Dear Guest Reviewer John Who Doesn't Have an Account and Should Totally Get One:
The title for chapter 17 is shown because of the fact that Mary Sue stories seem to go on for much longer than they probably should (as shown in this wonderful chapter 142). I may or may not be really snarky about these things.
Thank you for thinking I am a good writer! This is a pleasure to hear and I hope you enjoy this chapter. I do like the idea you mentioned in your review.


Shadow awoke early the next morning to the sound of the obnoxious alarm ringing in his ears. He quickly turned over in his bed and smashed his fist against the black box bitterly, causing the crack nearly splitting the alarm in half to grow bigger. He'd have to fix that later. With a yawn, he rolled onto his back in the plush bed and stared up the white ceiling above him. Today was the day.

After getting ready for the long day ahead of him, he reached into his closet and pulled out the Chaos Emerald that he had been hiding from Sonic. He stared at the red emerald in his hand, his grim expression staring back at him through its clean cut sides. Who would've thought that he was the one destined to save the world today because the famous Sonic the hedgehog and friends fell in love with the enemy?

Then again… he still wasn't sure if Princess Mia was behind this or not still. He had no proof besides his bitter conscious screaming that it was her. She may actually be just a weird girl running from her evil uncle and had just been at the wrong place at the wrong time.

He gripped the emerald tightly in his gloved hand and glanced to the door of his bedroom when he thought he heard a noise just outside. After several minutes of staring at it, Shadow shook his head. He silently reassured himself that he was paranoid for what was going to happen today.

When this was all said and done though, Shadow could go peacefully back into suspended animation to get away from Mia and school. It was a perfect win/win for him.

Shadow threw open the door of his bedroom and scrambled down the stairs inside his apartment building that sat outside of GUN's headquarters. Should he warn GUN about what will be happening today? No, they were practically useless in comparison to what he and Sonic could do most of the time anyways. Besides, knowing Eggman, GUN already knew what the mad genius was doing and was getting ready to counter it. Yet, if that was the case, why was it so… quiet? The neighbors weren't making a sound and none of the morning birds were singing yet despite the sun being up. Although, Shadow wasn't entirely sure about the sun part, considering that he always kept the blinds tightly closed to embrace the darkness.

Shadow threw on his black backpack and shoved the Chaos Emerald inside of it, grim determination pushing him towards the front door. He subconsciously rubbed the gold rings around his wrists as he came to a stop in front of it. There was much to be done today, could he even succeed?

The Chaos Emerald seemed to weigh heavily in his backpack as Shadow stared at the gold colored doorknob. There were two options for what he had to do today: either use the Chaos Emerald to see if it'd snap Sonic and the others to their senses, or just use the emerald to destroy the heart of the problem, Eggman himself. If Mia was somehow working with Eggman, she would be easy for him to get past since she had no effect on him, especially with a Chaos Emerald in hand.

Eggman was always a joke to fight against anyways. Of course he would succeed. This was going to be too easy. Shadow smirked as he grabbed the doorknob and threw the door open. The plan was absolutely was fool proof with a Chaos Emerald on his side.

Yet the confidence within Shadow wavered when he found himself facing a dark gray sky outside. The smell of smoke was nearly suffocating and ash slowly fell from the sky like snowflakes. Shadow shivered not from cold, but from dread and confusion as he tried to look across the street to see GUN HQ; but there was so much ash falling, he wasn't able to see the tall building.

What was happening? He checked the time by leaning back inside his apartment to look at the clock on the wall. Maybe he was running late in the day so Eggman had already begun his plan, but no, it was still early. He even had an hour before school started. Closing the door behind him with confusion clear on his face, Shadow the hedgehog stepped out into the ashy horror land in front of him. His shoes left footprints in the fine layer of ash gathering on the ground as he squinted, trying to see the distance; but the ash was falling too thickly to see more than fifteen feet in front of him.

He looked up to the empty, ash ridden sky. There was a silence in the air that was almost unnerving. There was nothing but the ringing in his own ears. It was disturbingly like the calm before a storm. Where was all this ash coming from? Clearly from a lot of fire, yes, but where was the fire? He couldn't see any from here.

Shadow moved stealthily down the stairs outside of his apartment complex and out into the streets before quickly skating in the direction of Chaos High. Only one way to figure out what was going on now, and Eggman surely had the answer. The school was his best bet to find the evil genius too. The wind whistled in his ears as he skated, leaving tracks in the ash behind.

When he got closer to his destination, Shadow's eyes widened to see a bright, orange glow slowly forming against the falling ash around him. The sound of screams and cries for help that were echoing in the streets was loud enough for him to hear over the rushing wind, urging Shadow to skate faster. The temperature was starting to rise. Maybe from the school he could figure out where the fire was coming from and stop Eggman right there if he was at the school too… if only he could somehow fly and see through the thick wall of falling ash.

Turning around a sharp corner, Shadow slid to a stop when he found that the school itself was on fire. The intense heat from the flames caused him to lift his hands to shield his face momentarily. Were there students that came early in there?! Were they burning alive?! He looked around to see nearby buildings on fire too. Everything was burning. People were screaming and dying all around him as their cries rang loudly in his ears.

He was about to try rushing into the burning school building to see if anyone needed saving when movement caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He quickly prepared himself for a fight by lifting his fists and spinning around to face them. Yet, he found himself baffled to see Sonic the Hedgehog and Knuckles the Echidna throwing punches at each other as they rolled around in the ash ridden grass outside of the burning school building.

"Faker!" Shadow called to the blue blur and moved over, hoping to somehow stop their fight. He coughed as he got closer, the smoke was starting to burn his lungs. Neither hedgehog or echidna reacted to his call however, they were too busy fighting each other. Wasn't there more important things to do than fight each other? Did they not see the school was on fire?! Or did they not hear the deafening screams all around them?!

"You can't have her!" He heard Sonic saying as Shadow got closer. Sonic threw a fist at Knuckles and hit the echidna in the jaw, causing him to roll off and onto the ground next to him. "I saw her first!"

"Just because she saw you first doesn't mean she likes you!" Knuckles snarled back as he quickly tackled Sonic again. The two of them continued to roll around in the grass, seemingly oblivious to Shadow as the ebony hedgehog stopped in front of them, still standing in the street. "Mia's going to be mine once she gets over Shadow!"

This was all about Mia? Seriously?! Shadow stared at the two of them in a stunned silence before looking around for anyone else nearby frantically, coughing from the thick smoke again. If Sonic was here, Tails or Amy had to be close. Surely one of them had more common sense then these two idiots! As he looked around, he could hear explosions in the distance, echoing with the screams and cries of dying people.

Shadow gripped his backpack tighter when he saw Amy and Rouge fighting each other with their friendship bracelet string flying everywhere on the other side of the street. They were going to be no help for him either. Was everyone losing their sanity over Princess Mia? When did everyone even get here to fight anyways? He didn't even know Sonic and Knuckles were capable of waking up this early.

This was ridiculous. Shadow reached into his backpack and his hand clamped around the Chaos Emerald. It was time to get to business and end this nonsense. Yet before he could pull it out, a voice that caused his blood to boil called out to him once more.

"Shadow!"

Shadow glared back behind him as Princess Mia herself came running up, oblivious to Knuckles and Sonic's fight over her very existence at Shadow's feet. Her high heeled boots clicked against the ashy concrete as she raced over, her scent as overwhelming to Shadow as ever but at least it canceled out the suffocating smoke entirely. Mia beamed as she hugged Shadow from behind when she reached him. She didn't even seem to notice Shadow's body tense and she didn't let go until he shoved her off, removing his hand from the Chaos Emerald as he did so. "Get off." He told her angrily. "I don't have time for you."

"B-But Shadow…!" Mia said and put her hands to the locket around her neck and stepped back, looking hurt by Shadow's words. Her eyes started filling up with tears. "W-Why… why don't you love me?"

Shadow took several angry, deep breaths to calm down as he turned to look back at Sonic and Knuckles. Yet with each breath taken, more of Mia's dizzying smell of perfume filled his senses instead of his usual rational thoughts and this realization only made him angrier. The blue hedgehog and red echidna at his feet were still fighting, neither seeming to notice that Mia was right in front of them. The screams were ringing painfully in his ears as well as the crackling from the fires as they grew bigger, stronger. People were dying and Mia wanted to talk about their love life, was this seriously the time?! Just ignore her. Just ignore her.

He took another deep breath before quickly looking up to the sky quickly when a low rumbling sound came from it, distracting himself from his angry thoughts. A cool wind blew through the burning school yard, carrying Mia's overwhelming scent with it. Yet the wind was nice enough to blow away part of the thick ash covering the sky and revealed the Egg Carrier flying high above, shooting rockets down at the people below. Well that explained what was causing the fires and where Eggman was probably at now. Shadow realized he had to get up there fast before Eggman killed more innocent people. But what about Sonic?

"Do-Don't you even know who I am?" Mia sniffed after a long moment of silence as Shadow tried to decide whether it was worth it to use the emerald on Sonic and the others or to just go without them to Eggman before everyone was dead. "It's me, Maria!"

Shadow whipped his head around to stare at Mia as she smiled weakly to him like this was no big deal. Mia held her arms out to Shadow as if she was asking for a hug. "It's me, Maria!" She said again. "Don't you remember me, Shadow? We spent so much time playing together on the Space Colony ARK. I'm Maria Robotnik's new reincarnation, Mia. I'm not sick anymore so we can be together forever now."

Anger. Anger flared up inside of Shadow once again and it took all of his might to not to lash out at Mia right there and then with a Chaos Spear. His vision was turning red from rage. She was nothing like Maria! She was not Maria! Maria wouldn't mock anyone like she did to Knuckles' echidna clan. Maria didn't have the ability or even the heart to make friends fight each other over her like Sonic and Knuckles were doing now or Amy and Rouge. Maria wouldn't be standing around trying to get Shadow to confess his love for her in the middle of a battlefield while innocent people died around them. Maria would've been too shy to do half the things that Mia did in public. Even if by some unexplainable miracle she was the reincarnation of Maria, she was nothing like the Maria he adored on the ARK and she never would be!

Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Ignore the smell of her perfume. There were people who needed him. Shadow put his hand back in his backpack, gripping the red Chaos Emerald again as he glared at Mia. To Eggman's ship. That's where he had to go now, he didn't have any more time to sit around and be angry. He'd leave the others here with her highness too. He couldn't handle Mia for much longer nor the nonsense from Sonic and the others over her. "I don't have time for you right now." He said through gritted teeth. "There are people dying!"

Sadness appeared on Mia's face and the air itself suddenly seemed heavier. She slowly put her hands behind her back and looked up to him. "But… Shadow… what about us?"

"I don't have time for your games, Mia! I need to stop Eggman!" Shadow took another moment to take deep breaths to clear his head so he could use Chaos Control to teleport onto the Egg Carrier.

A pitiful sigh came from the elegant, beautiful creature in front of him. She shook her head, sadly looking away to the side at the ashy grass Sonic and Knuckles were fighting on. Tears that were in her eyes glittered spectacularly in the fires from the burning school and buildings around them before dripping down her face. Some of her deep purple and electric blue hair fell in her face. "You… You can't live without love, Shadow..." Princess Mia whispered in her silky, smooth voice. After a moment, she looked up to Shadow, her eyes glowing with a fiery passion he had never seen before.

Suddenly she jumped at Shadow and before the hedgehog could react, a silver dagger was embedded deep into his stomach. He doubled over from the attack, coughing up blood from the unexpected blow. His crimson eyes stared at the freshly blood stained ground below him as his shock numbed out the pain from the dagger quickly.

Shadow could feel Mia's free hand go into his backpack as she continued to dig the dagger deeper into him. A sound of delight escaped her rosy lips as she also wrapped her hand around the Chaos Emerald. Shadow wanted to move, to somehow get her hands off the emerald, but he couldn't. The returning pain from the dagger was making it difficult to think or move. His vision was swimming, it was getting hard to breathe and her perfume felt like it was suffocating him.

Mia slashed upwards with the dagger to pull it out of him after a moment of thought, causing Shadow to stumble back and let go of the emerald. Blood sprayed into the air. Mia now held the bloody dagger and red emerald in her hands, smiling at a job well done as she watched the hedgehog sway in front of her. Sonic and Knuckles' fight carried on next to them.

Shadow tried to stay on his feet, wanting to fight back, but it was impossible to stay standing; he crumpled into a heap on the ashy street. Shadow's crimson eyes stared helplessly at Mia's high heeled boots in front of him as the princess smiled with mesmerizing grace and beauty at her perfect reflection in the Chaos Emerald. The world started spinning out of control for Shadow, making him feel sick. He closed his eyes. The screams of the dying and explosions were echoing louder and louder in his head as well as Sonic and Knuckle's taunts at each other. The ground was pooling with blood.

"Sayonara, Shadow the hedgehog."

And the world went black.

The End