In a flash, Sonic got to work on a desperate idea. "Theoretically impossible at your power level," Tails had called it when Sonic pitched it to the fox ages ago, but such odds rarely deterred the blue hedgehog. As the X-Tornado neared the ground, Sonic began focusing multiple mini-wind funnels beneath it, positioning it so the belly was facing straight towards the ground, the entire plane leveling out before Sonic focused his energies towards a larger wind funnel that eased the plane back to Earth, ending with a grand slam at the final 8 feet as the hedgehog lost his footing and ate dirt at the ground below.
The plane was damaged extensively, but the occupants were relatively unharmed. "SONIC!"
"Doing okay!" Sonic shouted as he dislodged his head from the dirt mound in front of him. "Hey Amy! All four of you look great!"
"YOU!" She said in frustration, punching Sonic in the arm before they all turned their attention to the awakening Shadow.
"Ugh...Did we...Get him?" Shadow asked, woozily, as he clutched the still glowing red emerald in his hand.
"Uh, no, but hey! Everyone's okay, right?" Sonic replied, with a nervous chuckle.
"YOU LET HIM GO!?" Shadow yelled, struggling to his feet and refusing Tails' attempts to hold him steady.
"Well, yeah, Tails and Amy needed help! We can get him another time."
"You don't GET it, do you? With Infinite, you might not GET another time! He could be out there right NOW gathering the rest of the Chaos Emeralds, and you're sitting here, wasting time with your FRIENDS!?" Shadow exclaimed, getting up in Sonic's face. Sonic took a finger and backed Shadow up by the nose, having felt spit fly as the hedgehog ranted. "My friends are why I'm fighting. All this time we've known each other, I thought you'd understand that by now."
"Friends have their place, Sonic, and that place ISN'T in your strategies on the battlefield!" Shadow said, turning away as he finished. "Though you are right about one thing: I should've known better than to work with you on THIS."
His piece spoken, the black hedgehog zoomed off towards the hills, emerald in tow.
"Man, would've been really funny if he tripped while doing that." Sonic commented.
"Shouldn't we try to get him back?" Tails asked. "Nah. Just let him blow off some steam. He probably just needs a nap and a snack." Sonic replied, turning to face his comrades. "But in the meantime, we've gotta get back on the hunt. Infinite is tracking down the Chaos Emeralds, but nobody does that better than us! I say we beat him to the punch and stop him from getting all 7!"
"I might have a good lead on that, actually." Amy piped up, recalling what she had seen earlier on the X-Tornado. Sonic smiled. "Alright then, Miss Rose, lay it on us!"
THE RACE FOR THE CHAOS EMERALDS HAS BEGUN! It's all hands on deck next week for the EMERALD QUEST!
See ya then!
