Maria's Return

I woke up to feeling of warmth surrounding me. I couldn't open my eyes, but is was OK. Some how I knew I was safe. Then I remembered. Shadow in that capsule, sending him away. Then the soldiers, and the pain. I felt the warmth drain from around me and my feet touched the floor. As the warmth resided, my legs took my weight, and I nearly collapsed. I braced myself against the walls with my hands and opened my eyes. It took a wile for them to adjust to the light, but eventually I was able to see. I was in one of the ARK's medi-pods. I must have passed out from the pain. It was then I realised what had happened. I'd been shot. The door opened with a hiss of steam and swung upward and I staggered out and nearly collapsed. I slumped against the wall of the chamber and slid down it. The floor and wall felt cold through my dress, though my hands were gloved for some reason, but that that was fine. The only thing I could think about was Shadow. Hopping he was all right I struggled to my feet and stumbled towards the computer with hopes of finding out where he'd ended up.

It was some time before I noticed. There were no mirrors in the medi-bay and the computers monitor was a projection. It wasn't until I was on the observation deck that I had the chance to notice my reflection. The ARK was just turning away from the sun rise over Mobius, and the darkness of space was overwhelmed by the observation deck's interior lights, effectively turning the window into a mirror. I nearly passed out again. I was wearing white gloves with blue rings at the cuffs. The rest of my clothes were similar to my old ones, but more stylised. My pale blue dress was knee length with a white stripe down the middle. My cardigan had been replaced with a dark blue coat that was open at the front and had white trim. The sleeves of the coat only went halfway between my shoulder and elbow, but puffed out a bit. My shoes had turned into boots that ended just bellow the knee. They were the colour of my drees with white souls and a thick white stripe running from the toes to the knee. My hair band seemed the same, however the same could not be said for me. My arms and legs were shorter and appeared to be the same length. My ams were bear, but my legs and torso were covered in yellow fur, the same colour my hair. My head was larger, my pointed ears were on the top now, and my hair had thickened into quills but was still soft and flexible. Most of it was down my back, but some cured at my shoulders. My eyes now took up most of my face now and were connected in the middle (though still seemed to function separately). My irises were now green. What can only be described as my muzzle was free of fur and my mouth seemed to be able to move from side to side on it. My nose had been reduced to a small black dot beneath my eyes. Overall I was shorter. My body felt more shaped and curvy, and it felt like my breasts had gotten bigger, but i couldn't quite tell.

I'd become a mobian hedgehog. I blacked out again.

When I awoke, my thoughts were once again consumed by Shadow. After looking around the ARK, it became evident that he, and for that matter anybody exempt myself, was not on bored. I went back to what used to be my room and accessed the ARK's mainframe. After looking through it awhile, I came across a file named "Project M". Opening it I discovered that Grandfather had had done this to me to save my life after a G.U.N. soldier had shot me. The only problem was the healing transformation takes a few years to complete. I sat back in my chair. "Years," I said to myself, glad to see my voice hadn't changed, but wondering how many had passed, "Years since I sent Shadow away, to save his life" The data on the project said Grandfather had created the liquid I was suspended in to stop me from ageing during the proses, meaning I was still 14, which was good, I suppose. I just had to find Shadow and make sure he was ok. Which means I was going to have to go down to the planet.

I had no idea how to pilot a shuttle, so had to use one of the remaining escape pods. There were plenty, but there was no guarantee I would land on the same continent as Shadow, or even on land at all. The landing coordinates the computer generated for Shadow were still loaded, which I thought was odd, before remembering the ARK had be deserted for 10 years. "Wait a minute" I stoped my self climbing in the escapee pod, "Shadow could have moved in 10 years" I went back to the control console to look at the map. No where stood out. I sighed. Then I noticed something on the map; a city I didn't recognise. It was labelled "Capital City". "Well, thats as good a place to start as any I suppose, and I can't stay here for the rest of my life" I entered the coordinates and got into the escape pod.

I landed just outside the city. The landing was surprisingly smooth, considering the speed of the fall. The pod touched down just next to a lake, and climbed out and immediately fell in the lake. I'd never learnt to swim, living on the ARK, and was pleasantly surprised to fin myself treading water perfectly in the deep lake. I swam to the other side and climbed out. The water ran off my fur and clothes and I was dry in seconds, "How odd" I said to myself. I started walking towards the city and broke out into a run at surprisingly high speed. I covered the few miles to the city in matter of minutes and went looking for the nearest person who might be able to help me.

I'd landed at sunrise, but it wasn't until midday did I find someone who knew Shadow. "Yeah, I know Shadow" The woman said almost seductively "What's it to you?"

"Well, I, um..." I stammered. The woman was a mobian bat. She was just taller than me, and had large ears and dazzling blue eyes. Her hair was short and white, but she didn't appear to have fur anywhere els on her body. She was quite thin and shapely, with long arms and legs and large breasts. She wore a tight black jump suite which left her arms and shoulders uncovered and had a pink heart shape over her chest. Her high heeled boots and gloves were long and white with pink cuffs. The boots had pink heart shaped designs on the toes. She wore pastel blue eye liner and black massacre. Her black wings were folded behind her back. I couldn't take my eyes off her.

I hadn't really thought about relationships until then, and even when I had, I'd only imagined myself with Shadow, but maybe that was weird considering I was an overlander. But this woman changed all that. Out of all the people, men and women, overlanders and mobians, that I'd seen over the last few hours, I hadn't given one of them a second glance, none of them had stood out, I could barley remember what most of them looked like, but she was something els...

"I, erm, I'm just an old friend" I said at last. She chuckled to herself a little.

"He must of met you on his travels then, no matter though. I'm Rouge the Bat, by the way"

"My name's Maria"

"Well, nice to meet you, Maria" she said, seeming a little nervous "Now lets go find Shadow"

I walked behind her so she wouldn't see me staring. We were heading to a large mountain on the other side of the city. Rouge had told me that was G.U.N. HQ and where she and Shadow worked and lived. If I thought that was odd, it didn't have time to sink in. I put my hand on my stomach as it growled loudly and I realised I hadn't eaten in several years. Rouge turned around "When was the last time you ate? That was quite loud."

"Sorry, I skipped breakfast"

"Lets get you something to eat then"

"I don't have any money..."

"It's on me"

We found a café and ordered lunch. It was very different from the food that we had on the ARK, but it was still delicious. Rouge payed, and we continued on to the mountain. I noticed all the overlanders were taller than us, but all the mobians were about our hight. It's not really something I'd thought about, probably because I'd grown up on the ARK with minimal contact with anybody and noticing it then I found it quite strange. But again my thoughts were interrupted when I walked into a mobian girl, literally.
"Sorry" I piked up one of the bags she'd dropped. Rouge turned to see what was happening.

"Amy!" She exclaimed.

"Rouge!" Said the girl, standing up "What are you doing here?"

Rouge gestured to me "This one says she knows knows Shadow, so I'm taking her to him"

Amy brushed herself off. She wore a white trimmed red dress, red boots with a white stripe like mine, a red head band, and white gloves with gold rings at the cuffs. She was shorter, and presumably younger, than I was and she seemed less curved and had smaller breasts. Her fur was pink, but her arms were bare and her hair was short and curled forward at the bottom. She had a short fringe and bright green eyes. She was a hedgehog like me. I handed her the bag I'd piked up.

"Thank you," she said, "So, what's your name?"

"Maria" I replied.

That seemed to make her nervous and she glanced at Rouge who nodded reassuringly. Amy recovered quickly and continued, "What a nice name. How do you know Shadow?"
"I'm just an old friend"

Rouge quickly changed the subject "Why are you in Capital City then, Amy?"

"Well, the Freedom Fighters are on a diplomatic mission for the Republic of Acorn, and Sally sent me and Bunny to get supplies, but It looks like I've lost Bunny" she sighed.

"Well your welcome to join us on our way to Guardian Mountain"

"That is where Sally told us to meet her, and I'm sure that's where Bunny will go, so OK" replied Amy.

"All right then, that fine by you, Maria?"

"Fine by me!"

"Then what are we waiting for, lets go" Rouge said as we set off again.

We arrived at Guardian Mountain just after 2:00PM, Amy had given me a watch that her friend Tails had made. The entire mountain had been hollowed out and replaced with metal corridors and electric lights.
"Wow, this pace kind of reminds me of the ARK, and I was expecting the bace to be on the mountain, not inside it!" I exclaimed as I ran ahead.

Behind me, Rouge and Amy looked puzzled "ARK? You don't think..?" Amy whispered to Rouge.

"No, she died 50 years ago..." Rouge whispered back.

I didn't think anything of that at the time, except noticing my hearing had improved. Wile I was distracted, I ran into the G.U.N. Commander. Commander Abraham Tower was twice as tall as me and had shoulders three times the width of mine. His arms were thick and he seemed well toned. His hair was grey and had different coloured eyes, one brown, the other blue. He wore a dark grey uniform with military medals pined to his chest. He seemed familiar to me, but theres no way I could have met him before. He must have been in his late 50s at least.

"Hello s-sir" I said stepping back.

"Who are you, and why are you here?" The Commander said threatening, it was a tone I'm sure I recognised. I Looked at Rouge for reassurance, she nodded.

"My n-name's Maria, s-sir. I'm here t-to see a-agent Shadow"

"Maria, hmm..." The Commander muttered, "You seem familiar, have we met?"

"T-to be honest, sir, I felt that as well, but I can't think where we could have met..."

"Hmm, no matter. So, you're here to see Shadow, then? He's my best agent." He raised his hand and spoke into a wrist communicator " Agent Shadow?"

"Yes sir?" I heard Shadow's voice from the speaker.

"You have a visitor"

A few minutes later Shadow stepped out of the lift, and when he saw me, his eyes widened, "Ma-Maria?!"

"Shadow!"

"What!" Amy and Rouge said in unison.

"Wait, Maria, is it you?" the Commander asked.

"What do you mean, I've never met you before?"

"Maria, its me, I'm Abraham Tower, I lived on the ARK"

I recoiled slightly, "But that was only a few years ago, wasn't it?"

"No Maria" said Shadow as he approached me, "That was over 50 years ago now"

"But..." I collapsed into Shadow's arms.

My eyes flickered open and I had to squint through the bright artificial lights. I was lying in a hospital bed. A sign on the wall read "G.U.N. med-centre Room 001". Shadow was sitting next to the bed. I yawned and he looked up.

"Maria, are you all right?" he said, and I could hear the concern in his voice.

"I-I think so, but my head hurts"

"How did you do it?" He asked.

"Do what?"

"Survive. You were shot in the back Maria. You should have died then and there. But you survived, for 50 years. How? And why are you a hedgehog?"

"Well..." I told him the story, how I woke up, discovered I'd turned into a hedgehog, and then gone looking for answers. I told him about Grandfathers last project, and about how the transformation took a few years to compleat. "But there's still one thing I don't understand Shadow"

"And what's that?"

"Why did it take 50 years instead of just a few?"

He thought for a wile, and then started chuckling to himself."What is it?" I asked.

"2 years ago, Dr. Eggman, the Professor's grandson, your cousin, I suppose, rescued me from a secret Government lab. I took him to the ARK, which had been abandoned for nearly 50 years. He restored the power. That must have started your transformation proses, but how you lasted that long without ageing or dying still doesn't make sense."

We thought for a wile, then I realised something. "The liquid in the pod!"

"What?" Shadow looked confused.

"It prevented me from ageing, so it must have some sort of chaos power to stop the flow of time"

"Interesting, did the Professor design that?"

"I think so, why?"

Shadow didn't answer, he just sat there with a troubled look of thought on his face. Eventually, he stood and walked to the door. Before he left he turned to me and said, "Wait for me here, I'll be back soon."

"Wait, where are you going?" I asked as he stepped out.

He smiled, "To find some answers."

And with that, he left.