Writer's Note:

I don't own the SEGA characters. This is a fic written by me set sometime after the defeat of Black Doom as seen in the 2005 video game Shadow the Hedgehog.

Please enjoy the story...

Bright and colorful fireworks exploded in the star-lit night sky and party lamps hung overhead between the buildings as people mingled, chatted, played music and enjoyed themselves in the town square area of Station Square.

It had been a week since the Black Arms were beaten, the Black Comet obliterated and the world saved from destruction, the whole world was rejoicing, even Station Square amidst rebuilding and recovery efforts after being attacked by the black aliens.

More guests soon arrived, among them were none other than world hero Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Vanilla, Cream, Cheese the Chao, Big the Cat, Rouge, Omega and Vector, Charmy and Espio of the Chaotix.

The heroes had played their part in defending the planet while Shadow was the one who saved the day in the end, taking down Black Doom. In fact, Eggman, who'd helped the heroes in the battle and despite being Sonic's enemy, was also attending the party.

Although he'd been the one who destroyed Black Doom and the party was supposed to somewhat be in honor of him, Shadow the Hedgehog wasn't there. He was probably running late, many people including Sonic expected Shadow to arrive soon.

Waiting for the speedy blue hedgehog and his companions was none other than the mayor of Station Square himself, wearing a dashing suit and with his hair combed. "Ah, the heroes are here." He said joyfully, "Welcome."

"Hey, man." Sonic said, shaking the city leader's hand, "Good to see ya, uh, ya do know that while it was me and most of my pals here who helped defend the world, it was Shadow who went super and took down Black Doom in the end, right?"

"What kind of question is that?" The mayor replied firmly, "Of course I know. After all, I'm not the one who fired that laser that took out the Comet. Nonetheless, you are still heroes and you're guests of honor. No complaints."

"I ain't complaining or criticizing, I'm just saying. Ok."

Deciding it was best not to debate that if it was a good idea to be treated as the ones who defeated the Black Arms or not, Sonic and his crew joined the party, helping themselves to some delicious foods and getting down to their partying selves.

Omega and Rouge observed the area, watching for a sign of Shadow showing up despite the fact it seemed unlikely. In fact, a ton of people wearing t shirts with Shadow's face on it were chanting the black hedgehog's name already.

Radios playing groovadelic music and connected to loudspeakers were on almost full blast, firecrackers shot up into the air, a few fireworks exploding in the sky made out a few words such as "SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG SAVES THE DAY".

Knuckles, on Sonic's behalf, made sure to keep a close watch on Eggman's behavior and hoped the doctor wasn't up to anything suspicious. After all, the doctor had tried to sneak away after the Black Comet was blown up days earlier.

The mayor told a chili dog eating Sonic that he had a little award for Shadow for defeating the Black Arms, especially since the guest of honor was supposed to be here, plus he'd figured out what Shadow's award was going to apparently be.

Omega reported in to Rouge every couple minutes, letting her know that all was secure and there were no signs of suspicious activity and no Eggman robots or remaining Black Arms coming to attack and feast on the locals.

A few of the citizens took interest in Cheese, who fluttered around and made friends with a few humans and a couple of other Chao residing in the city while Cream and her mama helped themselves to some cake as Vanilla trifled with Vector.

Charmy, who was a fun-seeking kid as usual, took part in a few mini games by the likes of Whack a Black Arm, which was essentially the new equivalent of the Whack A Mole game found at fairs, where you had to hit fake Black Arm aliens on the head.

Pretty much as far as everyone attending was concerned, the party was going well with nothing too major and both citizens and heroes were enjoying themselves. The world was safe again for now and everyone had their saviors to thank for that.

Ten long minutes into the party, Amy got out a camera and deciding to take a group photo with her friends. She gathered Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Cream, Cheese, Big, Vanilla, Rouge, Omega and the Chaotix before setting up the automatic camera flash

With the first picture snapped, the group ended up letting Eggman join in and stand next to Sonic as the next picture was taken. When Shadow would eventually arrive, Amy would take the third photo and it would be the definative picture to hang on her wall.

As for the other two pictures, they would be placed in photo albums like most pictures were. Amy had a couple photo albums at home, one was already full of pictures of her youth and early adventures, the second was a work in progress.

More time passed and the party continued onwards with it looking like nobody else would be showing up, then, a smooth and edgy voice got the attention of most of the party guests, "Am I missing something in regards to the party here?

Shadow the Hedgehog had finally arrived, he'd not changed since the final battle with the Black Arms, still dark with red and a patch of white on his front and wearing rocket shoes along with gold bracelets on his wrists which were chaos energy limiters.

When people saw Shadow, many of them cheered with excitement that the big guest of honor was finally here, some just greeted them casually. Sonic gave a two finger salute, pointing them at the Ultimate Life Form and winked.

"Ah, Shadow the Hedgehog." The mayor proclaimed, "Our guest of honor, I'd inquire what took you so long, but its best to be polite and say, welcome." Shadow said he'd been busy and that he usually wasn't one for big parties but came to be polite.

"Mr. Mayor." Sonic whispered, knowing the Hero of the Black Arms Invasion needed his award and that it was best to give credit where it was due, "Give it to him."

"Are you sure about that?" The mayor asked sarcastically, "Its not even his birthday."

"Just give it to him." Tails egged on.

"What are you whispering about?" Shadow inquired coldly, at least he hadn't fully overheard them but hearing them whisper amongst one another was... odd.

Briefly holding his hands up in surrender as Sonic and the others snickered and the rest of the guests watched, the mayor waltzed up towards Shadow, shook his hand and then reached into his pocket, bringing out... a Chaos Emerald. "This is for you."

"I'll be damned." Shadow said smoothly as he accepted and held up the gemstone, which was actually the red Chaos Emerald, "It's the gemstone containing the ultimate power, one of the seven Chaos Emeralds. I proudly accept this."

"I found it lying around not too very long after Black Doom was defeated, I didn't find anything else, but I figured you'd deserve this for a while." The mayor explained.

'Congrats, Shadow." Sonic came up and put his arm around the black hedgehog in a buddy-buddy sort of way, "Ya got yourself a prize for bein' a hero."

"Group photo time!" Amy said with a delighted squee, she once again set up the camera and the gang all assembled with Shadow among them, flashing peace signs and winking as the camera flashed again with the definitive third photo being taken.

After that, the party continued on with Shadow present and everyone happily rejoiced with no major hitches and everything all happy…

The End