Well, despite my all-but-non-existent reviews, I've written chapter two. Please show SOME kind of interest this time!
"This is the spot," Xeno hissed as he stopped at the last door in the corridor.
"How do I know I can trust you?" asked Shadow as he stood beside his half-brother.
"That's exactly what my creators said before they sealed me away, but we can talk about that later. Now, are you going to open the door or not?" Shadow grunted, then used Chaos Nightmare to smash the door open. When he entered the room, he half expected Xeno to attack him, but instead he found himself staring at the girl who held a special place in his heart.
"Maria!" Within seconds, he was across the room and had his hands and face pressed against the glass. Xeno just smirked as he sauntered in.
"I told you she was still alive." Maria was suspended in the capsule as Xeno had been, except that she was clothed in a hospital gown. Shadow turned and stared at the prototype in disbelief; his expression seemed to ask 'Am I dreaming this?' Without thinking Shadow looked down and saw the body of Amy Rose where his own should have been, but just as he was about to freak out, it changed back to normal. "Sorry Shadow, I couldn't resist." The black hedgehog glared back.
"That wasn't funny."
"Are you going to stare at that girl all day, or shall we awaken her?"
When they finally got Maria out of the capsule and into the medical wing, Shadow stood beside her bed, while Xeno used the knowledge gained from his years of "mind probing" to create a medicine that would help to relieve the grogginess from being held in stasis for so long. When he was done, he filled a syringe with the liquid and injected it into her wrist.
"That should kick in after about two minutes. I'm going to let you two get reacquainted." When Maria was finally awake, they had a sickeningly tearful reunion which we need not dwell upon. Eventually, Shadow told her about Sonic, the BioLizard, Metal Sonic, the Black Arms, everything. Despite her mixed feelings, she thanked him for fulfilling his promise to her and saving the world, twice.
"You wanted to talk to me?" asked Shadow as he walked into the control room. Xeno was looking out at the earth once more.
"I assume that she wants to go to Earth," he said. Turning to look at the hedgehog, he added "And she wants you to go with her."
"So?"
"If you go back to Earth with her, your friends will ask questions, and knowledge of my existence will inevitably find its way to the authorities, who will undoubtedly try to erase me from existence once more."
"How can you be sure?"
"You of all people should know. After all, you went through the same kind of trauma, thrice."
"I, er…" Shadow was at a loss for words.
"Exactly. Since you're probably going to take her down there anyway, I have a favor to ask of you." Shadow considered the consequences of agreeing. There was a chance that the prototype would attempt to destroy the planet, as he once had. 'Revenge? Revenge is a coward's answer.' Came the telepathic voice. 'If I had wanted to destroy them, you would be charging the Eclipse Cannon right now.'
"What kind of favor did you have in mind?"
"My approach is simple; they want nothing to do with me, so I want nothing to do with them." He turned to look at the planet. "You see, when people stopped coming to the colony, I made a promise to myself. I figured that the people of Earth could never accept me as anything but a weapon," He paused. "But perhaps somewhere in the universe, someone will accept me for who I am. Perhaps they will allow me to coexist with them, rather than trying to enslave or destroy me. If I were ever to be released, I vowed to travel to other worlds. I was ready to lose hope until you came along. After all, who do you think made you change your mind about destroying it when the Biolizard was loose?"
"That girl who mistook me for the faker-"
"No Shadow, I did. I just figured it would be easier to keep my existence a secret until I thought you were ready. Although, you're half correct, the girl needed some motivation." Shadow considered his words. After a few minutes, he spoke.
"So what do you want me to do?"
"I'm sure you're aware of the time it would take to travel such a long distance. There are preparations to be made. All I ask is that you help me gather the necessary supplies."
"Such as?"
"Food, for starters. Should anything happen to the stasis capsules, the stores on this ship will only last for so long. And I will need a power source to get this station out of orbit-"
"Wait a minute, you're planning to make this journey with the ARK?"
"Unless you have any better ideas, which I know you don't, that is exactly what I'm going to do. After all, why start from scratch when half the work is already done?" He gestured toward the surrounding room. "However, only the chaos emeralds have enough power to get this thing going."
"But if we use the chaos emeralds to power the ARK, they won't be around if they should be needed on Earth."
"I thought of a way around that, but I'll need to enlist the help of your fox friend."
That's all for now. Please review so that I have a reason to update.