They landed on a flat area atop one of the cliffs, but that left the problem of how they were going to get down. If it were just Tails and Sonic, it'd be easy, but they had to worry about the exhausted Shadow, too. Still sitting on the back of the plane, he looked almost dead, just slumped against the tailfin.

'Maria… I will keep my promise…' He opened his eyes a fraction, the light seeming to burn through his head. He had thought that the pain would decrease as his energy returned, but right now he felt even weaker than he had when he had regained consciousness. Shadow forced himself to look at Sonic and Tails, who were looking over the edge of the cliff and trying to work out the best way down.

Shadow might not have known it, but his feeling of being even more drained than before was due to the simple fact that he was more or less safe. Now he could relax. He could afford to feel. Oh, it was nothing conscious that decided that, it was something inside, deep instinct, and Shadow could only feel the results.

He slipped off the plane, actually noticing the slight jar of his feet touching the ground in his weakened state. Slowly, Shadow walked to the edge and looked down. It was a more or less sheer drop down to the ground, with slight ledges here and there. He heard Tails mention his name and knew that he was wondering how to get him down. Well, Tails wasn't going to have to worry. He looked for the closest ledge to the top. It was very narrow; there would be no margin for error, were he to try and land on that. Blinking a couple of times – at least his eyes were getting used to the light – he took careful stock of the distance and stepped off the edge of the cliff. Once again he felt the shock of landing run up his legs, and almost overbalanced and fell off the edge. Hastily grabbing the cliff for support, Shadow waited for a couple of seconds before letting go of it again and looking down for the next ledge.

A few ledges further on, Sonic fell past him, poised for his next landing, superb power and control evident even in free-fall. He was taking much longer falls than Shadow dared, hardly surprising, after all. Shadow knew what it was to have that same energy and control, but right now he just felt weak. His eye caught Sonic's for an instant, and a flash of understanding passed between them in the instant before Sonic dropped from view. Shortly after, Tails came down too. He had been falling, but as he approached the ledge Shadow stood on, he began to spin his tails and reduce his speed to land gently right next to him.

"Grab my hand, Shadow, and we'll fly down!"

Shadow felt odd, almost a hindrance to the party, but a good look at Tails and the rapidly descending Sonic, now far below, told him that Tails would probably have flown one of them down anyway, even had they both been fine. It was quicker. He held out his hands to Tails, who immediately grabbed them and stepped off the ledge, pulling Shadow with him. They fell without stopping, freely, the cliff flashing by and the ground approaching rapidly. Close to a large ledge level with Tails' workshop, Shadow felt the jerk of Tails beginning to fly, and they slowed down smoothly until they were almost stationary at the exact same moment they touched ground. Shadow hardly felt the landing at all, it was so smooth. Tails released his hands and made his own landing on the ledge as Sonic dropped next to them. Now all Shadow had to do was jump from here to the workshop – that was the quickest way – or risk another long drop to the ground, then climb back up the steps to the workshop. Sonic walked to the edge of the ledge, then jumped across to the workshop without so much as a run-up. Shadow mustered his strength, took a couple of steps back, then ran and jumped. He only just made it to the hilltop on which the workshop stood. Tails flew across after him, and all three walked around to the hangar, to see the extent of the damage.

The hangar itself was not damaged, apart from the large doors that opened onto the runway, but the plane had been thoroughly wrecked. Tails swept a few small pieces out of the way, walked over to his plane, and simply stared at it. A few seconds passed, and Sonic started forwards just as Tails turned around.

"Look at this…" Tails said, in a voice just above a whisper. "This part of the engine -" he indicated a hole in the side to Sonic, who was looking over his shoulder "-has been completely vaporised! What could have done something like that?! It's a good thing we went to look for Shadow when we did, or we might have lost both planes!"

Shadow picked up a piece of twisted, half-melted wreckage from the floor. It was still warm from whatever had hit it. "Whatever did this, it was here recently… and it might still be around somewhere."

"You mean –" began Sonic, but Tails cut him off.

"The Tornado 2! And it's still got the Chaos Emerald in it! We have to get back up there!" Tails dashed out of the door and began flying up the cliff. There was no point in Sonic or Shadow trying to follow him. He would be faster alone, without having to lift them up.