Another explosion from Lab 15 warned the doctor that his enemies were ever closer to

their goal of his complete destruction. Dr. Eggman fled into his panic room bolting the

super reinforced doors behind him for all the good it would do. He knew he was just

delaying the inevitable. A doom brought about by his own greed and desire to conquer.

"Curse that hedgehog he's betrayed me after all I did for him that wretch! He's gone

completely mad and . . . and I've doomed us all!" resigned the notorious Dr. Eggman.

Another quake brought him spiraling back to reality.

"He can't be stopped now he's just far too powerful! My machines are absolutely no

match for him. Lasers, barricades, shields, and even robots (those that haven't turned on

me already) all of them have failed miserably. And now he's even got some of my robots

doing his dirty work instead of mine! But how has he done it . . . how has he . . ." The

destruction of the door before him caused Eggman to stop his rant and take cover.

The doctor coughed as the dust in front of him settled. The only sound other than his

hacking was the sound of the alarm and a digital voice informing that all defenses had

now been breached before it too cackled and ceased.

When the dust had settled Eggman found himself staring directly at his assailant.

Electricity coursed around the icy blue hedgehog as wires hanging around him still surged

with current.

"Doctor," taunted the hedgehog hate seething with every word he spoke, "I've been

looking everywhere for you. Is this the hole you've been hiding yourself in this whole

time? I'm terribly sorry if I caught you by surprise I suppose that you just didn't hear me

knock!" he stomped his foot to the ground with these last words, shattering the pavement

below him.

"My new cohorts are very displeased that you attempted to intercept us and keep the

emeralds to yourself but now I suppose w can work everything out." he hissed.

Dr. Eggman ran to the other end of the room and slammed his back against the wall as if

trying to knock it down so that he might escape.

"Nazo please tell me why have you betrayed me I gave you everything you asked for we

were supposed to be partners?!" shouted Eggman.

Just as he finished speaking a metallic hand burst through the wall right next to Eggman

fallowed by another and another and many more. Eggman let out a panicked gasp as the

hands of his newest most powerful creations grasped him and pulled him through the wall

as Nazo could be heard laughing on the other end of the room. Everything faded into

darkness for Eggman but he could still hear the maniacal laughter of Nazo the Hedgehog

and he could see the glowing eyes of his creations staring down at him and he realized

that it was all over Nazo had won.

--Elsewhere--

"Check Mate!" the chess piece in the gloved hand belonging to a blue hedgehog

knocked over the pawn guarding the red echidna's own king. Knuckles stood up in

protest, as Sonic, quickly as he may, spoke before his friend. "Now you see Knux 'ol pal!"

he slapped his bud's back while continuing, "That's how you play this boring game! It

needs more excitement! Some...flair!"

Knuckles threw off Sonic's hand, and pointed back at the board. "Sonic, you idiot! You

cheated! You didn't win!" You never captured my royal pieces, you destroyed a

worthless, measly PAWN!!" his roar was strong enough to send Sonic flying back into

his seat. the carefree hedgehog snorted, "Well...whatever." he crossed his arms and leaned

back in his chair. "Hey, this park is pretty quiet, eh? Let's go take a look around."

Sonic led the impatient echidna to another area in the park. Knuckles then heard a

sound...so familiar, so cute? "Knuckles, look at that!" Sonic was pointing to a fresh green

field consisting of laughing children. "It's Tails!" he announced. Knuckles then added,

"And Cream!" the two tailed fox, and peach colored rabbit spotted the older guys and ran

towards them full with excitement.

"Hey, guys!" Tails shouted. "Hi..." Cream shyed behind Tails and waved. Tails spoke

again. "Wanna play Frisbee with us? We DO need more players..."

Sonic showed a thumbs-up sign, "Alright sounds fun!" Knuckles agreed. they all spread

out and Tails started by throwing it Sonic's way. "Sonic! Go long!" he threw it as hard as

he could, and proud of himself, he threw it very far...but Sonic ran and caught it before

anyone could blink.

He ran back to them, skidded to a stop, and whipped his nose. "That all you got, bud?" he

asked in a cocky tone. Knuckles then pumped his arms and ran for the Frisbee. he

snatched it instantly and threw it like a javelin. it seemed as if it went all the way to the

ocean. he looked over at Sonic, whose face was priceless. "'That all you got? BUD?'"

Sonic pouted at them, who were laughing. Tails was rolling around on the floor.

Suddenly, a bright light flashed. Sonic looked away, Knuckles put on his shades, Tails

and Cream cowered behind each other. a few moments later, the light dissipated, and a

being stepped forward with their Frisbee. Sonic opened his eyes and stiffened in surprise.

Tails then stated the obvious, "Shadow!" he glanced at the young fox, and Tails nervously

smiled. a huge smile appeared on Cream's face. "Shadow! I haven't seen you in a long

time!"

He nodded at her, and continued to walk towards Sonic. a slight malevolent grin was

painted across his face. "Playing games, are we?" he threw Sonic the disk. the blue one

caught it with a stumble. by this time, they are all pretty much friends "Ummm yeah.

Hey! Wanna play? We could use another set of fast legs!" Shadow narrowed his eyes,

"No thanks...I don't play...'childish' games..." another voice was heard from up above.

"Oh, don't you? And all this time I thought we could be on the same team!"

Up in a tree Rouge was hanging upside-down, using that famous smile of hers. Shadow l

looked up at her, and scowled. "If we must..." he murmured. Rouge giggled and flew

down right beside Shadow. Knuckles then spoke up. "Ok...Who's on who's team?" Sonic

suggested, "How about me Tails and Knux, against..." he pointed at Shadow, "You Rouge

and Cream?" Shadow nodded. Knuckles gave out a sigh. 'Someday I'll be on her

team...someday...' he thought to himself.

They all got into their positions..."Ready, set, GO!!" Sonic instantly captured he Frisbee

and froze. "Dang! I forgot you can't run with it!!" he wobbled a tad, then remained

balance. he then threw it to Tails, who flew up and almost caught it..."Oh no you don't!"

Rouge came flying out of nowhere. she caught it and threw it to Shadow, who lightly

tossed it to Cream.

Cream opened her arms to embrace the disc that was blowing softly towards anticipation

in her eyes as she reached for it. When suddenly Knuckles jumped out in front of her

from out of the ground where he had burrowed and stole the Frisbee out right from under

her nose. As he chucked it towards Sonic he shouted, "Sonic catch!" e hedgehog caught

the disc easily and grinned as he saw that he was indeed in the goal line.

With a thumbs-up he declared, "Better luck next time Shadow but I'm afraid that your just

too slow!"

Shadow growled and was about to make is come-back when he heard a small, pitiful

whimpering from behind him. He spun around to find Cream on the brink of tears. "I . . .I

almost had it . . but Knuckles stole it from me!" Cream finally burst into tears. Shadow

ran over to her and immediately tried comforting her.

"Hey I didn't mean to do it I just got caught up in the game is all! I'm really, really sorry

Cream!" Knuckles apologized shaking his hands up and down nervously as Shadow shot

him a glare.

"Cream are you ok?" asked Shadow drawing his attention back to her.

She nodded, "Yeah, I'll be okay Knuckles didn't mean to do it lets just keep playing."

Shadow shook his head in agreement.

The game was on again Cream had the Frisbee and passed it the best she could to Rouge.

Knuckles saw an opportunity to take the Frisbee but thought better of it and let Rouge

catch it then send it to Shadow. Shadow caught the disc and passed it again to Cream who

caught it and passed to Rouge again. This Time Sonic intercepted the pass with his

superior speed and tossed it to a waiting Knuckles who threw it as hard as he could to

Tails. But Tails couldn't move fast enough to catch the rocketing Frisbee and it soared

past him. Then they heard a horrible grinding noise fallowed by the clap of thunder.

All of the players gazed in the direction that they heard the noise come from to see a

terribly familiar figure standing in the field Frisbee in hand sparks still flying off it as he

slowed its harsh speed in is palm. "Oh Frisbee eh?" questioned Metal Sonic as Cream and

Tails gasped with fright. "I love to play games too you know. How about you and I,

Sonic, play a game?!" he demanded he the small toy was crushed in his hands and the

pieces fell to the ground.

Cream put her hands to her mouth, and started to whimper once again. Tails fought up the

courage to defend them, "H-hey! Y-you can't j-just do that!" wrong move. Metal Sonic

shot his head to Tails, who jumped at the sight of it. "I just did, little boy." he stepped

towards Tails. Tails was shivering while protecting Cream, who was covering her eyes

behind the fox. Metal Sonic spoke again, "What are you, the hero? I thought that was HIS

job."

His sharp metallic claws pointed to Sonic, who was standing just a few yards away in

fight stance. Knuckles tore off his shades, "Sonic! he's mocking you!" Sonic hollered

back, "Not for long!" he spun into a dash, and with high speeds attacked Metal Sonic.

Metal easily dodged it, sending Sonic over towards Shadow and Rouge. Sonic came to a

stop, turned around and glared at Metal Sonic. the metallic Sonic grinned in spite of

himself.

"I see you've gotten a bit too slow for me. How disappointing..." Sonic growled at Metal

Sonic. Metal sneered then his head circled around to view all the colorful characters, and

landed on Cream. she stared up at him with her big brown eyes. Metal Sonic mumbled,

"Perfect..." he flew towards the little girl rapidly as she cried out in fear. Sonic made an

attempt, but soon came to realize his actions were futile. Metal Sonic was just about to

take her, when suddenly a bright glow came from an ally.

Shadow glowed with pure anger, and unleashed bolts of what looked like lightning

straight onto Metal Sonic. Chaos Spear. Sonic quickly ran past Metal and retrieved Cream

while Metal Sonic was distracted. when Metal Sonic was able to see them again, because

of the clearing of smoke caused by Chaos Spear, he glared at Shadow, then at Sonic.

"How can that be?!" his voice sounded faded. Sonic, still holding Cream (who was now

crying) said, "NOW who's the slow one, eh?"

Metal Sonic blasted at Rouge in frustration, but Knuckles tackled her just in time.

Shadow made a move to Sonic, but Metal blasted his direction and hit him. "Shadow!"

Rouge cried out. Tails happened to be right where Shadow landed after being shot off his

feet. "Shadow! Are you alright?!" Tails asked frantically. Shadow, who was lying on the

floor, hesitantly got up onto one knee. "Y-yeah...it's not too bad..." he winced as he

covered his left arm, which was trickling with blood. Tails saw this, and knew if the robot

could hurt Shadow, the Ultimate Life Form, this badly...then the rest were in trouble.

"Sonic! We've got to run away!" he called. Sonic nodded at Tails, and motioned to

Knuckles and Rouge, "You two take care of Tails and Shadow! I'll take Cream!" he

glanced over at Shadow, being awkwardly helped up by Tails, and shouted, "Shad! Could

you warp them out'a here?" Shadow nodded at Sonic, giving him the green light to speed

away with Cream in his gentle grasp. "Sonic, will Shadow be alright? and the others too?"

Sonic looked down at her, while running at high speeds, "Yeah, don't worry Cream!

They'll be fine!" Now, let's get you to Amy's. That's where i motioned Shadow to warp

them to.

Knuckles, and Rouge both ran over by Shadow and Tails. Shadow used Chaos Control to

warp them away, leaving Metal Sonic alone in the field in the park.

--Amy's House--

Amy peered out the window as the rain continued to fall and thunder clapped on the

horizon. The pink hedgehog sighed, "It's raining pretty hard out there and this morning it

seemed completely clear it sure did come suddenly. . . I hope my Sonic is ok. I have a bad

feeling about today. Lets just call it a women's intuition."

Quite suddenly a green flash ruptured the once calm air of Amy's living room fallowed by

a loud crash. Amy gasped with surprise and ran to see Shadow lying bleeding on the

carpet with Tails, Knuckles and Rouge crowded around him attempting to help. Amy ran

over immediately and cried out, "Wha . . what happened to Shadow you guys and where

is Cream? She was with you wasn't she Tails?"

The young fox stared up at her with tears dripping from his fear-filled eyes and stuttered,

"Amy . . . Cream's . . . Cream is . . . Creams still out their with . . . with Sonic . . . and . . .

and . . . you've got to try to help Shadow he was hurt real bad!"

Amy's eyes grew wide with worry as she demanded, "What Sonic is still out there with

Cream?! What's out there? What could hurt Shadow this badly?"

Tails lowered his head as he derived what he knew, "We were all playing Frisbee when it

happened. Shadow was hurt in a battle with . . . with . . . AMY we've got to help Sonic!

Metal Sonic is still out there!"

"MY SONIC IS OT THERE WITH HIM!! That's it I'll go find him myself and help him

because you were all too scared and ran away!" screamed Amy.

Tails stretched out his hand and called to Amy as she was exiting the room with her

hammer in hand, "Amy wait it's too dangerous and what about Shadow?!"

"He's right Amy. Wait here I'll go I'm stronger and faster after all." Knuckles declared as

he rose from his seat on the coach.

"No way I'll save Sonic myself! I don't need you knucklehead! I'm perfectly fine by mys .

. . " Amy was cut off from her rant as Knuckles gave her a firm yet controlled punch to

the back of her head knocking her unconscious.

"I'm sorry Amy but you would have gotten yourself hurt." Knuckles said as he fled out the

door and into the rain.

--Elsewhere--

Sonic ran thought the streets at a break-neck pace, Cream still crying in his arms. Sonic

looked down and comforted the hapless bunny in his arms, "There, there we're almost at

Amy's house now everything will be ok you'll see. And Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, and

everybody else will be there waiting."

"Oh? So the others are at the pink hedgehog's residence then? Thank you for the

information it will be most useful after I've finished with you Sonic!"

Sonic glanced to his left and saw that he was starring strait into the eyes of Metal Sonic.

Sonic tried to react but wasn't fast enough to dodge the metallic fist of his adversary. As

he flew back, Cream screaming but still in his arms, he cursed under his breath and

flipped around to regain his footing. Then he took off down an alley in the other

direction. Metal Sonic remained hovering where he had boxed Sonic and watched the

blue hedgehog race down the alleyway. Then a most horrible thing happened. He began to

laugh. Slowly and quietly at first but then growing in speed and volume letting just one

thought escaped him, "Perfect. Exactly as the master had planned."

--Amy's House--

Shortly after Knuckles left to save Sonic, and punching out Amy, the house was left with

a frightened Tails, a worried Rouge, a critical conditioned Shadow, and an unconscious

Amy. Rouge walked over to Shadow while Tails struggled to carry Amy to her bed.

"Here...you should rest on the couch..." Shadow gave Rouge his normal emotionless

glare, and turned away. she grabbed his shoulder and whirled him around back to face

her.

"Listen, you! You need to realize when to know your limits! Please, do it for me! At least

sit on the couch while I bandage your arm." Rouge pretty much pushed him onto the

couch. 'I guess he's still stunned from actually being beaten badly'. she thought.

Tails came back into the room. "Amy's safe and sound on her bed sleeping." Rouge

looked over at him, and at the same time Shadow tried to squeeze away. she hit him on

the head. "Why are you doing this?" he asked her. "I know you'd never help yourself, and

I care about you...kills two birds with one stone." Shadow rolled his eyes and looked

away.

Tails felt like he walked in on a family feud. "Um...hey, how about a little TV?" asked to

uncomfortable fox. he flicked on the television, and it showed apart of the city

burning...with civilians screaming trying to evacuate. Tails' mouth flung open. "This is

terrible! I hope Sonic's okay!" an angry voice came out of the shadows..."I know!! And

SOMEONE wouldn't let me go save my one and true love!!" Tails whipped around, "A-

Amy?! Are you alright?"

Amy, holding an ice pack to her head, stormed to Tails and shook him violently. Rouge

left Shadow and pulled Amy off Tails. "Look! Amy, we all know what would've

happened if you went after him! You could've gotten yourself killed, and then what would

Sonic think? You being killed would make his life miserable!" Amy stopped snarling at

Rouge, and looked down at the floor. "You're right. I guess it WAS best that Knuckles

went on without me. But why did he have to punch me?!" she got all fussy again.

Shadow spoke from his seat, "You would've done anything for that blue hedgehog. That

was the only way to stop your actions." she blinked. "I'm not saying I'm sorry for what

Knuckles did, but I hope you don't have a concussion or something..." Amy was wide-

eyed. Shadow actually said something remotely nice to her?! "Thanks." "Whatever." he

looked away again. 'He's just embarrassed. In a way...that's sort of cute of him'. she

secretly squealed to herself as Tails announced something. apparently he'd been watching

the T.V. this whole time.

"Metal Sonic is on the news! Look!" he turned up the volume. the news reporter spoke in

a questioned, and panicked tone, "This mass-murderer seems to be on the lookout for our

hometown hero, Sonic the Hedgehog! Please, everyone, from the orders of the national

GUN force unit, stay indoors!" Tails, Rouge, and Amy all looked shocked...Shadow's face

stayed the same. suddenly, Shadow grunted in pain. he looked down at the wound half-

bandaged. Rouge hurried back over to him, "Sorry! I'll finish this up!"

She took some more bandages and began wrapping his arm again. then, her eyes met his.

his eyes looked so melancholy, so sad. almost searching for something...what was it?

snapping her out of trance, she heard his voice, "Thank you." she slightly blushed, shook

it off and answered, "Well, you know...can't have you handicapped, right?" Shadow shyly

smiled, and at that instant Amy looked over to see his rare smile. she busted out,

"Whoa!! You can SMILE?!" that ruined the moment. the smile was gone, and a glare

replaced it heading towards the pink girly hedgehog. she twitched. "S-sorry!" Rouge

laughed, soon a nervous chuckle from Tails.

"So...what are we going to do?" Tails questioned. Shadow stood up now. "What do you

think? We're going to catch up to that echidna, and find Sonic with Cream." Amy looked

blue, "Hopefully we'll find them in time..." Tails cheered her up, "Don't worry Amy!

We'll find them before that Metal Sonic does!" he shouted triumphantly. Amy nodded,

and put her hand in the middle of the group. "C'mon you guys! Let's make a team, and

work together to help them save Sonic and Cream!" Tails agreed, "Yeah!" and put his

hand in. Rouge winked and added her hand. Shadow nodded and hesitantly put his hand

on top of Rouge's. she smiled at him. "Let's all go help them out!" and with that, Tails up-

booted his Tornado one from Sonic Adventure Battle 2 and carried Amy inside it as

well. Shadow (weakly) skated, and Rouge flew right on top of him. they started their

quest to the city...

--The City--

Knuckles stood atop a large tower and peered out into the city in an attmpt to locate

Sonic. Suddenly a blue flash swished around the base of the biulding and Knuckles

soared down to meet with his friend. "Sonic! Are you ok? How's Cream doing?" he

inquired with general concern.

Sonic stopped his run momentarily and shoved Cream into the baffled hands of the red

echidna. "Here take Cream and get her out of here! I've lost them for now but that won't

last long! Whatever happens don't let them take her! I'll try to find a way I can lose these

guys for good!" And with that Sonic dashed off leaving the bewildered echidna to his

thoughts.

"Wait Sonic what do you mean 'them?' Wasn't it just Metal . . . " he was cut off by several

flashes of color flashing by him. But not all of the flashes passed the group by.

Sonic sprinted down the ran soaked road and gazed upon the burning buildings all around

him. He cursed, "Dammit those metal bastards destroyed all down town looking for me!

Well at least Cream's gone now and I can fight and run at my full potential. There's no

way they could catch me n . . . "

"Target Acquired"

"What . . . ?!"

A yellow ray crashed into Sonics back sending him sprawling on the ground. As Sonic

groaned and pulled himself up he found himself completely surrounded by mechanical

forms of several familiar people.

Mecha Tails, Rouge, Amy, and Metal Sonic himself crowded around Sonic and watched

him struggle to get up with emotionless eyes. "You've tired yourself out more than you'd

like to admit my friend." stated Metal Sonic.

"I'm not your friend bub." Sonic announced rising to his feet. "So I've never seen these

guys before," he said looking around at the new metal versions of his companions,

"friends of yours? And wait. Weren't there two more of you?"

"Very well observed my . . . adversary then? Yes these are all new models constructed by

the, by now deceased, Dr. Robotnic. Although now they head a new master. As for the

other two I believe that they met with one of your friends a while back. But don't worry

I'm sure they'll be here shortly." Metal Sonic responded with an air of smugness about

him.

"You bastard! You will not hurt my friends!" Sonic growled.

"Oh won't I?" Metal Sonic taunted and began to laugh. Then, quite suddenly as he had

begun, he stopped and the sound of evil laughter was replaced by a gasp of shock.

Sonic crashed into Metal Sonic in a power-spin and knocked him through the wall of a

nearby building. The other robots quickly moved in to add their fallen comrade but were

all struck down in a pin-ball fashion by Sonic. The blue hedgehog smirked and began to

walk away when Mecha Rouge shot up and grappled his arms behind him and pressed

him to a kneeling position with its leg. Sonic's eyes were wide with surprise as he saw the

rest of the robots regain their footing and proceed towards him. Mecha Amy drew a

massive spiked mace and strolled over to Sonic prepared to execute when a large wave of

air rushed over them. The robots and Sonic gazed up to see the X-tornado making another

round towards them. Sonic's eyes lit with the fire of hope as he shouted up to his friends

in welcome. Metal Sonic placed his hand on Mecha Tails and nodded, "You know what

to do we'll finish up here just as planned." Mecha Tails nodded and spun its multiple tails

to take off.

"Haha! Your sending him?! Look no offense to Tails now but he's not really a fighter you

know?" Sonic snickered.

"We've made some . . . modifications." Metal Sonic stated as he looked up at his flying

cohort.

"What do you mean by . . ." Sonic was cut off as he observed two large rocket platforms

and a pair o gattling guns sprout from the metal villain's back as well as that it had drawn

duel pistols in its hands, " . . . Oh."

The X-Tornado whirled in backwards as it dodged some of Mecha Tails' gunshots and

missiles. "Hang on, Amy! This'll be rough!" he triggered a switch that fired a laser beam

at the robot. it hit, but did no damage. Sonic watched the two brawl it out, until he heard a

large lump fall behind him. "Amy?!" his eyes went wide. there...right in front of him, was

the malicious Metal Amy. her eyes glowed red and she held up her spiked hammer. Sonic

gulped as she started sprinting towards him. "Oh shit!"

Tails flipped around using barrel rolls, and other technical tricks to get Mecha Tails off

his back. nothing seemed to work, until he fired tail bombs and fireworks from behind.

Mecha Tails was bombed, and also hit the nuclear fireworks. surprisingly, Mecha Tails

burst into flames and crashed into a building. "Whoa...i need to use these things more

often..." announced Tails as he witched gears and began flying towards Sonic for aid.

Shadow set Amy on the ground gently as Metal Sonic tried to provoke them using finger

gestures. Shadow snarled at him, trying not to lose control. Amy then whirled out her

famous giant Piko Piko Hammer, and swung it over her shoulder. "You Ready?" she

looked at the dark hedgehog. he peered back and spat out some dry humor, "Let's give 'em

Hell." she instantly jumped at their foe and spiraled into a tornado made of hearts and

petals. Shadow just stared blankly at her overly-girly attack, not expecting ANYTHING

to happen.

Just then, she exited from her love tornado and it slammed into the metal version of

Sonic. "I call that one Tough Love!" Shadow still hadn't moved, sweat drop! and Rouge

dropped from the sky. just as she landed, Metal Sonic came out of the petals of love and

ran into Shadow. Shadow endured it, then sent it over to Rouge...her kicks following

Shadow's swift chops and speeds. while attacking the same enemy she shouted over to

Amy, "So, how's your boyfriend?" Amy took it as an insult and spat back, "Well at least

I've got someone to chase after!"

Rouge then winked back at her, in the middle of a side-kick, and hollered, "Hun, i don't

chase after ANY boy. They chase me." and with that, she kicked Metal Sonic's face,

sending him to Shadow. Shadow used a red blast and it pretty much short-circuited the

robot. Metal Sonic staggered and then collapsed as the Tornado landed on top of him.

Tails opened up his hatch and called to them, "Guys! Where'd Cream go?!" for the first

time, the three of them looked around the area and didn't noticed the quiet rabbit had gone

missing. Shadow thought out loud, "Damn! One of the robot's must've taken her while we

were fighting Metal Sonic!"

Amy added in, "We can't let them hurt her! We have to do something!" Rouge glanced

towards Knuckles, who was preoccupied with two highly advanced robots and thought

she wouldn't be over in that direction. Shadow saw Sonic being chased by the Metal Amy

helplessly and thought, 'Dumb blue hedgehog...how pathetic.' Amy then ran over to Tails,

"Could you take off and try to find her from up above? Shadow could you run and look

for her with Rou-" just then, Metal Sonic came out from underneath the Tornado and

caught Amy's arms and put a gun to her head. she was his hostage now, and they couldn't

do anything about it.

Amy stiffened. Shadow instantly went into fighting stance, along with Rouge in the air

went into her defensive position. Tails moved the Tornado to behind them two and

readied his weapons. "You really don't want to fight me..." Metal Sonic threatened while

readying his gun next to Amy's head. Amy cried out for Sonic, and unbeknownst he heard

her...and came rushing back to her rescue.

As Sonic ran to save Amy from her oncoming demise Knuckles had issues of his own to

attend to. Mecha Shadow and Metal Knuckles had been left behind to take care of the

echidna who already had his hands full of rabbit. Knuckles carefully placed Cream behind

him in a small alleyway to which he guarded the entrance. "You stay here and don't move

everything will be alright ok?" Knuckles comforted his friend with a smile and turned

back around to face his opponents as the little rabbit nodded. "So how do you want this to

go down eh?" the red echidna taunted his two assailants while cracking his neck and

getting into a battle stance.

The Mecha Shadow then countered, "Hmm ho about we start with some math? What's my

fist plus your face minus a few of your limbs as I divide you in half?"

Knuckles snarled and the fight commenced with the starting word echoed by every one of

the combatants, "GO!" Metal Knux went strait for an all-out punch at the guardian who

dogged it easily jumping over his opponent only to be met by Mecha Shadow's kick

aimed strait at him which he also countered by grabbing onto it mid-air and fling the

bewildered machine into his struggling counterpart. "Well this isn't so tough." declared

Knuckles as his opponents struggled to get to their feet.

"We're not done yet!"

"Sure your not." he sneered and provoked them by gesturing "bring it on" with his gloved

hand. And the dual opponents rushed him only to be met by the echidna tripping them

with both his legs and then, as they fell, grabbed their heads and slammed them into one

another behind his back and laughed.

Meanwhile Metal Sonic began to back off with Amy still at gun-point when a flash of

blue light streaked behind him and the next thing Metal Sonic knew was that he had an

extra foot on his face that last time he checked shouldn't belong there and then he was

launched into another crumbling building. "Ohh Sonic I knew you'd rescue me!" Amy

Rose yelled as she hugged her blue hero.

The building where Metal Sonic had been launched was starting to collapse and the rest

of the fighters watched in awe as it was blown completely away and Metal Sonic stood

once more. "Enough! I've had it with you cheeky bastards!" he roared as a small piece of

his metal exterior fell of to display a gauge that currently held the number of 25 on it.

He looked around at his broken team and ordered, "All of you disengage first safety

now!" And all of them fallowed suit as Pieces of their exteriors fell off to reveal a gauge

with 25 marked on it. And the team of heroes waited in shook as the number climbed

from 25 to 50.

Mecha Shadow and Metal Knuckles rose to face there now shaken adversary. And in a

heart beat Metal Knuckles jumped and headed strait for Cream. Knuckles gasped with

shock and jumped in the way taking the blow of Metal Knuckles claw right to his

stomach. Cream yelled as Knuckles began to double-over with the pain but maintained

his place guarding her. He looked back at the frightened bunny and smiled with one eye

still clenched shut from the pain, "Don't worry I can handle the chumps you just need to

get out of here." Several more blows from Metal Knuckles fists in his stomach and Mecha

Shaow's kick to his face fallowed. Then Metal Knuckles grabbed him and preformed an

extremely powerful punch to the echidna's stomach leading to a sickening tud and

Knuckles began coughing up his own life's blood landing with a horrendous splash on the

wet pavement below. He held his stance and jilted his battered and bruised head towards

the now crying Cream and yelled, "GO! NOW!" With this the little rabbit nodded

understandingly tears still flowing down her eyes and ran with the sounds of Knuckles

torture filling in the background noise.

Metal Sonic was on them in an instant tackling the just rescued Amy to the ground and

raising his hand. Energy forming in it as he prepared for the final blow. Metal Sonic

released his energy wave only to see a new recipient for his attack standing in front of

Metal Sonic with defiance in his eyes as he knocked Amy away. "Even better." Metal

Sonic chided as he released his huge wave of energy completely engulfing Sonic and

making him disappear. Even the beaten Knuckles and the emotionally tried Shadow

called out to him as they saw their friend be destroyed right in front of their eyes. The

blast cleared and where Sonic had once stood there was now nothing. Amy fell to her

knee's and sulked there not truly comprehending what had just happened.

Tails began to cry but did not sob as he saw the rest of the Metallic team begin to rise. He

knew that Sonic would have wanted him to rescue his friends so he quickly landed the X-

Tornado and called out to the rest of his friends, "C'mon guys we've got to go! Shadow

grab Amy and Rouge you grab Cream lets move it!" The rest of the team obeyed and

Shadow dragged a limp Amy aboard the X-Tornado. Rouge found Cream and brought her

aboard then called out, "Hey what about Knuckles?!" Then Tails looked over to where

Knuckles was still being pummeled by his attackers.

Tails shed a final tear and said, "It's to late we can't get to him c'mon Rouge we have to

go!"

Rouge gazed upon the scene of brutality as it played out below her. "No we can't just

leave Knucklehead here to die by those things. I don't care if your going to help him or

not I will!" she was about to fly off the X-Tornado when Shadow restrained her and the

hatches were closed. She struggled and pounded against the glass and a single tear

escaped from her eye witch she quickly whipped away and called out as they flew off

higher and higher, farther and farther away, "Knucklehead!!"

In the alley Knuckles lay unconscious, bruised, bloody, and beaten. The rest of the Metal

Team gathered around him and discussed his fate.

"So shall we kill him then?" said one. His face hidden in shadow.

"No we can use this one." said another as the rain stopped sprinkling and began to pour.

--

This was a fan fiction made by a Knuckles and Shadow Fan we do not own Sonic or any of the characters used in this story or so help me fish I will steal your milk and cookies.

Knuxfan: Yo I'm Riftun and my favorite phrasing is "I'm such a huge Knuckles fan that right now I'm smashing my head against the desktop shouting out his name and . . . Wait . . . Ohh dear I'm bleeding but wait the blood makes me red like Knuckles Freakin' sweet!