-Sonic-

"We don't have time for this, Sonic!" Amy shouts. "If we don't get out of here right now, we're done for!" I don't listen, haven't got time to listen. We've got to do this, right now!

"Blaze, Crossfire, I need you over here!"

"Sonic!"

Amy shouts again, but I know what I'm doing, and with those missiles coming, I haven't got time to argue! I can see Tails from the corner of my eye; he looks scared, but he trusts me, just like he always did. Rouge and Knuckles are talking, too, but not to me and I don't have time to listen anyway. I've got to do this before those missiles get here!

"Shadow, you ready?"

He'd better be ready! I don't waste time waiting to see what he says, I should be able to do it on my own if he can't, and we don't have time! Those missiles are getting awfully close, moving really fast, and it's too late for anything else now!

"Blaze, Crossfire – let go!"

I've already started to speed up as if I was about to fight, 'cause I'm going to have to. There's only going to be one moment I can use before Crossfire kills us all! They both tip their heads back, eyes closing, and moving slowly compared to me, though it's fast for everyone else, I see a shockwave start to form. This is it, the only chance I have, the instant that's going to either win this fight or get us all killed, and I take it! Calling on the power of the Emeralds just like I've done several times before, I close my eyes as I concentrate, able to feel six of them spinning around me and the seventh being drawn towards me as well. But getting that seventh is harder than I thought, maybe out of my reach – then I feel another pull, calling on the Chaos Emeralds just like I am. It's Shadow!

"What's happening!" That's Tails' voice, but I don't have time to look, all of my attention focused inwards, on calling those Emeralds to me. It's hard, even with Shadow, so much harder than I thought-

"The missiles – Sonic, you'll never do it in time! We have to get out!"

That's Amy, but she only makes me redouble my efforts. Even if I wanted to, I can't stop now!

"They can do it. They have to," Rouge says, and I hear Knuckles muttering something I can't make out in the background… and then, suddenly, there's another power here, guiding the last Chaos Emerald to us. It's Knuckles and his Master Emerald! With this kinda help, it's a whole lot easier, and suddenly the seventh Emerald is with me, me and Shadow, its power split between us both. Shadow cries out, and my eyes snap open, my head turning to face him. His formerly black fur's glowing silver, but his eyes are still shut, and he's holding his left arm – what's left of it. That robot arm of his can't have been able to take the power; it's been destroyed! His left arm ends a little below the elbow, and if I thought that mechanical hand of his was strange to look at, this is even more strange, wrong somehow.

"The missiles!"

Tails' voice rings out and Shadow raises his head, his eyes now a perfect mirror of mine. Our gazes lock for the tiniest fraction of a second, any pain he's feeling locked away again, and we shoot upward together. The missiles are less than a second away for us, and only a few for them, but Shadow and I slam into them at full speed, taking the force of the explosions, enough to blow us back, but not able to hurt us, not like this!

Tumbling through the air, I right myself, regain control, look around for Shadow and for the building where the others are. They're there, lying down, but even as I start moving towards them, I see them begin picking themselves up, even see Tails waving at me. I give him a thumbs-up in response as Shadow flashes back to my side, then look to Shadow, asking him a silent question.

You ready?

I don't need to say it, don't need to say anything. Shadow can see it in my expression, and I can see his answer in his. In that instant of shared understanding, I lean forward, Shadow right with me, and start moving, picking up speed, ignoring the air's ever-increasing resistance, ignoring everything but Shadow and our target, that base we just escaped from. That's where Eggman is, so that's where we've gotta go to put an end to this!

It doesn't take long to get there, but it doesn't take long to accelerate, either, and by the time we've reached it the energy field around us both is blazing blue-white ahead with the heat of air friction. We don't stop or even slow for the thick metal walls up ahead, just slam right through them, losing a little speed in the impact, but only a little. Even if we weren't driving onwards, our momentum would probably bring us a good way through this building! We're on about the right level for the control room, so all we've got to do is look for it… preferably without flying straight through. I slow down, and Shadow with me, tearing a few more holes through walls in the process. The one that stops me, I hit with my hands outstretched, easily taking the shock of the impact. Hovering just above the floor, I look from side to side, hoping for some clue that'll tell me which way to go.

Something catches my eye, but I'm not sure what, a hint of familiarity. Turning around, I head back through the last hole and look around some more. It's with a bit of a shock that I realise this place is familiar. It's practically imprinted on my memory. The last time I came through here, I was looking at anything and everything so I didn't have to see what was right next to me.

"Sonic?"

Shadow's come up behind me. There's a touch of urgency to his voice – if we don't keep moving, we'll run out of the energy we need to hang onto these Emeralds before we even find Eggman!

"It's this way!"

I don't wait for him to answer me, just spin to my left and head off down the corridor. That place the robot brought me to must have been the control room, and it's just along here! Lights, doors, and the odd Eggman face flash by as we pick up speed again, and it's only a few seconds before we get there, blasting through the door and stopping on the other side. Sure enough, there he is, hovering over a hole in the floor that I don't remember being there before, in that little round vehicle of his.

"Ah, Sonic! You may have destroyed my missiles, but you can't defeat me! Now, it's time to die! Not even your Super form can survive this!"

The vehicle drops through the hole while he's still laughing, and it closes too fast for me to follow, though I guess I could just break through. I'm just rising for a clear shot at it when I hear Shadow.

"Chaos Spear!"

A lance of chaos energy completely destroys the metal plate, revealing the hole again.

"Nice one, Shadow!" I say, grinning. I'd almost forgotten he could do that! I dive down, Shadow right behind me. The hole's only just big enough for Eggman's vehicle, but given how fat he is, that leaves us plenty of room! It turns and twists a bit before finally letting us out again in the generator room where we fought before. There's something on the ground that wasn't there before, so I flash down to take a look. It's gotta be his latest mech, a huge thing with a whole lot of guns that, at least for the moment, is standing on the ground, though I'd guess from the looks of it that it could fly as well if Eggman wants it to. Well, doesn't matter what it can or can't do – if I take this thing out, I'll be able to blow the base!

Even while I'm thinking that, it starts shooting at me. I dash out of the way, speeding up to the maximum until every second drifts by like forever. Several guns track my movements, and out of the corner of my eye I see several more firing at Shadow, but there's no way he can keep up with us! Circling it at high speed, I look for weak points, because something like this he'll have given enough armour to hold me off even charged up like this. I don't see much, so I dive underneath. Moments later, electricity arcs between its underside and the floor, and I get out only just in time to avoid getting caught, but I think I saw something! All I gotta do now is figure out how to hit it!

Well, almost all, anyway. Using the Chaos Emeralds like this is kinda draining, and it saps my natural energy pretty quickly. Once I'm out of energy, I'll lose my hold on the Emeralds, and if that happens, I might not be a sitting duck, but I definitely won't be able to fight this thing! I peel off to hover above the machine and look around, more with my energy-senses than my eyes. Anywhere the natural energy of the world is concentrated enough, I can use it to enhance my own, or at least, that's what Tails says. All I know is that I can sense places where that energy is stronger and take it to use myself. There's plenty here, particularly around the generator that robot, the one that looked like Metal, damaged earlier, and I head for it right as a shot passes through where I was hovering!

"Too slow, Eggman!"

I didn't actually even see it coming, but I'm not going to tell him that, and he was still too slow! A funny sound behind me warns me something's about to happen, and I turn my climb into a dive just as some kind of beam shoots through where I just was. It's only there for a few seconds, but when it stops, I see a hole seared right through the generator I was heading for! That thing's powerful!

"Sonic, that's the weapon he used to destroy the Chaos Emerald! You mustn't let it hit you!"

Looks like this is going to be the first battle I've had like this where my enemy might actually be able to hurt me. This should be interesting! I spin around the broken generator, picking up energy as I go, and head back for the machine. Something that can destroy a Chaos Emerald must use up a lot of power, and this time I actually concentrate on sensing it as I flash by, rather than just being vaguely aware the thing has a big power source. Whatever he's got there, it's still no Chaos Emerald, but it sure is powerful, and really unstable! Destroying this machine is going to make one huge explosion!

Dodging slow-moving bullets and energy-based shots alike, I spin once again on the far side and hover for a moment to take another good look at the thing. Somehow, I've gotta get it to lift up a bit, or I'll never be able to hit that weak spot!

A second or so goes by as I hover there, looking at it. Maybe… maybe I don't need to hit the weak spot at all! If I can knock all four legs out from under it at once, it'll probably fall and hit itself on the floor, and if Eggman gets the engines on in time so that it doesn't, it's likely to lift up a bit, letting me get an attack in!

"Shadow, the legs! We've gotta make it fall down!"

He changes course, diving, and I know he heard me. I aim down as well, heading for the front left leg, on the other side of the thing to where I am.

Wham! The impact sends me flying off, but I recover myself quickly and look back. That was harder than I expected! Shadow and I have knocked two of the legs off the floor, and the machine looks unbalanced, tipped towards the one I hit. Spinning around and picking up speed again, I aim for the nearest one, see Shadow doing the same on the other side. We've gotta get there before it gets its legs down again!

We're too close, and Eggman's too slow; the legs we hit are barely halfway back before we hit the other two, spinning again to see the result of our handiwork. At the speed I'm moving, thinking, reacting, it almost seems to hover for an instant before gravity claims it and it falls, seeming to drift down to my eyes even though it only really takes a second or two, to hit the floor with a tremendous crash.

As it starts jerkily picking itself up, I dash off to claim some more energy, looping around that broken generator again and coming back. Shadow evidently had the same idea, as I pass him going the other way about halfway around it. There's not that much left here any more, but I wonder…

"Hey, Robotnik!"

Stopping and hovering in front of one of the intact generators, I wave at him. Eggman could never resist taking a challenge like that, and he doesn't this time, either. Every weapon he's got fires at or around me, except for that beam, and a couple actually hit, knocking me back a little, there's so many of the things! I act like I barely noticed, infuriating him even more, and just like I thought, I hear the same noise that signified the beam firing last time. Since I'm facing him this time, I can see what's making it, some kind of charging hum followed by a cover opening up to reveal the weapon about to shoot me – but I rocket up, out of the way, and all he manages to hit is his own power generator! There's a nasty explosion, and a thick cloud of greasy black smoke blows past me. That should have done the trick!

Getting close in again, I look around for Shadow. He's not far off, probably more waiting for me than anything else.

"Now, Shadow!"

Once again, we dive for the legs, hitting one each, spinning out, regaining our balance and swooping in for the second set! It works just like last time, both of us clearing the machine well before it hits the ground, and when it picks itself up this time, it's jerkier than before. Looks like we're doing it!

Electricity crackles between the machine and the floor again, and this time, I don't think it's going to stop. Hitting it might not hurt me, but it'll probably slow me down too much for knocking out the legs like last time to work again. Somehow, I've gotta get it to shut off!

Darting in close, narrowly dodging shot after shot, I look for any new weak points, any way to deactivate the field, but I can't see anything. Through the arcing electricity, I see Shadow on the other side, leaning forward – wait, what's he doing? Shadow!

"Shadow!"

He doesn't listen, diving right into the middle of the field. There's no way he can move fast enough in there to damage that thing!

"Chaos… Blast!"

A shockwave kind of like the one I stopped Crossfire creating ripples out from him. It's big enough to hit the weak spot and all four of the legs! The electricity field shuts off, the legs flying outwards, and Shadow dashes forward as it starts to fall, only just getting clear in time! The sound of the impact is different this time, mixed up with a muffled bang that, from the sound of it, came from inside the machine. Instead of getting up like it did before, the thing's engines fire up, and its legs fall off! Looks like Eggman's taking this fight to the air!

Shadow bolts past me, headed for the generator Eggman broke, as I watch the machine rise into the air. That weak point we were using looks to have been covered up now, and the engines looked pretty well protected when I could actually see them earlier. Just great – now what are we going to do?

I shoot up after him, shots drifting lazily by underneath me because I'm moving far too fast for his machine to track. Looping over the top, I look for any new weak points, but I can't see anything. There's got to be some way to damage this thing!

Shadow comes up behind me, matching my speed to stay at my side for a few seconds. I take the chance he's giving me and tell him what I've seen.

"I can't find any new weak points, Shadow! Our only chance is that beam weapon!"

"Sonic, that thing could destroy a Chaos Emerald!"

We both have to dodge around a storm of shots aimed ahead of us in the hope of catching us, and I dive under the machine to throw Eggman off. Shadow joins me again a few moments later.

"It's only open when it's firing – how are we supposed to hit it?"

He's got a point, but we can't give up! I'm starting to feel the strain again, and I head off for the generator I tricked Eggman into destroying – that's it! I've got it! After a quick circuit of the generator, picking up some much-needed energy, I come up alongside Shadow, who's doing a pretty good job of keeping Eggman's attention.

"I'll distract him, Shadow! You get ready to attack the moment it opens up!"

Shadow nods, and I pull away, reaching what I figure is a fairly safe distance and turning to look at the machine, just hovering there. Like last time, I wave at Eggman, then lean back in the air with my arms folded and tap my foot on thin air.

Well, that got his attention all right! His machine swivels to face me and fires just about everything it's got at me! Just like last time, I dodge most of it, and what little does hit me doesn't exactly do any damage. I hover there until the last possible moment, until I actually see the cover starting to open, Shadow hovering forgotten near it – then I dash to the side, so close to the beam I could swear it almost clipped my foot!

I saw Shadow fire what looked like a Chaos Spear into the thing, but it clearly didn't finish it off – yet. Still dodging shots, I head in. He looks… shocked. Why?

"What happened, Shadow?"

I do a flip to dodge some more weapons fire.

"My attack never reached it – that beam's too powerful. It just tore the energy of the Chaos Spear apart!"

What? Something hits me, knocking me sideways, and I guess that's what I get for not looking around. I move off, doing another circuit of the machine, looking for something, anything else we can use. If Shadow can't get an attack in, how are we going to beat this thing?

There's no other weak point. No matter what I do, where I look, I can't find anything except that weapon. It's got to be there, somehow, we've got to hit that thing! But if it's so powerful, it'll destroy us the moment we come close – or will it? Something stirs up a memory, Shadow telling me how he saw the deep blue Emerald destroyed. It glowed, cracked, and finally exploded, and while it must only have taken a few seconds, it still took time – and for me and Shadow, a few seconds can be more than enough!

"Keep him busy, Shadow!" I don't wait for an answer, speeding away, heading for the surviving generators. If I'm going to pull this off, I'll need all the energy I can get! I slam into the first one, thrown back out by the explosion, lost in a cloud of thick black smoke for a couple of seconds before I right myself and head out of it. Taking out the others the same way, I spin around to get whatever energy I can, spotting Shadow as a silver-gold fireball, looping around Eggman's machine and dodging his shots with all the ease and agility I have myself. But he still can't damage it, and if this idea doesn't work, then I don't know how we're gonna beat this thing.

Finally, I'm done, heading back towards them both. The machine's moving about a fair bit, but compared to me, it's going at a snail's pace, and I take up a position by the beam weapon like I've forgotten it's there, in the space just above it where most of the other guns can't or won't quite aim. I hear a hum from beneath me, and it's all I can do not to look, then the click of the hatch unlocking itself – and I spin around right before the beam fires, one hand out – and then it hits me. Even like this, even with the power of all seven Chaos Emeralds flowing through me, I scream.

I can't move, pinned to the spot, feeling my strength being torn away, feeling like something's trying to tear me into a million pieces, pain racing through my body like nothing I've ever felt before. But I'm here, right in the heart of the beam, and if I've only got a few seconds, then I'd better use them. I won't give up!

Agonisingly slowly, I force myself forwards, stretch my hand out further, feeling blindly for the weapon itself. It feels like forever, even though I can't have been here more than a second, the Emeralds and my body wanting to shatter apart, barely able to keep my thoughts together against it, barely able to hold on. I can't let Eggman get away with what he's done, can't let him keep on ruling the world, and it's only determination keeping me moving, millimetre by millimetre, and nothing exists any more but me and the pain and my target…

My hand touches something, curved metal. I've done it, I'm there! Against the agony tearing me apart, I struggle to focus my energy one last time. Anything Shadow can do, I can do too, I've always known that, and I put everything I've got into a single blast of pure Chaos Energy.

"Chaos Spear!"

The beam stops. I look at my hand, stretched out in front of me still, without really realising what it is. The power within me wants to be free, but I think I should hang onto it, even though it would be so much easier to let go. I'm not sure why. There's a light, shining through a thousand cracks in the thing in front of me…

My thoughts catch up with me just as I slow down and the world speeds up. The explosion from Eggman's vehicle sends me flying, tumbling through the air, slamming into goodness knows what, none of it stopping me, holding the power of the Emeralds with sheer willpower and not much else. Then, finally, it's over. I've stopped moving. Finally, I can let go. The Chaos Emeralds leave me, and I fall back, lying on something hard, tilted at a crazy angle. For some reason, I notice the sky above me, a bright, clear blue mostly obscured by a thick cloud of dark smoke. Scrap metal rains down around me, but I don't have the strength to move, so it's just luck that none of it hits me. And then, after a little, it stops

It's over… finally over. I'm exhausted, but I sit up anyway, looking around. That blast devastated this entire area, but I think I recognise some of the buildings on its edge. That's where the others are. I pick myself up and turn in that direction, start to walk that way, too tired even to run.

I haven't got too far when Shadow cuts in front of me, back to normal again, clearly not half as tired as I am, his jet boots keeping him hovering just above the wreckage until he stops and lands on it, facing me.

"Are you all right, Sonic?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Tired or not, I still grin at him. We did it! "Let's get back to the others!"

Shadow nods, and jumps down to walk with me. For once, I'm fine with just walking. Everything's okay again…