Finally. Finally! That annoyingly stubborn, blue hero had given up. Worn down by his constant prodding and attempts to wrestle control. He'd found out he wasn't particularly patient, so while he'd known Sonic would break eventually it had taken far too long for his liking.
Though admittedly the sudden closeness of an emerald was what really did it. A bit of extra chaos energy on top of the hero's defenses already running thin really did the trick. Sonic had been doing well at avoiding any closeness to the emeralds so it was odd that one happened to get close enough for him to use. Ah well. He didn't really care as to the why anyway. There were more interesting things to focus on.
Experimentally he opened and closed his hand. Interesting. He could… feel it. He could feel everything. The sensations were strange, but not entirely unwelcome. Running a hand through his golden quills he simply basked in the feeling for a moment.
His ears perked up (wasn't that interesting?) as he heard a noise. Eh might be nothing. He turned to look down the tunnel that led into the cave where Sonic had decided to try and hide away. Nothing there yet, but there were people nearby. He could feel them. Well, more like he could feel the emeralds with them. He turned back around. The guests would show themselves soon enough.
"Sonic..?" A hesitant voice called out. Ah there they were. The fox if he remembered correctly. His smile dropped. It was rather inconvenient that he hadn't managed to do this without any pesky "friends" around. Slowly a smile crept its way back onto his muzzle. Though this presented an opportunity that he would certainly enjoy.
Pulling the hand from his quills he answered. "You know, I suppose I should thank you." He didn't need to be looking at the fox to know that he flinched at his voice. Though he wasn't running yet. Interesting. That would change soon.
"W-what?" The fox asked, hesitantly.
"Without you coming here, this would have taken a whole lot longer, but that jumpstart from the emerald was just what I needed." He replied, grin widening even though no one could see it. Yeah, the runt had an emerald. He could feel it. Must have been the same one that helped him. He flexed clawed fingers in preparation. Things were about to get interesting.
"Are you… ok?" Came the hesitant question. Ah, still more worried about his "brother" then figuring out what was going on. Wonderful. He could hear the fox shuffling. Perhaps preparing to run. Good.
"Oh, yeah." He started before turning around and flashing the fox a feral grin. "Never better~"
With that the fox took off with a startled squeak. For the sake of making things more interesting Super decided to give him a bit of time to run. Not that it would save him in the end, but it should make things more interesting. "Hmmmm 30 seconds is enough time right?" He cracked his knuckles. "Here I come Tails!"
He flew out of the cave, hot on the fox's tail. At this rate things would be over pretty quick, but Super didn't mind. He'd get the new experience of feeling what it was like for his claws to dig into something.
Just as he was about to grab the fox out of the air he was roughly punched away and onto the ground. Super got up and turned his gaze to the red echidna who had a snarl on his face as he put himself between Super and the fleeing Tails. "Oh, so the echidna wants to play?" Super fell into a fighting stance. "Then let's play Knux~"
Super lunged forward and swiped at the echidna. His claws connected with the guardian's chest but not as deep as he'd been planning as Knuckles jumped back. The guardian then lunged forward to land a blow of his own. It connected, but he barely felt it. "That all you got?" Super taunted pushing the fist away.
Knuckles grimaced at the force of it and backed off. The two circled each other before Knuckles decided to make the next move, much to Super's delight. The two connected as Super surged forward to meet him. Sparks of chaos energy arched off Super's body where they connected. He grinned as the echidna grit his teeth and attempted to throw Super away; Super let it happen. Flipping around midair he landed on his feet not far away, digging grooves into the ground with his claws as he caught himself. Standing up, Super gave the echidna a quick look over. He was panting heavily Super noted.
Super held a hand out and gestured for the echidna to come at him. Clenching his fist, the guardian obliged and pulled his arm back for a punch. Super simply sidestepped away from the attack and moved around behind him. Knuckles whirled around and growled lowly. Again the echidna rushed him, throwing a flurry of punches his way. It was exciting; he actually had to try a little. Not that if one of the punches landed it would have hurt too badly anyway. Deciding to return the favor from earlier Super caught one of the punches and threw Knuckles away. The echidna landed with far less grace than he had.
Brushing dirt and leaves from his fur, Knuckles shakily stood up and raised his fists. Instead of trying to attack Super again though he shouted, "Who the hell are you!?"
Oh so they were talking now? No, Super didn't think he was going to indulge that. Instead of answering he decided to engage again himself if the echidna wasn't going to do it. As Knuckles went to back off again Super flipped over him and struck his back. Knuckles let out a pained noise as he swung back wildly.
Super easily caught it. He frowned. Was this really the best the echidna had to offer? Super was getting bored. Sure it was fun for a while but it was clear Knuckles had no chance against him. Throwing him away again, Super tapped his foot. He had expected more based on what Sonic apparently thought of him, but Super was thoroughly disappointed. Oh well. He prepared for a final blow. Hopefully this would be entertaining at least.
Knuckles rolled out of the way as he brought his hand down. There was a small dent in the ground where the echidna had just been. Super's smile returned. "Oh? So you are going to keep this interesting for a bit longer?" He flexed his claws. "Good. Try to die a little slower, yeah?"
"As if I'm going to let some cheap knock off kill me." Knuckles spat out.
Super felt an eye twitch in annoyance. "Knock off..?" The grin on Super's muzzle slipped. "I'm no knock off." His grin returned as he started to float above the ground, chaos energy sparking off him. He held out his hands. "I'm the superior version!"
He dove at the echidna who stood his ground. Before the blow connected someone else appeared and then disappeared with the echidna. Super stopped before he collided with the ground and looked around wildly. What the hell?
He felt an odd spike of chaos energy behind him and barely managed to move out of the way of an incoming kick. The black hedgehog that had launched the attack landed and spun around to face Super.
"What was that?" Super couldn't stop himself from asking. This one. This one immediately had his interest. Any annoyance he had from having his prey taken from him evaporated in the face of this newcomer.
The hedgehog was still defensive, but gave him an odd look. "What was that?" He repeated, clearly confused that Super had asked. "Based on how much chaos energy you're wielding I'd have imagined you'd already know." His frown deepened. "Perhaps… if you can tell me where Sonic is I might tell you."
Oh. A trade of information huh? Sure, Super could humor this for a bit. Plus that was easy enough information to share. He tapped his head with a grin. "Trapped up here. While the better one is in the driver's seat where he belongs."
"What?" The hedgehog said quietly to himself as he seemed to take in Super's form more closely. "And you are..?"
Super waggled a finger in front of him as he drifted closer. "I don't think so. I answered. It's your turn now."
He hummed. "I only said I might tell you. I gave no guarantee. Perhaps if you answer more questions I might be more inclined to tell you." The black hedgehog looked at Super warily.
Super considered it for a moment. He was rather curious about what that had been. Though he was starting to get bored of talking. It would be fun to see how the other held up in a fight. Especially since Super could feel the chaos energy coming off him. This fight should be more interesting than the last. Super placed a hand on his chest and gave a cocky smile. "You can call me Super. What should I call you before I kill you?"
If his casual threat affected the hedgehog he didn't show it. Unfortunate. "Shadow." He said before jumping back and launching a spike of chaos energy at Super. Admittedly the strike did hurt as it connected, but that only drove Super's excitement higher. Now this was a fight.
Tails flinched as Shadow suddenly appeared with an injured Knuckles in his arms. Shadow held up a hand to cut off any questions from Tails. "No time. Take care of him and get out of here." With that Shadow was gone with another chaos control.
Tails shook himself out of his surprise so he could look over Knuckles. He didn't really have anything on hand to deal with the slashes on the echidna's chest and back. Knuckles had intercepted the… thing he found in the cave. Had it done this to him? Had to have. Whatever it was, it had to be strong. Why did it look so much like Sonic when he went super though? Those eyes though… the red spirals were certainly not normal.
Tails shivered as he did his best to haul Knuckles to his feet. Grunting Knuckles stood, but he was leaning heavily on Tails. This wasn't going to work. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves he tried to figure out how to help Knuckles. Pushing… whatever the other thing was from his mind was hard but he had to think about it later. He wasn't confident he could get Knuckles away safely with how hurt he seemed. He needed help, but with Shadow holding off their attacker who would be close enough to help?
Tails shook his head and sent out a distress signal with his communicator. Anyone who'd been helping in the search could get it. Hopefully someone was close enough to help. For now Tails would attempt to stop Knuckles' injuries from getting any worse.
Super had yet to land any meaningful blows on the other hedgehog, but his opponent was seemingly getting winded. Now normally Super would feel impatient with this, but it gave him plenty of time to watch that technique the other was using. He'd heard whispered words of "chaos control" several times before he'd vanished only to reappear somewhere else and land a glancing blow on Super. The other things Shadow did were interesting as well, but he got the distinct feeling they weren't something he could replicate. Now chaos control. That he felt like he might have a shot at.
Super gave the other a moment to catch his breath. If he could figure out how to use chaos control then he could get out of here. As much as he was enjoying messing with Sonic's friends they were preventing him from really letting loose. "Getting tired already? A shame." Super taunted as he watched Shadow's face screwed up in annoyance. Oh, riling him up was fun. He pretended to be uninterested as he glanced down at his claws. They and the once white gloves had a slight hint of red. Likely from his fight with the echidna.
"I'm only getting started." Shadow growled. Clearly he was letting that cool and aloof persona slip. Super found that prospect interesting to chase further, but that would have to wait for another day.
"I look forward to our next encounter then. Don't disappoint me~" Super's grin turned cocky as he took in the slightly confused look at the black hedgehog's face. "Chaos control." With that, Super was gone. Likely leaving a concerned and confused Shadow in his wake.