Metal scrapped his blades together, "After so many years, I will finally kill you."

"Keep dreaming!" Sonic shot forward and curled into a ball. Metal jumped over Sonic as he rolled past. Metal landed on the ground and threw his blades with precision. Chain attached to the bottom of the blades uncoiled as the blades flew. Sonic bounced and dodged as the blades shot at him. Both impacted the ground and Metal pulled them free with the chains. He pulled the blades back into his hands as he gave chase. A small port on his each of his shoulders opened up and a tri barrel gun activated in each shoulder. Laser bolts streamed from the barrels. Sonic uncurled and dodged the shots by jumping behind trees and rocks as he ran. Sonic ran up a large tree as Metal threw his blades. The blades impacted the tree and Sonic landed on the chain. He ran along it and curled into a ball. He slammed Metal in the face with his spin attack. Metal fell back, but his guns kept firing. Sonic uncurled and landed a few feet away. The laser bolts had singed his quills, but he was unharmed. Metal jumped to his feet and pulled his blades free. Sonic's quills vibrated, "You're much faster than the last time we fought."

"I have been rebuilt with hyper metal. It is smoother and can handle any vibration. That and my titanium armor, I am invincible." He tapped his eyes, "Diamond glass!"

Sonic chuckled, "So Robotnik has learned to make you much tougher. Just makes the fight that much more fun." Sonic curled up and used his spin dash to launch himself at Metal. Metal tossed his blades. Sonic uncurled and used his legs to springboard himself into the air. He shot at Metal using his speed from the spin dash and spun around to deliver as spin kick to Metal's head. The android's left hand shot up and grabbed Sonic's foot. The chain attached to his right wrist wrapped around the hedgehog's legs and Metal whipped him into the ground.

"All this time," Metal's left arm spun around and the left chain wrapped around Sonic's leg, "it was your speed." Metal spun around and dragged Sonic into the air. He slammed him into a tree. Sonic cried out and fell to the ground. Metal laughed in a robotic tone, "Without it, your nothing!" Metal pulled on the chains and threw Sonic over his head and slammed him into the ground. The android slowly retracted the chains as he stepped towards the downed hedgehog. He tugged on the chains and the unwrapped around Sonic's legs. The blades retracted into his arms, "I will kill you with my own hands." Metal grabbed his neck with both of his hands. He held the limp hedgehog up, "Finally! After all this time, you're mine."

"Not really!" Sonic's right hand flashed and a blue emerald appeared in his hand, "Shadow taught me a new trick!"

"And what would that be?"

"Chaos BLAST!" The emerald flashed red and a red shockwave exploded from it and blasted Metal back several feet. The android crashed into several trees and the fell. Sonic dropped to his feet. He rubbed his neck, "You're not the only one with a few new features." He reabsorbed the emerald, "That took a little more energy than I thought."

"Nice!" Metal stood up. The front part of his armor was scratched and dinged. His eyes flashed red, "Lets see you try that again."

Sonic's fist tightened, "You caught me off guard. You won't catch me like that again."

Metal nodded, "Good! If you were easy to kill, then all this time we spent fighting would have been wasted." Metal summoned his blades, "Let's finish this!"

"So does the construct have a name?" Shadow and the green hedgehog slowly circled each other.

"Sperk! Why so interested?"

"I like to know the name of the things I kill!" Shadow ran at Sperk. The two met and exchanged a furry of blows. Punches were exchanged at high speed and the two jumped back, "Not bad for a copy." Shadow curled into a ball and shot forward. Sperk curled up as well and rammed into Shadow. The two spinning hedgehogs pushed each other, but neither managed to move the other. They bounced away from each other and uncurled.

Sperk drew his pistols, "I'm no copy." He fired his guns. Shadow dodged the shots and closed in on the hedgehog. Shadow spun and kicked the guns from Sperk's grasp. As he landed he spun on his heel and aimed a punch to Sperk's face. The green hedgehog managed to grab Shadow's arm and flip him over his head. Shadow hit the ground and rolled to his feet. Sperk chuckled and pulled a pair of daggers from his belt, "You are simply the prototype." Sperk jumped into the air and threw the daggers, "I'm the final product."

Shadow jumped back as the daggers impacted the ground, "Your nothing more than a pretender." The daggers exploded, kicking smoke and dust everywhere. Sperk shot through the smoke and slammed his fist down hard. His fist impacted the ground. Shadow ran out of the smoke and his right fist glowed green. He rammed it into Sperk's face and sent the hedgehog back several feet. Shadow smirked, "Power is useless without skill."

Sperk shook his head and stood up, "It is going to take more than one lucky punch to take me down. Chaos Control!" Both Sperk and Shadow vanished. The two clashed in chaos time at high speeds as they flew through the forest. Sperk's strength advantage pushed Shadow back. Shadow flew past several trees as Sperk followed. They flew up the waterfall and reappeared in normal time. Sperk's quills spread out and he started to glide down slowly as Shadow plummeted, "Nice move! You want to shoot yourself too?"

Shadow vanished in a burst of blue light and appeared above Sperk, "You may have the abilities off Sonic, Knuckles, and me but your too wasteful on your energy." Shadow fell and slammed into Sperk, "I held back just enough to get the upper hand." Both hedgehogs dropped from the sky and crashed into the river bellow. The river wasn't very deep and Sperk hit the bottom hard. Shadow leapt out of the river and landed on the bank, "Final product! You're barely a cheep imitation." He looked around, "Now where did that girl go?"

"Shadow!" Sperk flew out of the river and landed on the opposite side. He looked bruised as hell.

"Still standing! At least my DNA is proving itself."

Sperk grabbed a pair of gold gems from his belt and attached one to a wristband on each arm, "I'm not through yet!" He clenched his fist, "Chaos Surge!" He jumped up and the gems glowed yellow. He exploded with crimson light.

Shadow had to shield his eyes as a wave of light caused the area to shake. He stepped back as the light vanished, "Imposable!" Sperk was glowing crimson and his eyes seemed to burn with red light.

"Witness the ultimate power!" Sperk shot across the leg in a blink of an eye and slammed Shadow down with a punch to the gut. Before the black and red hedgehog could move, Sperk grabbed his leg and flung him several feet down the bank, "I am the ultimate life form." Sperk's hand sparked with crimson light, "You're just my shadow! Chaos Shot! A beam of crimson energy shot from his fist and flew at Shadow. Shadow rolled out of the way as the beam cut into the ground that he was on. The beam shot into the forest and exploded. Sperk started to walk towards Shadow, "Your time has come. I will ..." Sperk dropped to one knee and his crimson light and power died off. The gold gems on his wrist turned black and fell to the ground.

Shadow curled into a ball and rammed into the downed hedgehog. Sperk fell to the ground. Shadow stood up, "You've got power, but that is all you have." Shadow clenched his fist, "Time to end this!" As he raised his fist, a rock shot out of nowhere and slammed him down. The girl echidna held a white chaos emerald in her hands and was floating in the air. Her eyes were glowing a deep green. Shadow stood up, "What is this?"

"YOU WILL NOT HARM HIM!" Her voice echoed through out the area. Green energy shot from the emerald and wrapped around several boulders near the waterfall. They floated up and flew at Shadow. Shadow curled into a ball and managed to avoid the attacks.

As Shadow uncurled and tired to come up with a plan, several GUN Beetles floated down from the sky. They fired at the girl from behind. The girl cried out as the bullets hit her. Sperk suddenly sparked to life and stood up, "Leda!" He ran and caught her before she hit the ground. Sperk glared at Shadow as the Beetles took aim at him, "This isn't over!" Sperk placed his foot on the emerald the girl dropped and vanished.

Shadow started to back away as The Beetles flew at him. But they suddenly stopped and flew into the forest. As they left a helicopter flew over head and hovered near the ground. A man in a black combat uniform opened a door, "Shadow!"

"Yes!"

"I have orders to bring you and Sonic to the President!"

Shadow looked around and nodded. Its not like he had a better idea, "All right!" Shadow jumped onto the helicopter.

Sonic fell down as Metal closed in, "Your mine!" A pair of rockets shot from the forest and impacted Metal's chest. The android flew back and landed several feet away. As Sonic got up, four GUN troopers with bazookas ran up and stood in front of Sonic.

"When did I start being rescued?"

"The President requests a meeting with you and Shadow. We have already picked up your friend."

Sonic looked at the metal hedgehog slowly standing up. Metal's eyes glowed as he watched the humans take aim for another volley, "I'll be back! Chaos Accelerator!" He vanished in a burst of green light.

Sonic laughed as he sat down next to Shadow, "So what did you do today?" The two were on a jet heading towards Central City.

Shadow opened his eyes and uncrossed his arms, "Fighting another one of Robotnik's creations. He has two of The Chaos Emeralds."

"Three! Metal had one as well." Sonic cracked his neck, "What do you think he is up too?"

"I don't know. But I do know one thing. He is getting more ruthless." Shadow recrossed his arms and closed his eyes, "We will need to be on our guard."

"Right!"