Chapter 14

Shadow's blue energy trail slowly disintegrated in the air as he advanced towards Eclipse. The evil hedgehog took a defensive stance as Shadow made impact with a bright blue explosion. Within the bright light, two silhouettes could be seen, one small and one big throwing an array of punches and kicks towards each other.

The light cleared as both figures warped away at the same time. They both reappeared twenty feet east of their previous position and continued to throw punches. Shadow came at Eclipse with a Chaos Spear but Eclipse swatted it away with his left arm. Eclipse then came at Shadow with a side kick but Shadow ducked just in time as the kick flew by harmlessly overhead.

Eclipse's tail lashed out for Shadow but the hedgehog was prepared as he caught it with both hands. With one powerful pull, the end of Eclipse's tail was ripped from the rest as blood fell towards the ground far below. Eclipse growled slightly as his tail reformed and he threw his fist at Shadow. Shadow arched his back backwards to avoid the attack.

Eclipse then warped right above Shadow and did a horizontal flip, coming down on Shadow's entire body with his leg. A massive pain shot through Shadow's body as he was sent spiraling downwards. The hedgehog soon recovered however, and warped back towards Eclipse.

Eclipse's claw glowed a dull white as an energy orb formed within it. "CHAOS BOMB!" The attack launched right towards the unsuspecting Shadow as he moved to the side, with the attack only hitting his left arm. Immediately, blood started oozing out of multiple gashes as huge black burn marks covered his tan skin where the fur was burned off.

Shadow grimaced a little from the pain but charged for Eclipse once again. Reeling his right fist back, Shadow sent it directly towards Eclipse's stomach. The monster took the hit and attempted his own hook, but Shadow moved his head to the left before impact. While Eclipse's massive body was lurched forward, Shadow thought it the perfect time for a certain attack.

"CHAOS FURY!" Light blue energy orbs surrounded Shadow's fists as he began pounding both powered up hands against Eclipse's stomach. The monster was too slow to react and was caught by the attack.

With every blow, Eclipse started sweating and huffing more as his body arched more and more. Shadow's face tightened up in concentration as he increased his speed to where it seemed almost impossible to see his arms.

Eclipse still did not react as energy bolts cracked around Shadow. Finally, the blue hedgehog let up and drifted back a little with the energy orbs still surrounding his fists Eclipse reeled over in pain as his breathing became very heavy. Shadow then stuck both of his arms towards his brother and released both orbs, sending them colliding with Eclipse's head.

Smoke filled the air as a monstrous scream echoed through the skies. The smoke cleared to reveal half of Eclipse's monstrous head had been completely scorched off. A light surrounded his body as the head reformed and Eclipse stood upright again breathing and sweating very heavily.

'He must be getting exhausted from all the regenerating.' Shadow thought. Not that the battle hadn't taken its toll on Shadow himself. Shadow's left arm was still bleeding heavily and there were other cuts and bruises scattered across his body.

Eclipse continued breathing heavily but came back at Shadow with a Chaos Sword in hand. Shadow's own body began to glow dark red, along with his eyes. When Eclipse was only a mere ten feet away, he launched his attack. The silver energy bolt flew towards Shadow, who was fully prepared.

"CHAOS BLAST!" Shadow shouted as a monstrous explosion, twice the size of a normal one, rocketed the sky. Eclipse reacted quickly though, and warped backwards to safety. When the Chaos Blast cleared, Eclipse charged full speed at Shadow and wrapped both clawed hands around the Ultra hedgehog's body.

Rouge's Mansion: Basement

Rouge paced around restlessly in her private gym while Cram, Tails, Amy, and Amber just sat on the cushioned ground of the ring.

Rouge finally snapped towards them. "How come we can't fight? Maybe they need our help!"

Amber sighed at Rouge. "Rouge, you know what my brother said: Stay here and be safe. He doesn't want us to get hurt."

Rouge huffed. "So what, I wanna help them! I'm worried about them!"

Amy snickered. "You mean you're worried about Shadow, right?"

Rouge blushed slightly at the pink hedgehog's comment. "Well…yeah! But I'm worried about the rest of them too!"

Amy rolled her eyes. "Yeah right!"

Rouge glared at Amy. "What about Sonic? Aren't you worried about him too?"

Amy's confident face turned to a worried one. "Yeah…I am." She mumbled.

Rouge then turned to Amber. "And what about Knuckles?"

Amber turned away at Rouge's comment. "He can handle himself."

Rouge growled at both females. "Come on! I know you wanna help them!"

Amber looked away slightly before answering. "Look, even if I did want to, Omega won't let us out!"

Rouge smirked. "Is that your only problem? Well then, I can handle that!"

Amber's eyes light up. "You can?"

Rouge stuck her nose up high in the air. "Of course I can! I've been traveling with Omega for a while and I know his weak points."

"Like what?" Amy asked.

Rouge looked at Amy. "Before I tell you, you have to tell me whether you're coming or not."

Amy thought for a moment and placed a finger on her chin. "Sure, I'll come. The men could use our help."

Rouge smiled. "That's more like it."

Rouge then motioned with her hands as everyone gathered around her. "Okay," She whispered. "Here's the plan."

Omega was silently standing in front of the exit when he heard a distress call. "Omega, I hurt my ankle! Could you come look at it?" Cream cried.

Omega directed his attention towards the rabbit in the fighting ring. "Affirmative!"

Omega slowly hovered over to the fallen rabbit and took a knee in front of her. "What is the condition of your ankle?" Omega asked.

"Well," Cream began. "It hurts right here!" Cream said pointing to the left side of her left ankle. "Affirmative, proceeding to scan!"

Omega's eyes light to a dull green color for a minute before returning to normal. "No possible injury found. Be more direct!" Omega ordered.

The robot looked at the rabbit to find she had run off to play with Tails. The colossal robot stood back up and turned back to the door to find three females walking out of the door. "HALT!" Omega ordered.

Rouge turned her head slightly as her eyes widened. "Uh Oh! RUN!" Immediately, all three girls ran out of the exit door as Omega's jets light up and he sped after them.

With Shadow

Eclipse added another great amount of pressure to the already crushing force that he was exerting on Shadow. The monster's entire body tensed up as Shadow unwillingly let out a scream of pain.

Eclipse smirked while looking down at Shadow. "THAT'S RIGHT LITTLE BROTHER, SCREAM!"

Shadow shook his head as if trying to get rid of the pain. He couldn't last much longer. His body was already pushed past its limits. The Ultra form was the only thing keeping him alive, and it was fading away fast.

Shadow's body tensed as he tried to get out of Eclipse's vice grip, only to have the monster add even more pressure. Blood started seeping out of Shadow's mouth as his vision started to get blurry.

His icy blue fur blinked black several times as Shadow began to lose consciousness. The dark hedgehog struggled to keep holding on.

Eclipse looked down and laughed evilly at Shadow's futile attempts at escape. "TRY ALL YOU WANT SHADOW, YOU'RE DONE FOR!"

Shadow tried ignoring Eclipse's insults but he knew the last one to be true. Shadow's power had been decreasing since the beginning of the battle while Eclipse's had stayed the same, maybe even gotten stronger.

Somehow, Eclipse really tapped into the new power of the Chaos form and Shadow just couldn't keep up. Though Shadow was starting to lose touch with the outside world, Eclipse's voice once again boomed across his ears.

"YOU HAVE FAILED SHADOW!" Eclipse said while smirking victoriously. "I AM THE NEW RULER OF THE PLANET EARTH!"

Shadow shook his head furiously and snapped his eyes shut. "No, no, no, I won't let you!" Shadow stated weakly.

Eclipse smirked again. "I'M AFRAID THAT'S NOT AN OPTION SHADOW, I WIN, YOU LOSE! I WILL RULE UNCONTESTED AS THE ENTIRE WORLD WILL BOW AT MY FEET!"

Eclipse then leaned in closer to the hedgehog in his grip and spoke in almost a whisper "…And when it is all said and done, I will kill the bat you treasure so dearly, right in front of your eyes!"

Shadow's eyes snapped open at that comment as a dull white energy surrounded him. Eclipse backed his head up in a confused manner and stared at the hedgehog. Shadow looked back up at Eclipse. His eyes were now a shiny golden color.

With a huge flash of white light, Shadow broke free from Eclipse's grip. The awestruck monster stumbled back as the white light cleared. He looked up to see Shadow staring hatefully at him.

"You will do…NO SUCH THING!" With a burst of light, Shadow's fur blinked to pure white as he appeared right in front of Eclipse in the blink of an eye and delivered a devastating punch right to his stomach.

The monster's eyes widened as his mouth lurched open and appeared frozen in a silent scream. Lurching forward, a long line of blood ran down from his lips and flew down below.

Shadow's fur blinked back to icy blue as his eyes also returned to their natural color. He was also baffled at what had just happened. 'What was that? Was that some kind of new form?'

Eclipse slowly arched back to a straight position and looked at the Ultra hedgehog in front of him with wide eyes. "WHY DID YOU SUDDENLY GET THAT POWERFUL?"

Shadow looked up at him with a confused look plastered on his face. "I…don't know."

Eclipse slightly tilted his head but it soon returned to a perfect vertical position as he charged for Shadow again. He came at him with a Chaos Sword in hand. Shadow also regained consciousness to the situation and started gathering a Chaos Spear in his right hand.

Eclipse's body lurched forwards right in front of Shadow. "CHAOS WORD!"

Shadow's hand also struck forth. "Chaos Spear!"

Both attacks negated each other out as both ultimates charged for each other again.

With The Girls

Rouge, Amber, and Amy burst through the front door of Rouge's mansion and were met by heavy rain and thunderous lighting.

Struggling to see through the dark storm, the girls soon saw a great number of things out of place, literally.

Huge chunks of land were completely missing everywhere throughout the neighborhood. "What in the world…" Rouge said with wide eyes.

The girls didn't have long to think about it though as a loud voice was heard. "RETURN TO SAFETY IMMEDIATELY!"

Rouge looked back to see Omega coming back at them with his jets shooting him forward. The albino bat quickly turned to Amber. "Quick, turn into your Super form!"

Amber looked at Rouge questionably. "But why?"

"JUST DO IT!" Rouge screamed.

Amber nodded nervously as her fur transformed to a brilliant golden. "Now, grab Amy and fly up, I know where they are!" Rouge instructed.

Amber nodded again and scooped up the unsuspecting pink hedgehog. "Hey! What are you"- But before she could finish, Amber already shot up through the clouds.

Rouge then began flapping her wings and took to the skies just in time as Omega attempted to grab her. Rouge smiled and proceeded to fly upward.

With Shadow

Shadow and Eclipse impacted once again and quickly sprang away from each other. Eclipse now glowed brilliant silver as Shadow began to glow dark red.

Eclipse quickly warped towards Shadow and released his attack. "CHAOS INFERNO!"

Shadow was prepared for the attack and let loose a Chaos Blast of equal magnitude. With a loud explosion, both blasts cancelled each other out as Shadow charged for Eclipse through the smoke.

Shadow spun sideways and delivered a hard side kick right to Eclipse's left arm. Eclipse winced slightly but sent his right fist straight at Shadow who had no time to dodge and was hit full force. Shadow's head snapped back as he stood still in that position.

Eclipse looked over at him and retreated his arms and then folded them both across his chest. "DO YOU NEED A PERSONAL INVITATION, OR WHAT?"

Shadow moved his head back to look at Eclipse. A thin line of blood was running from the corner of his lip, and he had a huge smirk on his face. "No, I just thought…" Shadow formed his hands into a bowl shape as a purple energy ball formed within it. "…I'd try something new."

Eclipse's eyes widened. "HOW CAN YOU STILL HAVE THAT MUCH ENERGY LEFT?"

Shadow's eyes narrowed. "Because I am the Ultimate Life! CHAOS NIGHTMARE!"

The devastating attack was released and flew straight for the bewildered Eclipse. Reacting to slow, the beast was hit directly in the chest. A loud explosion shook the skies as a huge cloud of smoke filled the air.

It cleared with a strong gust of wind, showing the damaged Eclipse, or what was left of him. Only one arm, half the chest, and the head remained. Shadow smirked warily. Eclipse opened his eyes and stared hatefully at the hedgehog.

Sweat ran down his face as he contorted it. His body began to glow silver as his body reformed. The monster opened his eyes as he breathed heavily.

Shadow smiled. "I guess someone's getting tired?"

Eclipse looked up and glared at Shadow. "THIS IS FAR FROM OVER SHADOW!"

Shadow continued to smirk when he felt the last of his energy leave him. In the blink of an eye, Shadow's blue fur changed back to silver as he downgraded to his Hyper form.

Eclipse laughed evilly when he saw this. "LOOKS LIKE I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE GETTING TIRED; NOW THIS WILL BE A WHOLE LOT EASIER!"

Shadow breathed heavily. He already lost the Ultra form and he couldn't sustain this one much longer. That last attack took the rest of his juice out of him. Eclipse took the opportunity and charged for the weary Shadow, driving his elbow into his face, and sending the hedgehog flying back.

With Rouge

Rouge continued flying up through the dark clouds steadily when she burst through the upper layer. She momentarily covered her eyes from the harsh sunlight but soon squinted them open to see all the missing chunks of land floating silently around her.

Rouge gasped slightly but soon got back to reality when she heard her name. The bat looked over to see Amber and Amy kneeling by something on a piece of grassy land.

Struggling to keep airborne, Rouge warily flapped her wings and landed beside the two to see them sitting next to Sonic and Knuckles, both out cold.

Rouge looked at Amber. "Are they…alive?"

Amber looked up from Knuckles and smiled slightly. "Yeah, they're just knocked out."

Rouge sighed but her calm face soon turned to a concerned one when she realized something. "Doesn't that mean Shadow's fighting Eclipse alone?"

Amy looked up, equally shocked by the realization. "Oh my gosh, he is! But, where are they?"

The moment those words left her lips, a loud crash was heard not too far away as a huge cloud of dust was stirred up. All three girls looked up to see Shadow, now back in his normal form, lying face first in the dirt.

Amber and Rouge immediately sprang up and ran to his side. They both took a knee in front of him as Rouge scooped Shadow up in her lap. "Shadow, Shadow?"

Shadow wearily opened his eyes to look at the bat. Once he laid eyes on her, his weary expression turned to an angry one. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Rouge was a little taken back by Shadow's cold tone but regained her composure. "We couldn't let you boys fight alone."

Shadow gave her a questionable look. "We?"

Amber came into his view, as did Amy who had walked over. "Yeah, we." Amber stated.

Shadow looked at all of them and started standing up, however, he fell back down after the attempt.

"Shadow, please. Stay down, you're hurt." Rouge coaxed.

Shadow looked at her. "Eclipse is coming, I have to get up!"

"Shadow, you can't fight him in your condition!" Amber said with concern in her voice.

"If I don't, WHO WILL?" Shadow yelled.

Amber flinched at Shadow but responded. "I will."

Shadow's eyes widened. "What?"

Amber faced him. "You heard me, I'll fight Eclipse."

Shadow shook his head. "Amber, he's way to strong."

Amber smiled at him, "I have a few tricks up my sleeve."

Shadow tilted his head. "Like what?"

Amber smirked and stuck her hands in the air. The seven Chaos Emeralds floated over to her from the ground.

Shadow's eyes widened. "How…?"

Amber smiled. "We picked them all up when we got here. The Master Emerald isn't recharged yet but should be soon."

Shadow nodded at Amber. "Alright, give it a try."

"AM I INTERRUPTING THE REUNION..."

Everyone turned around wide-eyed to see the monstrous Eclipse standing not twenty feet from them with his wings folded behind his back and his arms crossed. "…BECAUSE I WOULD HATE TO SEE THIS LOVELY REUNION TURN INTO A FUNERAL!"