Sonic yawned and sat up. He and Shadow had stayed at one of the hotels on the outskirts of town. The manager had taken one look at them and gave them the penthouse free of charge. Sonic hated the soft beds and made himself a bed on the floor. Shadow had done the same in the other room. The blue hedgehog rubbed his eyes and walked out of the bedroom and into the large living room. He walked passed the fancy furniture and onto the balcony, "Morning." Shadow was standing on the guardrail with his arms crossed and his eyes closed. Sonic sighed and leaned on the rail next to him, "You awake?"

Shadow opened his eyes, "I'm sensing strange energy patterns." He rubbed his head, "but I can't figure out what they are or where they are coming from."

Sonic shrugged as Shadow jumped down, "So what do we do? We can't just wait for Robotnik to make the first move."

"Agreed! But where to start is the key question."

Sonic snapped his fingers, "Tails! We could go to his workshop in Mystic Ruins. He has all kinds of equipment and stuff."

"It's a start I guess." Shadow headed for the door, "Lets get going!"

Sonic rubbed his stomach, "Can we eat first?"

Shadow sighed, "Whatever." He heard his stomach rumble, "Just not Chilidogs!"

"What is the point of a car?" Sonic and Shadow had left the hotel and the black hedgehog had acquired a GUN armored jeep, "We can run faster than these things. And why don't we just use Chaos Control?"

"Because we can conserve our energy using this." Shadow got into the driver side, "and we can't just use Chaos Control with reckless abandonment. To much and we will start to drain our life force."

Sonic shrugged and jumped in, "but I'm still faster!" Shadow shook his head and started the jeep.

They had been driving for several hours and Shadow stopped the jeep. They had been driving down a long road in the middle of no where and now they reached a large forest that the road curved away from. Shadow stopped the jeep as the road curved. The forest was called Darkwood. It was large and deep. He got out of the jeep and walked to the edge of the forest. Sonic looked around and got out, "Why'd we stop?"

Shadow's eyes narrowed, "There is strong chaos energy somewhere in this forest."

"A Chaos Emerald?"

"Yes!" Shadow stepped into the forest.

Sonic drummed his fingers on the hood of the jeep, "Wait up!" Sonic ran after him and followed him as Shadow walked through the thick brush, "Any idea where this emerald is?"

"Not sure!" Shadow's eyes narrowed, "but I have an idea." Several Egg Pawns painted with brown and green paint appeared from behind several trees.

Sonic chuckled, "Just as I was getting bored." He ran at the bots and curled into a ball. He slammed into one and sent it into a tree. The bot exploded on impact. The remaining bots opened fire with their lasers. Shadow jumped into the trees as Sonic rolled across the ground and past the group of bots. The robots turned and fired as he rolled away. Shadow spun around and sawed through a thick tree branch. It fell and landed on a couple of bots. Sonic uncurled and bounced off a tree. He hit a bot with a flying kick as Shadow dropped down and slammed his fists into the head of the last bot. Sonic rolled his shoulders, "Not bad for a warm up."

Shadow picked up one of The Egg Pawns' lasers, "Robotnik is planning something in this forest."

"And it must involve a Chaos Emerald." Sonic cracked his knuckles, "Let's move!" Both hedgehogs ran into deeper into the forest. Before they traveled far, more Egg Pawns appeared out of hiding to attack them, "This is going to get real old." Sonic curled into a ball and smashed apart several pawns.

"Don't lose your focus!" Shadow knocked one down and shot three others, "This might be a trap."

"Might!" Metal dropped out of the trees above and landed in-between the two hedgehogs, "I knew you couldn't resist the lure of The Chaos Emeralds."

"So you do have one!" Shadow aimed his gun at Metal.

"I do!" A large ship descended from the sky and hovered over them. A large red rectangle with four green glowing orbs on each point. The orbs blasted out wind that stirred the trees around them. Four metal doors opened up on each side and several figures jumped out of each. The figures were blue and black hedgehogs dressed in red combat armor. Each carried an assault rifle. They surrounded the trio. Metal held his arms out, "Meet the instruments of you demise! Bioandroids created from your DNA. Fast, strong, and deadly. The hedgebots!" The hedgebots took aim with their guns.

Sonic and Shadow looked at each other and shrugged, "So!" Sonic shot forward and knocked down two hedgebots. He then curled into a ball and slammed into a third. The hedgebot fell back and slammed into a tree. The remaining hedgebots opened fire. Sonic ran up a tree and disappeared into the branches.

Shadow jumped high in the air and fired his stolen laser. He managed to blast four of the hedgebots in the chest. Their armor sparked and they fell over. But they were still moving and slowly getting back up. Shadow tossed down the gun, "Need a better a weapon. Sonic!"

"On it!" Sonic sliced into two tree trunks with his spin attack and jumped clear as they fell. The hedgebots were quick, but the falling trees crushed half of them.

Shadow grabbed one of the fallen rifles, "Figures!" The rifle was powered by a cable that connected with the hedgebot. "Let's go!" He dropped the rifle and the two hedgehogs took on into the forest.

Metal chuckled and sharp metal blades shot out of his forearms and he griped them like knives, "The hunt begins!"

Sonic jumped from tree to tree at high speeds. He tried running on the ground, but the ground was too covered by plants. He and Shadow had split up and decided to meet on the other side of the woods. He could hear the sound of another hover ship and sped up as it fired laser blast at him from its turrets, "Eggman has upped the ante." The ship shot ahead of him and dropped a group of hedgebots. Sonic curled into a ball and blasted through the group as they opened fire. He uncurled and bounced off a tree. He curled into a ball again and crashed into another one. Sonic stood up as the four hedgebots that were still standing took aim. The ones he had slammed down were sparking and bleeding from wounds he had inflicted. He was just thankful his spin attack could penetrate their armor. The hedgebots fired and Sonic jumped up. The bots' shots missed each other. Sonic landed away from the group, "So you guys are smarter than Robutnik's usual troops. That should make this more fun." The hedgebots started to step back. Sonic breathed into his hand and sniffed, "is it my breath." His eyes narrowed as Metal walked out of the foliage, "Metal!"

The android hedgehog waved his hand and the hedgebots walked away, "You think I would let anyone else kill you?"

"Not really!" Sonic crouched down, "but what makes you think you could beat me? I pretty sure our score is four to zip. In my favor."

"You would be correct. But this time will be our final battle. Once I kill you, I will be perfect." He brandished his blades, "The bar has been raised mammal. What do you intend to do about it?"

Sonic smiled, "Break it!"

Shadow jumped over a few fallen logs and landed in a clearing. He found himself in front of a small river. He scanned the trees and the skyline. "Where are they?" He looked to his right. The river curved out of sight behind some trees. Too his left was a small waterfall that rose up several feet. "This screams trap." He skated towards the waterfall and stopped when he reached the bottom of it. He heard what sounded to be like a girl singing. He slowly stepped closer to the waterfall and a light red female echidna stepped out from behind the water. She looked to be in her early teens and had a pink towel wrapped around her body. She also had a red metal collar around her neck. She didn't notice him and grabbed another towel from a duffle bag. As she started to dry her dreadlocks, she turned and screamed.

"Who are you?"

"I'll answer that when you tell me what you are doing out here in the middle of the woods."

The echidna backed away and sat down on a rock near the falls, "I'm just taking a camping trip with a friend of mine."

Shadow heard a snapping sound in the forest, "Like I buy that."

"Then buy this!" The girl grabbed a green chaos emerald from behind the rock. She held it up and a bolt of energy shot from it. Shadow managed to dodge it, but a green ball shot out of the woods and rammed into him. Shadow fell back several feet and landed on his feet.

The ball uncurled and reviled itself to be a green hedgehog with crimson colored eyes. He wore black and blue sneakers and a gun belt that sported two blaster pistols and several small daggers. The hedgehog smiled, "We've been waiting for you for quite awhile."

"So this was a trap." Shadow backed away, "I'm guessing your more of Robotnik's DNA constructs."

The girl jumped behind an outcropping of rocks as the hedgehog stepped forward. He held up his right fist, showing Shadow the sharp spurs on his fist, "I am much more than a construct."

Shadow rushed at him, "Not in my eyes!"

"Then allow me to pop them out of your head."