~Chapter 9~

As Shadow and Claire were walking out of the infirmary, the Ark's alarm went off. "WTF!!! Why is that stupid thing going off," wondered Shadow. At that instant, Shadow and Claire then ran to the Ark's command center.

"What are you doing," asked Claire as Shadow logged into the Ark's mainframe. "I'm seeing why the alarm is going off," responded Shadow. He looked at the screen and said, "Oh no." Claire looked at Shadow and said, "What's wrong. Normaly when you say 'oh no', it never means anything good." Shadow looked at his friend. "Th-the B-Black C-comet..." said Shadow. Claire became worried for Shadow never studdered when he spoke. "Shadow, what's wrong, and why are you studdering," asked Claire. Shadow cleared his throat and said, "Apparently, the Black Comet is in orbit on the other side of the planet." Shadow started to type. "I wonder why the sensors haven't picked it up any sooner," wondered Shadow.

Claire looked at her feet. "I wonder if that means they will try to take over the world again," she thought. Shadow looked at her. He knew what she was thinking and said, "Don't worry, Claire. If Black Doom wanted to take over the world again, he would've done it by now." Relieved, Claire looked back up and stared into Shadow's eyes. "Shadow has very beautiful eyes," thought Claire. At that instant, Claire started to blush.

Knowing that she wasn't paying any attention to him, Shadow walked over to Claire and gave her a big bear-hug, which made Claire blush even more. "What are you doing, Shadow," asked Claire. Shadow smirked and said, "It looks like you needed a hug." Claire chuckled and said, "Shadow, I love you. Please don't ever change." "Don't worry, Claire, I'm not changing any time soon," said Shadow in response.

Meanwhile, a ship boarded the Ark. Out of it came Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. The moment the three stepped out, the Ark's alarm went off.

Shadow noticed that the alarm was going off and said, "Why is that stupid thing going off now!" Shadow looked at the security feed and said, "Great, Sonic and friends are on the Ark." Claire looked at Shadow in confusion. "Why are they here, and what do they want," wondered Claire. Still looking at the screen, Shadow said, "It looks like they are coming towards the command center." As Shadow and Claire were looking at the screen, the door to the command center opened.

Sonic: Hey Shadow. Long time, no see.

Shadow: Sonic. What are you doing here?

Tails: We noticed that something was up. There are small bands of Black Arms soldiers on the surface of the planet and we wanted to see if the Black Comet was near.

Claire: The Ark's sensors picked up that the Black Comet is in orbit on the other side of the planet not too long ago.

Knuckles: Well that's convinient.

All of a sudden, a garbled message started to come through.

???: Hello... is ... any one .... there ... hello?

Shadow: Who is this?

???: My name ... Serenity ... looking ... Claire.

Claire looked at Shadow and said, "Shadow, it's my best friend, Serenity. She must be in trouble.

Serenity: Claire ... brother ... looking ... for you.

All of a sudden, the screen went black and the message terminated. Claire became tense. "If what Serenity says is true, than my older brother must be back after all these years," thought Claire. She never liked her older brother. She hated the fact that he was back even more.

Sonic looked at Claire. "What's wrong," Sonic said as he put a hand on Claire's shoulder. Claire looked at him and said, "It's nothing... nothing at all."

Did you like it??? i know, it was confusing. R&R any way!!!