Sonic stalled the Cyclone and turned, releasing a low growling sigh of frustration and annoyance. The echidna, hanging three quarters of the way up a wall, crouched like a cat, wore a blank expression, unsure what he was supposed to have done to anger the hedgehog.

"Quit it!" Sonic grunted, irritably. He felt too hot, his ankle was throbbing, and his head was spinning. That made flying the Cyclone difficult enough, without a large echidna gliding uneasily from wall to wall, as he followed behind. Each impact the echidna made sent a fiery flash of pain slicing through Sonic's skull. "Just walk," Knuckles glared back for a moment, but something he caught in the returning gaze made him release his grip on the wall and land heavily on the floor. Sonic winced.

"You alright?" Knuckles enquired.

"Fine...just walk quietly..." Sonic grumbled. He started up the Cyclone again, and Knuckles ran behind, grumbling.

"You should have let Tails take the Cyclone whilst you waited for Rouge and Amy. He could have done this on his own, while I took out the main power source...but you always have to play the hero."

Sonic began to respond, but at that moment alarms burst into life up and down the corridor, their high pitched screams drowning out his retort. He moaned and covered his ears. 'Warning! Warning! Oxygen and gravity levels severely depleted in exterior sectors seven through eleven! All personnel are to remain inside and report to your workstations immediately!' a feminine computerised voice commanded over the alarms.

"What's that mean?" Knuckles cried, fearfully.

"Means we shouldn't of let Eggman get away! You wanna add that to your list?" Sonic snapped back sarcastically. Mercifully, the alarms had ceased to shriek, but small red lights on the walls continued to flicker.

Shadow had not gone far. Rouge and Amy found him alone, staring down at Mobius through a large window, murmuring something about Maria. He did not even notice the girls as they entered, but slouched down on the ledge in front of the window with his head bowed low. Boldly, Amy wandered over and sat down next to him.

"Who is Maria?" she asked, softly. Shadow turned, scowled, and shifted his gaze to the ceiling. "Shadow?"

"She was the only one who ever cared," he replied, flatly. In the silence that followed, Amy gingerly stretched out her paw and gave Shadow's a small squeeze. She could not bear to see anyone this upset, even though Shadow had helped the enemy. Shadow stared down at her paw, numbly.

"What happened?" Amy asked, gently.

"...They killed her," Shadow responded bitterly. Amy gasped in sympathy, as Shadow rubbed his muzzle with the back of his free hand. She was almost sure that he wiped away a few tears. Amy wanted to hug him, but did not quite dare, fearing how he would react. Shadow turned, to gaze out at Mobius below. To Amy it seemed terrifyingly close now.

"We used to talk about what is could be like down there...on Mobius...she made it sound so peaceful...perfect. But when the humans came here, they came as ruthless killers."

"They came to defend their planet. There was good evidence and reason to believe that Gerald Robotnik was creating a powerful weapon up here, and experimenting to create 'the ultimate life form'. There were fears that he might use these against Mobius."

"Maria was no threat to them," Shadow insisted. "When they imprisoned me I swore I would avenge Maria's death. Today she will have her revenge... When the space Colony collides with Mobius, all will be destroyed," he explained, appearing perfectly calm considering he had just prophesised his own certain death. Amy wailed and began to cry.

"I don' wanna die!" she wailed. No one spoke for a while as Shadow stared at Amy, hoping she would stop crying. She was starting to remind him of Tails when he'd been trapped in the Cannon's barrel. Finally, Rouge spoke.

"Shadow...the humans came because of the Eclipse Cannon, and that thing at the Colony's power source. If you helped us to defeat it, you would have revenge against the real thing responsible for Maria's death... and you would save millions of lives...do you really think that Maria would want the whole planet sacrificed for her? And Amy, next to you...wouldn't she want to help her? There are thousands like Amy down there...everyone is equally as helpless...everyone is just as scared. Is this really what Maria would have wanted?" The black hedgehog did not answer her, but continued to stare at Amy. Eventually, Amy sniffed, rubbed her tears away, and stared back pleadingly at Shadow.

"Won't you help us, Shadow?" she asked, with wide, sad eyes. Shadow looked at the floor.

"Won't you even help us for Maria?" Rouge asked, sitting on the other side of him to Amy. "...Sh-"

"Stop calling me that! It's that thing at the power source. That is Shadow...I don't even know who I am anymore!" Shadow yelled.

"What did Maria call you?" Rouge asked.

"SHADOW! She called me Shadow...all I have to remember her by are my own memories...and after seeing those files on that thing...how do I know that my own memories are real?" Shadow wailed. He buried his face in his paws. This time, Amy did hug him, but he stiffened under her touch.

"You prove it," Rouge said, eventually. "If you defeat the creature at the power source, that will prove that you are truly Shadow, The Ultimate Life form, and that thing is just a failed experiment with the same name. You'll prove that you are Shadow, and that Maria was real!"

"Won't you do that, Shadow? Please?" Amy whimpered. Shadow stood.

"I will do it. I will do it for Maria. Her death must still be avenged."

"Y-you'll help us?" Amy cried, barely daring to believe the success of she and Rouge's pleading.

"I will help you," Shadow stated flatly.

"What now?" Knuckles demanded. Sonic had shut down the Cyclone again.

"Grab on," he said, firing at a lock mechanism on the door in front so that it slid open. "We've got to cross that."

'That' was the space in between the building they were in and one in the near distance. Between them, on either side of the gap floated two rows of large purple and green rings, which emitted a low continuous hum. GUN robots spiralled all around, firing aimlessly. Knuckles groaned, securing a firm grip on the side of the Cyclone.

"Just try not to crash it," he told Sonic.

"No problem!" The hedgehog restarted the Cyclone, and floated into the abyss outside. Immediately the walker began spinning helplessly like the GUN robots. Several of these detected the alien craft and fired. Sonic clung grimly onto the controls, one paw directing the Cyclone and the other jammed constantly on both the lock-on and fire buttons. Search beams and laser fire scattered aimlessly. Aiming was practically impossible out here since the target had moved almost as soon as the search beams had found it, but some enemy fire zinged past, dangerously close to the Cyclone. In an instant, a GUN robot appeared in front of Sonic and fired. The hedgehog heard Knuckles yell as he swerved and returned the fire.

"Knux?" Sonic cried, leaning over the side of the Cyclone. A spiked glove shoved him roughly aside.

"STEER, you idiot!" the echidna growled, grabbing at the controls. The Cyclone lurched violently. More laser fire hit the underneath of the Cyclone. Slowly, Sonic pulled himself upright again in time to see where they were now headed thanks to Knuckles' questionable piloting skills. They were due to miss the doorway he had been aiming for by a couple of metres and crash into the solid wall below.

"KNUX!" Sonic screamed, ceasing the controls again, and pressing the button that he hoped would set them back on the right course. At least some of the random weapons fire had hit the locks of the door he'd been aiming for and it had slid open. A thump on the underneath of the Cyclone vibrated over the whole walker as it floated in through the door, just barely, scraping the edge of the floor as it entered.

They landed a few meters inside the building. Knuckles scrambled out of the walker, scowling with revulsion as Sonic wretched over the side. Spinning around in zero gravity had not done his stomach any favours.

"How far is the generator now?" Knuckles asked.

"Should be just beyond these doors," Sonic replied, shooting the locks open. Directly in front of them now, was a solid metal wall. It was directly below that counted.

A tunnel reached downwards for at least twenty meters. Geometric patterns of lasers bisected it at intervals. There were creatures floating around down there, which looked like little more than blobs of water with mechanical heads. But they seemed somehow menacing. Perhaps it was the vicious slant of their yellow green eyes, or how the heaving and flopping of their clumsy bodies suggested they were breathing.

"And down there," Sonic added. Knuckles groaned.

"Try and steer properly this time!" he warned, griping onto the Cyclone.

"Least there's gravity," Sonic stated. He fired the Cyclone's engines again and began the descent.

The laser patterns were easily navigated, but as the walker warily approached the first of the floating creatures, two thin tentacles stretched out of its body, reaching hungrily for the Cyclone. Sonic swerved violently to the left to avoid them, but the limbs stretched with elasticity and ceased Knuckles by the waist. He shuddered, feeling the cold clammy touch of the creature piercing his flesh. The creature pulled, slowly becoming stronger by draining the echidna's energy in sharp bursts, which burned and stung. All around, the air blazed with laser fire; some from above as Sonic tried to target the creature, and more from below, from the creature returning his fire with beams that shot from its eyes. Knuckles' arms were stretched to the limit; he could almost feel the strength ebbing away. One paw almost pulled loose, but Sonic grabbed the wrist, leaving only one paw free to operate the Cyclone. The walker lurched, threatening to plunge recklessly down the tunnel into whatever lay below.

The jolt disrupted Sonic's aim, and a shot ricocheted off one of the creature's tentacles, striking its head. There was the sound of boiling water amplified; the creature gave one last desperate yank, finally wrenching Knuckles from the Cyclone, before it dissolved as a shower of rain.

"KNUX!"

Sonic shut off the Cyclone's engines, to plummet after his friend, ignoring the lasers that burned and melted the base of the walker, and the blue creatures, which reached out feverishly with long, thin feelers. He shot past Knuckles, and fired the engines, seconds before hitting the pool of boiling green liquid below. Knuckles landed on the Cyclone seconds later, and gripped the barrel weakly. He looked utterly exhausted. Sonic made for a platform on the far wall and set the Cyclone down.

"You okay?" he asked, with concern. Knuckles had slid off the side of the walker, and was lying on the floor, panting. Eventually he sat upright.

"Those things...they suck out all your energy..." he said. He got carefully to his feet. "I'll be alright. Where's that generator?"

"Uh, just through here, should be," said Sonic, grinning slightly, and indicating a door ahead. Knuckles shot him a glare.

But beyond the door, the machine was there. It was enormous, covering an entire wall, on the far side of a pool of boiling green liquid. Perhaps that is what fuelled it. The visible surface was covered with small robots, which fired lasers upon detecting the Cyclone's presence.

"Take a time out Knux, I'll handle this," Sonic said. Knuckles rolled his eyes.

"Was there any point in me coming?" he asked sarcastically. Sonic sighed.

"I just figured you could use a rest, after that creature attacked you," he said, returning the small robots' fire. Knuckles lent against a metal container, and watched him impassively.