Chapter 36: Keeping all of the Promises

"You're gonna be ok", Kia said peacefully as she continued to heal Shadow's wounds. "You're going to be ay ok…"

"Good", Shadow sighed in relief.

"You know, Tails, you're fainting skills saved our butts", Sonic gave his buddy a playful punch on the arm.

"Eh, it was nothing", Tails crossed his arms and nodded.

"Is Master dead?" Kage asked curiously and worriedly.

"…No", Nina glanced at Devil Sin. "He stands."

"Oh, my god", Wrath gasped in shock.

Nina was right. Devil Sin was still alive! After he removed the dagger from his chest, he got up to his feet slowly. Then he tilted his neck side to side slowly. At that moment, Kia sensed his presence and gasped. Sonic and the others noticed that their evil friend was still alive, so they gasped too.

"You think that could've killed me?" Devil Sin asked with an evil smirk. "Trust me, I'm invisible. Noting can kill me. Nothing…"

"Not…again…" Shadow panted slowly with hatred.

"Can I faint again?" Tails asked frightfully.

"Real quick", Kia answered. After that statement, Tails fainted backwards again, a little harder that time.

"Since I'm done with you all for the moment, I might as well hurry up and open the Black Cloud", Devil Sin explained. "And when that's done, I'll kill you all, and Midnight will be mine forever."

"The Black Cloud?" Silver asked suspiciously.

"Hmph", Devil Sin turned around and walked to his remaining servants. "It's time. Let me have your souls, and I shall promise to bring you all back to life as soon as I'm done taking over the world."

"…" Nina, Kage, and Wrath nodded.

Silently, Devil Sin opened his palms in front of them. Then his servants' bodies began to glow red. After that, all of their souls escaped from their bodies and went inside of Devil Sin's body. Then their bodies dropped to their knees and they were useless. At that time, Devil Sin's muscles got bigger and his horns grew a little longer. His tattoos glowed dark purple as he clenched his fists hardly as he chuckled evilly. He turned around and gave his enemies an evil and angry glare. They gave him cold looks on their faces. With the smirk still on his face, he lifts his hands in the air. Forceful powers blasted out of his palms and burst through the ceilings. Magically, the top of the castle opens up so that way everyone could see the sky. Black mists and clouds began to form around the night sky as the lightning stroke the sky and the thunder rumbled. Then the whole palace began to shake as if it was having an earthquake.

"Behold! The Black Cloud is born!!" Devil Sin yelled outloud.

"Maybe we should go", Silver began to walk backwards.

"Yes, let's", Blaze followed him.

Kia quickly grabbed Tails and held him by the waist. Then she ran to the twin doors and struggled to open them. Knuckles and Rouge went to her and helped her out. Sonic helped Shadow up and they rushed to the doors. But before Shadow could've escaped with the others, he turned back. He saw Devil Sin walking to the dead Amy. The devilish creature carried her in bridal style and looked at her lovingly.

"NO!" Shadow ran to stop him.

"Fool!" Devil Sin hissed as he turned to him. "She belongs to me now", he said and then he and Amy vanished.

"Damn!" Shadow stopped before he could've launched his Lightning Bolt attack. He looked at the Master Emerald, where it was still in its place at the shrine. That was until a sudden metal-like handle came from above and grabbed it. Then the huge green gem was pulled into the air. "Great", the black hedgehog narrowed his eyebrows with rage.

"What are you waiting for!?" Sonic grabbed him by the arm and dragged him along with him. "Let's get outta here!"

"Hey!" Shadow snapped at him, who kept himself from falling.

Outside, the rest of the gang ran away from the collapsing castle as fast as they could. Once they reached to the path near the place, they stopped. All of them looked back and noticed that Sonic and Shadow were taking too long. Speaking of them, they quickly rushed out of the castle before any broken stones could've landed on them. They ran and panted as they rushed through the roads that were collapsing beneath their feet. Soon after they escaped, they reached to their friends.

"You're ok!" Rouge exclaimed gladly.

"Yeah", Sonic panted slowly. "We would've made it sooner, but Slowpoke kept standing there", he titled his head to Shadow.

"As soon as this is over…!" Shadow growled at him as he pointed at his face rudely.

"Could you please focus?" Kia broke the argument as she looked up at the sky. "Look at the sky."

Orderly, her friends did. The sky was filled with darkness and flashing lightnings. Shadow knew that Sin and Amy were up there, with no doubt. But how was he going to get up there and save her? Slowly, the black cloud began to stretch out above the heroes and around where they stood. Just then, a huge flagship appeared in the middle of the sky. It clearly was Eggman's flagship.

"Eggman?" Tails scratched his head.

"Who invited him?" Knuckles asked furiously.

Just then, the flagship shot a bright laser at everyone. They covered their eyes as the light circled around them. Then they vanished. Moments later, they reappeared on the bridge of the flagship. Knuckles and Rouge gasped as they noticed that the Master Emerald was safe and sound. Before they could've said something, Eggman came down in his Egg-Mobile with a furious look on his face. What was he mad about anyway? How did he find them?

"Alright", Eggman opened a hand. "Where are the seven Chaos Emeralds?"

"Forget it, Egg-trash, the emeralds are gone", Blaze crossed her arms and looked away.

"What?!" Eggman hollered angrily. "How could that be!?

"It's all because of Sin", Kia began to explain. "He took the emeralds and created that dark cloud above us", she looked up at the stormy sky again. "That cloud is getting bigger and bigger each second. Any moment, it could reach somewhere…"

"Emerald Town", Silver and Blaze said in union.

"No, not there!" Tails gasped in fear. "We have to do something!"

"Could you take us to Emerald Town right quick?" Sonic asked as nice as he could.

"Why should I?" Eggman crossed his arms.

"Do you want to live?" Shadow crackled his fists.

"Ok, ok, robots, head to Emerald Town now!" Eggman finally ordered his robots to take them out of there, since he didn't want to face the Dark Shadow again.

"That's what I thought", the black hedgehog crossed his arms.

A couple of hours later, the Egg Carrier took the heroes back to their hometown. The huge flagship landed at the middle of the park gently. However, the Black Cloud was getting close to where they were. Time was running out, but worse! Still, what could they do? Everyone aboard the flagship looked up at the sky nervously and angrily as they tried to come up with a plan. Some of the citizens in the town heard the loud thundering and walked out of their houses. They began to chatter curiously as they asked some questions of what they were seeing in the sky.

"What can I do?" Shadow asked in thought as he lowered his head. "What can I do…?"

(BGM plays "Maria's Theme" from SA2B)

As he stayed silent, he suddenly saw some silent flashbacks. The first one was when Amy was killed for the second time when she sacrificed her life for him. He remembered his begs and cries to make sure that Amy wouldn't leave him for the second time. However, the pink hedgehog died as they were sharing their last kiss. Second, he saw a flashback when he stopped Amy from killing her own parents. When he had his arms around her chest, she somehow turned back to normal. She apologized as she held his arms gently. Another flashback showed when he and Amy shared their love moment at a pond at Dry Lagoon. The scene and the emotions haven't been forgotten since that time. And his feelings were finally confessed to her. And the kiss was smoothing and passionately. However, he wouldn't forget how bad Amy injured their comrades. But it wasn't her fault. It was because of Sin and his evil plans. And yet…he has forgotten when Amy was killed before the whole nightmare started. If only she didn't die, if only Sin didn't exist…

Next, he saw a flashback when he and Kayla had their little talk. She gave him the locket, and he was still wearing it now. The look on her face looked so innocent, so young. All she wanted was things to be ok for everyone. And to make sure that Amy would either rest in peace for good, or to come back to life.
Then he saw one last flashback. It was on Space Colony ARK, his home, where he was created over 50 years ago. He used to live there with two humans, Professor Gerald Robotnik, and his granddaughter, Maria. Both of them were like family to him, even though he was a hedgehog and they were not. Maria always gave him company and always stared at the galaxy with him. Everyday, they talked about visiting any planet that they wanted. But ever since the horrible incident, Shadow had to live on Little Planet alone. He didn't have friends, or a family. Life was a struggle to him, day and night. That was until Amy came along. At first, she had mistaken him for being Sonic when she hugged him from behind. Then she repeated the words from Maria and that showed him what his real promise was to him. Soon after that, they became friends. Lots of voices began to ring in his head.

"…If no one will be your friend, then I will…"

"Amy, please stop!"

"What was my life like before this?"

"Don't worry. I'll make sure that it doesn't happen."

"I'm sorry…"

"Set her free, Shadow…so she could go up to Heaven…"

"I promise you…Everything's going to be alright."

"I LOVE YOU!"

"I'm really sorry for all of the trouble that I caused you."

"Thanks…You're the best…"

"…I'm the only one who can stop them…"

"I'm not gonna watch you die for the second time, Amy…"

"With all of us together, we can kick your butt!"

"Please don't die…"

"I think it's too late for me now."

"No, don't say that! I'm gonna get you outta here. And then we'll go home and we'll live happily after. I promise!"

"Kill Sin…And set my soul free…I'm not supposed to be alive again…"

"I'll never forget you."

"Promise me that you'll save the world…And that you'll set my soul free…and…protect my family and the others…"

"I promise…"

"Shadow, I beg you of you. Please, do it for me. Give them a chance to be happy. Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog…"

After hearing those last words, Shadow opened his eyes. Then he held Amy's locket closely to his chest. It doesn't matter what happens to him now. All he wanted to do was to keep all of his promises…even if it costs his life. He had to keep his promises for Amy, Kayla, and last, Maria. He nodded courageously as he looked up at the sky.

"I promise you all…I'm not gonna lose…I'll win…" Shadow thought bravely as he clenched his right fist.

"So what do we do?" Tails asked. "That cloud will continue to grow until it covers the whole world!"

"We can't face him now", Kia lowered her head. "Due to how much he has now, it's impossible."

"Wait, Knuckles", Rouge turned to him. "Can the Master Emerald neutralize the Chaos Emeralds?"

"I think so", the red echidna looked at the big green emerald. "I'll give it a shot", he walked to it. "Master Emerald, I command you…Find Sin and steal all of the energy from the seven Chaos Emeralds!"

By the calling of his voice, the Master Emerald glowed as everyone stood back. Then a giant shot of light flew up into the Black Cloud. It rushed all the way to the center of the sky, where Sin was still holding Amy in his place. Just then, it shot him and sucked the rest of the emeralds' powers from him. Then the seven gems appeared.

"No!" Devil Sin yelled with rage. "My emeralds!" he tried to grab them, but they vanished.

Shortly after that, all of the seven Chaos Emeralds landed on Eggman's' flagship. Everyone looked at them in awe as they stayed silent. However, the emeralds looked like their colors were fading at some sort. Tails rubbed his chin as so did Eggman. Were the emeralds still powerful enough to stop Sin? What if they're not? Questions began to fill in everyone's mind at the second they took one look at the emeralds.

"If I'm correct, he used half of the emeralds' powers", Tails spoke.

"Indeed", Eggman agreed, surprisingly. "Still, there's no chance of saving the world now."

"So we just sit here and die, huh?" Sonic sat down and had his arms around his knees. "That's just great-,"

"No one's gonna die", Shadow interrupted. Everyone turned to him in shock. He walked to the emeralds and picked up the red one.

"Are you serious?" Rouge asked.

"It's the only way", Shadow replied. "I got some promises that I have to keep, and I won't rest until this war is over…"

The whole group stared at him with shock and worry. Was he serious? He can't be serious. He was actually. But could he defeat Sin alone? What if things don't so great as Shadow thinks it would? At first, everyone began to have doubts. But then, Sonic got up and walked to Shadow. The black hedgehog turned to him oddly in shock.

"If you're going, then I'm going too", Sonic said as he gave a big thumb's up.

"I might as well go too", Silver sighed with defeat as he walked to them. "Besides, I need to destroy Sin as much as you do, Shadow."

"Whoa, time out", Kia shook her head. "Are you all stupid? What if you don't come back?"

"Then consider us dying over dignity", Sonic turned to her.

"Huh?" Kia blinked twice.

"If you believe in us, then we can win", Sonic suddenly smiled at her. "Trust us…"

"…" Kia pondered for a moment. "Fine, I trust you guys. But don't screw up."

"You're still gullible", Sonic winked at her.

"Eh?" Kia blushed a little. "Hmph", she turned away.

"Good luck, you guys", Rouge nodded.

"We believe in you", Blaze spoke.

"No matter what happens we're always a team", Tails smiled with a thumb's up.

"Like what he said", Knuckles shrugged his shoulder, since he couldn't say anything different.

"Enough with the friendly talk", Eggman interrupted the whole scene. "Just get up there and stop him!" he ordered.

"Rude much?" Sonic glared at him unfriendly. "Geez…"

"…Let's go", Shadow looked up at the black sky.

"Right", the two other hedgehogs looked at the sky also.

(BGM plays "Open Your Heart" from Crush 40-just the music)

Silently, the three opened their arms. The seven emeralds rose up from the ground and began to circle around them slowly. They blocked their faces as the emeralds began to spin a little faster. Then a bright light appeared around them.

"TRANSFORM!" they shouted out as they opened their eyes and arms again.

At that moment, there was a huge flash. A few citizens could see the light from their rooftops. After the light disappeared, the heroes and the mad scientist opened their eyes. Sonic's fur was now gold, his eyes turned red, and his quills got a little longer. Silver's fur was a flax yellow color as his brown eyes darkened a little. And last, Shadow's fur was corn yellow, his streaks and eyes were bright red, and his golden rings were a little shinier. All three of them flew up to the sky and began to reach to the entrance to the Black Cloud. Their friends, and rival, watched them with hope, worry, and a slight of joy.

"Don't lose, guys…Don't lose", Kia said in thought. "Because otherwise, we're all screwed…"

Go Super Shadow!! Go Super Sonic!! Go Super Silver!! Can Shadow keep all of his promises? Tune in next time!! Oh, and if you don't remember the quotes from when Shadow had those flashbacks, I'll list them out for ya:

1) Amy (in flashback), ch.3

2) Shadow, ch.21

3) Midnight (or Amy), ch.19

4) Shadow, ch.19

5) Amy (or Midnight), ch.21

6) Kayla, ch.22

7) Shadow, ch.22

8) Shadow, ch.30

9) Amy, ch.30

10) Shadow, ch.31

11) Amy, ch.32

12) Shadow, ch.32

13-20) Amy and Shadow in ch.33

21) Maria