Here's the next chapter for u all!

Chapter 17

Shadow slowly opened his eyes and could just make out Ray looking over him. At first he thought that he was back at the base but realised that his surroundings were different.

"Mum! Uncle Sonic! He's awake!" Ray yelled.

Shadow blinked, his vision starting to focus properly. He soon remembered his pains and groaned in pain. He put his hand to his head and found that his wound had been bandaged. He also saw that his arm had a bruise on, where it had taken Ray's punch.

"How are you feeling?" Ray asked.
"…you have no idea…" Shadow answered.

Just then Sonic and Amy came through from outside.

"Morning!" Sonic said. "Glad to see you're finally awake."
"Yes. If it weren't for you I'd never see Ray again. I was so glad to see Knuckles and Tails bring the both of you back." Amy said.

"How long ago was that?" Shadow asked trying to remember.
"Late last night." Ray answered. "You conked out just before we left the base. Knuckles had to carry you, along with the Master Emerald. He didn't wanna leave without it."

Shadow sighed.

"There goes my dignity…" he said.
"You just rest as long as you need to Shadow." Amy said.
"Yeah you sure as hell look like you need it!" Sonic said laughing.

Ray looked down a little, guilty about his actions. Shadow laughed sarcastically at Sonic.

"Yeah? You wanna end up this way too?" he asked.

"No thanks I'm good!" Sonic said, backing off a little.

"Good, cause you will be if you don't shush!"
…

A little later Tails and Knuckles heard that Shadow had woken up and went to see how he was. Ray stayed by his father's side.

After Tails and knuckles had left, Ray started to talk about what had happened.
He sat on the end of the sofa, which
"I'm really sorry about this Dad." He said, looking down. "I could've killed you if I'd carried on the way I did."

Shadow sat up.

"There's no need for that, Ray. Eggman had you hypnotised. You didn't know what you were doing."

"But look at what I did to you." Ray looked up, little tears beginning to sparkle in his eyes. "It was still my fists that made your bruises…"

Ray looked away, so that Shadow couldn't se him cry. Shadow carefully moved closer to Ray.

"It was your fists that did this to me. But Eggman was controlling them." He said, putting his hand on Ray's back.

Ray looked around a little and wiped away his tears.

"Eggman's screwed up in the head. He can't fight for himself so he controls people to do it for him. It isn't your fault Ray and don't let him think it is either. Besides, when you fight for yourself you show a much greater power; a power from within." Shadow said assuringly.

Ray blinked and nodded. He turned back around and gave Shadow a hug.

"Thanks." Ray said.

…

Without slaves to do his bidding, Eggman was working hard at his new plan. He was in the power room.

"My new weapon will stop those annoying rodents…" Eggman said aloud to himself.He pulled out the wires from the emeralds.

"The Master Emerald may be gone but I still have the chaos emeralds!" he said.

He quickly gathered the emeralds and ran up various flights of stairs. He finally reached the roof of his base. There stood a humongous and intimidating robot. It was made entirely out of metal and shone in the mid afternoon sun. It's body had been painted black.

Eggman climbed up into the robot's head, where there was a control panel. There were 7 slots in the panel, obviously built for the chaos emeralds. He flicked various switches and the robots eyes glowed a dark red. Eggman laughed madly.

"Now for your power boost!" he yelled and quickly placed the emeralds into the slots.

The robot whirled and multi coloured sparks began to fly around it. The Egg-Destroyer 3000 lifted up its arms, taking in this new power.

"Now! Let us go and get rid of those freedom fighters for good!" Eggman yelled.

The Egg-Destroyer 3000 responded to Eggman's command and began to fire up powerful jet engines, located on its back. It shot into the air like a rocket and flew through the sky with such speed that it broke the evening clouds apart.

…

A few hours passed and the time was now 5:32pm. Ray was sitting on the highest branch of the tallest tree, out in the forest. The sun was beginning to set and the sky was turning a deep orange. Ray sighed as he gazed into the sunset.

"Mind if I join you?" came a voice from behind him.

Ray jumped, nearly falling out of three. He turned and saw that is was Sonic.

"Yeah sure" Ray said, catching his breath.
"Sorry I made you jump. What's up?" Sonic said.

Ray looked back at the sky.

"Nothing. Just came here to see the sunset." He said.
"I know when something's up!" Sonic said. "What's the matter?"

Ray sighed, knowing that Sonic wouldn't stop persisting.

"I was just thinking…" Ray said, his words fading out.

Sonic blinked and waited for Ray's answer. Ray looked back at Sonic.

"What was life like before all this, Uncle Sonic?" Ray asked. "Were you and my Dad friends?"

"Well…to start with no. But things happened and he decided to join our side." Sonic replied.
"Things?"
"You've heard of the ARK right?"
"Yeah. It's where my Mum and Dad first met."
"Well it nearly collided with the Earth but Shadow and I managed to stop it. He almost fell to his death but I saved him."

Sonic looked at the sky.

"You aren't the only one with a confusing past Ray. Shadow's been through a lot. He has a lot of painful memories, some of which may not even be real. But he decided a long time ago to put that behind him and just enjoy what he had."

Ray looked down.

Just then Sonic blinked as he saw something flying toward them. A small black dot getting larger. A noise of loud jet engines whirring became louder and louder. As the craft came closer, Sonic realised that it was some kind of robot and it was headingdirectly toward the tree he and Ray were sitting on.

"Ray! Jump now!" he yelled.

Ray gasped and looked suddenly, seeing the robot hurtling toward them. The two hedgehogs jumped from the tree just in time. As they landed on the ground, the robots shot through the tree, causing it to smash to pieces.