Chapter 14-The Return

Shadow was awestruck. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He believed everything that the articles said, but he never thought that they would go this far. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. But he knew the truth now. They were planning on something big, and they were planning it soon.

Shadow said, "Does Amy know about this?"

Tails replied, "She does."

"So then she believes you?"

"In a sense, yes."

"But why would she believe you and no one else would?"

"It's a long story."

"Tell me."

"A few days ago, she was told the truth: Sonic is married.

"What?"

"She thought that he did it out of spite, but he was married before she even knew him. Sonic's wife is on another planet, so not many people know about it. She was really down, and wouldn't even talk to anyone, let alone come out of her house, until I gave her the locations for the articles."

"You know where they are?"

"No. I gave her a disc containing that and a pinpoint-computer virus, made for hacking into missile silos. She used it , and now knows the truth."

"Then why didn't she tell me?"

"She didn't trust you enough. This information is top-secret black case information. So far, the only ones who know about it are me, Amy, you, and the person who made it all happen…the President."

"Hey Tails. I have another question for you. What about the other articles?"

"They're already gone."

"Well, then, what about the Chaos Emeralds? Can we use them to stop this?"

"I honestly don't know. I've got one. What about you?

"Four. But where are the others?"

"I found out recently that you can use one to track the others."

"Let's track them down."

And so Shadow went off to save the world again, this time, from itself.

Five thousand miles away, in Asia, a continent on the other side of the world, Shadow was searching for clues, when suddenly, someone approached behind him.

It was a hedgehog girl, with black hair and red eyes. She had a red lash of hair covering her right eye, and a red one-piece outfit resembling that of Amy.

She was yelling halfway down the block, "Shadow! Oh, Shadow!"

She ran toward Shadow, threw her arms around him, and hugged him.

Shadow said, "Who are you?"

She said, "You don't remember me?"

"I don't even remember myself. I am sorry, but I have no memory of anything prior to six months ago."

"What?"

"That's when I awoke from a state of suspended animation."

"…"

The young girl looked at Shadow, eyes tearful. She ran past him, and into a nearby building.

Shadow followed her, and said, "Wait! I didn't mean it that way!

Suddenly, a gunshot flew past his ear. He could see what looked like a SWAT officer in a building nearby. He had a sniper rifle at the ready.

Shadow ran toward the building that the girl entered. More SWAT officers were waiting for him.

Shadow jumped up, and launched toward them with a homing attack. He elbowed the guards and knocked them out. He continued running.

He ran up the stairs, and the young girl punched him in the face from an apartment.

Shadow was already running pretty fast when she hit him, so he was knocked down by the blow. She dragged him into the apartment.

As he got up, she slapped him across the face.

Shadow said, "I don't get it. What did you do that for?"

The girl said, "I could ask you the same thing. Why did you lie to me?"

"I didn't lie. It's the truth. I really don't know who you are."

"Liar! What do you take me for?"

"I don't even know myself!"

"What?"

"Or maybe you haven't heard?"

"What are you talking about?"

"The only thing that I can remember is myself, falling toward the earth at high speed. If you really cared about me, you'd know."

"Oh."

The girl suddenly broke into a frown, and sat down.

Shadow said, "Who are you?"

The young girl answered, "I'm just someone you used to know. I'm sorry for what just happened."

Shadow knew that she didn't know about the incidents at the Space Colony ARK. He took a Chaos Emerald out and said, "Chaos Cure." He had healed from his injury.

As he got up to go, she said, "Wait."

Shadow said, "What do you need?"

"Maybe we can be reacquainted?"

"That's a possibility."

"You'd better stay here for awhile. You look pretty beaten, and those thugs are after you."

"While I'm here, tell me who you are."

"I'm Amerie, your sister. You used to know me from a place called the Space Colony ARK, but I was transported to a different planet while they took you away."

"Right. I'm sorry, but I don't remember a thing."

Shadow found himself sleeping on a couch like an old homeless drunk would sleep on a thrown-out bed. He woke up about an hour later, but not in the same place.

He was in a bed about a few thousand miles away. He got up, looked around, and saw a black cat girl wielding the same equipment as Espio.

She came up to him, and said, "Follow me."

He was led into a room full of different people. She said, "Do you remember us, Captain?"

Shadow replied, "Captain? What are you talking about?"

Suddenly, he heard the sound of propellers growing loud outside. He saw the desert sands blowing in the wind. The sand cleared, and in came Tails, holding a bag over his shoulder. He said, "This is all we need to fight them off."

He dropped the bag on the floor and sat down on a rock. The people gathered around the bag, and began to start grabbing at things in the bag. Shadow couldn't see through the crowd.

Suddenly, the cat ninja girl said, "Settle down, everyone! We've got enough to go around this time, and we need to formally issue the Captain his."

She dragged the bag to the center of the floor and pulled a Tec 9 out of the bag. She took out a Chaos Drive and slammed it into the magazine holder. She then took out what appeared to be a black tube, and fit it on the front of the weapon.

She said, "This is yours, Captain. It's fueled by Chaos Drives, so you won't be killing anybody anytime soon. It's now suppressed."

She handed him the gun. As soon as the Chaos Drive touched his hand, he had a flashback of the memories he had lost. He held his head with one hand, and his new arsenal in the other.

He replied, "I remember you guys now. That Chaos Drive… Man, this group has grown since the last time we met. What happened to you guys?"

"We became revolutionaries after you left. We have to keep a low profile. You don't know me yet, do you?"

"Sorry, no. What's your name?"

"I'm Ayame, the cat girl. The seal on the left is Rotor, that's Big in the corner, and that girl behind me is Sally. They just arrived. And I believe you're already acquainted with the others, right?"

"I guess so. That's the Chaotix Detective Agency, Tails is the one who just came in, Knuckles is the red echidna with those dreadlocks, and… Who is she, over there on that rock?"

"Her name's Cream. She's a new recruit."

"I guess then that we'll be a team once more."

"Right. Another change is our team's name. We're now the Black Widows, named after the swift spiders."

"Gotcha."