Chapter 20

Shadow's eyes glistened with evil as his lips curled into an unnatural and rather sinister smile. Before him lay the greatest hero on Earth, beaten and bruised. Beaten by him, the ultimate life form, the conqueror of the planet

A small gust of wind graced the area as Shadow's black fur waved slowly in rhythm with it. He looked back down upon the fallen Sonic, laying there in a dirty crater, with blood seeping from his body.

His eyes were still closed and he was breathing very raggedly. Shadow had the opportunity to finish him off right here and now, the hero was helpless before him. Sonic had lost, and he had won. Victory was assured, for this was the mightiest warrior on the planet besides himself.

He had beaten them all, the world renowned hero Sonic the Hedgehog, the guardian of the legendary Master Emerald Knuckles the Echidna, and even his own sister, the second complete ultimate life form project, Amber the Hedgehog. They had all fallen at his feet here today.

He could easily conquer the rest of this feeble world and enslave humanity. But, for some reason…that idea did not satisfy him. No, he wanted ultimate destruction for this pathetic planet. He would create another empire, one on a world un-tainted by humans. He would start a whole new species there, and conquer the rest of the universe, just as he should have done when Black Doom visited the planet.

The Chaos hedgehog smirked slightly at the thought of his father, realizing how truly pathetic he was. His plan was to simply enslave humanity and slowly destroy them all by using their bodies as energy sources. Although he had to admit that as cruel, wiping them all out in one single blow seemed for fitting.

Not knowing what hit them, simply pondering in the after life for eternity trying to figure out why their entire race ceased to exist. It was perfect. So…that was what he would do, he would unleash his most powerful attack right into the heart of this planet and destroy it in less than a second. Of course, that would still be enough time to Chaos Control away to safety. Like he would go down with this planet, it didn't deserve his presence to grace them during their hour of doom.

He looked back down at Sonic. Really, he had to admit that this hedgehog was truly brave unlike any other. He would face unfathomable odds to fight for even the slightest chance of the safety of the ones he loved and cared for. And…that was his down fall.

The caring of others led to weakness, weakness led to enemies exploiting them, and that would lead to heart brake and despair. It was humorous really, how these humans treasured their loved ones above all the rest, yet were slowly destroying themselves through war and poverty. He would be doing them a favor really, by annihilating them all!

Shadow's train of thoughts ended as he heard the faint sound of falling rocks. Shadow's ebony eyes once gain fixed onto Sonic and they widened when they saw the hedgehog was actually moving!

'Impossible!' Shadow thought. He had delivered some of his most lethal attacks onto the hero, yet he was getting back up! How could a commoner such as him even match up with him, the ultimate life! The mere thought of this angered him as his fists unconsciously clenched.

But sure enough, Sonic's grassy green eyes slowly opened although you could tell he wasn't exactly…at home. They were glazed over completely, motioning that the hedgehog was barely becoming aware of his surroundings.

Shadow's wide ebony eyes narrowed as he raised one of his hands at the hedgehog, a black light of energy beginning to gather in it. He waited patiently as sonic wearily pushed himself onto his feet, with his arms dangling in front of him and his back hunched over.

"Dark Chaos Spear!" Shadow bellowed as he released a black bolt of energy, hitting Sonic directly in the chest and knocking him back down.

Shadow smirked as he lowered his hand. Sure, this hedgehog was exceptional, but everyone had their limits. He could sense his Chaos energy completely drained. He could barely manage to launch a simple blast attack at him anymore.

But, once again, Sonic stirred and got back to his feet.

'How is this possible?' Shadow thought. How could someone have so much will power? Shadow growled as he raised his hand at Sonic again.

"Dark Chaos Spear!" Shadow shouted as he launched the attack at Sonic. Surely, this had to be it!

But, right before impact, Sonic's head shot up as his fur burst to gold and his eyes turned to red. With the raise of his right hand, Sonic swatted the attack away with the back of his fist, sending it crashing into a nearby boulder and completely destroying it.

Shadow's mouth was gaped open as his usual intimidating eyes were wide with disbelief. There was no way. How could he have that much power left? Maybe he had underestimated this hedgehog. He was far more powerful than any regular hedgehog, but why?

Shadow didn't have time to ponder on that question as Sonic charged for him in a burst of golden light. Shadow smirked. Sure, he had entered the Super form, but it was a long while away from the Ultra form!

Sonic threw his right fist at the dark hedgehog as Shadow easily dodged out of the way. Then, with a simple raise of his hand, Shadow chopped Sonic right in the back of the neck.

The golden hedgehog's eyes widened as his mouth opened to scream, yet no sound came out, only spit. Sonic rocked a little before falling to the ground. The instant his fur hit the dirt, it returned to its usual sea blue.

"Hmph."

Shadow lifted off the ground, leaving Sonic lying on the ground, face first in the dirt. The hedgehog continued to almost casually fly up into the sky until he was at least a thousand feet above the ground.

Shadow tightened his fists into balls as he raised his arms to his sides. A black flame of energy surrounded him as dark energy sparks danced across his body. The energy flame around Shadow grew and grew until it was at least ten feet in diameter.

With a smirk, the hedgehog stretched both of his arms directly in front of him and curled his fingers, pointing the m to the inside as if to grab something. Then, with a burst of energy, a small ball of energy, no more than the size of a gold ball, formed within the curled hands of the Chaos hedgehog.

The flame of energy around Shadow grew and grew until it almost blocked out the sun. Dark clouds began to settle in the sky. Thunder roared and lighting struck, setting the background. Shadow smirked. What a fitting environment in which to destroy this planet in!

The small, almost tiny orb in his hand suddenly burst with energy and grew to the size of a semi-truck. Shadow laughed maniacally. "Yes, yes! Say goodbye to your planet humans!"

Thunder boomed in the back and a giant streak of lighting flashed just two feet behind Shadow, making him and his attack seem even more frightening and intimidating than they already were. Rain started falling, splattering to the ground and hitting the Chaos hedgehog. Wind roared, but did not affect Shadow as his attack continued to grow.

Another burst of energy turned the semi-truck sized attack into a mall-sized one. Shadow's ebony eyes gave off a strange glow as he let loose another horrific laugh, one which seemed to frighten the storm itself.

Ground

Sonic's eyes wearily opened, with only dark red in sight. Sonic painfully rolled his body over only to be hit in the eyes by multiple rain drops. The hedgehog's immediate reaction was to shut his eyes to protect them but he managed to keep them open.

But the sight he saw made him wish he never opened his eyes in the first place…

There, hovering above the earth was Chaos Shadow. Not only that, but he was carrying a large black orb of Chaos energy, one with so much power in it that it frightened the hero. With the push of his arms, Sonic stood to his full height only to collapse again.

Sonic huffed for air as he held his side in pain. Through the wind and rain, the hero managed to look up again to see the attack shadow was holding doubled in size! Sonic's weary eyes widened as he pushed himself back onto his feet.

He was completely drained. The fight had taken so much out of him that he could barely stand anymore. He was about to collapse again when he felt a pair of hands hold him up. Sonic managed to look to his side to see a familiar red echidna holding him up. Behind him were a golden hedgehog, a pink one, and a white bat.

Sonic smiled as Knuckles helped him stand totally vertically again. He smiled "Sonic, you can't give up yet! Maybe if you defeat Shadow, he'll come to his senses!"

Sonic shook his head. "No, I can't do it. I would have to acquire the Mega form for that and I've already wasted most of my energy."

Amy perked up and jumped next to Sonic. "Don't worry Sonic; we'll just do what we did before! We're completely recharged!"

Sonic smiled, as in disbelief of the statement he had just heard. "Are you sure?" He asked. He didn't want to endanger them.

Amy nodded eagerly. "Yeah, come on guys!" She motioned with her hand and Rouge and Amber came over, placing their hands onto the hedgehog's shoulder, along with Amy and Knuckles.

A faint blue glow began to be emitted from the group as Sonic's power began to recharge.

Sky

Shadow smirked out of amusement as he looked down upon the group, giving their energy to Sonic. 'How pathetic.' Shadow thought. 'Even if he were to ascend back to his Ultra form, the attack would be charged up by then.'

Shadow tensed his muscles up as the attack grew again. It was now the size of at least ten football stadiums. The dark light of the orb illuminated the already dark sky, making the scene currently unfolding more than qualified to be called the apocalypse.

With one final burst of energy, the dark flame around Shadow disappeared as the attack grew five times its previous size. It was now the same size as Mega Shadow's Chaos Comet attack.

Ground

Rouge, Knuckles, Amber, and Amy dropped to their knees in exhaustion as Sonic's blue fur burst to a fiery red and his eyes transformed to an ocean resembling blue. With one last look at his fallen friends, Sonic launched himself at the Shadow, without realizing what he was getting into.

Sky

Shadow laughed as he held the orb of energy in his hand. "Yes, this is it! The destruction of Earth!"

Then, in less than a thousandth's of a second, Shadow released the giant attack. "DAAAAAAAAAAAAAARK CHAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOS COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!"

The giant black ball of energy shot forth from Shadow's outstretched hands and illuminated the ground with unnatural black light, all the while heading directly for the charging Ultra Sonic.

Author's Note- Will Sonic be able to stop the Dark Chaos Comet or will Shadow's sick wish for the destruction of Earth come true? Find out tomorrow in the final chapter of An Ultimate's Wrath!