Chapter 23
Holding On

So far Mona, Sonic, and Shadow had beaten the Bio-Lizard. The problem was: the space colony was still falling out of orbit.

"What do we do now?" Mona asked worriedly.

"Sheesh, now who needs advice?" Shadow muttered.

"Guys, that extra power boost when we became the Chaos Wolf helped me learn how to use Chaos Control." Sonic announced. "I'm going to try it."

"Sonic, I have more experience with this kind of thing. I'm going too." Shadow stepped up.

"So am I!" Mona did the same. "You're going to need all the help you can get!"

"But you'll run out of ring energy!" Sonic protested.

"What other choice do we have?" Mona asked. "We have to do whatever it takes!"
"Okay, since you put it that way." Sonic muttered, a bit nervous. "But if you run low on energy you'd better fly back to the ARK as fast as you can!"

"Got it!" Mona and Shadow responded before the trio floated in a triangular formation (Sonic on top, Mona on the right, and Shadow on the left) and holding their hands out as they all glowed platinum.

"CHAOS CONTROL!!!!!!!!!"

Aboard the ARK, everyone shielded their eyes.

"They're using Chaos Control!" Tails announced.

"At this rate the Space Colony will be back in its correct orbit." Eggman observed. "But…"

"But what?" Tails and the others looked at him in confusion.

"IT'S NOT FAIR!!! I WANTED TO GO SUPER!!!!!!!!!!" He whined causing the mobians in the space colony to fall over in anime-style-faints.

"I hate to imagine what he would look like." Rouge grumbled.

The Space Colony reappeared in the correct position as the three marveled their work.

"We did it!" Sonic cheered. What he and Mona didn't notice was that Shadow had started to stagger back painfully as his ring energy started depleting.

"It's finally over…" He thought before suddenly falling. His fur color started turning a more gray color. Mona stopped smiling as she started recalling the events that she went through in the game.

"Wait, the Final Hazard is dead, the ARK is back in orbit, Shadow is falling to…Earth…uh oh." Mona's eyes widened before she turned to see Shadow falling towards the blue planet. "SHADOW!!!!!!!!!!" She flew towards him at a fast rate with her wings pinned back for acceleration. Mona reached her hand out before grabbing Shadow by his wrist and clenching her teeth.

"What are you doing?" Shadow wheezed as he felt power being focused into him.

"What does it look like I'm doing?!" Mona shouted as she tried to pull him away from death by going through the atmosphere. "HANG ON!"

"I…can't…stay…"

"SHADOW! YOU ARE NOT GIVING UP!" Mona yelled. "YOU HEAR ME?! DON'T YOU DARE GIVE UP ON ME!" She continued remembering how she lost some of her family. She still remembered her seven-year-old friend Katie, great grandfather Papa, great grandmother,and her parakeet Lulu (I did lose these people and pet parakeet). All lost because she wasn't there for them! Mona's sudden recollection caused her to have a stronger grip on Shadow's arm. She didn't want to lose any more people.

"Mona…I can't stay…" Shadow responded.

"YES YOU CAN! I'LL DRAG YOU BACK TO THE ARK IF I HAVE TO!" Mona tried to fight back her tears of regret as Shadow stared at her in confusion.

"You'll even die trying? What about your parents? They care about you! At least you have someone!" Shadow asked. Mona didn't respond but continued pulling him to the Space Colony. "Why did I even teleport a hardhead like you here?" Shadow smirked.

"What? Did you dream about going to Hawaii?" Mona responded suddenly. Shadow blinked.

"What are you talking about?"

"Every Sonic/Shadow fan on my planet knows. But then again you 'died' from going through the atmosphere."

"Well, there goes my fantasy of a vacation." Shadow muttered before Sonic finally flew over to them.

"Mona! Are you two alright?" He asked. Mona winced as she handed Shadow to Sonic.

"Yeah, we won." She responded.

"We have to get back to the ARK." Sonic said as he pointed to the space colony.

"I'll use Chaos Control. You're going to be clumsy at it. Just don't ask." Mona winced as she hung onto Sonic's shoulder. "CHAOS CONTROL!"

The trio wound up appearing in another area of the Space Colony before their super forms dissipated and they crashed onto the cold floor. The human sheathed her sword and sat up.

"Who's the clumsy one again?" Sonic asked as Mona turned to Shadow.

"Nice landing." Shadow smirked.

"Aren't you supposed to say 'Thank you' and say we're even?" Mona remarked mentally as she pushed her brown hair out of her face.

"You still owe me one." Shadow responded.

"That's a joke right?" Mona's eyebrow rose.

"Nope, you owe me a trip to Hawaii."

"WHAT?!" Mona said, frazzled by his remark. She saved him from dying and he wants to go back?!

"I was just kidding. Just between us, you did pretty well for a human using the Chaos Emeralds. Very heroic, but a little too reckless." Shadow responded before Mona and Sonic helped him onto his feet.

"Oh very funny." Mona shrugged. The two were almost at the door when Mona slightly turned to Shadow. "Um…Shadow?"

"What?" Shadow looked towards her.

"I don't hate you." She responded.

"It's alright…"

-----------------

Shadow: That was weird.

What do you mean "weird"?!

Shadow: You tried increasing your tragety chapter by including real people.

Well, I tried to get close to the truth as I could. Hey uh, weren't you watching a movie thirty minutes ago?

Shadow: Yes.

Was it boring?

Shadow: Yes.

(Suspiciously) What was it?

Shadow: I dunno.

(LOONG PAUSE)

You watched a blank screen again didn't you?

Shadow: Yes?

(Another pause)

I'm going to work on the next chapter...

Please R&R!