Board Thread:Site Discussions/@comment-26497831-20150627200920/@comment-679780-20150628190029

Either powerful body or from his shoes.

Personally, I think it make sense if it was both.

What if the jet-shoes are powered by Shadows energy? Sonic '06 shows that even without Chaos Emeralds, Shadow contains a great power which needs Inhibitor Rings to control. Without the rings he has access to a great power. The requirements of these rings could mean that the power can be too much for his body to handle.

Instead of conventional fuel or genuine jet mechanics, the jet-shoes perhaps run off Shadows excess power through the jets which allow him to achieve great speeds. This can make sense given that the shoes have light armour and some jet thrusters but no visable mechanics expected for jets.

It's like how Blaze is able to hover by creating a jet of flames from her heels in order to propell herself from the ground. Shadows shoes perhaps work similar way in which the jet propulsion works from Shadows own power.