Chapter 1

The explosion rocked Eggman's base from end to end. Shadow was already gone, skating through the maze of corridors as he raced for the bridge. His hand was clenched around his gun, a custom-built .22 Rouge had given him a year prior, and sweat was beginning to bead on his brow.

He had only heard of the attack half an hour ago. Eggman had attacked, Sonic had gone in, and Amy had foolishly followed him. Tails was too busy coordinating attacks with GUN, and Knuckles was chasing Rouge – she'd taken his blasted rock again. That left Shadow. Tails had called him to aid Sonic after a few hours of radio silence. Reluctantly, he'd armed up and stormed the massive ship. He'd just blown out the aft engines, which meant it was moving much slower. He still had to find Sonic, though.

He rolled under a spray of fire from a few hovering droids. With two sharp barks, they fell to the deck – neat holes through their CPUs. Shadow was gone in a flash, his gun still smoking. He was on the right track, he knew that much. Eggman had been kind (or dumb) enough to leave him signs pointing the way to the bridge. That was where Sonic was bound to be. Shadow ignored an elevator, tri-jumping up the shaft and out onto the third level landing. The bridge was just ahead.

Shadow arrived in time to catch Sonic. The blue hedgehog had been sent flying by a devastating blow from one of Eggman's new (but still tedious) giant mechs. Blood dribbled from his nose, and he looked slightly dazed.

"Shadow!" Eggman barked, leveling his mech's cannon arm at him, "Long time no see!"

Shadow smirked, "Doctor, it's been a while."

"So it has," Eggman agreed, "But you're too late. This cannon will wipe you all off the map!"

"You seem so sure of yourself," Shadow taunted, glancing around and spotting Amy against the far wall. She was slowly inching her way towards them. "Want to try your luck?"

The mech swung a fist at him, but he was already off, ducking between the machine's four spindly legs and firing a few shots at its rear. It looked like Eggman was improving. There wasn't a glaringly obvious weak spot this time.

Amy had reached Sonic. That was good. Both of them would be out of the way now. Or, at least, that's what Shadow thought.

"Isn't this touching?" Eggman teased, pointing the cannon at them both. "So devoted. Perhaps you'll stay that way in the afterlife."

"Damn," Shadow saw the cannon glowing. He was already speeding forward, ducking back through the mech's legs again and drawing his emerald as he went. For a split second, he was ahead of the shot. That was all he needed. "Chaos Control!"

The energy from Eggman's assault collided with his own, and Shadow felt the most unpleasant sensation – as if he was being pulled into the energy. He dug his hands into the metal plates of the bridge, holding himself firm.

"What? No!" Shadow turned in time to see Eggman pulled into the gathering vortex. Moments later, the bridge began to come apart, metal rigging imploding into the void. He managed to catch Amy and Sonic, forming a three-hog chain, but it wasn't a permanent solution.

"Shadow! Use it again!" Amy called, "Get us out of here!"

"I can't!" Shadow yelled over the roar of the whirlpool, "I don't have enough-"

The metal plate he was holding on to ripped free of the deck. With a yell of surprise, he was flung into the rift, Amy still binding him to Sonic. The three of them vanished without a trace, spiraling into infinity.

Shadow's hand swung around, seizing hold of Sonic's forearm and trying to hold them together. It worked for a time, but moments later a 'wave' in the energy tore the blue hedgehog free, and Shadow and Amy watched him vanish into oblivion. A split second later, sunlight burst into Shadow's vision. And then his head hit the ground with a thud that knocked him senseless.

Dun dun dun…

This chapter was supposed to be quick and short. The rest will be longer. But it's 5AM, I haven't gone to sleep yet, and I'm tired. The GOOD stuff comes tomorrow… or as soon as I can update.

-Linker of Worlds