Chapter 4: Engage the Egg Forces!

Slowly, the smoke cleared and revealed an anthropomorphic Hedgehog form. It almost looked like-

Amy: "-Shadow?~"

Out of the smoke appeared a black anthropomorphic hedgehog. He had a white fluffy fur patch on his chest that was wild and untamed. His quills, lined with red streaks jutted upwards as the edges of his eyes were lined with red, his piercing red eyes popping further. He wore white gloves, but they had dark Grey patches and black strap over the sleeve, giving them a sort of fingerless glove look as they had dark red tongue coming out of his gloves, looking similar to Kabuki armor but with some soft paddings. His white shoes, with a red lining on the bottoms and black strap looked similar to boots with the same tongue style seeming to pop out of them while the bottoms had golden circles with craters in them. And finally, his wrists and ankles had golden shiny rings on them.

The Black Hedgehog chuckled as he approached her with a smirk.

Shadow: "I'm surprised you recognized me this time~"

Amy: "Hey! That was one time!"

Amy pouted as he chuckled again, crossing his arms as he stood in front of her.

Shadow: "Odd to see you this far in the battlefield."

Amy: "Well, someone had to watch these people."

As Amy extended her hand towards the civilians' direction, Shadows' ears twitched. Two Carriers were heading out of the city when some Pawns deep in the crowd took aim at them. But after they fired, Shadow immediately teleported in a small flash of light and kicked the blasts back towards the Pawns, destroying several of them as the Carriers got out range then Shadow teleported back to Amy with his arms crossed.

Shadow: "I suggest we take the rest out and then pay the Doctor a visit."

Amy nodded and pulled her hammer back as Shadow crouched.

Shadow: "Launch me."

He jumped up into a spinball, glowing with a slight yellow hue before Amy slammed her hammer against him, flinging him into several Pawns, exploding them. After going through a line, Shadow unrolled himself and skidded along the ground for a second before he flinged his arm towards another row of bots, his hand outstretched.

Shadow: "Chaos Spear!"

His hand let out several energy blasts all in the shape of tips of spears, piercing through the Pawns with ease and exploding them on impact. Not even a second later, the black Hedgehog jumped up and slammed his clasped hands down on a Pawns head, blowing it up as he teleported and brought his foot straight down the middle of another, exposing its inside before it also blew up. The bottom of his shoes suddenly lit up and blasted him into a few Pawns that blew up after he got through them.

Meanwhile Amy swung her hammer left and right, up and down, even sideways at one point, destroying several more Pawns. Now it was just down to a few… and they were circling Shadow, viewing him as the bigger threat. Little did they know, or even register, Shadow just smirked with Amy only a small distance away from him. He raised his palm towards her.

Shadow: "Stay back!"

Amy nodded and even took a couple of steps further back as the black Hedgehog glowed with a mighty red aura, his eyes closing slowly. He started kneeling and folding his arms inward, balling his fists with the auras intensity growing, ever expanding and collecting around him.

Shadow: "Chaos-!"

His eyes opened as he sprung up, spreading his arms and legs out.

Shadow: "-BLAST!"

It took a second, but his aura glowed and flashed the entire area before destroying the remaining Pawns, incinerating them almost instantly. When the light dissipated, Shadow was standing with his arms crossed in a small crater, chunks of metal and dirt dropping down next to him.

Amy: "Nice job."

Shadow smiled at her before walking over, adjusting the rings on his wrists, looking at them solemnly. His face just screamed his uncomfortableness.

Amy: "Still not used to the new inhibitor rings?"

Shadow: "No it's not that, it's just.. they'll never feel like Gerald's."

She patted his shoulder and smiled softly.

Amy: "Nothing will replace those feelings, just like these rings won't replace the old ones."

He looked over and smiled softly at her, feeling a little more at ease.

Shadow: "I do like them. They're… cool."

Amy: "I'll be sure to tell Tails."

She chuckled softly and smiled at him before tossing her hammer handle side to side, the top being on the ground.

Amy: "So what's up with this whole thing?"

Shadow: "We're not quite sure. The Doctor just… called GUN and let them know he was attacking this city out of the blue."

Amy: "That's… odd but not out of range of his personality."

Shadow: "Yes. But we believe something is off about this. We were thinking that he must be testing something but we're not too sure."

Amy: "That's concerning. But, GUN is handling it… right?"

Shadow sighed softly, looking over at the battleship above them.

Shadow: "Even though GUN has been doing well to keep up with threats, they can't keep up with the Doctor's innovations. He may be an idiot but we can't ignore that he's still a technical genius. The only reason we've been doing so well in this battle is because Omega, Rouge and myself have been turning the tide in different areas."

Amy: "Yeah. I noticed the soldiers just gave up halfway through wave two, leaving me by myself to help the evacuation."

She scratched her cheek with deadpan annoyance.

Shadow: "It'll be fine now that I'm at the main battle hotspot. Rogue and Omega should be on their way soon after dealing with the other trash."

Amy nodded and picked up her hammer and almost immediately after, another ship dropped some more Pawns that had a "Mk. III" but they were… blue? The duo didn't really pay attention; and instead just rushed in towards the newest battalion. As Shadow picked up his pace, the holes on the bottom of his shoes lit up before lifting Shadow up a little before he kicked at the ground, looking like he was skating on the air. On approach, he gritted his teeth and picked his speed up further, an red orange aura surging in front of him.

Shadow: "Chaos- BOOST!"

He blasted into several Pawns, destroying them on impact before he jumped the last one in the row and backflipped off of it, spinning in mid-air before he did the same to the next row he was facing. Amy flung her hammer through several Pawns and then jumped up and kicked one into another before collecting her hammer and using it to take out more. They were destroying them with such ease… not knowing that they started surging a little.

- A few minutes earlier -

Eggman was watching the destruction and looked over at Sonic who was smirking.

Eggman: "What?"

Sonic: "I think it's about time for me to join the party~"

Eggman: "Oh?"

Grinning, Sonic leaned down before he glowed with a blue aura and surged forward… only he didn't move.

Sonic: "Huh?"

Eggman: "You idiot. Do you seriously believe I didn't plan for this?"

Sonic: "Tch.."

He shook his head and went even faster, but the ground below him just spun and spun.

Sonic: "What..?"

He tried to go faster, his feet even turning into a red sideways 8 blur, but all he could see was his aura getting sucked up the tube above him as Eggman cackled away.

Eggman: "I really got you this time you sniveling rodent! You're running on a small globe that can take the amount of speed you output! And that tube collects the energy you emit!"

The Blue Blur just smirked at him and went even faster, filling the rotating tubes that switched out the filled ones with empty ones further.

Sonic: "Then I'll just overload them!"

Eggman: "You probably would… if I didn't have a way to dispose of that energy~"

Sonic: "What?!"

As Shadow was about to kick a Pawn, its eyes glowed brightly, with its entire body surging with a similar energy surge to Sonic, all before it swiftly turned and caught Shadow's foot, its metal smile that was always on now looking menacing as opposed to a little cute and charming.

Shadow: "What-?"

It then flung Shadow into a building, leaving a large hole in the structure and heavy dust pouring out.

Shadow: "AGH!"

Amy heard his yell and turned over towards his direction, her eyes widening.

Amy: "Huh? Shadow?!"

In an instant, several more Pawns surged with Sonic's same aura, all letting out a high pitched whistle, steam puffing out of their vents and exposed plating before they lowered their heads and turned their attention to the pink Hedgehog, their eyes glowing a bright blue hue. She backed away slowly, tightly gripping her as they approached her with menacing grins.

Meanwhile, Shadow groaned before staggering out of the destroyed inside, it somehow still standing despite the size of the hole, holding his head. Regaining himself, he shook his head and then turned his attention to the Pawns converging on Amy. He gritted his teeth before rapidly skating towards her and slamming his body into a Pawn, getting the others attention as it was knocked down. Shadow quickly stood up straight and stared them all down.

Shadow: "Oh? You're all quite more durable."

He smirked and slightly adjusted his wrist rings that glowed a little before he lowered himself slightly.

Shadow: "This should be fun."

He rushed towards them and clashed his arm against one of the Pawns before a few quickly circled him, looking like they were blinking out of existence before coming back in. All of them aimed their arm canons towards him, each glowing with a blue energy. Shadow took notice and gave a cocky grin before, at the last second after they fired, teleported, making each Pawn blast each other, only leaving the one Shadow clashed with. Speaking of who, Shadow teleported onto the top of its head with his eyes closed and his arm crossed. All the Pawns pointed their arm cannons at him before blasting and yet again, he teleported at the last second, the resulting blasts combined and creating an explosion that pushed several Pawns back.

Before they could have a chance to recover, Shadow immediately teleported back and spin balled into each of them consecutively, ending in the last one being destroyed being the one he was once on top of. Shadow dusted his hands while the remaining Pawns aimed over at him, charging their blasts before one looked over after being tapped on the shoulder. Amy smirked before slamming her hammer straight through it.

Amy: "Excuse me!~"

Another Pawns eyes glowed before speeding over and slamming their fist into her gut.

Amy: "HUGAH!"

Her eye widened and she released some saliva before being flung into another building from the force when Shadow noticed.

Shadow: "Amy!"

Gritting his teeth, he skated over rapidly but one Pawn intercepted him and threw its fist in his direction but he matched it with his own. However another easily sped over and slammed its fist into his side.

Shadow: "Gah!"

He winced and then was flung towards a building before skidding and rolling on the ground. He lifted himself up a little, shaking his head before he growled lowly, then stood up and rushed back over, but rather then face them head on, he circled them, creating a small orange red tornado around them. The Pawns weren't sure what to do and started spinning their torsos, trying to keep view on the black Hedgehog. However he was going so fast, they spun off their waists. Shadow came to a halt thinking they were dealt with and headed over to check on Amy. But one, although it was slightly malfunctioning, Pawn aimed at Shadow and charged one final blast at him.

Amy groaned and tried to get up but the force and impact kept her down. With her vision falling between blurry and clear, she barely managed to see the charging blast aimed at him.

Amy: "Sha…dow."

His ears twitched when he vaguely heard her. His eyes widened and he jumped to the side, just narrowly avoiding the supercharged blast, it grazing his side before the Pawn shut down and it caught on fire.

Shadow: "Tch."

He winced but ignored his wound before walking over and flipping Amy onto her back, checking her body for any potentially fatal injuries.

As this was going down, Sonic sighed and then slowed down before finally coming to a halt and crossing his arms, gritting his teeth in a forced smirk and raising his fist.

Sonic: "Then I'll just stop!"

Eggman just shrugged and looked over his data pad.

Eggman: "Fine by me, it'll just take me a little longer to supercharge my bots."

Sonic's eyes widened.

Sonic: "What do you mean?"

Eggman just gave him a sinister smirk.

Eggman: "The machine is still collecting your energy even when you're stationary. Although, with the energy you've already given, it probably won't even get the chance to be used~"

Sonic gritted his teeth and sat down, trying to think of his current options as Eggman pushed a button and his little pod lifted from the main station.

Eggman: "Well, time to get down there. Have fun Sonic~"

He cackled as he jetted out of the room, leaving Sonic tapping his arm angrily.

Sonic (Thinking): "Tch. Dang it, how can I beat him this time…?"

Back down on the ground, a few Carriers left the city as Amy sighed heavily, finally regaining her senses after the impact. The civilian group had been mostly cleared out so only a few handful actually remained.

Amy: "Eggman really has upped his game since our last encounter. Those robots were seriously tough."

Shadow: "Yeah, and those weren't even his usual number of Pawns. I'm worried what'll happen if he decides to add even more."

Amy: "I wonder where Sonic is. He'd probably be having a blast right about now."

Shadow rubbed his chin curiously but winced slightly. Amy tilted her head at the act.

Amy: "Are you okay?"

Shadow: "I'm fine… just a little of that blast got me. I'll be fine since it's only minor."

Amy: "You should really get that checked out Shadow."

He shook his head.

Shadow: "It's fine, really. Besides, I'm not sure any Officers here could help me."

Amy: "That's true. Hee, hee."

Shadow: "What's so funny?"

Amy: "It's just sometimes I forget you're not like the rest of us… well almost. You're still just as brave and heroic."

He smiled and quietly chuckled before his ear twitched and looked over in the direction of the ship that had just launched from Eggman's fleet.

Shadow: "He's sent another wave, get ready."

He stood up, wincing for a second before steeling himself and Amy stood up as she readied her hammer. Right in front of them landed a small ship and out came a few blue Pawns along with Eggman himself.

Eggman: "Oh so it's you two who's at the center of messing with my plans. Shadow-"

He looked over at the duo with a raised eyebrow.

Eggman: "-And Amy?"

Amy: "Yup! Now stand still so we can kick your butt."

Eggman laughed loudly, his head flinging back before he smirked evilly at them.

Eggman: "Oh ho, ho, ho! Oh yeah, like you two alone could ever take me, the great Ivo Robotnik down!"

Shadow narrowed his eyes as he raised up a fist.

Shadow: "Just admit it Doctor! We have you on the ropes!"

Eggman: "Oh please, you two are no more than minor nuisances to me and my forces."

Amy growled before pointing her hammer towards him in frustration.

Amy: "Oh yeah?! Then wait till Sonic shows up! He'll crack you up and turn you into an omelet!"

Eggman snorted before cackling madly, leaving the two Hedgehogs in confusion. Usually he makes some sort of declaration to beat him, not laughing. Finally Eggman composed himself, giving them a dark grin.

Eggman: "That blue rodent has already been dealt with~"

To Be Continued!

A/N: It appears Eggman is gonna tell them everything next time!

How did all of you like this chapter? I'm not sure the action was translated well into Word form considering.

Well anyways, if any of you got suggestions on anything, let me know!