Chapter 9: The first of the emeralds…

Shadow woke up… only to fell like he was about to explode. His head hurt. He didn't get sleep last night. After Tikal showed him about his true family, he had nightmares. More like visions of the past. He had dreamt about his father battling with a dark echidna, he had been overpowered by too many, and was wounded. He felt like he had seen the whole actual fight. He had seen his family die. Suddenly, he realized Sonic had woke him up. Sonic was standing up, over Shadow. He was speaking.

"Shadow, c'mon and get up, it's freakin' 11:57! Wake up, pack your stuff!" Sonic was yelling. His words came clear, Shadow's eyesight became more visible, and much less blurry. Shadow climbed out of his bed, and got his jet shoes on. He got his things together. Sonic approached him. "Remember, we agreed you would hold onto our Chaos Emerald." Sonic handed Shadow a crystal blue emerald. Shadow put it in his backpack. They would search, each of them carrying a pistol, a sword, a pack of arrows, and the emerald for starting weapons. They figured as long as they kept their mouths shut, no one would know about the weapons they had. Or the guild.

Mare-rith wasn't totally sure about Sonic keeping weapons be himself. He might get hurt out of clumsiness. But he made sure they had plenty of items in their backpacks for a LONG trip. They were each given 4,000 $ for starting money, for food and buying amo, and they were given… a license to kill. They were off. To search for the legendary chaos emeralds.

They were walking down the hall, to the dining room, they would eat breakfast with Tikal and Mare-rith. They sat down, the food was already on the table. "Dig in." Mare-rith said. They started to eat, then Sonic spoke. "Shadow, where were you last night?" Sonic asked. "I'd rather not talk about it…" Shadow said. "I took him to the library, he was shown the truth about his family. About the Hedgehog and Hedgusst family. "Oh goody, what did you learn?" Sonic asked. "My family is dead. Satisfied now Sonic?" Sonic just stood confused. "I'm sorry Shadow… these are hard times… we didn't want you to be hurt, but, you each eventually were told the truth…" Mare-rith said. "Aw, come on Shadow, we've gone through the same thing, that's why we're in this together…" Sonic said. "I know… but… it's too hard… I had some strange nightmares last night… about my dad…" Shadow said. "Anyone with painful memories has nightmares for a while… we've all been through it." Mare-rith said.

Shadow felt more comfortable now, but nothing could take away the pain. Not even Maria. Not until Aerick was dead!

After eating, Mare-rith took them to the shrine, with all of their things and backpacks, they would chaos teleport to their destination.

"Now, when you teleport, be sure to do it in a non-public area. Teleport to an area where no one sees it! You are to begin your search in Station Square. Then, when you have made some progress, report back to us and we'll send you some where else. You can do this. With the bond you share with the chaos power, use your chaos senses. Your bond will lead you to the first Chaos Emerald. Now go, to the area, Station Square, you know how to teleport…" Mare-rtih said. "Goodbye Shadow." Tikal said.

They each put their hands in the air. Then, each of them yelled: "CHAOS CONTROL!" There was a flash, then, in a flicker of light, they were gone.

----Somewhere in Station Square, near a deserted apartment.----

Another flash appeared, and they were teleported in a dark ally, behind a deserted apartment. "Sweet, let's go have some fast food." Sonic said. "Sonic, we just ate." Knuckles said. "I haven't eaten an actual pizza in a long time! I just can't wait!" Sonic ran, and the others followed him. "Sonic, we'll eat all the junk food you want later, first we find that emerald!" Shadow said. Sonic slowed down. "Alright…" Sonic said. "Now calm, you'll find the emerald." Shadow said. There was a flash. Sonic and the others ran to it. They weren't taken far. They were taken near the old train station which Sonic and Shadow went on to the Mystic Ruins. Past that to a beach. There was a bright light at the bottom of the reef near the beach. "That was easy." Sonic said. "Du'h, the chaos emerald was like, two blocks away.

"Okay, I can't swim, who's going in?" Sonic asked. "Let's use a spell." Tails said. "Not here, it's in a public area." Shadow said. "Follow me!" Sonic said. They followed him. He led them to a hotel, by the side of it. It was just on the ridge of a reef. "Sonic, if we loose balance walking across this thing, we'll fall in. Plus, what if someone's watching?" Knuckles asked. "These windows along this ledge are tented, no one can see in or out of them. They're for private honeymooners." Sonic said. "Alright, let's get walking!" Tails said. They started to walk along the ledge. The ledge was a slight dap of concrete hanging on the wall, just above the ocean reef. They were walking on it, holding the weight of their backpacks. Tails stopped. "Guys, we should use the spell here." Tails said. "Which one?" Sonic asked. "The energy shield." Shadow said. "Why that one?" Sonic asked. "This will form and air pocket in the shield under water. We'll need to walk under water." Shadow said. "Alright, let's cast the spell." Knuckles said. "Energy bubble form!" Shadow said. The emerald lit up in his bag, the energy ball formed around them. "Each of us, are supposed to walk in the water?" Sonic asked. "Yes, on three, we jump in!" Shadow said. "One… two… three!" They each jumped in, and splashed the water, slowly sinking under.

Soon, the energy bubble touched the mud at the bottom. Shadow could see the bright emerald shining again. Sonic suddenly blurted out. "How did an emerald end up at the bottom of the ocean?" Sonic asked. "Uh… about a three months ago, I through it in, just before Sonic and I met up again." Shadow said. "Why would you chunk an emerald, and never tell us?" Tails asked. "I didn't feel safe with it being around, so I made sure it never continued to haunt me. It was like a lust of dark power. I knew something would go wrong with it around…" Shadow said. "Like what?" Sonic asked. "Like Aerick, if I kept the emerald it could have it easier to track me down, then he could have beat Mare-rith to me." Shadow said. "True, I see now, well it's a good thing we've already found a new one. But I have a feeling that the next ones won't be as easy." Tails said. "Yes, I think we got lucky too, but still, do you think Mare-rith somehow knew it was here?" Knuckles asked. "Nah, this was just an easy place to ask around and read others thoughts who know about it. Plus Mare-rith knew if one was here, it was a public area and it would end up in the papers if someone found it." Sonic said. "Yeah, and most of all, Mare-rith knew that Aerick wouldn't dare start a fight in a crowd of people." Tails said. Just then, they realized Shadow was just about to reach the emerald. He put his hand out of the bubble, and pulled the emerald back in. "Guys, we should hurry, my shield is dissipating. It's getting hard to maintain its form." Tails said. "You're right, let's activate our stealth invisibility, so we can just head straight up to the beach from here." Sonic said.

----Somewhere outside the city----

Eggman was in his egg-o-matic, buzzing around with a scanner. He was holding a scanner, looking for the chaos emerald. Aerick was next to him. He suddenly got bored. Once again, Aerick was in a dark robe, hiding his identity. "Eggman, have any information I can look at?" The person in the robes asked. "Why not read the daily paper?" Eggman asked. Aerick got a newspaper from a compartment in the egg-o-matic. On the front of the paper was Sonic, a big picture of him. And in addition, in big words were: "WHERE HAS OUR HERO GONE? HE'S BEEN GONE FOR 3 MONTHS!"

"Sonic Hedgusst…" The person mumbled. "Sonic, oh, Sonic Hedgehog." Dr. Eggman said. "Hedgehog?" The person in robes asked. "Yes, hedgehog, I've been hunting him down forever. But if I started something in this city, I'd be caught by police in 5 minutes." Eggman said. "Land your hovercraft on that beach. I sense an emerald." The person in robes said. "My scanner doesn't show anything." Eggman said. He hit a few buttons and his egg-o-matic landed. Aerick jumped out. "I sense another chaos user." Aerick mumble to himself. He put his hand in the air. Sonic and the others had just got on shore, still cloaked by their spell. Suddenly, Shadow and Sonic felt like their energy was being sucked out of them. Their invisibility and shield dissipated completely. Sonic, Knuckles and Shadow fell to the ground, Tails immediately knew what had happened as Sonic fell to the ground clutching his head. He saw Eggman. "MY HEAD!" Sonic yelped. "Our connection… to the chaos power has been cut off!" Shadow said. Aerick approached them. Shadow jumped up immediately. Aerick couldn't hold off all of their powers to the chaos power at once. He let go of the spell. Shadow took a loaded pistol from his backpack. He pointed it at the person in black robes.

The unknown person took a blade out from behind him. He held it in Shadow's direction. Sonic and Knuckles slowly got up. Sonic looked stunned at first. Until he saw Eggman. Shadow fired the pistol. Aerick shielded himself with a chaos shield, the bullet bounced off and flew somewhere else. Aerick grinned under his cloak. "So, I've finally found you… Shadow Hedgehog." The person said. Shadow glared at him. "So, I've found you… Aerick…" Shadow mocked. The battle to protect the Red Chaos Emerald was on. Shadow was never going to let it go.

END CHAPTER

I know, this chapter may have sucked, but send reviews.