In the form of a Spindash, Sonic's opponent came charging at him, but the blue hedgehog easily dodged to the side. The fake Shadow, still curled up as a black and red ball, made a turn and rolled toward Sonic again. The blue hedgehog responded to the Spindash with his own and the two different colored balls crashed against each other and bounced apart. Sonic landed on his feet, while Shadow staggered slightly.

"Sorry Shads, but you have try something else than using my own tricks against me."

"Grr… very well. CHAOS SPEAR!"

Several of the spear-shaped projectiles formed around Phantom Shadow and were launched. Sonic ran to the left, the energy spears puncturing the earth directly behind him. He stopped, vaulted over a Chaos Spear, and spindashed through the air toward his opponent. Phantom Shadow just ducked under the rolled-up hedgehog. When Sonic hit the ground behind him and tried to get up, Phantom Shadow gave him a side kick to the temple. Sonic fell to the ground and hastily rolled to the side to avoid being pierced by a Chaos Spear. Phantom Shadow created a spear in each hand and tried to blast them through Sonic's head, but the blue hedgehog managed to kick his opponent's legs away. The false Shadow fell. Sonic immediately jumped up and stood over the black hedgehog. With one foot he pushed him to the ground.

"Give up Faker!"

"Never! Chaos Control!"

Sonic's foot dropped onto the bare floor as Phantom Shadow disappeared in a blinding flash of light. Only to reappear a few meters away, holding the red Chaos Emerald.

"What! A Chaos Emerald? Where did you get it?"

"The Doctor thought his troops should be equipped a little better. So he gave me one of the Emeralds."

"So he has been holding onto them with his greedy claws since the beginning of the war?"

"I wouldn't say it like that. Rather, he has more of an access to them." Phantom Shadow held out the Chaos Emerald in Sonic's direction. "Do you want that emerald? Then come and get it"

The black hedgehog turned and ran down the street.

"Hey stop!" Sonic ran after him. As the two hedgehogs ran back and forth between the buildings, all the spotlights on the roofs turned towards Sonic, their lights changing from blinding white to a sinister red. Holes opened up on the building´s surfaces and more of these spider robots with blade arms appeared. They jumped on the road and blocked Sonic's path, creating obstacles for him. They tried to jump on him to slow him down or slashed at him with their blades. Sonic ducked under one, the razor blade snipping some fur from his head. Then he jumped over the next ones. Although the machines posed no real threat to Sonic and where more of an annoyance, they allowed Phantom Shadow to gain more distance between him and his pursuer. Robots blocked the road behind the fake hedgehog, lined up side by side and slashed wildly trough the air, creating a wall of metal bodies and frenzied blades.

Can't jump over it, Sonic thought. But this is no problem. I've channeled enough Chaos Energy through my race for a Boost.

The Hedgehog Mobian accelerated even more when he used his ability, and blue energy enveloped him as he did so. He smashed through the robots, throwing the machines through the air. Shadow, still running, turned his head at the noise and saw his opponent catching up. He growled in frustration, but still kept his pace. After a few more seconds he finally saw his destination: The highest skyscraper of this city.

Once he reached it, Phantom Shadow ran up its facade. Sonic followed, determined to stop the faker and get the red Chaos Emerald under his belt.

The two hedgehogs ran up the building and, of course, holes popped open and robots appeared. With their spider legs, they could easily claw into metal and concrete and also block Sonic's path on a vertical plane. The blue hedgehog knew he couldn't jump over the robots in this situation. So instead he used another trick of his and rand faster than the speed of sound, breaking the sound barrier and creating a sonic boom. It shattered all of the skyscrapers windows and threw the bladed robots into the air, before the machines started falling to their demise. Eventually Sonic reached the top of the skyscraper where Phantom Shadow was waiting for him. He kept throwing and catching the Chaos Emerald with his right hand. Sonic stared into the phantom's crimson eyes with his green ones.

"Are you going to stop running away and letting some robots do the dirty work?" He quickly added another "Faker!" to agitate his enemy further.

And it worked.

"Of course I will. I'm sick of you and the fact that you call me faker! Chaos Lance!"

Sonic dodged the stronger version of a Chaos Spear, it slightly grazing and burning him, and was about to attack with a Spindash when he realized something. Shadow stood close to the edge, the black hedgehog could easily dodge and sent Sonic falling to his death. The fake Mobian had the advantage with his Chaos Energy based attacks. He could simply stand and teleport around while sending Sonic running and pushing him closer to the edge. Actually, one Chaos Blast should be enough to send the blue speedster flying and falling. And it appeared that Phantom Shadow was just doing that.

Crimson energy surging trough his body, making the air around the fake hedgehog crackle.

Knowing he had to act quickly to turn the tides of this battle to his favor, Sonic ran to the center of the roof, jumped high in the air and spindashed down hard. It hit the concrete, the flat surface of the roof crunching and caving in slightly. Cracks appeared.

Phantom Shadow staggered, the build up energy for his attack dissipating.

Sonic did it again and this time the black hedgehog completely lost his balance, falling to the ground. Sonic immediately ran towards him, bending down to grab the Chaos Emerald. But the Phantom didn't let him get the gem so easily. He grabbed the blue hedgehog's wrist with his other hand and pulled him to the ground. The two started beating each other on the ground, wrestling for the upper hand and control of the Chaos Emerald.

Thanks to Sonic, the roof was slightly caved in the middle, so they rolled away from the edge instead of towards it.

Phantom Shadow landed a solid punch in Sonic´s face, breaking his nose and disorienting the blue hedgehog. The faker grabbed him by the throat and pushed him down. With the other hand he clutched the Chaos Emerald tightly and started drawing power from it.

"Did you really think you could win a hand to hand combat brawl against me? I have more training and experience in stuff like that! Now let's see how you survive a close-range Chaos Blast, enhanced by the power of a Chaos Emerald!"

Once again the Phantom charged itself with the burning and crackling energy of Chaos itself, but this time it was more intensified thanks to the red emerald and its pulsating power.

Sonic´s face pulsed in pain and blood trickled down from his nose, making him, along the exhaustion and hand around his throat, gasped for air. In desperation he felt with his hands for anything that could help him. His fingers touched some gravel he had broken out of the concrete with his Spindahses.

The base of a plan started to form in Sonic´s head. He started talking to distract Phantom Shadow from the crunching of the gravel he was starting to collect in his hand.

"You may be better than me in terms of fighting skills, but I told someone once that I don't mind playing the bad guy. Do you know what this means?"

"What?"

Sonic threw the gravel into Shadow's eyes.

"It means I use dirty tricks!"

"YOU DAMM BLUE HEDGEHOG!", Phantom Shadow yelled. His grip loosened, giving Sonic the opportunity to push him off and stand up. While his opponent was still dealing with his sore eyes, Sonic quickly began running around him. Before the Phantom could realize what was happening, he was spun through a tornado. He tried to hold firm grip on the Chaos Emerald, but Sonic used Spindashes from several angles and the powerful gem was knocked out of the fakers hand and flew away. As the tornado subsided, Phantom Shadow lay on the ground, groaning. Sonic stood away from him, his back to the roof´s edge and the red Chaos Emerald now in his hand. Despite the beating he´d taken, he still manages a cocky grin, while wiping the blood from his face.

"Well Shads, it was nice to hang out with you a bit. Almost like the good old days. But there are people who need my help, so I have to leave now. A guy like me rarely stays in one place. Also, we should go in search of the real Shadow, faker."

"STOP CALLING ME FAKER!"

The Phantom lunged at Sonic, but Sonic teleported behind him with a Chaos Control and kicked him over the edge of the roof. The false Shadow roared edgy insults on his way down before gravity and the hard asphalt put an end to him.

Sonic looked over the edge and caught a glimpse of the red glitches as the Phantom dissipated. But that wasn't the only thing he saw.

The clang of metal echoed loudly between the skyscrapers as blade met blade and mechanism were crushed to rubble.

The plan had worked, one part of the group had managed to escape with the rescued civilians while the other part stayed behind and fought of the robots. After they got information via intercom, that the civilians were safely brought to the airship, the Resistance members spread out to look for more people in need of help.

Ruby and Silver fought their way through the streets, behind them a new group of rescued civilians. The red hooded girl cut a robot into pieces when she caught movement out of the corner of her eyes. She turned and saw a little girl running, or rather stumbling, toward her group.

"Hey," she called weakly, exhaustion clearly written on her face. "Are you the people Sonic was talking about. I…" The girl stopped and took a shaky breath.

"I..." she started again, but a robot jumped off from the facade of a house and landed close to the girl. It drew its blade back and then lunged, ready to pierce the small body.

The little girls face contorted to a mask of fear as her green eyes widened.

And suddenly Ruby saw another pair of green widen in a similar manner. Only to gloss over and becoming empty once the body was pierced and reduced to ash.

"No…", breathed Ruby, her words merely a whisper in her terror. She couldn't move even tough she tried. She wanted to do something, wanted to help and protect. Her silver eyes glowed slightly and a pressure, energy, built up, but it couldn't be released. There was nothing she could do to prevent death and destruction...

"RUBY!"

The scream snapped her back to reality. She saw that Silver was holding the combat robot with his telekinetic grip, the blade only an inch away from the little girl. However, this proved difficult for Silver as he was holding several other robots that were closing in on him, the whole ordeal putting a strain on his wounded side.

"Ruby…", the hedgehog repeated but with a more pained and desperate tone.

The silver eyed girl finally realized she just stood there and hastily transformed Crescent Rose into her Sniper form. She aimed at the glowing eye of the robot close to the girl and the machine went down with a shot through the head. With his attention no longer divided, Silver could now completely focus on his enemies.

Ruby just slowly lowered her gun. What the heck was that just now? Why had this… this memory suddenly taken over her. And her eyes...

"Could you please come Ruby," Silver called while destroying the remaining machines. The huntress in training put her questions to the back of her mind and rushed to the hedgehog. He tried to support the human girl with the green eyes, who was shaking badly and could hardly stand on her feet. Ruby let her lean against her side so Silver could have his hands free to tend to the cut on the girl's back. She winced when he applied disinfectant to the wound. Ruby tried to distract the kid from the procedure.

"Hey little one, what's your name?"

"My name is Lola. Are you here to help?"

"Yes, we belong to the Resistance and fight against Eggman. Did you say earlier that you met Sonic?"

Lola nodded while Silver put a bandage on her. "Mmm. He saved me from that other hedgehog who was trying to kill me." Her eyes filled with tears. "I thought... I-I would have to... d-die now."

"Hey it's okay, it's okay. You are safe now. Nobody will hurt you."

Ruby stroked the younger girl's hair soothingly.

"Done," Silver said as he finished Lola's treatment. "You'll need better treatment later, but that should keep you on your feet."

"What do I need for later?"

"Oh just a few stitches to seal the wound so it can heal better."

Panicked, Lola clung to Ruby. The older girl said, "Erm, I don't think that was the right choice of words for a child who almost got stabbed."

"Oh… right." Silver rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Sorry."

Seeing him apologetic calmed Lola down and she broke away from Ruby.

"It's okay. Thank you for helping me."

"No problem, that's what we're here for."

The peace of the moment was destroyed by more robots. The two fighters in the group groaned in annoyance. You really couldn't have a minute of peace. Lola, being heavily exhausted, was carried by a big cat Mobian with a frog on his head, while Silver and Ruby fought their way through the mechanical army, the civilians just behind them. Some tried to make themselves useful in battle, throwing severed robot parts at approaching enemies to briefly throw them off balance.

They met up with other groups and together they wandered out of the city and reached the airships.

The teams that had their missions in other areas had also appeared and landed their airships there. Of course, no one complained, because there was more space for the rescued and additional helpers.

Silver breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Light Gaia for the others showing up. I can finally take a break. This was probably the most stressful mission I've ever had."

Ruby herself noticed how exhausted she was now that the adrenaline was wearing off. Her Aura had been able to protect her from injury, but sit was in critical condition because of it. Still, she had to do something.

"Hey Silver, now that everything is under control here, can I move away?"

He gave her a confused look. "Why?"

"I want to help Sonic against Shadow."

Silvers eyes widened. He shook his head.

"I don't think you should do that. You fight well, no question that, but Shadow is in a league of his own. Especially when it´s an evil copy of him. Besides, you seem very exhausted."

"But… I don't want to let anyone else down." Silver opened his mouth but closed it again when he saw the look in Ruby's eyes.

"Are you really sure?"

"Yes."

From behind the two, a familiar, mechanical voice said, "MAYBE I CAN BE OF ASSISTANCE."

Ruby turned and met Omega's red eyes.

"Omega! Since when are you here?"

"I WAS SEND TO THE MISSION IN THE CITY RUINS. SINCE YOU, ME AND TAILS HAVE LEFT IT, IT HAS BECOME OVERRUN WITH EVEN MORE EGGMAN ROBOTS. INCLUDING A NEWER MODEL OF THE DEATH EGG ROBOT, BUT IT WAS NO MATCH FOR ME. AFTER THE SUCCESS MY GROUP WAS SEND HERE TO ASSIST IN THE HELP AND TRANSPORTATION OF CIVILIANS. BUT THEN I HEARD YOU MENTIONING A SITUATION WITH SONIC AND SHADOW."

"He went off alone to fight the Phantom of Shadow."

Omega immediately processed the situation. "THEN HIS CHANCES OF SUCCESS ARE EXACTLY 50%. SONIC AND SHADOW ARE EQUIVALENT IN POWER. THE BATTLE COULD GO EITHER WAY."

"Then I guess it would be better if we go and help him."

"INDEED."

Silver sighed. "So much for my rest. If you go, then I should better go with you."

"SEVERAL SCANS SHOW SIGNS OF EXHAUSTION AND OF WOUNDED TISSUE ON THE SIDE OF YOUR MEAT BAG BODY. I ADVISE YOU TO STAY HERE, RECOVER AND HELP OUT IN THE CASE OF A SURPRISE ATTACK."

"But…"

Ruby laid a hand on the hedgehogs shoulder.

"I appreciate your concern Silver… and for helping me protect Lola and the other civilians. But you shouldn't push your boundaries when you´re wounded." Ruby looked down, as an image of her sister appeared in her head, missing her right arm. The silver eyed girl looked back up and tried to give a reassuring smile.

"Me and Omega got this. So sit back and try to recover. Okay?"

Silver opened his mouth, before closing it again. After pondering for a while he just nodded.

And so Ruby and Omega returned into the town, ready to eliminate any opponents. Much to Ruby's relief and Omega's disappointment, they found all the robots in the city deactivated. Apparently Team Chaotix finally managed to find the generator room and shut down the power.

The duo wandered the streets until Omega said: "DETECTING HIGH AMOUNTS OF CHAOS ENERGY."

"What?" Ruby asked. But the massive combat robot activated his jets and then stormed ahead. Ruby raised her speed with her Semblance and ran alongside Omega.

"Omega, what´s going on?"

"I AM PIKING UP SIGNALS THAT ARE ALMOST IDENTICAL WITH SHADOW´S LEVEL OF CHAOS ENERGY EXCEPT HIGHER. THIS CAN ONLY MEAN TWO POSSIBILITIES:

1: THE PHANTOM OF SHADOW HAS TAKEN OF HIS INHIBITOR RINGS AND UNLEASHED THE FULL POTENTIAL OF HIS POWER.

2: MENTIONED PHANTOM IS IN POSSESSION OF A CHAOS EMERALD.

BOTH POSSIBILITIES COULD LEAD TO UNDESIRED OUTCOMES."

Ruby lowered her head thoughtful. She remembered her fight against Phantom Chaos and how it got much harder when the fake water creature absorbed the green Chaos Emerald. The only reason why she won with relative ease was because she could use her Ice Dust as a hax.

"Please be okay Sonic, I promised Tails everything would be fine."

Luckily Ruby would quickly find out that she didn't need to worry.

When she and Omega reached the base of the high skyscraper, Phantom Shadow was already a glitchy mess fading away.

"Is that… was that the false Shadow?"

"THE FEW DETAILS I COULD MAKE OUT DO MATCH UP WITH THE PROFILE OF SHADOW. THE ENERGY THAT MADE IT UP IS A UNIQUE MIX OF CHAOS ENERGY AND THE ONES ORIGINATING FROM THE ENTITY KNOWN AS INFINITE. DESPITE THE DEMISE OF THE IMPOSTOR I CAN STILL DETECT HIGH AMOUNTS OF CHAOS ENERGY IN THE AIR."

Ruby´s grip around Crescent Rose tightened. "What does that mean for us exactly?"

In a flash of light, Sonic appeared next to the two.

"Hey guys, looking for me?"

"Sonic you're fine!", Ruby cheered, before asking in confusion: "And apparently can teleport?"

"Yeah, its an ability that I don't use often. Especially because I need one of these to pull it of."

The blue hedgehog showed the red gem he managed to get from his opponent.

"A CHAOS EMERALD. SO MY SECOND HYPOTHESIS WAS RIGHT. YET DESPITE THE ODDS YOU MANAGED TO DEFEAT THE PHANTOM."

"Well…" Sonic rubbed his face, which showed bruises from his fight. "It was a little harder than I thought, but in the end a fake hedgehog is no match for the real deal."

"DID YOU MANAGE TO GET ANY HINTS ABOUT THE REAL SHADOWS WHEREABOUTS?", Omega asked.

"No. But..." Sonic looked down at the Chaos Emerald in his hand, "...I might have an idea."

And here we have another Phantom Boss Fight Sonic Forces failed to deliver. And just like the end hinted at, I plan to properly address where Shadow disappeared while the world was wrecked by the grandchild of his creator.

To Guest: No

To the other Guest: I thought about it for a while. I will try to make Sonic do some puns to agitate his enemies or lighten the mood for his friends or some other situations. But I wont just make jokes for the heck of it otherwise they feel shoehorned in and cringe like some of the jokes in Colors-Forces.

As for the `big oof´ part, I didn't really meant it that serious. It was a references to the IDW comics, where Belle basically said she witnessed Dr. Starlines demise and Sonic literally just said: `Big Oof´. Some readers, including me, are not the biggest fan of that reaction.

The Chao fan service? I guess you could call it that but why would it be bad? I tried to expand on the Wisps since they are important to the Resistance and its resources and thought: Hey, why not have them be in a Chao garden and play with the Chao. And maybe have one of them interact with Ruby, because the poor girl needs it and it would be cute. I wanted to play around a bit with the elements of this crossover fic and not just make it about constant combat.

As for why the Chao are there, because they are native on Angel Island. I know the same goes for flickies and other critters, and they are there, I just didn't think it would be necessary to make a big mention of them. But I can make them show up in some future chapters if you want.

To the third Guest: Thank you. The spider robots are an original design but I cant remember how exactly I came up with it.

To EndeavorT: Alright I didn't know that. But I still stick with what I did, because I think it makes each of the Maidens powers more unique. Also, because I neglected to mention it during my last response to you, the actual power of the Fall Maiden makes the user control the weather, primarily the wind. So Cinder can control the weather AND the raw magic energy inside her soul strengthens her semblance to pyrokinetic abilities. Its why I said last time that Cinder got two Maidens power for the prize for one (because you´re right, Fire is the element that corresponds with my version of the Summer Maiden). With the right match up, a Semblance user with Maiden Magic can become incredibly powerful.

I like Abraham Tower as well and think he is underappreciated in the fandom. I´m trying to think of how to include him, especially since Shadow is gonna be relevant for the upcoming chapters.

To Frontiers9: The battle will come sooner than you might be expecting.

To Monster King: Thank you :)