shoulder, encasing it within a cage of crackling and dancing crimson energy sparks.

Knuckles' eyes widened. 'That energy is through the roof! I don't know what he's doing, but he could destroy this entire building with it!'

"Now, now, Shadow, didn't I warn you not to use that technique so leisurely?"

Everyone in the room, including Shadow, froze instantly.

Beside the ultimate life form, a spinning, black vortex materialized out of the ground. A hole to an endless abyss to darkness, it seemed. And who came out of it made Sonic's eyes double in size. It was someone he had just beaten.

Slowly, painstakingly, a figure rose out of the dark portal. First there were gray and black quills, then venomous, slitted green eyes, and finally the rest of his body. The portal under him disappeared as his feet touched the ground with two soft clanks.

Silver's golden eyes were wide with confusion and shock. "Me-Mephiles?"

The demon of time's mouth twisted into a fanged smirk. "If it isn't my former pupil. How are you, Silver?"

The white hedgehog's eyes narrowed the next second. "Shut up! You stabbed me in the back you demon!"

The phantom hedgehog chuckled slightly as Shadow lowered his hand beside him and let the crackles of energy dancing around his arm disappear, the sleeve of his white coat fluttering back down to cover his arm and hand.

"Still bearing those old grudges against me, eh Silver?" Mephiles crackled, his poisonous green eyes traveling amongst the group.

They stopped once they spotted Sonic. "That was an impressive attack by the way, blue hedgehog. A little out-of-control, but powerful nonetheless."

"Ho-How?" The super sonic hero stuttered, at a complete loss for words.

He had defeated this same demon not an hour ago, yet there he stood, unharmed. There was no possibility of him having survived his Titan Lance, which was for sure. So, how was he standing before him next to Shadow now?"

The demon snapped to Shadow. "You've wasted enough time. We have more important things to do."

With a wave of his hand, Mephiles summoned another dark portal, this time one that was vertical. Turning around, the demon of time walked through it, disappearing into the darkness with a swirl from the portal.

Shadow hesitated for a moment before also turning his back on them, causing Sonic to cry out in outrage. "Shadow, wait!"

Rouge and Amy both took a step forward as well, tears welling in both of their eyes at the thought of the dark hedgehog departing for a second time. After all they had done to get here, would they let Shadow walk away once again?

Shadow paused before the dark, swirling portal that made him in his white overcoat stand out much more, and without turning around, spoke.

"Shed your compassion, Sonic. Then, seek me out."

Then, with an elegant flutter of his coat, he inked into the black portal, disappearing from their sights and hopes once again. The dark entity dissipated as soon as he disappeared completely, leaving only silence, sadness, and tears in the empty chamber.

Rouge slowly raised her head to the sky at a familiar, depressing sound.

It was raining.


The reunion ends just as quickly as it began! What's next for the heroes? Find out next week!