The Shadow Emerald
Chapter 1
Rouge wandered through scorching deserts in search of the ultimate treasure. Some said that it was just a myth, others said it was too dangerous to be touched, but Rouge said it was valuable and therefore hers. Then, just as she entered the unknown area, she saw it. The emerald that would surely change her life forever. She grabbed it and fled by air.
"The world is going to end if we don't find that emerald!" Sonic screamed to Tails and Knuckles.
"End!" screeched Amy.
"Why are you even here?" asked Sonic getting sick of seeing that pink face.
"I wanted to say hi." Amy said.
"Yeah, I say hi back, now I'm saying goodbye." said Sonic.
"I really hate you sometimes." said Amy walking out. She leant back in. "And I was hoping you would notice my new dress!"
"As I was saying!" Sonic said sounding agitated.
"You are rude, dude. You should try being nice every once and a while." said Knuckles.
"Not now, we're talking about LIVES here, not just some stupid girl!" Sonic said.
Any came in again. "I'm glad you think I'm just a stupid girl!" shouted Amy with tears in her eyes.
"Amy!" Sonic said running after her. Sonic returned after a few minutes and continued talking.
"Anyway, we need to find that emerald and destroy it! If it gets into the wrong hands, it'll take the energy out of everyone an use it to do bad, but nowadays there are so many people that the emerald with have so much power it'll destroy the world. You following me?" Sonic explained.
Tails and Knuckles nodded. "OK, Knuckles, I need you to find that emerald and destroy it before this gets serious." said Sonic. "Meanwhile, I'll try and sort out my social life."
"What can I do?" asked Tails.
"Nothing, just stay out of the way." said Sonic. Tails folded his arms and sighed.
Sonic went over to Amy's house and knocked on the door. "What do you want?" asked Amy in a face mask and dressing gown.
"I wanted to apologise." said Sonic.
"For the thousandth time! Save your breath!" said Amy shutting the door. Sonic held it open.
"Stop it!" argued Amy.
"Please! I'm sorry, I was just worried about-" Sonic began.
"What, worried about the end of the world? Worried about the stupid press and your precious fame. Because I know you! All you have is your fame! All you have is your precious fame and your place as a hero!" Amy screamed. "Nobody cares about the stupid hang-on girl, do they, but the one who cares least about that Amy girl is you!"
"Look! I'm sorry!" Sonic said.
Knuckles walked through a sandstorm, through a pit of dead people and finally to the temple where the shadow emerald would be. "Finally! It's time to end this." Knuckles said to himself. He walked up to it, but when he pulled back the curtain, the emerald was gone.
"GONE!" Sonic screamed.
"Gone, yes." Knuckles said.
"Probably Eggman." Sonic said.
"Man, I hate that dude-" Tails began.
"Shut-up, Tails." Sonic said. Tails frowned at Sonic and turned away. "OK, fine Tails, you can talk, but this is serious!"
"OK. So, who do you think did it?" asked Tails.
"I still reckon it was Eggman." said Sonic.
"Nah, I think we're looking in the wrong place. Who says he even knows it exists, but I think I know who it is. All we have to do is think who would want to own something big, shiny, rare and expensive." Knuckles said.
"Rouge!" Sonic and Tails said in unison. "We need a plan then."
"We could send someone in with a wire." Tails suggested.
"Yeah, Knuckles, you could go, we all know she fancies you." Sonic teased.
"Too obvious, we're too close if you know what I mean." Knuckles said.
"Then who?" asked Sonic.
"Well, Amy just had a fight with you so she wouldn't be very suspicious would she?" Tails said.
"Yeah! We'll send Amy!" Knuckles said.
"I'll go sort things out then. That's if she'll talk to me." said Sonic walking out of the room.
Sonic knocked on Amy's front door. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a sleeveless top.
"Hey, Amy." Sonic said.
"Hello." said Amy with a straight tone.
"I wanted to talk." Sonic said.
"Nah, you don't say!" said Amy frowning.
"Can I come in?" Sonic asked.
"Fine, just don't touch anything." Amy said.
It was the first time sonic had ever been in Amy's house. It was like a normal house, but it smelt of roses.
"Nice place." said Sonic.
"Just sit down." Amy said.
Sonic sat down and relaxed. He was hoping he didn't have to do too much to get Amy to help.
"OK, here's the thing, a precious emerald's been stolen-"
"Yeah, yeah, save the day, blaah, blaah." said Amy.
"Not exactly. This is the emerald we were saying was dangerous. You won't be endangered, all you have to do is try and find out if Rouge has it." Sonic said.
"You mean I can help!" Amy said excitedly.
"Yes, you can help. So what do you want in payment, because I'm hoping you'll just ask for money and nothing else." Sonic said as the image of Amy in a white dress popped into his head. He winced.
"Payment? OK, how about a chaos emerald." Amy said.
"Are you crazy!"
"Fine, $300." Amy said. "And that's my final offer."
"OK then." Sonic said.
Rouge's house
"Amy!" Rouge exclaimed as she opened the door.
"Hey Rouge." said Amy peering over Rouge's shoulder to get a better look at her collection of jewels on the mantelpiece. "What've you got recently."
"Oh, this gorgeous gem, but it's very valuable and one of a kind, I wouldn't even show it to the person I trust most!" Rouge said.
"Right. Well, can you tell me what it looks like?" Amy asked.
"It's reddy-black, about the size of a CD and looks like a chaos emerald, why do you ask."
"Just interested. Oh damn, left the stove on! Got to go, bye!" said Amy rushing off to Tails' pad.
"She's got it! She told me all about it and it totally matched your description!" Amy reported.
"I could kiss you!" Sonic said.
"No-one said you can't." said Amy hopefully.
"Anyway, what can we do?" asked Sonic.
"I don't know." said Tails.
A few days later
Sonic knocked on Amy's door. "Thanks, Amy." he said as Amy answered the door.
"Sonic?" she asked.
"Yeah." said Sonic. "Knuckles made me get you some flowers."
"Aw! You make yourself sound so mean. You're so modest!" Amy said. Sonic thought it best not to say anything else about that. "Please come in." said Amy.
"OK. I haven't got long though, I have to get back to check on Tails." Sonic said.
"Why?" Amy asked.
"He's making a version of the shadow emerald and he's going to tell Rouge that she has the fake." Sonic said. "It has to be perfect."
"Oh, I see, but she won't believe you. You need to make it unbreakable, plus, you have to make it better than hers." Amy said.
"Oh my god, yes!" Sonic said. He kissed Amy on the forehead and ran off at sonic speed. Amy rubbed the spot.
Knuckles knocked on the jewel encrusted door. There was no answer. A neighbour walked past and said. "Don't bother. Nobody's seen Rouge for days." said the neighbour turning back to his flowerbed.
Knuckles put down the box containing the fake emerald and kicked the door in. The house was empty all right. Knuckles looked around. Vases were smashed. Jewels scattered the floor. A wine glass was lying on the floor in several pieces. Knuckles progressed upstairs. Every room was the same. Chairs were knocked over. Clothes on the floor. Someone was putting up a very good fight, and it seemed to Knuckles he knew who had won.
"Rouge is gone!" Knuckles said when he arrived at Tails' pad.
"Gone? Are you sure she isn't just out doing shopping?" Tails suggested.
"No, a neighbour said nobody had seen her for days." Knuckles said.
"Maybe on holiday?" Sonic suggested.
"Nope, her house was a wreck, shattered glass, mess and everything." Knuckles said.
"And what became of the emerald?" asked Sonic.
"Gone."
"Eggman!" Tails said turning red with anger.
The next day
Tails flew into the window of Eggman's apartment. He heard the noises from the T.V.
"Who's there?" Eggman asked from the living room. "If it's Shirley I am not watching Desperate Housewives!" Eggman switched to the sports channel.
Tails jumped onto Eggman holding a torch over his face. "WHERE IS IT? WHERE'S ROUGE AND THE SHADOW EMERALD!" Tails demanded.
"The wha'?" Eggman asked confused.
"You're up to no good again! I know it!" Tails screamed.
"You and I both know I'm retired! I gave up two years ago when I realised I'll never win." Eggman said.
"No wonder we've been out of action for some time. It's kind of depressing actually. Rescuing cats from trees just isn't the same." Tails sighed.
"Now be a good man and leave my apartment. You can have those cookies if you want, I'm on a diet." Eggman said patting his belly. "Good day!"
"Goodbye then." said Tails picking up the cookies.
"Are you sure?" asked Sonic after hearing the news.
"Sonic, he was watching Desperate Housewives and he gave me cookies." Tails said.
"He's retired." Sonic announced.
"That doesn't answer any questions! We still don't know who did this to Rouge!" Knuckles said banging his fist on the table.
"Hey! That cost me 200 bucks!" Tails cried.
"Well, we still haven't checked out Shadow." Sonic said.
"He chose his side, he's with us." Knuckles said.
"I'm not sure, ultimate power always was Shadow's thing." Tails agreed.
"OK, I'll check out Shadow." Sonic said.
"Hello?" Sonic called as he entered Shadow's house. "Hello?" No-one replied. Sonic looked around. Things were broken. A picture lay on the floor of Shadow and a girl. Shadow had his arm round the girl and the girl was holding a baby. A journal lay beside it. Sonic picked it up.
May 12th
Great news! Mandy's had a baby girl. We called her Bethany. I wish so much that I could be at the hospital right now holding her hand, but I can't. I can't wait for her to come home.
Underneath the writing was Shadow's messy scrawl. It said; Me?
Sonic turned the page until he found another bookmarked one.
May 30th
I had to run! They came to the house and they took Beth and Mandy. They killed them. They grabbed the emerald and ran. The Shadow emerald, they took it. There was nothing I could do. If anyone ever finds this, please, find the people that killed them, find them!
The page was covered in tears. Shadow had also written under that entry; Shadow emerald? Me?
There was one more bookmarked page.
June 23rd
A scientist is going to help me. He says I can start afresh. He's going to help me forget. He's taking me into space to this big thing. A lovely girl called Maria is helping me through it all. To start again would be great. I'll never have to remember the Shadow emerald or the family I lost.
Shadow had yet again written Me? Underneath the entry.
Sonic took the journal and headed back to Tails' pad.
At Tails' Pad. . .
"So Shadow may be connected to the emerald!" Tails gasped.
"Maybe. Maybe that's why they took him." Sonic shrugged.
"Who!" Tails demanded.
"I don't know. Whoever took Rouge, I guess." Sonic said.
"So, why did you bring the journal?" Knuckles, who wasn't quite following, asked.
"Because this person, whether it was Shadow or not, is connected and knows something about the emerald. I thought we should have a look through." Sonic said.
They opened the journal and flicked through the pages.
"Aha!" Sonic exclaimed.
January 14th
I'm finally back from the desert. That war was horrible. It's finally over and we won. Freedom for all! Also, I found this curious thing. It's some sort of gem. It's gorgeous. I don't know what I'll do with it. I could sell it, but I don't feel I can.
January 28th
It's the gem, it's glowing a deep red. It's like it can see into my soul, it's almost like it's controlling me.
Chaos control Chaos control Chaos control Chaos control Chaos control.
I am the night, the darkness, the shadows. I am the monster under the bed, the ghoul in the closet. I am the ultimate, I am Shadow. I am the Shadow Emerald. Chaos control Chaos control Chaos control Chaos control Chaos control
January 30th
I have to get rid of the emerald! I have to! I'm changing. I've changed colour. My vibrant green is now black and red, the colours of the Shadow Emerald. It's taking over my body. At night I do terrible things, I transport using some kind of teleportation. Chaos control. I need help. I need to get rid of the emerald. It makes me write things, makes me say things. It controls me. I've written strange things. I must put it away. In a safe. I'll put the safe in a safe and I'll put it in the attic.
February 18th
It won't stop. I can hear the violent shaking of the emerald at night. It screams and shakes. It's alive and it's inside my head. I am Shadow. I am the keeper of the Shadow Emerald. Forever it shall be night, forever there will be shadows. . .
The team stood in awe.
"Do you think that was really Shadow? You know, from the past?" Tails asked.
"I don't know, but it would explain a lot." Sonic said. "Tails, you keep the book. I'm gonna hit the sack."
"Same." Tails yawned.
"I'm beat." Knuckles said and they all left.
The next day. . .
Sonic and Knuckles knocked on Tails' door in the morning.
"Tails?" Sonic called.
Knuckles kicked the door down.
The place was a mess. Broken glasses and plates. Tails was gone and so was the journal. . .