"Listen to me," it snarls in my ear, "I'm trying to help you."

"As if! Deceitful creature, you just want to use me!" I shrug its voice off, turning away in anger; I move through this dark air is though floating. I suppose I am floating, but it's impossible to tell. "You only want me to relinquish my hold so that you can take hold and shove me in a box somewhere--I won't let you take control of me!"

"Will you just listen?! You can't keep the control on your own, you know that." The monster sighs, seeming exasperated. "Your grip is slipping, and each time you re-adjust, you lose a bit of ground. Can't you see it? You're losing yourself, and not to me!"

I glare at the demon, enraged. "I am not! What are you talking about?! The only one 'losing it' is you."

"We have to work together," it barrels on, ignoring me. "Think of it as a relay race, okay? You pass the baton to me when you can't take it anymore, and once I wear out I'll hand it back to you."

"Yeah, right!" I snort, rounding on it with my claws unsheathed. Somehow, wherever we are, I don't have my gloves or shoes; if we start to fight, it's my talons against its. "You won't even wait for me to be done, I'm sure of it."

"I just want to protect you! You know you have to get stronger to control yourself," it croons soothingly, placing one hand on my shoulder, a gentle expression on its face. "You almost attacked Scourge, didn't you? He could have gotten hurt because you couldn't contain yourself. These newfound energies, they're not easy to control--as of right now, I'm the only one who can channel this darkness." Sweetness drips off their words, a sickening honey-toned voice hissing venom into my ears, but I know there's truth in these words. "If you don't get stronger, if you don't gain more control, you could end up hurting someone. Someone precious to you. Or perhaps just an innocent stranger...but you're a threat to people, either way. How long do you think you can last?"

I lower my gaze, looking down at my feet. Darkness surrounds us, but it's more like an unlit room rather than the terrifying, oily void in my other dream. After a long, long pause, I lift my head again, sorrow in my heart. "Okay," I whisper. "Okay, I'll let you work with me on this." Somehow, I feel as though I've just signed my life away; a stone sits in the pit of my stomach, and my mouth is dry as a desert.

A distorted, sickening grin spreads across the monster's face. "Good, good... You won't regret this, darling." It gently runs its claws across my cheeks, caressing me, and I shudder, feeling ill. "It's going to be okay," wrapping its arms around me, the monster slowly begins to fade, darkness closing in.

I jolt upright, looking around, confused. Beside me, Scourge is nodding off--the sun is rising, and we're still sitting on the fence. Alarm shoots through me. I must have fallen asleep! "Scourge," I hiss, shaking him roughly. "Scourge, get up!"

"Huh? Whaaa?" He yawns, his sharklike teeth glittering in the dawn's glow. "Hnn, did we fall asleep?"

"I guess so," leaping off the fence, I shake myself, trying to clear my head of cobwebs. At least, I hope I was asleep... A shiver runs up my spine, cold and unnerving. "Come on, we have to hurry. We might be able to make it to the mountains by this evening."

"Alright," he mumbles, still half-asleep, as he slides off the fencepost. "Let's get goin' then." Stretching his arms above his head, he yawns again, blinking blearily.

I sigh inwardly. And I thought I wasn't a morning person--he's hardly awake. "We're not running on the highway," I insist, and he scowls at me.

"You suck the fun outta everything, don't'cha?" Striding forward, he jams his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, right--and which of us came up with the graffiti idea?" I remind him, following suit. He snorts, but doesn't answer, jumping over a guardrail and down into the landscape beneath the city. You see, this particular city was built up several meters from the ground; presumably to keep wild animals out. Below it, grasses and bushes run wild, save for areas cleared for highway maintenance. I vault over the rail as well, landing easily beside Scourge. "Ah, man," I sigh, looking at the tangled wildlife in front of us, "how are we gonna get through this?"

He looks over at me. "Say, Stripes, how long are your claws?"

"Huh?" I blink. "I dunno, an inch or so? Why?"

"Well, if they're strong enough to slice that deeply through brick," he smirks at me, "then I'm sure you can hack through these plants." Gesturing to them, he tips his head to one side. "Unless, of course, you're not actually that strong--"

"Ohh no, you're not gonna manipulate me that way again," I snap as I cross my arms, remembering the cigarette fiasco. "Why don't you do it?"

He stares at me. "You're joking, right? I don't have claws."

"What?!" Shocked, I gape at him. "Why don't you have claws?"

"Why do you!" He fires back. "Hedgehogs aren't supposed to have claws, let alone retractable cat claws! What's up with that?"

"Really?" I look down at my hands, puzzled. "That's weird. I've just always thought everyone had claws--I mean, Heather and I both did."

"I'm thinking you two are just exclusively, mutually weird then," he snorts. "Say, anyways, what happened to your gloves?"

I flinch slightly. Crap, he noticed they were gone! Sticking my hands back in my pockets, I shrug, feigning nonchalance. "They were gross, so I ditched them." Turning back to the wall of plants, I bite my lip. "Anyhow, let's just focus on the task at hand--getting through these plants."

"Yeah, whatever," he raises an eyebrow at me, unconvinced. "Hurry up--I wanna get outta here while we're still young."

-------------------

"I've never seen scratches this deep, especially not in brick," the forensic anthropologist says to Tails. "It's both impressive and terrifying." The two were standing on ladders, inspecting the slashes Shadow left behind; their depth is varied due to the bricks' uneven surfaces.

"I'm still wondering how they didn't break," the fox admits, holding a magnifying glass to the ones nearest him. "Wait, hold on--" he leans closer, "--I think one of them chipped!" A small fleck of jet-black material is lodged in the edge of one of the grooves, glinting slightly in the dawn's light.

"Great," the human replies, handing the kitsune a pair of tweezers. "Pull it out and put it in this evidence bag, please." The orange furball obliges, easily picking the shard from the rock and dropping it into the plastic baggie the human holds out. The two start to climb down, and the humans holding their ladders step back to let them hop off.

"Okay, so, we have evidence that Shadow really was here," Tails thinks deeply, "but we still don't know why."

"I don't really care," a voice sounds from down the alleyway, "I just wanna know where he'll go next." The azure hedgehog limps slightly, hunched over a bit, and his nose still leaks a bit of blood. Behind him, paramedics rush to catch up, their work clearly unfinished.

"Sonic, you're still hurt!" The orange fox exclaims, worried. "Please let the medics finish patching you up, at least."

"I'll be fine, buddy!" Sonic grins cheerfully, but it's a false smile; he stands hunched slightly, unable to take a deep breath.

"You broke three ribs and cracked five," the red echidna, who had been leaning on a wall and watching Tails work, contradicts him, stepping forward. "You need to take it easy for a few days."

"We don't have a few days!" His green eyes flash with anger and impatience. "Come on, Knuckles--" he jabs a gloved hand at Scourge's graffiti, enraged, "--they're taunting me!" He grinds his teeth, more furious than he's ever been before. "I can't just sit back and take this!"

"Relax, Sonic!" Tails yelps, frightened. Sonic hardly ever gets angry, but this humiliating defeat coupled with Scourge and Shadow's mocking is clearly too much for him to handle. "Look, let's just get back to our base, then we'll use the Chaos Emeralds to heal you. But you'll still need to rest for half an hour after that."

"Half an hour's better than days," the sapphire hedgehog growls in response, grumpy, "though I don't like either option. The moment I'm healed I'm gonna go after them!"

"Well, this time, would you mind trying to slow down a bit for us?" Knuckles crosses his arms. "If we had only stuck together, we could have taken them down."

"I don't think so, Knuckles," Tails butts in, looking slightly nervous. "Something was different about this fight. I didn't see much of it, but it seemed to me like Shadow's fighting style changed." He bites his lip, rubbing his chin as he thinks deeply. "The last time we fought him, his battling was all elegant flips, mid-air kicks and almost choreographed dodging, all of it like some sort of elaborate dance. It seemed like no matter what we threw at him, he could handle it--at least, until I threw a wrench at his face." He stifles a giggle, remembering the startled look on the ebony hedgehog's face. "But even then, when he fell, he was trying to adjust for his change in momentum--he did his best to roll onto his feet, in other words. His fighting style has always been adaptive, but this time, it seemed more like he knew exactly what he needed to do."

Something clicks in Sonic's head, and realization flashes across his eyes. "Yeah! It felt like he was reading my mind or something, and knew exactly what I was going to do, even before I did it!"

"Hmmm," the kitsune mumbles, furrowing his brows. "There's something fishy about this whole situation, honestly. Shadow's not known to pull punches, and he doesn't have any regard for others' safety, so why did he save Scourge like that? And why didn't he fight all of us?"

"It doesn't add up," Knuckles agrees. "The moment he saw all of us, he got this agonized look on his face, like he knew something bad was going to happen. But still, why would he take Scourge with him, especially given the way we saw Scourge shove him in that car?" He scowls. "The Shadow I know wouldn't hesitate to beat the crap out of someone for doing that to him."

Tails' eyes widen as his trademark twin tails bristle. "What if this isn't really Shadow?"

"What?!" Sonic and Knuckles say at the same time, startled. They look at each other, each slightly affronted and wondering if the other was copying them.

"It wouldn't be the first time Robotnik's pulled something like this," the orange kitsune points out, folding his hands behind his back. "Remember that there was a time when we didn't know if Shadow was a living creature or a robot! Maybe this is some sort of duplicate, or another trick or something."

"We won't know for sure until we analyze this claw-chip," the forensic anthropologist buts in, walking past them. "You three will be the first to know if this is really Shadow. For now, you should just go home," she opens the door to a police car, looking over the top of it at them, "and heal up as much as you can."

"Don't have to tell me twice," Sonic replies with a grin. "Let's go, guys!" In a flash, he speeds off, leaving his two friends in a cloud of dust.

-------------------

Progress is slow. The thick grass is difficult to tear through, and whenever we try to just sprint through it, the tough shoots tangle around our feet. Scourge has already twisted an ankle, and limps along behind me, too proud to be carried--which I'm quite grateful for. Tearing this underbrush to shreds would be difficult if I had to account for his extra weight on my shoulders. As it is, I'm embarrassingly slow, but this shrubbery gets tangled in my claws far too easily, and on occasion the rough edges slice my skin, but I don't let Scourge know that. He'd tell me to stop, and try to bandage all the scrapes--a ridiculous gesture, given the hell I've endured. A few scrapes are nothing to me. Thankfully, we've made enough progress by now that when I turn around I can't see anything but shredded plant matter. The stench of fresh-cut grass surrounds us, overwhelming and muggy. My green friend tries to help by tearing the plants with his bare hands, but he's even less successful than I am. Once the sun was high in the sky, beating down on us, Scourge claps a hand on my shoulder, spooking me. I whirl to face him, bristling in surprise, and realize he's exhausted--we've been on our feet all day long, ripping and pulling at these obstacles, and the cold air stings against my sweat-soaked fur.

"We should take a break," he pants, sprained ankle held off the ground slightly, at an odd angle. "Maybe take a nap or something." I nod, turning my attention back to my raw and bloodied hands as he sinks into the grass behind me, groaning.

I pull my hands into my sleeves, hiding the damage as I turn to face him. "You rest, I'll stay awake. If anyone shows up, I'll let you know."

"Okay," he replies, already half-unconscious, too tired to argue. I sit down, pulling my legs underneath me so that my tail won't touch the 'aromatic' (disgusting) shredded grass beneath us. I'm pretty sleepy myself, but sleeping in broad daylight isn't really my style, and I know that the only thing I'll ever dream of is gore, horror, and destruction. Tipping my head back, I stare at the sky drowsily, admiring its pale blue color as my friend snores beside me.