CHAPTER 36

Meanwhile, Tonya was walking alongside Tikal down the seemingly deserted sidewalk. She turned to the echidna, "Thanks for walking with me, Tikal. I had way too much on my mind tonight."

Tikal turned to the cat woman with a friendly smile, "It's no problem, Tonya. I always have time for you. What's on your mind anyway?"

Tonya took a deep breath before she started to tell Tikal what was really on her mind. "It's just…Espio…"

"Espio?"

She made a small nod, "I know that I was the one who broke everything off but…is it weird that I miss him like crazy?"

She slowly shook her head, "No, not at all. Why don't you just tell him that you miss and still love him?"

She sighed heavily as he eyes wandered away from hers. She figured Espio wouldn't even feel the same way she felt because of how she had hurt him when she had broken up with him. "Because I don't know if he feels the same way…"

Before Tikal could say anything else to her, she stopped in her tracks when she spotted Nack and the Raiders across the street from them running in another direction. Her mouth hung open when she had saw them. "Tonya, is that…"

Tonya had also caught sight of them running. "The Raiders…"

Before they could go after them, they spotted Shadow and Espio running across from them.

Tonya's eyes widened as she caught sight of the two. "Shadow! Espio!"

They both stopped in their tracks and turned to Tonya and Tikal.

Espio was relieved to see the two. "Tonya? Tikal? Man are we glad to see you guys!"

Judging by Shadow and Espio's worried looks, Tikal thought something was wrong. She figured that they had saw the Raiders as well. "We have a problem."

"The Raiders…" Tonya began.

Shadow was surprised to know that Tonya had already knew about the situation. "You saw them?"

Tonya made a nod, "They were headed towards the amusement park. Come on! Let's follow them!"

They all began to run in the direction where the Raiders had gone..

While they ran, Tikal turned to Shadow. "What's going on anyway?"

Shadow shook his head, "I don't know. Nack…he's gotten stronger somehow."

"Stronger?" Tonya repeated blankly.

"Yeah", Shadow spoke. "Like super strength strong."

Tikal gasped in disbelief, "What?"

"We tried to stop him, but we could barely touch him", Espio explained. "We don't know how he got so tough."

"It doesn't matter", Shadow spoke. "We have to find a way to stop him."

Meanwhile, the Raiders were walking around the dark amusement park, until Nack had spotted a parked black armored car. He made a smirk as he laid his eyes on the vehicle. "Oh yeah!"

Maxcell saw Nack approaching the vehicle. "Um, Nack? What are you…" His words trailed off when he saw Nack suddenly pick the vehicle off of the ground and flip it over to its side.

Zena thought she would never get over watching Nack do so many incredible things while he had the diamond in his possession. "So cool!"

Damon crossed his arms and thought that Nack was beginning to get selfish with the diamond. He glared at the weasel. "Hey, Nack? When are we gonna get a turn with that diamond?"

Nack began to take the back doors off of the vehicle by tearing it off the hinges with his bare hands. "How about never?"

Razi's mouth hung open after when he learned that Nack wasn't going to allow any of them to use the diamond. "You're not gonna share? That's totally unfair! We helped each other to get that diamond!"

Nack turned to the group in annoyance. "Not fair huh?" He took one of the heavy metal doors and slammed it on the ground in front of the group.

They were all startled when Nack had threw the door onto the pavement.

Nack took a step forward at the uneasy group, "Listen to me", he demanded. "I'm the leader and I have power over you so everything I say goes!"

Razi and Damon gave each other nervous looks after witnessing Nack's new controlling attitude. They both figured Nack could kill them all if he wanted to and with his bare hands.

They were all once again startled when they had suddenly heard a familiar male voice.

"I don't know what's going on…"

Nack and the rest of the group turned to a black and red hedgehog who was standing on the armored car that was turned to its side.

With his arms crossed, the hedgehog glared at the purple weasel. "…But I'm going to put a stop to this."

The Raiders turned to Espio, Tonya, and Tikal who had approached behind them.

Nack formed an evil smirk towards the hedgehog, "You can't stop me, Shadow. No one can!"

"We'll see about that."

Before he could react, he saw Shadow jump from the vehicle and send a powerful kick to the head which was enough to knock him back.

Before Shadow could attack him again, he picked up one of the metal doors he tore off of the armored car and threw it at him.

Shadow had easily dodged the flying metal door and came at him with a punch.

Nack had caught his fist with his hand and used his elbow to strike him in the stomach. He then sent a powerful kick to him that was enough to send him flying into the metal armored car. Before he could give him the chance to get to his feet, he grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. He began to punch him repeatedly in the face. "Who's the weak one now, hedgehog?"

While Shadow and Nack were fighting, the rest of the group had confronted the Raiders.

Zena glared at the group. "You'll never be able to stop us!"

"That's what you think!" Tikal shouted.

Maxcell formed a smirk. "Nack is going to kick that no good hedgehog's ass!"

Espio glanced over to Shadow and Nack fighting. He noticed that Shadow was actually struggling to defeat Nack. He figured he needed his help to take him down but before he could, he saw Zena pointing a shotgun at Tonya.

The green squirrel turned to him, "Don't even think about it! You even try to interfere, I blow her head off her body!"

In worry, Tikal looked over to Tonya, "No!"

"It's okay, Tikal", Tonya spoke while she gave Zena a hateful glare.

Espio clenched his fists in frustration, he now knew he definitely couldn't do anything to aid Shadow. If he tried to act, he knew Zena wouldn't hesitate to carry out her threat.

Without anyone looking, Razi slowly stepped away from the group.

Shadow punched Nack away from him and had made him fall to the pavement. Before Shadow could attack him again, Razi had tried to tackle him from behind.

Before he gave Shadow the opportunity to throw him off his body, he spoke to him in a low voice enough for Shadow to hear him. "The diamond…inside of his coat…destroy it."

He was taken by surprise when he had found out that Razi had tried to help him to defeat Nack. He had wondered what had suddenly made him want to help him. He didn't have the time to put the pieces together. All he knew was that Nack had to be stopped. He then threw Razi off of his body and focused on the weasel who was coming at him once again.

When Razi fell to the pavement, it distracted Zena making her turn away from Tonya.

Espio thought it was the perfect opportunity to get Zena away from Tonya. He took a shuriken and threw it at Zena's hand making her drop her gun to the ground.

Zena held her hand in pain from where the shuriken had hit her.

Tonya picked up the shotgun from the ground before anyone else could and used the end of it to knock Zena onto the ground unconscious.

When Tonya, Tikal, and Espio turned to Maxcell and Damon, the two just stood there not knowing what to do since they both had been caught by them.

Shadow studied the brown jacket Nack wore. He had tried to figure out where Nack had kept the diamond. When he saw him running towards him, he grabbed his body and threw him onto the pavement.

Nack fell to the black pavement hard. Once he had gotten to his feet, he turned to the hedgehog who was giving him a hateful look. He approached him once again and sent multiple punches to his body. His heart raced when he noticed that none of his hits seemed to have severely hurt him. He had stopped punching him and slowly looked up at the hedgehog who had held a crystal clear diamond in his hand.

"You lose something, Nack?" He asked before he crushed the diamond he had held into pieces.

In shock that Shadow had found the diamond and destroyed it, Nack watched the pieces of the diamond fall onto the pavement. He took a step away from him and made an uneasy look, "Come on, Shad. Don't be like that." He continued to step away from him while Shadow had began to walk up to him. "You're a detective. A good guy remember? You can't kill me. It's against everything you stand for."

Shadow grabbed him by the collar of his jacket. "Don't worry, Nack. I won't kill you."

Nack's heart raced when Shadow surprisingly let go of him.

"…But it doesn't mean I won't beat the living shit out of you." He clenched his fist and punched him hard enough to send him flying onto the window of a parked car.

When Nack had fell onto the car, he fell unconscious on the shattered windshield of the car.

Tikal saw what had just happened between the two and had gotten Shadow's attention by calling out to him. "Hey, Shadow!"

The hedgehog turned to the group and began to approach them.

Maxcell began to panic as he saw Shadow walking over to them. "Crap! This is it! We're done for! Tech City Prison here we come!"

Damon stepped away from the group alongside Razi, "Actually, it's just you."

Maxcell turned to Damon and Razi in confusion when he saw them take off their jackets and reveal that they were wearing jetpacks He had wondered were they actually going to abandon them all along if something were to happen? "What the?"

"Fools!" Razi exclaimed. "You thought we would actually trust you filthy street people?"

Everyone stared at Damon and Razi in shock from the fact that they had jetpacks.

"Have fun in the slammer!" Damon exclaimed while he cackled. He and Razi both used their jetpacks to start levitating from the ground. Before they could actually get away, they both suddenly hit their heads onto a cement ceiling that was above them. The impact was enough to knock them both unconscious to the ground.

While Tikal had her mouth open from their attempt to escape, Shadow had hit his forehead with the palm of his hand. "Fucking jackasses…"

Tikal had suddenly heard distant police sirens. She made a small smile in relief that the Raiders were finally caught. "It's finally over."

Shadow turned and saw Espio talking with Tonya privately and away from them.

Espio gave the cat woman a concerned look. "Tonya", he began. "When I saw Zena point that gun at you, I…" His words trailed off as he tried to convince himself this was the right moment to confess to Tonya that he had still loved her. Before he could start again, Tonya had pressed her fingers to his lips.

"Espio", she spoke in a soft voice. "I thought about us a lot…"

He took her hand away from him and held it lovingly in his hand. "You have?"

She made a slow nod, "I don't care what kind of relationship we have. I just want you back in my life. I'm going insane without you ."

"Tonya, I don't know what kind of future we'll have together but I do know that I love you so fucking much and I'd do anything to keep you by my side."

Tears started to swell in her eyes. She was relieved that Espio had indeed still loved her. She wanted to look away from him so he wouldn't see her practically crying. She then felt Espio's hands cupping her face and making her look back at him. "I'm so sorry. I put us through so much."

He wiped a tear from her face, "It's okay. No matter what we're going though, I will never stop loving you."

With a warm smile on her face, she leaned closer to him until the two were locked into a passionate kiss.

They both paused when they heard Shadow's voice.

"Aww…"

They turned to the hedgehog with both of their faces red.

"You guys are back together?" He asked with a teasing look on his face.

Tikal looked at the two with a relieved expression on her face. She was so happy that Espio and Tonya had finally made up with each other and were officially back together.

With a small blush still on his face, Espio's eyes shifted away from Shadow's. "…Shut up."

In The Next Chapter…

Shadow: Quit sex?

Rouge: Two weeks?

Shadow: Ugh! Making a baby is so hard!

Margaret: Charmy, why are you acting so strange?

Charmy: I don't have to tell you anything…