Shadowed Frontiers

Kronos Island (Part 2.)

Shadow darted up the short slope, quickly getting the blue chaos emerald. He stares at the color in mild annoyance. "Where's that damn forth chaos emerald..." He muttered, raising the emerald into the air. "CHAOS-"

Sonic was exploring the area around him. "Finally!" The Blue Blur thought, rushing through the greenery as air flowed through his spines freely. The past 14 years of linear zones didn't quell the adventurous hedgehog's desire to explore every corner of Mobius. The only reason he hadn't thought of going to the Starfall Isles is because of the water surrounding it. He shuddered at the thought of the horrifying blue substance, the jingle that plays at the back of his mind, haunting the worst of his nightmares...

He rams into a ball with spikes, losing his rings.

"Augh..." He groans, standing up. He sees a certain pink hedgehog inside the red ball. "Amy?" He knocks on the container. "Aaaamyyyyy?" He knocks once more. "Hello, is someone there? Please, help me?"

"--Control!" Shadow warps into the scene, holding the chaos emerald he'd acquired. His pupils shrunk at the sight of such an unsightly container like that. Much less now that Rose is inside as well, a blue outline surrounding her. It reminded him of one time when he caught two G.U.N officers doing the dirty with that exact same "thing"... Needless to say, the officers didn't exactly have a "happily ever after".

He shakes his head. Now's not the time to reminisce about his colleagues' horniness.

"Is that Rose?" He whispers to Sonic.

"Yeah." Sonic replies, narrowing his eyes. "Why so secretive?"

"Just making sure my eyes aren't failing." Shadow says, raising the Chaos emerald, letting out a cry--

"CHAOS TORRENT!" He raises both his hands, each glowing an ominous crimson red. Blue electricity surrounded him. It seems that he was absorbing Chaos energy from the emerald, making his attacks far more potent than before. He cups both his hands together, blasting it at Amy's cage, shattering it. The energy that made up the cage went straight into the Chaos emerald, and Shadow absorbs the Chaos energy along with this mysterious new red energy.

He collapses, his left hand engulfed in cyber corruption. His body screamed in pain, trying to undo the effects of the corruption, causing Shadow to cough up substance suspiciously similar to blood. "Ack!" Was what he mustered, his whole body convulsing.

"Shadow! You okay? Snap out of it!" Sonic shouted at the ebony hedgehog, as he attempts to get up, his healing factor clashing with the cyber corruption's destructive capabilities like a firewall towards a strong RAT. (Remote Access Trojan.) Shadow kept convulsing in pain, unable to completely destroy what he had taken in.

On instinct, Shadow took off his inhibitor rings.

His eyes completely disappeared, leaving behind 2 white voids in its place. An intense red and gold aura surrounds him, as blue electricity bounces around his body. He was using the Chaos emerald for even more power. In his mind, Shadow shut himself off to his body due to the pain he felt.

In Ares Island...

Knuckles sat down, giving up on trying to escape. That is, when he felt a spike of Chaos energy. He looked towards the direction, feeling it the most. Using his connection to the Master Emerald, he looked to see who was it.

He saw a Shadow with a red and golden aura, but his fur remained the same.

"Are they... Coming?" He thought to himself, glad that help is arriving. However, he noticed that Shadow did not look ok.

Back to Kronos.

"Shadow! Calm down!" Sonic reasoned, while Shadow turned, his blank white eyes staring at Sonic. He's not going down via exhaustion at this point, oh no. He's absorbing energy from the Chaos Emerald, meaning he has infinite stamina. (Okay, so let me explain. In his super form, when Shadow takes off his rings, he withdraws more power from himself. That power would out-speed his healing factor, destroying his stamina. As the Chaos Emerald is used to further his power and endurance, the emeralds' power didn't include stamina, so Shadow ran out of time and tired out. This is my headcanon of how the inhibitor rings work.)