Shadow carefully approached the area where Sonic had impacted, but the hedgehog was nowhere in sight. Shadow looked around. Had he perhaps doubled back to join the townsfolk in destroying Daniel? No...No, in his current mental state, Sonic would never run from a fight. But where could he have-
Too late, Shadow realized his mistake. He'd let Sonic out of his sight.
As if on cue, the blue hedgehog dashed past Shadow multiple times, bouncing off of the trees multiple times in his ball form, ultimately leaving the black hedgehog on his hands and knees from the pain. Sonic finally landed himself on the tree Shadow had thrown him at earlier, his appearance now very scratched up and dusty from all of the fighting. His shoes were scuffed, his gloves were ripped, and his left eyelid now bore a slightly purple hue as it sagged a little bit. Nonetheless, he smiled gleefully as he looked down at Shadow. "Ah, come on, man! You know you can't beat me!" In response, Shadow got up, in spite of how stiff and sore he was. "Tell that...To our rematch...*On the ARK." He replied, with a weak grin. Sonic just gave a cocky chuckle as he noticed the energy forming in Shadow's left hand.
"CHAOS SPEAR!" Shadow yelled as he threw a volley of fully charged spears at Sonic. Sonic just casually slipped through them before unleashing his own attack. "SONIC WIND!"
The miniature tornado quickly knocked the black hedgehog into the air, where Sonic grabbed his by his wrist and threw him into the ground before using multiple homing and bounce attacks to send him in deeper and deeper, creating a sizable crater of dirt before Sonic landed himself back on the tree he had been standing on before, triumphant in his stance. "Don't know why you're so off your game today, Shadow, but I guess it doesn't matter." Sonic said, as he sat down casually, and stared at the inhibitor ring he now held in his hand. "After all, you ARE going down by your OWN power!"
Shadow was briefly confused by Sonic's last statement until he checked his right wrist. During that grab, Sonic had managed to take off one of his Chaos Inhibitor rings. When they were on, the two provided a continuous feedback loop to help keep Shadow going for longer periods, while removing both of them would give Shadow a balanced burst of greater power for shorter periods. Only removing one, however...
Shadow cried out in pain as all of his Chaos energy flowed uncontrollably from one point, like taking a hammer to the nearby dam, all coming out quickly and at once. By the time his energy leak finally subsided, Shadow was left burnt and smoldering in his dirt crater, barely able to move. Sonic just whistled as he casually walked over. "You know, GUN actually gave me that idea like, WAY back in the day, but I always had objections to it." Sonic said, sounding almost sinister as he locked Shadow's inhibitor ring back into place. "But now? I dunno...I think it worked pretty well."
"Sonic...This...isn't you..." Shadow croaked out, slowly and painfully raising his head to face the blue hedgehog. Sonic seemed almost dismissive. "I don't know, Shadow...Maybe the truth is that you don't know me as well as you THINK you do."
Back at the house, Justin was being held back by the crowd as they prepared to execute Daniel, pleading in vain for them to stop. Daniel just stared up as a man with a spiked club prepared to bring it down on Daniel's CPU. Closing his eyes as he prepared for the end, all he could think of was the girl in his dreams, and what she had asked of him...What he wanted to do for her. "I just want to help." He whispered, tearfully.
*One of the many routes in Shadow the Hedgehog
