Chapter 4: Rematch: Shadow Vs. Eclipse

Trapped between the bedroom and the hall, Maria is stunned to be confronted by the alien. She is also pretty frighten to see him staring at her, and the evil smirk on his face. Maria doesn't want to think about what will happen if she tries to resist.

"Why won't we take a little walk," Eclipse says.

Maria is rather nervous about going with him. Again, she worried about trying to resist him. She simply walks out of the room and closes the door behind her.

Before she can asks, Eclipse says, "I knew you will come… Shadow the Hedgehog."

Eclipse and Maria look to see Shadow down the hall and is doing a vicious glare on his face and is clutching his fist with anger.

Maria smiles, "Shadow."

But before Maria can make her way to him, Eclipse grab her by her shoulders.

"Sorry brother, but I'll be borrowing your friend for a while," Eclipse says.

"Brother?" Maria asks in thought.

"Let her go, Eclipse! She's no use to you!" Shadow demands.

"Oh, but I have a good use for your friend here. She might make a good snack for my Black Arms," Eclipse says.

Maria becomes stunned to hear the word of her name and snack in the same sentence. Shadow then berings to rush to the rescue. Eclipse smirks, and grabs Maria by her wrists, and holds her at front like a shield. Shadow quickly comes to a halt.

Amy gasps, "He's using Maria as a shield!"

"He's making sure that Shadow doesn't fight back as long as Maria is in his grasp," Sonic adds.

"We gotta get her away from him," Tails says.

"Not likely… see you later," Eclipse says, and picks up Maria.

Maria screams, "Aaah! Let me go!"

Eclipse runs away as he carries Maria along with him.

"Someone help! Let go of me you big meanie!" Maria screams.

"Maria!" Shadow screams.

Maria cries out, "Please Shadow, help me!"

Shadow begins to chase after Eclipse to rescue Maria.

"Shadow, wait for us!" Cream shouts.

Soon Sonic and the others begin to follow Shadow as he is chasing after his alien brother.

Maria continues to struggle to get out of the alien grasp, but he is holding her really tight and has no intention of letting her go.

"Let me go!" Maria screams.

"Sorry, but I need you if I'm going to get Shadow," Eclipse denies.

"What are you going to do to him?" Maria asks.

"Simple, I'm going to destroy him! Once and for all!" Eclipse answers with an evil grin on his face.

Maria gasps in shock to hear this intention. Eclipse is going to destroy Shadow, and she is being used to do just that. Shadow is in hot pursuit and is skating on his hover shoes faster and faster.

Sally is walking down the halls after taking care of a few royal duties.

"I wonder how Maria is doing? Hope she's been doing fine. Now we need to get to the festival before it's over," Sally says to herself.

Suddenly, she hears someone shouting, "Hey! Let me go you meanie!"

"Stay still," A different voice comes up.

"Huh?" Sally asks, looking confused.

Sally looks ahead to see the alien create having her friend running toward him. She knows that something is wrong. Sally becomes serious and wait until the creature to come by. Once he is close enough, she slides her leg across the floor tripping the alien and making him let go of Maria. Maria falls behind to the ground.

Sally runs up to Maria, "Maria, are you alright?"

"I think so," Maria answers, trying to get up.

"Maria!" Someone calls out.

Sally and Maria look to see Shadow and the others.

"Shadow!" Maria cries out running towards Shadow. Then gives him a big hug.

"Are you okay?" Sally asks.

Maria begins to cry, "I was really scared!"

"You're okay. You don't have any injuries," Amy says.

"I'm just glad you're safe," Sally says.

Eclipse slowly gets up from his fall and is glaring at Shadow and his group of friends, "Why you…"

Shadow holds Maria to keep her away from Eclipse.

"You need to get Maria out of the castle. I'll deal with Eclipse," Shadow says.

"No. You're not thinking about taking Eclipse by yourself," Sally worriedly.

"That's correct," Shadow says,

Sonic protest, "No way, were faking Eclipse together."

"Yeah, Rouge told us about the last time you took on Eclipse yourself," Knuckles agrees.

Shadow begins to admit powerful energy in anger, "I took down the Black Arm leaders and battle Eclipse before! He threaten to use Maria against me, and I will not tolerate it! I will have my revenge!"

"Woah woah, we get it! You take on Eclipse and we'll take Maria out of here," Tails says in fright.

Maria hugs Shadow, "No. I'm not going to leave you."

"Maria you have to understand. Eclipse and the Black Arms are my problem. I'm the one he's after. I can't allow you to be put endanger for me again. Please Maria, you need to get out of here. I'll be fine," Shadow says,

Maria begins to shed in tears, "Okay. Please, don't get hurt."

Shadow nods his head, "I promise."

Maria releases Shadow from her embrace and goes to the others. Shadow and the others leave with Maria so she can be protected. Shadow remain behind to take care of Eclipse himself.

Shadow turns to Eclipse who is already standing on his feet. Eclipse roars in rage and changes to a stronger from. Shadow remembers that Eclipse can limit his chaos control and since he doesn't have any chaos emeralds, he is forced to do things the old fashion way,

Shadow performs a speed spin and is rolling right towards Eclipse and begin to attack.

While Shadow is fighting Eclipse, Sonic and the others are making their get away. Maria is with them as well. Although, she is worried about Shadow.

"This doesn't feel right. We should be helping Shadow fight off Eclipse, not escaping," Maira says in thought.

Sally says, "We're almost there. As soon as we get out, well take Maria and the others to a safe place."

"Right. We need to get Maria, Cream, and Cheese somewhere safe. At the same time, wait until Shadow get back," Sonic says.

Sonic and the others continue to run down the halls until they are finally out of the palace.

"Well, it looks like we made it out of the palace in one piece, but I need to inform my father about the possible damages to the palace," Sally says.

"And the rest of us will get the others to a safe place until Shadow come back," Amy says.

"Sounds simply as long as we don't ran into trouble," Espio says.

Charmy turns his head, "And don't worry about Shadow, Maria. I'm sure Shadow will come back before you know it."

But when he turns his head, Charmy discovers that Maria is not here. He looks around to see that Maria is not with the group.

Charmy asks, "Hey guys, where's Maria?"

Sonic and the others look around to notice Maria's disappearance.

"That's weird. She was here a minute ago," Vector says.

"Where could she have gone?" Tails.

Everyone look around wondering where Maria could have gone.

Sonic realizes, "Oh no! She isn't doing that I think she's doing!"

"What will that be?" Knuckles asks.

Sally gasps and turns to the palace, "She didn't…!"

Everyone turns to the castle to realize what Maria is doing,

Maria is running up the stairs in a panic and at top speed.

In thought, Maria says, "I'm sorry Shadow, but I just can't leave you to fight him on your own."

Maria knows that this is crazy and life threatening, but cares too much for Shadow to worry about any of it.

In the hall, Shadow and Eclipse are still fighting each other and Shadow is having trouble relying on his physical strength. Shadow does a dash spin to strike at Eclipse, but he catches him like a ball. Then slams him on the ground.

Eclipse mocks, "So much for the ultimate lifeform!"

Shadow groans as he is trying to get up. Eclipse picks Shadow by his right ankle while the black hedgehog is still dazed from the collision to the ground.

Well Shadow, you're as good as dead," Eclipse says.

And slams Shadow to the wall, and the black hedgehog falls to the ground. He tries to get up, but is have trouble regaining his strength. Eclipse smirks as he is coming closer to Shadow.

"Now it's time to finish you off once and for all," Eclipse says.

Eclipse is ready to finish Shadow off, but suddenly, a bright yellow ball hits him on the stomach and sends him flying down the hall. Eclipse ends up rolling down the hall and lands on the front of his body. He uses his hands to barely stand.

Shadow manages to stand up to see what has happen. To his shocking surprise, he sees someone has saved him.

"Maria?!" Shadow asks in shock.

Maria is standing in front of Shadow holding one of her light blue fake chaos emeralds. She sits on her knees and help Shadow.

"Maria, what are you doing here?! You shouldn't be here," Shadow asks.

"I'm sorry Shadow, I just… I just couldn't leave you to fight him on your own," Maria says.

She then hands Shadow her red chaos emerald, "I also thought this could also help you. I figure that if we use both of our powers, we can beat him."

Shadow is surprised to see Maira decides to help him much to his concern for her safety. Shadow takes the red chaos emerald and is able to retain more of his strength.

"You know what you're thinking is crazy right?" Shadow asks.

"Maybe so, but I rather fight with you than you having to fight alone," Maria says.

Shadow nods his head, "Deal."

The two turn to see Eclipse is able to get up and is now glaring at two hedgehogs.

"Why you meddling girl!" Eclipse says in anger.

Maria and Shadow turn to each other and nod their heads.

They both combine the power of the fake chaos emeralds and shout, "Chaos control!"

That cause time around them to stand completely still.

Shadow then uses his speed to throw multiple punches at the alien. Then Maria performs a super fast dash spin and hits him on the stomach. Finally, the two clutch their as they begin to fire up.

They both shout, "Chaos blast!"

And punch Eclipse out of the castle and out of the skin of his stronger form. The two look to see that Eclipse has been defeated with some damages to the castle. Eclipse ends up landing right outside of the forest.

Maria hug Shadow, and cheers, "We did it!"

Shadow smiles, and says, "Yeah. I guess we did."

Just then, Sonic and the others hurry down the halls to see Maria and Shadow are together and Eclipse isn't around.

"What happened here?" Tails asks.

"Were you both alright?" Sally asks.

"Don't worry, everything is alright. As long as Shadow and I stick together. Right Shadow," Maria answers.

"You could say that Maria," Shadow replies.

Maria smiles back at Shadow. Sonic and the others are glad to see that Maria and Shadow are alright, and that Eclipse is gone, for now that is.