HAHA! The second chapter at last. I apologize for the shortness of the first chapter, I don't think the others will be quite as short.^^
Anyways, now you're gunna meet the new character. Alright, I'll shut up now.

O B S I D I A N
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter II: My New Friend
------------------------------------------

He stirred in his deep sleep. Slowly, his eyes opened. He was..alive?
"Shadow, you're awake!" An unknown figure was by his bedside. Wait.. bedside!? Where was he? With great effort, Shadow sat up.
"Where..where am I?" he asked, turning his head from side to side, trying to take in his surroundings. He was in a small room with
soft yellow walls and a window with its blinds closed. The figure smiled warmly.
"You're at my home. You've been asleep for three days. I wasn't sure if you'd make it.." Shadow was confused by what he said.
"What do you mean? Who are you?" Shadow asked, letting out a long yawn. The figure sat down on a wooden stool.
"My name is.. Sigma. Sigma the Hedgehog. I found you in the forest three days ago and I took you in. You've been asleep ever since."
For the first time, Shadow got a good look at the figure. He was very tall and a dark emerald color. His quills were elongated and
spiked outwards near his waist. He almost didn't look like a hedgehog..

Slowly, the events came back to Shadow. The Biolizard.. ARK.. Sonic.. Chaos Control.. He must have blacked out after using
Chaos Control. Sigma's smile widened as he helped Shadow out of the bed and onto his feet.
"You must be hungry, three days without food must have taken its toll," Sigma said, motioning towards the door.
"Yes, famished," Shadow replied, realizing how hungry he was. Sigma lead Shadow into the kitchen.

After a long, warm meal, Shadow asked a question that had been poking at him.
"Sigma.. How do you know who I am?" Sigma didn't seem surprised at all by this question. He replied,
"Who doesn't? You're famous, Shadow! You saved us all!" Shadow was confused by his answer.
"Famous? How can I be famous? To everyone else, I no longer exist.. Isn't it Sonic who gets all the fame for it all?" Shadow asked, more
confused than before.
"Well..yes and no.. Yes to most people. Yet, no for the ones who know.. the truth," Sigma replied, knowing that Shadow's curiosity
was burning.
"What do you mean..'the truth'?" Shadow's voice faded, anxious for the answer. To his surprise, Sigma let out a heavy sigh.
"You see.. well.. Don't you find it odd that after the final battle, Sonic didn't even make an attempt at saving you?" Shadow
pondered this for a minute. Sigma continued. "He let you die! He wanted it to happen!" Shadow's eyes widened, slowly
shaking his head in disbelief. Sigma tried to hide a grin. "It was because you were as powerful as he was! He was afraid
that if you were alive, you would become the center of attention! But now that you're gone, he's the one and only
renowned hero!" Shadow just sat there, trying to take it all in. He thought of Sonic as a partner, as an equal..
Slowly, he clenched his fists, fury burning within him. How could he had EVER trusted that hedgehog?!

Sigma saw the reaction he expected. The reaction he hoped for. Grinning, he placed his hand on the ebony hedgehog's
shoulder.
"Calm down, Shadow. You're still weak." Shadow's attitude changed in two seconds. He stood up, resisting Sigma's hand.
His eyes were narrowed, and there was only one thing on his mind. He started towards the door.
"Shadow?! Where are you going?!" Sigma exclaimed, jumping to his feet. Shadow didn't even turn around.
"That blue hedgehog," he said calmly, despite the fury within him. Sigma followed him to the door.
"You can't, Shadow.. what are you going to do, kill him? How will that solve anything?!" Things were not going how Sigma
hoped, and he tried desperately to regain control of the situation.
"You're right," Shadow said, stopping. Sigma's face slowly lit up.
"There are far better ways to get revenge.." An identical grin crossed Shadow's face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sonic let out a heavy sigh. Tails and him had planned a nice, relaxing trip to the beach, which was good news to
Sonic until Amy found out. Naturally, she begged to come along. They would still have a trip to the beach.. Minus
the "relaxing" part. Finally on the beach, Sonic lied down on the hot sand, basking in the sun's warmth. This only
lasted two seconds before Amy called out.
"Sonic, Sonic!" Sonic groaned and sat up.
"Yeah, Amy?" He tried to hide the irritation in his voice.
"Will you come swimming with me, Sonic?! Please?" Amy begged him with her annoying voice. At first, he was going to argue
but that meant even more begging and he wanted that less. With a sigh, he responded,
"Alright, alright. But only for a little bit." With another groan, Sonic got to his feet and proceeded to the water. Tails
tried to hold back his snickering, knowing that this was utter torture for Sonic.. especially because they were in public.

After of about 10 minutes, Sonic finally escaped back to the shore. Although he would never admit it, he did kind
of have fun.. To his surprise, Amy didn't bother him for the rest of the time at the beach. When they left, everyone
was worn out from their day. Sonic was especially in high spirits, and he didn't even know why.

Back at Sonic's house, he decided to drop Knuckles a line. They hadn't spoken in a while.. Not since the ARK incident,
in fact. Sonic dialed his number and waited.
And waited.
There was no answer. Sonic knew Knuckles didn't have an answering machine-and with good reason. Knuckles was never away
from Angel Island unless it was desperate and if something was up.. Sonic would know. There was only one thing that would
give him the answer.

Sonic and Tails stepped into Knuckles's house on Angel Island. Sonic stared in disbelief and Tails just shook his head.
What they saw shocked and horrified them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HAHAHAHA! What a cliffhanger, eh!? Anywho, R/r! I bet you're dying to know what happened!
*)