Chapter 16

Sonic and Shadow's battle had taken them far away from the campsite. It was brutal; each hit drew more and more blood from the participants. Sonic had a large cut on his forehead, from which blood continued to pour. "You fucker…" Sonic said, through shallow breaths and hoarse groans. "Just what the fuck are you planning…?" Shadow wiped a streak of blood from his muzzle and scoffed.

"Wouldn't you like to know? I'm not gonna tell you. That'd be stupid." Sonic noticed Shadow's posture; even though they had been in a brutal battle for the last several minutes and he was bleeding profusely, Shadow was hardly having any trouble at all. He was stood up completely straight, his breathing no more difficult than usual. Compared to Sonic, who was having trouble staying on his feet and had to choose between breathing or talking, Shadow seemed almost normal. In fact, were it not for the blood coming from several spots on his body, nobody would be able to tell that he had been in a battle at all.

"I figured. Well, it was worth a try, at least." Without warning, Sonic mustered up his strength and charged at Shadow, knocking him to the ground and crawling in top of him. He wailed on Shadow's face for a while. Left hook, right hook, left hook, right hook. Yet despite the repeated hits that Shadow was taking, he didn't seem to be feeling the effects of any of it.

Cream looked up and down the horizon. "Where on Mobius could they have gone?" She asked herself. They wouldn't just leave her like this, would they? Sonic wouldn't, at least. Shadow probably would, but Sonic was just as absent as Shadow was. It didn't make any sense. Tails would be back soon, and if he didn't see them when he landed, he wouldn't stick around to wait for them. Cream flew up into the air a short ways using her ears in order to attempt to find thr absent hedgehogs. She looked down into a nearby valley, and there she saw a blue blur and a black one, bouncing off each other and running around each other as if they were in some kind of battle. Eventually, the blurs stopped moving and she could get a better look at them. She saw the black blur get knocked to the ground, and then she saw the blue blur crawl on top of him. She couldn't tell exactly, but it looked like Sonic and Shadow were in the middle of a heated battle. But why? It didn't make any sense. Shadow was on their side. Why would he just attack Sonic like that? Against her better judgement, she flew towards the battle in order to get a better look.

"You really are pathetic." Shadow said, his hand wrapped around Sonic's neck and holding him up in the air. "I could kill you right now if I wanted. But I don't think Robotnik would appreciate that very much. No, he wants you to suffer. Everyone you love is going to die, one by one. Slowly." He said. At this point, Cream had landed a fair distance from the battle, far enough that she thought she was safe but close enough for Shadow to notice her.

"C-Cream, no! Get out of here!" Sonic said as Shadow threw him off to the side.

"Mister Shadow, why are you fighting Mister Sonic?" She asked, not really expecting a straight answer. Though she tried to hide it, Shadow could tell exactly how she was feeling from the tremble in her voice and her generally unimposing stance.

"Well, well, well, little rabbit. What are you gonna do about it? Are you gonna fight me? Are you gonna protect him? Oh no, I'm soooo scared." Shadow scoffed. Cream curled her hands up into fists and took a step forward.

"I...I won't let you hurt Mister Sonic anymore! I'm not a helpless little rabbit anymore. I...I will fight you!" She raised her voice slightly, a scowl appearing on her face.

"Cream, no!" Sonic said, struggling to get up. Shadow simply kicked him in the stomach, forcing him to the ground.

"Tch...what a waste of time. This'll be over quick." Shadow began to charge up a Chaos Spear as Cream ran at him, her fists outstretched. Shadow dodged each of her attacks effortlessly, and then kicked her in the stomach, sending her flying across the field.

"I-it's hopeless...he's too fast. I'm going to die here…" Although Cream had only taken one attack so far, the force of it had severely injured her. She couldn't feel anything below her arms anymore. She struggled to stand as Shadow finished charging his attack.

"Goodbye, little rabbit." Shadow said as he let the Chaos Spear fly towards Cream. Just before it hit her, though, Sonic jumped in front of her, getting impaled directly through the chest. "Oh, shit. Robotnik won't be happy about this…" He turned and ran away, looking over his shoulder at Cream and Sonic as he did.

"M-Mister Sonic...you didn't have to do that...I don't want you to die, Mister Sonic…" She cradled Sonic's head in her arms as tears rolled down her face.

"I'm not gonna die, Cream...I'll be fine. I promise." He paused for a second, coughed, and then spoke again. "I just did what I had to...Tails would never forgive me if anything happened to you." He said.

"Can you walk?" Cream asked. She had never been in a situation like this. Even if he could walk, where were they gonna go? The closest sign of life was in Robotnik's fortress, and there was no way in hell she was going back there. Sonic would bleed out if she didn't figure out something soon. Just then, Cream heard the familiar sound of The Tornado overhead. As Tails landed the plane next to Cream and Sonic and jumped out, he was hysterical.

"What the hell happened here?!" He asked, but the look in Cream's eyes told him everything he needed to know. "Come on, get in. We gotta get you two to the lab as soon as possible."

Amy slowly opened her eyes and saw...nothing? Was she going blind? No, that couldn't be right. People didn't just randomly go blind. Something was amiss. "Hello?" She asked, before noticing that she was strapped down to something. "Sonic? Tails? Cream?" No response. Wherever she was, she was all alone, and it was up to her to get herself out of this situation. If only she could get her hands free somehow, she could-

"Hello, Miss Rose." She heard that voice again. The last one she remembers hearing before she ended up here. Robotnik. Of course, it all made sense now. Robotnik had somehow known that she would be left alone at home, and he had been there to capture her when she arrived. But why? What good was she to him with a broken leg?

Her leg. She remembered that Shadow had been the one to break her leg. Had Shadow betrayed them? She wouldn't put it past him. But she needed to stop worrying about all that for now. Her current situation was far more important. She couldn't see, Robotnik had her captive, and her leg...it didn't hurt anymore. She could have sworn it was broken just a few hours ago. Was she imagining everything? Had she finally lost her mind?

"W-what do you want with me?" She asked, her voice barely higher than a squeak. "Please don't hurt me…" A single tear rolled down her face.

"Hurt you? Oh no, you're far too important for that. Sonic loves you, doesn't he?" Robotnik chuckled. Amy heard him tapping a few keys on a keyboard, and then, her vision returned. She looked at her surroundings, but nothing about what she saw. Robotnik appeared completely greyscale, and even her own normally pink fur had lost all color. Was she actually beginning to lose her sight? Robotnik tapped a few more keys, and suddenly her vision changed again. This time, she saw a dim orange glow emanating from Robotnik, and a brighter, more vibrant glow coming from herself. Whatever Robotnik had done to her, he had full control over what she was seeing. But that didn't matter. Here she was, alone with Robotnik in a room. She could kill him right now, if only she could get free. She looked around the room, searching for something, anything to help her escape. Robotnik chuckled again.

"Don't even try, Miss Rose. You're trapped here." He tapped a few more keys on the keyboard. Like hell was she gonna give up that easily. As long as she was still alive, she still had hope. Even if she couldn't get herself out, Sonic would show up soon and-

An electrical shock flowed through Amy's body, a soundless scream leaving her mouth. It felt as if a thousand daggers had been stuck into her spine at the same time. This continued for what seemed like eternity, and then she fell limp. Robotnik removed the straps holding her down. A small smile crawled up his face as he grabbed a remote control from the desk.

"I want you to kill Sonic."

Author's Note: It's been a while, huh? I don't know if anyone still cares about this story amymore, but it's here anyway. I've been dealing with a lot over the past two years, and all of it had kinda worn down my willingness to write anything. It took a long time for me to get the will to finish this chapter, which by the way had been sitting half finished in my hard drive for at least a year. Because of that, I'm sorry if this chapter is disappointing. Honestly, I'm just glad to finally get something out there.