Jeez! The only thing I'm having trouble figuring out is where and how the team's gonna find that last Chaos Emerald! I already got its color and power figured out and the reason it was hidden all these thousands of years. I'm also finishing up the details of Maria's reincarnation and how Shadow finds her and causes her to remember. The growing romance between he and Amy is already polished. .-

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Sonic, Shadow, etc- none of it belongs to me. They belong to SEGA. Remember that well.

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STORY TITLE: Just A Shadow In the World

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CHAPTER SIX: Lost Secrets of the Past

So much had happened in just the last few days that Amy could barely find the sanity she needed to keep herself from crying in hopelessness of singing from love. She was overlooking the calm waters of the sweeping ocean, palm trees swaying heavily in the humid air to her back, Tail's workshop clicking away rhythmically. The rest of the gang was around doing their own thing. Last time she'd heard news of Sonic, he was running on the Windy Plains for some exercise. Antoine was polishing his sword, also practicing some stuffy speech for the Knothole parade the next month. Bunnie was eating coconuts with Cream and Big. Knuckles was no doubt back at the Master Emerald Shrine on the floating Angel Island talking to his precious gem. Rouge and the Chaotix were back to working together on the case to find the last Chaos Emerald: the eighth Chaos Emerald. Shadow was inside Tails' workshop, in one of those off-limits rooms to everyone but Tails, having his stitches removed, the backup chip, and the parasitic chip that Eggman had fused into his brain. She shivered angrily at the thought of Shadow being electrocuted against his will. How utterly savage. She hated that Eggman, oh how she wished he were locked up somewhere dark and damp never to bother another innocent creature again!

But that would never be so, Amy knew, for Eggman was too smart to be caught and his empire too vast to be extinguished. Comforting breaths of wind cooled her neck. She watched the small foams of white whipping from the ocean splash against the sandy shore and wondered if Shadow would be alright. Everyone was waiting for him. When he was well and recovered, the whole gang would set out again to find Eggman and that last emerald, minus Shadow and she, for he had solidly made up his mind to search and find Maria and she would stand by his side the whole way, faithful and loving, though no one knew but Shadow and she.

It must be a really important jewel, Amy slid her hands into her sparkling white jeans pockets and blinked at the dirt, I wonder why no one ever knew that an eighth Chaos Emerald existed. It sure sounds weird thinking about it. That makes me scared to think of how powerful it alone must be if Shadow needs it to use the Chaos Command. I don't want him to use that awful move-it might hurt him! Hmpf. I wonder if Shadow loves me the way I love him. He certainly hinted that he did but he's never actually said it… Shadow… I wanna' help you find Maria.

Like that sunset on the beach almost a week ago, the clouds resembled hazy streaks, slices in the sky, also escorted in the company of thick, cotton-like clouds, spilling over each other over and over again. All those brilliant, hot colors of orange, purple, pink, and gold highlighted their bottoms and sunlight beamed down as God's glory and favor. Amy inhaled deeply at the sight. How the clouds reminded her of dreams and hopes of life yet to be lived. Everyone had a chance to make of themselves the person they strived to see through the mirror. A person was more than just their reflection: inside, where no one else can reach, is a deep, emotional person, complex and perfect, someone needing comfort, reassurance, love. Amy thought of Shadow and ached to see him.

She figured it was time to go inside the workshop for the day was almost gone. Some of the gang had already entered for the night. Knuckles would stay on the island and Big would go into the jungle where his house sat for the night, so she trudged through the metal door and sat on the ground in a corner, fiddling with the key-chains hanging off her pants.

"Hey, Sonic, when do you think Tails will be done?" Amy clacked two key-chains nervously, "He said around two hours, right? How long has it been?"

"Almost two hours. Don't worry, Am's, Tails is a genius. Shadow's in good hands." Sonic pulled her to his side, "Trust him." He winked and smirked in that way that had at once time melted her heart.

"I know, but…"

"What's really botherin' ya'? I know you better than that after all these years."
"Don't read me," She poked him, "I don't want to tell you. You'll laugh and think it's one of those little girl things."

"No I won't. I've learned lots about you since you left almost a year ago. You're all grown up and mature-got a job n'stuff!" His genuine smile was encouraging.

"Ok… I'm in love with Shadow-but don't you dare tell anyone!"

Whistling high, Sonic hugged her close, "Wow, that's big news! Think he cares for you back?"
"I dunno. He's never said but he does know I love him and he hasn't rejected me."

"Ah! He does love you back."

"Don't be stupid-he'd tell me if he did."

"No he wouldn't. It's hard for us dudes to let on that we care about a girl. Took me years before I told Sal."

"Ya, I had to slide it out of him." Sally fixed herself on Amy's other side and hugged her. The three sat silent for a while. Amy's mind swirled. Could Shadow really care and love her? The only person he had ever loved was Maria. Was there room in his soul for her as well? She sure hoped so!

"I'm done!" Tails entered through the door at the end of the room, goggles above his eyes, white gloves on his hands, "Shadow's fine. He'll be sleeping tonight but tomorrow, you all can see him again." He yawned, "I'm feeling bushed. Whadda' ya say we eat and hit the sacks?"

"Alright! Chilidogs?"

"You just had five today, sweetie," Sally pulled him back to her side, "I say we go have seafood and Martenelli."

"Women: hopeless romantics." Sonic rolled his eyes, "Seafood is nasty and slimy-pizza?"

"I think I agree with Sally," Amy smirked mischievously, "Seafood is wicked tasty. I really love fried shrimp and grilled shark steaks."

"Yuck!"

"Too bad Sonic, I like seafood as well! I'll pull out the grill and we'll have a seafood buffet!" Tails opened one of the lockers lined against the wall, shuffled for a minute, and pulled out a grill, utensils, and a folded table, "These lockers are great! They have tons of space!" He announced, closing the locker and locking it firm, "Who'll help me with the fish?"

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"Metal Arnus has failed me for the last time!" Eggman growled, "I'll just have to fix him and change his programming chip!" The previous night, after the Freedom Fighters had been stupid enough to leave the scrap metal, Eggman had stole the robot away and was now repairing it in his new hidden base. His old one was useless now that government spies had found it. "My plans will NOT be ruined! If Shadow is out of my hands, I'll just enhance Metal Arnus to be able to harness the power of Chaos Command as well! I can't believe I hadn't done this in the first place!" He brutishly shoved some replacement wires through the metal robot's head, droning on, "But I don't know exactly where that last Emerald is! Blasted pink nuisance! Without Metal Arnus, I can't pinpoint the exact location of its whereabouts in the Mystic Ruins! But no worries, I'll be done shortly with his repairs and then I can find the emerald and take over the world! THIS time Sonic WON'T be able to stop me!" He cackled, but not as emphatically as he had done before.

His new base was an underwater dome in the ocean near the Mystic Ruins. There was no way Sonic or anyone else would be able to find him, nevertheless break into this impenetrable base! His genius shocked him every time. The position was perfect, the location was perfect-land was only a few miles away and minutes from his base. And Eggman knew that the eighth Chaos Emerald was hidden somewhere in the jungles surrounding the Mystic Ruins where it had stayed untouched for centuries. The lost Echidna race had been very smart to hide it as they did. The last Chaos Emerald had the power all seven had combined together but only it could be used to use Chaos Command! Even in all seven Chaos Emeralds were used together, they could not be able to use the move-that's what made this specific lost emerald so priceless! Chaos Command used the natural elements of the earth, wind, rain, fire, etc, to cause utter destruction to the desired location in seconds plus the power of the Master Emerald as well!

Eggman plugged in the last wire and flipped the switch for Metal Arnus. "Arise my stupid and failing creation! I have fixed your short-wired brain and given you a new ability to add to your awesome strength: you now possess the abilities to use Chaos Command! Go! Your new mission is to retrieve the eighth Chaos Emerald for me-I have provided the approximate location for you but you will have to find it once you reach the point on the map!"

"Affirmative, Master," Arnus flew from the room, "I will report back in two hours." If Arnus could have remembered Shadow or Sonic, he would have been enraged at his defeat, but Eggman had wisely removed all of Arnus's previous memories so the machine was new once again, stupid and ignorant to anything outside his mission.

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-Jennifer Knap: Free-

Shadow slowly skated around the sleeping pink hedgehog. All the stitches were removed as well as the two chips that would have been causing him constant pain, so he had no worries with those anymore. Now he had to find Maria and tell Amy that he loved her, which was even more difficult than the prospect of wandering city after city. Amy was always growing more precious to him. He didn't fear a rejection, for she had already revealed her love for him. No, it was something else that was keeping him from admitting his to her. But what?

"Amy, wake up," He gently nudged her, "The morning is passing and I need to get going."

"Mm?" Amy stretched, blinked, and opened her eyes to see Shadow leaning over her, "Oh, good morning. Sorry, I'll get up right now." She started to roll up the sleeping bag Tails had provided for her, "How are you?"

"Well." He stood back, arms folded, watching the other sleeping figures. His eyes rested on Sonic and paused.

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"Hey that's-"
That blue hedgehog again of all places!"

"I found you-faker!"

"Faker! I believe you're the fake hedgehog around here. You're comparing yourself to me? Ha! You aren't even good enough to be my fake!"

"I'll make you eat those words!"

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"Faker." He smirked a little. Sonic wasn't so bad and he knew that neither of them were truly fakers, but it was still a slight pleasure to cause the blue hedgehog anger at those words. Too bad Sonic was still asleep.

"I am not-you are." Sonic suddenly sat up groggily, "And you're not going anywhere till we find that last Chaos Emerald!"

"So you are awake, are you?" Shadow suavely replied, "That's a change for you. I am going to leave, I have to go."

"Shadow, you are not leaving!" Now Sonic had gotten up and had Shadow's arm in his grip.

Sarcasm and anger passed over Shadow's dark face but he said nothing as Sonic glared and Amy gulped, "If you leave, you'll be takin' Amy away from us and I dun' wanna lose my lil' sis again! You can do whatever it is you're wan'in to do after we finish this!"

"Finding Maria is more important to me than locating a Chaos Emerald. Besides," He sounded like he had on the ARK, "Rouge and the Chaotix are also searching for it. I know they'll find it. There's no point in me helping you now."

"You are just a faker if you can't do this with us."
"Guys, guys! Don't start this again!" Amy stepped in-between them: Sonic smirking, Shadow glaring with balled fists. "Sonic, let Shadow and I find Maria on our own. I know you guys can do fine without us. Pretty please?" Her eyes twinkled more than usual, "For me?"

"uh…f-fine!" Sonic growled, "But for you only! I'll get you later, faker!" He knew they wouldn't be able to fight without Shadow since the silky black hedgehog was the only one who possessed the power to use the Chaos Command.

"Ha! You're not worthy to be my fake. Pfff!"

"You-"
"Eeek! Sonic, don't be a savage!"

"Sorry Ams-that guy peeves me at times."

"We should get going then. Let's go Amy."

"I can't run as fast as you can, Shadow, wait up!" She ran out the door after him, leaving Sonic to watch his sleeping fiancée impatiently. He was anxious to start the day, especially with Shadow gone. The best person to have this strange Chaos Emerald in his hands was Shadow.

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"Maria… I just don't know anymore. Perhaps… if I could go down there, I could find out why I was created."

"Shadow…"
"I just don't know."

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Maria felt betrayed. Two days ago, when Shadow had showed up to kill her father, she had been forcibly removed from the situation to "safety" with was a small house on a naval airbase in the middle of nowhere. It was hot, humid, and dry and her hands were already cracking.

But the heat wasn't the worst of her worries. Shadow was out there, no doubt searching for her. She turned the Chaos Emerald over in her hands slowly. He had touched this emerald… his hands had turned it over the same way hers was doing now. He had held it close, for it was everything to him, and she now knew this was the only tie she had to him.

"I still don't remember everything…" Her memories were returning at a snail's pace. If only Shadow were there. Surely he could tell her everything and then she would remember. "Shadow… Sayonara...Why had I told him that? What had been going on for me to tell him goodbye and in such a hopeless way? He'll never find me out here…" She sobbed.

Her father was a government official and she hadn't ever realized it. Everyday at seven, he would come down the stairs, eat a muffin, and head out to his cozy desk job in a skyscraper, twentieth floor. Everyday at six pm, he'd come home, eat dinner, play with her, and then go to bed. Just a perfect family. It was too perfect and now she realized why they had always been so wealthy. Spoiled, she had been given everything she ever wanted for pleasure and fashion with money the government had been providing.

Still, there had been a void that Shadow had finally filled since she first saw him. "Space Colony ARK… Perhaps there's some information I can look up on the computer." And so she pulled the chair to her and started typing.

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"Arnus to Eggman. I am standing in front of the ruins of the Echidna tribal city. The readings of the Emerald tell me it's very close by. I will have it soon. Arnus out." Arnus read the rapidly-beeping tracker on his arm again and frowned. He was right over it, but it wasn't here. It must be buried in the ground. He'd just have to dig it out.

Eggman had built a whole array of digging tools into his body, just what he needed. Arnus's whole arm changed into a large drill, silver and shining new, that efficiently started drilling into the ground rapidly. The beeping was increasing until it finally changed to a solid buzz. This must be it! Suddenly something hard blocked the drill. Perplexed, Arnus lifted his arm from the deep hole he had dug. The whole was over twenty feet in depth and ten feet wide. A small block of some sort was poking up through the dirt. The designs on its shell matched those of the ruins standing to his right.

"Arnus to Eggman: I have dug at the precise location and have hit a hard surface. Perhaps I have hit some ruins-an old template possibly-I will have the emerald within minutes. Arnus out." He dug around the ruins till the whole roof was now showing through the dirt. The emerald must be inside the ruins! Arnus's arm morphed again into a laser cutter, in which he sliced a perfect circle out of the top of the ruins and pushed it aside. I have found the old Echidna shrine of the Master Emerald before they rebuilt in on Angel Island, He turned on a dozen lights form his body and fell through the hole into the crumbling temple, The Chaos Emerald must have been left behind to be forgotten so that its destructive power would never damage another race.

Indeed, the once magnificent temple was nothing more than a large, empty room of vine-ridden, deeply cracked walls, and insects that crawled constantly all over the floor. This place was a tomb. The beauty of the temple, though, could still be noticed by the faded designs on the walls, the golden floor covered in layers of thick dust, and the carved figures on each side of the temple. In the center sat a single table of marble with a large, round, clay object projected on a holder on the center of the table. Arnus picked up the mini globr and crumpled in to small bits. Out of the remains, he sensed a hard, sharp object in his hand, around the same size of the Chaos Emeralds.

"Arnus to Eggman. I am standing inside a ruined Echidna template buried by the soils. I have found the Chaos Emerald and will report back to you."

"Very good Arnus! Come back immediately and if anyone tries to stop you, eliminate them!"

"Roger."

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"It's Metal Arnus!" Rouge peeped from behind the ruined wall, "He's got the eighth Chaos Emerald! What're we gonna' do, Vector?"

"Keep your cool Rouge, this is very unlike you. I say we attack him!"

"Ya, attack, let's get em'!" Charmy was all enthusiasm."

"Our attack must be perfectly coordinated. Eggman has obviously rebuilt that robot and who knows what else it's capable on now. Be on your guard. I sense it's far more powerful now with that emerald."
"He's getting in my way of my jewels!" Rouge grit, "I'm going to get him! Follow me, you guys!" She skated out into the clearing bold as a king, "Hand over that Chaos Emerald, you piece of scrap metal! It's mine and I'm going to take it from you either way!"

"Identify yourselves!" Arnus gripped his master's emerald solid, "Anyone who tries to stop me will be eliminated! Do you stop me?"

"We do!" She spat, throwing out sharp, plasma hearts at him, "Hyaa! Take that you!" But he disappeared before the darts could reach their target, "What?"

"He's using the Chaos Emerald." Espio logically stated, concentrating hard, "We need Sonic. Charmy: fly back and gather the others! If we don't stop this thing, Eggman will get his greasy hands on the last Chaos Emerald and earth is done for! We'll try to hold him here-go fast!"

"Yes!" Charmy buzzed off.

"Now let's destroy this thing!" Vector tried being optimistic, "I just don't like this whole disappearing thing."

"It makes my stomach jump." Rouge looked around, "Where is he?"

"I will destroy you!" A white plasma net dropped from above onto the unsuspecting bat and gator, but Espio had managed to dodge a second before it hit. "All foes will be eliminated!" Arnus repeated dumbly.

"I don't think so!" Espio blended into the grasses, running around the net, cutting it in a flash, and throwing his four-pointed star picks at Arnus. The picks, unfortunately, did nothing more than knick the shining side of Arnus and fall to the ground. "My attack has no affect on him!"

"Let me try!" Rouge spun around, sending violent winds at Arnus, but the machine didn't waver.

"What about this?" Vector hacked up a few pink acid bubbles. One hit Arnus, eating away at his foot, but the rest were so slow that he easily dodged them. "I see those are affective, but far too slow! We're never going to get this guy down!"

"That's not the goal anymore-we just have to keep him around for a few more minutes. Where IS Charmy?" Rouge dodged a fire ball.

"No more play!" the icy voice announced, "Be gone!" And he started twirling slow at first, but then his speed increased and darts, blades, fire balls, ice stalagmites, and electric shocks flew out of him so fast that Rouge and Vector never saw what was coming. Only Espio, once again, had been able to flee and hide safely as one with his surroundings. There appeared to be no weak spot to this guy! Their attacks were either too weak or too slow. Logic suggested that since he was made of metals, acid and ice perhaps could stop him-as well as electricity. How was he going to stop this thing?

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"Guys, guys!" Charmy's wings buzzed loudly, "I got here as fast as I could! We've found that last emerald but Arnus has it and we need you to help us take him down because he's really strong and we can't do it without you!"

"BLAST! This is why I didn't want Shadow to leave! I can't believe that metal menace found it already! I thought he was dead or something-whatev'. We only have six Chaos Emeralds and I can't go Super without the last Chaos Emerald."

"But you can still use Chaos Control," Tails tossed the blue emerald Sonic's way, "And if we can get our hands on the last Chaos Emerald, you can go Super."

"Good plan! If we work together, we can stop this freak! Let's go! Lead the way Charmy!"

"Alright!"

The fighters ran off after Charmy, through the tall jungle vines, over streams, and past confused archeologists. The sun was blazing but its hot rays could barely reach through the dense foliage. Once Sonic cleared the jungle to the cleaning of the remaining Echidna pyramid, he gasped. Rouge lay to the side, unconscious, badly burnt and bleeding heavily, as well as Vector, who was suffering from the same injuries. Espio wasn't to be seen anywhere, Sonic only guessing what had happened to the poor chameleon.

"You'll pay for what you did to my friends!" He pointed accusingly at the hovering Arnus, "And I'll take that Chaos Emerald from you!"

"No, you will perish!" Arnus sneered, "No on can defeat the mighty Arnus!"

"Is this guy full of himself or what? You guys hold him back while I ready myself!"

"Ok, Mr. Sonic!" Cream hopped on Big's head, "Hit him, Mr. Big!"

"Oooooh, k!" Big smashed his metal bat into the side of the much smaller figure, sending it crashing into one of the walls, breaking the wall in a terrific pile of rubble. Cream cheered from the easy defeat of their foe, but stopped as ground started to shake suddenly! What was going on?
"Oh no!" Knuckles, who had come down from Angel Island at the strong presence of the Chaos energy, was holding the Master Emerald that was shrunken to fist size, "He's done it now!"

"What do you mean, Knuckles?" Sonic was panicking, "What's going on?"

"Everyone: climb onto that pyramid!" He pointed to the ruins. The Echidna statue sitting to the left in the front on the pyramid was moving. Its head was spinning and the arms were moving up and down in a freaky, mummified fashion. Get to safety!"

From the ground, buildings shoved their ways to the surface. All around them, the long lost Echidna city, once magnificent and beautiful, appeared old, eroded, and dirty, but all in tact! The lined fire pillars poked through the ground, the altar at the end of them. Hills formed once again as it had been thousands of years ago, walls, paths-everything. Knuckles watched in awe as his past formulated before his eyes. "It's-it's the city of the Echidnas!" He breathed, "It's all back! Charmy, where did Arnus find the last Chaos Emerald?" He grabbed the bee forcibly.

"Ah! We saw him coming out of a hole in the ground!"

"It must have been the ancient Master Emerald Shrine! The last Chaos Emerald was put down there for protection and now that it's gone, the city was triggered and it's arisen from the ground!"

"This is unreal!" Rouge gazed at the stone structures, "But it's so…"

"Dead." Knuckles shifted the Master Emerald in his hand. "Whoa, what's Angel Island doing?" He backed up a pace, shielding his eyes from the sun. The small island was flying towards the cliff by the ruins where it had split from in the mysterious past. "It's-it's returning to its original place!" True, the island was lowering to the sea. With a low, loud groan, it sealed itself to the side of the cliff, where it had once sat long ago.