Disclaimer: Like everyone else here I do not own any of the sonic characters. I do own some of the ones that will come later in the story but all other are a copyright of Sega and the sonic team ===============================================================

It has been 10 years since the incidents on ARK happened.. Time changes many things, one is that Knuckles has finally taken a break and left some of his friends in charge of guarding the master emerald. More spastically rouge, who now for the most part has given up her life as a hunter to live with Knuckles. Sonic has stayed for the most part the same though he often seems sad about the loss of Shadow. He also now owns an place of his own. It is nice sized has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. 1 room is Sonics of course, the second one is tail's and the 3rd is saved for Knuckles when he drops by, which he has been doing more often now. Amy has settled down a little but is still crazily chasing after sonic. Tails is now a bit renowned for his creative genius and often is seen tinkering in a work shop near the house. Eggman of course has returned to his normal routine of trying to take over the world. All in all life seemed pretty normal. ***********************************************************************

Ok, now on with the story and sorry about such a long forward.

We find our hero sonic sitting on the sofa watching some TV when suddenly the door opens and a small boom is heard in the back ground. " AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW what on earth was that?" screams sonic running to the door.

Suddenly, smack, he hits a red echidna running the other way. "Owwwww ohhh wow sorry hey Knux what's up?." Suddenly sonic is slammed to the ground by Knuckles. "Owww hey Knux what on earth was that for?" "Sorry about pushing you down sonic but I did not want that thing hitting you in the head."

"Huh what thing, I see no thing" " That back there". The fire red echidna points at a rather large piece of metal sticking out of the wall. " WOW that is a huge ummm thingy isn't it Knux? Ohhh by the way, what on earth was that huge boom and hey wait what are you doing here in the first place and where is tails?"

" Easy sonic one thing at a time. First of all that boom was tail's latest invention doing whatever it was not supposed to be doing. Secondly, I am here to tell ya about an anniversary party scheduled for next week to mark the 10 year anniversary of when "you", as they so nicely put it in the flyers, saved the Earth from being destroyed by ARK."

"Ohhh I see. I guess people have not gotten it yet. I was not the only one. Shadow did more of the work and yet they still hate him."

"Guess you are right on that one Sonic, but how many more times can ya tell them? I mean you have tried, and tried to tell them that he helped, but they just don't want to listen" "Yeah your right but I -I guess I will just have to try again."Says Sonic as he looks outside. " Hey wow it is getting late are ya just going to stay here Knux or are ya leaving." " I guess I will stay tonight sonic." They both turn toward the door as it slowly opens.

In walks a charred black 2 tailed fox "**Cough Cough** hi sonic **cough** ohh hi Knuckles. What are ya doing here?" " Well first of all little buddy, WHAT HAPPENED TO YA?" sonic yells.

" Well I was working on a way to divert more power from the chaos drivers to an indirect source but it, well, sort of blew up in my face. I guess I diverted too much power without allowing for a vent or release mechanism to handle the excess amounts generated"

"HUH??????" Knuckles and sonic both looked at each other and tried to figure out what tails was talking about." "Ok ok tails but ummm why don't you go get cleaned up, you look as black as the night." Sonic said. " Ok will do sonic!!" Tails called back as he went running for the bathroom. [ night time, hmm, shadows favorite time. wired tails looked almost like a fox version of shadow] sonic thought to himself.

" Hey sonic man are you ok you look a little sad and out of it what's up?" " Ohh sorry Knux its nothing I was just thinking again that's all." " It was about shadow again wasn't it Sonic?" " HUH what ooooh yeah it was" said sonic as he looked out towards the half moon.

" He sure left his mark on this world in more ways than one sonic" said Knuckles, also looking out at the moon. " Yeah your right I still can't believe that no one has found some sort of sign that he was either dead or alive. No body or bones. No nothing. But there was something strange Knux I still can't figure out at all."

"Ohh yeah what is that?" " Well you know how there were 7 original emeralds and then tails fake one right?" "Umm ohh yeah that one that YOU used chaos control with to escape from being blown up right?"

"Yeah, that's the one. Well all 7 original emeralds are accounted for right, but the fake was never found. I guess I just keep wondering if maybe he is out there somewhere just waiting to come out in the open. Ya know the right time, when people don't hate him and GUN will not bother him anymore." " I hope your right sonic I really hope you are" said knuckles as he looked longingly into space with a bit of a tear in his eye. **************************************************************************** ******

Well this is the end of chapter 1 How was it plezz R/R but no flames this is my first Fic so be nice next chapter coming soon if i get enough reviwes.