Sonic raced around the castle until he returned to his friends with a shrug. His little adopted brother tilted his head and asked, "Anything?"
The blue Hedgehog shook his head and replied, "Not a thing, Tails."
"Did you look in the room where Amy and I were with Shadow?"
Sonic snapped his fingers, "Yeah about that...how is he even here? It's not like he was around when that portal opened. Was he?"
At that, Amy answered, "He was. Even though he wasn't close enough for us to have seen him, he was just in range to be sucked in along with us."
"Well, that figures. Be right back," Sonic said as he shifted into position and left in a flash.
Amy rubbed her arm. Even though she was certain Shadow could handle himself just fine, a pit formed in her stomach. Something didn't feel okay. She wasn't sure what. With that in mind, she ran on ahead of the two Foxes up the twisting stairs.
Her mind kept returning to Shadow.
What if...Sandy was too much for Shadow? she thought. The pink Hedgehog shook her head. No. I must not think that. Of course he's got this. He's Shadow. If there's something he and Sonic have in common, it's that there's hardly anything to keep either them down. But why...Why do I feel like something has gone so wrong? Is it...because Sandy had actually caught Sonic?
The very thought of Shadow being in actual trouble made Amy's fists tighten. She ran harder, even though it felt as if her lungs began to burst.
Please...be okay...If anything happens to you, Shadow, I'll--I'll...never forgive myself!
When she arrived at the upstairs room, Sonic was standing inside looking around the distruction. Amy approached her friend, who still appeared to be affected by dark magic.
Sonic crossed his arms and gave a low whistle. He shook his head and commented, "Man, Shadow sure knows how to decorate a room. Look at all this!"
"This is mostly from Sandy's magic. She's somehow able to make these crystals. Hey, Merlin," Amy said, looking over her shoulder at the two other friends who had caught up to the Hedgehogs. "Could magic be used to track other people?"
The magician coughed and straightened himself with his reply, "Of course it could, Amy. Magic can do anything."
"Great! So you could show me how to do it."
"Ah, yes. It is a simple trick. Here's how you do it."
While he told her how to activate the spell, Sonic frowned and crossed his arms. He tapped his foot as Amy listened to her old teacher tell her what she needed to know and do.
Her large, emerald-green eyes closed. As she concentrated, her eyebrows knitted and a sweat drop rolled down her cottan-candy-pink, furry forehead. A soft off-white pink glow floated around her and a gentle wind moved her short light-coloured hair.
A ball of light moved above her and hovered towards a giant hole in the wall. As the four entered, Sonic commented, "Ya know, the magic stuff's cool 'n all, but I kinda feel like that was unnecessary. After all, I'm pretty sure that if we find Shadow, we'll find that queen. And to find Shadow, well, just follow the path of mass destruction." He gestured to the messy trail in front of them as they followed the ball of light into the hole in the wall.
Merlin replied, "I don't know what sort of fighter this Shadow person is. But what I do know is if Sandy were to somehow achieve victory over him, tracking down your friend will only take us so far. We don't know whether or not he won. For all we know, his fate might be similar to yours."
Sonic looked down at himself and answered, "Shadow and dark magic? Heh, now we're talking about end of life as we know it."
With that, he zipped on ahead. The purple energy around him trailed behind him, very much resembling electricity. He kept his eye on the ball of light.
Outside the room, the nearby guards overheard the four friends talk. They charged in after the group. Tails looked over his shoulder and became wide-eyed.
"Ummmm...guys..." he said.
Amy looked first and halted. Merlin's jaw dropped. Sonic was the last to notice that his friends were no longer following and rolled into a ball to slow himself.
The guards closed in on his friends. They had them surrounded.
"Things are never easy are they?" the blue Hedgehog said, repositioning his arms and legs.
Before anyone could bat an eye, he bounced between the men. The purple energy grabbed and pulled the men close to him as he spun in their direction like a magnet or static electricity. It then threw him towards the guard next to him. By the time Sonic uncurled, he looked at the result in amazement.
Within a few seconds faster than normal, all the guards were unconscious.
"Seems like things have just gotten interesting," he remarked. He flashed a smile and clenched his fist.
Seems like that purple energy has a purpose after all, he thought.