CHAPTER 10

THE PROBLEM WITH SHADOW

That next day, Knuckles was sitting in an alleyway crying, until a green and black squirrel walked up to him.

The squirrel took her gun out her pocket and pointed it at the echidna, "Who are you? What are you doing in the Street Punks territory?"

Knuckles looked up at her with tears running down his cheeks, "Go ahead and kill me I have nothing to live for anyway."

The squirrel lowered her gun, "Wait a minute aren't you one of Hedgehog's friends?"

Knuckles stood from the ground and punched the wall, "I am not his friend!"

"You hate the guy don't you?" She sighed, "It seems that everyone hates his guts."

Knuckles looked down to the ground, "H

e stole my girlfriend from me...that bastard..."

The squirrel laughed then smirked, "It seems that we have a lot in common, echidna. We're plotting our revenge on him now. Wanna help us?"

Knuckles looked up to her, "Me apart of the Street Punks? I don't know."

"You'll have Shadow's blood on your hands guaranteed."

Knuckles did want to kill him badly, "I'll do it. I'll do it for Rouge."

The squirrel put her gun away and smiled, "My name is Zena."

"Knuckles", he held his hand out and Zena shook it.

Later at the Chaotix, even though Shadow was kicked out for good he still showed up surprising his former team.

Charmy's mouth hung open when he saw Rouge walk through the door with Shadow, "Captain Shadow!"

Shadow approached him, "Please call me Shadow now. I'm through here remember?"

"What are you doing back?" Tonya asked.

"Karu let me go", Shadow answered.

"What?" Vector couldn't believe it.

Espio didn't believe it either. He crossed his arms, 'Something's not right here. Something's different about him.'

"Did you find out what was wrong with you?" Vector asked.

Shadow nodded, "It turns out that I'm a demon just like Lord Dark."

Rouge looked over to him, "You mean that demon called Dark?"

Shadow faced Rouge with a glare, "Wait a minute. How do you know about Dark?"

Rouge started to sweat, "Well...uh I sorta snuck into your room and uh...me and guys looked at the disk while you were gone."

Shadow was full of anger, "What? I said never to look at that disk. It was strictly forbidden. I thought I made it clear."

Rouge looked down on the floor, "Sorry, Shad."

Shadow crossed his arms, "You ought to be."

"Come on Shadow, she was just worried like the rest of us. She wanted to find what you were hiding. Don't be mad with her", Espio said.

Shadow then felt a massive pain in his head. He kneeled to the floor and held it with his hand.

Rouge was worried, "Shadow?"

Shadow then stood from the floor and faced Charmy with an evil look.

Charmy got scared, "Uh, Shadow?" He looked into his menacing eyes.

Shadow then tackled Charmy to the floor with fangs appearing from his mouth. He licked his lips. He then tried to bite Charmy.

Charmy held up his arm as his only defense. He cried and screamed as Shadow bit in his arm. His blood dripped on his face, "Vector!" He cried.

Vector took out his gun from his holster and pointed it at Shadow, "Stop it, Shadow!" He then realized that Shadow was listening to him, he just kept feeding on his arm. Vector then pulled the trigger and his bullet shot into the back of Shadow's head.

Shadow got off Charmy and fell next to the bleeding Charmy's body. Shadow looked back at Vector with anger wanting to kill him instead.

Charmy ran over to Tonya and sobbed on her, "He bit me! He bit me!" He continued to cry on her.

Tonya held the bloody bee close, "You're safe now, you're going to be okay."

Rouge looked at the scared bee. She never saw Charmy this scared before, 'Shadow's demon power must be developing.'

Espio tried to talk some sense into him, "That's enough, Shadow!"

Shadow had his attention on him.

"What's wrong with you lately? You act like some kind of evil has taken over you. First you killed Maxcell now this? This has to stop. If you can't stop this yourself then we can help you. That's what friends are for. That's what they do."

Shadow looked at the blood on the floor, "Wish I could, but...so much blood..."

"Yes you can!"

Shadow looked at Espio, "Only one person can help me and that's Lord Dark."

"What? You can't trust that guy? He's some kind of monster that we don't know much about. He's probably the one filling your head with this crazy shit."

"That's not true." A voice had said.

The group looked over to the entrance and saw a black creature standing there with an evil smirk.

Rouge's eyes widened, "Who...or what is that?"

Shadow smiled looking happy to see him, "Lord Dark!"

Rouge looked over to Shadow, "That's Dark?"

Shadow ran over to him, "I think it's starting...my demon side...it's..."

"Don't worry about it, as soon as we get back to the base. I'll help your body to develop."

"Wait a minute, you're not going to take him away again are you?" Rouge asked.

"I have to or he'll kill all of you. It's not a threat it's a promise. That bee over there knows what I'm talking about."

Charmy held Tonya tighter with tears still in his eyes.

Espio took out a shuriken star, "If you want him, you'll have to go through me."

Dark smiled, "If it's a fight you want, a fight you'll get. I don't wanna do this..." He then made a small whistle.

Then a big man with two chainsaws attached to his wrists came through the door with a necklace with an orange jewel in it. "You called, boss?"

Dark nodded, "Take care of these losers won't you?"

The man smiled evilly, "Yes, sir!" He walked up to the group slowly with his chainsaws running.