Chapter – 2
A flash of green light appears in front of a little house on the edge of Station Square. The light clears up to show Shadow the Hedgehog with a depressed look, the same look he'd always have when he was in a bad mood.
"I can't believe Faker made me explode like that, then again why shouldn't I believe it? It was bound to happen sooner or later. (sigh) I just hate how he acts like he's known me for all his life, or at least he acts like he knows more than he knows. I hate it when he does that. I hate it when anyone does that."
Shadow walked to his garage and opened the door to show a relatively clean garage. Nothing was barely in it, save for the motorcycle in front of him. Shadow walked up to the motorcycle and got on it, he put the keys in the ignition and rode out, and he closed the garage door before leaving to ride around the city.
As Shadow rode to a red light, his thoughts started drifting to what Sonic had said about forgetting his past.
"Faker's right, I do need to move on. It's been 50 years and I'm still dwelling on what happened, But the memories are too great that I, I… Arg!"
Taking a deep breathe to calm down, he started driving when the light turned green.
"The memory of Maria hurts the most for me; I just can't get the image of how scared she looked out of my head. It was too much. I was never able to forget about her and I don't think I ever will."
Out in the distance, a green light shined over the city. Shadow saw the light with confusion.
"What was that?" Shadow started headed towards where the light was.
Shadow made it to the ocean. He got off his motor cycle and saw a small hint of the green light fade away. He walked toward the shore and saw where the light had come from and saw Angel Island in the distance.
"It came from Angel Island, but why? Did that red fool do something? Why am I even worried?"
Shadow was about to leave, but his curiosity got the better of him and he pulled out the chaos emerald. "CHAOS CONTROL!" And with that, he had disappeared.
Shadow appeared on the edge of Angel Island and was able to see the alter leading to the master emerald and started walking to the steps.
"Why am I doing this? Just because something caught my attention and I got curious. It's not like Knuckles can't handle himself."
When he got to the steps, he saw Knuckles along with another person. He wondered who the new stranger could be, maybe a friend that only Knuckles had known about, Shadow wouldn't be surprised if that was the case but at the same time it does sound a little strange. Curious as he was though, Shadow decided to just leave, but not before he was called out.
"Hey Shadow!" Shouted Knuckles.
Shadow turned around to see Knuckles looking straight at him. "What are you doing here?" Asked Knuckles.
Shadow started to walk up the steps. "Well let's get one thing straight; I didn't come here for a visit. Something just caught my attention."
"What?"
"A flash of light. It just randomly popped up while I was riding around town. I followed it and it lead me here"
At this, Knuckles stifled a chuckle.
"What's so funny?"
"That was the master emerald that made that light." Shadow looked over to see the Master Emerald completely fine.
"What did it do?"
"Well for one it brought you up here didn't it?" laughed Knuckles, while Shadow let out an annoyed grunt. "Anyway, and it brought back Tikal."
"Who?"
Knuckles looked over to see the orange echidna, Tikal, with a bashful smile on her face. "Shadow, this is Tikal."
Shadow looked over at Tikal and was curious. She had this attire on her that looked it was from a long time ago. He also felt calm, just one look at her and Shadow knew that this was a very kind soul, though he can't put his finger on why.
"Hello. I'm Tikal, Tikal the Echidna." Tikal said extending her hand towards Shadow. Shadow looked down at her hand for a second before he shook it. "I'm Shadow. Shadow the Hedgehog."
"I guess you're lucky that Tikal saw you, huh?" Said Knuckles
Shadow looked at Tikal. "Really?"
"My apologies, but you seemed unfamiliar to me, so I told Knuckles you were here. I thought you were here to cause trouble. I apologize" Tikal said, playing with her hair bashfully.
Knuckles let out a snicker at Tikal's bashfulness then looked over to Shadow.
"It's alright." Said Shadow and looked at Knuckles "So nothing happened."
"Nope. By the way, why'd you come here anyway?"
"Aside from curiosity, I have no idea. So really, I have no business here." With that, Shadow turned to leave.
"Wait."
Shadow looked back at knuckles. "What is it?"
"Can you do something for me?"
"What?"
"I know this is sudden to ask you this, but can you take Tikal with you?"
"Wait what. Why?"
"Well I wanted to show Tikal around since she's not accustomed to how we live here, but I have to stay watch the master emerald, y'know."
"And what makes you think I'll do it?"
"Because I'm sure you have soft side underneath that really rough exterior."
"And how are you sure of that?"
"Can you please just do it?"
"I'm not going to do what you tell me to do just because you ask me to. I'm not that kind of person."
"Please, I would really appreciate it." Said Tikal.
Shadow looked to see Tikal with her hands folded in front of her with a pleading look on her face.
"I agree that this is sudden, but please I'd like the chance to see what life is like here. You'd make me really happy if you were to do this for me."
"Look, you seem like a really nice person, but I already gave you my answer."
"Please. At least give me this one chance."
Shadow was caught off by what Tikal had said" Give her a chance… to be Happy." Shadow thought and looked at Tikal. A vivid image of Maria flashed on Tikal for a split second. Shaking the thought off, Shadow looked at Tikal.
"Very well. I'll show you around."
Having hear Shadow say that, Tikal tackled him in a hug.
"Thank you Shadow! I can't wait!" Exclaimed Tikal and broke the hug.
"It looks like it's late. Any chance we can start tomorrow?"
"Absolutely."
With that, Shadow went down the alter, and performed chaos control to leave.
Back at the shore, Shadow started to think about his decision.
"For a moment, I saw a bit of Maria in her, it seemed odd that happened, but that's what made me change my mind. Could it be that maybe she's like Maria?" Shadow asked himself.
He shook the thought and got on his motorcycle to ride back to his house. He was going to have quite the day tomorrow.
And here is chapter 2. I want to thank you for reading. Don't forget to review and give me feedback. I'll see you in the next chapter.
