Chapter 6: Meeting A Royal Family
In one of the bedroom at the castle, Sally tucks Maria in bed so she can get some rest. The only other one in the room is Blackberry the little black and red chao. She sits on the bed next to Maria showing sadness in her eyes.
Blackberry looks at Maria with concern, "Chao chao!"
"Don't worry little one, Maria will be alright. She just need some rest," Sally reassures.
"Chao chao! Chao chao chao!" Blackberry sadly says.
Sally picks up Blackberry, and says, "Come now, Maria needs her rest."
"Chao chao!" Blackberry says, nodding her head.
Sally takes the little chao out of the room, and closes the door. Close of the room is Yong-Ho.
"Hello Yong-Ho, what are you doing here?" Sally asks.
"Nothing much, I just uh, wanted to see if Maria's alright," Yong-Ho answers, but also has his cheeks turning slightly red.
"She'll be fine. Maria just needs some rest and time to get her strength back. The fight against the Black Arms took a lot out of her," Sally says.
"Yeah," Yong-Ho says.
"Now, why not join the rest of us while we discuss about what happened at the mall," Sally says.
"Okay," Yong-Ho replies.
The two then walk down the hall so they will join the others.
In a secret room, Sonic and the other adults and the children are here to discuss an important matter. Of course, they're waiting for Sally and Yong-Ho to get back.
Knuckles groans, "How long are we going to have to wait? Can we discuss about this now?"
"Honey, you need to wait. Sally is just worried about Maria. From what Sonic told us, she hasn't seen her daughter in years, "Julie-Su says.
"I know," Knuckles says.
Manic says, "Still, you should have seem Maria fought with those aliens."
"She punched them like this, and then like that. She then kick them. She then attacked that crazy leader, Eclipse," Manic says.
"Yes Manic, you said it about a hundred times," Sonic says.
"In this breath," Melody mutters.
The other kids start laughing.
"Alright kids, settle down. We have an important situation to discuss and we're in for a long day," Sonic says.
The door opens and Sally Yong-Ho, and Blackberry the chao come into the room.
Twinkle asks, "How is she? Is she alright?"
"She's fine. She's sleeping until she regains her strength," Sally answers.
"That's good. We were worried when she passed out," Skye says.
"I wouldn't worry too much, Maria seems like a really tough girl," Melody says.
"You have to admit, she has a lot of strength and potential," Mystic says.
"You gotta admire her spirit," Chomper adds.
"How about we get back to the topic at hand? Maria can really use our help to stop the Black Arms and their leader Eclipse," Sonic says.
Sonia turns to her dad, "Also, how come you never told us we had a sister?"
"Yeah dad. How come you never mention about Maria before?" Manic adds.
"It's a long story. But in short, she is my daughter but her birth father was King Shadow. The Oracle prophesied that she will create the new generation of Freedom Fighters with our help, and will defeat Eclipse and the Black Arms. Sadly, I had to send her away for the prophecy to be fulfilled and to keep her away from the Dark Presence," Sally explains.
"Yeah. I hate to think about what will happen if they knew that King Shadow has an heir. Especially Lien-da," Laura-Su says.
"You're right," Mina says.
"So now that we found her and the Black Arms are starting to make their move, what can we do to help Maria take them down?" Yong-Ho asks.
"Yeah. We're going to help her take those aliens out," Chomer says.
Twinkle happily says, "I'm happy to sting them.
Charmy laughs, "That's my niece."
"And that is my boy," Vector adds.
"Still, we should make sure Maria is watched 24-7. If she's meant to defeat the Black Arms, then she's need some training. Sure she is natural with fighting and chaos control, but she needs to be more prepared," Espio says.
"I know what you mean dad. Eclipse seems to be able to limit her chaos control. If she hadn't had that chaos emerald, he would have finished her off," Mystic says.
"Don't worry, we were able to handle our kids. How can this one be any different? She seems pretty nice," Vector says.
"True. but I worry about her being in this environment. It seems that she wasn't fully aware about her being a princess until the Oracle told her. She might have trouble adjusting to a life in the palace," Laura-su says.
"I agree. That's why we need to be there for her when she wakes up. Sally and I will talk to her first to explain what we're discussing. I'm sure she'll like to meet her mother," Sonic says.
"Yes. I have long waited for this day to come. I only hope she feels comfortable about being with us," Sally says.
Sonic and the others continue to discuss about the situation and how are they going to deal with it. However, they are unaware that a star shaped Black Arm alien is watching them and is listening and seeing everything that is being discussed.
Hours has gone by and it's already night time. Maria has been sleeping for the entire afternoon. Maria groans as she feels pain in her head. Then begins to sit up. She rubs her head as she can still feel pain from her fight with Eclipse.
"Ow! My head," Maria continues to rub her head in pain.
When she opens her eyes, she is surprised to find herself in a bedroom and a elegant one at that. Maria looks to see a few furniture along with a large mirror, a tv set, and a balcony right by the bed that is covered in soft sheet and a canopy hanging over it.
"What happened? How did I get here?" Maria asks herself.
That is when she remembers about her passing out after fighting Eclipse.
"That's… right. I used a lot of my energy to fight off that Alien. Someone must have taken me to safety," Maria says to herself.
Suddenly, she hears the door opening and the first to enter in Blackberry. Blackberry cheers to see Maria away and fles to her and gives her a hug. Maria giggles and gives her a hug as well. Just then, someone else enters the room.
The one is a female Echidna. She is older than Yong-Ho. She is wearing a dark gray vest, dark gray shirt, gray shoes, and small glasses. She is holding a tray of food in her hands covered by white gloves.
"Um hello, who are you?" Maria asks.
The Echidna giggles, "Popping right to the question, huh. I'm glad to see that you're awake. My name is Laura-Su. You already met my little cousin Yong-Ho."
"Um nice to meet you Laura-Su. You're Yong-Ho's cousin?" Maria replies.
"That's right. I'm glad to see you're awake. I brought you something to eat," Laura-Su says.
"Thank you," Maria calmly replies.
Laura-Su puts the tray on the table next to the bed and Blackberry lays down on Maria's lap. The Black Arm alien secretly sneak into the room and spy on them from the top of the ceiling.
"I'm guessing this is still a bit of a shock to you," Laura-Su says.
"Huh?" Maria replies, looking confused.
"To find out that you're a princess," Laura-Su adds.
"Oh, yeah. I still can't believe it. I always known myself to be an independent girl who is able to use chaos energy and train almost everyday. I never thought that I was actually a princess. What's more, I have to fight an alien race. I'm glad I get to know my mom and my family, but… What the Oracle told me, I'm not going to get to know my dad," Maria sadly says.
"You mean King Shadow," Laura-Su suspects.
"Yeah," Maria says.
Laura-Su says in thought, "I think Yong-Ho would understand how she feels. He never got to know his mom. After defeating King Shadow, Lien-Da disappeared, and him and Rutan behind."
Just then, someone else comes into the room. Manic and Sonia happily runs into the room and jump on the bed to be with Maria and Blackberry. King Sonic and Queen Sally enter the room.
"You majesties," Laura-Su replies.
"Hi Laura-Su, glad to see Maria is up. Think you can give us some time alone?" Sonic says.
"Of course," Laura-Su says.
Laura-Su leaves the room to let the family have an important talk. She leaves the room and closes the door. Once Laura-Su is gone, Maria looks at the family with skeptic and a weary look on her face. She feels weird about being in the same room as them, even though they are technically her family.
"Um hello, my name is Maria. You had to give me up in order to protect me from these Dark Presence people and to fulfill my faith to defeat the Black Arms," Maria says.
Sally then gives Maria a hug. Maria is confused by the sudden embrace. She looks up to see a tear coming out of Sally's eye.
Sally says, "I dreamed for this day to come."
"Yes. Me too," Maria says. Then she gives her birth mother a hug as well.
"Aww," Sonia happily replies.
Manic sticks his tongue out, thinking it's too sappy.
Sally looks at Maria with a smile, "Look how grown you've gotten. You are certainly turning out into a good girl."
"Thanks," Maria says.
"Chao chao!" Blackberry happily says.
Sonia hugs Maria, "It's nice to meet you. I always wanted a big sister."
"You gotta teach us how to fight like you did! You were awesome!" Manic shouts in excitement.
"I'm glad you end up liking my already. Despite about me being the sister you never knew," Maria says.
"We don't care. We're just glad that you're here now," Sonia says.
"Think you can stay with us?" Manic asks.
Maria laughs, "I think I will."
"Yay!" The twins cheer.
Sonia pets the chao, "You're little chao is so adorable. She looks a lot like you."
"Thanks. Blackberry is one of my best friends. Then again, the chao colony she lives with are my only friends," Maria says.
"But now you have a lot of friends and a family," Sonic says.
"Not everyone, Eclipse and the Black Arm still has my Aunt Rouge. I have to save her," Maria says.
"You're right. Rouge is probably held captive by them for the moment," Sonic says.
"Um Sonics…" Maria says.
"Please, you can call me dad," Sonic says.
"Right. Dad, who exactly are the Black Arms. The one Eclipse seems to know my birth dad. Did my dad fought with him before?" Maria asks.
"I think it's more than that. It happened a long time ago .In short, Shadow, your father was created by a scientist named Gerald Robotnik and was given the blood of Black Doom who was the original Black Arms leader," Sonic says.
"Wait! My dad was created, and with the Black Arm alien leader's blood sample?" Maira asks in surprise.
"Yes. In a way, he's part Black Arm and are natural with chao control. From what Shadow told Knuckles, Eclipse is created to destroy Shadow as a countermeasure. So he's kind of like Shadow's brother. At least that what the alien says," Sonic says.
Maria flops down to her bed, "Great. Just great. I finally get to meet my family only for my dad to be stuck in time because of chaos control, and that I have to fight another part of it. What's more, my dad has been created by humans, and with alien dna. And that alien who tried to crush me is my uncle."
"Yes. That does seems to sums it up," Sally says.
"And I think my few days before my birthday couldn't get any crazier, it just did," Maria says.
Meanwhile in the secret hideout of the Black Arms, Eclipse is watching the screen from his spy, and has hear everything, every word of the conversation. Eclipse is rather surprised to hear it, but makes a smirk and starts laughing. He has an idea.
"So that explains why she resembles Shadow and is able to use chaos control, she's one of us. Just like her father. She also seems to have her father's stubbornness," Eclipse says to himself.
He walks to the table to see six gems resembles to the one Maria's has. The six gems are: green, purple, blue, light blue, yellow, and white. Eclipse has already have most of the chaos emeralds, and only need one more which is the one Maria has right now.
Eclipse says, "Now that I know that she has the chaos emerald, I can finally have the power to take control of this planet, and then my Black Arms will feed. And…"
He turns to the screen to see Maria the young hedgehog, "I might be able to welcome a new member to the Black Arms and she will make us stronger."