Second chapter! Whooo!

...Yeah that's all I got.

Chapter begins in Shadow's POV, if that isn't obvious by the bold italic below the line.

Shadow's POV

I looked around while skating down the streets. Tails and the faker were nowhere to be seen, but I had a feeling they had gone out somewhere to eat. I went to the diner that had just opened up and walked inside. I turned to a booth and saw Sonic sitting with Tails. "There they are!" I said as I ran to the table. "Oh, hey Shadow!" said Sonic. I turned to Tails. "Someone's stolen your Chaos Emerald and replaced it with a plastic fake," I told him. "What?! Ah, I knew there was someone down there!" he said. I turned to Sonic expecting a reaction, but he just sat there. He looked at me and said, "Oh, um, yeah, that's uh, pretty... pretty bad..." Tails looked over at him and said, "You know, Sonic, you've been acting odd lately." Sonic turned to him, saying "Wha- Well, yeah, I just uh, have a... sickness...? Y-Yeah, I've come down with something and I can't really t-think straight." He's up to something I thought. "Well, I better get out of here," I said. I pulled out my Chaos Emerald and said "Chaos-!" I stopped and looked at the Emerald in my hand. "Wha..."

"It was you!" yelled Tails. I dropped the cyan Emerald to the floor. "Wha- I didn't do it! I didn't even have that Emerald!" I said. I searched for my green Emerald but I couldn't find it. Sonic jumped from his seat and tackled me. I quickly slipped from his grip and kicked him in the face. I looked at the Emerald and to the door, and I ignited my hover shoes, skating away with Sonic chasing me. "Of course it was you, faker!" yelled the blue hedgehog. "It wasn't!" I screamed back. "I don't know how that Emerald got in my grasp, but I didn't take it! Why would I tell Tails someone stole it if I took it?!" Sonic started getting faster, catching up with me. "To cover your tracks!" he yelled. I pulled out my pistol and aimed back at him. "Screw off, faker!" I yelled as I shot the hedgehog's knee. He dropped to the ground and I sped away.

Tails' POV

Sonic limped back into the diner with a bullet in his knee. "Sonic!" I yelled, running over to him. I took out a pair of pliers and removed the bullet, then patched it up with bandages. "You alright?" I asked. "Yeah..." he said, panting. "Yeah, I'm fine." He sat back down at the booth and I sat as well. "So, you really think it was Shadow?" asked Sonic. "Well, I can't be entirely sure," I said. "I think I saw a hedgehog in there, but the only giveaway was a single spike I could barely see in the shadows." Sonic thought for a second. "So basically, it could be anyone?" he asked. "Don't we all have at least one spiked hair?" I fiddled with my fork. "Yeah, I guess, but you saw Shadow with the Emerald," I said. "Plus, he shot you in the knee."

Sonic poked at his knee wound and said, "Yeah, but that's just Shadow. Always shooting people." Sonic's watch suddenly beeped and he tapped the screen. "Uh, hey Tails, I gotta go," he said, pushing his empty plate to the edge of the table as the waiter walked by and sped off. "Wait Sonic I didn't-! bring my wallet..." I said as he dashed away. "It's fine, kid," said the waiter. I looked up at him as he continued, "Your friend Sonic is pretty famous around here. Manager's giving you a free meal." I got up and said, "Thanks. I better go." I walked out and went back to my house.

I sat on my bed and examined the plastic Emerald. "Who would have done this?" I asked myself. "Shadow would for his own use or as a double agent, Knuckles might believe one of Eggman's lies again, Amy... No, Amy wouldn't do anything. Neither would Sonic... Would Amy do anything? Maybe it was one of the Chaotix...?" I looked around my room. "I shouldn't worry about this now. Later. I'll just work on some stuff for now."

Later that night, when Sonic came back home, I went out to test my new invention, a small ray gun. Just before I fired it, Shadow skidded to a halt in front of me and I put down the gun. "Now that there's no blue faker to start chasing me down, I've come to return that Chaos Emerald," he said. He reached and pulled out the Emerald and handed it to me. It didn't feel right. I put the barrel of the ray gun against it and fired, and the "Emerald" was vaporized.

"What the...? But, that's the same Emerald I used to get here!" said Shadow. "Uh-huh. Just go away, Shadow," I said. Shadow groaned and ran off. He truly did seem frustrated, and I wasn't entirely sure it was Shadow who took the Emerald. It's not impossible for Shadow to have actually been framed, right? I thought. I decided to go inside and talk it over with Sonic.

"Hey, Sonic," I said as he sat at a table. "We really need to try and figure out who this Emerald thief is." I sat down. "I'm not completely sure it's Shadow. He was just outside, said he wanted to give the Emerald back, but it was fake. He sure seemed like he was telling the truth when he said it was the real thing." Sonic considered this for a moment. "So you think someone might have framed him?" he asked. "Sure seems like it. But who would have done it?" I said.

"Knucklehead?" asked Sonic. "Could be with Egghead again." I scratched my head. "Eh... I don't know. I guess it's possible, but who's to say he hasn't learned by now?" I asked.

"Amy? She could have another weird trap to make me fall in love with her," he said. "Amy wouldn't go too far as to stealing Chaos Emeralds, would she?" I asked. "Well... she is desperate..." said Sonic.

"Still, we need to consider more options. What about Rouge? I could have mistaken one of her ears or something for a hedgehog spike," I said. "That's actually not a bad idea," said Sonic. "We all know Rouge is a thief. Seems like something she would do."

"Well, I think there's only one way to find out who did it," I said. "Of course, if the person's smart enough to frame Shadow by replacing his Emerald and later taking it back, I shouldn't say anything about it. This place could be wired. Even you could be wired." Sonic looked down at his self and patted his body. I chuckled and got up. "We'll see the results once everything's set up. First thing to do is find a Chaos Emerald."

"...Eh. Tomorrow." I walked upstairs, got in bed, and fell asleep.

?'s POV

Looks like that fox isn't going to spill his master plan. No matter, whatever it is, I'm bound to be able to snatch the Emerald and get away without a hitch. Most of his inventions fail all the time, how effective can this little plan be? Heheh, pretty soon, I'll have all seven Chaos Emeralds, and I'll dominate the rest!

So that chapter took a while. I got a bit stuck at one point and just stopped working on it for a few days with no ideas, and decided to continue today off the top of my head. It took longer than it would have with actual ideas, but it still got the chapter done!

Short as all my chapters are, but they're chapters, so that's nice!

I'll begin working on the next chapter immediately and hopefully I'll be done with it soon!

Stay tuned for Tails' traitor-catching plan, and to see whether or not it will actually work!

Hint: No hints for you, just wait to read the dang chapter.