Chapter 1: Reconciliation

It was a sunny day on Mobius, when a familiar blue hedgehog was waking up to the sounds of birds chirping. "ugh..." He mumbled, as the sun shone in his tired eyes. He immediately perked up, as he caught a wiff of something being cooked. "Smells like... bacon!" The hedgehog rushed downstairs to see his fox friend cooking at the stove.

"Tails, I'd lecture you about using the stove when you're alone, but that stuff just smells too good."

"I knew you'd see it my way," said Tails, "Besides, I'm smart enough to know how to use it without setting the house on fire."

"Whatever, just feed me." said Sonic, as he sat at the dinner table. "Hey, what's this?" asked Sonic, as he pointed to an envelope on the table.

"It's an invitation from Shadow, Apparently he's having some kind of get together tonight."

"That doesnt sound like Shadow. Isn't he usually afraid of crowds? Whatever, I aint turning down an invitation to party."

Sonic's face then lit up with glee, as Tails placed a plate with a juicy omelet and a few sizzling strips of bacon on it in front of Sonic's face. Sonic began scarfing down the food and doing a fairly good job of making a mess at the same time.

"Looks like everything's ready." Said Shadow, as he admired the little decorations he added around the house in preperation for his party. His deep thought was interupted by the sound of knocking from the front door. Shadow excitedly ran to the door, as he was at first worried that no one would come and opened the door to see none other than Espio, Vector and Charmy. Shadow couldn't help but let out a tiny smile.

"Glad you could make it." Said Shadow, as he opened the door wider, and moved aside to let them in.

"Party! Party! Party!" yelled Charmy, as he flew into the house.

"Charmy! Clam down before you break something!" Yelled Vector, following him inside the house.

Espio quietly walked in, nodded to Shadow and sat on the couch to make himself comfortable. Shadow waited silently for more guests to arrive, when he looked out the window and saw Sonic walking towards the house with a few people coming with him. Shadow went to the door, opened it and saw Sonic dragging Blaze the Cat by her arm. She seemed somewhat flustered.

"Sorry," Sonic said, "She's not really used to parties."

Shadow then gestured for them to go in, as he opened the door wider. Sonic let go of Blaze's arm and walked in, followed by Tails who was right behind him. Blaze, was thinking of just walking away right there, but she saw the welcoming smile on Shadow's face and decided that maybe she could stay... for a little while atleast.

After a while, Rouge, Amy and Cream arrived for the party and everyone enjoyed themselves. Amy, of course, clung to Sonic for most of the party, while Shadow spoke with Blaze.

"So you come from another dimension?" asked Shadow.

"Yes, I am the guardian of the Sol Emeralds, back in my own dimension. A while after I returned home from the adventure with Sonic, Eggman-Nega attacked again. After the calamity, he was presumed dead, and I decided the Sol Emeralds would be safe enough on their own."

"And you came to stay with us..."

"Sonic and Cream taught me that I could find friends who would accept me for who I am."

This made something in Shadow spark. He looked around the room, at everyone enjoying eachothers company. All except Knuckles, who declined the invitation and would not dare leave Angel Island after someone had attempted to steal the Master Emerald. It was getting late when Shadow called for everyone to quiet down for a moment so he could say something.

"you guys... you guys call me your friend. But I have not been acting like a friend. I invited you all here to apologize and to ask for the chance to start fresh. Please forgive me for the harsh things I've done. I treasure your kindness and will never forget any of you."

A tear rolled down shadow's face. He fought back so that the whole river wouldn't be let loose in front of the crowd. Sonic, then stood up and started to clap, while the others followed suit. It was that moment that Shadow felt a new feeling deep in his chest. He really cared about his friends and was happy he could finally show it. He was glad for the fact that they accepted him without question. They really were good people.

A while after things had calmed down, the front door of Shadow's house burst open and Knuckles stumbled in, almost collapsing. He looked as though he had been in a scrap, and was panting enough as to suggest he came all the way from Angel Island on footm with a bit of swimming, of course.

"Knuckles!" yelled Sonic, "What happened!"

"Metal Sonic... got the emeralds..." Knuckles managed to say, before he collapsed and blacked out.