A New Beginning

[Shadow]

"Hmph. Something like that," Shadow said with a frown, turning away slightly and gazing up at the sky again. Sonic had hit the nail on the head: it felt exactly like nothing had changed in the two years he'd been asleep, as though it weren't two seperate events but one long one. It wasn't a good feeling.

"But... I do like the earth the way it is now, at least the way it is here. Peaceful, and serene... to think that two scant years ago I tried to destroy all this." Shadow smirked and turned back to Sonic. "Though I still say you couldn't have stopped me."

[Sonic]

"Oh really?" Sonic responded, probably exactly as Shadow had expected him to. "I don't think I'd let myself lose to a faker like that."

The younger of the two crossed his arms and suddenly switched his expression from his previous rival arrogance to rival respect. He needed to speak again quick if he wanted to cut off a reply from his elder.

"But maybe now that you're not a fake hedgehog led around by false memories anymore... who knows? I could see it in you the moment you showed up at the Emerald Shrine. You finally knew who you really were. Amy told me what you said that day... about a promise to keep. Maybe if I was in the way of the real you and your promise you might actually stand a chance."

[Shadow]

Shadow shook his head, laughing quietly. "Hmph, that girl talks too much for her own good, or for mine for that matter. Yes, I had a promise to keep, still have a promise to keep." A distant look came over him for a moment, but it passed and was gone a moment later. "But it doesn't matter. I could still beat you, promise or no promise." A cocky sneer crossed the black hedgehog's face. "After all, you just can't beat the original. Of course, if you'd like to test that theory..." Shadow's grin widened, baring his fangs.

[Sonic]

"Original? Don't get cocky," Sonic said as his arms moved out to his sides and his knees bent a little, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. "I'm no Ultimate Life-Form, but there's only one Sonic the Hedgehog!"

It would almost be strange that the two would be so quickly drawn into confrontation, even a semi-friendly one. Of course, for Sonic and Shadow, both being alive meant one thing: Two battles and two draws. One interrupted by the need to escape an island before it blew up after both were only worn down and a second with neither truly defeating the other, only managing to successfully last against each other until the "end of the road". For one the memories were a lingering reminder of a rival he truly thought his equal. For the other they were recent examples of times he had allowed an opponent to get away without proving his superiority.

If they ever met again, even as friends or allies, it was bound to happen eventually.

[Shadow]

"Hmph, there is indeed," Shadow said, crouching into a fighting stance. "The question is, who is really stronger? Sonic the Hedgehog? Or the Ultimate Life Form? And we both know the answer to that." In truth he'd been itching for a fight, ever since he'd seen Sonic survive the massive blast the alien mouse had used on him back in Capitol City. It had been obvious that the Blue Blur could only have gotten stronger in his absence, and there was no way he could stand Sonic being stronger than himself.

"Let's start this then, shall we?" Shadow said tauntingly before jumping into the air, performing a wide arcing backflip, augumented by a burst of air from his Air Shoes, that landed him about twenty feet away from Sonic. Regaining balance instantly, Shadow raised one hand into the air and summoned ten golden Chaos Spears into existance in a halo around him. With a wave of his hand, the ten bolts of Chaos energy shot forward, homing in on their speedy blue target. Shadow himself watched with a smile, but remained in a battle stance, ready to respond to Sonic's inevitable counterattack.

[Sonic]

After Shadow back-flipped Sonic performed a forward burst so low to the ground that he looked like he would be running his his feet had been moving at all, but instead they simply glided a bare centimetre above the rocky earth from his nearly horizontal leap. He had already crossed half of the distance Shadow had created by the time the black hedgehog landed and promptly pulled both legs in front of himself, curled to his chest. Ten streaks of pure chaos energy came upon him and the blur blur slammed both feet down hard, causing himself to suddenly burst into the air yet still flying forward thanks to the previously-generated momentum. Several of the bolts exploded into the land where he had once been thanks to the close timing Sonic had used but doubtlessly others changed their trajectory in time to swerve around at their rising target. They enclosed upon him just as Sonic's forward and upward movement brought the hedgehog more or less above where his opponent had fired them, barely a few seconds since then. t was at this point Sonic used his special skills to completely cancel both sets of momentum and fire himself straight down in a blue spinning air-to-ground attack. The remaining Chaos Spears all converged into each other instead of himself, ending the first of what was likely to be many volleys yet to come.

[Shadow]

Before Sonic's downward attack could hit Shadow the black hedgehog dissapeared in a flash of white light, reappearing high in the air above and behind the Blue Blur. As fast as ever, Shadow thought, But my Chaos Control is still faster.

While still in midair, his Air Shoes firing full blast to slow his descent, Shadow raised a hand and summoned another volley of Chaos Spears, launching them with a wave to home in on the hedgehog once more. The moment the spears launched Shadow ceased slowing himself with his Air Shoes, causing him to drop to the ground immedietly. However, instead of landing on his feet, the Ultimate Life Form curled into a ball and spun in midair, so that he was already revving up when he hit the ground. Without hesitation Shadow launched himself forward in a fast spindash the moment he hit the ground, aiming right at Sonic with the intent of forcing him to jump, making him an easy target for the homing Chaos Spears that shot at him from above.

[Sonic]

'I guess I never was the Fastest Thing Alive,' Sonic thought not with negativity but amusement. Shadow had proven to Sonic in their previously "final" battle that he could teleport short distances even without a Chaos Emerald, and that his powerful body was capable of running at top speeds to match his own anyway. It wasn't until that time that Sonic had really seen all of the black hedgehog's skills unleashed, and it had had been quite an ordeal. One that he had been happy to give back in return and would now do the same.

Sonic hit the now unburdened earth spinning, creating a burst of dust and rock with his powerful spin. Shadow landed and blasted through moments later and hit nothing, just as he had hoped to. Unlike he had hoped to however nothing had gone up into the air either. The cleared dust revealed a Super Sonic Spin-sized hole in the earth a millisecond before the homing spears smashed into it to cause a small crater.

Another same-sized hole was created as Sonic exited his underground burrowing several feet to Shadow's left, being unable to guess where his opponent would be and erupting at a random point. The hero uncurled as he yelled "Comin' at ya!" and spun in the air to catch sight of the enemy but that wasn't the only point of the movement. He used the twirl to throw out one leg into a kick that sent him shooting straight at Shadow much like a homing attack would(Though without actually homing past the original direction) and with just as much speed, his red sneaker enveloped in an almost flashing slipstream of blue air.

[Shadow]

Shadow uncurled from his spindash seconds after passing where Sonic had once been, only to find the hedgehog nowhere to be seen. However, before he could even mentally ask where the Blue Blur had dissapeared to, Sonic burst from the ground off to his left, twirling and launching a powerful rocket-like kick at Shadow. Without a moment to spare, Shadow leaped into the air, narrowly avoiding his blue counterpart's attack. Damn, haven't seen him do that before, Shadow thought as Sonic shot past him.

Not wasting a moment, Shadow fired a burst from his Air Shoes, adding some extra height to his jump. He turned himself in midair, aligning his body like an arrow pointed at Sonic before blasting forward using his Air Shoes like rockets in a move similar to Sonic's kick, fist out as though to deliver a rocket-speed punch.

However, at the last minute, Shadow curled into a ball and launched himself in a backwards homing attack, away from Sonic. As he flew back he uncurled and landed skidding on his feet, launching another volley of Chaos Spears as he did, hoping that his fake-out had left Sonic open to another barrage of the golden homing bolts of energy.

[Sonic]

Sonic skidded after making a quick turn to face Shadow a she did so, both gloves pressed into the ground to add extra traction to his halt. That kick had a lot of power behind it and he slid fairly far. Shadow came his way and Sonic leaped forward when he could in a similar manner, seeming to want to trade fists with his rival. When Shadow escaped though Sonic was left punching air and ended up a little off-balance in the air before he could somersault to land. By that time Shadow's third volley was already coming his way.

'This guy sure is annoying when he has a Chaos Emerald to draw power from,' the Blue Blur thought with a laugh. Neither of their previous battles had been in such circumstances. At most Sonic had had the fake emerald in their last clash to balance out the other one's ability to use Chaos Control for recovery warps. Either way he quickly had to make use of his title, turning to his left and running in the opposite direction with an adventurous grin as the beacons of energy flew in pursuit. He made to circle around his enemy, using a Quick Step to suddenly shift to the right or left as he did so, much like he had while dashing through the rocky field a little earlier, if a Chaos Spear ever managed to come after him with the right trajectory to land a blow.

"Those things aren't very good at catching a moving target, are they Shadow?" he taunted the shooter. Actually they probably were, but Sonic was in a completely different class than "moving target".