Chapter 4 – Shadow Steps In

"No one ever attempts to do away with Sonic as long I'm around!" declared Shadow. "Only I am allowed to do that!"

"Shadow!" gasped Knuckles as he tended to his kicked side. "What are you doing here?"

"Does the word 'intervention' mean anything to you?" Shadow asked. "Because that's what I'm here for, since I've been witnessing the fight between you and Sonic and noticed how you were so close to killing him."

"If you're here to disrupt the fight between Sonic and me, then you've got another thing coming," growled Knuckles. "Why, I might as well fight you next once I'm done with him!"

"Oh, that's not going to happen," said Shadow coolly. "You've done enough work on him as it is, so now it's me you'll have to tend to as I want to get to the bottom of what's this confrontation is all about."

"Shadow…" groaned Sonic as he struggled to get up. "I didn't expect you would show up."

Shadow eyed Sonic. "Leave this to me," he said. "Go and rest with your two-tailed fox friend for the time being. I'll deal with the echidna myself."

"Okay then," said Sonic.

"Sonic, hang on!" called Tails as he hurried to the rescue. "You look like you need some medical attention now. I better take you back to the dragon village."

"That's okay, Tails, I'll be fine," said Sonic. "I want to see for myself Shadow taking on the knucklehead."

"Don't call me knucklehead, you!" snarled Knuckles. "I'll kill you for that!"

"You're fight is with me!" said Shadow as he stepped in front of Knuckles.

Knuckles fumed impatiently, but realised that he could not convince Shadow to step aside so he could continue his fight.

"Alright, fine!" he said angrily. "But just to let you know, I'm not going to go easy, and once we're done, I'm back to dealing with Sonic."

Shadow smirked. "I'd like to see you try," he said. "After all, I am the Ultimate Power."

"Come on, Sonic," insisted Tails. "We really need to get your wounds healed."

"Alright, alright," said Sonic. He then turned to Shadow. "Sock it to him!"

"No problem," replied Shadow. "But don't forget, when I'm done with him and Eggman and once you're fighting fit, it will be you and I!"

Sonic nodded in agreement as he knew that Shadow was yet to settle the score with him, and then he and Tails left the battlefield.

Shadow turned to Knuckles. "Time to get this battle underway!" he declared.

Knuckles pounded his fists. "Fine, if it's going to be you and me, then we'll have our showdown together!" he said. "But you saw how I managed to beat up Sonic, and I can do the same thing to you!"

"Don't you underestimate me," replied Shadow. "Your overconfidence will be your undoing. You may have gotten stronger over the years, but even I have been going through intensive training myself."

Furious, Knuckles readied his fist and made a rush straight for Shadow.

"Crud!" pouted Bowser, struggling to get up after getting hit by a wayward laser blast. "That Sharkinator is too much for us to handle!"

Blaze, the dragons, and the Kremlings their hardest to stop Sharkinator, but it was no good. Their attacks did very little to hold him at bay, and now they found themselves at his as he had them brought to the ground with no effort and in no time.

"I told you all I'm not to be taken lightly," said Sharkinator. "You are obviously wasting your time trying to prevent me from getting the Chaos Emerald, and you're only prolonging the inevitable."

Cynder frowned. "This is not good," she said. "Even with our combined strength, we're still not enough to put a stop to that Robot Master."

"Where's Sonic when we need him?" asked Draco.

"Sonic won't be showing up to help you this time," said Sharkinator. "Everything is going just as Doctor Eggman has planned. Knuckles will have him incapacitated, leaving the two Chaos Emeralds ready for him to obtain."

"So Eggman has Knuckles fighting Sonic so you can steal the two emeralds," said Blaze. "Why am I not surprised?"

"That was very low of Eggman to do such a thing," remarked Cynder.

"Of course, it is," said Sharkinator. "He is dedicated to wreaking terror and havoc on the planet with his new Death Egg, but you know that already."

"We won't let you take the Chaos Emerald," hissed Torden as he got up. "And we will stop Eggman from conquering the planet!"

"Very foolish move," replied Sharkinator. "And you have nothing to say about it."

Sharkinator knocked Torden backwards, leaving him unconscious.

"Torden!" shrieked Lily as she ran towards his body.

"Now, where were we?" asked Sharkinator, and he looked at the two Chaos Emeralds. "Ah, yes, the doctor needs these."

Sharkinator flew towards the Chaos Emeralds and grasped them in his clutches.

"The emeralds!" shouted Cynder and she sped towards the Robot Master, but he fired a laser blast at her left wing, incapacitating her.

"Cynder, no!" screamed Draco.

"Finders keepers," taunted Sharkinator.

"Excellent work, Sharkinator," said a familiar voice, and in no time, Eggman arrived on the Eggmobile, his eyes gleaming as he looked at the Chaos Emeralds.

"Here are the Chaos Emeralds, doctor," said Sharkinator as he flew towards the Eggmobile. "And I see you have the Master Emerald in your possession as well."

"We're only a few steps away from accomplishing our goal," said Eggman. "With the power of the emeralds, the Death Egg shall be completely indestructible, and there will be no one to stop me this time!"

"You're not going to get away with this, Eggman, you hear me?" bellowed Blaze. "Sonic will come back and set you straight!"

"I'm afraid you're sadly mistaken, cat woman," sneered Eggman. "Knuckles must have already brought an end to the hedgehog as we speak, and I must thank him for his cooperation. Of course, I wouldn't have been able to steal the Master Emerald without him searching for Sonic."

"Just you wait until he discovers the truth of all this," said Blaze. "You're going to be very, very sorry for what you're doing!"

"Not a chance, Blaze," said Eggman. "I am now the victorious one! Before I return to my base with the emeralds, I'll be on my way to check on the battle between Knuckles and Sonic, as I'll be thanking them for making this too easy!"

Laughing maniacally, Eggman and Sharkinator flew off into the forest. Blaze attempted to give chase, but they were gone within seconds.

"Drat, they've gone away!" she pouted. "If only Sonic was here."

"Maybe we should go and see how he and Tails are doing," said Draco. "There's no time to lose, and if we work together, I'm sure we can stop Eggman and get back the Chaos Emeralds."

"Yeah, I suppose we could," said Blaze. "After all, I'm really worried about Tails, and I hope that he's alright."

"Blaze, we're here!" called Tails as he reappeared into the village with a downed Sonic.

"There you are at last, Tails!" exclaimed Blaze. "We're really in a pickle here."

"I pretty much have guessed it," said Tails. "But at the moment, Sonic needs to be healed up first as he has taken quite a beating. Can you go fetch a Max Potion?"

"Will do," said Blaze. She hurried into Cynder's hut and then returned with the potion.

Tails looked at Sonic. "Hang in there, bro," he said. "You'll be back to your usual self in a flash. Just hold still, this will sting a little."

Sonic groaned from the discomforting sensation as Tails sprayed the Max Potion on his wounds, and soon, he felt the pain starting to dissipate.

"Hey!" he exclaimed. "I feel as if I could move around again! Thanks a bunch, Tails!"

"Don't mention it," said Tails humbly. "I'm going to also use it on the others."

"So what has happened?" asked Sonic, and he saw that the Chaos Emeralds were missing. "Oh, Eggman, figures."

"Yeah, he and his Robot Master came by and they have made away with the two Chaos Emeralds," said Blaze. "They also got the Master Emerald too."

"Wait until Knuckles learns about this," said Sonic. "Oh, and that reminds me, we better hurry and see how he and Shadow are doing."

"Hold on, so Shadow's fighting Knuckles at the moment?" asked Blaze.

"Yes, of course," said Tails as he came back from healing his friends. "He has offered to deal with him so that Sonic can recover from the battle."

"Then we better make our way as quickly as possible," said Blaze. She turned to the dragons. "Cynder, are you and your team good to go?"

"We are, Blaze," said Cynder.

"I'm coming with you too," said Bowser.

"Splendid," smiled Blaze. She then turned to Jimmy. "Can you take the Daring Dragon Dynamos and the Kremlings back to Kyoto?" she asked. "This is only going to be intense, so it will be for their own good that they don't get involved."

"Sure thing, Blaze," replied Jimmy and he faced the Daring Dragon Dyanmos and the Kremlings. "Well, you heard the cat, you guys. I'll be taking you to the Anthro League where you can rest up for the time being."

Blaze and the dragons watched as Jimmy led the rest of their friends out of the village to the other direction.

"Right," she said. "There's no time to waste! Let's hurry up and take care of Eggman!"

Author's Note: Things may be looking grim for our heroes at the moment, but hopefully, they can turn the tide as they race to the battle between Shadow and Knuckles! See you in chapter 5!