Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Cactus are running through Eggman's Forteress. Team Sonic were heading towards Eggman's hideout in order to stop the mad doctor and his new secret weapon when Cactus arrived to offer his help to the three heroes, who accepted it. They don't know what the scientist exactly had in store, but they knew they were close to the goal. The group entered an empty room besides a giant screen and ways out, besides the one they used to enter. On the left was located an elevator, on the right, a hallway. They knew a trap would wait for them inside that elevator, but what could it be? When the door opened, the quartet was shocked to see who was standing in front of them.
Sonic: Sh-shadow?!
Knuckles : Why would Shadow work for Eggman again ?!
Eggman suddenly appeared on a giant screen, getting himself noticed with his machiavellian laughter
Eggman: Let's just say I'm… Very persuasive
A purple aura slowly surrounded Shadow
Eggman: Allow me to present you a little teaser to my latest creation! It allows me to contribute the minds of people and make them obey any of my orders!
Sonic: Wait I… I remember ! He used that invention on you Tails in his interstellar amusement park!
Eggman: Exactly ! I have perfected my invention and now I can use it in different ways, the one you're witnessing here, is similar to one I employed on, except for Shadow, a machine controls him for me! And for the rest of the world… I have a little something for them…
The camera zoomed out so that the quartet could see behind him a giant bomb.
Eggman: This bomb contains enough energy so that when it explodes, it will cover the entire planet! Thanks to that, in about an hour, the world will be mind! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Tails: We need to stop him and fast!
Tails ran towards the elevator, but Shadow gave him a kick that sent the fox flying across the room.
Eggman: If you want to defeat me, you will have to kill your dear Shadow!
Sonic and Knuckles looked at each other, they know they don't have a choice. They were about to jump on Shadow, when Cactus stood before them, staring at Shadow right in the eyes.
Cactus: I'll handle this.
Sonic : What ?! You can't be serious ?
Knuckles : Are you aware of Shadow's power ? Do you really think you can def-
Cactus: No. I don't know if I can defeat him or not . What I do know, is that I can hold him for long enough. Go and find the machine to free him from his transe. I'm taking care of him.
Tails : Are you sure about this?
Cactus: You'd rather kill him ?
Sonic, Tails and Knuckles looked at each other and ran towards the hallway.
Sonic: Good luck Cactus
Cactus nodded his head and he took his barbed wire out his jacket. He and Shadow now stared at each other in the eyes.
Cactus : thinking I need to find a way to make it last… Once the fight will start, he'll have one goal in mind, to annihilate me. Meanwhile, I have to keep him alive, not just because of my principles, but also for my 3 partners… I must stop him… I must end Eggman’s plans… And if I can’t end it…
Cactus then leaped towards Shadow
Cactus : thinking Then I’ll die trying!
Shadow tried to deliver a punch to Cactus when he was in the air, but the green hedgehog grabbed his arm and attempted to throw him onto a wall. Unfortunetly for him, Shadow took support onto it and came back towards Cactus with a kick that sent his opponent back first onto the wall, making him lose his grip of his barbed wire. Cactus stood unmoving, back against the wall until he saw Shadow charging at full speed towards him, fist in front of his head. Cactus ducked, grabbed his head and smashed it against the wall, which made the Ultimate Life Form move back. Cactus caught his breath and ran towards the black hedgehog, trying to do a running kick, but Shadow rolled between his legs, caught his leg and neck from behind, and threw him above his shoulders, directly into the ground with thud that echoed across the room. Shadow tried to hit Cactus with a spindash, but the Daredevil rolled out of the way right before he got touched. Shadow stopped right in front of the wall and got straight back up. When he turned around, he was greeted by Cactus who jumped towards him and tackled him into the ground. He delivered a few punch until Shadow blocked him and started twist his arm. Cactus got back up very slowly, while Shadow continued to bend his arm. The king of brawlers lifted Eggman’s puppet as Shadow was still trying to break his arm. Cactus then charged at full speed towards a wall. The impact made Shadow lose his grip as he grabbed his arm. The artifical hedgehog tried once again to spindash his enemy, but the green hedgehog also did a spindash and both hedgehogs slammed towards each other. They were one against the other, ,neither of them letting themselves getting outpowered by the other’s spindash.

Meanwhile, Knuckles destroyed a door with only his hands, that leads to an isolated room, as Sonic and Tails took care of badniks. The trio then entered and looked around them.
Sonic: Nice work Knuckles ! Now we have room all for ourselves !
Tails: looks all around the room I have good news and bad news.
Sonic: We’re listening.
Tails: The good news is that this is the control room for the machine that posses Shadow and I can stop it with my tablet. turns on his tablet
Knuckles: And the bad news ?
Tails : It’s impossible to tell how long it’s going to take…
Sonic : It doesn’t matter, what does, is that we stop Egghead! He took a look at a long keyboard, he pressed a button and it turned on a giant screen which showed the room in which Cactus and Shadow were fighting Hey ! Take a look !
Knuckles: gets closer to the screen Hey ! Cactus !
Sonic: He can’t hear you, there’s no mic Knuckles.

Cactus and Shadow were now head-to-head. They stared at each other right in the eyes. Shadow had a neutral expression since the start of the fight, while Cactus’ eyes was filled with a fire that dispalys his will to win. The two took their breath and and moved away from each other. Cactus tried to deliver a right punch to Shadow, but the Black Blur blocked it and punched his enemy in the mid-section. Shadow follwed it up with a kick right to the face that made his opponent stagger. Shadow then ran at full speed towards Cactus, but he was caught by surprise with a forearm strike by surprise from the green hedgehog, which brought Shadow to the ground after doing a 1080° in the air before falling flat on his belly. Cactus lifted Shadow from behind by grabbing his belly and he threw him to the ground, he tried to do it a second time, but Shadow landed on his feet and did a homing attack on Cactus’ back which projected him head first against the wall. Shadow then smashed Cactus’ head against the wall over and over. The Ultimate Life Form then threw his opponent to the ground hard. He tried to deliver a kick to the King of Brawlers while he was getting in a sitting position, but Cactus made him trip, and when thr black hedgehog tried to get back up, the Daredevil leaped in order to do a double foot stomp on the back of Shadow, but he rolled in front of him just before the stomp connected and delivered a mule kick to Cactus which made him back up, followed by an homing attack directly on his neck, making Cactus fall on his belly. When he was on the ground, Cactus tried to grab his barbed wire, but Shadow stepped on his arm. He twisted his foot from left to right as Cactus tried to ignore the pain as he slowly pushed his foot away from his arm. The green hedgehog rolled away from his enemy, but he got caught by a homing attack right after he got up on his feet. The impact projected Cactus back first against the wall. He bounced against it and immediatly eat a flying kick which sent him back to the ground. While Cactus tried to get back up again, Shadow placed his foot on his throat and pressed on it, trying to choke him out.
Sonic: Tails, how is it going ? Are you close to shutting that machine down ?
Tails: I’m far from it Sonic ! Eggman’s defensive system is very well programmed !
Sonic : Dang it…. he looked below the room’s screen at the different buttons on the control panel and he noticed a small button with a microphone drawn on it I think I’ve found a way to talk to him… he pressed it Cactus ! Cactus can you hear me ?
Cactus could hear him, but he couldn’t respond. He coughed heavily and losing more and more air as Shadow continued to strangle Cactus with his foot while Cactus tried desperately to push his foot away from his throat.
Sonic : Cactus hold on! You can do it ! You’re gonna be fine, you faced worse ! Don’t let yourself being trampled like that !
_As Cactus heard those words, he tried to do what could be his last attack. Instead of pushing his foot, he tried to twist. Shadow, caught by surprise, lost his balance and fell on the ground as Cactus continued to apply the pressure on his ankle while slowly got back on his feet. Shadow, in order to make Cactus release his grip, activated the fire of his hovers shoes, which made the green hedgehog step backc. Shadow got back up slowly, seemingly his opponent used a lot of force in his attack. Meanwhile, Cactus caught a breather, thanks to a small moment of stoppage. Suddenly, Cactus started to sprint towards Shadow who threw him into the wall using his enemy’s speed, but the Daredevil took support on the wall, jumped, did a backflip followed by a 180° rotation in the air as he crashed into the Ultimate Life Form. They both layed on the ground, Cactus was tired, Shadow was stunned.
Knuckles: gets in front of the microphone Come on Cactus! You gotta keep attacking !
Sonic : What about now Tails? Are you there ?
Tails : I feel like I’m getting closer, I feel like I’m almost there.
The two fighters were starting to move again. Both of them stood on their knees and started to punch each other one after the other, after each strikes, it felt like either of them could fall. As they punch each other, they were getting back on their feet slowly. Both hedgehogs were on their feet, still exchanging punches. Suddenly, Cactus blocked one of Shadow’s strikes and gave him one of his down which made the Ultimate Life Form stagger. Cactus did an homing attack on the black and red hedgehog, which en combined with an elbow strike when he was in the air. He delivered a kick to the guts of Shadow which made him bend over forwardI, Cactus wrapped his hands around Shadow’s waist, he threw him in the air, leapt, caught him and smashed his back against the ground. Cactus then layed on the ground, catching his breath.
Knuckles: You think that’s enough ?
Sonic : I don’t think so. I don’t think that’s good enough to beat him. Tails, is it over?
Tails : Not yet… The system is really solid, it becomes tougher and tougher…
Cactus got back up very slowly and grabbed his barbed wire. He wrapped it around his fist and he approached Shadow. The Daredevil was about to strike him when out of nowhere, he received an unbelievably powerful punch which sent Cactus flying and crashing on the top of the wall before falling flat first on his belly. Shadow just removed the inhibitor ring around his right hand, unleashing parts of his amazing strength which caught Cactus by surprised. Shadow limped towards Cactus. The Ultimate Life Form lifted the barely conscious with only one hand and strangled him. Cactus didn’t have the strength to struggle. He coughed heavily, his eyes slowly shutting and his limbs moved less and less.
Sonic : Tails hurry !
Tails: I’m nearly there… Now ! deactivates the machine
_The purple aura disappeared and Shadow regained consciousness of what he was doing. He saw an unconscious Cactus in his hand and he released his grip, making the Daredevil fall on his knees then on his belly. Shadow held his head and dropped to one knee. Sonic, Tails and Knuckles came to the rescue of their friends. Tails checked if Shadow really got back to his normal state while Sonic and Knuckles picked Cactus back up and slowly woke him up. Cactus coughed heavily as he held his throat.
Sonic : You’ve done it Cactus. You’ve done it.
Cactus: I’m not satisfied however…
Sonic : What matters, is that you helped us saving Shadow.
Shadow: Thanks to all of you… It’s been weeks since he imprisoned me here…
Tails: Guys, we still have Eggman to stop !
Sonic : The Chaos Emeralds and I, we’re taking care of that !
Shadow : Let me help you Sonic
Cactus : Let me too…
Knuckles: But neither of you are at 100%, especially you Cactus ! Don’t you think that-
Cactus: The rest, it’s gonna be after we save the world. Not before.
Shadow: We have more important to do than to worry about ourselves.
Cactus: nods while looking at Shadow Let’s go!
To be continued… maybe…