He jerked backward, hitting the gem behind him. As he touched it, he for a moment felt someone gently tapped his shoulder. He immediately looked behind, but nobody was there. The black mass bolted forward, catching his hand and leg.

"Let go!" he barked, yanking his limbs, flying away. 'Is he trying to absorb the whole ship? I have to get out!' He abruptly stopped as he finished that thought. He immediately thought about helpless Eclipse and his wisps. He was ashamed, how could he think about himself where there were others having trouble?

He turned to face the black mass that was catching up to him. As he glimpsed his reflection on the huge gem, a spark appeared in his eyes. "I don't know if I'll be able to control myself or the power I'll gain."

The black substance was reaching him. He put his palm on the smooth surface. "But I'll give it my best shot!" The amber eyes closed, and the hidden energy from the gemstone poured into his small body. The waves of light vanquished the black mass, turning it into dust.

Meanwhile, Shadow was shot in the shoulder, but before he could scream in pain, the space around him was engulfed by warm light. The pain in his shoulder slowly subdued.

"What's that?" the monster angrily shouted as a big, blue ball slammed into his torso burning him.

A new light ball stopped next to the golden hedgehog. It was Silver, his fur turned light gold, and his eyes gained red color.

A bellow escaped Black Doom's throat. He didn't expect there could be another hedgehog capable of transforming. He kept playing with them for too long!

"Don't like warm welcome?" the powered-up psychic sarcastically asked with a smug smile.

Black Doom's already twisted face was deformed even more with rising anger.

"How do you feel?" asked him Shadow. In his naturally red eyes was a mischievous spark.

"How?" the other barked. "I can lift whole mountains. I can juggle with planets," he boasted, clenching fists and bending his body forward a bit. "But what more!" he shouted. "I want to wipe the universe with that jerk-face!"

"That makes two of us!" added Shadow, but his voice was drowned in the loudest bellow Black Doom made, and the hive-mind barraged them with energy balls that formed in front of his body. Each hedgehog went a separate way circling the enormous body.

Shadow went to the right, avoiding projectiles and firing Chaos spears. Most of them collided and exploded ten of meters away from the monster, but that wasn't important since the smoke provided a nice cover for him.

'I have to hit him from point-blank range!' he thought, avoiding blindly shot projectiles. "Chaos Control!" he shouted, trying to warp closer, but nothing happened. Instead, his body was zapped by electricity, coming from a shield around the whole comet.

The shock numbed his body for a second, and that was all Black Doom needed to hit him with a big ball of plasma energy. The explosion burned Shadow's fur and flung him at the end of the comet, where he dug his nails into the surface to slow down.

"How did you like that?" inquired the monster with confidence.

Silver was on the other side of the huge body, so he couldn't see what happened, but he guessed Black Doom scored a big hit. He gritted his teeth, avoiding the energy bullets. His eyebrows knitted, looking at the second face this monster had on the back of his head. How much uglier he could get?

All the time the golden hedgehog was moving in the air, trying to figure out what he can do. He couldn't use Chaos Energy like Shadow. His thoughts distracted, and if it wasn't for his reflexes, he would be hit by a plasma ball.

'Come on! Think of something!' he scolded himself. 'Use that brains of yours!' His aura mixed with bluish light and the incoming projectiles were engulfed by a blue glow, halting in the mid-air.

"What!" roared Black Doom, seeing his own attack was turned against him barraging his body.

"How'd you liked it?" queried the young psychic with confidence in his voice. That soon proved to be not so wise thing to do.

Black Doom roared, sending towards him numerous balls. The hedgehog made squealed, and he would put up a shield, but he decided to went into offensive, diving into the storm of projectiles head on.

'This is taking too long!' Shadow brood. He already shook the worst shock. When he was about to engage the monster, Black Doom opened his mouth, and a thick laser beam headed his way. He was faster than it, so he had no problem avoiding it, but the ray hit the tail of the comet, completely obliterating it.

"Why so scared?" Black Doom mocked him upon seeing Shadow's shocked expression. "Worried about someone?"

The striped hedgehog balled his fists, baring teeth. In his mind, thanks to a loose connection to other Black Arms, he made a quick check on his unconscious half-brother. Thankfully, he wasn't hit and was far enough from the hole, but at this rate, he wouldn't be safe for much longer. He pondered why he actually cared. Wouldn't it be good if he died in this battle? One less problem to worry about.

His ears jerked, as he noticed something was happening inside of the comet. He wasn't able to tell what it was, but it couldn't be anything good. He dashed toward the monster, avoiding his claws, going behind him where the second head was, heading his friend there.

Silver was avoiding and throwing back the ball projectiles, and based on his expression, he wasn't able to land any decisive hit either.

"Silver!" shouted the ebony hedgehog, joining him.

"Good to see you!" replied the other. "Any idea how to beat him?" He threw one ball back for it to collide with another.

"We need a single big hit!" he informed him of the vaguest battle plan ever.

"Big hit?" Silver repeated, and their eyes met. At that moment their minds figuratively connected, as they got the same idea. They flew side by side forward, looking like shooting stars. They burrowed into the comet once there Shadow saw what was giving him such bad feeling.

The whole place was overgrown with roots-like vines and some black substance was covering the walls, trying to grab them. From above he could hear the monster's roar, and the comet shook like crazy with big cracks forming on the walls. It looked like Black Doom was trying to compress the whole thing, crushing and trapping them. With a burst of energy, they propelled themselves down the corridors, smashing through walls until they found Master Emerald.

It was mostly covered by the black mass, but the hedgehogs quickly cleaned it. The gemstone was dimly shining, so it looked it might not have enough energy for anything. Silver was for a short while worried, but he quickly shooed it away. They could only try. With the gem they soared above the comet, appearing in front of Black Doom.

"What do you think you can do?" he barked. "It hardly has any energy left! I have sucked it dry years ago! Your transformation used the last speck of power it had!"

"We will see about that!" yelled Shadow back, tightly pressing the stone while Silver did the same.

'Please, help us to beat this monster!' Silver sent a silent prayer toward the gemstone, and its surface started to shine a bit.

Shadow poured his wish inside too, and the glow got stronger.

"Gaargh!" Black doom was squealing with pain as the ray of light touched his body. He would never think that old gem could still have so much power. He ran countless tests, and neither showed anything extraordinary. He kept the stone just for the sadistic pleasure to remind himself of his most satisfactory victory.

The light was getting stronger and stronger, playing tricks on Black Doom's vision as he would swear new shadowy figures appeared behind hedgehogs. The shadows soon created a crowd, and all their eyes were on him. The evil hive-mind called his power, directing it into the invisible shield that prevented anyone to use Chaos Control for warping and made thunders rain down on them.

"Chaos--!" shouted the duo in unison, and the mightiest wave of light engulfed them all, wiping the thunders and drowning Black Doom's roar. And then they were gone in a flash.