A/N: Happy International Women's Day to all of the women of Fanfiction! Sorry for not having any ideas for today, but maybe next year, who knows?

Having made it to the cannon's core, Sonic met up with Knuckles.

"I see ya made it through OK," said Sonic.

"Yeah, but uh…there was a problem…"

Knuckles handed the broken scuba gear to Sonic.

"Oh, this is nothin'!" Sonic put the gear back in the bag and pulled it out, good as new. "See?"

Knuckles dropped his jaw. "How did ya do that!?"

Sonic shrugged. "No idea; it just does that. Anyways, look at that!"

Sonic and Knuckles turned towards a mysterious shrine that looked all too familiar, much to Rad Red's surprise:

"That…that looks just like the Master Emerald's shrine!"

"They probably designed the core like the shrine to harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds."

Sonic and Knuckles hurried towards the shrine, which had five metallic egg-like containers above it, and stopped when they heard another message from Gerald:

"All of you ungrateful people who took everything away from me will feel my loss and despair!"

"Knux, here it comes!"

Suddenly, from the mysterious devices on the ceiling, a giant, burnt orange lizard-like being emerged and impeded their path. Knuckles wondered about it:

"Could this be the prototype of the Ultimate Life Form that was supposed to be encapsulated?"

"You are correct," said Shadow. "They called it the Biolizard. Leave it to me."

"Shad, what are ya doin'?" said Sonic.

"Something I should've done 50 years ago. Now go, take care of the Chaos Emeralds! I'll deal with this abomination."

"Right!"

Sonic and Knuckles ran for the shrine, while Shadow took on the Biolizard. The monstrous being attempted to swallow him up, but he stayed a few steps ahead of it. Then, the Biolizard stopped moving, and Shadow's Hedgehog Sense tingled.

"I know just what to do."

Shadow ground on one of the cables on the sides of the Biolizard's head – which was glowing – as if it was a rail and aimed a Homing Attack at the life support system on its back, which caused the creature to scream in agony.

"Scream all you want," said Shadow. "I will destroy you."

The Biolizard once again attempted to swallow Shadow up, but this time, his Hedgehog Sense told him that it had another ace up its sleeve. Sure enough, it stopped and fired a few spheres of dark energy at him. Feeling that not even he could contend with these, he did his best to dodge them, no mean feat considering that some went high and others went low. Fortunately, he managed to evade them all, and seeing that the Biolizard's cables were glowing, he once again rode them to the top and struck its life support system again. Having successfully struck it again, Shadow once again did his best to avoid the Biolizard's attacks and got in another hit on it.

"You're weak."

However, the Biolizard was not one to give up easily, and it once again fired a bunch of dark energy spheres at Shadow. This time, though, it shook things up by creating a bunch of smaller pink energy spheres around it. Shadow took a quick look at them and knew exactly what he needed to do: he used Homing Attacks to destroy the spheres and make his way towards the monster. Fortunately, this worked and damaged it some more.

(It's growing weaker; I can feel it.)

Even so, the Biolizard was determined to destroy Shadow, once again shooting some dark energy spheres at him and creating more of the smaller spheres. This time, some of the smaller spheres attempted to target him, but he evaded them all the same and dealt some more damage to the Biolizard.

(Just one more…)

Unfortunately for Shadow, the Biolizard mixed things up in a big way not only by creating more of those pink energy spheres, but also by negating the gravity around itself, causing Shadow to float, much to his chagrin:

"All right, you're really pissing me off!"

Despite floating, Shadow channeled his rage into attempting to float towards the Biolizard, doing his best to avoid its attacks. Fortunately, his dogged persistence paid off, and he was able to land one last blow on its life support system, putting it out of action.

"I AM the Ultimate Life Form!"

As for Sonic and Knuckles, they made it to the shrine without any trouble. Seeing a depression in the center that looked like it would fit the Master Emerald.

"Here goes." Knuckles pulled out the M.E. "I just hope Gerald didn't do anything to prevent this…" He placed it in the depression. "The servers are the seven Chaos. Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos. Only you can do this! Stop the Chaos Emeralds!"

The M.E. glowed brighter than the sun, and it let out a large burst of electrical energy. The Biolizard then let out a loud, pained roar before being enveloped by a flash of light, drawing Sonic and Knuckles' attention.

"Is it gone?" said Knuckles.

Shadow hopped onto the shrine. "Is that what Chaos Control is?"

Suddenly, the ARK began shaking.

"OK, I'm guessin' that's a no," said Sonic.

Shadow nodded. "My Hedgehog Sense tells me you're right."

An announcement from Robotnik confirmed this:

"The prototype is still alive, and he's controlling the space colony as it's falling to Aigess! He's become one with the colony, and is determined to keep it on its collision course!"

"Then we have only one choice!" Sonic pumped his fist. "Shad, you ready to go Super?"

Shadow put his index finger up to his chin. "Super? What's that?"

"So basically, you get all the Chaos Emeralds together and you can unlock ultimate power! Just repeat what Knux said and BOOM! Super Shadow!"

Shadow nodded. "That might just be the key to stopping the prototype."

"Groovy!"

Sonic and Shadow put their hands together and recited the chant:

"The servers are the seven Chaos. Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos."

The Chaos Emeralds encircled them, and with another blinding flash of light, they turned Super and exited the ARK, ready to take on the Finalhazard. Robotnik chimed in again:

"Can you hear me, Sonic and Shadow? He's very weak without his life support system. Aim for the red swelling area to damage him. You're our last hope!"

"I'm on it!" said Super Sonic.

"I hear you, Doctor," said Super Shadow.

With that, Super Sonic charged at the Finalhazard and outstretched his fist as he aimed for the area that Robotnik told him to go for. He struck it dead-on, and the Finalhazard writhed in pain from the impact.

"Sonic, leave the next one to me!" said Super Shadow. "I'll destroy him!"

With the power of the Chaos Emeralds as well as the memories of his beloved Maria, Super Shadow took his turn at trying to stop the Finalhazard. It wasn't easy due to the fact that it would shoot gigantic laser beams at him, but they were easy enough for him to dodge thanks to his Hedgehog Sense. Super Sonic even took notice of this:

"Where does that thing get all his power? Is that the power of the Chaos Emeralds? Shad, you OK?"

Super Shadow struck another swollen spot dead-on. "I'm more than OK, thank you. Now it's up to you, Sonic."

With that, Super Sonic took another charge at the Finalhazard, no mean feat considering it was firing a more continuous laser beam at him.

"Man, I oughta be gettin' frequent flyer miles for this!"

Frequent flyer miles or none, Super Sonic managed to avoid the beam and struck one of the swollen spots on the Finalhazard, damaging it again.

"Suck on that, jive turkey! Shad, I'm dealin' you in!"

"Can both of you hear me?" asked Robotnik. "Atmosphere entry is in about four minutes! Hurry!"

"I won't let you down, Doctor."

Super Shadow charged at the Finalhazard again. This time, it attempted to fire two beams at him, which criss-crossed and very nearly hit him, but he got out of the way in time and landed another hit.

"All right, this is working," said Super Shadow. "Sonic, how are you doing?"

"Almost there! Should only be one or two more from here!"

Super Sonic's latest charge at the creature was made more complicated when it formed a grid of red spheres around itself and attempted to launch them at him. However, using the super power of Teamwork, he managed to avoid them and landed another hit on the Finalhazard.

"I'm sorry, did I break your concentration, you ugly mutha?"

"Here I come, you waste of scientific research!" said Super Shadow.

For Super Shadow, this was it. There was no question now. Either he destroyed that creature, or his promise to Maria was all for naught. He made one last valiant charge at it, but nearly got struck by two errant red spheres.

"THAT DOES IT!"

Gritting his teeth and giving it his all, Super Shadow outstretched his fist and attempted to strike the monster yet again. This did it: with that one last blow, the Finalhazard was blown to smithereens, never to carry out Gerald's evil plans again. Even so, the ARK kept on its collision course, something Super Sonic was determined to stop:

"No way that mutha's gettin' through!"

In one last desperate team-up, Super Sonic and Super Shadow charged at the ARK itself, using all of their power to attempt to stop it from crashing into the planet below. Harder and harder they charged, hoping that they would once again save the day, Maria's words echoing through Super Shadow's mind:

(Shadow…give them a chance to be happy!)

"NOW, SHADOW!" said Super Sonic.

In unison, Sonic and Shadow shouted. "CHAOS CONTROL!"

That did it: The ARK was sent back to its original orbit, much to Super Sonic's delight:

"RIGHT ON! We did it, Shad!"

However, when Super Sonic turned around, Super Shadow was nowhere to be found.

"Shad?"

Then, Super Sonic's Hedgehog Sense alerted him to Super Shadow, who was falling towards the planet:

(Maria…this is what you wanted…right? This is my promise that I made to you.)

"SHAD!"

However, it was too late for Super Sonic. Super Shadow made the ultimate sacrifice as he fell towards the planet.

Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.