Shadow was running as fast as possible.
The city had been attacked by robots, Sonic had been overwhelmed and was in critical condition, and Shadow was outnumbered, therefore he had to run.
"These robots are almost everywhere!" Shadow cursed, looking down at a seriously injured Sonic. "He won't last long in this state. He needs help."
Shadow ran into a dead end and what seemed to be an ambush, where he was greeted by another army of robots. Now there was nowhere to escape.
"Grrr... These bastards! We're surrounded!" Shadow growled. "At this rate, he'll die if I don't. I have no other choice."
He pulled out a chaos emerald and a blinding light shone through the area after Shadow had used,
"Chaos control!"
With that, both Sonic and Shadow had instantly vanished, not knowing that a mistake had been made.
Shadow observed his surroundings. The magenta district looked entirely different. The once vibrant apartments were now almost lifeless, the streets were nearly deserted, except for a few robots roaming around, the flower shops were barren and finally, the presidential building, had a peculiar sign on it, resembling Eggman.
"This isn't the Magenta district. This is a ghost town." Shadow pointed out. He then quickly turned his attention to the seriously injured Sonic, laying him down, placing an ear to his chest, hoping to hear a heartbeat.
It was very weak, but his heart was still beating, which could halt at any moment from blood loss.
"Thank Chaos," he sighed. "Now I need to get him to Vanilla, she'll help him at the hospital."
Someone was passing by. It was a woman, who seemed to be in her early 40s. However, those were the only noticeable features about her as her face and entire body was covered with a black robe. Shadow immediately noticed that it was Vanilla.
"Vanilla!" Shadow called out, going over to her.
"Stop! Who... Are you!? Spies sent from the government!?" Vanilla asked aggressively, getting on the defensive.
This was unlike Vanilla. She was normally calm, collected, kindhearted and sweet. But now, she was defensive and somewhat paranoid. All without a given reason.
"No, Vanilla! It's me, Shadow! This is faker-- I mean Sonic. He needs your help, if he doesn't get treatment he'll die." Shadow quickly explained. "We're not spies of any sort. I don't know what you're talking about."
Vanilla let down her guard. "Come here, I'll take you to get him treated." She lead Shadow out of the city, and into a large forest. It was a long path, but they eventually arrived at their destination.
They were now outside a two storey building, which was in the suburban area of the city.
"This is the clinic. It was vacant building, before the hospital was taken charge of. They'll only let the 'chosen ones' be treated. Here, we'll treat anyone." Vanilla explained.
"But why would they do that? The hospital is meant to save lives-"
"I'll explain later. He could die. Bring him in." Vanilla opened the doors and Shadow was greeted to a strong, pearly light which nearly blinded him. He looked up to see he was now in a large entrance.
"We need a stretcher please, this patient is in critical condition! Are there any emergency rooms available?"
"Over here, nurse Vanilla!" One of the doctors took Sonic from Shadow and placed him on a stretcher.
"Wait! Where are you taking him?" He asked, sounding slightly concerned.
"He needs emergency treatment. There's no chance of him lasting in this condition."
Before Shadow could ask anything else, Sonic was wheeled off to an emergency room. The treatment sign lit up. Now all Shadow could do was wait.