Shadow jumped on the piles of wreckage that had begun to form during the attack, making his way to the top of a skyscraper. He looked down on the rest of the city, an amused smirk on his face.

"A mere few minutes and already the city has been leveled, more so by the humans than those creatures." He shook his head and looked to the east. Off to the distance he saw a group of human aircraft engaged in a dogfight with the organic-looking ships. Surprisingly the human pack was holding its own against the creatures, though they were still at a disadvantage.

His eyes wandered over to the center of the city, where he saw various flashing lights and a large amount of collateral damage. Guess that's where I'm headed, Shadow thought.

The teenager spread his legs and his arms and leaped off of the skyscraper, diving towards the ground. A few meters before he would splatter on the ground, he flipped head over heels so that he was upright. Pushing his skates to full blast, he slowed his descent and landed safely on the road below, scattering some small debris as he did.

He activated his anti-grav skates once more and raced off to Westopolis City Hall, where he had last felt the presence of a Chaos Emerald.

I haven't encountered any resistance so far. I guess those creatures really are on my si- Shadow leaped to the side as an energy bolt burned where he was before. Unfortunately, his momentum kept him going, and he flew face first into a wrecked bus.

He dropped to the floor, slightly dazed as four dark creatures landed heavily on the road, creating large craters and causing several car to start honking.

They were huge, at least 7 feet tall, and their bodies were jet black. They appeared to be a mix between those alien hunters from that movie - Predator, was it? - and a snake. Their hands had only four digits, and looked more like talons with opposable thumbs; their feet was similar to that of a dinosaur's. They had red streaks over their arms and legs, and red marks over their chest.

The creatures' biceps and thighs were exposed, the muscles radiating a deep red color, and their lower jaws were split into two, leaving a long red tongue hanging from the inside. The back of their skulls were also open, revealing a glowing green brain. They each had an organic weapon of some sort, which looked like a human brain with an exoskeleton, with a red orb protruding from each hemisphere and a spiral barrel coming from the opening in the middle

Shadow slowly stood, shaking his head to clear his vision. "Word of advice: try not to attack your allies," he growled, wiping the blood from his broken nose. The creature merely tilted their heads, and raised their weapons.

Shadow snarled and crouched into a feral fighting stance, hands bared like claws. The creatures fired red energy bolts at him, which he dodged by leaping high into the air. He activated his skates and launched himself towards the closest one, twisting and delivering a powerful dropkick.

The creature staggered backwards, and the other three rushed towards Shadow. The teenager flipped backwards and landed on his feet, then rolled as another shot rang out, scorching the tail of his brown trenchcoat. He grinned and prepared to rush the one who shot at him -

When another clubbed him with its massive weapon.

Shadow was slammed into the ground by the force of the impact, and yet another kicked him in the face, the talons tearing some flesh off of Shadow's face and sending him flying into the same bus he first flew into.

He landed on his back, his head hitting the pavement and splitting open. He didn't move after that.

The four creatures stalked over to the prone form of Shadow, observing the teenager. They realized too late that the boy had a sneer on his face, and one creature's head was sliced off by a tendril of dark energy. The other three turned their heads as the decapitated creature fell in a heap, and Shadow took that brief respite to roll away and get back to his feet.

Before the creatures could turn, Shadow dashed towards them and landed yet another dropkick on one of them. Unrelenting, he raised his fists above his head and slammed them on the thing's skull, cracking its exoskeleton. He landed on his feet and ducked as another creature swiped at his head with its weapon.

He leaped upward and rammed into the creature, managing to lift it off its feet a few centimeters. As the thing made to recover, Shadow leaped over to the fallen creature's weapon, rolling onto his feet and snatching it up just as the last creature charged him.

He pulled the trigger just as the creature closed the distance between them. A hole was blown straight through the thing's chest, spraying black blood and guts on Shadow's face.

As the creature fell, Shadow noticed that the remaining two creatures had gotten to their feet and were charging at him at inhuman speeds. The teenager's weapon was still tilted upward from the recoil of the shot, and he wouldn't be able to bring his weapon back down in time to fire again...

A blue blur rammed whizzed past, ramming into one of the creatures and sending it flailing into the air. The same blur then raced back and smashed the other into the bus and took off into the air, once again ramming into the airborne creature. It was sent flying off into the distance, wailing a thoroughly disturbing sound.

"Man, those things sure know how to scream," said a voice to his left. Shadow's left eye began to twitch as he slowly turned towards the source of the voice, and it took every ounce of self-control the teenager had to refrain from strangling the person beside him.

It was a boy who looked about the same age as Shadow. He wore a wrinkled blue button-down shirt with a thin, long-sleeved shirt underneath. He also wore tattered blue jeans with a brown belt, and worn red sneakers with a golden caduceus* on the outer sides. The boy's skin was many shades lighter than Shadow's deep tanned one, and he had sky blue hair and bright green eyes. Stretched across his face was a amused grin, which revealed suprisingly white teeth.

"I guess it's a good thing I came when I did, eh Shadow?" The boy's grin stretched even wider, something Shadow thought was impossible.

The teenager scoffed. "I could have easily handled them myself," he stated dryly.

The boy shook his head, the grin never faltering. "Well, I'm sure those scars on your face can prove otherwise." Shadow's eye twitched again as he realized his face was still missing a few chunks of flesh. As soon as he realized this, his regeneration kicked in, dark energy creating new flesh and healing the wounds.

"Hmph. Well, if you really want to help me, then I suggest you duck." The boy raised an eyebrow, confused, and was promptly smacked over the head by the last remaining creature's weapon. He was sent flying into a car, face first.

"Idiot," Shadow muttered before ducking the creature's swipe at him. He rested his weapon on his shoulder and pulled the trigger, blowing its head clean off. He walked over to the boy. "Get up, Sonic. This city isn't going to protect itself," he said with a hint of annoyance.

The boy - Sonic - sat up, his nose bleeding profusely. "Heh heh, I guess I got a little too cocky there, eh?" Shadow rolled his eyes.

"As if that's anything new..." He turned and leaped on top of the bus and up to the roof of a building.

"Hey, Shadow! Where ya goin'?" Sonic yelled. The ultimate lifeform turned his head slightly.

"I have my own reasons for coming to this city, and I really don't need you there by my side to mess things up," he retorted. With that, he leaped over to the next buillding, making his way to the center of the city.

Sonic merely smiled. "Some things never change..." Upon stating that, his eyes narrowed slightly and a trace of concern distorted his happy-go-lucky demeanor.