Here's a nice long chapter for u all! I'm gonna try and scan in those pics i drew l8er and show u so i pray tht my scanners works now lol. Also thanks to the ppl who still review my last fic "In the aid of Love." Im glad u like the ending:D

Chapter 7

Very soon, Shadow and Ray arrived in a deep part of the forest. It was completely hidden by trees and plant life. Ray kicked at the floor with his heel and a small hole opened in the ground. Shadow blinked.

"Down here." Ray said and jumped down the hole.

Shadow followed.

It was a short slide until Shadow reached the bottom. He found himself in an huge underground tunnel which, over years had been developed for people to walk through. Ray led the way down the long tunnel and Shadow gazed at his new surroundings as he followed.

Eventually they reached another hole, which Ray crawled through. Again, Shadow did the same.

They emerged into what appeared to be a small colony of houses built up from the ground. It looked less modern than the apartments and houses Shadow was used to.
People were working busily all around him, raking, digging and other things. Young children were running around and playing.

As the two hedgehogs walked forward people stopped and stared at them, amazed at their similarities. One of the children stopped running after her friend and ran up to Ray.

"Way Way! Who is your fwiend?" said the child, smiling.

She was a little fox girl aged about 4 or 5. She was very small compared to Ray and looked very similar to Tails, except she only had one tail instead of two. The girl wore a cute yet obviously hand made blue dress and had big blue eyes.

"Hey there Sandy. We're just gonna see my mum. Sorry, I can't play right now." Ray said to her and began to walk again. Shadow hastily followed and the girl blinked as they left.

"Is that…?" began Shadow.
"Sandy. Yeah, she's Tails' daughter."
"Who's her mother?" Shadow asked.
"We don't know. Some fox girl who had escaped from Robotnik. But she died at the birth. Anyways, we've got more important things at hand right now!"

The two reached a house which was quite bigger than the rest.

"Well, this is my home!" Ray said and opened the door.

They stepped into the front room.

The house didn't really have many rooms, in fact it was basically one big room. 2 beds lay at the far right hand corner and not far away were some very basic kitchen items; an old fashioned cooker, a kettle and things like that.
In front of them were some chairs and a small round table. There was also a small TV just next to it. More toward the centre of the house there was what appeared to be a manhole cover. It probably led down to some kind of shelter.

"Mum?" Ray called.
"Just a second!" came a voice from below the manhole cover.
"There's someone here who I think you should see!" Ray called again.
"Ok ok! I'll be out in a minute!" came the voice again.

Ray turned to Shadow.

"Sorry. She must be fixing up our shelter." He said.

Shadow nodded and they both sat down at the table.

Just then the manhole cover was opened and Amy popped her head out. Her spikes had grown longer, shoulder length to be exact, and she wore a basic red dress, which almost touched the floor. She emerged withher back facing Shadow and Ray.

She climbed out of the floor. Shadow swallowed as he saw her and stood up.

"Amy." He said.

Amy stopped and turned around slowly.

"Shadow…?" she said.

She couldn't believe it. She ran to Shadow and flung her arms around him, crying like mad.

"Shadow! I thought you were dead! Where've you been all these years?" She sobbed.
"It's OK Amy. I'm here now. In fact, Ray saved me from some of Eggman's henchmen."

Amy looked at her son. Ray smiled and put his hand behind his head.

"But I think I need some explanations here." Shadow continued.
"Ditto!" Amy replied. "Come and sit down and I'll tell you what you want to know."

The three hedgehogs sat down, Amy and Ray on the opposite side to Shadow.

"So what's happened here? What happened to Station Square and to Sonic?" Shadow asked eagerly.
"Well…" Amy began but was suddenly interrupted at a knock on the door.
"Oh Ray go answer that will you?"

Ray did so. A few seconds later he came back in with Knuckles. He had grown significantly but look worn out and tired. He appeared to have not as much strength as he did before.

"Hey Amy. I just came to ask.."
He suddenly spotted Shadow sitting at the table. He blinked in shock.

"Sh..Shadow?" he said stammering.

Shadow nodded.

"He's come back, Knuckles!" Amy said happily. "I was just about to tell him what's happened here."

"I can't believe it! Where've you been all this time!" Knuckles asked, pulling up a chair.

"I'll explain when you guys tell me what's going on." Shadow answered.

"OK…well back to 15 years ago. I looked out of the window from the hospital and saw you and Sonic fighting Eggman on the beach. Then you just disappeared! Eggman took Sonic away in his truck. I couldn't do anything.

"Over the next few days Eggman was able to find the 7 chaos emeralds and used their power to take over the world! He captured all the humans from Station Square and turned them into mindless slaves. The city itself was left to grow old and no one has been through there in a long time."

"We managed to escape and build our own resistance to his rule underground. It's les advanced as we once were but we've got to live!"

"What about you Knuckles?" Shadow asked. "Why aren't you on Angel Island?"

"Well, since Eggman had the power of the chaos emeralds at hand he needed to maintain their power. I'll explain….

I sat just next to the emerald, half asleep. It was early evening and the cool wind was sending me to sleep. But suddenly Eggman appeared with his new soldiers and stole the master emerald. They captured me too but I managed to escape and come here."

Shadow was a little taken aback by all that had happened.

"And…What about Sonic?" he asked.

"Well, as I said he was captured by Eggman the day you disappeared. He's been there since. Eggman won't kill him because he takes pleasure in watching him suffer. I mean, wouldn't you if you were him?"

Just then there was another knock at the door. Ray went to answer it. This time he came back with Tails.
He'd grown too and the tuft of hair on his head was longer. Other than that he looked the same.
He had the same reaction as Knuckles, when he spotted Shadow sitting at the table.

After he greeted Shadow, with a big hug, they continued.

"Since Sonic disappeared, everyone's hopes have died. But we can't let that happen to us." Tails said.
"If only we could put action to those words, Tails." Knuckles said.
"We could you know…" Shadow said quietly.

Everyone blinked at him.

"What?" Amy said.
"We can stop this." Shadow said. "We could go set Sonic free and destroy Eggman's base! Think about it. You've got me now and Tails you still make stuff right?"

"Well yeah but…"
"Well then you could make some gadgets to help us out! Plus Ray is a strong little kid. He could help me out."

Ray looked up.

"Really?" he said.
"But Shadow what if…?" Amy started.
"Don't be afraid of Eggman! We weren't before were we? Come on! We can do this!"

He put his hand in the centre of the table.

"Who's with me?"

Knuckles smiled and put his hand on top of Shadow's.

"I'm in!" he said.
"Me too!" Ray said and put his hand in.

Tails looked a little hesitant but then put his hand in. They all looked at Amy. She sighed and put her hand in.

"Ok Shadow, I trust you." She said.