"The Shadows of Sonic, Part 1"

written by Shayne Thames

Sonic and related characters © and ™ SEGA

Shalita and related characters © Star Dreams Entertainment

Prolouge:

3 months ago

San Francisco, United States

The Capital City of Earth

March 8th, 2085

A pink hedgehog and a purple chao appeared in the abandoned lab.

"Wow, what happened, Amy?" the purple chao asked.

"I think we just traveled back in time, Pucha," Amy Rose said.

Amy was the mayor of Station Square and offered to search for Sonic

and the rest of the hedgehogs when they dissappeared a week ago.

Amy wandered outside and was suprised to see HUMANS. A lot of them.

They didn't notice her and her chao as they traveled down the sidewalk

of the city. She spotted a newstand and saw the headlines- "Hedgehog

saves day once again!"

"Sonic IS here....but how to find him and the others...?" Amy

wondered and sighed. This was gonna take a while.

One week ago

Somewhere over Nevada

June 15th, 2085

Knux's radio beeped. "Yeah? Nope, you? I think I'm near Vegas.

The only place on this contenent I haven't checked already is Florida.

I was thinking of heading to Orlando and start there. Right, see ya

sometime, Sonic.."

Knux sighed. 6 months was ridicolus. Manic and the girls HAVE

to be somewhere. He was close though. He could sense the Master Emerald.

Somewhere in the desert

9:46 P.M.

Sabre walked into the control room, bowing before Dr. Robotnik.

"Sir, we have found the location of the top secret military

weapon," she reported.

"Excellent, then I trust that he was able to deciper the map?"

Robotnik asked.

"Yes sir, no doubt," a voice said, entering the room. Manic held

a disk in his hand. "It was tough. Your grandfather was quite the

genius. But to get to the weapon, you'll need to arrive on the island

just offshore. You'll also need user data and the password."

"Excellent. Good job, Manic," Robotnik said.

"You will also need this," Manic said, handing Robotnik his

medallion. "A chaos emerald is needed to activate the weapon."

Manic bowed and left. Robotnik grinned. "Soon enough..."

Yesterday

Desert area

June 21st, 2085

12:05 P.M.

Knuckles wandered back towards San Fransisco when he saw HER and

the Master Emerald with her. He grinned. About time.

Chapter 01: "The Beginning"

Now

Prision Island, Near the Base

June 22nd, 2085

9:02 P.M.

Alarms screams and doors slammed shut. A voice rang out over the

intercom.

"Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Security door breached at

Gate 3! Intruder has been located in the north quadrant and is moving

in the direction of the underground base. All units prepare to engage.

Assume emergency battle formations. Standard battle proceedures

initiated. Locate and stop intruder before he enters the area! This is

NOT a drill. Repeat! This is NOT a drill!"

Gunshots rang out as Dr. Robotnik fired his Egg Walker machine

gun at the robots.

"Mwahahahahahahaha! That was too easy! Let's see what my grandfather

was working on. A top secret military weapon he created. The military

shut down the research because they feared it!"

As Robotnik entered the area, the voice rang out again.

"Intruder alert! Assume level one defense formation!"

Robotnik shot off in the Egg Walker as robots entered the area.

Robotnik started firing, destroying the robots in his path. He came on a

big door marked "Level 1".

Thinking quickly, he destroyed the four bolts locking down the

door and blashed the door away.

"Level 1 has been breached. Emergency formation. Intercept

intruder," the voice rang out again.

This went one towards level 2, executing the same plan as

before...

"Level 2 security door breach! Level 2 security door breach!"

This is getting a bit monotonis, Robotnik thought as he blaster

another robot. You'd think the military would have more than this.

Robotnik rode a pad down to the lower level and apprached the

security gate.

Again, he broke down the Level 3 door.

"Level 3 security door breach! Intruder has breached sections 3

through 8. Get him!"

FINALLY things started picking up as 4 robots ganged up on him. But

it was still a no brainer as he destroyed them all as he apprached

Level 4.

"Level 4 security door breach!"

Oh will you shut up already? Robotnik thought as he wandered down

the hall, blasting more robots and the security locks on the door.

"Level 5 security door breah! Switch to emergency defense mode!

Lock down security door!"

Oh please. What kind of defense IS this?

A very good one, as the doors slammed shut, locking Robotnik in

the room. Robots flooded the room and Robotnik coulding help but fire

wildly to save himself.

A stray homer smacked into the control pad of a missle, and it

turned around, facing Robotnik. Robotnik ducked as the missle fired,

breaking open the security door.

Robotnik entered the room, all the robots in the area destroyed.

"YES!" he cackled.

As the door in front of him opened, he approached a small

console.

"Oh HO! So this is the military's top-secret weapon. It's a lot

SMALLER than I expected!"

Robotnik was looking at an orb floating over the console as he

tapped into the console.

"Enter user data....aha....enter password..."

Robotnik reached over to the side console.

"Password is MA-RI-A. Maria! Now all I have to do is to place the

chaos emerald into this console..."

Robotnik took Manic's medallion and placed it into the console.

"Oh ho!"

A cryochamber rose from the floor, and a figure rose, standing on

top of the high platform. Robotnik growled, reconizing the figure as it

folded his arms.

"Agh! Is that you, SONIC? Are you trying to spoil my plans again?"

The red eyes of the figure looked down upon Robotnik, and he

realized that this hedgehog that stood before him was NOT Sonic....but he

was so much the splitting image of him, except of the black body.

"Wait...you're not Sonic! This is impossible!"

The black hedgehog spoke up in a calm collected voice.

"My name is Shadow. Since you were so kind as to release me, my

master...I will grant you one wish."

The alarms sounded off again, annoying Robotnik further.

"NOW what?!" he groaned.

Shadow looked up, seeing a figure approaching. A military robot.

"Behold, the true power I posess," he said, activating his air

blades and landing on the floor.

The huge robot landed before Shadow.

"This is Scorpian troop's Hot Shot, "the pilot of the robot

radioed in. "Enemy movement has been detected. En route to intercept and

destroy!"

"Copy that, B3," the operations communcator answered.

Hot Shot leaped into the air, activating it's booster pack, and

started strafing, showering the floor with bullets. Shadow dodged the

barrage as Hot Shot landed, and fired four missles at him. When the

missles were fired, Shadow leaped up and took a dive at the cockpit of

Hot Shot, damaging it.

Hot Shot leaped into the air again and powered up a laser, firing

it at Shadow. A miss. Hot Shot circled back and fired off its bullets

again. Shadow was just too fast on his air blades. Hot Shot landed and

this time fired 6 missles at Shadow. No hit. Shadow attacked the cockpit

again.

That particular attacked continued, hoping to tire out the

hedgehog. No dice as Shadow attacked again.

"This is Scorpian troop's Hot Shot. The enemy is stronger than

expected. Request additional support!" the pilot radioed in, frantic. One

more hit and Hot Shot's done for.

Hot Shot leaped into the air and powered its laser again. Firing

not once, not twice, but three times. It missed, but came pretty darn

close. Hot Shot landed and fired 10 missles at Shadow. Shadow came out,

unscathed, and attacked Hot Shot.

"He is too strong!" the pilot radioed, retreating.

"Hmph! Pathetic humans!" Shadow smirked, folding his arms.

"Destroying that guard robot was spectacular!" Robotnik applauded.

"So Shadow, YOU are the military's top secret weapon! What what did you

mean when you said you would grant me a wish?"

Shadow looked over his shoulder towards Robotnik. "Bring more chaos

emeralds."

"Shadow, WAIT!" Robotnik called. Shadow whirled to face Robotnik.

"I'll be waiting for you....in the central control room, on the

space colony ARK," Shadow said, then walked off.

Robotnik slammed his fist against the side of his Egg Walker.

"ARK?"

But he was getting no more out of Shadow as he walked away,

leaving Robotnik gaping.

As Shadow traveled down the corridor, he heard a fight erupting

in a room, he peaked in, seeing a white hedgehog surrounded by human

guards.

"I tell you, I'm not the intruder! Keep your hands off of me! PUT

DOWN THAT GUN! AAAA!!!!"

Shadow's first thought was to ignore it. It's none of his business w

hether there's one less hedgehog in this world. But hearing the girls

scream....painful memories. No, no matter how much he wanted to fight it,

he sighed. Stupid humans. He ran in like a black blur, knocking the

humans off their feet.

"What in the world?" she gasped as Shadow stood before her.

"Go! Get outta here before I decide to leave you to die," he

growled.

Frightened, she nodded and ran off down the hall. Shadow watched

for a moment. How or what that girl was doing here, he'll never know...

Shalita ran out of the base, gasping. That wasn't Sonic, but

whoever it was saved her, he sure resembled Sonic. She had been following

Eggman into the base when she heard the alarms go off and was caught by

the humans. She heard someone appraching as she hid behind a tree and

saw the black hedgehog took off. Whoever he was, she was going to follow

him...

Chapter 02: "Enter Rouge"

San Fransisco, Sonic and Sonia's home

June 23rd, 2085

3:15 A.M.

Sonia was up for a drink of water. Sonic was in his room sleeping.

Chaima was sleeping in his own little hammock in Sonic's room. Sonia

could never sleep, not with the fact that Manic was still out there

somewhere, acting strange.

As she was heading back to bed, the window in the living room broke

as military operatives stormed the house. Sonia cried out as one held her

at gunpoint.

"Don't move. It's not you we're after," he said.

"HEY! Get your hands off of me!" Sonic yelped as he was thrown

from his bed, and handcuffed. Sonic tried to struggle until he was

tranqed. He felt his limbs grow weak and slack. It didn't knock him out

so much as it numbed his musles. He could only moan in discomfort as a

guard tossed him over his shoulder and carried him off.

"We'll take this," the guard said, snapping off Sonic and Sonia's

medallion. "So you won't try anything."

Sonic threw a helpless look at Sonia as they took him away, leaving

Sonia shaking in shock.

Also being carried away was Chaima, who protested heavily as they

put him in a small cage and walked off with him.

Desert area

11:08 A.M.

Knuckles the Echidna faced off Rouge the Bat. Between them was

the Master Emerald.

"Just....let it go!" Rouge shouted. "You just don't know WHEN to

give UP, do you?!"

Knuckles just couldn't BELIEVE this girl. "What are you talking

about, that emerald's MINE. You got that?"

Knuckles closed his eyes in frustration as he tried to explain.

"The Master Emerald contains special powers, that neutrulize the

energy of the Chaos Emeralds. That makes it VERY powerful...WHAT THE-"

Knuckles stared in shock as he opened his eyes, seeing a claw

grab the Master Emerald.

"Wha-thief!" Rouge cried.

"Look who's calling WHO a thief..." Knuckles mumbled, as he looked

up to the figure in the Egg Moble.

"I came here following the signal from the emerald," Robotnik

said, looking down at Rouge and Knuckles. "If I'm not mistaken, this

is the Master Emerald, is it not?"

"It's you, Dr. Eggman," Knuckles said in suprise.

"So THAT'S Dr. Eggman," Rouge noted.

"Well now that I have it, I'll just take it with me. Farewell,

knucklehead!" Robotnik called, starting to take off.

"Not if I can help it!" Knuckles said, gliding up under the Egg

Moble, shattering the Master Emerald. Pieces flew in random directions.

"What-?!" Eggman gasped, seeing that the Master Emerald was gone.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!" Rouge cried, she whirled and grabbed

Knuckles by the collar. "What was THAT all about?! And LOOK what you did

to MY emerald!" she screamed, shaking him silly.

Knuckles regained his wits. "I did that to prevent the Master

Emerald to be stolen, you idiot! If it's in pieces, I can restore it.

And by the way, that's not YOUR emerald!"

"Hmm, doesn't matter. I'll look back into it when I get back to

base," Robotnik said, scratching his head, ignoring the two as he flew

off.

Rouge watched the baffled Eggman took off. "I despise ANYONE who

takes jewels from me."

She turned to face Knuckles. "All the world's gems are MINE to

KEEP!"

"Yeah? Well we'll just see about that, bat-girl!" Knuckles

growled.

Wild Canyon, Storm Dance Hall

Knuckles stared at the column of dancing rocks as they floating in

the strong winds. The first shard was close, and he just barely arrived at

that.

"It's close..." he muttered, climbing up one of the pillars. He

looked around, and spotted one of the rocks dancing in the wind had a

hole burned into it. A shard must of shot its way inside the rock...

Dry Lagoon, near a small oasis

Rouge landed, hearing an animal in trouble. Curious, she wandered

over and saw a GIANT turtle being guarded by two military robots.

What would the military want with a turtle? Rouge thought. That's

pretty low! She ran over, and gave a good kick attack to one robot. As

she rocketed into the air from impact, she glided over and drill-dived

into the other bot.

The turtle popped its head out of its shell. "Oh thank you!

Those two robots were pretty scary and wouldn't go away!"

"It's not a problem," Rouge grinned, following the tutle as it

slid across the ground and into the small oasis. "I have a question.

Have you seen any shards of green emerald?"

"Yeah! 3 of them. In fact, there's one behind you!" the turtle

said.

Rouge turned around, spotting the emerald. "Well I'll be. I musta

missed it when I destroyed those two robots!" she said.

Wild Canyon, near a stone head

Above Storm Dance Hall, on a sandy path, Knuckles sensed another

emerald nearby. He looked around and saw a supended platform above him.

As he climbed up the wall and onto the platform, he found one of the

military robots guarding the platform. In its grip was an emerald shard.

"Oh brother," he mumbled. "Stupid robot must of mistaken it for a

chaos emerald."

Knux had learned that the military was VERY uptight about chaos

emeralds and wanted all of them before they fell into the wrong hands.

He knew that if he fought the robot, he was gonna be marked as a

terrorist. Sheesh, this is gonna be something to clear up...

Knuckles had no choice but to fight.

Dry Lagoon

"So where are the other two pieces, friend?" Rouge asked.

"Over in the big oasis. To get there, you'd need to swim through

the tunnel. But the curret is VERY strong. I can get you there quickly

if you ride on my back," the turtle said.

"Alright...thank you," she said, hopping onto the turtle's back.

On the other side, as the turtle rose, Rouge spotted the next

emerald right on shore.

"Thank you!" she called to her friend.

"Good luck to you!" he called back.

Wild Canyon

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Knux sighed, as he clung to a

windmill. The last emerald was right in front of it, and it was no easy

task to get it as it hung high in the air. The windmill made another

pass by it, but Knux missed.

"Geesh, this is harder than I thought!" he grumbled, getting ready

for another pass.

As he came up to it, he made a flying leap, catching it.

"I got it!" he whooped.

Dry Lagoon

"I got it!" Rouge cheered, snatching the last emerld. It wasn't

very far. Just down a sandy path under a stone head. She put the emerald

shards in her backpack and sighed. "I've a long ways to go.."

Suddenly her communicator beeped.

"This is Rouge....yes? On my way.."

Rouge sighed. "Looks like the Master Emerald will have to wait..."

Chapter 03: "City Escape"

A helicoptor above San Fransisco...

Sonic groaned as he felt his strength returning. He was inside a

helicoptor, possibly still in San Fransisco. He had to get outta here and

find out what's going on! He looked down and found a paper clip. Perfect.

This one of the few times where Manic's picklocking lessons come in

handy...

Above the Capital City

1:27 P.M.

A helicoptor flew high over the city as the pilot radioed into

headquarters.

"Sigma-Alpha 2, heading due south over the city. We're en-route,

everything's a-go!"

"This is Control Tower. We have you on radar. Report cargo satus

of captured hedgehog on-board, over!"

"That's a 10-4. Cargo secured and-WHAT?!"

"Didn't copy that-over-"

"The hedgehog is GONE. He's taken out everyone on-board and-"

"What's wrong?!"

"What in the world?!"

Suddenly the helicoptor door blasted out and Sonic burst out,

grabbing a side of the helicoptor. He flip himself on top of the

weapons wing.

"Freeze! What do you think you're DOING?!" the pilot shouted to

Sonic. "Get that hedgehog!"

"Talk about low budget flights! No food or movies? I'm outta here!"

Sonic said, ripping off a panel of helicoptor and strapping it to his

feet. "I like running better!"

Sonic took a flying leap off the helicoptor, sky-diving and finally

rotating like a helicoptor to slow his descent. "YEAH!"

On the ground, a cop was sitting in a parking lot, watching the

peacful city of downtown San Fransisco traffic pass by.

Suddenly out of nowhere, a hedgehog ploped on top of the cop car,

leaping off...and....board down the hill?

"What the-?!" the cop choked. He radioed into headquarters. "This is

Car 27, like to report a blue hedgehog heading due south down Sunset

Blvd! Suspect identified as Sonic the Hedgehog, riding on what looks like

to be a snowboard."

"Copy that. All units in area are to be en-route after suspect."

"That's a 10-4," the cop said, turing on his sirens and speeding

off after the hedgehog.

Cop cars screamed to life as a dispatcher raidoed through.

"Attention all units! Suspect seen heading south! Block all major

roads, and capture the suspect!"

Sonic looked behind him. "They think they can catch me? HAH!"

As Sonic careened down the road, he didn't have a lot of options

but to go straight, as all intersections were blocked.

As Sonic came to the end of the line, he had no choice but to

leap over the fence and into the park, as all the roads were blocked.

"Hah! They can NEVER catch this hedgehog!" Sonic laughed. He ran

out of the park and down one of the side roads, smirking. He leaped

up on top of a building to lose the coppers, then ran down the other

side of the building, leaping off the side and caught a bar. He swung

humself onto a guard-rail, and grinded down it. He leaped off it

and ran down the road. Sonic set it to a cruise, sighing. "Safe..."

Suddenly out of nowhere, a military semi burst through a stack of

wooden crates, careening after the hedgehog.

"AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Sonic yelped, pouring on the speed as he ran

down the street. "Is that driver CRAZY?!"

Sonic ran ahead, seeing a building with a built in tunnel, made for

small cars...and hedgehogs.

"One chance!" Sonic growled, running through the tunnel.

The semi crashed into the building, and Sonic only prayed that

the people in that building were alright. However, he had FINALLY lost

the military and coppers. and sighed.

Chao Island

"Hey, don't I even get a phone call?!" Chaima protested as a

guard carried the struggling chao to the building ahead.

It was some kind of school/daycare center as Chaima could see

drawings posted all along the wall. The guard took Chaima to a room...

where an older chao was sitting at a desk.

"Yes, can I help you?" the older chao asked.

"Yes, we had arrested this chao's owner early this morning and

would like to keep him here until someone can call adoption for the guy."

the guard said.

"Ahhh....one of THOSE cases," the chao said. "I'll take care of

this from here."

The guard nodded and left. Chaima folded his arms.

"Hello there, son. I'm the principal of Chao Dreams Daycare and

kindergarden. What's you're name?"

"Chaima. What's going on? Why was I taken away from Sonic?" he

asked.

"Your owner was taken away, and any chao without an owner is

brought hetre to be adopted."

"Adopted?! I dun wanna be adopted! I want Sonic!" Chaima cried.

"Calm down son. Here, come on, I'll take you to the classroom.

Why don't you try to make some friends while we straighten this out,

huh?"

Chaima sniffled. "Okay..."

Chapter 04: "Shadow's Past"

San Francisco

Shalita sighed, skating down the street. The military's after her,

thinking she's some spy for Robotnik. She needed a discuse.

"What am I gonna do?" she sighed. "First I lose that black hedgehog,

now I don't even have a discuise...."

Shalita passed a comic book shop, stopped, and back up. In the

window was a comic, about an exteme sports person who saves people

using their talents.

"I wish I could do something like that. The only thing I can do

is roller blade...."

She stopped. "hey...that's it! All I need now is an outfit!"

An hour later found Shalita back on the street, looking like a

SERIOUS skater.

"Look out world, cause here comes Shalita, speed blader of the

stars....no...I need a hero title for me.....now if only I could find

that black hedgehog again..."

She shrieked as an alarm sounded, then sighed. It was the bank

alarm. The Federal Reserve was being robbed.

"Shalita to the rescue!" she shouted, blading towards the bank,

when a black blur speeded past her.

"Never mind..." she noted. "I'll follow that black hedgehog

culprit!"

Later that night

San Francisco, Golden Gate Bridge

Shadow stood atop of the supension cord as police screeched at

the bottom, in attempt to chase after him.

"Hmph! How pathetic!" he smirked.

He suddenly closed his eyes, a memory coming back to him.

Alarms screamed as they ran down the hall, panting as they went

from all the running.

"Find them before they escape!" a guard screamed.

The two of them were tiring out. "Whew......whew...."

The next thing Shadow remembered was the gunshot and him

screaming. "MARIA!!!!"

After that, he remembered the tube dropping over him, enclosing

him in the space capsule. "What-?"

He looked over, seeing the human girl clutching at her chest

where she was shot, slumping over the control console. "Shadow..." she

panted. "I beg of you....please....do it for me-"

"Maria!" Shadow screamed again.

"For all the people...on that planet....Sayranora....Shadow...

the Hedgehog..."

The memory ended there.

"Maria, I still remember what I promised you...for all the people

on this planet...I promise you....REVENGE!" he growled, then ran off.

Shalita peeked from the shadows of the bridge. "Man, this guy

has REAL issues....lesse Ranay....should I or shouldn't I kick his butt?

Yes? No? Save him or not? Oh geez...."

Shal sighed. "I have the strangest concience..."

She bladed after Shadow.

Shadow bladed down the highway. The bridge was pretty long, and a

wrong move could send him over the edge. The weird part was that half

the guards after him were hesitant in firing, though he couldn't

understand why.

I knew they'd be suprised...but these guys are shocked...Shadow

thought. He leaped off a dead end where construction of the bridge was

still going on and grinded down the suspention rope. He had the vague

feeling he was being trailed so he took a few daring leaps from bridge

section to another to lose whoever was on his tail. But it was enough

of a distraction for the military planes to find him as he ran down the

bridge. The planes started bombing the supension bridge.

Faster, Hedgehog! You're losing your touch! Shadow beared as he

poured on speed only matched by one other person.

He reached the end of the bridge.

Home free! he thought as he bladed off the bridge.

Out of nowhere, he was suddenly jumped by military robots.

"No!!!" he cried, as he was grounded, slamming hard into the

pavement. "I...won't...LOSE!!!!!"

"KYAAAAA!!!!!" Shalita shrieked, roundhousing a robot, and

shooting another with her gun.

Shadow was able to get up and spindash the other two robots apart.

He turned to Shalita.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?!" he asked, bewildered that

someone just saved him.

"Deciding whether or not if I regret saving your butt, but HEY,

I'm ONLY returning the favor," Shalita said.

"You-?! You're that girl from the base! Are you following me?"

"So what if I am? Maybe I just wanna say 'thanks' for you helping

me out," Shal said.

"You were just lucky," he grumbled. "I'm not suddenly your hero or

something."

"And I'm not expecting you to be. I can take care of myself,"

Shalita said.

"Like you did back at the base?" Shadow snapped. "Look, follow me

AGAIN, and I will personally kill you, or let you die, whichever comes

first!"

"Look, I at LEAST want a name, THEN I'll leave you alone to play

your little roll as bad boy," Shalita said, folding her arms.

"If you're SO persistant as to follow me all the way out here

for THAT, it's Shadow. There. Okay, we're even, runt, so GET LOST!"

Shadow growled.

"I know, you've done enough," Shalita said, skating off just like

that. Shadow watched her leave. He wasn't expecting that. He shook his

head and ran off before more military guards found him.

Chapter 5: "Big Foot"

Downtown San Francisco

Sonic had been running from the police all day. The only thing he

had to protect him was his own natural abilities. His medallion, made of

chaos emerald, was taken away, so he couldn't use the energy. As he

stood in an empty intersection, he sighed.

"This game of tag is BORING. I'm outta here!" he said. He turned

around and saw a giant robot standing in front of him.

"Hmm, finally decided to show up, eh? Bring it on!" Sonic called.

The pilot of the robot radioed into headquarters. "Spider troop's

Big Foot, reporting to headquarters! Intruder has been located."

"Copy that," the dispatcher replied.

Sonic watched as Big Foot leaped into the air, and started strafing,

showering the concrete with a barrage of bullets. Similar to the battle

fought on Prision Island with Shadow, Sonic dodged the bullets. Big Foot

landed and fired four missles at Sonic, all which were easily dodged.

Sonic leaped up and attacked the cockpit.

Two more times this attack pattern happened, both ending with Sonic

damaging Big Foot further. The pilot radioed in franticly to HQ.

"This is Spider troop's Big Foot! Big Foot to Headquarters! We've

engaged the enemy and request backup!"

Big Foot leaped into the air, and shooting at Sonic furiously

with bullets, landing, and firing the rest of his missles at the

hedgehog. No score as Sonic leaped up and attacked Big Foot.

"WHAT?! For just ONE HEDGEHOG?!" the pilot screamed as Big Foot

collasped.

"Hey guy! Take care!" Sonic laughed, brushing his hands off. He

surveyed the scene, turning back towards Big Foot, deciding whether or

not he should at least pull the pilot out of the robot.

"WHAT?!" Sonic gasped, seeing the figure standing atop the

wreckage. There was a black hedgehog that looked JUST LIKE him!

The black hedgehog held up his prize, not even noticing his

doppleganger approaching him.

"It all starts with this....a jewel containing the ultimate

power..." he murmured.

"That's the...Chaos Emerald!" Sonic gasped.

Shadow looked down seeing the blue hedgehog apprach him. Where

did THIS fool come from?

"NOW I know what's going on!" Sonic called. "The military has

mistaken me for the likes of you!"

Shadow glared down at the hedgehog. Who IS this guy?

"So, where do you think YOU'RE going with THAT emerald?" Sonic

yelled in fury, rushing at Shadow. "SAY SOMETHING, you FAKE HEDGEHOG!"

Shadow lifted the chaos emerald and concentrated. "Chaos....

CONTROL!"

Sonic saw a bright light and Shadow dissappeared.

Time had stopped for Shadow as he ran past the frozen Sonic.

Leaping onto the building, time started again, leaving Sonic to whirl

around and face Shadow.

"Wow...he's fast! Hey...it's not his speed! He must be using the

chaos emerald to warp!"

"My name is Shadow," the black hedgehog called. "I'm the world's

ultimate life-form. There's no time for games.....FAREWELL!"

Shadow used the gem to warp yet again, dissappearing from

Sonic's sight.

"KUU!" Sonic yelped, covering his eyes from the bright light.

"Shadow....what IS he??"

Before Sonic knew what had happened, he was suddenly surrounded by

police, military robots and guards.

"Don't move! STAY WHERE YOU ARE!!! Keep your hands in the air"

the captian growled.

"WHAT?!" Sonic gasped. "Not again....!"

Chao Island

Chaima was in the mess hall, eating dinner and watching the TV,

when he saw Sonic on TV.

"Hey, turn it up!" Chaima called to someone as they turned up the

TV.

"-just moments ago, Sonic the Hedgehog was arrested for the second

time today, and is being taken to Prision Island under heavy guard.

Earlier today, he had broken into the Federal reserve bank, and stolen

a Chaos Emerald. Sources say they have no idea why the hedgehog had

snapped since last evening, when he was found breaking into Prision

Island's military base..."

"Aw COME ON! Sonic wouldn't do that!!!" Chaima protested. "At

least...not without a good reason..."

"-in other news, police are still on the look out for this

woman-" the newscaster reported, bringing up a piture of a white

hedgehog.

"SHALITA?!" Chaima cried.

"-identified as Shalita Ranay, she was last seen early this

evening assiting Sonic the Hedgehog, destroying two military robots.

If you have any information leading to the arrest of her, please call

our hot line at-"

Chaima sighed. This world is MESSED UP.

Chapter 06: "Hidden Base Again!"

Desert area

8:22 P.M.

Robotnik, in his Egg Walker, stood before the old ruins. This was

once a marvalous city, before World War III erupted in 2012. Robotnik

momentarily thought on how World War III ended in 2016 with the signing

of the World peace document, and the first World Capital was settled

in San Francisco, United States.

The United Nations needed a military force to keep the peace, and

G.U.N. was born.

G.U.N. General military of the United Nations. They were

responsible for the shut-down of the Shadow Project. They're everywhere

now, trying to hunt down Robotnik. But now with the revelation revealed

in Gerald Robotnik's diary...Robotnik laughed.

"Those idiots will never find my hidden base inside this pyraimid.

Let's take care of business here first, THEN get inside."

Robotnik took off, shooting down the military robots. In the

distance, two females were watching the scene.

"Hmm...a time traveller from the future...comes to the past to

unleash a weapon of destruction....I think this man is the key I need

to getting rid of HER..." one said.

"You're treading on thin ice, Kal. This world could be destroyed

before then, and even if it survives, unleashing HER would destroy the

world anyway," the other said.

"If you object to this so much, Aushatara, then why did you

nickname yourself after your favorite weapon?"

"That's none of your business, Kalita. Right now, I got business

to attend to..."

Kalita grumbled as Aushatara left.

15 minutes later found Robotnik inside his base, where Manic and

Sabre were waiting for him.

"So...how did it go...?" Sabre asked.

Robotnik didn't answer as he marched past them, grumbling.

"What's with him?" Sabre whispered to Manic.

"No clue, Sabre."

Robotnik entered the communications room, grumbling to himself.

"With the Chaos Emerald....in the space colony ARK....hmph. I've

got to find out just what's going on up there..."

The console beeped, indicating an incoming news report. Robotnik

tapped the console, turning on the DreamNews station. The console

hummed to life.

"We interrupt this broadcast for an important news flash," the

brittish voice announced on-screen. "There has been a break-in at the

federal reserve bank today. Mysteriously, the only thing that was stolen

was the Chaos Emerald-"

"The chaos emerald?!" Robotnik growled, slamming his fist against

the console.

A video feed showed Shadow standing atop of the bridge as police

gathered around him.

"According to eye-witnesses at the scene, the suspect was

identified as the world renowned hero Sonic the Hedgehog. The suspect

was seen fleeing the scene, destroying the reserve's guard robots in his

path. Stay tuned for more details-"

"Sounds more like the work of Shadow!" Robotnik said, turning off

the the satelitte feed. NOW things were getting interesting.

Chapter 07: "Infiltrate Hidden Base"

Inside the Pryamid

10:18 P.M.

Rouge stood inside the pryamid, calling on her communicator.

"This is Rouge. I've located Eggman's base, and will proceed to

enter it now."

She sighed, putting her communcator away. "I hate to say it....I

guess I'm going to have to find that key first..."

Rouge was somewhere inside the security hall of the pryamid, and

there was this awful flying robot guard flying around, monitoring the

area. Rouge peeked around the corner, checking every place it might be

in. Nothing here in the red room. She proceeded to the green room. She

heard the beetle guard apprach the area and couched in the shadows until

it passed. When she thought it was safe, she peeked around the corner

and ran into the beetle guard. An alarm sounded, and Rouge dived for

cover before she was blasted by hawk bot guards.

"Stupid robots..." she grumbled, brushing herself off. She stopped,

spotting something shiny in the ground.

"Well well well....what's this?" she grinning, scraping away some

of the dirt and grine from the object.

"Very clever, Eggman. Hiding the key in an obvious place."

Entering the room, Rouge gained access to the computer console.

She gasped. "It's a space transporter!" She tapped into the data

base to gather more info. "The destination has been set to....ARK?"

She turned away, thinking for a moment. "What's that space colony

shut down over 50 years ago?"

She turned back to the console to log off. "What's he doing up

there anyway?"

She sighed again. "Doesn't matter. It's my mission to find out

what he's up to!"

San Francisco

Shal sighed as she toss her pack aside, settling into her apartment.

She had been earlier to see her friend Toni just hours ago, after the

last encounter with Shadow. Shalita asked her to do some background info

on this character. Toni said she should have the results by morning. So

as Shalita went to go to bed, she gasped as she walked into her room,

and found military guards with guns pointing to her head.

"Craaaaap!" she whined.

Chapter 08: "Gathering of the Dark"

Inside the space colony ARK

10:41 P.M.

Robotnik sat in his Egg Walker, staring at the door before him.

"So THIS is the space colony ARK. I have to locate the central

control room that Shadow mentioned before he left..."

Robotnik took off down the dark hall, on his way to find the

control room.

An hour later, Eggman found it. And standing there, waiting, was

Shadow.

"I've been waiting for you, doctor," Shadow said, tapping into a

huge control console. "Now, I will show you the glorious achivements of

what the world's leading scientist, Professor Gerald, has created...."

The console started to power up, giving life to the screen. "The

ARK was the first space colony created by mankind. Not many people

know that the ARK contained a top secret reseach facility, where

weapons of mass destruction were being created. This is one of them...."

Shadow gestures to the large machine behind him. "A weapon

capible of destroying an entire planet, Codenamed.....the Eclipes

Cannon."

Robotnik was thoughtful on this. "Destroying an entire planet...

was this my grandfather's legacy?'

"BUT..." Shadow inturpted. "It's been deactived for some time

now..."

Shadow tossed the chaos emerald he had into a console, and the

machine started buzzing to life.

"To reactivate it, large amounts of energy are nessicary..."

"Oooh. So THAT'S why we needed the Chaos Emerald..." Robotnik

said.

"Exactly!" Shadow said. "To reactivate the machine, we need the

seven chaos emeralds. Once you have that, then you have the ultimate

power of destruction to use as you please..."

Shadow looked over his shoulder at Robotnik. "And then...the

world could be YOURS..."

Robotnik laughed. "Mwahahaha! Sounds like a plan! I like the way

you think, Shadow! I will get the chaos emeralds, use the machine to

dominate the world, and build a legacy of my own-"

"Do you REALLY think it'll be THAT easy?" a voice interurpted.

The two looked up and saw a female white bat hanging upside-down on

the ceiling. She leaped down, landing in front of them.

"I've got a GREAT idea. How about making a deal?" she asked.

"A DEAL?" Robotnik asked, suspicious of this new character that's

coming into play. He vaguely remembered seeing her somewhere before...

"When you grabbed that huge emerald, you said something about a

reaction. A reaction that it had with the Master Emerald. Now, if you

could just let me borrow that radar, I may be able to help you! What

do ya think?"

NOW Robotnik remembered where he saw her. She's that female that

was with Knuckles when he grabbed the Master Emerald earlier this

morning. "If I DO.....what's in it for me?"

"I have an idea where the other chaos emeralds may be." she said,

flying into the air, holding up a chaos emerald of her own. "It may not

look like it, but did you know that I am a treasure hunter that

specializes in ALL kinds of jewels...?"

Robotnik thought long and hard on this one. "Very well."

"Okay then, it's a deal? I don't think we've been introduced. I'm

Rouge the Bat, but you can call me Rouge."

Prision Island: Coastline

June 24th, 2085

11:13 A.M.

The three stood in the midst of the island, making sure there

weren't any guards around.

"Having to come back isn't my idea of a VACATION!" Robotnik growled.

"How can you be sure your intellegence reports are correct? Why would

the chaos emeralds be here on the island? Are you absoluely sure???"

"Well..." Rouge said, folding her arms. "Believe what you want to

believe."

"Hmph," Robotnik grunted. "Very well! Very well...let's discuss

how we are going to do this. I will go in first and distract the military

troops, allowing you to sneak in the base without being detected. Then,

Shadow will enter the armory, where he will set the timer on these

dynamite packs. Once that is in place, we will blow up the whole island

and get away before anyone has a chance to know what hit them. Meanwhile,

you have to sneak into the cargo area and grab the chaos emeralds. That's

a challenge for such a worthy treasure hunter such as yourself, eh bat

girl?"

Rouge winked and gave the thumbs up signal. "We only have 30

minutes to pill this mission off, and we only get one try, so DON'T

fail me!"

Chapter 09: "Get Chaos Emeralds"

Robotnik blasted across the base, shooting everything in sight,

causing a big scene. Considering the fight that the military put up the

other night, this should be child's play.

It didn't take very long to destroy the frontal attack that the

military bots were set up for. A lot of them weren't even activated,

the attack was so quick.

"Okay, everyone ready?" Robotnik called. "Shadow, Rouge, on with

the show!"

Shadow didn't take even one step when a pair of arms grabbed him from

behind and started hugging. Shadow's eyes widen, suprised. What in the

world-

"Oh Sonic! I thought I'd never see you again!" a girl squeeled,

hugging him tighter. "I'm so glad you made it!"

The girl, a pink hedgehog, felt tension coming from the hedgehog

she was hugging and slowly inched away. Shadow turned his head to face

the girl.

"You're not Sonic!" the hedgehog yelped. "Who are you?!"

Robotnik turned around, revealing his face to the girl. "I'M

the one who should be asking that!"

"Dr. Eggman! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" the girl screamed, whirling

around and running away.

"ARRRGH! Amy, your timing is impeccible!" Robotnik growled. He

turned to Shadow and Rouge. "Leave this to me, I'll take care of it," he

said, putting on his goggles. "You two, GO!"

Robotnik approached Amy menicingly. "Give up, Amy!"

Shalita protested as she was thrown into a cell. "I WANT MY

LAWYER!!!" she screamed.

She sighed as she plopped onto the floor.

"So they got you too?" a voice from the next cell called.

Shalita's eyes widened, and called. "Sonic?! That you?!"

"Yeah! You okay?!"

"I'm fine....but why are you in here?"

"They mistook me for that stupid fake hedgehog!"

"You mean...Shadow?" Shalita asked.

"You seen him?"

"Seen him, saved him, unfortunitely."

"...care to explain WHY?"

"He saved my butt the other night when I was tailing Eggman.

Military troops thought I was a spy. I saw him last night being chased

by them on the Golden Gate Bridge, and...well....I had to return the

favor."

"Okay, so your even. Now what?"

"Well, I got a friend doing some reseach on this guy's history. I

was gonna get answers today before I was thrown in here."

"The military has SUCH perfect timing," Sonic said sarcasticly.

"Don't I know it," Shalita sighed.

Chapter 10: "Rescuing Sonic"

Prision Island: Nearby Airspace

11:56 A.M.

Miles "Tails" Prower flew over the water, approaching the island

in his blue plane, the Tornado 2.

"There's no mistake about it! This must be the island! It's a

secret military base that is reinforced and super strong! It's called

Prision Island. I found the news about it on Satelitte TV. I still can't

believe that Sonic destroyed the military buildings, OR rob the bank!

Wait for me, okay Sonic? I'm on my way!"

Tails looked ahead and down. "What?!"

Down below, he could see Amy being cornered by Dr. Robotnik on

solid ground. "Hey! Look, it's Amy! And Eggman too! What's Amy DOING

here?!"

Tails' face turned stern. "Doesn't matter! I have to help Amy,

cause she's in danger!"

Tails tapped into the console as he apprached land. "Tornado...

transformation!"

Tails' plane converted from a plane to a machine walker, and landed

on solid ground in front of Amy, putting himself between her and Robotnik.

"Tails!" Amy cried.

"Stand back, Amy!" Tails siad.

Robotnik laughed. "You're just in time! You won't be able to beat

me!"

"Laser Missle, Power up!" Tails cried.

"Powering Laser missle," Robotnik growled. The two fired at each

other. Tails weaved around avoiding the missle. But Robotnik got the

worse of it.

"Argh! NOW you made me mad!" he growled. "Firing Rocket launcher!"

"Rocket Launcher, FIRE!" Tails cried. Tails ducked as Robotnik's

rocket soared passed him and into the open sea.

Tails' rocket hit.

"ARGH! Now I'm going to destroy you all! FIRING Power Laser!"

Robotnik yelled.

"Power laser, FIRE!" Tails cried. The two lasers hit each other.

It was now a struggle of who's laser was more powerful. Slowly, but

surely, Tails was winning, until it backfired on Robotnik.

"Darn! I let my guard down!" Robotnik growled, his main weaspon

destroyed.

"Yeah! I did it!" Tails cried.

Robotnik looked at his watch and growled. "This time I'll let

you go. But the next time we meet, you won't be so lucky!"

Robotnik marched off in his walker, grumbling along the way.

Amy ran up to Tails. "Wow, Tails! You did it! But...what are you

doing here on this island?"

Tails glared down at her. "I'M the one who should be asking THAT

question. Don't you know it's dangerous here?"

Amy could only smile. "I know! But I'm here to save my hero,

Sonic!"

Tails sighed in frustration, throwing up his hands in despair.

"AGAIN?"

"Hurry!" Amy pleaded. "I know Eggman is up to no good again!"

"Okay! You stay here and I'll be right back!" Tails said, marching

off. Amy glared after the fox.

"Don't leave without ME! I wanna help Sonic too!" she cried,

running off after him.

Chapter 11: "Prision Lane"

It was quiet inside the prison as Tails and Amy wandered through

the area.

"This place sure is creepy," Amy noted.

"Yeah. We need a plan," Tails said.

"Been there, got one," Amy said. She smirked.

"As long as it's better than that last haire-brained idea you

pulled back there. Be glad I was nearby to save you!" Tails mumbled.

"Whatever!" Amy said rolling her eyes.

All of the sudden, lights shone down on them.

"Freeze! You're under arrest!" a guard shouted.

"How'd they find us?!" Amy yelped.

Tails pointed up. "THAT'S HOW!"

Amy looked and saw the security camera. She growled. "THAT'S IT!

No more Ms. Nice Rose!"

Amy pulled out a long stick that had a button on it. She pressed

it and the tip converted into a hammer head.

"Amy, DON'T!" Tails cried.

Too late. Amy wacked the nearest bot to her and crushed it.

"Great, so much for reasoning. Now we're marked as terrorists,"

Tails groaned. He targeted the security camera and fired, destoying it.

"Amy! I'll keep the guards busy! You find Sonic, and meet me on the

other side of the island!"

"Right!" Amy said, she looked down at a guard she wacked, and

found a security card. "Perfect!" she grinned.

Amy creeped down the halls, hiding in the shadows as more guards

ran past. She carefully climbed into the vent, and crawed down the path.

"If this what running missions in Robotropolis is about, then

sign me up for the Freedom Fighters!" she giggled.

Sonic paced back and forth in the jail cell, stretching, and

keeping energetic.

He whirled, hearing a clanging and Amy Rose popping out of the

vent. "Huh? Amy?"

"Shh! Keep your voice down! Have no fear!" she smiled, doing a

whirl, pulling out the security card she stole. "Amy Rose is here!"

"How'd you get here?" Sonic asked.

"Well, if you gotta know, I caught a ride with Tails!" she

grinned. She folded her arms, waving the security card in front of him.

"Are you SURE you don't need my help? It looks like you could USE it..."

Sonic did some lunges, stretching his legs and arms. "The reason

I'm IN here is because of that FAKE hedgehog!"

"You mean...that black hedgehog?" Amy asked.

Sonic ran to the bars. "Did you see it?! Where is it now?"

Amy grinned. "If I tell ya, will you marry me?"

"NO WAY!" Sonic growled, folding his arms.

"I thought I had you this time!" Amy snapped, and slid the security

card through the scanner, opening the cell. "That black hedgehog came

here with Dr. Eggman!"

"So Eggman's behind this, huh?" Sonic asked, walking out and

away from the cell.

Amy peeked into the cell and saw all sorts of calculations and

formulas written on the wall

"What's with all the writing on the wall anyway? Did you write

that?" Amy asked, looking around. Sonic was nowhere in sight.

"Wait for me, Sonic!" Amy called. She growled, folding her arms,

running after him. "He's such a BRAT sometimes!"

Sonic took the card Amy had and slid open Shalita's jail cell

door. Sonic approached the sleeping hedgehog laying on the bed. He ran a

hand through her hair, waking her.

"Hey Shal," he smiled softly. "Ready to get outta here?"

"Hmm? Yeah..." she smiled as Sonic scooped her up.

"Let's book it!"

Outside, Sonic, Shalita, and Amy stood.

"Where to from here?" Sonic asked.

"We'll have to cut across Metal Harbor. Tails is gonna meet us on

the other side of the island," Amy said.

Shalita turned her head, and spied a black figure entering the

base. "You two go on. I have something I need to take care of,"

Shalita said.

"Are you sure?" Sonic asked. "Okay...get back to San Francisco

safely, Shal."

"I will," Shalita said, and bladed off.

Chapter 12: "Security Hall"

Rouge wandered into the safe block area, looking around. This

ought to be easy.

"I'm in position, Doctor. Tell me when," Shadow radioed in.

"There's been an unexpected delay on my end. There's no more

time to waste. Set the timer for 15 minutes! Let's GO, Rouge!" Robotnik

radioed.

"5 minutes should be PLENTY. Here I go!" she grinned, taking

off.

"Rouge, find the chaos emeralds before the military finds you!"

Robotnik warned.

Rouge sighed as she ran alongside the wall of safes. The first

one should be around here somewhere....

A minute passed.

"Rouge! Hurry up! The island is set to explode!" Robotnik yelled

over the radio.

Rouge growled as she struggled to open a safe where her radar is

showing that a chaos emerald is. It clicked open and she grabbed the

emerald.

"Found the first one!" she called. "Only two more!"

She climbed the wall upstairs and discovered a secret room. The

first room was locked.

The second minute passed.

"What are you doing? Get GOING! Bring me the chaos emeralds NOW!"

Robotnik growled.

"Hold on, I think I found something," Rouge said, unlocking the

door. She investigated the room and found a blue medallion. "It looks

like....a chaos emerald in the shape of an instrument!"

Pause.

"Take it. It's still a chaos emerald!" Robotnik radioed.

Rouge decided to investigate the last room.

3 minutes passed.

"What in the world are you DOING? You took LONGER than you were

supposed to!" Robotnik screamed.

"Hang on! I think I found it!" Rouge said pulling out the last

emerald, a pink medallion.

2 minutes to spare, and things only got worse. Alarms sounded

and a military guard bot found her before she could get out.

"I can't believe I've come THIS far, just to fail!" she griped.

"This is Flying Dog to Headquarters," the pilot radioed in.

"Intruder found entering Security Hall. Preparing to attack!"

"Copy that," the dispatcher radioed.

Unlike Shadow or Sonic, who merely played their fights by ear,

Rouge KNEW the attack pattens of these guard bot series.

As the bot leaped into the air and started strifing her, she

leaped onto a wall and clung there as the bot passed. She glided across

the floor as the bot landed, shooting missles at her. She flew toward

the robot, and drill dived into the bot.

Angry, the pilot powered up its laser and started blasting at

her, but missed. He strifed her again, and fired another round of

missles. No dice as Rouge drill dived the bot again.

Two more times this happened, and the pilot was becoming impatient

with his no-hit fires. He was NOT going to fail like Hot Shot and Big

Foot.

"This is Flying Dog to Headquarters. We're taking heavy damage.

Close the Security Hall!" he called. If Flying Dog went down, at least

this bat thief won't get away. He powered up the laser and started

shooting at her like no tommorrow.

Man, Flying Dog is REALLY pulling out all the stops now, Rouge

thought. She sighed. Better get this over with now.

She pulled one last drill dive on him, and Flying Dog stopped,

taking too much damage.

"This can't be possible! The Flying Dog CAN'T be destroyed!" the

pilot yelped, ejecting from the mecha suit.

"Not bad, huh? I'm pretty strong alright!" Rouge yelled.

Shadow was trekking across the island to the rendevous point

when Rouge radioed in.

"This is Rouge. I got a small problem...I can't believe I'm

trapped in this locked safe with the chaos emeralds! I guess I'm not

able to call myself a treasure hunter anymore..."

Shadow's watch beeped. 10 minutes left. He was about to forget

all this and leave, but painful memories of Maria, slumped over the

console, started disturbing him. His thoughts went to Rouge. She was

about to die, along with the island. He growled, tightening his fist.

"Sheesh! Troublemaker!" he growled, taking off back towards

the base.

Chapter 13: "White Jungle"

Shadow air-bladed down the jungle path, finding smooth places to

speed up, like in the fallen open trunks of trees. Rouge....where did

she come from? What's her motive? Surely there's more to her than

what it seemed.

As Shadow grinded against the edge of a trunk, he was suddenly

suprised when guard bots jumped him.

"No way you can catch THIS hedgehog!" he half-smirked,

somersaulting over the bots. "Where did THESE guys come from?"

A stray laser bolt drew his attention to the trunk paralelle to

him. In the distance, grinding on the trunk while being chased by bots

was that girl again!

"What's SHE doing here?!" he growled. He looked again. The stern

look on her face as the bots chased her...it was something he had never

seen before. Someone with the potential of being shot dead in mere

moments should be running franticly. If she was truely running for

her life, wouldn't she be screaming for help?

The answer came soon enough. Her tree trunk ended and she grabbed

a vine, swung around, and kicked one robot into the other, then

somersalting in the air and landing on the next trunk.

Shadow leaped into the air to land on his next trunk. This girl

is really odd, he thought. Maybe she really CAN take care of herself.

But if that's so....why is she following me? What purpose could she

POSSIBLY have to go after me?

Time was running out, but as fast as he was, he had no choice

but to at least warn her about the island.

"Hey! RUNT!" he called.

Shalita's attention was drawn to Shadow. "Shadow! What are you

doing here?!"

"I could ask you the same question, Lady!" Shadow shouted back.

"Escaping from prision, if you have to know!"

Escaping from prision? Why the heck was she BROUGHT here?! Those

military fools did it AGAIN!

"Get outta here! The island is gonna blow up, and I ain't picking

up pieces of YOUR carcass!"

The two landed on a safe spot.

"Island's gonna blow up? Great...well, it's not like I really

LIKE these guys right now..." Shalita said.

"Better hurry. You got 8 minutes left."

"Um...thanks...."

Shalita kinda looked at Shadow for a moment again and turned

to skate off.

"Wait..." Shadow called.

"What?"

"....." Shadow growled. "If we're going to keep running into

each other like this, at least give me YOUR name."

"....why?" Shalita asked.

"So I know what to put on your tombstone."

Shalita sighed. This guy was hopeless. "Shalita Ranay."

As Shalita skated off, Shadow stood there.

Slowly, he started biting his lip. "See ya again...Shalita..."

Chapter 14: "Escape from Prision Island"

Meanwhile, in Metal Harbor, Sonic was riding the side of a

missle. A glitch in the military system set it off, it's destination

to explode in space. Sonic saw it as his ticket off the mase and onto

the main part of the island. Sonic looked down saw where he needed to

land. Too high up! He leaped off, panic-driven, falling fast. He was

gonna be killed if he didn't do something FAST. All options out, there

was only one thing left. He closed his eyes and concentrated hard.

"Ancient spirits of the past, I plead you to hear my call. Grant

me my wings of angel's light, to halt my death-bound fall!" he whispered.

A green glow emitted from his body, and feathered wings burst from his

back. Sonic had called on a power that only he himself can produce. It

is this same power that granted Sonic eternal youth and life. He gently

leveled to the ground, and his wings retracted. He had promised himself

not to use his power unless it was a true emergency. Along with the

power came an extreme condition that if he used the power too long, he

would burn himself out, and he could suffer anything extreme from a

seizure, to a heart attack, or even fall into a coma and die.

Yes, the power was both a blessing and a curse, and Sonic had to

be responsible for it.

He looked around and sighed. "Whew! So far, so good...."

As he said so, a shape of color out of place in the green scenery

of the forest caught his eye. "Hey, thats-"

"That blue hedgehog again, of ALL places!" Shadow cursed.

"I found you, Faker!" Sonic called.

"FAKER? I think YOU'RE the fake hedgehog around here! YOU'RE

comparing yourself to ME? Hah! You're not even good enough to BE my

fake!" Shadow called.

Sonic growled. Deeply. NO ONE calls HIM a liar.

"I'LL MAKE YOU EAT THOSE WORDS!!!!" he yelled as Shadow leaped

from the tree branch.

"There's no time to play games! You won't even get the chance!"

Shadow taunted.

Sonic leaped up and tried a spin-dash. Shadow anticipated that

move and did a spin dash of his own to block Sonic.

This wasn't good, Sonic thought.

"Time to speed up!" they announced at the same time, leaping

into the air, trying to spindash again. This time, Sonic was able to

strike just a bit harder than Shadow.

"UGH!" Shadow groaned, leaping to his feet. Sonic was shocked,

seeing Shadow take a hit then get up again. Apparently, this was no

robot that Robotnik just created.

"I'm the COOLEST!" Shadow grinned, just to make his point, then

spindashed into Sonic.

"Oof!" Sonic grunted. That's it. Sonic has to do something. He

closed his eyes and concentrated.

"What's the matter, faker? In pain?" Shadow laughed, getting

ready to attack him again.

"SONIC WIND!!!" Sonic cried. A great deal of whirling energy

struck Shadow.

"ARGH!" Shadow yelled. That's IMPOSSIBLE! The hedgehog can't

bear any electro-energy...unless he had a chaos emerald with him

somewhere! "Oh, I SEE! So you're NOT JUST a hedgehog!"

So the hedgehog wants to play dirty, huh? Shadow growled, pulling

out a Chaos emerald he had borrowed. "CHAOS SPEAR!"

A charge of lightning struck Sonic from above. "AGH!" he yelped.

Both were low on energy and just about spent.

Sonic remembered how Shadow lost him earlier. It was worth a

shot.

Shadow looked on. The hedgehog was exausted. Now to finish it off-

"TIME STOP!" Sonic yelled, and suddenly dissappeared.

"WHAT?!" Shadow yelped, but didn't have time to react as Sonic

reappeared, giving a sucker punch to Shadow's face.

Shadow grabbed his nose as it started gushing.

"Uuuuugh....not bad...for an imposter..." he growled.

"DO you know who I AM?!" Sonic grinned. He had won this round.

Chao Island

Meanwhile, Chaima sat in the floor of a daycare room, bored, when

a familiar figure ran up to him.

"Chaima! I found you!" Pucha cheered.

"Pucha?! What are you doing here?!" Chaima cried.

"Amy took me here. Left me here while she went to rescue Sonic,"

Pucha pouted.

"Geez, who's ever thought school was like prision?" Chaima sighed.

Chapter 14: "Green Forest"

Sonic and Shadow faced off each other, both ready to tear into

each other again, when Shadow's comm-link beeped.

"Shadow! What are you doing?! Hurry up and get back here before

the island blows up with you ON it!" Robotnik radioed in.

"BLOWS UP?!" Sonic yelped. What in the heck is Robotnik tryin to

prove?! Shadow, still shocked fromthe battle, gave Sonic a glance, and

ran off faster than a scared rabbit.

Sonic looked around, trying to get his bearings.

"I've got to get outta here, and find Amy and Tails right away!"

Sonic gasped, taking off himself.

Shalita bladed towards Sonic, following him. She wasn't able to

keep up with him, but she knew where he was heading. She saw the fight,

and decided now was NOT the best time to follow Shadow some more.

"Sonic! Wait up!" Shalita yelled.

Sonic looked behind him and saw Shalita. "Come on! Grab my hand!"

he yelled.

Shalita raced up and grasped it, and Sonic towed her behind him.

"The island's about to blow!"

"I know! We have 5 minutes to get outta here!" Shalita called

back.

"How do you know?!"

"Shadow told me!!!"

"You ran into him again?! Shal, you gotta stay away from him,

he's DANGEROUS!"

"But Sonic, I'm tryin to gather as much information about him as

I can! I have this bad feeling about something!" Shalita yelled.

"Well knowing that the island's gonna blow up would make ANYONE

feel that way!" Sonic yelled sarcasticly.

"That's not what I meant! Look, I'll talk to you about it when

we get San Francisco. Toni should have that information for me by

now," Shalita said.

"Let's see you get within 10 miles of her place before the police

finds you," Sonic grumbled.

"Whatever. Look, there's Amy and Tails ahead! Let's book it!"

Shalita said.

Chao Island

Chaima and Pucha sat in a corner of the room, when a white chao

walked up to them.

"Hi! You new here?" she asked Chaima.

"Go away," Chaima grumbled. Pucha back-handed Chaima and grinned

nervously. "Sorry, Charika. He's been in a bad mood."

"It's okay. You wanna play a game?" Charika asked.

"Not really. We're not in the mood..." Pucha sighed.

"Why? What happened?"

"Well, his friend got arrested yesterday, and he's stuck here.

And Amy left me here..." Pucha sighed.

"Aww, that's too bad. Maybe we can play on the see-saw later when

the teacher takes us outside!" Charika smiled, then tottered off.

"Who was that?" Chaima asked.

"Charika. She's an angel chao. It means she's nice, but follows

rules, so don't expect escape routes from her," Pucha said. Chaima

grumbled.

"Nuts."

Chapter 15: "The Plot Thickens"

1 minute, 25 seconds, beeped Shadow's watch and he ran for the

compound with all his speed.

1 minute to go as he ran past the guards into the compound.

10 seconds as he found Rouge holding the two medallions and chaos

emerald.

"CHAOS CONTROL!" Shadow called, grabbing the shocked Rouge as

he ran by.

Sonic held Amy and Shalita tight as Tails throttled his plane

in the air. they barely got half a mile out when the island blew,

sending off a shockwave that passed through the waves of the ocean.

ARK

The girl's face reflected in the glass, as she watched the earth

slowly turn, from the comfort of the medical room.

"Shadow, what do you think its like on Earth?" she asked the

dark hedgehog beside her.

"The professor said that his life's work was dedicated to all of

those who lived down there. He once told that the reason for his

existance was making people happy through the power of science," Shadow

explained.

"Shadow..." the girl started.

"Maria, I just don't know anything anymore...I often wonder why

I was created. What my purpose is for being here... Maybe if I go

down there I...I will find the answers...maybe..." Shadow said.

"Maria..."

"Why so melancholy?" Rouge called, interupting Shadow's thoughts

as he stood in the same place he once had conversations with Maria.

"That was so unexpected, so unlike you, Shadow, to come and rescue me..."

she continued. "But your ability to use the Chaos Control certainly

comes in handy!"

"Hmph. You know, I didn't come to save you. I came back for the

chaos emeralds," Shadow said, facing her.

"Yeah yeah, but that's not the whole story, is it?" Rouge asked.

Robotnik interupted them as he entered the room, clearing his

throat. "Everything is ready to go!"

Rouge turned to him. "Are you SURE? We only have 6 of the 7 chaos

emeralds you know!"

"It's more than enough for the demonstration!" Shadow said. "So

let's get the show on the road!"

While Robotnik was under planning session, Rouge found Shadow down

near the teleport, getting ready to head back to Earth.

"Where are YOU going?" Rouge asked.

"Going to keep an eye on that blue hedgehog. Don't want him up

here before the demonstration at the very least," Shadow informed.

Rouge shrugged her shoulders, not giving it a second thought as Shadow

left for the planet.

Shdaow arrived, immeditely hearing the voices of Sabre and Manic

nearby. He listened.

"So how much longer do we gotta keep this up?" Manic asked.

"'Till this mission is over. Once the world is saved, we can go

home. I'll be heading off to find my family," Sabre said.

Shadow gritted his teeth, and was about to go eliminate them,

when he heard the next sentance start up.

"Manic, do you have a girlfriend?"

"Well...not yet, but I kinda like someone..."

"Who's that?"

"Her name is Sierra.....she's really beautiful and smart..."

"How long have you liked her?" Sabre asked.

"A few months now..." Manic said.

"Manic! I'm suprised you didn't ask her on a date!" Sabre said.

"I know. The way things been going, thou, I think that when I

see her again...I'll tell her how I feel..."

Shadow bit his lip. The world was about to destroyed, and Shalita

doesn't know. Why would he care? Does he...LIKE....her? He closed his

eyes, thinking of Maria. He liked Maria. But then....she was gone.

Should he let Shalita perish like she did? He tightened his fist. He

better find her...

Chapter 16: "Pumpkin Hill"

In a mountainous region

5:30 P.M.

The sun was starting to set in the mountians as Knuckles looked

around.

"This place sure feels haunted..." he said quietly. "There's no

time to lose. I HAVE to hurry and find the Master Emerald..."

Meanwhile, a set of figures watched him.

"Is it the one?" one asked.

"Yes. The one bearing the cresent moon on its chest. Destroy it

before it is too late," another voice said.

"Church Mountain," Knucles read aloud, reading the sign of the

first mountian he glided to. He looked around. "Not too shabby. Creepy

graveyard though.."

As he walked around, he passed wierd-shaped tombstone heads. One

was shaped like a skull.

As soon as he walked past it, the skull shot out a flame of fire.

"Yow! Well, someone must of accidently turned up the gas too

much..." Knux said. He inspected the skull and found a knob. He turned

it, and the flame went out. "There! Now it's not a fire hazard!"

He grinned, glad to be of service to whoever lived in the area. He

looked up to an old rotted tree. "Hey! A shard!" He grabbed it and

walked away, putting the shard in his knapsack.

From behind the skull, a ghost pushed on another ghost and started

arguing about how much of a lousy aim it had.

Knuckles landed on Pumpkin Mountian, and no wonder! Everywhere he

walked, there were pumpkins everywhere! He saw another sign.

"Pumpkin Field. Well, cute name for the place..." he said. He

stopped, looking at the ground. "Hey! Here's a shard!"

He bent over to pick it up, never noticing the pumpkin flying over

him. A nearby ghost that was about to toss one at Knux himself was

bashed by the pumpkin and fell to the ground, dissappearing. Knux heard

the splat and looked.

"Hey wait a minute... that's not nice. That could of been a nice

pumpkin pie!" he complained. "Someone else is DEFINITELY around here!"

The ghost that had tossed the pumpkin slapped its forehead as the

echidna glided off towards Ghost Train Mountian. One could only hope...

On Ghost Train Mountian, Knux looked around the long forgotten

train track.

"The next one is around here somewhere..." he said. He heard a

train whistle.

"Huh? So someone IS here. Great, maybe I could ask him a few

questions..."

He didn't get the chance. The bright light shoned as a train

started bearing down on him.

"Is that guy CRAZY! He'll get himself killed!" Knux yelped,

leaping out of the way.

Inside the the engine room, the ghost cursed for missing, but

screamed when he realized he was heading for a wall.

The train crashed into the wall and Knux sighed.

"Doesn't look like anyone was in it, thank goodness," he noted.

"Hey, here's the shard!"

He ran to the caboose and grabbed it, grinning.

"Good, now I can get out of here!" he said, gliding off.

The dazed ghost popped out of the train window. That echidna is

tough to kill...

Chapter 17: "Learning Something New"

San Francisco

Shalita entered the small store. A mink behind the counter gasped,

leaping up.

"Whoa Toni! I'm NOT dead yet, but I WILL be if you scream and

those military guards outside hear you," Shalita said.

The mink gasped. "Oh geez, Shal. You gave me a heart attack this

morning when I saw the news-"

"Yeah yeah, I know. Shut up and give me the details. What do

ya know?" Shal asked, irritated.

"Not much. There is NO record of a Shadow Hedgehog in the

records-HOWEVER-"

"However...?" Shalita asked.

"However, considering that the military is so hell-bent on

finding this guy, I hacked into the military system to pull up ANYTHING.

And came across something called 'Project Shadow'..."

"PROJECT? Are you saying he's not a real person?" Shalita asked.

"I don't know all the details myself, because all the information

was left in the military lab on Prision Island..."

Shalita slapped herself. "WHICH just BLEW UP!"

"Sorry, girl..." Toni could only say.

"Perfect..." Shalita sighed, hitting her head against the wall.

"Hey, if it makes you feel better, you want to look at the new

shipment of porcelean dolls we just got in? I'll let ya keep one,"

Toni said.

"Hmm? Oh...sure, okay..." Shalita said, walking to the back

of the store with her.

Toni pulled out a set of dolls for Shal to see. "They come

straightr from China."

"They're beautiful! I like these two here," Shal said,

pointing.

"They're cool. Which one you want?"

"Not sure. What do you think?"

"Dunno..."

"What do they do?" someone asked.

The two turned around, facing a familiar hedgehog.

"Shadow!" Shal gasped. "What are YOU doing here?!"

"None of your business. Answer my question, runt."

"Care to REPEAT it, bad boy?" Shalita growled.

"Yeah. What do THOSE things do?" Shadow re-stated.

"Ummm...not much...."

"Then why do you want one?"

Toni growled, but Shalita held her back. "If you REALLY want to

know, they remind me of my mother!"

Shadow's face twisted from seriousness, to confusion.

"What?" Shalita asked.

"What's a mother...?" Shadow asked quietly.

Shalita's face softened. "You mean you don't even know...?"

"No...uhhhh....who cares?" Shadow grumbled.

Shalita sighed, knowing he was only masking his emerging

curiosity.

"I'm outta here..." Toni said, walking out on this strange

conversation.

Shalita and Shadow were now alone...

"So...what is a mother?" Shadow repeated, dropping the act.

"A mother....she is a female person that...created you and cares

for you..." Shalita said.

"A female....I wasn't created by a female though...Professor

Gerald was a man. A great one who cared for me at that," Shadow said.

"Well....that...I suppose, would be considered a father then..."

Shalita said.

"A father...I see. What about Maria? She didn't create me, but

she cared for me..." Shadow asked.

"I think....she would be like a sister...." Shalita said.

"A sister....do you have a sister?"

"Well...yes and no..."

"What do you mean?" Shadow asked.

"Well, I have two sisters. We came from the same mother. But...

my sisters didn't care for me. I was abused and they hated me...."

Shadow looked sad. "That's awful...why are they called your

sisters if they didn't care for you?"

"Well, you can have a sister one of two ways. They either come

from the same mother, or they care for you..."

"Oh...I get it..." Shadow said.

"You learn something new everyday, I always say," Shalita said.

"Indeed. May I ask another question?" Shadow asked.

"Sure."

"What if someone cared for another in a different way....it's

hard to explain-"

"Wait. I think I know what you mean. Do you feel like you're

walking on air sometimes, and the moon always seems to be full. And

the sun seems to be shining, even on a rainy day?"

Shadow stared at her. "You felt it before?"

Shalita nodded. "It's called love..."

"Love..." Shadow whispered. "What does one do when he is in

love...?"

"Well-" Shalita started, but the two were inturpted by Toni.

"Hey Shal? You got a long-distance call from Florida, here."

"Florida? Who'd be calling me HERE from Florida?" Shalita asked.

"Dunno, but make it snappy. The person called Collect and I'm

havin to pay for the charges," Toni said.

Shal sighed and turned to Shadow. "Excuse me a mo-"

She stopped, seeing he had suddenly dissappeared. "-ment? Good

going Toni, you ran him outta town!"

"Just answer the phone!" Toni said, irritated.

Shalita sighed, grabbing the phone. "Hello?"

After a moment she looked at Toni and rolled her eyes, hanging up. "Internet stalkers."

Chapter 18: "Decisions, Decisions"

June 25th, 2085

Old San Francisco Library

11:09 A.M.

The next day found Shadow at a small abandoned library. How humans

could leave such knowledge that are books to go to waste, he'll never

understand. However, he did find books on the subject he was looking for.

He also went downtown to obseve other people. He saw a man and a woman

holding a little girl's hand, walking past a shop window.

"Mommy, Daddy, we we go in there?" the little girl asked.

"Of course, sweetie," the mother replied, and they went inside.

"A mother.....and a father...." he murmured. He read in his book

how humans are created. It seemed like an AMAZING process. But....he

wasn't created that way. He wasn't naturally born. So could he REALLY

consider Gerald his father, the man who created him through science?

One thing's for sure, he would MOST definitely consider Maria his

sister. They grew up together.

Then something really caught his attention.

A man walking up a set up stairs, knocked on the door, holding

flowers and a box of chocolates. A woman answered the door. "Charlie!

How sweet of you!"

"Just something to show that I love you!" he said, grinning.

Shadow watched. "So that's how someone declares when they are

in love....but what could I get for Shalita...?"

He had no money to get her anything. So maybe...maybe he can make

something for her...but what? All he could remember what to make were

some things Maria taught him....

"Hey...that's IT!" he smiled. "Thank you, Maria!"

Revenge was the furthest thing from his mind when he ran off.

June 30th, 2085

San Francisco Downtown Apartments

7:39 P.M.

He was prepared. 5 days later found him just down the street

from Shalita's apartment, with a bouquet and a small box. He took a

deep breath. He was gonna take her away from this planet, and save her

from the deadly destruction. He must respect Maria's wishes, but he

will not let Shalita suffer for it.

As he apprached the door, he stopped, his heart dropping into his

stomach. At the door, with a small bouquet of red roses was that blue

hedgehog again. Shalita opened the door. "Sonic!"

"Hey Shalita...I been thinking of you lately, since we been so

busy..." he said, then gave her a deep kiss.

The flowers fell from Shadow's weakening hand. His heart was

broken. She already had someone who loves her. He held the small box

tightly to his chest, and let his anger override his sadness. Burn

this world, and everyone on it, he thought angrily, marching off back

towards the ground base.

"Sonic!" Shalita struggled to say, pushing the hedgehog away from

her. "Tonight's not the best night.."

"But Shal-!" Sonic argued.

"GO HOME!" she screamed, slamming the door in his face.

Sonic stopped, biting his lip. She hated him.

Sabre and Manic were into another conversation when Shadow marched

in, with a gun in his hand.

"Game over," he growled. "I know you're here to sabotage Dr.

Robotnik's plans. Well you two can just DIE with the rest of the world!"

"Manic! Get outta here!!!" Sabre cried, ripping off the fake

device on the back of his neck.

"SABRE!" Manic yelled. Shadow fired the gun, and Sabre took it to

the chest. "NOOOO!!!"

Shadow watched in cold blood as Sabre collasped against a console,

clutching her wound.

Shadow's hand trembled, and he dropped the gun, not caring that

Manic was escaping. He was no better than the military guards that....

"What have I done....?" he whispered, then decided to head back

towards the ARK before something ELSE ripped at his heart.

Chapter 19: "World Domination"

July 3rd, 2085

6:00 P.M.

All telivision signals and satilaitte transmissions were

interupted. Those in San Francisco looked up as a large TV on a building

flickered on, revealing the rounge human that was Dr. Robotnik.

"Citizens of Earth! Lend me your ears, and listen VERY carefully.

My name is Dr. Eggman, the world's GREATEST scientist, and soon to be

the world's greatest RULER. Now witness the beginning of the greatest

empire of all time! Hahaha...."

All eyes all over the world turned to the sky, as out in space,

what seemed to be a small meteor burst apart, revealing the face of a

person with a long mustashe. The needle nose opened up, revealing a blue

light. It fired a blue beam, which could clearly be seen from the

surface, and it struck the moon. Half the side heated up, and blew

apart, leaving only half the moon.

People started shrieking in shock, as on the TV screens, a counter

started coutning down. 23:58:39.

San Francisco, California

Shalita ran franticly into Toni's store.

"Whoa! Shal, where's the fire? I know you been looking for Shadow,

but I tell ya, he's NOT here!" Toni said.

"Better get outside and see this, Toni!" she said, panting.

"Why, there a crime scene outside?" Toni asked.

"HALF the MOON just BLEW UP!" she growled.

Toni fell out of her chair. "Get outta here! The MOON just BLEW

UP?!"

Shalita grabbed Toni's hand and yanked her outside. Toni took a

look and fainted. The half that blew up was still red hot.

TO BE CONTINUED