Tails the Fox
Chapter 20 - Showdown
Boss 13 - Sonic Vs Shadow

Note: Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are (c) SEGA and 
Sonic Team. You knew that, right?

Sonic and Amy had reached the prison area in the cable car building after fighting through a veritable army of robots. All stuffed into a single cell were Tails, Knuckles, Cream, Cheese, SPOT, and Gemini. Knuckles was hard at work trying to punch through the bars, making no progress. "WHAT ARE THESE BARS MADE OF!?!?!?" He didn't even notice Sonic's presence until the hedgehog tapped on the bars of the cell, as though knocking at a door. "Hello? Can Knuckles come out to play?" he said teasingly.

Amy seemed in an unusually good mood. "Ha! I wasn't captured this time! Come on, tell me how cool I am and I'll let you out!" But Knuckles, tough guy that he is, wasn't about to let someone else get him out of there. "I can get myself out! Stand back! I'LL SMASH THOSE BARS!!!" He set about punching the bars even harder, trying with all his might to escape the cell. However, it was no use, and soon Knuckles had tired himself out. He collapsed in exhaustion. Gemini then called out a spell. "Abra-ka-unlockra!"

The cell door that Knuckles had been punching at swung open. Knuckles picked himself up to notice he was staring Sonic the Hedgehog in the face. Sonic was holding back laughter, as was Tails and Cream. Knuckles, having been totally humiliated, shouted at Gemini, "WHY DIDN'T YOU DO THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE!?!?!?"

Gemini looked at him sheepishly. "You kept blocking the spell trying to punch through the bars. I didn't have a shot until you collapsed..."

Meanwhile, Shadow had also arrived, and was waiting in a hallway just past the cell. Waiting and listening. "This sure doesn't look good." he thought. "Maybe Sargent Gunner is right..."

The group of cell-mates began to empty out of the room, toward the exit to the building. Sonic and Amy stood at the sides of the cell door. "We hope you have enjoyed your stay in jail!" Sonic said jokingly. "Don't come back again very soon!" Amy added.

As Sonic's friends cleared out of the room, Sonic remained behind. Amy started to follow the others, but stopped when she noticed that Sonic wasn't moving. Before Amy could say anything, Sonic spoke. "You're not gonna sneak up on me, Shadow. You might as well come out."

Shadow stepped into the room, grinning. "Very alert today, eh, Sonic? One might think you're up to something..." There was a sense of tension in the air as Sonic and Shadow locked eyes. "In fact, I'm told you have been up to something today. Why are you fighting with GUN, Sonic?"
Sonic shrugged his shoulders. "They started it."
Shadow's expression turned serious. "Don't joke around with me, Sonic! I want answers, and if you won't cooperate, I'll beat them out of you!"
Sonic frowned. "I guess you've been talking to that GUN sargent. He's nuts, you know."
Shadow grew angry. "Shut up! This isn't a game! Regardless of whether you did that stuff or not, I think you know something. Tell me what you know about the experiments, right now!"
"Chill out, Shadow! Why do you even care?" Sonic replied. 

Finally, Shadow snapped. "You smug little punk! Take this!" Shadow charged at Sonic and launched a punch at him. Sonic quickly stepped aside and dodged. Amy, enraged that Shadow attacked Sonic like that, ran at him with her hammer. "You don't touch my Sonic!!"
Shadow blocked her attack, grabbed her hammer from her, and threw it accross the room. "You stay out of it!"
Amy ran over to where her hammer was thrown, then looked to Sonic. "I'll be fine!" Sonic said. "You catch up with the others and tell them to head back to the Mystic Ruins!" Amy nodded in response, and ran out to catch up with the others. "I'm all yours now, Shadow! Where were we?" Sonic said teasingly. Shadow ran at Sonic and responded, "Right here!!"
Once again, Shadow tried to hit Sonic, but Sonic dodged. He decided to try a different tactic. "Chaos Control!" Shadow warped behind Sonic, kicked him in midair, then warped as Sonic turned around. Shadow emerged behind Sonic again and repeated the assault, warping again. "This is getting old fast!" Sonic grumbled as Shadow hit him again. This time, Sonic grabbed his own fake Chaos Emerald and used Chaos Control himself. This caught Shadow off guard, and Sonic managed to hit Shadow from behind with a homing attack. Immediately afterward, they both warped at once, appearing in the center of the room facing each other. They both attacked at once and sent each other flying in opposite directions. "You're right, Sonic. This is getting old!" Shadow growled. So, for a change of pace, Shadow launched a flurry of Chaos Spears at Sonic, which Sonic dodged while running at Shadow. "I thought he'd do that!" Shadow thought. "Chaos Blast!"

The blast erupting from Shadow's body engulfed half the room in fiery chaos energy. When the attack subsided, Shadow could not see Sonic anywhere. He knew that he couldn't have incinerated the hedgehog that easily, so he scratched his head, confused. It didn't take long before Shadow realized what had happened, but it was already too late. Sonic's attack knocked Shadow foreward into a heap on the floor. "Chaos Control sure does come in handy!" Sonic chuckled. Shadow climbed to his feet and gave Sonic a sly grin. "Can't believe I fell for that. Doesn't matter. I've been waiting for an opportunity to try a new attack!" Shadow closed his eyes and tensed his muscles. "Spear Storm!"

Thousands of Chaos Spears erupted from Shadow, shooting off in all directions. Sonic ran to try and escape the attack, but it was far too widespread, and Sonic soon found himself being pummled by many sharp spears of chaos energy! The frenzied attack subsided after a while, leaving both hedgehogs collapsed on the ground. Sonic was the first to get back on his feet. "Nice move, but I think it needs work, Shadow!"
Shadow struggled to his feet as well. "I'm far from finished!"

"Freeze!" came a voice. Spy had led a large group of soldiers and robots to Sonic and Shadow's position. "Both hedgehogs! Hands on your heads!"

Sonic and Shadow slowly raised their arms and shot each other a sly grin. "Chaos Control!" Shadow yelled, dissappearing from the building. The GUN soldiers immediately fired at the spot where Shadow had been, thinking that he had launched an attack. Sonic ran off for the exit while they were distracted. Spy ordered the shooting to cease, and then noticed both hedgehogs were gone. "Find them! Sargent Gunner consider's this a top priority!"


Back on the far side of Blizzard Warzone, Dr. Eggman was preparing to return to his base. Terra and Metal Sonic had arrived there at the rendezvous point, both having sustained interior damage, though showing no exterior signs. On a higher cliffside, Shadow had emerged from Chaos Control, and was now eavesdropping on Eggman's conversation with his robots.

"You both did your jobs." Eggman said. "This was a good diversion for Sonic and his friends while Alpha and Char search out the next Chaos Emerald. Now, we must return to base and see if Copter and Punchy have returned yet! Let's go!"

Shadow thought over what Eggman had said. "It was all a diversion for Sonic. Maybe Eggman's behind everything..." Metal Sonic looked up at the cliffside, so Shadow quickly fell back so he couldn't be spotted. "Unidentified object on radar..." Metal Sonic said to Eggman. The doctor just sneered at Metal Sonic. "You're so rattled up, Metal Sonic, that I don't trust anything your radar says! Let's just get going!"

As Eggman and his robots started on their way to their base, Shadow followed slowly and stealthily. "I'll find out what Eggman's up to, even if it's the last thing I ever do!" he thought.


Meanwhile, Tails had brought the Tornado to him using his brand new Tornado Remote, and with Gemini's help, managed to get everyone back to his workshop in one trip. After a brief chat, Knuckles explained why he came looking for them. "I have a theory that Eggman is making fake Master Emeralds using a transformation magic spell!" he said. "But he already has the real one. Any idea what he's up to?"
Tails thought a moment, and soon had a very puzzled look on his face. "Sorry, Knuckles. I can't think of anything..."

Knuckles was disappointed, but thanked Tails just the same, then left with Gemini to "find out the plan straight from the horse's mouth."

Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Cream discussed what had been going on so far that day. Eggman's bold attack on Station Square, GUN's capture and release of Sonic, the appearance of Copter, many seemingly random events, all connected by Dr. Eggman. Before they could come up with a plan, however, they spotted a trio of GUN's Bigfoot mechs heading for Tails Workshop! "They must be looking for me!" Sonic realized. "Tails, you get Amy and Cream to safety! I'll handle this!" Tails, always enthusiastic to help Sonic, led Amy, Cream, Cheese, and SPOT away while Sonic ran past the mechs, leading them away.

However, it was clearly not safe near Tails Workshop. So, they headed for the jungle. After a while, SPOT's alarm went off with a message for Tails. "Black fox detected!"

To be continued...