Sonic The Hedgehog - Chaos on Mobius
3rd Saga: The Black Armed Nocturnus

Episode 76 - Chapter Twenty Six: A Shade of Lies, with the Truth of Khan

The day after the Nocturnus Clan retreated back into the Twilight Cage, Sonic and Sally arrived in Mushroom City, where they were meeting two special Mobians...
"Huh. All of a sudden, I'm a little nervous..." Sonic pointed out as a green caterpiller-like bus passed.
"You? Nervous? No way..." Said Sally, teasing the hedgehog. "C'mon Sonic, have you ever taken a girl out on a date before?"
"Well, once..." Sonic replied, remembering his very first date. "Because it was Valentine's Day, I took Amy to Twinkle Park in Station Square. Which was pretty fun, but only cause Eggman tried to wreck our time together! *chuckle*" Sonic soon sighed, as he had mentioned Amy. And Sally noticed.
"Sonic, I'm sure Amy's fine, wherever she is." Sally told him as she made him look at her. "You just need to stop thinking about her for now."
"Hey-hey! How's my favourite blue bud doin'?" Shouted a familiar voice from behind. When Sonic and Sally turned around, Mario & Princess Peach were approaching them.
"Hey, 'sup Mario!" Sonic said back as the two high-fived each other, while Sally and Peach greeted each other by bowing at one another. "So, you're dating the Princess aswell as protecting her?"
"Look who's talking!"
"Ahh, whatever! So... where're we eatin'?"
"I heard that this place over here is pretty good." Sally said as she pointed to a classy resturaunt called 'Finer Flower'.
"Ooh! I've always wanted to eat there! Let's go!" Peach pointed out, feeling excited as the four of them walked towards the resturant.
"Hope they've got spaghetti and meatballs!" Said Mario, rubbing his stomach in anticipation.
"Heh, still obsessed with pasta, eh Mario?" Sonic teased as Mario chuckled. "...think they serve chilli dogs?"
"I doubt it, Sonic." Sally replied.
"Dang."

Meanwhile, Shadow was with Maria within the Emerald Coast Resort just outside Station Square. While Maria was lying under a beach umbrella, wearing a light-blue bikini, a white sunhat and black sunglasses, Shadow was standing near the water, looking up at the sky...
"Ahh... Beautiful day, isn't it?" Asked Maria from her chair as she stretched.
"Hmm... I suppose..." Shadow replied, not really paying attention. Maria noticed this and after she approached him, she wrapped her arms around him.
"Come on, Shadow..." She told him. "Commander Tower told you that you had take a break. Why are you staring up at the sky when you could be surfing those amazing waves?"
"I'm sorry, Maria..." Said Shadow. "...but something just doesn't feel right... why would the Nocturnus soldiers retreat all of a sudden? It doesn't make sense..."
"I'm sure they'll be gone for a while, Shadow. Hey, do you mind if I go swimming?" Asked Maria as she took the sunhat and sunglasses off of her head.
"Go ahead, I'll keep an eye on you." Shadow replied with a smile on his face before Maria ran towards the waves, and he looked back up at the sky. "(We're not finished with them yet... I can feel it...)"

At that moment, TodStar and Nicole arrive outside Hidden Palace on Angel Island via Chaos Control.
"So, do you know why we're here, TodStar?" Nicole asked, but TodStar just shrugged.
"Dunno." He replied. "But I'm just glad you could with me, Nicole."
"I couldn't be happier with you..." She told him as they hugged.

When the two entered Hidden Palace, they found Knuckles and Julie-Su looking at an unconscious Locke.
"Dad!" TodStar cried as he approached his father. "What happened to him?"
"I think it might have had something to do with a spell Finitevus had around the Master Emerald..." Suspected Knuckles, while he shook his fists in anger.
"Who's Finitevus?" Asked TodStar. Before anyone could respond, a brief flash of light appeared behind Nicole, and Shade emerged from the light.
"He's the new leader of the Nocturnus Clan." She said, before TodStar threw a Chaos Spear at her, but she dodged it and Knuckles trying to punch her. "Stop!"
"Why should we, backstabber?" TodStar angrily asked her.
"I just want to talk." Said Shade. "Please, TodStar..." TodStar slowly lowered his fists, but Knuckles tried to approach her again.
"Hang on, Knux." TodStar told him.
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah. I'm gonna hear her out. As long as you just wanna talk, and nothin' else..."
"Yes, that's all I want." Shade said as she took TodStar away from the group.
"TodStar?" Asked Nicole, but Knuckles grabbed her shoulder before she got to the green echidna. When Nicole turned to face Knuckles, he shook his head.

Inside a small temple within Chun-nan's Dragon Kingdom, Ken Khan was showing Diddy Kong & his girlfriend Dixie inside.
"I can't believe you're here!" Ken told the chimp wearing the red baseball cap.
"I'm sorry, but I can't remember you..." Diddy replied, looking sad.
"It's okay. You were pretty young when we were seperated, Diddy... why don't I help you fill in the blanks?"
"Sure!"
"Dixie, is it?" Asked Ken, before Dixie nodded. "You're free to look around, but try to stay within Stormtop Village. Why don't you try the Bucket 'O Sushi resturaunt?"
"Bucket 'O Sushi? Doesn't that Eggman creep sell disgusting food from that place?" Dixie asked before holding her tongue out in disgust.
"Not since the new management." Ken replied, which intrigued Dixie. "Ever since the EX World Grand Prix ended, Dr. Eggman closed the place... until some of the Free People here decided to re-open it's doors with a fresh new smell." "OK, I'll check it out. Bye, sweetie!" Dixie shouted as she ran out of the temple.
"Later, Dixie." Diddy replied while blushing.
"Now then..." Said Ken, as he began to explain their past.

Meanwhile, Princess Daisy Prower had invited Tails into her palace in Shamar.
"Make yourself at home..." She told him as he looked around.
"Wow... this palace is amazing!" Exclaimed Tails. "I wish I could say I knew you though, Daisy..."
"Me too. Cause I sure know you!" Daisy replied. "I used to play with you all the time when I visited your place on West Side Island." Tails looked pretty serious, as he was trying to place Daisy's face... "*chuckle* It's cool if you don't remember me, Tails. You were just a cub when we were cut off from each other.
"How did that happen? No, why did that happen?" Tails asked her, making her sigh.
"You're gonna wanna sit for this..." She told him.

"You see, Diddy..." Ken began. "From a young age, I was arranged to be married to a Princess who lives far from here..."
"His and my parents were pretty close, so this arranged marriage came as no surprise to me or him." Said Daisy.
"Him? Him who?" Tails asked, before Daisy pointed at a framed photo of herself in a wedding dress, standing next to a Mobian monkey wearing traditional robes from the Dragon Kingdom. "You're married to 'Monkey' Ken Khan?"
"You're married to Princess Daisy Prower?" Diddy asked in disbelief.
"Yeah." Both Ken & Daisy replied while blushing.
"But our parents had only one problem with us..." Said Ken.
"We were too close to our cousins, so they forced me to say goodbye to you..." Daisy regretfully told Tails.
"I didn't want to Diddy, but there was no way out of this arranged marriage." Ken said to Diddy.
"It's cool." Both Tails & Diddy said. "What matters is that we're together now." Hearing this, both Ken & Daisy hugged Diddy & Tails.

At that moment, after the four had finished eating what they ordered, Sonic, Sally, Mario & Peach got to talking...
"Man, I'm glad they make cheeseburgers here, otherwise I'd be runnin' over to that diner over there!" Said Sonic before pointing at a diner that Mario and Peach recognized.
"Of course. And we'd be laughing behind your back." Sally teased, before Peach thought of an interesting topic...
"Hey, why don't we discuss how we all met each other?" She asked the other three.
"Sounds good." Mario replied before pointing at Sally and Peach. "Ladies first."
"Well, the only reason Peach & I know each other-" Said Sally, but she got inturrupted.
"Lemme guess: Your trips to other Kingdoms with your old man?" Sally angrily sighed as she nodded.
"What about you boys?" She asked. "How did you two get to be so close?"
"That's easy." Sonic replied. "But the short version is: We've been buds since we were livin' in Knothole."
"Long version: Sonic was going for his morning run through Knothole one day, while I was hitting a punching bag." Added Mario. "Sonic wasn't looking where he was going, and I accidentely hit him in the face..."

Flashback to when Mario & Sonic met...
"Ow... dude! Why don't you watch where you're punchin'?" A smaller, light blue Sonic told a smaller Mario, wearing basically the same clothes, except he wore blue shorts and a red shirt.
"Hey, it wasn't my fault you weren't watching where you were running! Which I must say: was pretty fast." Mario replied.
"Oh, yeah? Well how do you like thi- you think I'm fast?"
"Yeah. But why don't I test out your reflexes?" After Mario said that, he tried to punch Sonic in the face again, but the hedgehog's head was darting from side-to-side too fast.

"...aaaand we've been close ever since." Sonic told the Princesses.
"I thought I was telling the story..." Mario whispered, but Sonic just shrugged. "Anyway, what about you, Sonic and Sally? How'd you get together?" Both the hedgehog and the squirrel blushed after they heard this.
"Uh Mario dude, we just hooked up..." Sonic told his raccoon friend after bringing him in close. "...though I've had a thing for her for awhile, I won't deny that." As Mario nodded, Sally was whispering to Peach.
"While Sonic and I only just started dating..." She told Peach. "...I've had an interest in him since that award ceremony. Remember that?"
"So Sonic was the guy you were telling me about?" Peach asked back as softly as she could, and Sally nodded while blushing.

"OK Mario, what about you & Peach?" Asked Sonic, with his voice loud enough for the girls to hear.
"Do you wanna tell 'em or should I?" Mario asked the frog Princess.
"Let's tell them together." Peach replied as she and Mario held hands. "*sigh* It was love at first sight..."
"It was about a month or so after me & Luigi left Knothole." Said Mario. "When we arrived in Spagonia, we collasped from exhaustion. And the next thing we knew, we were in Peach's bedroom, where I saw those beautiful eyes for the first time..."
"From the moment I met this man, I knew there was something about him... and that grew even more when he first rescued me from that monster known as Bowser."
"Who?" Asked Sonic.
"Long story for another day, man." Mario replied. "But for now -*snaps fingers*- check, please."

Meanwhile, Shade and TodStar arrived in the room where the Master Emerald was, making the green echidna nervous...
"Uhh, you're not gonna try and snatch that, are ya?" He asked.
"No. I told you, I just want to talk to you... and Tikal." Shade replied, making TodStar confused before the image of Tikal could be seen on the Master Emerald.
"My friends, it is good to see you both again." She told them. However after that, there was an awkward silence...
"Uhh... see that lynx out there?" Asked TodStar, before both Shade and Tikal nodded. "I-I love her."
"Aww, that's sweet, TodStar." Tikal said to him. "I knew you would find someone."
"I have a confession to make to the both of you." Shade told them. "...I'm sorry. I'm sorry for betraying you. And I'm sorry I broke my promise, Tikal..."

"What are you talking about, Shade?" Asked Tikal, somewhat worried for her friend.
"She went and rejoined the Nocturnus Clan!" TodStar yelled, making Tikal gasp.
"Shade... why?" Tikal asked again.
"I had no choice, Tikal!" Shade replied. "After you died, I felt miserable and alone. I blamed myself. I had no one to talk to, so I went back to the Nocturnus Clan for company. I didn't want to, but I had nowhere else to go!"
"Oh... you thought I died?" Asked Tikal, before Shade tearfully nodded. "Shade, sweetheart, all I did was disappear into the Master Emerald."
"You what?"
"After Chaos and I helped change the Knuckles Clan into a peace-loving people, Chaos didn't see the need for the two of us to be around. I protested, but she had already decided to seal us within the Master Emerald. I'm sorry I couldn't reach you after all this time, Shade." After hearing this, Shade just hugged the Master Emerald, which put TodStar on alert, before he remembered why Shade was doing this.
"That's not the only reason why you're here, is it Shade?" He asked.
"No." Shade replied whilst shaking her head. "After meeting my daughters, I've decided to defect from the Nocturnus Clan once again."
"Really?" Asked Tikal, before Shade happily nodded.
"Cool. Then it'll be just like old times!" TodStar pointed out as he approached the Master Emerald and placed his hand over Shade's shoulder, making her smile.

Shortly after waving off Mario and Peach, Sonic and Sally began walking out of Mushroom City.
"Well, that wasn't so bad." Sonic pointed out.
"So that's what double dates are like..." Said Sally as she held her hands behind her head, before getting an idea... "Hey, Sonic..."
"Yeah?"
"For the next stop on our world tour, what do you say we visit Holoska?" Sonic smirked after hearing this.
"Ah, like the snow and slippery slopes, eh?" He asked while Sally smirked back, before Sonic sweeped her off her feet (literally), and started running out of Mushroom City as fast as he could.

Meanwhile, deep within Robotropolis, Dr. Eggman was approaching his Egg Mobile, while Orbot and Cubot followed him.
"So boss... why again are you going back to that frozen wasteland?" Orbot asked as Eggman jumped into the Egg Mobile.
"Because my dimwit droid..." Eggman replied. "I have something I need to take care of up there..."
"Duh!" Said Cubot while elbowing Orbot. "Uhh... what are you takin' care of?"
"Relax boys, it's none of your concern. Just look after the city, and make sure my Egg Pawns are still working on my project while I'm gone." Both Orbot and Cubot saluted Eggman as his Egg Mobile attached itself to an Egg Hawk before the giant bird-shaped robot took off. "Set course for my base in White Acropolis. I need to make sure he's still frozen up there..."

END OF CHAPTER