Robotnik, Sleet, and Dingo standing in front of a vat with a strange bubbling grey liquid.
"I was beginning to think that I would never get to use this," said Robotnik with a cackle. He threw into the liquid Sonic's quill, a bit of black sackcloth and taking a needle, pricked his finger and let a drop of his own blood fall into the bubbly mess, then went over to a microphone.
"This all seems oh, so juicy sir!" said Sleet.
"Yes, it is juicy isn't it?" agreed Robotnik, talking into the microphone he said: "Sonic Underground bad! Queen Aleena, bad! Destroy them! Destroy the hedgehogs!" Out of the vat, crawled what looked like a dark, twisted version of Sonic with red streaks in its head needles. Robotnik walked over to it, while Sleet and Dingo shuddered in fear.
"Do you know who I am?" Robotnik asked the figure.
"Yes, you are my creator, and my master," the figure replied with its head held down.
"What is your purpose?" Robotnik asked.
"I will destroy the Sonic Underground."
"What is your name?"
"I am Shadow," the figure replied, he looked up revealing that he had red irises.
Back on the Floating Island, various tents had been set up, and a small hovercraft with the Sonic Underground symbol was presented to the band to make up for the lost van.
"Well, I guess this is where we say farewell," Sonya said to Knuckles.
"Yeah well, don't get mushy about it. You three still have a mission," Knuckles responded.
"Yeah, let's go teach Robuttnik a lesson he'll never forget!" agreed Sonic. A large shadow dawned upon the group. Everyone on the island looked up, and saw a large floating ship.
"Alright Knuckles, tell us if you have any idea where your friends are, or we'll blast-Oh wait, never mind, our scanners are picking them up. Sonic Underground! Give yourselves up or we'll destroy your new sanctuary! Hee hee hee!" they heard Sleet's voice ring out.
"Don't worry Sonya, we'll take it easy on you!" they then heard Dingo's voice say.
"Will you shut up!" shouted Sleet.
"Well, this could get worse," said Sonic.
"Manic, do you think you can use your hoverboard to get the four us up to that thing so we can maybe bring it down?" Knuckles asked.
"No problem!"
"Freedom Fighters! Hide the children in the caves and be prepared to fight at whatever cost!" Sonic ordered. Before they left, Cyrus gave the four of them headphones with which to communicate with. Manic and Sonic got on Manic's hoverboard, with Knuckles on Manic's shoulders, and Sonya on Sonic's. They hovered up to the side of the ship and Knuckles created a hole large enough for them to sneak in. The second they were able to get inside, Manic hid his hoverboard behind some panels.
"Okay, here's my plan, Sonya and I will deal with Sleet and Dingo, Manic, you and Knuckles see if you can get this hunk of metal to fall, call us when you're ready to leave so we can get out safely," Sonic instructed. Manic and Knuckles gave the thumbs up and the four separated. Eventually, Manic and Knuckles come to a room where there were various computers with a large cylindrical object glowing blue in the middle of the room.
"Think you can disable the ship here?" asked Knuckles.
"Piece of cake!" laughed Manic. He went over to one of the computers, tapping away and shortly after stepped away.
"There! I have set the ship to lose power in exactly half an hour, giving us enough time to pick up my sibs and get right outta here!" announced Manic proudly. Knuckles smiled, came close to laughing when a black streak sped by Manic, and presumably picked him up, because the second the streak was gone, so was Manic; Knuckles' eyes as they grew wider than normal.
"Oh no, no!" he shouted. Running after the black streak, he followed a series of red slashes in the ground. Eventually, he came to a hallway filled with prison cells on the walls. At the end of the hallway was a large prison cell with a laser shield covering the entrance. Inside the cell, Manic was battling a black hedgehog, by the time Knuckles reached them Manic had taken out his drums.
"I am Manic the Earthshaker!" he shouted. He beat his drums more violently than ever until a large crack formed in the ground, creating a hole in the wall and forced the hedgehog to jump out of the way.
"C'mon Manic! C'mon!" grunted Knuckles. The hedgehog was now leaning casually right next to the hole Manic made.
"Ha! If even you missed that this ship's still gonna go down! Sucker!" laughed Manic. The ship began to shake, and two poles fell down out of the hole.
"Well, well, thank you, my little green friend. I think you just saved me a whole bunch of trouble, said the dark hedgehog. He grabbed the poles and sped over to where Manic stood bewildered, and stabbed him through the left hip and right shoulder at opposite angles, pinning him to the wall. Manic screamed in pain.
"Nooooo!" shouted Knuckles.
"Get out of that, if you can! Thief!" shouted the dark hedgehog as he twisted the poles.
Manic simply whimpered, while Knuckles began to make a tunnel beneath the force field. Knuckles managed to come up just in time to see Shadow punch Manic in the stomach, with a running start from the other side of the room. Poor Manic grunted in pain.
"Hey, ya big bully! Ya wanna pick on someone! C'mon over here!" Knuckles shouted.
"And you are?" asked the black hedgehog.
"Your worst nightmare!" Knuckles growled.
"No, not even close," his opponent replied calmly. Knuckles ran toward him, but his opponent at the last second casually stepped aside, then grabbed Knuckles by the neck, forcing him to the wall.
"Now listen carefully. Your friend is in pain you can't possibly imagine. This ship probably will go down soon. And I've got bigger fish to fry than you. You've got two choices; Follow me or try to save him. Either way, you fail. I am Shadow, Shadow the Hedgehog, and I let you live. For however short a time that will be! Mwa ha ha!" said Shadow. He dropped Knuckles and zoomed out. Knuckles ran over to where Manic was pinned on the wall. Manic looked at him and with is left hand, called his drum set back to its medallion form.
"Knuckles, take my medallion, fill my place in the Sonic Underground. Tell Sonya and Sonic what happened," Manic asked him weakly. Place began to vibrate even more violently.
"Not on your life!" Knuckles grunted. He broke the ends of the poles sticking out of Manic's front side with his fists, gently pulled him off the wall and ran, carrying him lifeguard-style. While running, he tapped into his communicator.
"Sonya? Sonic? Do you read me? Guys? Do you read me?! Blast it!" He switched frequencies and said: "Cyrus? Can you read me?"
"Yeah, I read you loud and clear! Everything alright?! That ship looks like it's going to topple over any second!" Cyrus replied.
"Manic has been seriously injured! I'm getting him outta here! I can't contact Sonya or Sonic! I hope they're alright!" Knuckles replied.
"Okay, just get Manic out of there! I'll try and contact Sonya and Sonic! Over and out!" Cyrus replied in alarm. Knuckles came to the hole he made when first entering the ship and pulled out Manic's hoverboard with his feet, after igniting it, he looked over his shoulder.
"I do hope those two are alright," he said before getting off the ship.