Chapter 19
Sonic barely managed to duck out of the way as Shadow's gloved fist swept over head. The hero wasted no time and kicked the dark hedgehog right in the stomach with as much force as he could muster.
Shadow bent over in pain and grasped his stomach as Sonic jumped back and pointed both of his hands at the dark hedgehog. "Hyper Blast!" Sonic shouted as he released a devastating red beam of Chaos energy.
Shadow barely managed to look up before the attack hit him square in the chest and sent him flying back, crashing into a large metallic dome. Sonic dropped to his knees as he lowered his hands, completely exhausted.
One Hundred Feet Away
Emerald green eyes began to slowly flutter open as Rogue regained her consciousness. The bat immediately grasped her head out of pain as she rolled over on her back. With a grunt, the huntress managed to sit up and looked to her surroundings. Amy and Amber were lying right next to her, still unconscious, and Knuckles lay about ten feet away from them, also out cold.
Wearily and slowly, Rouge pushed herself off the ground and stood on her own two feet. She had located Knuckles, Amy, and Amber, but where was Sonic and Shadow?
Her question began answered as a loud voice echoed through the air.
"Hyper Blast!"
Rouge's head snapped to her left to see a red figure a hundred feet away shoot a large red beam at a black figure, sending it into a metallic dome. The red figure then dropped to its knees, obviously in pain.
"Sonic!" She yelled at last, recognizing the person. It was the hero, no doubt, but his fur was fiery red.
'He must have transformed!' Rouge shouted in her mind.
With Sonic
The dome Shadow was buried under exploded in a huge black inferno as Shadow stepped out of the light, a ball of black energy in hand. Sonic looked up in time as the ball was launched at him. The hero managed to dart out of the way of the attack as it collided with the ground, completely annihilating it.
In a flash of light, the dark hedgehog was before Sonic again and delivered a devastating punch right to his face. Sonic hit the ground and landed on his back, his fur flashing between red and gold. Shadow smirked as he stomped on his chest, earning a yell of pain from Sonic.
Shadow's eyes glistened with unnatural satisfaction as he added pressure to Sonic's chest. The red hedgehog's eyes widened as a small spurt of blood erupted from his mouth. Shadow removed his foot and pointed his right hand directly at Sonic.
A faint black light turned into a blinding one as the dark hedgehog gathered energy in his hand. With a malicious smirk, Shadow bellowed out the name of the attack. "Dark Chaos Nightmare!"
The orb of energy was released but just before it made impact with Sonic, a pink blur snatched him away from harm. The attack impacted in a blinding black light as rock crumbled under the force of the blast.
The light cleared to reveal nothing more than a large hole. Shadow looked to his side to see a pink hedgehog standing there, holding up a red one.
The dark one smirked as he turned his full body to them. "How pathetic, a female had to come and save you."
Amy's eyes narrowed as she carefully let Sonic to the ground, all the while with her eyes still on the Chaos hedgehog. "Say what you want Shadow, but friends help you in more ways than you could think."
The dark hedgehog laughed, obviously amused. "Friends? Please, all they serve to be is an obstacle. These "friends" will hold you back."
"You're wrong Shadow!" She yelled.
Suddenly, Shadow appeared right before Amy, causing her to shriek and lose her balance. Shadow caught her by the arm before she could hit the ground and brought her to his eye level. "Really? Would you mind repeating that?" He asked with a smirk, adding pressure to her arm, causing Amy to cry out in pain.
Sonic, still on the ground, heard her cry of pain and completely lost it. With a new found strength, the Ultra hedgehog stood to his full height and stared hatefully at Shadow. "Let. Her. Go!"
Shadow turned his head slightly to acknowledge the hero. "Why should I?" He asked, giving Amy's arm another squeeze and earning another cry of pain.
A dull whit energy surrounded Sonic as his fur flared to a more solid red. Shadow smirked. "Ah, finally on the brink eh? Well then." He said, raising his fist. "Allow me to help!"
And with those words, Shadow lightly jabbed Amy in the stomach, causing her to scream in pain and pass out. Shadow smirked as he heartlessly dropped her to the ground at his feet.
Sonic's eyes widened as they blinked from blue to a solid gold. White energy waves rolled from his body as his quills stood totally on end. Shadow crossed his arms, as if impatient for the event to continue.
Suddenly, with a bright burst of light, Sonic's fur erupted to a beautiful white. The hedgehog floated off the ground slightly as golden energy sparks danced across his body. Then, in the blink of an eye and too fast for even Shadow to catch, Sonic darted forward and delivered a devastating punch to the dark hedgehog's gut.
Shadow's eyes widened in pain as he grasped his stomach, and dropped to his knees. Sonic retreated his fist as his fur blinked back to a middle classed red and his eyes turned back to a cool blue.
Lowering his gaze on Shadow, Sonic walked over to Amy and picked her up bridal style, disappearing in a flash of light.
With Rouge
The beautiful female huntress sat against a small rock, watching over the still unconscious Amber and Knuckles. She had remembered Amy awakening and running off to save Sonic. She had tried to talk her out of it, telling her Shadow would surely kill her.
The rose hedgehog didn't want to listen though as she madly dashed off to save her hero. Rouge had to admit, she admired the girl for her bravery but…she herself was too scared of Shadow to go near him now.
He had knocked her unconscious, told her he didn't need love, and even tried to kill her friends. How could such an evil form reside within such a loving person?
The bat didn't have time to ponder on it as a red flash of light illuminated the area, making Sonic, who was holding Amy, appear.
Rouge immediately sprang up and ran over to them as Sonic put the pink hedgehog to the ground, slowly and carefully.
"What happened?" Rouge asked as she took a knee in front of Amy.
"Shadow." Was Sonic's only reply.
Rouge was in shock. How could he? How could he attack Amy? She was about to speak again when Sonic disappeared in a flash of light, obviously going back to fight Shadow.
Rogue looked back down upon the peacefully slumbering hedgehog. She decided right then and there; this had to stop! Getting up, the huntress took flight and headed towards the battle.
Battlefield
Sonic reappeared again in the exact same spot from whence he came and spotted Shadow standing there with his arms folded and eyes closed.
"Well," He said with his eyes still shut. "I was wondering when you would come back."
"You went too far Shadow!" Sonic yelled at his counterpart.
Shadow opened his eyes. "Ah yes, the pink one. It was really a feat transforming into your Mega form from that, even if it was only for a couple of seconds."
Sonic stepped forward a little as Shadow continued. "But even heart is not enough to reach that form. You have to have at least a certain energy level to maintain it and I'm afraid…You burned up most of your energy already."
"I don't need the Mega form to beat you!" Sonic retaliated.
Shadow smirked. "Hmph, look at you! One more energy attack and you're through. You'd fall all the way back to your Super form!"
Sonic smiled cockily. "Well then, let's find out!"
Shadow unfolded his arms. "As you wish."
Shadow charged forward in a black flash of light as Sonic also kicked off the ground, leaving a red trail of energy behind. Both hedgehogs clashed in a burst of black and red light, going into a lighting fast type of combat, delivering several punches and kicks to each other.
This continued as the light cleared and both warriors gradually began moving up into the sky, all the way still fighting each other at lighting fast speeds. Shadow managed to hammer Sonic right in the gut with one very precisely placed punched and floated back twenty yards.
A sinister smile edged its way onto Shadow's lips as he drew his hand back, a dark ball of energy forming in it. Sonic, who had recovered from the blow, did the same, charging up a red ball of energy in the same hand Shadow was charging his attack in.
"Dark Chaos Spear!" Shadow yelled as he fired the attack, creating a black beam of energy instead of an open handed single blast as usual.
"Hyper Blast!" Sonic shouted as he released his red beam of energy with it heading straight for Shadow's attack.
Both attacks impacted in the middle of the two warriors, creating a huge black and red sphere, with the two continuous beams feeding it and making it larger. Sonic tensed his arm up more as veins started appearing on them, with his arms growing larger with muscles.
Shadow's arms also did the same, with them growing larger and sprouting large veins on the outside. Both hedgehogs pushed themselves more and more as the huge sphere grew, along with the beams.
Gradually, the sphere started moving closer and closer to Sonic as Shadow's beam grew larger than his. Sonic grimaced slightly as Shadow added even more power to his beam, pushing the dome back towards him even more.
Shadow smiled evilly as he gave the beam another push of energy, making the sphere appear a few feet from the hero. The unnatural winds of the dome viciously blew Sonic's quills around as Shadow gave it another push.
The sphere was now mere inches away from Sonic as he closed his eyes slightly and turned his head away from the attack. Then, with a malicious smirk on his face, Shadow added more power to the beam, forcing it into Sonic.
It all happened in less than a second as the sphere collided with Sonic. Shadow's beam of energy ceased as Sonic's scream of pain echoed through the air. The sphere disappeared to show a badly burned and bloody Sonic.
The hero was back in his regular form as he plummeted to the ground, colliding with a loud crash. Shadow smirked again a she lowered his hands and floated down slightly so he was fifty feet above the fallen hero.
Blood slowly ran out of Sonic's mouth as he remained completely motionless with his eyes shut.
Author's Note- Is this the end of Sonic? The end of Earth? Find out tomorrow!
