Issue #5: The Search for Shadow

Sonic, Tails and Spider-Man were on their way to Neo Prison Island, following their instincts once the Tails Doll was destroyed. According to Tails, it wasn't going to take very long. Deciding to break the ice, Spider-Man asked, "So what's up with Neo Prison Island anyway? Is it like the Raft where it's a fortified military prison?"

"I guess so, I was a prisoner on the original island. Let's just say that it wasn't fun in the slightest." Sonic answered. He recalled those few days, GUN was after him and it turned into the longest chase he ever endured.

"You were a prisoner there?" Peter asked.

Sonic said, "Yep. Got framed by Shadow back when he was evil, so I took the fall and got arrested. Tails and Amy helped break me out."

Peter chuckled, "I know a thing or two about being framed. Heck, when I started being Spider-Man I was deemed a menace on my first day. Other heroes were wary of me at first because of that, but that phase seemed to have ended for the most part. Although a couple of my old enemies try to pull that trick on occasion. I still thwart them before it gets too far."

"That's good." Tails chimed in.

Spider-Man pondered Sonic's earlier words, his mind forming a question, "You mentioned the original. What happened?"

Sonic clenched a fist, "Eggman nuked it. The original Prison Island is still a nuclear wasteland because of him. It's stuff like that that makes me glad he's out of the picture still. I'm not ready to deal with something like that again. So many good soldiers..."

Peter sighed and said, "I'll be blunt with you. It never gets any easier... I wish it did, but it doesn't." he thought back on the many people who died in his tenure or on his watch. All of which took a serious toll on his mind every time he thought about them. But he couldn't think about that now. Not when two worlds were at stake. He composed himself, ready to face what was ahead.

Neo Prison Island

The heroes arrived at the harbor, hoping to find the Chaos Emeralds before Osborn did. "Got an update, Tails?" Peter asked, jumping off the wing of the plane onto the concrete landing surface.

"There's a huge energy surge in the jungle. We'll have to investigate it immediately!" Tails revealed. Sonic was ready to lead their small group, but they were instead held at gunpoint by an army of GUN soldiers choosing to hold them back for whatever reason.

"Freeze! State your business here!" one of them ordered, prompting the trio to raise their hands.

"I'm Sonic the Hedgehog! My friends and I are the heroes around here in case you forgotten!" Sonic introduced himself.

Peter added, "And I'm kinda the new guy I guess."

The GUN soldiers remained still. Noticing something was off, Tails whispered to his friends, "Hey, guys... Do you notice their eyes?"

Spider-Man used his lenses to zoom in on the soldiers. As Tails hinted, their eyes were glowing bright green. But there was no possible way that could happen unless...

"Aw, breadcrumbs."

"What is it?" Sonic asked.

"Mind control. I think Osborn found the Tablet fragment." Peter revealed. There was a huge pit in his stomach now, almost the feeling of failure. This was an emotion Peter grew used to, but it never was any easier to handle. 'Great. Even without the Chaos Emeralds, he's still all-powerful. Luckily the other fragment's at home, so he's gonna have to deal with the Avengers, the X-Men, and the Fantastic 4 until I get back... Yeah on second thought, he'll be screwed before I even get there.'

Sonic whispered, "We're gonna have to distract 'em somehow then. I'll take the lead on this one."

Peter reached a hand out, "Sonic, wait!"

The hedgehog didn't hear him as charged a Spin-Dash, getting the soldiers' attention. Sonic rolled around the weapons' bed as they tried to shoot him to no avail. Tails flew after Sonic in an effort to draw them out even more. "Whoa!" Tails screamed, a laser barely missing him. "That was a close one." he sighed in relief.

Spider-Man wanted to handle this situation non-lethally. So he jumped as high into the air as he could and started shooting his webs in various directions, a tactic he called the Web-Blossom. He hoped that the ones in his cartridges were enough. Sonic and Tails managed to safely knock down the soldiers one by one, allowing Peter to keep them pinned down to the ground with his webs to ensure they didn't do much after the fact. He finally landed, his head spinning slightly.

"How did you do that?" Tails asked, him and Sonic stopping their distraction now that the task at hand was finished.

"My reflexes allow me to move appropriately. I was able to aim my web-shooters exactly where I want them to. I've had a few years of practice after all. Luckily none of them appeared to be injured. They were only acting out of their minds so it's best we don't harm them." Spider-Man said.

Sonic smirked, "I guess the Velocity suit's workin' wonders for you."

Spider-Man said, "It wasn't the armor doing the work that time. That was just my natural powers."

"Huh, then I guess you'd be a small challenge for me even outside the suit." Sonic quipped. He decided to change the topic to focus on the task at hand, "So Tails, got any idea where Osborn or Shadow might be?"

Tails adjusted his Miles Electric and pointed forward, "I'm still detecting that giant unknown energy surge in the jungle. That might be the Tablet fragment Osborn managed to get."

Spider-Man stepped forward, "Then I guess we're heading into the jungle."

"Not on my watch."

The sound of the gruff voice halted the heroes, and they looked around. Sonic clenched his fists once he found the source, Shadow the Hedgehog was standing atop one of the hangars. His eyes were glowing green and a sinister grin was seen on his muzzle. "I assume you're Shadow the Hedgehog? I gotta admit, you look kinda cooler than I expected." Peter joked.

"Hmph. Osborn said you're about as talkative as Faker." Shadow growled.

"Faker? What is this, 2001?" Sonic questioned. "Now I know something's definitely up. You haven't called me that since the ARK. Did Osborn use his fragment to control you like the soldiers?"

Shadow huffed, "Perhaps I'm growing tired of playing the hero. Maybe I want to fulfill the original purpose of my creation and destroy this planet."

Sonic curled into a ball and used his Homing Attack to reach Shadow. The black hedgehog countered with his own and the two hedgehogs bounced off of their colliding forms. The two landed and stood across from one another, "Okay, yep. Mind control it is." Sonic realized.

Spider-Man tried to process the speed the hedgehogs were moving in, "Shadow can keep up with him too?!"

Tails nodded, "Pretty much. It doesn't help that he most likely has a Chaos Emerald in his possession." he paid attention to Sonic and Shadow's movements, activating his Energy Ball Blaster. Narrowing his eyes, he aimed his cannon at nothing, but shot anyway. The blast managed to hit Shadow, who dashed to that exact area, and as a result knocked the hedgehog down. The fox pumped a fist in the air. "Score one for experimentation!"

Shadow glared at the fox and vanished in a light. Peter felt his Spider-Sense go off and he turned his head, witnessing Shadow reappear behind Tails and tried to blindside him. The webslinger shot a webline at the black hedgehog and said, "Oh no you don't!" he zipped towards Shadow and kicked him in the muzzle. The hedgehog got to his feet and slid on the concrete, "So that's why you having a Chaos Emerald is considered bad. You can warp with it, so I guess I'll just have to pry the emerald from you myself so you won't go power crazy."

"I'd like to see you try." Shadow said.

The three heroes lunged after the mind-controlled hedgehog. Shadow snarled and reared a fist back, moving fast enough to land a punch to Spider-Man's armor, however it was strong enough to tank the blow. So Peter responded with an uppercut to his muzzle. "That's a lesson, you shouldn't punch armored vigilantes. It might hurt you in the end." he quipped, webbing up Shadow by the chest and spinning around before releasing the strand. "Go long, guys!"

Sonic and Tails jumped and performed a Homing Attack, striking Shadow. The black hedgehog rolled into a ball and landed on the concrete. "Not bad, perhaps I underestimated you."

"Everyone who fights me says that. Is it the suit? Maybe you were onto something, Sonic." Peter quipped. Shadow dashed towards Spider-Man and elbowed him in the chest before he could even react, "Agh!" he groaned. Sonic Spin-Dashed Shadow while Peter held his gut, "That… sucked…"

Sonic took a right hook from Shadow, his muzzle now bruised. The blue blue glared at Shadow and punched him. The Ultimate Life-Form spat on the floor and chuckled out, "Heh. I forgot how persistent you were."

Sonic stretched his legs, "I could say the same to you, dude. It's been a while since we fought like this."

Shadow huffed and skated after Sonic, but a sudden yank of a webline to his hover shoes tripped him, "Sorry, I got my webbing all over your nice shoes. Not like it mattered anyway."

While Shadow was picking himself up off the ground, Tails threw a dummy ring bomb on him, the force of the small explosion dazing him for a short moment. The fox slammed his namesakes down on the black hedgehog while leaping, causing Shadow to gag in pain. The fox flipped in the air and made a perfect landed, taking a short bow, "How's that for a small combo?"

The mind-controlled hedgehog hissed and managed to grab Tails by the throat, pinning him to the floor, "You'll pay for your transgressions first." a Chaos Spear appeared in his hands, ready to strike while Tails tried to find a means to escape his grasp.

Sonic cartwheel kicked Shadow and launched him as far as he could, making him release his grip on Tails, "You aren't hurting one hair on his head as long as I'm still standin'!" Sonic shouted to Shadow in a tone Peter had yet to hear him speak in. Sonic helped his friend up, "You alright, bro?"

"I am, yeah." Tails replied, cleaning bits of concrete off his back.

Spider-Man said, "Glad to hear it. But I assume that's not the whole fight."

As he said this, Shadow Homing Attacked him, the wall-crawler falling on his back immediately, "...Ask a stupid question…" he webbed Shadow's eyes and kicked his chest, his hands still holding the webline. As he stood up, he moved his arms downward and made the hedgehog's face hit the concrete, "Web substance and old concrete, that's not part of a healthy diet. Then again, I'm not really one to throw out health tips."

Sonic readied himself for when Shadow inevitably ripped the substance off his face, which he did. So Sonic spun his body and caused his foot to collide with his rival's face within the blink of an eye. "Booyah!" Sonic shouted.

Shadow growled and Spin-Dashed to swiftly stand. He threw a Chaos Spear, which Tails negated with a shot from his Energy Ball Blaster, "I know all your tricks, Shadow. We all do. Just make it easy for us please. We don't want to hurt you."

"Yeah, I may not know you, but Sonic and Tails say your cool, so I'm kinda on their side on this." Peter admitted.

Shadow spat, "As if I'll stand down to the likes of you. Just try to 'save' me like you're trying to do." he vanished in a yellow blur.

Sonic sighed and shook his head, "I'll catch up to him easy. He's going into the jungle, but it shouldn't be hard to keep track of where he's at. Just follow my lead this time."

Tails said, "Got it!"

Sonic chased after Shadow as fast as he could. Peter said, "Got any ideas on how to incapacitate Shadow, Tails?"

"He's equal to Sonic so it's hard to tell. My boast was admittedly a bluff, but I do know how much energy is needed to cancel his Chaos powers in my cannon." Tails replied, adjusting his cannon.

Spider-Man rubbed his armored head, "...You really should give me a class on this stuff."

Tails laughed, "Whenever we get the time, I might catch you up."

"Whenever we get the time… which might be never. Before that we should hurry after Sonic."

Leaf Forest

Sonic saw no sign of Shadow anywhere in the forest. Deciding to pace himself to better look, he skidded to a halt. He yelled, "Yo, Shadow! We have a rematch to settle! You gonna face me like a true rival or are ya gonna keep runnin' like a coward!" as he said this, a Chaos Spear was thrown down, which Sonic dodged with ease, a confident smirk on his face. Standing on a tree branch was Shadow, who moved his arm to the side. Sonic snickered, "Finally! I found you, Faker! How's that for a little throwback?"

"Faker? I'll show you which of us is the fake!" Shadow spat.

Sonic shrugged, "Eh, close enough. Beats retreading old ground. Bring it on, Shadow!"

The blue hero was about to attack first, but a ticking sound made him reconsider. Without thinking, he jumped and reached a hand for a tree branch, narrowly missing an exploding pumpkin bomb, "What the heck was that?!" he spun on the branch and perched on it, catching a green man flying on a glider, "Oh I see! You must be the Green Goblin!"

"Ah my reputation precedes me." Green Goblin quipped, "We finally meet in the flesh, Sonic the Hedgehog. You and Parker aren't going to stop what I plan to unleash upon these worlds."

Sonic shrugged, "I mean, you're not the first nutcase I had the honor of Spin-Dashing. The only difference is that my usual nemesis is less green and more eggs and ham. Taking you down is gonna be a cakewalk."

Green Goblin smirked, "Then come and try."

"With pleasure!" Sonic grunted, reaching a Homing Attack for Osborn, but he was countered by Shadow. The two landed on the grass and Sonic gave his rival a glare, "Really? I should've known this would happen."

Shadow clashed with Sonic, the two blurs pushing each other. Bored, Green Goblin shot a laser from his finger and zapped Sonic, causing him to jolt and collapse on the floor, "Ack!" Sonic gagged as his body recovered from the sudden surge of pain delivered to him. Once he recovered, Sonic kicked Shadow to keep him still for a moment and went after Norman.

The Green Goblin threw another pumpkin bomb at Sonic. The hedgehog pushed himself onto the trunk of one of the trees and hopped off, flipping his body so that his feet were pressed on the tree adjacent to him and jumped back on the grass. He watched as the bomb exploded, sendings splinters of wood in various directions. Sonic used his Spin-Dash to shield himself from them and succeeded. He tapped his foot, "Is that the best ya got, Gobby?"

"Oh no, hedgehog. We have only just begun." Osborn retorted. He shot more lasers at Sonic, the hedgehog moving around to avoid each of them. Shadow drove his foot onto Sonic's back, causing him to hit the side of a tree. Sonic got his bearings and retaliated and gave Shadow a right hook as he got closer again. While he did this, Goblin shot more volts at Sonic, making him collapse again.

Blowing the smoke from his fingers, Osborn grinned a maniacal grin that Sonic was sure Peter saw dozens of times. He pushed himself upwards with a fist and jumped, landing a Spin-Dash onto Osborn, causing him to fall off of his glider. A thin strand connected to his back and he was flung right through a tree. Revealing themselves were Spider-Man and Tails, who managed to catch up. "About time you guys showed up."

"Well sorry, this forest looks the same!" Peter replied in a joking manner.

"We just followed the sounds here." Tails explained.

Sonic cracked his neck and said, "Good timing too. Things are about to get serious here."

Green Goblin jumped from his spot and faced the trio with Shadow next to him, the heroes getting into a battle stance, "Well well, it seems our paths crossed once more Parker."

Spider-Man replied, "Whatever you're planning, Gobby, it's done. We're putting a stop to these crazy plans here and now."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that…" Green Goblin snickered, revealing two fragmented rocks.

Tails growled, "So you did find the second fragment! How?"

Osborn wagged a finger, "It was just lying here, ready for me to take it! Not only that, but I managed to obtain these!" he held out two Chaos Emeralds.

"Darn it!" Sonic yelled.

Goblin cackled, "That's right! And with these two fragments all worlds shall become my Goblin Empire!" the two fragments started to merge, but before they could, Spider-Man webbed up one half and held it. Osborn glared at him, "You shouldn't have done that…"

Sonic shouted back, "Well we did! What're ya gonna do about it?"

"All we have to do is play keepaway and everything you were building towards will fall apart. It's game over now, Norman!" Peter declared, ready to web up Osborn, but a barrier protected him.

Osborn wagged a finger, "This is a minor setback. Did you truly forget what these fragments are capable of?" the fragment Goblin was holding began to glow its usual green hue. His psychotic laugh echoed ominously as his body was covered in a strong green aura.

Spider-Man's eyes widened, "Oh crap."

"What is it?" Tail asked.

Spider-Man gasped, "A lone fragment can strengthen its wielder at the cost of corruption. A cost Goblin is willing to take…"

Green Goblin's body began to morph, surprising even Shadow. His arms and legs grew in muscle, his torso enlarged, his face changed shape, and horns were now protruding from his head. His costume ripped apart except for the pants, which were torn but still covering the necessary parts. The aura faded and Green Goblin could only smirk at the shocked expression of the heroes.

"Impressed?" Osborn asked. His voice boomed now, deep and menacing.

Sonic was the first to respond, "You monster… You won't get away with this Osborn."

Norman said, "Oh but I will. Once I obtain that fragment, your deaths will be imminent."

Spider-Man handed Tails the fragment whispering, "Tails… take this and get as far away from here as possible. We can't let Osborn get it."

"But-" Tails tried to argue.

"Just do it. We'll keep these guys busy and make it out fine." Sonic assured his friend.

Tails reluctantly nodded, making a sprint for the Tornado. Shadow tried to give chase, but Sonic stepped in front of him and wagged a finger, "Like I said before. You're not touching a single hair on his head so long as I'm standing."

"Same goes for me. It's two against two now, so you'll have to go through us if you want that fragment so bad." Spider-Man declared.

Goblin tapped his chin, "My associate and I can do that very easily. A bug and a rodent cannot stand against The Goblin King!"

Sonic and Spider-Man clenched their fists, ready for what might be the biggest fight of their lives.