One: The Return

Misuki: "You won't get away from me, Eggman!" Misuki sped up, trying to catch the giant robot being controlled by Dr. Eggman. Once she was within a few hundred minutes from it, Misuki jumped in the air and kicked the robot in the center of its spine, creating a giant dent and causing the robot to collapse to the ground. "Is that all you've got?"

Eggman ejected his pod from the robot and faced her. "I'm just getting started, girl! That Chaos Emerald you have inside you will be mine!"

"Just try and take it from me, Egg-face!" She taunted Eggman before charging after him.

"As you wish!" Just as he said that, his Egg-ship appeared in the sky and began shooting lasers all over the place. Misuki could barely get away from them while Eggman laughed maniacally. "It's only a matter of time before you have nowhere to run!" Misuki realized he was right; she soon became helpless and was running out of options.

'I have to think of something quick!' As much as she tried to think of a plan, Misuki knew she was doomed. While she went through her brain to come up with a plan of escape, a laser blasted her into the air and threw her a few feet away from where she got blasted. When she tried to get up, she saw Eggman hovering over her with the guns aimed right at her.

"Any last words, my dear?" he laughed.

Misuki remained silent, staring at him as the laser charged up for a final attack. Just as it did, the laser exploded and disconnected from the ship. Both Eggman and Misuki looked up in confusion. "Oops, sorry Eggman! It looks like I broke your toy!"

"Who said that?" They looked up to see a figure jump from Eggman's ship.

"You forgot about me, Eggman? That's not very nice."

Misuki recognized that voice anywhere. "Sonic, it's you!" she exclaimed, standing up.

"Sorry we took so long. We ran into some trouble."

Behind Misuki, the X Tornado descended and revealed Knuckles and Tails who were waving. Knuckles jumped out of the jet and got in front of Misuki. "Are you okay, Misuki?" he asked her.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Now let's take down Eggman!"

"You little pests won't take me down that easily!" Eggman typed on some buttons in his pod, making it transform into another robot that was bigger and loaded with more weapons. "Try taking me on now!"

"With pleasure, Eggman!" Knuckles charged head on at Eggman and began bashing at its invincible armor. Misuki followed behind him, jumping in the air and tried to go after Eggman head on, but they were reflected back by the swing of his fist. Misuki landed on top of Knuckles.

"Hey Knuckles, are you okay?" she asked, struggling to get off of him.

"Don't worry about it." He wheezed from his abs being crushed. "It'll…take more than that to do me in." Misuki helped him off the ground. "Focus on Eggman!"

Eggman laughed again at watching Misuki and Knuckles struggling to get on their feet. "That was almost too easy!" In the middle of his gloating, Eggman felt a giant force push his robot to the ground. He turned around to see Sonic land on his feet with a cocky smile on his face. "You sneaky little rat!" he growled.

"Did you forget about me again, Eggman? That hurts." Misuki sat back with Knuckles and watched Eggman and Sonic go at each other. Sonic had Eggman on the ropes.

'Sonic has more fight in him than I thought.' She thought to herself. "Hey Knuckles, what do you say we give Sonic a hand?"

"I'm right behind you." Knuckles charged right next to Misuki and attacked Eggman in the front while Sonic continued attacking it from the back. Eggman was completely surrounded and soon became a giant pinball.

They continued attacking till Eggman became annoyed and decided to go to drastic measures. "I've had just about enough of you brats!" Eggman activated his force field, which caused Misuki and the others to bounce off the armor and back on the ground. "You want to play games? Very well then!" The robot used a jetpack to lift in the air and fly away. "Before I go, I have a special surprise for you, Misuki. Consider this a gift from me." As he continued to fly away, a pod shot out from the abdomen of the robot, landing directly in front of them.

"What did he mean by that?" Knuckles asked, stepping closer to the pod.

"Whatever he meant, it can't be good." Misuki said as the pod slowly opened. "Something's coming out!" Misuki took one step closer to get a good look at the figure coming out. When the figure was finally out, Misuki froze at who it was. "It can't be." Her eyes widened and her heart stopped for a quick second.

"It's been a long time…Misuki." The figure said, smiling evilly.

"It's you…Shadow."

"Did she just say Shadow?" Knuckles asked, not believing it.

"Been a while since we've seen him." Sonic said.

Misuki still couldn't believe Shadow was standing in front of her. "Shadow, is it really you?" she asked. After she did, Shadow rushed toward her and kneed her. But Misuki was able to block it with her hands, stopping his attack in midair. "Wait Shadow, don't you remember me?"

Shadow didn't answer her. Instead, he pushed away from her block and quickly got behind her, hitting her directly in the spine. Misuki went down hard, unable to move because of the pain from the blow. She looked up at Shadow who was grinning with amusement. "You're not as fast as I thought you were." He said. "I was hoping you'd be a stronger opponent."

"If you want me to get serious, then I'll show you what I'm capable of!" Misuki made a quick recovery and began attacking Shadow endlessly. She wasn't as fast as Shadow was, but she was able to keep up with him. 'He's gotten a lot faster than before.' She thought to herself. 'But I can't give up. I have to break through his defenses somehow.' There was only one way to throw Shadow off, although it was the one attack Misuki did not want to use on him. But she had no other choice. She gathered all of her energy and directed it into her fists until they began glowing a bright red. "This ends now, Shadow!" She unleashed the punch, hitting Shadow point blank in the chest. The force she produced made Shadow fly through the air and land a few feet away on his back. Misuki saw the look on his face and saw that he wasn't fazed at all by her attack.

Shadow chuckled as he looked up at her. "It looks like you did gain more power. I'm actually impressed." He stood up, wiping the dirt from his face and dusting off his clothes.

"Shadow, why are you doing this? You do remember me, don't you?" she asked again.

"I remember you," Shadow finally answered. "that's why I've come to retrieve you."

Misuki took two steps backwards, not understanding what he was talking about.

"Eggman sent me here to capture you so he can use the power that you hold inside of you."

Misuki froze, feeling her heart pound loudly in her chest. "You want the Chaos Emerald!" She clenched her chest and felt herself trembling. "You're going to hand me over to Eggman!?"

"You catch on quickly." He said as he slowly began approaching her. "Now come quietly, and don't try anything funny."

Misuki could've defended herself and attacked him again, but her last attack left her drained of energy. Just as she was about to start running for her life, Knuckles and Sonic jumped in the middle and blocked Shadow from getting to Misuki. "Not so fast, Shadow!" Knuckles exclaimed. "If you want to get to Misuki, you'll have to go through us first!"

"Misuki, head for the X Tornado! We'll hold Shadow off as long as we can." Sonic ordered, not taking his eyes off Shadow.

"I'm not leaving you here!" she exclaimed back. "I don't want you guys getting hurt because of me!"

"We'll be alright." Knuckles reassured her smiling. "All that matters is that you stay safe. Hurry and go…now!"

Tails suddenly came around in the X Tornado, opening the main hatch for Misuki to climb in. "Hurry Misuki! Get onboard!" he exclaimed over the engine of the jet.

"We'll catch up with you as soon as we can." Sonic said.

Misuki gave up and headed to the jet. Before she jumped in, she turned back to Sonic and Knuckles and shouted, "Be careful you guys!" The last thing Misuki saw before she headed toward the X Tornado was Sonic holding a thumbs up sign and smiling. Misuki leapt into the jet with Tails and took off as far away from the battlefield as possible. As Misuki looked out the window and saw Shadow standing there, she began thinking back to when she and Shadow were inseparable and how she always saw him as an older brother. 'What's happened to you, Shadow?' she thought to herself. She knew she had to break Eggman's hold over him anyway she could.

"Hey Misuki, are you alright?" Tails asked, breaking Misuki away from her daydreaming.

"Yeah, don't worry about me. I just have some cuts and bruises but I'm fine."

"If we make it out of this, I'm sure Espio will be glad to patch you up."

"That's sounds like a plan to me." Just as Misuki said that, the jet violently shook and almost went straight into the ground. Misuki quickly grabbed the back of Tails' chair, gripping it with massive force. "What the hell was that?" she asked.

"Eggman's trying to blast us out of the sky!" Tails made a sharp turn to try and avoid the blasts and maneuver around Eggman the best he could.

"You little brats aren't getting away that easily!" he exclaimed. "I will take that Emerald of yours Misuki, if it's the last thing I do!"

"Don't count on it, Egg-head!" Misuki exclaimed back. She noticed he fired another missile, but Tails managed to dodge it completely.

"I can't keep this up forever! We have to find a way to get Eggman off out tail!"

At that point, Misuki had an idea that would force Eggman to retreat. "Tails, are the guns on this jet ready to use?"

"Uhh…sure, but why?" Tails asked, still maneuvering around Eggman.

"If I can aim it at the right spot, I can get Eggman to retreat. Just power up the guns and leave the rest to me." Misuki lowered the hatch and grabbed hold of the gun that came up from behind the passenger seat. She took hold of it and aimed it straight at Eggman's ship. "Okay Tails, I need you to try your best to fly this thing as straight as you can!"

"I'll do my best!"

Misuki aimed the gun directly at the engine of the ship, trying to get a good shot at it. "Almost got it." It locked onto the target a minute later. "Fire!" Misuki quickly took the shot and fired a red laser. She watched as the shot hit its target, causing Eggman's ship to smoke and go down.

"You did it, Misuki!" Tails exclaimed.

"It was too close for comfort." She admitted, letting out a sigh of relief. "Now let's go get Sonic and Knuckles." At her command, Tails turned the jet around and headed back to where Sonic and Knuckles were fighting Shadow. When they got there, Shadow was the only one standing. Misuki saw his smirk as Sonic and Knuckles struggled to get up.

"Shadow, let's retreat for now." Eggman said, barely holding up his ship. "Meet me back at the base." Eggman took off on his own with the back of his ship smoking uncontrollably.

Just before Shadow was about to follow behind, Misuki jumped out of the ship and confronted Shadow one last time. "Shadow, it's not too late!" she called out to him. She stepped closer to him and looked him in his eyes. "Please Shadow…don't go back with Eggman."

Shadow stared at her for a while, and then smiled. "Next time we see each other, I will capture you and present you to Eggman." After he said that, Shadow quickly dashed away in the same direction as Eggman.

Misuki did not move from her spot. All she could do was stare out and wonder why Shadow was working for Eggman. 'Will you really hand me over to Eggman, Shadow?' she asked herself. 'What happened to you after you disappeared?'

As she pondered her mind about Shadow, Misuki felt a hand touch her shoulder. She looked up to see Sonic smiling at her as he wiped her tears away. "There's no reason to cry. Shadow will be back to his old self again in no time. Just keep calling out to him, and I'm sure he'll come to his senses."

"You really think so?" Misuki asked.

"I promise."

With his smile, Misuki had no reason to doubt Sonic. She was going to take his advice and keep reaching out to Shadow until Eggman's hold on him broke.