Chapter 1

Rouge walked into the laboratory. Something was drawing her to that room. The arm band that she acquired from Sonic, although it was Shadow's, began to glow. As she continued walking, she began to see stasis pods. There was only one occupied. Rouge pressed her hand against the glass.

"Now I know why I was brought here..." She looked around and made sure no one was watching. She deactivated the stasis pod and waited. A figure stepped out.

"How...How long have I been gone?"

"Shadow! We thought...We thought you were dead! I thought you were dead! We all thought you were dead...for roughly five years." Rouge answered, nearly shouting now.

"You what? You actually believed I was dead? Now what on earth will I do? Everyone thinks I'm dead!" Shadow said, being rather annoyed.

"The freedom fighters and Omega will be glad to see you.." Rouge said softly.

"Omega, maybe. But the freedom fighters? I thought Sonic truly hated me." was Shadow's amused reply.

"Sonic doesn't hate you, and he never has. And by the way, there are several new members of the Freedom Fighters, including me."

Shadow simply stared at Rouge. It was a cold, hard stare that chilled her down to the bone. Her heart went numb. Her good mood fell. In that instant, she felt Shadow's anger. His feeling of betrayal. She realized that Shadow, though he appeared rather simple, was a very complicated and conflicting person. More complicated than any of them could of guessed. Rouge guessed that if she got involved with him, it could bring dire consequences. So naturally, she got involved.

"Listen Shadow. Joining the freedom fighters was in my best interest. And to be honest, I think it's in your best interest too."

" Rouge, if I ever feel the need to join the freedom fighters, I will. But for now I must leave." "Wait Shadow!"

But by that time he had already teleported, using chaos control. Rouge decided to go back to the freedom fighters head quarters and let everyone know Shadow was alive, but his whereabouts were unknown. At the FF HQ, she burst through the doors and began babbling like an idiot. Anastasia hurried over.

"Rouge! What is the matter?"

"It's Shadow! H-H-He-He's alive!" Everybody turned and stared at her.

"He's...alive? Really?" asked Sonic from across the room.

"Yes he's alive!" Rouge answered exasperatedly.

"If he is truly alive, then where is he?" asked Knuckles skeptically.

"Well...He kind of got upset and, like, teleported to who knows where..."

"Oh, well, that's just FANTASTIC..." said Sonic rather sarcastically.

"We could really use Shadow's help...how did you upset him this time Rouge?" Blaze inquired.

"I simply told him I work for the freedom fighters now!"

"Well...I can see how that could upset him. But right now we need to worry about finding Shadow and getting him to help us defeat this strange enemy." Blaze expressed, rather worried.

" I concur." agreed Knuckles.

"Well...Let's think! Where has Shadow been known to go when he is upset?" inquired Amy.

"I know he likes to go to that old library with books about Camelot!" said Rouge.

"Well? Let's look there first." Sonic declared.

As they left, Anastasia began wondering why Shadow would go to that specific library."How odd..." she said to herself. "Really quite strange..."

"Oh um, hey guys! I almost forgot to mention this. His arm band always glows when he's close!" remembered Rouge.

"Well that's handy..." reflected Blaze.

As the group approached, the old, run down library, the arm band began to glow.

"Shadow must be close! His arm band is glowing!" exclaimed Amy. They all shuffled inside. "I see Shadow!" whispered Blaze.

"We have to take his chaos emeralds so he can't use his chaos powers!" Rouge said softly. They decided Sonic would have the best chance of grabbing the emeralds before Shadow noticed due to the fact he was the fastest. He slowly snuck up to Shadow until he was roughly twenty feet away. Then he raced in and grabbed the emeralds. Then, all the freedom fighters who had come came out and stood in front of Shadow.

"So...you take my chaos emeralds and confront me as an enemy. What? Are you planning to me in suspended animation once more..?" he asked suspiciously.

"Shadow, we only took the emeralds so you wouldn't just teleport as soon as you saw us. And no, our goal is not to put you in suspended animation again. We need your help to defeat whatever is after us." Blaze explained.

"Yet you only recently found out I was alive. It's a bit suspicious you see." Shadow retaliated.

"Honestly Shadow. We were wishing you were here to help us before Rouge found you. We sent her to that old Eggman laboratory for a reason you know. We hoped we could find you. It's still a miracle she found you though. If she hadn't, we would have given up all hope of ever finding you." Amy said defiantly.

"Well, I'm certainly glad you found me I must say." Shadow said with a smirk. "And I suppose I'll help you. You really do seem as if you require help...but what exactly will we have to defeat?"

"Well...we um...don't exactly know, you see...it's hard to track...we just know something is hunting us down." Anastasia explained sheepishly.

"Well...alright then...I'll attempt to help." Shadow said reluctantly.

"We'll supply a room for you at head quarters." Rouge offered.

" I think I'll take that offer. My home is most likely destroyed anyways..." Shadow said, not truly meeting anyones eyes.