Oh man...sorry for the long delay on the edit of this chapter. Real life turned into a pain for a while there.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog

Claimer: Stuff I invented belongs to me

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When Shadow managed to open his eyes, the first thing he saw was blackness.

What happened? Where was he?

Shadow couldn't remember...the throbbing headache made it very difficult for him to think clearly...

After a little while, the ache started to fade. Shadow tried climbing to his feet. He still couldn't see very well, but he was able to make out a bit more of his enviroment. The floor was hard, and felt like concrete. The ceiling was high enough that he didn't hit his head; neither ceiling nor walls was in reach of Shadow's hands. This still didn't tell him anything about what had happened, though.

'I have to think...where was I before? What happened to me?'

Gradually the memory of the day's events returned, piece by piece. Shadow remembered watching Sonic and Tails argue...remembered walking down the city sidewalk...remembered the earth-shaking roar of the explosion...and the one who launched that explosion had been -!

"I take it from your panic that you've come to your senses, little brother," Raven's voice purred out of the darkness.

Shadow braced himself to fight - or run - as he turned around, searching for the source of Raven's voice. It was still so dark in here, wherever this was, he couldn't tell where Raven's voice was coming from.

Raven laughed, a merry and terrifying sound.

"Such a feeble head you have on your shoulders! Perhaps I should have done both of us a favor and removed it. Ah-h-h, I suppose there's plenty of time to correct that little matter later on. First..."

Shadow never noticed a thing to war him that Raven was coming. One moment Shadow was turning his head, trying to pinpoint where his brother was, and the next he was down on the ground, a fist still planted against the side of his head. Shadow's head rang with the blow.

"...Let's get reacquainted, us two brothers."

Oh, he could see Raven now; the white hedgehog was faintly illuminated by the light of the Chaos Emerald. Its flickering light made Raven look eerie and even more menacing than he was already. And all of Shadow's pride and confidence was melting away...not that he'd ever been able to muster much up whenever he'd been stuck in this situation.

"Yes, yes...shall we?"

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When tapping out a rapid tattoo on it with his fingers didn't satisfy, Sonic switching to slamming a fist against the wall. It wasn't the wall's fault that he was so frustrated, but there was still no denying it. It had been days - a bunch of days, WAY too long in Sonic's opinion - since the decidedly one-sided fight in the city against Raven.

Shadow's brother, eh? Wasn't even the right color to be called a 'Raven'...and he'd taken off with Shadow before Sonic could do a thing to stop him. Now who knew what that guy was up to! There hadn't been so much as a peep since, either; no mysterious explosions, no Chaos Emerald thefts, no sightings, no nothing!

"If you put another hole in the wall I'm not fixing it this time," Tails said, not turning around from where he was hunched over a computer console.

"I didn't put another hole in the wall! Besides, I'm worried. Aren't you?"

"Of course I am! But beating up a defenseless wall isn't going to bring Shadow back any faster."

"I can't just sit around and wait, Tails!"

"Then go for a run. I can call you the second I'm done, you know," Tails suggested, peering over his shoulder at his frustrated friend.

It said something about how worried Sonic was that he barely considered the idea before rejecting it. Instead he paced back and forth, fuming silently over what could possibly have happened to Shadow.

There was a chime from the computer. Tails made a small noise of satisfaction.

"Alright, here we go..."

Sonic moved to peer over Tails' shoulder. He didn't know what Tails was looking for, but it beat anything else Sonic could think of doing at the moment.

"What've you been up to, anyway?" Sonic asked after a minute.

"Research," Tails replied, "I've been trying to find out anything I could about that Raven guy. See if I could find out where he's likely to be, who he might be working with, and if he's really what he said he was..."

"Huh."

Personally, it seemed to Sonic that Raven was quite likely to be an 'Ultimate Life Form' like he'd claimed he was, since Shadow was an Ultimate Life Form and they were brothers...but then again, what if he wasn't actually Shadow's brother...but then again, Shadow had recognized him...honestly, the idea twisted into knotes that made Sonic's head hurt.

"So where are you pulling that info from?" Sonic asked as data continued streaming down Tails' computer screen, "I don't think we're going to be lucky enough that Raven has his number listed in the phone book."

"Well, I started with the GUN databases, and they have a connection to the ARK computers. If there's any info at all on Raven, it'll be in one of those two places, I bet."

Sonic hadn't quite finished processing the implications of this (he knew Tails was a genius with machines, but the hacking skills were something new) when the flow of data stopped. A single file was open on the screen now. It wasn't too comprehensive, but it did cover all the important points.

Yes, Raven was Shadow's brother. Older by about two years or so, apparently. Yes, he was an Ultimate Life Form. And yes, he had been known for some odd behavior, culminating in an attempted takeover of the ARK. After that failed, Raven had escaped to the planet and had never been heard of since.

Until he'd finallt reappeared, stealing the Chaos Emerald and Shadow.

"That guy looks like he's some serious bad news," Sonic sighed, "Why didn't anyone catch wind of what he was up to, anyway? He didn't strike me as the subtle type."

"I think the only one who really would have noticed anything would have to have been Shadow," Tails replied, "And I get the impression that Raven would have forced Shadow to play along and not tell..."

"Yeah, me too. Which means it's even more important that we figure out how to beat this guy and get Shadow back," Sonic said, "So, does this file list any weaknesses, do you think ?"

"Let me check..."

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And that's the newest improved chapter. Please to be telling me whether this version is better or not, yes?