Ch 11: The realm of Spirits

The ground is damp, but it isn't raining. The sky is almost white, but there is no sky. There are a few grey trees, but you cannot see anything but the trunk, going into the whiteness. Two Hedgehogs are laying in the middle of this dismal forest. One of them is blonde quills. The other one is black with pink streaks on her quills. The two female hedgehogs are sleeping near eachother. The blonde hedgehog is the first to stir.

"Uhhh...W-where am I. Oh that's right, this is the spirit world. We only have two hours to stay here. I hope I can do this." The blonde hedgehog says aloud. This awoke the other girl.

"H-hey..where am I?" She said softly. "Maria...what did you do! Is this some sort of trick? An illusion? Can you explai-OH MY GOD...I'm naked!" She quickly covers up with her arms.

"Cilia...please calm down. I will explain everything. See, this is the spirit world. We are in the Eternal Forest. I'm going to help you." Cilia looks at her, confused.

"With what? I don't need help with anything." Cilia gets up and looks around. "Why am I naked? Wait...this is weird, nothing is showing."

"That's because this is your spirit self, your not mortal right now. That's why nothing shows, your physical body is still on board the Foxstar." Maria grabs Cilia by the arm. "We only have two hours to be here, then we must get on the Moonlight train. It'll take us back to our bodies. C'mon, we have to search for Xero before his fate is chosen."

"H-how do you know about him? Just who are you anyway?" Cilia gets her arm free from Maria and jumps back.

"Ok, here's the truth." Maria explains everything to Cilia, the events of the Ark 50 years ago, the spiritual travel to Sol-Sine with Shadows body, and the possession of Masako. "But please, don't tell anyone about this, and I wont tell anyone about your secret."

"Ok...So where do we find Xero, do you know?"

"We should first try the City of Souls, he probably didn't get his judgement yet, He was wrongly killed, souls take a long time to process if they are murdered." They both start walking in the direction of the City of Souls. After a while of walking in the forest they finally reach the gate and enter the city.

"Hey, excuse me? Do you know anyone named Xero here?" Cilia asks a nearby soul. But there is no response.

"Cilia...most people's souls barely talk, something usually makes them not know who or what they are. It's actually quite sad. When I died I tried to enter this city, but when I reached the gate the guard said I had to go back as a wandering spirit. It was because of Shadow...If it hadn't been for me, Shadow would have destroyed the earth."

"How did you help him, if you were dead?" Cilia looks at Maria quizzically.

"I spoke to his mind in the form of flashbacks. It kept him from doing terrible things. It was hard work too, at first he got the wrong idea, and wanted nothing but revenge. But he finally remembered his purpose. Well...we gotta hurry. only have 1 hour and 30 minutes left." Maria grabbed Cilia by the hand and began to run towards a building. They enter and it appears to be a huge library. They approach an angel librarian. he is a human wearing white robes. With two large white wings of the feathered kind. "Ex-excuse me sir?"

'Yes, how can I help you?' He spoke into their heads, like telepathy. 'Don't be afraid.'

"Um..do you know a soul named Xero?" Cilia quickly butted in.

'Let me search our database, I'll be one second.' The angel typed like lightning and brought up Xero's file. 'Xero: Age 18: Orange hedgehog male. Is this who you are looking for, this is the most recent death of someone named Xero. We have over fifty-thousand more.'

"That's him! Do you know where he is right now!" Cilia is getting really excited.

'Let me see...oh he is at the Moonlight station, waiting for the Golden Express. It leaves in twenty minutes.' As soon as he said this both of them had left already. 'Such hasty girls.'

Maria and Cilia are running right towards the station. "Okay, ten minutes left, we need to hurry." They start looking for the golden express. Cilia spots Xero about to board the train. She leaves Maria and runs up to him.

"XERO! WAIT!" Cilia lands on him. "Xero, I missed you so much!"

"Cilia...what are you do-" Xero is cut off by a kiss.

"No time to explain, I'm just here temporarily, to see you. I love you." Cilia quickly explains everything since his death. "I'm so sorry Xero, I couldn't think straight without you. I joined the federation, wanting to avenge your death."

"I'm sad to hear you have been on this path of sin. I want you to be able to see me in heaven when you die. Please...don't kill any more people...I want you to be the Cilia I remember. The nice, cute girl I fell in love with. Ok?"

"Yes Xero, I want to be with you again...I vow to do everything in my power to repent for my sins." One more kiss they share before he gets on the train. He gets on and it vanishes in a fast golden light. "Yes..I will, I promise you."

"I'm so sniff happy for you Cilia." Maria has tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Lets go back to the mortal world now." They find the Moonlight Express nearby and get on. It flashes blue and vanishes into nothing.

A short period of time passes and suddenly Maria wakes up off the floor. She is back in her room. Cilia is in the same place too. "Are we back? Hmm...it looks like the same place. Maria?"

"Yeah...were back. Don't worry, time doesn't pass in the spirit world like the living world. One hour would be a minute here." Cilia gets up and is about to leave. She turns around and hugs Maria. Tears start falling from her eyes.

"Thank you...for everything. The pain in my heart is greatly lessened." Suddenly there is an angry yell in the kitchen.

"Alright! Who ate the last freaking pancake! The wrapper clearly said SHADOW on it!" Shadow has an empty plastic wrapper in his hands. But it quickly catches fire and melts/evaporates instantly.

"Uhhh...About the pancake...I...kinda...accidentally...ate it." Sonic said nervously. He gets up off the couch and runs. Shadow pursues him. Tails is watching from the couch, unable to see them. They are just too fast. Suddenly Sonic hits the couch and falls on Tails. "Hehe...Please don't kill me...But the pancake was soooo tasty." This only made Shadow more mad.

"I had it marked, you little pig."

"Hey, now I'm getting mad. Lets fight right here." In an instant, water sprays at both of them. Then it freezes, making ice crystals on their fur. "S-s-so c-c-cold-d-d..."

"Thank god you stopped. I was getting really annoyed. Now are you cooled off?"

"I-i...k-kinda o-overreacted I can al-always get mo-more pancakes-s." Shadow states in a frigid voice. "Please...ne-need hea-heat." Tails made a warm ray of light from his hands. It melts the ice. They are still shivering though.

"Whats going on out there. Oh my...Shadow you look terrible!" Maria goes back to her room and brings out a big blanket. She goes over to Shadow and puts the blanket around him and pushes him towards the couch. She makes him sit. Maria then sits next to him and gets in the blanket and hugs him.

"Ma-Maria? What are you doing?" Shadow is blushing a lot. He just sighs and closes his eyes.

"I'm just warming you up, silly. Don't be embarrassed."

"Hey what about me? I'm freezing here." Sonic yells this in anger.

"Oh you want to be warm too, Ok I'll get a blanket." Cilia goes into a room.

"Tails hurry, give me another heat blast. Here she comes, for the love of god, HURRY!"

"ALRIGHT ALREADY!" Tails launches a small fireball at Sonic. "Oh shi-" Sonic is slightly on fire, Tails makes a wind blast and the fire blows out.

"I think I'm done for the day."

"Sonic I'm so-"

"SORRY! You could have used less power! Do you even know how to use your powers right! It sure looks like you don't!" Sonic stands there looking angry.

"WHAT is your problem, It was an accident! Why are you so mad?"

"You have the problem! Your on some kind of power trip. You've really changed, I want the old Tails back!" Sonic pushes Tails away.

"Why would you want the old me back? Your just a power hog, you want me to be your sidekick forever! Is that it! I wish you never woke up out of that coma you were in!" Tails runs to his room. Then slams the door shut.

"I think you went overboard, faker. I think your just jealous of him. It's pathetic really." Shadow tried to get up, but Maria held him down. "H-hey..."

"Can you stay here just a little longer? Please?" said Maria in a whine.

"Maybe I said too much...I'm just...damn! I just wanna get home!" Sonic goes to his room. He lays on his back, thinking. 'What am I doing? I never used to snap at Tails like that. Well, I guess I'm crabby or something, But It's like I'm doing nothing to help. I feel so...left out. Tails is strong now, he doesn't need me anymore. He even has a girlfriend, I thought he would need my help to at least talk to girls. But I have nothing now. Amy might be dead...' Sonic turns over and puts his face in the pillow. 'Wait...SHADOW, I need to train with him...to get stronger, but first, I need to apologize to Tails.' In a flash he is at Tails' door. He hears talking in there. Sounds like him and May. Sonic knocks so fast that it sounds like a vibration from a machine. "TAILS...It's me, I've come to apologize to you."

"Continue." Tails said from his room.

"Well, I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier, I was wrong. It was just a mistake." Sonic just stands there waiting for a few minutes.

"Apology accepted." Sonic waits a second and Tails comes out, then May. "Well, we are going to the cockpit to work, we only have five days until we reach earth." After they leave, Sonic goes to find Shadow. He is with Maria still, on the couch. Shadow has his eyes closed like always, but he is smiling a little. "Oh my God, your actually smiling!"

"What! Do you enjoy harassing me or something?"

"That's not why I'm here, I need some training." Shadow opens his eyes suddenly and give Sonic a confused look.

"YOU want ME to train you! HAHAHAHAhahahaaaa..." Shadow gets up from Maria's grasp. She falls over on the couch. Maria is fast asleep. "Well, ok...I have been bored for a while, but I'm not doing this for you, it's only because I have nothing better to do."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Testing...Hello, Jimthefox here. Sorry for the kind of boring chapters lately, been busy, but the next chapter will have good action, with Sonic and Shadow training, and others will join them too, heheh. And they will finally get to krish crackle pshhhhhhhhhh so cya later my loyal viewers."