Enjoy peeps!

Chapter 4

Sonic ran for all he was worth, Amy's legs banged against his back. The hedgehog groaned in frustration, reached behind him, grabbed the pink one and re-arranged her so she was in his arms, bridal style.

" Do we have to go so fast!?" She screamed into his ear. Sonic nodded and she buried her head against his neck. "..OK..."

" Trust me!" He shouted back with one of his grins. As he looked back to the road, Amy saw the light from his green eyes fade and the tips of his ears droop. Knuckles came along side, his face mirrored Sonic's--slightly worried.

For a reason, Sonic suddenly screeched to a halt, sending Amy to the ground, and Knuckles slamming into his back. The blue hedgehog put a finger to his lips and crept to the edge of the mountain road. There came numerous loud roars from below that caused Sonic to yelp and jump back into Knuckles' arms.

"Aaww, Knuxs. I didn't know you cared.." He cooed in a mocked girlie voice. Knuckles grunted and dropped him at once. The area they were in was bathed in bright lights. Sonic shielded his eyes from the search-lights from the planes' underside. " Fighter jets? This is serious..."

"Sonic!" Amy screamed and pointed upward. A very familiar shape headed the triangle of planes, very familiar and very blue.

" That's.. The Tornado! " Sonic jumped on the spot, trying to get his foxy buddy's attention, " Tails! Don't do it, man! TAILS!?" He watched the jets fly off into the direction of the city. " Oh, that-- is-- it." He crouched to adjust his sneakers and then stood, pushing back his quills.

" Sonic...?"

He turned to Amy and Knuckles, " I'm going after Phoenix. I'm ending this right now ! Get to the city as soon as you can. No freakish bird is gonna hurt my best friend..even if he does look like Shadow..." He grinned at them and saluted. " Catch you on the flip side!" He took a jogging start, raced down the dirt track, curled into a ball and whooshed off.

Amy and Knuckles looked at each other and sighed, they then shook their heads and began jogging along in Sonic's wake.

Sonic was hitting his top speed, everything around him blurred together. He chanced a look up and bolted right to dodge an incoming fireball. When he got up from his rolled position on the ground, he found --not a smoking crater-- but a pair of glowing ,gold legs. He looked up, slightly annoyed.

"What do you want?"

Shadow stared at him, his face set in a scowl, his arms folded across his chest. " I want inside, right now."

Sonic blinked a couple of times, " You couldn't have put that in a more disturbing way, could you?"

" What? No, not that ! Uugghh! Once was enough." He shuddered hard. " I mean, I want inside my body. I don't want to wait, I can't afford to," He glided next to Sonic as the blue hero took off again.

" What about the plan?"

Shadow smirked, " I don't take orders from you, hedgehog. No one tells me what to do. But... I'll go along with your plan, as long as you don't mind me having some fun first." He told Sonic what he had in mind, " It will be dangerous and since Amy isn't around, it will have to be you. Do you understand what I'm asking of you?"

" I...I understand." The blue hedgehog looked at Shadow, Naminé's words slowly came back to him from his dream ages ago : "To release Shadow's body from it's hold, you need to use a powerful force of good to do so, before it's too late and Shadow is too far away to be saved."

Shadow nodded, "Thank you, Sonic. Now, what game do you have in mind to grab the attention of Phoenix and lead him to the Master Emerald? Is it a good game?"

Sonic smirked this time, " Oh, don't worry. I've just the game to get him to chase me--us. It can't fail."

" I hope so. Or you're dead meat."

" Eeep." The blue dude slowed his pace a little and stopped at the city limits. " They're at the Warehouses? Why?" Explosions rang out in the night air, his ears picked up on a familiar plane engine. " Tails!" He jumped onto roof-top, after roof-top, and spotted four parachutes heading towards the ground. He shook his head slowly, " No...No,no,no..NO! TAILS! "

Main City-- Warehouse district ( Ugh, I suck a place names..)

The Commander of G.U.N waited for the parachutes to land safely, he stood behind his comrades in arms and gave the command," FIRE ALL !!"

The wave of fire hit the glowing, white force field with no effect what-so-ever. The Phoenix was still in one piece and smiling smugly at them, having destroyed the best planes they had built.

Eggman sat in his Egg-o-matic smiling like a kid at Christmas," Oh--ho! Lookie here! Why, if it isn't my dear little cousin?"

The white ghost hovered in front of them, it rose into the air, he hunched over and freakishly, large feathery wings sprouted from his back . He sneered, unfurling them to their full width, Phoenixcrossed his arms, a bright silver aura surrounded him. Eggman could see the hope fade from Glory's face as Phoenix screamed with all his might,

" Chaos...Blast !"

The silvery orb that covered his body shot out in waves. The G.U.N soldiers, Glory and the others were knocked off their feet, shouting and in some cases, sobbing.

Sonic, from his place on the roof-tops struggled to get free and help. Twisting himself in Shadow's arms, the hedgehog grunted and tried to bite the arm that was around his torso, holding him from behind.

" Let me go!" He was sobbing now, " Let me go! Get--off--me ! " He stamped on Shadow's foot. The golden hedgehog yelped, releasing him and jumping on the spot. As Sonic prepared to jump to the pavement below, a heart-breaking scream pierced the air. The two hedgehogs looked at each other and shouted in unison,

" GLORY !!"

They took off in blue and gold streaks towards the noise. Sonic edged forward,rolled into a ball and left Shadow eating his dust.

Eggman peered over the brim of his Egg-O-Matic craft, Phoenix hovered beside him, watching the smoke at its feet.The smoke faded, and Glory was no where to been seen. Eggman looked at the spot she had been standing with a smile of glee of his fat face . It slowly faded though, as a soft cough reached his ears, followed by the sound of tapping feet. "No... it can't be..." He traced a smaller smoke trail, along the road, up the broken side of the building to the broken windows. His face turned a nasty purple colour, " YOU!!"

Sonic grinned, " My, my.. that was a snazzy performance, there, Lard-belly. What's he gonna do now, pull a rabbit out of his hat?"

Eggman snickered, "Oh, no, my dear rodent. Not something as simple as that, but he does have a few tricks up his sleeve even I didn't know about." He clicked his fingers, " Show him."

Phoenix conjured up a silvery-blue energy ball. Sonic pushed Glory out the way only to be captured himself. It was like a magnetic pull, Glory reached over to pull him back up, but found him to be too heavy. The blue hedgehog screamed in agony as he was dragged away, his nails leaving marks in the concrete. Sonic flew through the air, smacking into a lamppost--breaking it in half on impact--he fell to his knees, winded and weakened.

As Phoenixraised a back-hander to finish him off, he was slammed down onto the pavement, face-first. Super Shadow,who had raced from the heavens, had flung himself onto his back. Grunting, Shadow tore the fake pendent from the white hedgehog's neck and crushed it with his super powers. Phoenix gasped for breath, his powers slowly draining away, and forced himself onto his feet. It was now or never.

" SONIC!"

" On it !" He came to his side, and then stopped. " Urm..."

Shadow shook his head and stood to face him, " You have to be the one, only one of purest heart can power the merge, like Amy and Naminé. We are the sons of angels and you have the purest heart of them all, Sonic. You can do this."

The golden hedgehog placed Sonic's arms around his waist, he wrapped his arms around Sonic's neck, tangling his fingers in the blue ones head quills. They were cheek to cheek and Sonic shivered. Shadow leaned up and whispered,

" What do suns do?" At Sonic's shrug, he smiled and murmured softly, " They shine..."

Shadow's body glowed from the inside, everyone around them looked in awe as the whole area was suddenly bathe in sunlight. The two hedgehogs disappeared in the ball of energy. Sonic closed his eyes tight and whimpered at the brightness, Shadow held onto him, his eyes sought out Phoenix and he smirked. Phoenixlet loose with a roar and tried to charge at the two glowing sons, but with no success. The area around all three of them grew white hot, Shadow nuzzled into the warm fur of Sonic's neck, and praying, unleashed an almighty Chaos Blast. The shock waves knocked Phoenix down onto his knees, he cried out as silvery vapors rose from his body and drifted over to Shadow, who sighed and gently stroked the back of Sonic's head.

The light faded, Sonic looked up and met red eyes that seem to twinkle. He stepped back and pinched Shadow on his arm, Shadow yelped and rubbed his sore arm, causing Sonic to let out a happy cry and hug the golden hedgehog. Shadow was back, still in his Super form, but he was real again. The final merge had worked.

" I can't begin to thank you, Sonic."

"Aw, it was nothing. Anything for a friend."

" How very touching." Phoenix was still standing also, he was still in Shadow's form but made up of silver flames. His yellow eyes could be seen through the visor, that had been cracked by the sheer force of the merge. He flexed his mighty wings and produced a blue fireball. " You may have taken back the body, but I still have the powers of Black Arms," He walked towards them with a cruel smile on his lips, " Face it hedgehogs, you've lost this game."

Sonic's face lit up, "Oh, yeah? Well, then.. how about a new game?" The blue son stepped up to him . Shadow, behind him, looked up to the sky the best he could and seeing what he wanted, adjusted his bracelets and got ready to run. Sonic stood with hands on hips and cocked his head to the side. "Well..?"

"What is this new game you have planned, hedgehog?"

Shadow couldn't believe that Phoenix was falling for it. Sonic leaned in close, " It's my version of Tag--winner take all-- and guess what, bird- brain?" He shoved him hard in the chest plate he was still wearing with a smile and a wink in Shadow's direction, " You're IT!"

" Challenge accepted." Phoenix rose into to air once more, his wings unfurling to half their width this time. The fireball in his hands grew to the size of a small car, " GO!"

Sonic and Shadow raced out of the city, with Phoenix in hot pursuit, the crazed bird fueled by Black Arms DNA, hurled fireballs after fireballs at the two speed-demons. The hedgehogs past a stunned Glory and her team, G.U.N soldiers, Chuck, Tails, Knuckles and Amy-who had just turned up, and Amy burst into tears at seeing Shadow alive and whole again.

"Is he still behind us ?" The rock formation Shadow had just floated past, exploded into dust. Sonic cringed, " I guess so.."

Shadow panted, trying to keep one step ahead of the attacks, "Are we nearly there? " He heard a faint rumbling and ,looking up, spotted a SS TV helicopter over head. "What!? We're being recorded!" Sonic chuckled, " Part of your plan?"

"N-nope.. but it might come in handy. Power enriched by the heart. Remember? If the world sees, they could help us."

"I re-joined my body, only for you to--"

"Hit the decks!!" Sonic grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him down. Phoenix screamed at them before diving, the shock wave of fire soared over their heads. " Come on!" He tugged Shadow behind him. " He's not catching me.. at least, not yet."

The Master Emerald shrine came into view, both hedgehogs put on an extra burst of speed. They crossed the wooden bridge, a split-second before Phoenix torched it. They ran up to the edge of the Island, and while Shadow looked over into the blackness below, Sonic folded his arms and tapped his foot.

" I'm way-ting!"

"Finally. I have you cornered , hedgehogs. I..have won!" The ground glowed in silver as Phoenix landed. Sonic and Shadow swallowed and raised their hands above their heads, edging towards the end of the Island. " Guess what? You lose."

"You know what? I don't think so. Ready, Shadow?" The golden hedgehog gave him a shaky nod. " Bye- bye, bird-brain!"

Taking deep breaths, both hedgehogs did perfect, backward dives off the edge of the shrine. Phoenix blankly stared at the space where they were, shook his head and walked to the cliff edge.

" Dumb-asses.."

Behind him, The Master Emerald glowed into life.

Next chapter up!

The end is near, sorry if it's been dragging. I guess I get carried away sometimes!

Shadow is back to normal (" And about time too!" I hear you say.)

Let's see if the writing on the wall comes to pass,

" To quell the anger of the silver flames and release the shadow within. Use the two sons of the flying angels."