The Attack on Prison Island

"Commander Blade?" A GUN Soldier asked through his communicator, stationed atop a watchtower and looking towards the Weapons Bed on the coast of Prison Island. The sun was rising over the horizon.

"What is it now?" Blade the Japanese Marten grumbled into her communicator, walking into a dark room.

"There's… somebody down there," the GUN Soldier reported, using his binoculars to zoom in on a mech running around on the outskirts of the island. "Oookay, it looks like Eggman's back. In broad daylight, too? He really IS insane!" The GUN Soldier lowered his binoculars from his eyes and readied the cannons with his fellow soldiers. They fired at the Egg Walker, but Eggman whacked the cannonballs back with a collection of giant tennis rackets being held by robot arms attached to his jetpack. The watchtower was knocked down into the water. The soldiers screamed as they sunk with the pieces of tower. Until… a collection of bubbles enveloped them. They sunk to the bottom of the shallow area, and breathed again. They couldn't swim, only bounce. Not even enough to reach the surface. "Well, what the heck do we do now?!"

"Perfect shot!" Eggman bragged, shooting at two GUN Beetles and continuing his rampage. There he was, mowing down robot after robot. When suddenly, he felt something hit him from behind. The Egg Walker went flying. "Oh no! My power is going down. Shadow, I need backup!" Shadow looked up from placing a little heart-shaped bomb on the ground in White Jungle. Eggman's distress signal was coming in loud and clear from the walkie talkie. He then ran towards Eggman's coordinates as shown on the communicator. Eggman turned around to see a large hammer swing at him. He was knocked straight into a wall in the time it takes to snap your fingers. He held his head, before opening his eyes. "No way… it's you?!"

"You should know not to do bad things by now. You'll always be beaten," Amy of the Roses laughed, standing there with a card in hand. Her Piko Piko Hammer was gone. "Stay out of my way, Cheeseball. I'm here looking for somebody very important." She ran off with a target on her back. "Sonikku! Where are youuuu?!" Eggman fired. "Barrier." Amy opened up a magical barrier that reflected the bullet back into the wall next to Eggman.

"Come back here, you pesky pink prickle-pig!" Eggman shouted. Suddenly, Shadow appeared in a flash of light. Amy shielded her eyes, before being grabbed by the arm. While Eggman and Amy were blinded, Shadow took Amy to the other side of the concrete platform.

"Go, Eggman! I'll take care of her," Shadow called as the chaotic light cleared. He heard Eggman continue on his way. Shadow looked to Amy, who slowly opened her eyes.

"Sonikku?" She asked. Through her hazy vision, it was hard to tell. Her vision then cleared up, allowing her to see Shadow. She screamed at his alien appearance and jumped back, readying her hammer. "You're not Sonic! What are you? Are you one of Eggman's robot copies of him? Cuz… those are always pretty creepy and stalkerish! Not very fond of them."

"Keep your voice down, I'm not going to hurt you, and I'm not a robot copy," Shadow muttered. He looked at Amy's wrists. "Just as I thought. Inhibitor Rings."

"What are you saying?" Amy whispered, dispelling her hammer. She noticed he had the same rings on his wrists.

"Amy, right? Sorry, my memory is a bit foggy," Shadow whispered, grasping Amy's trembling hands. "My name is Shadow, but I believe you know that already. Right now, I require your guidance."

"Sorry. I really need to get going somewhere. I can't read your tarot right now…" Amy replied, pulling away and running off. "My boyfriend is trapped in this jail, and I need to get him out. Thanks for getting me away from Eggman though! Bye!" Shadow watched as she left, reaching out to her.

"That's not what I meant!" Shadow called. She couldn't even hear him. However, as she ran, it looked like she intentionally let go of a single card. It fluttered into Shadow's hand, eerily face-down on his palm. Turning it around hesitantly, he saw that it was… the Hanged Man. He held the card close, and then skated off in the other direction.

Eggman kept running, taking out everything in his way. He looked to the sky, and saw some kind of blue monoplane coming his way. "Very interesting… it doesn't look like a GUN jet. Who is that?" Eggman asked himself. He readied the bazooka attached to the Egg Walker, and fired a swarm of rockets at the jet. The jet flew in between the rockets, and then began to transform. It folded into a kind of mech. It landed on two metallic feet in front of the Egg Walker with a SLAM. Inside of the mech was Tails the Fox.

"Bah! You're here too?" Eggman asked, not hesitating to shoot at him. Tails used the Cyclone mech to jump and hover over all the bullets, shooting right back at the core of the Egg Walker over and over from midair.

"Back off, Robotnik!" Tails exclaimed, shooting forward two rockets that blew up at the Egg Walker's sides, taking out the Egg Walker's guns. "What are you doing on this island?"

"'Eggman'! My name is 'EGGMAN', now!" Eggman spat, coughing on the smoke coming from the Egg Walker. "Can't you and your bumbling blue buddy ever get my name right?!" From the core of his mech, Eggman shot forward a boxing glove attached to a long metal arm. Tails was punched in the face. The Cyclone toppled over. Tails grunted in pain as the spot where the punch landed bruised up remarkably quickly. He tried to get the tipped Cyclone to its feet. "What's the matter, Tails?" Eggman asked, stepping towards Tails and his mech. "Can't get off the ground for once? Sonic would be ashamed if he could see you right now." Eggman stood over Tails, his shadow blotting out the sun. "Sadly, he can't. You two will never see each other again." As soon as Eggman stepped into range, Tails controlled the Cyclone to spin around in a circle on the floor at high speeds almost akin to those of a Spin Dash, kicking the Egg Walker and slicing off one of its legs. The machine was punted worthlessly to the side. Tails climbed out of the scratched Cyclone, and looked down upon a defeated Eggman while holding the Egg Walker's severed leg over him. "No… I let my guard down…" Eggman grumbled.

"You're done, Eggman. Get lost already!" Tails groaned. Eggman rose his own leg from the Egg Walker and kicked Tails in the face. "Ow!" Eggman then folded the Egg Walker's parts back into the Eggmobile, taking off into the sky.

"I'll be back soon, very soon. And next time, you won't be so lucky!" Eggman called. Eggman had to evade more cannonballs and bullets being fired his way from the military. Tails got up, throwing the Egg Walker's leg aside.

"Well… no point in following him now, even if I could." Tails sighed to himself. He was about to continue his mission while Eggman inadvertently kept the military distracted for him, when…

"That was amazing, Tails!" Amy shouted from afar. Tails looked over to the sound of her voice.

"Amy! You're okay!" Tails exclaimed, as Amy skidded to a stop at the Cyclone's side. "Just so you know, I managed to escape with the professor and Ata in the Cyclone before GUN could catch us. I dropped them off somewhere safe, so don't worry about them. How'd you get away?"

"They never took away my cards, so I was able to blackjack their asses into subservience!" Amy cheered. "They let me go from jail, and then I swam."

"Swam?" Tails asked.

"Splashed around uncontrollably for about a day with my bubble or whatever," Amy reaffirmed. "Anything for MY Sonikku!" She smiled, hearts in her eyes.

"That's nice, Amy," Tails sighed, smiling a little bit. Something he hadn't been able to do since GUN raided the lab. "So, are you coming with me to bust him out of jail?" Tails asked.

"Of course~!" Amy sang. "What's with the cool mech? Are you a mecha weeb too now?"

"Oh, this? My legs are hurting more than usual," Tails mumbled sadly. "Running is getting harder, because of… you know what." Amy frowned. "It's no big deal. Just… be careful in there, okay? It's a foreign military base, we don't know what they have up their sleeve." Amy nodded. Tails smiled confidently, before the two ran towards the interior of the base.

Tails shot at the hinges of the door, and Amy knocked down the weak slab of iron with her Piko Piko Hammer. She and Tails grinned at each other, before Amy opened up a Flame Shield around the two of them. They charged forth into the dark metal corridor, the fire aura lighting the wicks of small explosives that blew up the stronghold behind them. The explosion inevitably destroyed any robot that Tails didn't immediately gun down.

"We've got a breach in Prison Lane!" A GUN Soldier shouted into a communicator from a separate room. "It looks like… Sonic's accomplices, Tails and Amy!"

"Grr… first Eggman, now Tails and Amy? Ridiculous. What about your robots, how are they holding up against the intruders?" Blade asked through her communicator.

"Useless! They're getting wrecked out there!" The GUN Soldier replied.

"Oh, okay. At least you know the futility of your own forces. You disgusting helpless manbaby. Leave it to me," Blade grumbled. She walked out into the hall, and followed the sounds of explosions and crackling fire coming from the floor below. Blade then sliced the floor panel below her, jumping down onto the floor below. She immediately slashed at the aura around Tails and Amy as they ran by, the Flame Shield being destroyed and her knife leg heating up exponentially. Tails and Amy managed to avoid being slashed, but all three of them were then blasted forward by the explosions. They all landed on the cold metal floor. Amy got to her feet, watching as the explosions continued to close in.

"Barrier!" Amy shouted, holding up a magical barrier that blocked the explosions… and Blade… from getting any closer. The explosions completely enveloped Blade. Amy looked away. but then noticed a card on the ground. "Oh… she must have dropped this." Amy jogged over and picked up the card. It looked like it was meant to be used as some kind of key for the prison cells. The barrier closed, showing that Blade had held up some kind of dark shield around her. Tails and Amy screamed, stepping back.

"I see. Some leftovers managed to resist the initial charge. These soldiers are worthless. I must finish what they could not." Tails shot at Blade, but she sliced the bullet in half in one swift motion with her heated knife leg.

"Amy! Get to the prison cells and save Sonic, I'll hold her off!" Tails shouted. Amy nodded, and ran off deeper into the facility. Tails targeted Blade, and shot multiple rockets her way. Blade slid under the rockets as they blew up behind her, leaving two slices in the flooring. She tried to get behind Tails to cut him in half, but Tails activated the Cyclone's rear jet thrusters. Blade screamed as her eyes were caught in the fire. Tails spin-kicked her back into the fire left over from the explosions.

"I was expecting more from you," Blade growled, piercing the wall with her legs and running across the walls back to Tails. Exchanging her ordinary knife legs for two pairs of scissors, she cut the legs off of the Cyclone with one pair while also slashing at Tails himself with the other. A scrape formed across his chest. The Cyclone fell. "The truth is, I've been looking for you in particular for a long time." Blade tore the Cyclone apart. Unscrewing the hinges, and sawing away at the core. "The bringer of day, of light, of rebirth… You have been hard at work attempting to find the World Instruments with your fellow Lightbringers, when that's a job better left to the professionals."

Tails pressed a button on the Cyclone, and tossed a grappling hook Blade's way. She was pulled in, and shot point-blank in the forehead. She fell to the ground, a sizzling hole between her widened eyes as they drifted in opposite directions of each other. "A professional wouldn't bring a knife to a gunfight," Tails muttered, breathing heavily. Blade stopped breathing altogether and began to… disintegrate? "Huh?" Tails asked, as Blade turned into a strange mist. It flowed into the air. "Just now… was that… Dark Gaia Force?" Tails looked down at the large army knives that used to be her legs. Tails scanned his surroundings. The coast was clear. He picked one knife up by the handle, switched it to screwdriver mode, and began to repair as much of the Cyclone as he could.

…

Sonic stood inside his cell, tapping his foot and pacing around the cramped confines. Suddenly, he heard a rattling sound from the ceiling as the trapdoor opened above him. Then… someone jumped down from directly overhead. "Amy!" Sonic laughed in ecstasy as she landed in his cell. The trapdoor closed. "What are you doing here?"

"Shh… keep your voice down. They might hear us," Amy whispered. She then leapt forward, cuddling Sonic. "Oh, SONIC! I'm so glad you're okay!" She screamed. "I was so worried!"

"I was worried too! How'd you get here?" Sonic asked.

"Well, Tails is a mecha weeb now. His words, not mine. He's been watching allll the Chao in Space movies," Amy explained, reaching her arms out diagonally to suggest a large quantity. Of Chao in Space movies. "So he made a mech and we broke in! He should catch up soon."

"Great. So what's the game plan?" Sonic glanced around at every wall. "... Because now we're both trapped." A gloomy silence befell the room.

"Hmm… I have this key card that can open the door from outside…" Amy mumbled. "From… outside…" Amy took a second, then screamed internally.

"Hey, don't panic!" Sonic panicked. "We can still figure something out."

"Yeah, I guess!" Amy exclaimed. She took the key card and placed it on the floor beneath a tarot card. The tarot card had an illustration of a cyborg serpent surrounded by crystals. Sonic looked on in awe as the cards fused. The key card had its GUN symbol sneakily changed into the serpent illustration. "Now this key card is enchanted with the power of hypnosis from the Card of Lyric! When someone holds the key card, they'll be completely under my command." Amy slid the card under the reinforced door. "Now we wait for somebody to actually pick it up. It still functions as a key card, so I'll just make them release us. Maybe the person delivering you food will find it."

"Yeah, they don't actually do that here," Sonic mumbled.

"What? They don't feed you?" Amy asked, shocked. "If I knew that, I would've brought snacks."

"Not just that, they've been acting real strange," Sonic groaned, reclining against the wall. "Why are Blade the Marten and her new buddy Slinger the Squid suddenly commanding the whole operation? How did Commander Walters know about the World Instruments being in Professor Pickle's lab? Something's not adding up. Nowadays, GUN usually only invades countries they see as a threat. Spagonia doesn't exactly fit the bill."

Amy looked to the strange chalk scribbles on the walls. "What's with all these notes? Did you write them?" Amy asked.

"Nope. Even I can't understand all this techno-babble," Sonic sighed. "It's probably nothing."

Tails walked the Cyclone through the corridor. "Sonic should be in one of these cells. I wonder if Amy's okay," he said to himself. He looked down at the floor. "Hey! Somebody dropped a key card." Tails hopped out of the mech and grabbed the card. Instantly, his eyes turned purple.

"Hey, somebody picked up the key card," Amy exclaimed, feeling a link form between her and someone else. "Okay… open the doors!" Amy struck a powerful pose. Tails stumbled over to the wall and slid the card across the scanner. All the doors opened. Sonic and Amy looked to Tails as they stepped out into the hall. "Tails? Hey, drop it. Snap out of it!" Amy took the card from Tails, and pocketed it. Tails' eyes turned blue again. "Oh my God, are you okay? Side effects of the Lyric card may include mild munchies, nose hair tingling, and short bursts of uncontrollable levitation."

"I think I'm good…" Tails mumbled, dizzy. "Sonic, I'm… glad to see you." Tails smiled.

"Right back atcha, Tails. For a second, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to… uh…" Sonic looked away, sniffling.

"We should probably leave," Tails stated. "GUN's still after us. And with Eggman on the island, there's no telling what could happen."

"Eggman?" Sonic asked. "I'll take care of him." He was about to run off, when…

"Wait! If you're gonna go fight Eggman, take my Tails Electric so we can still flirt," Amy requested. She looked a little bit concerned. She handed Sonic her Tails Electric, covered in cute vinyl decals. "Tails and I will hide out by the south shore." Sonic took the Tails Electric, nodded, and sped off towards the exit of the facility. Tails and Amy walked the other way.

Sonic broke through the doors into Metal Harbor, the cold wind blowing against his face. The sunrise was blinding compared to the dark gray ceiling of the prison. But that's the way he likes it. Sonic launched off a metal ramp suspended high above the ocean, flipping through the windy baby blue skies. "Sonic, can you hear me?" Tails asked over the Tails Electric. "We're on our way to the shore. We spotted Eggman escaping towards the jungle."

"Thanks for the intel, Tails," Sonic replied midair. He Drop Dashed onto a small cement platform amongst the militarized sea stacks. He dodged fighter jets as they flew by and dropped bombs onto the platform, taking out its underwater support beams. It tilted into the water, Sonic being forced to practically wall-run. "Whoa! Looks like GUN found out I escaped. I'll keep 'em busy so you can get to the shore."

"Are you sure this is a good idea? If we all left now, GUN would probably be able to capture Eggman if he's by himself," Tails told Sonic. "I didn't see any Badniks or allies of his when we fought."

"Not risking it. It sounds like he's on his way outta here too, I'm the only one who can catch up to him in time," Sonic replied.

Sonic leapt off of the sinking isle as a swarm of flying GUN Beetle robots attacked. He hopped from bot to bot, using them as stepping stones to get to the next isle. "Actually, there might be somebody working with Eggman. I'm not very sure," Amy stated in a confident and know-it-all manner. "It was a hedgehog who kind of looked like Sonic, but he also kind of looked like an alien."

"Shadow?" Sonic asked. "I ran into him in Central City. He mentioned Eggman, so he might know something about what's going on. I'll see if I can find him as well." Sonic kept running until he reached a collection of hulking metal missile towers.

"Warning. Highest threat inmate has escaped, and has entered the missile bay. Missile bay self-destruct procedure initiated. Missile takeoff in 5… 4…" a voice said over a nearby intercom. Sonic's heart skipped a beat. He kept running, all around the huge slippery metal tower.

"Holy CRAP! Sonic, hurry up!" Tails shouted. "Go go go!"

"Yeah, what Tails said! Go faster!" Amy exclaimed. Sonic's heart was beating out of his chest.

"2… 1… LIFTOFF!" The male voice said over the intercom. Now at the peak of the tower, Sonic Homing Attacked into the missile and grabbed onto a handle. The missile took off into the sky, the tower crumbling from the force of the takeoff.

Sonic looked all around as the missile flew above the coral-colored, cotton-candy-like clouds. Then, he took a leap of faith. He kicked off of the missile with an electric surge boosting him forward, ending its flight, knocking out its power, and sending the shell crashing into the water below. He skydived down into one of the more fortified towers that had somewhat survived the blast, breaking a piece of metal off of the roof and using it to snowboard down the wall like it was a hill in Golden Bay. Until he reached the ground. He ditched the snowboard, ran around a loop-de-loop, and dashed down the metal path into Green Forest, as he laughed through the sound of Tails and Amy's relieved cheers.

…

"Rou-e! You have fiv- minutes to f-nd the Master Em—d shards. Are you ready to go?" Eggman asked as Rouge swooped down into the cold, dark underground vault known as Security Hall. It was so remote, that Eggman's message was glitching out. Nearly to the point of incomprehension. The place may as well have been a giant freezer. There were never any actual people down here for long. Just robots. Most warm-blooded creatures would freeze in half an hour's time.

"Fifteen minutes? I must be hearing things. That'll be easy!" She pocketed the Eggman Empire walkie talkie and held her wrist close to her mouth. It had another communicator on it. "Yep. He's going through with the plan in FIFTEEN MINUTES. Evac time, Topaz. Alert the troops, NOW." Rouge swooped down into Security Hall and began to scour the place for the Master Emerald shards. "Are you sure Prison Island can go?" Rouge asked, finding a shard floating around on the giant fans covering the room.

"The commanders seem pretty sure. There's almost nothing valuable here anyways. Project Shadow was really the only thing on this island worth protecting," Agent Topaz replied through the communicator. "All that's left are the prisoners. We don't need to save them."

"Huh? That's a little bit… wrong, don't you think?" Rouge asked, caught off-guard with this statement as she climbed up the wall and set foot on the bridge.

"Where else would we take them? The mainland?" Topaz argued, irritated. "That would be putting ordinary citizens at risk. These are terrorists we're talking about, Rouge. What would happen if they escaped? They're better off dead."

"I suppose I understand," Rouge sighed, kicking down a door. Inside was a pile of Master Emerald shards. Her eyes lit up. "Whoa! Talk about the mother lode! All this for little ol' me?" She gathered up all the shards.

"This is a payment, not a present," Topaz grumbled, uncharacteristically miffed. Rouge heard helicopter rotors spinning through the communicator. "All the helicopters are at max capacity. See ya, old friend."

"What? Hey, I thought I was supposed to go with you guys!" Rouge shouted, her heart sinking. "Eggman's definitely planning to double-cross me once he gets the shards. Save a helicopter for me!" The call ended. Rouge's feelings of panic skyrocketed.

What little light there was went out. Rouge heard a particularly slimy sound from the ceiling just a few feet away, followed by metal hinges snapping. Punctuated by a loud clatter on the floor and a muffled watery screech. Strained, deep, wet breathing drew ever closer. Like someone was wearing a broken snorkel. Rouge knew she couldn't afford to make a sound. She began to tiptoe away, but the bridge creaked loudly underneath her boot. A slimy trickling sound made its way over to her. She felt cold breath on her shoulders. She instantly turned around and kicked whoever it was back. She couldn't see anything, until what looked like a multicolored disco ball strobed violently, shining an abrasive light over Slinger the Squid. He lunged towards her. It wasn't a disco ball, it was his goggle.

"What?! The new commander?!" Rouge asked, jumping back to avoid being caught. She then scratched at him with her Pick Nails. He screeched in agony, and then continued to blubber. Rouge could understand him just fine. "What? Hey, don't give me that. You attacked me first!" Rouge jumped out of the way as Slinger shot the mouth-hook-thing growing out of his stomach towards her. It kept following her as she ran, gnashing away at the thick cold air. Rouge kicked it away as it neared her. It kept stretching regardless, dragging Slinger across the bridge. He grabbed the side of his head, cocking it like a gun.

He then shot a multitude of bullets Rouge's way from his fins. Out of options, Rouge reluctantly grabbed the strange mouth appendage by the adam's apple tight enough to strangle it, holding it up to the line of fire as it hissed and gulped. It worked, as the open jaws of the appendage took a bullet for her. It swallowed the bullet without even having the chance to bite it, visibly squeezing it back towards Slinger's stomach. It tore through Slinger's back and clattered onto the bridge. Slinger instantly fell onto his back as a pool of ink bled out of the wound. He flopped around powerlessly. As the mouth growth struggled to cling to life despite the dwindling heartbeat of its host, Rouge finally crushed its throat with her bare hands. A little purple mist shot out of its throat as it fell limp.

Rouge breathed heavily, stepping back in shock. She only stopped when she realized she was but a footfall away from stepping off the bridge. "Oh my God…" Rouge whispered, staring down at the deflated body of Slinger. She just killed a man. She ended a life, she… watched as Slinger disappeared into Dark Gaia Force. This was somehow more concerning. The lights crackled to life once more.

"Rouge? Rouge!" Topaz called from the communicator. Rouge opened the communicator, still nearly hyperventilating.

"Topaz?! What's going on?!" Rouge cried, terrified. "Why'd you hang up before?!"

"I… didn't. At least, I don't think so," Topaz replied, looking equally as confused. "What just happened? It feels like I blacked out…" Topaz glanced around at the others in the helicopter. "Everyone looks… dizzy, I guess? That's all, though." Rouge sighed in relief. "We have time before we need to escape, so the others are still scrambling to find robots and stuff. We'll leave a fighter jet so you can escape. They're almost out of fuel, so they'll probably give out before you reach Golden Bay. But you'll probably be able to reach Veinia."

"Good. So, I think I found out what's going on," Rouge stated, walking to the exit Slinger had made, the one that wasn't full of automated defensive measures. "Looks like Slinger and maaaaybe Blade are pieces of Dark Gaia. Just like those monsters that come out at night. They must have had you all under control."

"What? How do you know all this?" Topaz asked.

"Slinger attacked me just after you hung up. When I… umm… 'defeated' him, he turned into that same fog that the monsters do," Rouge answered. She walked right past one of the devices she had planted on the wall for Eggman's plan. It was beeping quickly. "Wait… oh no. TOPAZ! You all need to get out of here, now!"

"What? But we should have twelve minutes. The others are still gathering—!"

"There's NO TIME!" Rouge shouted. "The island, it's about to…!"

…

"Phew!" Sonic whispered to himself, stepping foot into Green Forest. "So far so good…" He skidded to a stop, thinking he saw something jumping from tree to tree overhead. "Hey, that's—!" Sonic exclaimed. Shadow stopped atop a branch, looking down upon Sonic from high up.

"That blue hedgehog again, of all places!" Shadow exclaimed, a curious glint in his eye. From afar, Sonic could tell why Amy mistook Shadow for him.

"I found you, faker!" Sonic joked.

"Faker?!" Shadow asked, offended. "I think you're the fake hedgehog around here." Sonic raised an eyebrow. "You're comparing yourself to me? HA! You're not even good enough to be my fake."

"Relax, I was kiddi—!" Sonic called.

"No… you're only kidding yourself," Shadow interrupted, pointing at Sonic. "I must say, I find it strange that right when I am released, you show up under pursuit from the same organization I am fated to destroy." Sonic dusted himself off, unamused. "The wise woman who was meant to guide me through this world seems deadset on protecting you instead." Sonic looked at Shadow in disgust. "So tell me, Sonic. Why is it that you have taken my place in every facet of my own life?"

"It's difficult to HEAR you AND understand what you're saying!" Sonic shouted. "Listen, I'm sure we can talk this through and figure out… exactly what it is that you're on about." Shadow jumped off the branch and stomped down to the ground Sonic stood on. Only for Sonic to leap out of the way.

"You're trying to play more mind games with me, eh?" Shadow asked, Homing Attacking Sonic. "You may be swift on your feet, Sonic. But you'll never pull a fast one on me!" Sonic jumped up in Spinball form and knocked Shadow away. Shadow Drop Dashed all around the place, Sonic dodging every time the dark hedgehog was about to collide with him.

"Hey! You must be confused. Amy doesn't even know who you are, and neither do I," Sonic exclaimed, backflipping over Shadow and rolling forward as soon as he hit the ground to avoid being split in two. "I would totally wipe the floor with you, but first I would prefer to know why I should beat you up. What are you even doing here?" Shadow stopped rolling around at the speed of sound and uncurled, facing off with Sonic.

"I'm working with Eggman to—" Shadow started, ready to explain everything.

"That'll do, thanks," Sonic interrupted, shooting a bolt of Chaos Energy towards Shadow and electrocuting him. He then ran forward and kicked Shadow up into the air.

"Pathetic," Shadow muttered, latching onto the top of a tree. "You have the audacity to steal my Chaos powers, as well? Let me show you how it's done." He bombarded Sonic with Chaos Spears. Sonic ran all around the place avoiding the green crackling energy spears. Shadow jumped down and grabbed Sonic by the arm. "Chaos… BLAST!" Shadow exclaimed, producing an explosion from the hand that held Sonic. "Chaos Blast! Chaos BLAST!" Shadow laughed as he hit Sonic with explosion after explosion. Shadow threw Sonic to the ground, and took in the damage he had caused. Sonic was burned and bruised all over. Sonic grunted as he tried to get up, green electricity keeping him locked in place. "Are you done yet?" Sonic couldn't respond. " Thought so. I'll be taking it from here."

Sonic's pupils shrunk. In an iota of a picosecond between the electric shocks, he got up and wailed on Shadow. He Homing Attacked into him from all sides, then socked him in the bridge between his eyes. He proceeded to jump onto him in Spinball form over, and over, and over. After kicking Shadow to the ground, he felt he had done enough. He landed on the other side of the trail from Shadow. "Do you know who I am?" Sonic asked, staring Shadow down. Shadow got up, and rushed towards him. Sonic blasted headfirst into Shadow, and the two were sent flying back by the force of the impact. They both landed on their feet, kicking up mounds of dirt with their heels. Shadow growled with every breath he took. Deep down, he knew he was in no condition to fight any further. He could hardly even stand. Neither could Sonic as he gasped for air.

"Shadow!" Eggman's voice shouted over the communicator. "What are you doing? You have three minutes to get out of there before the island BLOWS UP with you on it!"

"Blows up?!" Sonic exclaimed, shocked. Shadow shot Sonic one last piercing glare, before disappearing in a flash of green. Sonic began to run towards the shore, pulling up Amy's Tails Electric and calling Tails.

"Sonic?" Tails asked, picking up the call. "What's u—?"

"TAILS! AMY!" Sonic shouted, running as fast as his injured legs could go. "---Bombs! On the island! They're gonna explode in three minutes! Eggman and Shadow must have planted them here!"

"Bombs?!" Tails cried. "Get over here, NOW!" Sonic tore through Green Forest in a blind frenzy, getting whacked by branches and scraped by twigs in his haste. He didn't stop for a second despite the pain in his legs getting worse. He dashed along inside half of a fallen tree suspended above a foggy abyss of unknown depth.

Sonic jumped up and grabbed onto a vine. It spun him around a tree multiple times at high speeds. It slammed him into the bark, leaving him no option but to roll down the tree in a Spin Dash. The wind whistled in his ears as his vision was obscured by the thick mist. He screamed, unable to do anything but roll. Once he reached the bottom of the tree, he uncurled and drifted around a tight turn in the cave. Huge dragonflies swarmed him, until Sonic released a small burst of electricity to scare them away. He kept running along a brittle and soggy wood bridge over a raging river. "Sonic! Hurry up!"

"You guys leave without me… I'm not gonna make it!" Sonic exclaimed, the bridge audibly splitting under every step he took.

"No! We're not leaving you, Sonic!" Amy cried. "Tails, we're not leaving Sonic, right?!"

"Of course not!" Tails shouted. "Sonic, we'll wait for you! No matter what!" Sonic saw helicopters taking off in the distance. He shot an Enerbeam to one of them, and let it launch him out of the forest onto the south shore. He blasted across the sand, Tails and Amy now in sight.

"SONIC!" They both cried.

"Okay… we're all here, now what?!" Sonic panicked. Tails hit a button on the Cyclone, causing it to unfold into a monoplane. Sonic jumped up onto the wing, and helped Amy up quickly. "Ready?"

"Ready!" Tails exclaimed. The Cyclone moved forward and took off into the sky just in the nick of time.

After only a few seconds of flying, Sonic and Amy spun around at the sound of an earsplitting explosion. Amy latched onto Sonic in fear of her life, and Sonic wrapped his weak arms around her reassuringly. Prison Lane was the first to go. Another explosion for Security Hall. Fire was already engulfing White Jungle and Green Forest. Then, Weapons Bed caught Metal Harbor in its own explosion, sending blazing pieces of loose metal flying almost as high as the plane. A tidal wave formed, closing in on the Cyclone. Tails shifted to top gear, and the plane was barely able to escape the tidal wave. As soon as the wave and the explosions died down, smoke became the main concern as it began to cover the surrounding sea. Even from this distance, the sky was a deep blood red. Everybody was at a loss for words.

Amy squeezed Sonic tighter. "I'm so glad we're all okay," Amy squeaked, crying. Sonic, exhausted and shaken to his core, blinked away some tears as he held her close.

Then, A GUN helicopter closed in. Sonic, Tails and Amy all cried out in fear. Topaz opened the doors, looking at them with her short hair flowing in the wind. She just… stared. They stared back. This was no time to fight. There was a moment of understanding between the two parties, a moment of clarity. Despite what GUN had done to the team. Topaz finally looked away, and closed the door. Everybody watched as the helicopter rose above the clouds, out of view. Sonic looked back to the blazing inferno which was once an island as it disappeared into the distance.