A/N- Hey, I'm back. Here's the chapter. Enjoy.

The Ultimate Lifeform Slows Down Chapter 11

Maria POV

When I woke up the next morning Shadow wasn't in bed with me. Oh, don't tell me last night was a dream. I shot out of bed and into the living room. He wasn't there.

"Shadow?!" I called out. I was worried because he would have left a note if he had left. I went to the kitchen, nothing. Then I heard the door opening. I panicked and hid behind the couch. I heard footsteps coming closer to me. Without thinking I grabbed a lamp and threw it at whoever it was.

"What the hell? Who's there, show yourself!" Oops. I slowly stood up from behind the couch with a sheepish look on my face.

"Sorry Shadow, I thought you were breaking into the house." I didn't mention the part about forgetting to use my self-defense training since I was tired.

"Well, you've got a good arm, I'll say that much. I think there's still a piece in my spines." He tried to get it out but he grimaced in pain and stopped. "It's in my skin."

"Let me get it." I said looking for the piece. "Okay, I found it. I'll put in out on three." Which meant two so it wouldn't hurt as much.

"Maria, wait! Aaah-mhph!" I pulled it out and kissed him to take his mind off the pain. "Look who's getting bold now that she's in love." Shadow said still wincing some.

"What can I say, I'm a girl who knows what she wants. Now let's see what I can do about that cut." I parted his spines where I pulled out the piece of the lamp and put my hand on it. My body tingled and a second later it was healed.

"Thank you. Now let this be a lesson to not throw lamps at your boyfriend." Shadow joked. But he did say boyfriend which made me happy.

"Whatever. What were you doing out there anyway?" I asked getting out a broom to clean up the mess I made.

"I was getting the mail. I tried to stay in bed as long as I could, but I got restless."

"It's fine, I still enjoyed it. Did we get anything interesting?"

"Let's see, junk, junk, scam. And something with the royal seal on it."

"What is it?" I asked.

"It says that I got the part-time bodyguard job and that my first job is Thursday night." By that time I was done cleaning up sp I walked up and gave him a hug.

"That's great! Who do you get to protect?"

"It doesn't say. Hm, what's this?" Shadow said as he pulled out another paper from the envelope. "It's an invitation to the Royal Ball. 'The holder is entitled to bring one other person if they wish.' it says."

"I wonder who you're going to take." I said smiling.

"Definitely Scourge." He joked back. "But seriously, it sounds like a great first date."

"First date? Today's only Tuesday."

"Okay, maybe second, who knows?"

"That's more like it. What do you want for breakfast?"

"I'm not really hungry." He said. Then he must have seen something because he took my right hand in his. "Maria, your finger is bleeding."

"Oh, it is. Must not have noticed it." I put my other hand on it to try and heal myself, but it didn't work. "Hm, that's strange. Guess I can't heal myself."

"Let me see it." Shadow said. So I let him take my hand again. "It's not that deep, but just in case-" And with that he kissed my finger. I giggled because it was funny, and then the phone rang and Shadow answered it. But when I looked back at my finger, it was healed.

Shadow POV

I was worried about this. If Maria can't heal herself and she's around me when something dangerous happens… I don't want to think about it. Even if nothing happens, how long do we have, 60 to 70 years? These were the thoughts that raced through my head as Maria and I traveled to Silver and Blaze's house. They were the ones who called, Silver said they had something important to discuss with me. I asked if Maria could come and they said yes. We had a reason to go too. Maria had also gotten an invitation to the Ball and since we wouldn't be needing it we thought they could come too. When we got there I was so distracted by my thoughts that I almost passed their house.

"Uh Shadow, are you going to slow down?" Maria asked from behind. I let off the accelerator and turned into the grass near the house since there wasn't a driveway. I put the kickstand down and we got off the bike and Maria put her helmet on the seat.

"Let's hope they have clothes on this time." I said before I knocked on the door. I had told Maria about the time I barged into their room while they were being intimate. She thought it was funny.

"I guess you're ditching the whole 'silent and mysterious' thing. I heard that motorcycle from miles away." Silver said after opening the door.

"Nah, I was just trying to warn you I was here this time." I jabbed back.

"Then that was very thoughtful. And how are you doing on this fine day Maria?" By this time we had moved into the living room.

"Well, other than the fact that I hit Shadow over the head with a lamp and cut my finger, I'm doing fine." Maria replied.

"And I thought our fights were bad." Silver said chuckling.

"You and Blaze fight?" Maria asked.

"Every couple fights about something." Blaze said walking in with some food. "But as long as you resolve the problem cooly and calmly things will be alright."

"Not to mention what comes after a fight." Silver whispered into my ear. Too much information man.

"So, you said you needed to discuss something with me?" I asked sitting down.

"Yes, and it's very important. All of our lives hang in the balance along with countless others." Blaze said.

"I've been thinking about the changes to the timeline we've made and we kinda screwed it up. Not to the point that we can't fix it, but we're going to need your help Shadow since you'll be alive in the future when we're born." Silver explained.

"But didn't Blaze say that Mephiles killed me?" I asked.

"Yeah, but we told you what happened. You'd have to be stupid to do the same thing again." Silver said. Then Maria spoke up.

"Excuse me, but I don't understand. How is Shadow going to live that long?"

"Well, you see Maria, I'm kind of immortal because of how the professor created me." I said. "Something major would have to happen for me to die."

"Yeah, so this is what we were thinking," Silver started again, "when Eggman tries the plan with the purple Chaos Emerald, you do not try to go super."

"And how do I defeat Eggman?"

"Well, you have about 100 years to think about that. Now here comes the hard part. You have to convince me and Blaze to go to the past and lie about the future so we end up here."

"And you have to release Mephiles as well." Blaze added.

"Is that all? That's nothing compared to other things I've done. All I need is a picture." I said.

"That might actually work. I'll go get a camera." Silver said going to go look for one.

"I have another question." Maria said while we waited. "What about me? I wasn't in the timeline before. Doesn't that mean I would mess things up?"

"You would think so, but no." Blaze answered. "In the big picture it doesn't really matter. You're just going to affect our lives a little. For example, Shadow is happy in this timeline compared to what he was like before."

"Good, I was worried for a second." Maria said relieved. Then Silver came back with the camera.

"Okay, I had to find some batteries, but now we're good." He handed the camera to Maria.

"Why do I have to take the picture?"

"Because we need to make sure we don't tell Past Shadow what he did. In fact, Blaze we should take off our rings so we don't freak our future selves out."

"Good thinking." Blaze said doing just that. Then I stood between the two of them.

"Shadow, you should make it look more like you're friends." Maria suggested. "Put your arms on their shoulders and smile." I did what she said. "Now say 'cheese' everyone."

"Mozzarella!"

"Bleu!"

"Cheddar!" Then there was a flash of light.

"How did it come out?" Blaze asked.

"Pretty good actually. It doesn't look forced at all. Though you should make multiple copies."

"Yeah, the world depends on it."

A/N- Some of the stuff in this chapter probably won't come back into play until later in the story, but it is important. Updates will go back to normal now as well.