Shadow forced his exhausted body to march forward. Several times he tried to speed up with his rocket shoes, but the leather and fabric was torn on his left foot, so it made it impossible to glide. Shadow could not remember how his shoe was broken like that; he tried to keep all resulting thoughts of suspicion towards Black Doom quiet in his mind.

A thought he did keep to the forefront of his mind, was just how famished he felt. The oxygen pumping through his body made Shadow feel less like a corpse, however feeling more alive made him more ravenous for something to eat; also his arid throat was calling out for water.

Shadow gave out a passive aggressive cough, hoping to get Black Doom's attention. The hedgehog tried it a few times, getting more intense with each moment that passed with no hope of relief. With no reaction from Black Doom, Shadow was forced to cut the passive and skip to the aggressive.

"Black Doom. I need… something to drink," Shadow rasped, asserting as firmly as he could.

"Is it necessary for your survival?" Black Doom asked. A displeased grumble was all Shadow could respond with. "We shall continue to locate the emerald."

"I can't sense the emerald's energy if I'm feeling this way."

"I know that is a lie," Black Doom asserted. "If anything, your senses are heightened with your body calling out for sustenance."

"Oh," Shadow growled, increasing his pace in annoyance. "I see; starve the sniffer dog to quicken the hunt."

"That is the idea," Black Doom said. Shadow's lust for the emerald's power was strong, because the Chaos Energy could feed his depleting body for the time being. Until he found something to feed from.

But this world, despite its rich atmosphere, was very barren and empty. There were a few rocky cliffs and structures, but overall… there was no sign of life.

Why? Shadow wondered. Was this another planet that Black Doom had so greedily drained of its life?

"Yes," Black Doom said. This made Shadow wince. "I know what you are thinking, and the answer is yes. It happened eons ago."

"That makes it okay, then," Shadow remarked. "This is what Earth will look like eventually."

"Not so much. There were no advanced civilisations here. Just, mindless animals. But their flesh was enough to sustain us for a century."

Shadow expression grew more miserable with every word Black Doom spoke.

"It's closer," Shadow said in an attempt to change the subject. It was close; he could feel it. It made him spring into action, rushing forwards until a jolt of agony assaulted his muscles, right down to the bone. He tripped, flinging himself to the dry, dusty floor.

The group of Black Arms foot soldiers marched forward, going around Shadow, and leaving him to grimace in anguish.

"You have located the Emerald; that completes your task," Black Doom said.

Shadow tensed up, trying to push himself off of the chalky, scathing surface that his body just had the honour of scraping against. His fight or flight response was telling him to act, but his body couldn't match this feeling. He spat out the contents of his mouth; it was his green blood which stained the ground.

"What? You thought that I would let you hold the Emerald?" Black Doom taunted. "I would never be so foolish."

Shadow was still forcing himself to his knees, and struggling with even that. His screaming body pleaded that he should have passed out long ago, but his sheer will and grit kept him going.

"You're going to put me back in that chamber again, aren't you?" Shadow trembled. He placed his hands upon his bent knee, using his thigh to push himself upwards. "No, I refuse."

The foot soldiers were returning to the area, one of them had the Chaos Emerald in its hand. It let the Emerald float free, allowing it to levitate towards Black Doom.

Shadow looked at the luminous green emerald. He reached out his hand; how he longed to have it in his grasp and absorb its power.

"I know what you are thinking Shadow, and I advise-"

Shadow pushed against the ground and took a harsh leap at Black Doom. The alien swerved so Shadow missed, but his focus remained. There was a small, jagged branch of stone on the rocky structure behind Black Doom. Shadow latched onto it, hanging by his cuffed wrists. He dug his feet into the vertical surface, and pulled.

SNAP

His cuffs broke apart. A crackle of magnetic energy erupted from them, jolting Shadow while he bounced off of the wall and into Black Doom.

Black Doom was taken off guard; his finger was about to press the button, but he stopped in aprehension. Shadow had landed on Black Doom's shoulders. The hedgehog was clinging onto Black Doom's face with aggression and malice. The electrified cuffs were pressed against Black Doom's head.

"Yeah, try it now," Shadow hissed.

There was hesitation from Black Doom. There were no thoughts from Shadow's mind, no plan. The once puppet had gone rogue, and was just… winging it.

Shadow kicked the device out of Black Dooms hand. Then, pulled himself over Black Doom's head, somersaulting to the floor.

The device landed in front of a foot soldier, who picked it up promptly.

Shadow catapulted himself into the soldier and knocked it to the floor just as quickly.

The device traversed towards the ground and skidded. Shadow landed next to it, digging his heels into the dirt to halt the drift.

He swiped the device with a firm hold, then held his wrists against his head. Black Doom was holding out his hand to control Shadow, to make him stop but it was too late; Shadow had already pressed the button.

Sickening flashes of electricity burst out from Shadow's wrists and skull. The sparks erupted through Shadow's brain. The violent electrocution made Shadow's hand tighten around the device, harder and harder, making the voltage increase.

With a crackle and a hiss of smoke, the device shorted. Shadow's spasms stopped. His unconscious body flopped forward, settling on the dusty ground.

Black Doom was left speechless. Looking over Shadow's desecrated body. It had been a long time since he'd sensed nothing from Shadow's tormented mind. Like… the hedgehog was gone.

Black Doom called his foot soldiers to head back to the ship. He floated with apprehension towards Shadow's motionless form. Green fluid was dripping from Shadow's mouth, eyes, and ears. The fur and skin on the sides of his head, scorched. Nothing but the wind happened for a long time.

Shadow convulsed and heaved in a mouthful of air, and blood, which he promptly spat back out. Choking and gasping, his fingers dug into the ground, tensing from the assault of agonising consciousness.

WHY!?

The arid terrain scraped against his sensitized body with every minor twitch.

HOW LONG WAS I EVEN OUT!?

"Five minutes," Black Doom sounded solemnly, hovering above Shadow. He reached out his arms and levitated Shadow. The hedgehog cursed and heaved at the pain of movement.

"Kill me," he sputtered. Soon, he was in Black Doom's arms. The overlord floated himself and Shadow back to the ship.

"I no longer need you. We can locate the rest of the emeralds by using the signal from the one in our possession," Black Doom said. "I will use Chaos Control to advance our journey faster. We will be back on Earth within a year."

Shadow wanted to grumble something spiteful in protest, but all that came out was a groan; he lay limp in Black Doom's arms. Vertigo plagued Shadow's sense of balance and position. His sight was blackening… his senses numbing.

When he came to once more, he expected to be in the oxygenless room, He awoke, curled up on the floor, ears twitching from the sound of trickling water. Without opening his eyes, he knew where he was; in his small room with the fountain. Without opening his eyes, he pulled himself up and sucked on the trickling water with voracious desperation.

Then, with a relieved, but lifeless luster in his red, hopeless eyes, he collapsed against the wall and sat there. His arms rested limply at his sides, finally free of those hazardous cuffs. His ears drooped, and eyelids fell. With deep, slow breaths… his anguished mind finally allowed him to take a restful slumber.

Shadow faded off to sleep, despite his ravenous stomach, yearning for his next meal… or his bitter end. Whichever came first, he would gladly take it.

… … … …

It was a long time before Shadow experienced even a hint of either outcomes happening. Shadow wrapped his arms around his chest, hugging his protruding weak ribs.

"I've fulfilled my purpose… so maybe he's forgotten about me…" he whispered solemnly. Yearning for his next meal… he could feel the stress of starvation and the trauma of everything catching up with him. The thin green lines began to develop on his sclera again. "Please be quick," he heaved as his eyelids drooped. His stomach wrenched in dread for the years it would take for his body to finally give up on him.

Then, the door to Shadow's room hissed open. A foot soldier was standing there, with a bundle of something in its hands.