Hello people! It's me again! Wow! I got 4 reviews! That might not seem a lot to you, but this is my first story so it's a big deal to me. (lol) : P Thankees to CHOCO AARDVARK for telling me that my author notes were distracting. I'll stop doing them. Okay then, let's get down to business:

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic and Co. In this chappy, I own Ruby Gemmon and Leo Richards. (I need to add him on my characters list in my profile...)

No flames. That's all for now.

Shadowed Photo Ch. 2- Who is Shadow?

I didn't expect to wake up the next morning. But strangely enough, I did. I woke up in my room alone. No Sonic. No Shadow. Nothing. But it sure didn't feel like nothing happened. 'That couldn't have been just a dream... could it?' I sat up and pulled the covers off of me. "Well, there's only one way to find out!"

I quickly took off my light blue PJ's and put on a pair of jeans with two purple hearts on each poket, and my favorite purple T-shirt with a pink heart in the middle. I grabbed my white sneakers and was about to run down stairs until the phone rang.

Ring! Ring!

I ran down the steps with my camera skipping two stairs at a time and answered the phone.

"H-hello?" I cleared my throught.

"Hi, sweetheart!" I reconized my mom's cheery, yet slightly concerned voice. "Oh, good. You're out of bed. I thought I would call you to see if you felt any better."

' "...felt any better"...?' I thought. "Er... why? Did something happen to me last night?"

"Oh, you probably don't remember anything, right?"

Geez... it's not like I had short-term-memory-loss or something.

"Um... no, not really, mom."

"You were blacked out, sweety. It took you so long to get back from Susie's housethat we got so worried! We called the police and they found you lying behind a dumpster with you camera."

'So what I saw was real!'

I was glad I wasn't going crazy.

"Oh, I'm sorry, mom. I didn't mean to make you worry. So, where are you and dad and Ricky?"

"We really wanted to stay with you until you woke up, but your father got called into a meeting with his boss, your little brother had baseball practice and is going to go to a friend's house afterward, and I had to run some arrans. I'm very sorry I'm notat home, Ruby. Will you be okay at home by yourself for a while?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine!" I tried to sound as perky as possible so my mom wouldn't feel guilty. "I thought I'd go bike ridding for a little while to get some fresh air."

"Okay, then", my mom sighed with relief. "There's some microwaveble food in the freezer for lunch, call me if anything--"

"MOM! Relax, okay? I'm almost 12, ya know."

"Well, alright. My goodness, you are sure growing up so fast. I'll see you later, sweety pie. I love you!"

"Love you, too, mom. Bye!"

I hung up the phone, grabbed my camera and headed out the door. My bicycle was laying right in the middle of the yard, as usual. I picked it up and started peddling up the street.

My ming was in a tizzy of questions. Why would that black hedgehog frome Sonic? Why was he stealing Chaos Emeralds? And what the heck was he?

While I was off in dreamland, I forgot to stop at the stop sign before crossing before...

"LOOK OUT!"

I lifted my head to see that another bicycle was heading strait for me! I didn't have enough time to react!

"Huh--? AAAAHHHH!"

CRASH!

I had collided with the other guy on the bike. "Oww..." I moaned. Great job, Ruby, not looking both ways before crossing! I immediatly got up and started to apologize like crazy, which is something I normally do if I screw up.

"Oh my god! I am sooooo sorry!"

"Ruby, you've got to stop apologizing." The person who I crashed into was actually my best friend, Leo. Leo and I have been friend since, like, forever. So we're really close. NO, not in the boyfriend/girlfriend type of relationship. We basicly met in kindergarden during a food fight which some kid caused. (Don't ask!) Once we became friends, our parents started becoming friends,too. Leo's dad is big on computers, and he works at the same company my dad does, and they get along pretty well. His mom is a stay home mom that looks after him, his older brother, and 3 of his cousins. Other than that, I don't know much about his mom, other than she's from Japan, making Leo half Japanese.But he really looks more like his dad.

Leo grinned at me with his goofy smile, like he always does. His blueeyes were bright and friendly andhad hisblond hair to the top of his ears. I blushed from embarassment and was about to say something when Leo raised a hand.

"Don't worry about it." He reassured me. Since we had known each other for a really long time, we could read each other inside out. "So, where're ya headed?"

"Your house, actually. I need these pictures developed, and you're the only friend I know who has a dark room and picture development stuff!"

Apparantly, he could hear the alarmness in my voice. "Why? What's wromg?"

There was no use to lie to Leo. And I had to tell someone eventually. I took a deep breath and dug up the courage to tell him.

"I-I think I saw something last night that I shouldn't have."

"You don't know the half of it, kid." A voice said with an evil tone, a tone that I have heard before!

Leo stepped closer to me. "Who's there?" He called out in an alarming tone.

"Hand over the girl,boy, and I might spare your life, too." This time, the same voice came from above.

Leo's head and my head shot up.

It was him.

'That black hedgehog from last night!'

I gasped in shock. "Shadow!"

Sorry folks, it's 1:13 am, so I'll have to stop there for today. Okay, you people know the drill! R&R and NO FLAMES, plz! Also, I'm not too sure when I'll be able to update. Finals are coming up in, like, 2 1/2 weeks, and my teachers are craming in some last minute tests! Ugh. X( I can't wait until summer vacation! Well, BYE PEOPLES!