I love this chapter! 'Tis awesome! I say this modestly, of course (smiles). Please read and review!

Trees became merely a blur as Sonic rushed through the world. Fury and fear flowed through his veins instead of blood. His destination was nowhere. His mission, on the other hand, he knew: to find the murderer. That was the only thought that rushed through his head. That and how to find the killer: follow Amy's notes.

But seeing as Sonic didn't know where Amy's next note was hidden, he had no current destination in mind. Instead, he plowed through the world, destroying anything and everything in his way. Like a living juggernaut.

Little did he know that Shadow tracked him silently from a distance. Shadow didn't attempt to stop Sonic, knowing his orders as well as having common sense. Sonic was absolutely insane; although Shadow could take him, Sonic could just as easily cause both their deaths.

Shadow melted into the darkness of night easily, making him undetectable to Sonic. Shadow instead watched from afar as Sonic took down everything. Insistent memories of Amy echoed in Shadow's head, telling him that there was no way Sonic would do something like this.

Something was going seriously wrong in Sonic.

Shadow felt he needed to do something, but what was possible? He remembered his orders: don't irk Sonic. Of course, if Shadow breathed too close to Sonic, Sonic would probably go into a murderous rage. Interception did not seem possible without irritating Sonic.

Seeing Sonic rushing around like he was made Shadow remember another order: figure out what's going on inside Sonic's head. The only way to do that was to confront Sonic. The heck with no irritation; Shadow moved in.

Quickly matching Sonic's speed, Shadow soon rushed through the forest far enough away from Sonic for Sonic to be completely unaware of his presence. Shadow overtook the hedgehog and looped around, ready for interception.

Sonic, on the other hand, was too caught up in his own fury, to notice the approaching Shadow. And when Shadow stepped in his path, he yelled out in surprise before jumping back. "What do you want?" Sonic yelled.

Shadow could see the fury burning in Sonic's eyes. This was not the Sonic he knew, not like he knew Sonic very well in the first place. There was murder on Sonic's mind: murdering the murderer.

Shadow glared at him seriously, feeling for some reason that the way Sonic was acting was important to stop. The world could not afford an insane Sonic. "What are you doing, hedgehog?"

A piercing flash of lightning cut the night sky, followed quickly by an ear-shattering clash of thunder. Sonic's ears picked up instinctively, but his eyes remained focused on Shadow. "Get out of my way!" he demanded.

Shadow stayed still, watching Sonic carefully. "You are out of control!"

Sonic gritted his teeth. "Get out. Of my way. Now!"

"You're in a frenzy!" Shadow shouted. He needed to stop Sonic. People were going to get hurt. Their hero was going to hurt those he had struggled to protect. But the murderer was changing the hero into something no one would have expected.

"Get out! I need to stop the killer! I'm not going to wait any longer."

Rain fell from the sky suddenly, instantly soaking the two hedgehogs in the middle of a stare down. Their glares were not affected by the storm. Sonic was intent on stopping a killer; Shadow was intent on stopping a killer-to-be.

And neither of them had any intent on stopping their mission.

Sonic bolted forward, fist drawn back. Shadow noticed the reckless anger and jumped easily into the air to avoid the attack. "Chaos spear!" Shadow cried, gathering a yellow electricity in his hand.

Shadow threw down his arm, and the Chaos targeted Sonic. Sonic dived out of the way as Shadow began preparing to strike again. Sonic jumped up and propelled himself toward Shadow. Before Shadow could gather enough energy for a second strike, Sonic plowed into him. The pain of his head hitting the ground echoed through Shadow almost immediately. A light flashed in front of his eyes briefly before Shadow's sight snapped back into focus.

With a growl, Shadow pushed Sonic off of him then pounded Sonic in the face with his fist. Sonic's head cracked back but he recovered quickly. Blood flowed slowly from the corner of Sonic's mouth. Sonic didn't appear to notice at all.

Shadow gathered more energy from the air, and Sonic began running furiously toward Shadow once more. But Shadow expected it. He instantly cancelled Chaos Spear and pounded his fist into Sonic's stomach.

Sonic gasped desperately for air, all the while keeping his eyes on Shadow. The same fury burned in his eyes, but so did the pain and his desperation. Shadow said nothing, just watching Sonic carefully. He saw the perfect opening for an attack, but he believed G.U.N. wanted Sonic alive.

As soon as Sonic's breath came back, his eyes flickered left. Shadow realized his mistake a moment to late; he had left the path open for Sonic's escape. And Sonic took it.

Shadow was tempted to follow while Sonic was weakened, but as he began his pursuit, he felt a rough hand on his arm holding him back. Shadow turned to see Knuckles grabbing his arm. "I'm busy, echidna," Shadow hissed.

Rouge appeared from the trees. "Hey, I agree with him on this."

"Let him go," Knuckles said. "Let him think it through."

"We don't have time for thought," Shadow growled. "He plans to kill and has no intention on stopping those plans."

"Are you sure you're not mixing him up with yourself?" Knuckles demanded.

Shadow gathered Chaos energy in his fist, ready to pound the echidna. "Shadow," Rouge said rolling her eyes, "you're becoming more temperamental than Sonic or Knuckles."

Shadow glared at her a moment before allowing himself to cancel Chaos Spear. "Why am I stopping? This is the perfect opportunity to take him."

Rouge signaled the battle scene, and Shadow turned to look. Blood joined water in puddles, and blood ran with water on the muddy path. "And this," Rouge said, touching the back of Shadow's head.

When she brought her hand away, Shadow saw a deep red staining her white glove. Astonished, Shadow reached back and touched. He felt the warm liquid staining his own glove. "He…injured me?"

"Um…yeah," Knuckles said, like Shadow was stupid for asking a question such as that.

"And it's not stopping," Rouge pointed out, a look of very slight concern formed on her face.

"It will," Shadow muttered.

"So wait…Sonic was partially responsible for this?" Knuckles asked.

"Obviously," Shadow growled.

"Think we should report this?" Rouge asked.

Knuckles said, "We can't afford to lose track of Sonic. Who knows when we'll be able to find him again?"

"He's completely unpredictable. His fighting style is much different, much more offensive," Shadow explained.

"Listen, how about I go back and leave you boys to keep following him? I'll meet up with you later," Rouge suggested.

Knuckles and Shadow glanced at each other before looking back at Rouge with expressions that asked, 'Are you freaking crazy?'

Rouge smiled. "C'mon, boys, you can get along for three hours without me having to break up a fight, can't you?"

Neither of them wanted to appear weak and said nothing. Although beneath closed lips, Shadow gritted his teeth. He saw Knuckles clenching and unclenching his fists. Yeah, this was going to work great.

Rouge winked. "Good."

Rouge leaped into the sky and flapped down hard with her wings. Within seconds, she was gone. Knuckles still stared where she'd been standing moments ago. "She's going to get struck by lightning," he mentioned, his brows coming together.

Shadow didn't say anything concerning Rouge. He was too busy thinking of the trail they were losing. "We need to catch that hedgehog."

Knuckles turned to Shadow. "We need a break."

"You know as well as I do how long that hedgehog can go on running. In the fury he's in now, he will run even longer," Shadow said.

Knuckles looked like he understood. He muttered something that sounded, "See what I can do."

Shadow bolted off on the trail again. He felt behind his head, and his glove still became stained with the dark blood. This is only the beginning of his insanity, Shadow realized, feeling fear drop in the pit of his stomach. If he is not stopped soon, all hope will be abandoned.

The rain soaked Shadow's fur and washed the blood away. But Shadow knew Sonic's insanity would not be washed away so easily.