Sperk slowly stepped back as Shadow and Sonic stood ready to attack. Metal was no where to be seen and Robotnik's troops were spread thinly over the island. Sonic started to move towards him, but Shadow stopped him, "He's mine!" Sonic nodded and backed off. "I'll give you one chance to get out of this painlessly. Tell me what Robotnik is planning."

"You think a painless death is any different to me than a painful one." Sperk summoned his emerald, "Chaos Control!"

Shadow laughed as Sperk vanished, "You think you can beat me in my own element. Chaos Control!" He vanished in a burst of light. Both Sonic and Knuckles stood silent as they waited for any signs of the hedgehogs. They heard some high pitched crashes and energy sparks. There was a flash of green light and both hedgehogs fell out of the sky and landed on the ground. Shadow was the first to his feet. He had several scrape marks on his body and face. Sperk stood up next. He didn't look injured, but he was breathing a lot harder than Shadow. Shadow took a deep breath, "Ready to tell me what I want to know?"

"From my viewpoint, your losing this fight."

"I may have more injures, but your in no condition to fight. You wasted to much of your energy." Shadow summoned his emerald and his fist glowed yellow, "While I have power to spare!" Shadow pointed the emerald at Sperk, "Chaos Spear!" Several bolts of light shot from the emerald and exploded on contact with Sperk. The hedgehog was blasted back and he rolled across the ground. Shadow ran and pinned him down with his foot. He drew one of his guns and pointed it at Sperk, "Last chance!"

"Yeah! Yours!"

Metal shot out of the forest at high speed and grabbed the gun barrel. He ripped it from Shadow's grasp and gripped his talon around the hedgehog's neck, "As much as I hate to admit this, but I still need this one." He flung Shadow into the air. Knuckles jumped up and caught Shadow before he hit the ground. Metal helped Sperk to his feet, "Your deaths will come soon, our master has a special death in store for you two." His chest gem flashed and he vanished with Sperk in tow.

Sonic laughed, "Yeah right! You guys are just wimps."

"No Sonic!" Shadow sat down, "They are quite capable of killing us."

"WHAT?" Both Sonic and Knuckles stared at the hedgehog.

Shadow crossed his arms and closed his eyes, "I can sense chaos energy. Both of them haven't unleashed their full power yet. So far they are just using a fraction of the chaos power they have."

"So you saying their holding back?"

"Yeah! I doubt Metal is using all of his abilities. He could have crushed my throat, but he didn't. And Sperk, he is purposely over taxing his body. Making it appear that he can't fight for long." Shadow opened his eyes and stood up, "Robotnik wants them to just keep us down. He has something planned. Something big!" The island shook. Shadow cursed, "I hate being right all the time."

"The Master Emerald!" The trio ran into the forest.

They reached the giant stone altar and nearly froze at the sight. One of Robotnik's Egg Ships had a large clamp on The Master Emerald and was slowly hauling it out of its protective chamber with a large black cable. Knuckles ran up the steps, "Get your hands off my emerald." Knuckles jumped up and grabbed the emerald. He slammed his fist into the clamp. It cracked under the blow, but still held onto the emerald. Knuckles brought his fist back to strike again, but a metal talon grabbed his wrist.

Metal had shot out of the chamber and grabbed the cable, "You didn't really didn't think I would abandon my mission."

"You will not steal my emerald." Knuckles let go of the emerald and rammed his fist into Metal's face. The android released his grip and both fell onto the altar. Knuckles landed on top and continued to slam his fists into Metal's face, "Save the emerald."

Both Sonic and Shadow charged up the stone staircase, only to have it explode under him. Both hedgehogs landed on the ground. Sperk jumped out of the chamber and grabbed a large piece of rubble. He slammed into the back of Knuckles's skull. The echidna fell off Metal and the android stood up. Metal's face was covered in dents from the echidna's attacks. "I kind of like the new you."

"Shut up!" Metal grabbed Knuckles's leg and tossed him off the altar. He landed on the ground next to Sonic, "Take your friend and leave. Your time will come soon!" Both Metal and Sperk grabbed the cable and the emerald was pulled free. The island shook violently and slowly started to fall. The Egg Ship slowly acceded into the air.

Knuckles slowly shook his head, "Damn it!" He stood up and watched the ship vanished, "Robotnik will pay for this."

"Good thing the island will slowly fall."

Shadow glared at Sonic and shook his head, "Yeah right!" A large flash of blue light shot from the Egg Ship and exploded against the island. The island shook harder, "We need to get off this thing."

"I thought the fat one wanted them alive." Sperk watched the crumbling island from one of the ships view screens. Metal was sitting in a large metal chair. Several wires and cables snaked out from open ports on the android and connected with the machines around him.

"If a simple collapsing island could kill Sonic, he wouldn't be worthy enough for me to kill." Metal's eyes flashed as micro beetle bots repaired his face, "And I am sure Shadow is just as or more resourceful." Sperk shrugged. Metal's eyes glowed blue and all the machines around them shutdown.

"Power failure!"

"No! I have disabled all of the spying equipment." Metal's eyes glowed red in the darkness, "You and I have a similar problem. We are both forced to serve Robotnik."

"And your point would be?"

"If we work together, I could remove that bomb collar from your friend and you could help me transfer my mind to a different robot body. Then we could kill Robotnik and finally be free from him."

Sperk nodded, "I could live with that. The sooner the better."

Metal's eyes glowed blue, "We must plan carefully. Robotnik is an idiot, but he isn't a fool. We will work in the shadows until the time is right." The power in the room came back on, "Right now we must plan for the next fight with our counter parts." Metal's eyes shutdown and the android went into sleep mode.

Sonic and Shadow could have easily ran off the falling island, but they had to make sure Knuckles got off as well. The injury he had sustained from Sperk had given him a huge headache and he couldn't concentrate enough to glide. The island was falling apart and the trio had to jump onto parts of the island that still had a small charge of the emerald. The GUN jet that had flew them there had to hover a small distance away as the island cracked. Sonic ran up several trees and jumped onto a still floating rock. He spotted what he was looking for. Tails had installed a small catapult launcher for the Tornado on the island and is seemed to be in good shape, "I found it!" Knuckles and Shadow climbed after him and they ran onto the small strip of metal. The area was reinforced with steel so it held together extremely well. Knuckles pulled free a large piece of sheet metal from the launcher's power generator and set it on the catapult. Shadow grabbed a small hand torch from Tails's small tool kit and wielded the piece onto the launcher.

"Good to go!"

Sonic nodded and grabbed his PDA, "Can you get a fix on us?"

"Yes Sir!" The GUN jet positioned itself in front of them launcher. Because of the exploding pieces of island, they had to stay over a hundred yards away from the island while trying to stay level with the launcher as it fell.

All three of the mammals jumped onto the sheet metal and Sonic reached for the button, "This should be fun. He pressed the button and the launcher sparked to life. They had to hold on as the catapult shot them forward at high speeds. They let go as the launcher reached the end of the track and were flung into the air. The jet opened its side door and they fell into it.

Knuckles quickly got up and watched as his island exploded and fell into the sea, "My Home!" The echidna for the first time in his life shed tears.

Sonic griped his shoulder, "We'll get Robotnik back for this. I promise!"

An hour later as The GUN jet flew towards Mystic Ruins, they got a communication call. Sonic and crew watched a small monitor. Sperk's image appeared, "So you survived. I'm impressed."

Sonic had to hold Knuckles back from smashing the screen as Shadow stepped in front of it. "What do you want?"

Sperk smiled, "Just you! It is time we settle our differences. Meet me in Ruin City seven days from now."

"Robotnik finally let you off your leash?"

Sperk frowned, "I am nobody's dog." He chuckled, "He doesn't even know about this. It will be just you and me. Seven days, Ruin City, bring only what you can carry." The screen went dark.

Sonic managed to sit Knuckles down, "You going?" Shadow nodded and started for the back. "Hey!" Sonic grabbed his arm, "How do you know this isn't a trap to separate us?"

"It isn't!" He pulled his arm free, "He wants to prove to the world he is my superior. I want to show him what a true ultimate life form can do." Shadow smirked, "This fight will be on the level. And I will take great joy and pounding my blood out of his body." He walked to the back cabins.

Sonic sighed, "Well that is just fine for you. But I have to deal with a psycho robot version of me. At least yours is flesh and blood." Sonic sat down, "When will all this end."

Knuckles smashed his fist into the side of the wall, "When we finally put that fat piece of dirt seven feet under."

Sonic gulped, "Great! Now everyone I know has a bloodlust. This is turning out to be a perfect day."