「 light in the darkness. 」

≻ . trampled

"Hands off." Growling over his shoulder, Shadow shrugged off the purple hedgehog's hands, though not without taking note of the way the excitement within her eyes changed into fear so quickly.

Light stepped back, though only so that she was no longer making contact with the other hedgehog. She still lingered close and Shadow's arms had unfolded, almost in preparation.

"Stay here," the male told her as he faced her now, the look upon his face stern. "Stay quiet, don't wander. Hide if you must, but stay put."

"But— oh, please don't leave me by myself."

A firm hand planted itself upon Light's shoulder, turning her towards the stream. "You'll be fine. Now do as I say go sit behind those rocks and don't make a sound. I'll be back for you when i'm done."

With that, his hand was pushing her forth towards the rocks.

As Light made to protest, there was only a blur of red as Shadow sped away, between the trees and towards where the smoke was rising due to the explosion. Despite how stiff she'd grown in fright, she'd managed to take herself to the stream and climbed over the rocks, careful not to let her feet slip on the mud. Once she made it, she sat, using the rocks to keep her hidden just as Shadow had told her.

Meanwhile, Shadow had skidded to a stop once he found the source of the explosion.

Chunks of metal were scattered along the ground, sparks flying from where the wiring broke apart. There were flames licking against the metal, singeing the grass and filling the air with smoke. Shadow scoffed, following the mess to where it led to only half a machine still left standing. Beside it floated a round  piece of machinery, a round figure coughing behind a screen of smoke and its hand swatting at the smoke cloud.

"Curse you, Sonic!"

The voice was familiar, as were the blue quills Shadow could see through the smoke.

"You should've given her back when I warned you," Sonic responded, fists clenched.

The black hedgehog frowned, spotting the pink hedgehog, Amy, trapped in the grip of a giant robotic hand.

"Pathetic."

Shadow's voice drew the attention of all three, Eggman's face paling whilst Sonic and Amy only looked on in surprise.

"All that speed and you couldn't stop one measly robot." Shadow walked forwards as the smoke cleared and despite Sonic's surprise, a confident grin appeared upon his face.

"Well, now that you're here, you can just send him to the sun and i'll get my Amy back. Piece of c—" Sonic's words were cut off by a sudden rumbling, leaves falling from the trees and branches snapping as more robots emerged.

"Fools! You didn't think i'd brought just the one, did you?"

Sonic glared, Shadow disappearing and soon, so did Amy.

The blue hedgehog stared at Shadow as he reappeared, this time at his side.

"Well, where's Amy?"

"Safe."

"But—"

"She's safe."