What's your status?

"I've found his main lab... How much time do we have?"

A few minutes tops.

"Hmph, plenty of time... I don't see how you can sit in these air ducts for days on end, Rouge. It's very uncomfortable."

Rouge's laughter ran through Shadow's commlink as he scooted himself through the narrow passages that ran through Eggman's base. With the villain out of the house, for the time being, it was a perfect time for a reconnaissance mission to uncover his latest plan. So far, that mission had led to Shadow squeezing himself up into the air duct and crawling through it towards the center of his operation, while Rouge and Omega distracted the robot guards.

The hedgehog peered through the grate for any signs of robot security, and then knocked it loose and dropped down to the floor. "Okay...Remind me again why I'm the one who had to infiltrate this place instead of you?"

I thought the high and mighty Ultimate Lifeform could do anything.

"Just because I can do something, that doesn't mean I'm particularly good at it."

Just plug the PDA into the console and let it do the work, Grumpy-Quills. Omega's having a field day out here.

"Of course he is...Standby for file transfer."

Shadow pulled the PDA out of his bag and after finding a port, plugged it into the computer. "Everything downloaded to this site's computer, everything he's working on. New robots, locations of upcoming bases and attacks..."

Have no problem with your family being the enemy, huh?

"The Doctor and I are hardly family. His grandfather may have created me, but that by no means makes him my nephew."

Now there's a family tree that I'd like to see.

Shadow rolled his eyes, and then pulled the PDA out as it finished its upload. "Alright, I'm finished. I'll meet you-"

"DON'T LEAVE ME!"

Shadow paused, his ears pricking as he heard the cry of a child. "What the..."

What is it, Shadow?

"...Hold that thought. I'm checking something out."

Shadow looked around the lab, searching for the source of the cry. "... Is someone there?"

There was an almost absolute silence that followed. Ringing echoed in Shadow's ears as they tried to find anything to hear, any feedback to pick up. Then all at once it was shattered by a loud roar as a shape came barreling out of the wall and knocking Shadow into the opposite wall. Shadow gave a grunt and then ducked as they swung at him. "Metal Sonic...!"

The robot hedgehog's glowing red gaze showed no emotion as it shot forward once more, scratching deep into the wall as Shadow dodged.

"Chaos Spear!" Shadow threw the bolts at his adversary, but it spun out of the way. It grabbed Shadow's wrists and knocked him to the floor, Shadow fired the rockets on his shoes into the robot's torso engine, sending smoke sputtering out of its back. With a strong shove he ripped the robot's left arm out of its socket and then began beating its helm with it.

Shadow, what is going on in there?

"Kinda busy, Rouge. Gotta call you back!" Shadow hissed as he dodged another lunge. Alarms were going now as their battle broke monitors and consoles, the lights casting a bright red glow down into the lab.

Self-Destruct Sequence initiated.

Shadow cursed under his breath as he knocked Metal away. "I don't have time for this...!"

Metal Sonic pulled itself back up, sparks flying from its joints and its visor cracked, but it was by now mean down. Shadow prepared for another attack, but then a loud crash brought his attention to behind him in time for a large sheet of metal off of the wall to come crashing down on top of him. His vision cut out for a brief moment, and when it returned, he was pinned to the floor by Metal Sonic.

Detonation in 5...4...

Shadow tasted metal in his mouth, but he wasn't sure if it was actual metal or blood. But he felt a surge of energy growing inside of his chest, but it was like nothing he'd felt before.

...3...2...

DAMMIT! An unfamiliar voice screamed from seemingly everywhere.

...1.

Shadow screamed as green energy shot out of him in all directions, and then he felt himself falling as darkness swallowed him. He yelped as he crashed onto what must be the floor of the level below him, but when he sat up, he found the ground was stone, and voices echoed off of the walls from down the hall he was in. "What...?"

He grimaced as he got up to his feet, limping down the hall towards the voices. They seemed familiar, and yet he couldn't identify them. He paused at the edge of the hall, pressing against the wall to avoid being seen as he peered into the room where the voice was coming from.

"This is a serious situation. You have to tell everyone to evacuate the village, they'll listen to you!"

The figures were in shadow and unrecognizable, but they seemed to be in an argument.

"And what if this is just another small raid? We'll be on the run with no proper defense or housing."

"Thaw, please... You know that I would never come straight to you unless it was serious! If we stay, we risk losing everything! Our lives, our children! We can flee to the Nest for a while, and regroup. I'm begging you, order the evacuation before its too late...!"

Shadow's ears pricked as he heard a commotion back the way he'd come, and he hurried in that direction, but then found himself falling once more. He heard terrified screams and the clang of metal blades, and then silence, before the darkness was ripped apart with a terrible screeching. "Augh!"

Shadow.

Shadow's eyes fluttered open, grimacing at the sudden bright light shining in his face and then a pair of hands holding his arms down. "Augh...! O...Omega...?"

You are only moderately damaged...It defies logic.

Shadow struggled to look past the light and saw Rouge was the one holding him down. "W-What do you mean...?"

"Shadow, you were sealed in molten metal from the laboratory floor." Rouge informed, "You should have been irreversibly burned, if not incinerated!"

Shadow smirked, "I'm the Ultimate Lifeform, aren't I...?"

He tried to sit up, but a wave of nausea and dizziness knocked him back down. "...I..."

You are still damaged. You must be taken back to GUN for repairs.

"I..." Shadow looked at his teammates, knowing that there wasn't any way for him to win this fight. "...Okay."

"Come on, Soldier..."

Rouge pulled her teammate up, allowing Omega to carry him. Shadow stared up at the robot's emotionless gaze, but his mind was on what he'd seen. Who had those villagers been? What were they hiding from?...

...And why did it feel like he'd been personally involved?

"...This is boring."

This is important, Sonic. Stay focused.

Sonic opened his eyes, looking at the bed that was currently upside down as he stood on his hands against the wall of his bedroom. "Wind, I have been like this for almost ten minutes. My head's probably about to explode from too much blood, and I still don't feel any stronger than I was before."

This isn't about strength of body, it's about strength of concentration. The more focused you are, the easier it'll be to find the other Amethysts before the Obsidians do.

Sonic groaned, closing his eyes again. The novelty of having new powers and a mission to save the world was fading, being replaced with an irritation that he had another voice in his head telling him what to do and he couldn't just walk out of the room and ignore them. Still, he was curious how doing a handstand was supposed to help him focus on anything but how his arms were shaking.

A flash of green then hit his eyes, along with the air being knocked out of his lungs by seemingly nothing that broke his concentration. He yelped as he fell forward, his feet hitting the bed and his arms twisting to hold him up and keep him from hitting his head on the floor. "Whoa!...Whoa..." He panted. "...You feel that?"

I did. Wind replied, It was another manifestation...A Spring.

"A what?"

I'm Autumn Wind, see? One of the four Autumn Amethysts, but there are also others for other seasons.

"Four plus four plus... If there are four per season and four seasons altogether, then that's only sixteen. What's the other four?"

They're named after natural events that occur at certain times. This was a Spring Amethyst...And I know who his host is.

"You do? Great. So I can stop sending all of the blood to my brain?"

Yes... The amethyst grumbled, but about what? ...We need to get there before the Obsidians do.

"Good plan." Sonic flipped back up onto his feet, putting his hands on his hips. "You'd better take over the controls, you're still better at this flying thing than I am."

Very well...

"No broken bones...But a concussion, minor burns, plenty of cuts and bruises, and a high fever." Rouge shook her head as she overlooked Shadow's condition, "...You really are something else, Shadow the Hedgehog."

Shadow grimaced as he tried to sit up, "S-So I'm good to go-"

"Oh no, you don't." Rouge nudged the hedgehog right back down, "You are staying right here in bed, Mister."

Your injuries may not be life-threatening, but they are still severe enough to suggest proper rest. Omega agreed.

Shadow rolled his eyes, "I've bounced back from worse..."

"Yes, with rest." Rouge took his hand, clasping it in between her own. "Please...Tomorrow at least."

"You worry about me too much."

"And you don't worry about your own safety enough." She smiled, "You spend all your time protecting others but never doing anything for yourself."

"That wasn't my given mission..." Shadow relaxed, resting his head on the pillow and closing his eyes. "...Maria told me to protect this world... I can't let her down."

"And not letting yourself recover would probably let her down." Rouge patted his hand and then stood up. "Get some rest, Omega's going to be watching over your room whether you like it or not, so if you try to bolt, he'll know."

Shadow gave a glare at the giant robot, but then finally gave up trying to argue with them. He didn't really feel like he could make it out of the room right now anyway, to be honest. "Fine...Tomorrow."

"Good." Rouge started towards the door. "I'll be back here tomorrow morning, and you'd better at least still be in the medical bay when I do."

"Uh-huh..."

Shadow closed his eyes and gave a sigh as his teammates left the room, only the beeping of medical equipment and the ticking of the clock now filling the air. "...I hate hospitals..." He whispered, and then quickly slipped into a deep sleep.