Fear. Fear ran through the eyes of Genai, the old man who lied to me. He said that Maria was alive. Well, he'd better explain, or else it's chaos control to outer space. Nothing will keep me away from Maria.
"Shadow, please, let me explain!" Genai implored, "I know where she is…"
I was getting annoyed with his ranting. "Get to the story, old man. Now." The Chaos Emerald glowed menacingly in my hand. The old fool scrambled for words.
"Maria was afraid after she returned from the ARK. Many thought that she was responsible for the experiments going crazy. A few of them tried to kill her; her very life was threatened—"
"Look, I don't need the details, just tell me where she is!" the Emerald blazed even brighter in my glove. "Where is she?"
"She...she's in…Prison Island. In the same place where you were."
"So she's in stasis? Like I was?"
"Yes, now listen, you must hear this story first."
"No, I must—"
"Listen to this story. I can shut off the power to what's left of Prison Island." The Emerald's fire died down, slightly, but noticeably. Genai continued. "As I said, her very life was threatened. I took steps to hide her, each one working temporarily, but it would always fail at some point or another. So one night, I took her to one of my hiding spots. I told her that she could do nothing more to save her life." As he droned on, I gazed into the Chaos Emerald, and saw his words depicted in its radiant brilliance. I saw Maria's face—sweet face! —looking frightened, and somehow set in her way, as I knew her to be. She listened with tenacity, ready to accept the truth of Genai's words. "We had decided to feign her own death. We used the Chaos Emeralds to power a device that would make a roboticized copy of her. The plan went without a flaw. The copy ran into a crowd of people bent on destroying her. One clean shot to the head, and it was all over. The only problem remaining was what to do with the real Maria? Well, we couldn't keep her around, she could be discovered, and GUN would ask questions, seeing a theoretically dead girl living. I would not kill her, it was pointless, with all the work we had done. The only conclusion we could reach was to put her into a cryogenic freezer." As he continued to blather on, I saw this all happening in my Emerald. Tears were streaming down her face as she stepped into her freezing chamber. She turned with dignity to face a much younger Genai, and give him one last smile. Genai was at the controls, and he said with great desolation and pain--
"—goodbye." Genai's voice brought me back to reality. I looked up from my Emerald, and realized I had been crying. Quickly and surreptitiously I wiped my tears away. "Now she lies in suspended animation, waiting patiently for someone to let her out. Unfortunately, I am having difficulty getting her out. There is a problem with the circuitry; it was damaged when Dr. Robotnik tried to destroy the island. Due to some other unforeseen troubles, we may never get her out safely."
"What would happen if we just cut the power? Wouldn't she just thaw and, I dunno, wake up?"
"I'm afraid not. You see, some of her bodily systems would need to be, for lack of a better term, jump started. If we unplug her, she will just melt, and be a frozen corpse."
"Wait! There is one person who can help us! The young fox! Tails, the two tailed fox!" I left, using the chaos control, of course. There was one place I had to visit before I asked Tails for help. It seemed so lowly to ask for help from anyone, but if I was to help Maria, anything that could be done would.
… … … …
I stood outside the Prison Island Cryogenics Lab, excited and afraid to see what was inside. With a deep shuddering breath, I stepped into the lab, eyes closed, anticipating what would come next. I opened my eyes, and saw the most beautiful sight I had seen in years.
It was her.
Maria stood, her chin held high, eyes closed, her body wrapped in a navy blue traveling robe. She looked more mature, as if the years had taught her much, yet she still remained youthful. Her blonde hair, longer now than it was, was tied back in a blue ribbon, her red lips curved into a slight smile, welcoming me back. "Maria—is it really you?" Just then, a Chaos Emerald shone, hidden in the rubble, and rose into the air. It was blue; Maria's favorite color. A high-pitched, feminine voice called out from it. It was a voice I desperately needed to hear.
"Shadow?"
Man, I had a great time writing this chapter, and I can smell an ending coming up soon. Pardon my arrogance, but that piece at the end was pure genius. Well, so far I haven't had any writer's block, which surprises me, because usually I would've lost interest by now. Anyhoo, I just want all you faithful readers (cough—BookwormRose—Cough) to know that I truly appreciate your reviews. And for the rest of you…WRITE ME A FRIGGIN' REVIEW! Oh, man I am so stoked! I just got a new PS2 for Christmas, and I got, drum roll please……………….SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG! FRIGGIN' SWEET! I've already beaten it on one track, and I'm close on another. For those of you who don't know, in each level of Shadow the Hedgehog, you can choose to do what the good guys want, what Doom's Eye (the bad guy) wants, or what you want, so there are many levels.
A note to all reviewers: I can't stand it when you type things with letters instead of numbers, like: 1 w3nt t0 th3 mall. And, don't use things like R U going 2 the mall? Also, I don't like profantiy. Please refrain from using vulgar words or web lingo in your reviews.
Inukieta: Well, Maria was put in stasis, but at a later date than Shadow, so she has aged a bit. Oh, and just so you know, I have fun with anything I write, so I will fulfill your wish to 'have fun with it' Just wondering: what does kieta mean? I know Inu means Demon or something of the like, but what does Kieta mean? Cat? Fish? Capybara? I JUST DON'T KNOW! (get ahold of yourself, Wizard, keep it together...)
I don't know who you are, but I like that you like my story. As you so put it, it 'kicks butt'.
Magnatron:I'm glad you read my story. I like your Walt Disney quote, here, I'll share it with you all: There's no great victory
if there's not great challenge. Although, I'm having a bit of trouble with the ending. This is fair game for you all! I need help putting an end, sorrowfully, to tis story. Also, I'll try for some more detail, but I won't do JRR Tolkein 20-pages-describing-a-rock kind of detail though.
lady-warrioress: I think the whole truth was explained here, and trust me, Shadow the Hedgehog is splendiferous. If you need more 'truth', let me know. I'd be happy to pull some truth out of nowhee for you.
Oh! And before I forget, I must credit my brother, the intolerable Swifftalon, for Maria. My original plan was to have her be really dead, but he read it and said that she should live, then I remembered a review from BookwormRose that said that Shadow and Maria deserve a happy ending, and after a brief argument with myself and the insufferable Swifftalon, and decided I agreed with both of them. There, happy Mr. Infuriating Swifftalon? You'd better be!
Swifftalon: I know you haven't reviewed yet, but I know basically what you will say. Yes, I acknowledge that your so-called real name is the Almighty Swifftalon, but I disagree. If you're really 'almighty' as you claim, then you could change this, but you can't, so there. Nyah Nyah. (sticks tongue out at Swifftalon.)
Well, that's all for now. Until next time,
Happy Spelling,
Wizard Typist
