Shmeeko - You don't know how much I appreciate your encouragement. Thank you very much!

Samantha - Thank you very much for your review! I'm sorry I never got around to explain it, but I did mean to put that 'mistake' in there. It's a lazy sentence-- Sonic really meant to say something like "You wanna come along?". I know a few guys who aren't very 'grammar conscious' that say stuff like this, and I just imagined Sonic doing the same. ;

- Chapter 4: Faiths Crushed -

The westernmost Rail Canyons were home to dozens of abandoned coal mines hundreds of feet over the surface of the desert. How this valuable ebony black material got into these colossal stone towers was forever to be a mystery. But despite all the mining machinery and the armored locomotives that prevented the trains from scraping against the narrow sides on the tunnels, the land that resided below them was terribly desolate. Down below, there was dead air that hung close to the ground. No vegetation, no wildlife, and of course, no water for miles and miles. A pretty decent place for evil to make its home.

Sonic could feel it from within him... Doctor Eggman was around here somewhere.

Digging his heels into the ground, he screeched to a halt, leaving a twenty-foot long skidmark behind him. He was almost completely certain this was the exact place he had seen displayed in Tails' tracking device. He felt kind of sorry for not thinking about bringing it along with him in the first place, but it didn't matter that much anymore. What mattered now was finding Eggman and giving him a lesson he'd never forget.

Sonic could tell he was currently facing east because of the numerous stars that dotted the pitch black heavens. Wondering if dawn was nearing, he turned westward to see if there were any signs of early aurora. Instead, he was once again met by Shadow the Hedgehog's rust red eyes. They must have been more than four feet apart from each other, but Sonic suffered the same jolt of surprise he had on his own front porch awhile ago.

"Gah!" he staggered back, almost tripping on a dead root. This time, Shadow couldn't help but grin at his rival's jumpyness. Sonic, however, was far from thrilled. The dark hedgehog had been so silent throughout the trip that the cobalt hero had momentarily forgotten about him. He began, "I swear, if you do that one more time...!"

"...you'll whine me to death?" Shadow chuckled. Almost as if he had forseen it, he sidestepped to the left just as Sonic jumped towards where he previously stood, trying to smack him. Instead, the irate hedgehog swung at nothing but air. "Give it a rest, Sonic. Let's just do what he came here to do."

Muttering profanities under his breath, Sonic brushed away the sand from where he had fallen on his knees. He'd set his priorities straight some other time. Right now, Amy would have to count on them both so they could work together and achieve their goal. And he himself had to respect that. Besides, Shadow was not much of a rival anymore... not since his presumed death (which he strangely does not remember) and reappearance. He changed... and he knew better than to steer him wrong.

Sighing loudly, Sonic sharply nodded yes in understanding. His head back in the game-- he was ready to take on anything. "Okay, so according to Tails, the base must be either cloaked or underground." With the tip of his shoe, he dug into the sand and tapped into it as he spoke. He didn't really know what he was searching for-- a metallic surface, an unusual drop or rise in temperature-- just as long as he found a clue.

Of course, this approach was a bit odd, considering Eggman's new location could have been anywhere in this ten-thousand square mile desert. Shadow just couldn't help but point that out. "You know, if you stick to this method, we just might find it by tomorrow night if we're lucky. Why don't you just run around in circles and see if you hit an invisible wall?" he smirked.

"Unless you got a better idea, lay off the jokes, will you?"

---------

A red bulb situated over the main computer began to flicker; it's glow intensifying every time it blinked. Noticing this, Eggman rushed over to shut off the silent alarm. He once had a bigger, louder and farther ranged alarm that he could see throughout his entire base before, but had to remove it because it would react to every little thing that would scamper across the deserted valley. Tumbleweeds don't really count as lethal intruders, after all.

He switched the image on the computer to the security cameras outside to take a quick look. 'It's probably just another snake,' he thought to himself, not even sure why he even bothered to check. But fortunate for him that he did, considering that as soon as he saw who was trudging over his new hidden settlement, he was able to prepare himself in advance. He grinned insanely as he spyed on the two hedgehogs sprinting across the landscape. They were clearly visible over the night vision lens of the cameras.

"A little earlier than I expected," Trying to sustain his apparent glee, he stepped over to the shut containment pod where Amy was being kept. Its fluid tank was empty, signaling that the Zenith Serum transfer was complete. "But I think it's time we give Sonic just a little taste of what's coming!" With his remote device, he entered a code that allowed the cuffs that held his prisoner's limbs to retract. The pod hissed open and the life-sustaining vapors that kept the girl at bay escaped from the machine. She awoke from her slumber, her sight fixated on the evil doctor. An ominous moment of silent marvel overcame Eggman. She did nothing more but wait for his command; and that's just the way he wanted it.

"Rise, Amy... it's time for a little target practice."

---------

They couldn't have been wondering around for more than four hours... but it sure did feel that way. The sky was still blanketed with the silver glow of thousands of stars; bona fide evidence that dawn has still not surfaced the horizon. The hogs, however, were far from the thought of giving up. Sonic had something to prove and he would not return home until it was proven. Currently, they were taking it slow-- looking out for the small details in the landscape that may lead them to Eggman's new hideout.

Shadow held out a hand in front of Sonic. "Stop," he breathed. His left ear faintly twitched and he spun his head in that direction. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Sonic's ears also twitched as his acute hearing searched for any peculiar sound that might have interested his temporal partner. He paused to scratch his left ear for a second and mimicked Shadow's reaction by turning left. The silhouette of a familiar female hedgehog had seldom appeared right in front of their eyes, just a bit more than a mile away from them. He stood on his toes for a moment before making a bound forward. The slow trot that he was previously doing instanly changed into a mad dash. "That's her! Amy!" he cried out. Whether she was teleported there, just walked up and out of the ground or jumped out from behind a rock, Sonic did not care. There she was and this could only mean that this rescue mission was going to be quicker than he expected. 'Man, are the others gonna love me when I return with Amy while they were all just lying around like a bunch of sissies!' he thought with glee.

However, Shadow found this situation to be a little too fortunate. After all, the sound he had picked up could not have been caused by Amy. It had sounded... robotic. His first guess was an ambush.

Follwing him closely, his objective was to silently warn Sonic about his suspicions. When he opened his mouth to speak, the words he intended to say were muted by a loud gasp from Sonic. Amy's back was turned to them and the blue hedgehog had reached for the pink girl's shoulder only to withdraw his hand just as quickly. His eyes widened as he took a closer look at the immobile Amy that stood in front of him.

She turned around. Her red dress and gloves looked like they had gone through an inferno. Almost every inch of the fabric was burnt black as night, edges almost tearing apart. Her feet were bare, but also blackened and dirty with the ashes that were once Cream's night slippers. Her skin was gruesomely pale and lifeless; almost as if her carnation pink fur was ripped away from her original self and placed on that of an android's. But what Sonic just couldn't be torn away from was her eyes. They were once beautiful and glistening pools of emerald green... now they were cold and dark-- colorless and devoid of feeling.

Under the moonlight, her presence was absolutely beyond eerie. Sonic stumbled as he backed away one step, his face twisted in shock and incredulity. He held the hand he had touched her shoulder with, remembering it had felt cold as ice. Shadow may have looked less disturbed than Sonic, but that did not make him any less shocked at this chilling situation. This creature couldn't be the sweet Amy Rose they've been looking for. "Who are you?" Sonic screamed at her, suddenly getting most of his composure back. "Where's Amy?"

The 'Amy lookalike' (or so they thought it was) responded by effortlessly giving both male hedgehogs a face full of fist simultaneously. The blow was enough to plow them into the floor, stunning them for a few seconds as she dashed away from them like a maniac on the loose. On his feet in a flash, Sonic growled at the departing figure, cradling his jaw where he had been punched. Out the corner of his eye, he spotted Shadow also standing and equally pissed-off.

"She knows something. Come on, after her!" Sonic shouted. He was on her heels in no time flat, but what he didn't see coming was that the suspect had alreadly stopped running and made a sweeping kick that knocked him face down on the ground, kissing the sand and skidding a couple of feet past her. Obviously (with her being under Eggman's control), she took a brief second to laugh mockingly at the cobalt hedgehog. Hands on her hips and head tossed back, she let her guard down long enough for Shadow to grab her arms from behind and pin them behind her back. Yet he did not count on the fact that supernatural-like strength flowed through Amy's body.

Before he could even blink at the realization of his mistake, the red quilled hog was thrown over Amy's back by Amy bizarrely unhinging her joints and tossing him over her head and against his own strenght. He painfully landed in a heap right next to his fallen counterpart. He couldn't believe it. The girl was slapping them aside as if they were paper dolls in a wind tunnel!

She casually walked over to the sprawled heroes like she would if she was taking a leisure walk in a park. Her smile resembled a forced smirk-- almost artificial. Crouching down in front of Sonic, blackened gloves on her knees, she looked just about ready to gloat. Yet she didn't. Sonic was brushing the sand away from his face, but when he opened his eyes, Amy welcomed him by kicking sand into his eyes. He cried out in surprise at this, putting his hands over his tightly shut eyelids. "That was a cheap shot!" he couldn't help but exclaim.

Sonic shuddered inwardly when he heard her voice for the first time. "What are you going to do about it?" she whispered wickedly with words so hollow and dark that they nearly seemed venomous.

"THIS!" Shadow exclaimed, answering her rhetorical question and slamming his foot hard against the side of Amy's head. He had stood up while the other two were distracted and his mind was set on knocking this pale nuisance out cold. Unfortunately, he had done this with the tip of his foot and severly hurt himself without inflicting nothing more than a look of surprise from both Amy and Sonic. He fell on his rump and clutched his throbbing foot, seething and swearing under his breath. The hit had simply bounced off as if he had striked at a steel wall! And Amy? She just lightly rubbed the side of her head and giggled malevolently at Shadow's failed attempt to render her unconscious.

What she did next was something the two males could have avoided, but were too stupified and distracted to defend themselves. She reached for both their throats and virtually lifted them from the ground. This was quite the scary sight considering that Amy was much shorter than the two of them. She didn't even seem to be putting a lot of energy or effort in this either... like if she was holding up a couple of rag dolls.

Sonic and Shadow kicked and thrashed, trying to escape the iron grip. Amy just smirked forcefully. "The more you struggle, the tighter I'll hold on," she commented. Taking her words like advice, Sonic went limp. Shadow stopped thrashing about as well, but was still striving to pry Amy's fingers away from his neck. "Yeah, try all you want, big shot," she said lowly, glaring at him. "You can't possibly think you can go up against the Ultimate Lifeform, don't you?"

A horribly thick pause followed.

In a world where expectations were constantly quite low for him, Shadow could not bear to be taken away from what he had always been familiar with. Even if it was just a mere title. To hear those cruel words escape from the terrorizing girl was like a stab to his heart with a knife dipped in salt. He ceased the struggle, crimson irises blankly staring into hers. He did not even consider the fact that she may have just voiced a lie; it had hit home and he had fallen speechless. Sonic, however, had no problem voicing his confusion towards the statement.

"Wuh-wait! Hold the phone," he stuttered, speaking as well as he could despite the fact he was being choked. "I think you got that backwards... I'd expect Shadow here to say that instead of you. Isn't he the so-called ultimate lifeform?"

"...not anymore!"

What felt like a mighty electrical jolt against his chest escaped from the menace's left palm with a sickly CRACKLE, propelling Sonic away from her form. The force of the jolt had knocked him far and out cold before he could even hit the ground. He landed on his side in an unwholesome manner and stayed unmoving. Amy repeated this maneuver with her remaining victim and watched with fulfillment as he also landed prostrate in the desert sand.

Both of them suffered of burns in their neck and chest... but they would survive.

After all, that was the way Eggman wanted it.

She looked down at the two and shook her head at just how pitiful they were. "This was just a taste of what's coming, hedgeheads," she said in a voice unlike her own. "The Amy you knew is gone... and the Doctor will have the revenge he always wanted."

With these closing words, she turned around and ran back to Eggman's hideout before they woke up. The tracks of her bare feet would soon be swept away by the morning breeze. What she had said to them had been a bit of a half-truth, though. Yes, the blood that flowed through her veins was infected with the Zenith serum, making this program practically a part of her body. Her every move and word had to be confirmed by Eggman himself before she'd do it. But there was one thing the evil scientist could not permanently erase, and that was Amy's soul. It was her true self.

All the real Amy could do was just watch as her body did these horrible actions... and pray that it was all just a nightmare that would soon end.