Later, that day, when the second round ended, the students began to go home and rest up for the night and prepare for the third round.

The Mobians and the girls came out lastly. They seemed to be in a bit of a talk.

"Now that the second round's over," Sonic said, "Things may get tricky. The third round tomorrow, Darkness has some really powerful allies, and the Sirens are getting close to winning."

"Yeah," Rainbow said, "Who knows what else Darkness may have up his sleeve?"

Shadow and Sunset both seemed to be pondering something in their minds. Shadow was the first to speak, "Sunset and I think Darkness is setting a trap on us."

"There's something that we might be falling for," Sunset said.

"What makes you two think that?" Applejack asked.

"We're not sure," Shadow said, "But we just know it."

"I think it's something about Strike," Sunset said.

"Why?" Fluttershy asked, "He's been helping us."

"It's not that," Sunset said, "It's his power."

"What about it?" Pinkie asked.

"Earlier, when he and Specter warned us about Fluttershout and Twivine, it was something I could see in him," Sunset said.

"What are you saying?" Silver asked.

Sunset sighed as she answered, "I could see that there was a bit of red in the blue of his eyes."

The group gasped in shock, "Y-you mean… Strike's being a spy for Darkness!?" Sonic asked.

"NO!" Sunset yelled, before she calmed herself down and said, "That red must've had to do something with his powers."

Tails thought about this for a moment, until he figured it out, "He plans to unleash what I can only guess are hidden abilities in Strike's power."

The others turned to Tails when they realized the same thing. "You think that Strike has hidden powers?" Rarity asked.

"Hmm, I can only guess that this hidden power is something he can't control if unleashed," Shadow said.

"But what do you think could unleash it?" Manic asked.

Sonic suddenly gasped, as if it sounded similar to something else. "His anger. That's the key! His anger is what makes him stronger, more powerful, and even faster!"

The others gasped in shock as well. "Well, where is Strike right now?" Knuckles asked.

"He's in his hideout," Silver said, "Come on, everyone. Let's calm down and not get carried away."

The others took a deep breath and were calm again. "You're right," Sonic said, "We can't focus if we panic."

"Let's just get home and rest, okay?" Rainbow said as she placed her head on Sonic's shoulder, "I'm feeling tired."

Sonic smiled and wrapped his arm around Rainbow, "Of course, Dashie."

The Mobians and the girls each went to their homes. At Rainbow's house, when Sonic, Rainbow, Shadow, and Sunset arrived, Rainbow took out the key and unlocked the door. Rainbow, Shadow, and Sunset went in, but Sonic was staying out.

Rainbow turned to her boyfriend and asked, "Sonic, you okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine," Sonic said, "I just… I just need to be alone for a little while."

Rainbow nodded, "Okay, I'll leave the door unlocked when you're ready. If you're gonna go for a run, I'll be sure to call you when Sunset and I've cooked some supper, okay?"

"Okay," Sonic said.

Sonic came to Rainbow and he gave her a kiss on the lips, and Rainbow returned it. She then walked in and closed the door, but left it unlocked. Sonic turned and sat down on the stairway. He thought about something.

"How could I have been so foolish?" Sonic thought to himself, "Why couldn't I have destroyed Darkness back then? I should've been able to. But now, the multiverse in in danger… because of me."

Sonic placed his hand on his forehead and sighed. But then he noticed something on the far right in the distance in the street. He could see two small red glowing lights. He instantly knew it was Darkness.

Darkness then whooshed away with his speed. Sonic then lost it and he ran after him really fast. The front door suddenly opened revealing Rainbow, Shadow, and Sunset. They saw Sonic was after Darkness.

"Sonic, no!" Rainbow yelled.

Rainbow was about to try and go after him, but Shadow grabbed her arm and made her look at him as he said, "Rainbow, it's all right. He can handle it himself."

Rainbow looked back out in the direction Sonic took, "I hope you're right about that, Shadow."

Sonic kept following Darkness into Canterlot City. They went past cars, shops, buildings, and then they both then stopped in a dark area.

Sonic clenched his fists tightly and growled. Darkness slowly turned around to face Sonic.

"Bad time, Sonic?" Darkness asked, "I thought I'd give you some time to cool."

"I know what you're doing," Sonic said, "You're after Strike's hidden powers so you can take them for yourself."

Darkness gave an impressed chuckle, "Bravo, you figured out what I'm after, but I don't want to own it."

Sonic was confused, "What are you talking about?"

"What I want to do with Strike's hidden power is to separate it from him," Darkness said, "So his dark counterpart can finally be free."

"Dark counterpart?" Sonic asked.

"That's right," Darkness said, "His name is Vezon, and his spirit has been trapped inside Strike ever since he got his powers. He is a part of the source of power that Strike harnesses."

"And what is that?" Sonic asked.

"The Speed Force," Darkness said.

"The Speed Force?" Sonic asked, "What is that?"

"The Speed Force, my friend, is extra-dimensional energy scourge that true Speedsters can use for super speed," Darkness said, "But there are two versions, Positive and Negative. Strike is the only speedster in the multiverse that can harness both of them. Vezon's spirit is the Negative Speed Force."

"So this Vezon is a part of Strike? Sonic asked.

"Yes," Darkness said, "And all I need is for Strike to get angry, so I can help Vezon finally be free."

"Why are you telling me this?" Sonic said.

"You can be the first to discover my plan since you and I are exactly alike," Darkness said.

"I'm not like you," Sonic said, "I never was."

Darkness scoffed, "Oh, we're a lot more like each other than you think. Why don't we put that to a test?"

Sonic didn't like this. He instantly rushed right at Darkness and forced his fist right at his face. Darkness took a strong impact and stepped back. He then gave a little chuckle.

"That's good, Sonic," Darkness said, "That's what I like to see from you. Now then, how about we say hello to an old friend of ours? Or rather, twin of yours?"

That sounded familiar to Sonic, "Wait, you can't mean-?"

Darkness smirked evilly as he stepped aside, revealing that someone was standing right behind him. It was a strange teenage boy, but he looked just like Sonic, but with different colors.

The teen had spiky parakeet green hair with apple red glasses in it, peach colored skin, and sky blue eyes. He was wearing a crow black biker jacket with cherry red and butter yellow looking flames on the arms, a macaroon shirt with two scars designs going downwards to the right, juniper green sweatpants, and black running shoes with scarlet red designs. For accessories, he had a basil green bandana around his neck, white fingerless gloves, white sports tape wrapped around his palms and wrists, and even a shamrock green wristband on each wrist.

The teenager smiled evilly at Sonic, "Did you miss me, Sonic?"

"Scourge!" Sonic growled.

"It's really been a long time, hasn't it, brother?" Scourge said.

"What are you doing here?" Sonic asked.

"I'm here to help Darkness get what he wants," Scourge answered.

"Don't you know what he did?" Sonic asked.

"He said that if I joined him, he would give me unlimited power once we finished you," Scourge said, "But I'm not doing that just yet. Right now, I wanna race."

"A race?" Sonic felt this was a trick, "Not falling for that."

"Come on, brother," Scourge said, "All I want to know is who's the fastest in our family, you or me."

Sonic felt this was a really bad idea, but he had to try, "Bring it on."

"Have fun while you can," Darkness chuckled evilly as he was surrounded by his energy and disappeared.

Sonic and Scourge appeared on the street. Sonic was on the right side, and Scourge was on the left side. They both got into a starting position preparing to run.

"Just say when, Scourge" Sonic said.

"Run, Sonic," Scourge said, "Run!"

Both Sonic and Scourge sprinted right away with their speed and began their race. Scourge's blur was bright green.

Sonic and Scourge had the race of their lives. They went speeding through the street. They were right against each other.

"Well, you're still as fast as you were," Scourge said.

Scourge then tried to punch Sonic, but Sonic ducked his head and sprinted in front of Scourge. He jumped over some driving cars and while he was in the air, he was throwing his Sonic Wind attack at Scourge, but Scourge kept dodging them. Scourge then began running on walls of the buildings, then he jumped and did a spin dash at Sonic, but Sonic did a front flip jump over him. Sonic instantly turned around at Scourge with a spinning kick, but Scourge blocked it.

Scourge dug into his pocket and pulled out a beam sword hilt activating it. The beam was bright green. He tried to swing it at Sonic, but Sonic jumped onto the top of a nearby driving bus. He then quickly took out his beam sword and turned it on with a blue blade that was like Strike's.

Scourge jumped onto the bus, "Let's make this a real fight, shall we?"

Scourge charged at Sonic and slashed with his beam sword, but Sonic blocked it. Their blades kept colliding with each other with loud humming and clashing sounds. Sonic swung his beam sword at Scourge, but Scourge ducked his head. Then he tried to slash Sonic's feet, but Sonic jumped over it. He then swung his beam sword down at Scourge, but Scourge quickly blocked it.

"Is that all you got, brother?" Scourge mocked.

Sonic then looked behind him and saw that the bus was about to go under an ad sign. He quickly did a backflip over it, but when he landed, Scourge tripped him and made him fall on his back. Scourge held his beam sword up and was about to attack, but Sonic quickly gave him a kick to the stomach and made him step back. Sonic quickly neck kipped back up onto his feet.

"Impressive," Scourge said, "You amaze me, brother."

Sonic growled, "Stop calling me that!"

"Why? Does it bother you?" Scourge asked.

Scourge was just about to attack Sonic, when suddenly Rainbow appeared right between them in her Chaos Ranger form with her Morpher in her right hand and a few of her shurikens in her left hand.

"Leave my boyfriend alone, fake," Rainbow said.

"Boyfriend, aye?" Scourge asked, "How sweet. Someone else who is in love with my pesky brother like Amy Rose."

"Not anymore," Sonic said, "She's given up."

"Well then, that makes my decision on which to destroy easier," Scourge said.

Scourge charged at Rainbow, but Rainbow did an instant backflip while kicking Scourge hard in the jaw and knocking him away out of the city.

Scourge went flying into the backyard of Canterlot High. He landed hard on his back and groaned in pain from both the landing and the kick, "Should've seen that coming."

Scourge slowly got up on his feet. His back was a little hurt from the landing. Then Sonic and Rainbow appeared again.

"This'll be fun," Scourge said.

Scourge charged at Sonic and Rainbow and did a dragon kick, but Sonic and Rainbow ducked backwards. Scourge then landed a punch on Sonic, knocking him away.

Scourge then slowly turned to Rainbow, "Well, aren't you certainly cute. You'd really find it fun being in my crew."

"Yeah, right," Rainbow said.

Rainbow threw the shurikens in her hand at Scourge. Scourge managed to dodge two of them, but the third one hit him the shoulder. He yelled in pain from the sharpness and the impact.

Scourge removed the shuriken from his shoulder, "Well, I must say, I'm impressed with you, rainbow hair. You definitely know how to throw a ninja weapon, but how can you do with a beam sword?"

Scourge pulled out his beam sword and chuckled, "Let's make things interesting, shall we?"

Sonic groaned as he tried to get up, but he saw Scourge challenging Rainbow with his beam sword. Thinking quickly, Sonic grabbed his beam sword and tossed it to Rainbow. Rainbow caught it and activated it, "All right, let's make things fun."

Scourge charged at Rainbow, but Rainbow wasn't scared. Scourge swung his beam sword in every way he could, but Rainbow was able to block the attacks with no problem. Scourge then tried to swing his beam sword really hard, but Rainbow grabbed his wrist. She then began to slowly twist it, making it crack. Scourge yelled in pain as his hand released his beam sword.

Scourge quickly shook his hand out of Rainbow's grip. He rotated his wrist from the pain. He then charged at Rainbow. Rainbow swung Sonic's beam sword at Scourge, but Scourge leaped over it and did a shoulder roll on the ground while grabbing his beam sword.

Scourge held his beam sword up in the air and tried to slash it at Rainbow, but Rainbow blocked it with Sonic's beam sword. She then took out her Morpher in her other hand and blasted Scourge in the stomach. Scourge stepped back from the amounts of blasts.

Scourge then sprinted at Rainbow and kicked Sonic's beam sword out of her hand, but his guard was off at that timing. Rainbow grabbed Scourge's right arm and gave it a hard twist and pull. Scourge yelled in pain as Rainbow then gave him a strong dragon kick to the jaw.

Scourge was knocked into one of the soccer nets. He groaned as he slowly stood up. He then noticed his beam sword was close to him. He was about to sprint for it, but Sonic suddenly appeared and stomped his foot on the beam sword, breaking it.

Sonic held his beam sword while Rainbow held her Morpher. Scourge growled as he dug into his pocket. He then pulled out a small device. As he pressed a button, he said, "Curse you and your pesky girlfriend, brother. When I come back, you'll regret this."

A massive green orb appeared around Scourge and then he disappeared. Sonic and Rainbow sighed as Sonic turned off his beam sword and Rainbow was back in her normal form again.

"Are you okay, Sonic?" Rainbow asked.

"I'm fine," Sonic said, "But I think we and the others need to talk."

Later at Rainbow's house, the Mobians and the girls were all together discussing about Darkness's latest ally.

"So first, a bunch of bad meta-humans from Strike and Specter's world, now Scourge?" Tails said.

"Unfortunately, yeah," Sonic said, "He said that Darkness would give him unlimited power."

"Hugh, could this get any worse?" Knuckles asked.

"Before Scourge and I fought, Darkness said that he was after Strike's hidden abilities, but he doesn't want to own it," Sonic said, "He said he wants to-"

"Separate it from me?" a familiar male voice asked.

The group turned and saw Strike and Specter standing next to the doorway.

"How'd you figure that out?" Sonic asked.

"While I was scouting in the city for info about our enemies, I happened to overhear you and Darkness talking about it from a nautical mile away," Strike said.

"Not to mention we figured that you figured out about Strike's hidden power," Specter said.

"Well," Sunset said, "I could see it in your eyes."

"Don't mention it," Strike said.

"Anyways," Sonic said, "Darkness told me that you harness this thing called the Speed Force. It's the source of your power, right?"

"Yes," Strike said.

"Darkness mentioned that someone named Vezon is trapped inside you," Sonic said, "Ever since you got your powers."

"It would seem so, yes," Strike said, "And let me guess, you all figured out what triggers my hidden power."

"Your anger," Shadow said.

"Now, why is it that your anger makes you more powerful?" Tails said.

Strike sighed as he and Specter sat down in chairs, "I don't know, I can't think of any reason why my anger would make me stronger."

"Perhaps it has to do with the Negative Speed Force," Specter suggested.

Sonic slowly turned his head away and looked down at the floor sad. The others noticed this and all felt a little worried. "Sonic, what's wrong?" Rainbow asked.

Sonic sighed as he slowly turned and said, "This is all because of me."

"You?" Rarity asked, "What are you talking about?"

Sonic sighed again, "Darkness came to be from my anger, sadness, and hatred."

The girls, Strike, and Specter were starting to feel surprised, "W-what are saying?" Fluttershy asked scared.

Strike asked, "What… did… you… do?"

Sonic answered, "I am the one who created Darkness in the first place."

The girls, Strike, and Specter all gasped in shock, "WHAT!?"

Sonic went into explaining, "You see, Darkness is a demon created by my anger, sadness, and hatred on Eggman. The longer it lasted, the stronger and more powerful he became. Then one day, when I went into my dark form; Dark Sonic, that was the very moment when Darkness was unleashed. He took control of my mind and made me a monster. He made me torture and kill my friends. I rained destruction all over Mobius for two years. While I was under Darkness's control, I honestly thought there would be nothing to stop that nightmare, until Kyo the Lion-hedgehog, a Mobian from an alternate Mobius came and set me free from Darkness. When that happened, I was a young five-year-old kid once again. When Kyo defeated Darkness, he brought everything back to life all as a young child again. After that, Kyo went home, and my friends and I all thought it was over, until when we arrived here, he has risen once again, and he won't stop… not until we're all dead."

Sonic began to growl angrily remembering everything that Darkness made him do. He suddenly shouted and slammed his fists on the table really hard, making everyone else jump in surprise, "DARN HIM! WHY DIDN'T KYO JUST FINISH HIM OFF WHILE HE WAS STILL CONTROLLING ME!? THIS NEVER WOULD'VE HAPPENED IF HE HAD JUST FINISHED ME!"

Rainbow suddenly hugged Sonic as tightly as she could to try and calm him down. Sonic was suddenly frozen. He could then hear Rainbow softly whimpering with tears in her eyes, "Please, Sonic. Stop acting this way. You didn't deserve to die. It wasn't you. It was Darkness. He's not anything like you. You can stop him."

Sonic wanted to hold his tears in, but he now saw that Rainbow was right. He slowly returned the embrace as he said with tears in his eyes, "I'm sorry, Rainbow. I'm so sorry."

Sonic began to let his tears slid down his face as he began to sob. The other girls came over and joined in a group with Sonic and Rainbow.

"We're here with you, Sonic," Fluttershy said.

"And we won't let ya fight him alone," Applejack said.

"You're our friend," Pinkie said.

"The best one we all could ever have," Rarity said.

"We'll always be there for you," Twilight said.

"No matter what," Sunset said.

These words were so touching to Sonic. He began to smile and whip his face clean of his tears. Rainbow then softly cupped Sonic's cheeks and pulled him into a soft, but passionate kiss on his lips, and Sonic returned it.

The others smiled as well. Even Strike and Specter gave a little smile at this. But suddenly, something went busting the door open and grabbed Strike's neck.

The others gasped as Strike choked, "AGH! Get this thing off me!"

Strike was then suddenly pulled out of the house. "Strike!" Specter yelled.

The others quickly rushed outside. When they came out onto the street, they saw Fluttershout, Twivine, Scourge, and Darkness. Darkness had his arm tightly wrapped around Strike's neck choking him.

"Good, you're all here," Darkness said.

"Let him go," Specter said.

"Why would we want to do that?" Twivine smirked.

"All we need is from him," Fluttershout said.

"But you're welcome to give us a challenge if you want," Scourge said.

Sonic turned to Sunset, Twilight, and Spike. "Twilight, Spike, Sunset, get back inside. We've got this."

Twilight and Sunset nodded. Twilight quickly picked up Spike as she and Sunset ran back in the house and locked the door. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Silver, Manic, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, and Specter were left.

Darkness chuckled, "I don't need to worry about them. Only you twelve are what are on my list. Now… ATTACK!"

Fluttershout, Twivine, and Scourge all charged at the heroes. The girls quickly morphed into their Chaos Ranger forms and took out their weapons.

While they were fighting, Darkness's grip on Strike was growing stronger, but Strike was slowly loosening it, "Release me, demon."

"I can't do that, not until you give what I want," Darkness said.

"I won't do it," Strike growled.

"Really?" Darkness asked, "Then tell me this, have you been hearing a voice in your head lately?"

Strike was surprised, "How do you know about that?"

"How about you listen to Vezon?" Darkness said.

Strike then suddenly heard Vezon's voice inside his head again, but this time it was stronger, "Embrace your darkness, Strike."

Strike could feel Vezon's power was taking hold of his mind, "No!"

Darkness released Strike from the grip to watch this, "Oh, this I'll love."

"Let go of your own mind," Vezon's voice said.

"Never!" Strike said as he placed his hands on his head.

"DO AS I SAY!" Vezon's voice yelled.

Strike began to feel pain in his head. "AAAAAHHHHHH!" he screamed in pain as he dropped to his knees.

Strike's scream caught the others' attention. The heroes were worried. "Strike, what wrong?!" Sonic yelled.

Strike's colors suddenly began to change into the color of Vezon as dark red electricity was crackling around his body.

"What's happening to me!?" Strike yelled, "Sonic! Specter! Someone! GET THIS THING OUT OF MY BODY!"

Shadow quickly used his Chaos Control to teleport to Twivine, Fluttershout, and Scourge and knocked each of them out. He then quickly rushed to Strike with the purple and red Chaos Emeralds, "Hang on, Strike! Chaos Control!"

The Emeralds glowed brightly in Shadow's hands. Strike's body was then suddenly glowing brightly white. Everyone covered their eyes from the bright light. Inside, Strike was yelling in utter pain as the back of his body was glowing bright red. Suddenly, Vezon was coming right out of Strike's body yelling in pain as well.

Soon, the light finally faded, and Strike and Vezon were separated from each other. Everyone gasped in shock when they saw Vezon, but Darkness smiled evilly. From inside Rainbow's house, Twilight, Sunset, and Spike saw the whole thing.

"Oh, no," Sunset said, "That guy must be what had to do with the red in Strike's eyes."

"I think you're right," Twilight said.

Strike had fallen onto his knees feeling really exhausted from the amount of energy and pain, but Vezon slowly turned to him with an evil smirk on his face, "Ah, finally. I am free. Free! AAAHAHAHAAA!"

"Are you Vezon?" Sonic asked.

"That is correct, Sonic," Vezon said, "And being free is everything I've ever wanted."

Vezon slowly walked over to Strike while Strike was still exhausted. He slowly lowered himself to Strike as he said, "Hello, Strike."

"You won't get away with this," Strike said.

"I'm afraid that we already have," Vezon said, "I have been waiting for this very moment for three whole years. I would've already been the greatest speedster of all time if the Speed Force hadn't chosen you."

Strike slowly made his face look at Vezon. Strike then said, "Then why don't you just kill me?"

"Oh, I would," Vezon said, "But how about I let you catch your breath for all the time you need? I would prefer you to fight with your best."

Twivine, Fluttershout, and Scourge appeared near Darkness as Vezon stood up and walked towards the villains. Darkness began to use his powers to teleport them away.

Before they vanished, Darkness said, "Don't worry, I won't make any more interruptions in the competition."

The villains disappeared. The heroes sighed in relief as the girls were normal once again. Strike breathed heavily from the amount of energy that had drained his powers. Strike then dropped to the ground. He was too exhausted to move.

The others came over to Strike. "How is he?" Sonic asked.

Specter thought about the villains as he checked Strike, "Whatever this Vezon was, he took up a lot of Strike's energy, but he's all right."

Strike tried to speak out of his exhaustion, "V-Vezon… huff, he… huff, is… huff, a part… huff, of the… huff, Negative… huff, Speed Force. Huff, huff, huff…"

"Easy, Strike," Manic said, "You need to rest."

"I… can't… rest," Strike said, "I have to fight. I have to stop Vezon."

Strike tried to get up, until he suddenly collapsed back on the ground, "AGH!"

"Careful, Strike!" Specter said, "You're too tired to even stand. Here, I'll help you up."

Specter carefully held left Strike's arm over his left shoulder as he helped him stand up. "You guys get some rest," he said, "I'll get him to the shelter."

Sonic and the others nodded as Specter and Strike were surrounded by Specter's energy and they vanished. Twilight, Spike, and Twilight came back outside.

"Everyone, are you all right?" Twilight asked.

"We're fine," Silver said.

"But now we've got an even bigger problem on our hands," Knuckles said.

"We know," Spike said, "We saw it all."

"This just became more difficult than before," Sunset said.

"Well, let's jut get some rest," Sonic said.

The others agreed as they all began to walk to their homes. Sonic, Shadow, Rainbow, and Sunset went back in Rainbow's house.

Later, Sonic, Shadow, Rainbow, and Sunset had just finished eating their supper. They put their dishes in the dishwasher, relaxed for a little while, and then got themselves ready for bed.

In Sunset's room, Sunset just got ready. When she pulled out the sheets on her bed to tuck herself in, there was a knock at her door, "Come in."

The door slowly opened and Shadow came in, "Hey, Sunset, is it okay that I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure," Sunset said.

Shadow sat down beside Sunset on her bed as he asked, "Forgive me for asking, but… nobody at Canterlot High other then the others are friends with you. How come they ignore you all the time?"

Sunset felt a little hesitant for a moment, until she believed that Shadow was trying to help her. She spoke, "Has Sonic told about what happened from the last time he was at CHS?"

"Well, not the whole story," Shadow said.

Sunset went to explaining, "You see, I used to be a bully and very bossy to everyone. I always acted like I ruled CHS. I was after Twilight's Element of Harmony. On the night of the Fall Formal, which was when you arrived to help Sonic defeat Dr. Eggman, I put the crown on, but I was overwhelmed by the magic. I wasn't ready for that kind of power. I put everyone under my control, and I almost destroyed Sonic, Twilight, and the other girls. But they managed to use the magic against me and turn me back. But, no one else has been accepting the fact that I've changed, and… I don't think that I ever will."

Shadow thought about this for a moment, then he placed his hand on Sunset's shoulder as he said, "You're not the only one who's gone through something like this."

Sunset slowly turned her head to Shadow, "What do you mean? You've gone through something like this as well?"

"Yes," Shadow said, "A long time ago, on my world, there was a space ship called the ARK created by Eggman's grandfather, Professor Robotnic. His granddaughter, Maria, an old friend of mine, was diagnosed with a sickness and was on the verge of dying. She couldn't even go down to my world. That was where I was created."

"Created?" Sunset asked surprised, "You were created? How is that possible?"

"I was part of this old project called Project Shadow," Shadow explained, "Robotnic created me using Mobian hedgehog DNA, a small bit of Maria's blood, the energy from one of the Chaos Emeralds, and the blood of an Alien named Black Doom. When I was brought to life, Maria and I had developed a special friendship between us, and we were slowly killing off the disease. But that was close to where the terrible stuff happened."

"What happened?" Sunset asked.

"Well…" Shadow said, "G.U.N., this government that protects the human world in my universe had planned to shut down the entire ARK. They attacked and killed all of the scientists in there, until all that was left was the professor, Maria, and I. They captured the professor, and Maria and I were running. One of the soldiers was on our tails. W managed to get to an escape pod, and I entered it first, but then the door shut me in. The soldier shot Maria, and that made me angry. He got scared and ran off. Maria didn't have much time, but she used all the energy she had left to tell me something that I promised her for my whole life."

"What was that?" Sunset asked.

"Maria told me to give the people a chance; a chance to be happy and for me to be friends with them," Shadow said, "She managed to pull a leather to launch my escape pod away to the planet below ARK as she collapsed dying."

Sunset felt tears forming in her eyes, "Oh, dear."

Shadow nodded as he continued, "After I landed on the planet, I had lost all of my memories. All I could remember was my name. I always wondered why that name haunted me. Then 10 years later, Black Doom's army of aliens attacked the planet. He also ordered me to give him the Chaos Emeralds. When I heard about them, I was determined to get my memories back. The G.U.N. soldiers kept getting in my way, and I attacked them one by one all out of my anger on what they did to Maria. Once I found the Emeralds, Black Doom tried to take them, until Sonic and his friends stepped in. Doom put some kind of power over us. He tried to make a few of his disgusting aliens eat us, but I was able to fight his power. Doom was getting away with the Emeralds, and I went after him. When I confronted him, he tried to control me, but a message from Professor Robotnic and Maria appeared for me, and all of my memories were back. I made my decision on what I was going to be. I saved the world, by travelling to the past taking Doom's ship with me, and took me into the past where ARK fired a massive laser at the planet, but I put the ship in the way and destroyed it. And ever since then, I've been trying to move on."

Sunset was surprised to hear that Shadow had gone through something worse then she did. She noticed Shadow's hand and placed her hand on his. Shadow looked at Sunset as she said, "Shadow, I'm so sorry. I never thought that anyone would've gone through anything like that."

Shadow sighed, "I know."

Sunset could see a small amount of tears in Shadow's eyes. She wanted to make him feel better. So she softly wrapped her arms around Shadow and pulled him into a soft hug. This surprised Shadow a little bit and made him blush. But he smiled and hugged Sunset back, making her blush but smile as well.

Sonic was peeking through the slightly opened door. He smiled, "That's the spirit, Shadow."

Sonic walked away to his and Rainbow's room. As they tucked themselves in bed, Rainbow asked, "Sonic, do you think we can stop this new threat?"

"I'm not sure yet," Sonic said, "But I know that we will always find a way to stop them. And we will find a way to stop Darkness, Scourge, the evil meta-humans, and the Sirens. I promise."

Rainbow smiled, "I love you, Sonic."

Sonic smiled back, "I love you too, Dashie."

Sonic and Rainbow gave each other a kiss on their lips and they drifted to sleep.

Meanwhile with Strike and Specter, Specter gave Strike some energy bars to help him get his metabolism up.

"Feel better?" Specter asked.

"Yeah," Strike said.

Strike stood up from his bed. "Where are you going?" Specter asked.

"I just need some air," Strike said as he went outside.

Specter felt that Strike wasn't feeling right. He decided to follow him. When they came outside, Specter said, "Strike, are you sure you're fine? You don't seem completely okay."

Strike sighed, "I don't know."

From behind the knocked over tree, Vezon and Darkness were hiding watching them. They prepared to attack. Strike then gasped as he suddenly felt some sort of vibration in his brain. He swiftly turned around with his super speed; he could see Darkness and Vezon charging at him and Specter.

Strike quickly used his speed to grab Specter and dodge them. As soon as Strike and Specter were back up on their feet, they got in a fighting stance while Vezon and Darkness chuckled.

"Good, you're up and running," Darkness said.

"This has gone far enough," Strike growled.

"Not yet," Vezon said.

Large moving plants thanks to Twivine suddenly grabbed Specter.

"Gotcha," Twivine said.

"Wrong," Specter said.

Specter was about to phase free, but he suddenly realized his powers weren't working. He turned and saw Fluttershout was right in front of him and she put some sort of device on his arm.

"You will never use your powers again thanks to this dampener," Fluttershout said.

Fluttershout flew back, inhaled and released her sonic wail at Specter. Specter yelled in utter pain and then when Fluttershout felt he had enough, Specter dropped his head unconscious. Twivine then made her plants release Specter and he dropped to the ground.

Strike used his speed to charge at Vezon, but in slow motion, Vezon did a roundhouse kick at Strike's face, knocking him over. Strike landed on the ground groaning in pain. He was about to try and use his lightning, but then he felt something tight on his arm. He looked and saw that Scourge put a dampener device on him.

"Sorry, Strike," Scourge said, "You're not running anymore for quiet a while."

Scourge then swung his fists hard at Strike's jaw and knocked him out.

"Excellent," Darkness said, "Now, there is less trouble for my true plan. Hehehehehe… ahHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"