Speed sat at the controls of The Eclipse as Shadow and Knuckles sat in the back. The girls had remained on the island to help get everyone back to normal. Shadow walked up and sat in the gunner's chair behind Speed, "Not much space on this ship."

"Not designed for it."

"Where do you get these ships?"

Speed shrugged and reached in a small compartment and pulled out a small computer pad, "Here!"

Shadow's jaw dropped, "This is your bank account?"

"Yeah!"

Shadow sat back, "I need a better job!"

"Hey! If one of my bounty head just happens to have a large stash, who am I to leave it alone."

Shadow chuckled, "I see you don't walk the clean path as much as I thought."

"Guy has to make a living. So any ideas on what to do after we get the last stone?"

"Get to Lazar. He is the only one who can tell us where Luxor is. I may have the portal orb, but I can't remember how to us it."

Speed nodded, "Sounds good to me!"

A small light blinked on his console, "What is that?"

Speed sighed, "One of Robotnik's probbots is following us. Activating cloaking!" The ship shimmered and vanished.

Robotnik drummed his fingers as the image of Speed's ship vanished, "Damn that ship. I should have never let it slip from my grasp." Robotnik hit a button on his chair, "Rhinox!"

"Yes my lord!"

"Your chance to redeem yourself has come. Take a squad of my new hedgebots and find them!"

"Yes my Lord!"

Robotnik leaned back into his chair, "I must find a way to wipe out these pathetic rodents once and for all."

Speed decloaked the ship and landed in a rocky region of the southern continent. Shadow was the first out and he surveyed the area, "Nothing but canyons and rock formations. Any ideas on where the last stone is?"

"Your guess is as good as mine!" Speed jumped out.

Knuckles jumped out and started walking, "This way!"

"How do you know?"

Knuckles shrugged, "Just do!" Shadow and Speed shrugged and followed him. After an hour of walking, Knuckles stopped and pointed to a cave at the bottom of a canyon, "There!" Both Knuckles and Speed picked up Shadow and glided down to the canyon floor. Knuckles walked to the mouth of the cave, "I can feel it!"

"That is good enough for me!" A female cat jumped up from behind some boulders. She was dressed in tight black bodysuit and had two large blades attached to each forearm, "My father desires your death."

Shadow chuckled, "Another Luxor flunky." He activated his armor and summoned his weapons, "This one is mine!" Speed stood watch as Knuckles ran into the cave. Shadow smiled, "Lets see what you got?" He shot forward and swung both blades.

The cat jumped high into the air and somersaulted behind him. Before Shadow could move, she slashed him with one of her blades. The blades sparked as they raked across the armor. It left a scratch, but did little to Shadow, "My name is Rita! You won't strike me." Rita crossed her arms across her chest and stood ready.

Shadow sneered as he spun around, "I will crush you!" He spun his blades around and a water began to swirl around him, "We may be far from water, but I will drown you!" Shadow slammed his blades together and a blast of water shot at Rika.

The cat smiled, "Reflection!" The water impacted her crossed arms and blasted back at Shadow.

Shadow swung his swords at the water and it split in half, "What was that?"

"Your feeble attacks won't even touch me!"

"FEEBLE! You dare call me feeble!" Shadow launched himself at Rita swing hard.

Rita moved quickly and blocked each attack. She ducked under his arms and slammed both of her arm blades into Shadow's chest. The armor sparked as the blades penetrated. Shadow jumped back and quickly checked his armor. There were small holes where the blades and entered, but no damage to him. Rita giggled as she crossed her arm again, "Where did you learn to fight?"

Shadow cursed, "I will kill you!"

Luxor couldn't help but to smile at the fight. From his realm, he watched as Rita not only block each of Shadow's attacks, but also dish out a lot of damage, "Still unsure how to use their armor. My brother was foolish to send them to acquire their armor without training in their use." He stood up and walked to his two candles, "The time has come to use one of my trump cards." He summoned a flame on his finger tip, "Leda my dear! It is time for you to come around to my way of thinking." He lit the light red candle.

Speed had offered to help out, but Shadow refused him. This was his fight. Shadow cursed and dismissed his armor, "I'll do better without it."

Rita frowned, "Don't do that! I will kill you to fast without it."

Shadow activated his hover shoes, "That is what you think!" He dashed forward. Rita lashed out with her blades, but Shadow rolled under them. He pushed off the ground and rammed his knee into the back of her head. Before she even had time to hit the ground, Shadow curled into a ball and spin dashed into her back. She was shot forward and Speed had to step to one side to avoid being hit by her. Shadow chuckled, "Well that was easy. I am starting think this armor is more of a hindrance than helpful."

Speed shrugged, "Seems that you fought better without it."

Shadow and Speed clasped hands, but then they were slammed down by Rhinox! The robot laughed as the two pick themselves up, "Should I leave you two alone?"

Shadow laughed, "Did you come for another smack down?"

Rhinox waved his hand and six metal balls rolled up and stopped in front of Rhinox, "Activate!" The balls uncurled into six gray metal hedgehogs. The saws on their backs split into three blades. Their eyes glowed red as they readied their talons, "You two don't stand a chance against these babies."

Speed gulped, "What is Robotnik's thing about making robot hedgehogs?"

"I am afraid to know!"

Two of the hedgebots activated their chest turbines and shot forward with their claws ready. Shadow and Speed ducked to avoid them. The bots stopped suddenly and rammed their metal knees into the hedgehogs' faces. Both Shadow and Speed rolled back and onto their feet. Speed spat some blood from his mouth, "These guys are tough."

"No kidding!"

"Maybe the armor will help us."

Shadow shook his head, "No! While I agree the armor was helpful, something about it makes me think we are using them wrong. I am beginning to wonder they are truly meant to help us. When I use it, I feel like my power is being restricted."

Speed sighed, "I got to agree with you on that one, but do we have any other options? I have a feeling that even if we do start to beat these two, the others will jump in."

Shadow readied himself, "Then we go down fighting!" As he was about to attack, he heard the faint sound of ship engines. He looked up, "The Hunter!" The sleek black ship flew through the canyon. Both hedgehogs had to duck to keep from having their heads chopped off. Rhinox and four of the Hedgebots managed to duck in time, but two of them had their heads smashed apart. The ship crashed into the side of cliff. Fortuity the ship's armor prevented it from exploding. Shadow looked over to Speed, "Your wife?"

"She flies better than that!" The ship's door opened and Leda stepped out, "Well I thought she flew better than that." Leda had a blank expression to her face. Speed noticed that the robots were still recovering from the attack. He started to walk toward her, "Honey, are you alright?"

"Fine dear!" Her voice was cold and had a familiar tone mixed in with hers.

"Luxor! What have you done to her?"

"When you and the others were in my care, I had you each imprint your souls to three very special candles. All I have to do is light one and you become under my control. But to my annoyance, your candle exploded. But what you did will prove to be much more painful than being under my control."

"You wouldn't!"

Leda held her hand out, "With the shard of The Master Emerald that beats in my heart, I release the power you have buried deep inside."

Speed tried to take a step forward, but he stopped. His heartbeat filled the canyon as his body began to glow with crimson light. Shadow ran to him, "What is wrong?"

"GET BACK!" Speed yelled out and exploded in a burst of crimson energy. He stood up completely transformed into his berserker state.

Leda smiled evilly, "Would you please kill Shadow for me?"

Sperk laughed, "You think I would take orders from you. I am well aware Leda is under your control."

Leda frowned, "Well then I guess I will find out what is behind seal number two."

Sperk eyes widened, "Don't be a fool! Even I have never tapped the darkest part of my power."

Shadow rushed at Leda, "I will stop her!"

"Too late! Sperk by my word I release the demonic power within you."

Shadow, Leda , and even the robots froze at what happened next. Sperk crimson aura doubled in size and he yelled out as the ground around them shook violently. Crimson energy arched from his body and a sphere formed around him. His cry grew louder and the sphere exploded outward. Everyone was blasted to the ground. The light vanished and Shadow managed to open his eyes. Sperk stood in a hole. His body was glowing crimson and his eyes were shut. Shadow jumped down into the hole and reached out with his hand, "Speed?" An arch of energy shot from his body and blasted him out of the hole.

Leda looked into the hole and laughed, "So this is what it came to. He has more power than even I can imagine, but he is devoid of feelings, desires, and mind! He is nothing more than a living statue."

Rhinox looked around, "I think now would be a good time to retreat." He and the remaining hedgebots left the area. Leda vanished in a burst of black light.

Knuckles walked out of the cave with a brown gem stone, "What happened?"

Shadow sat down, "We lost Leda to Luxor." He glared at the hole, "And we lost Speed."

After everyone had left, Rita woke up and struggled to her feet, "Damn them all!"

As she started to walk away, Bojack appeared and transformed her into an emerald. He absorbed it and walked to the edge of the hole. He watched the glowing form of Sperk, "One less problem! But you better come back from this. I will have my rematch with Spin." He teleported away.