CHAPTER 20

Shadow's heart felt is if it had stopped as Black Doom continued talking. "You were never created for doing good," he told the hedgehog, moving in a tight circle around him. "You were created to destroy all things weak. You are hated."

"That's not true!" Shadow said, clenching his fists. "I'm not hated!"

"Oh you mean the Jedi?" Doom questioned. "Mostly Master Robotnick."

"What do you know about her?" Shadow demanded.

Black Doom put a hand on the black hedgehog's shoulder. "She's only nice to you because she fears you," he whispered. "They all fear you. They know what you're capable of doing. Fear brings respect."

Shadow said nothing but he was shaking. No! he thought.

"You can deny it all you want," the alein said mildly. "But it's the truth. Did you think anyone could actually love you? Care about you? Need you?"

"Yes," Shadow replied.

Black Doom laughed. "You're sadly mistaken, Yukimako!"

Shadow closed his eyes as if doing so would shut out the words. Black Doom had to be lying. This wasn't true. It couldn't be. If it wasn't he'd find out at the Temple.

"Just forget about the Jedi," Doom said to him. "They're nothing but pawns. Even if you stand up for them they'll fall just as easily."

"Well," Shadow said as his eyes snapped open. "We'll see, won't we!" he twisted around and swung his lightsaber at the alien. The blade went right through Doom and his body flickered strangely than vanished as if he'd never been there. Damn it! the black hedgehog though, realizing it had only been a hologram.

Seems you've made your choice, Black Doom's voice echoed in his mind. Fine then. I'll let you have your way this time. But I'm not through yet. I shall be seeing you again. The voice faded then was gone.

Shadow sighed and sat down on the floor, relieved. The alien was gone. He'd beaten it this time but... Suddenly he remembered his friends. What happened to them? Are they okay?

He stood up and ran out of the room. Just as he was exiting he ran into Rouge who was just coming in. The two fell to the floor with a thud. "Shadow!" Rouge exclaimed, when she realized who he was.

"Huh?" he looked up at her.

"We've been looking all over for you," the bat babbled as they got up.

"You were?" he asked. He noticed Joans. "Who's he?"

Before either could explain there was an explosive sound. "What was that?" Shadow asked.

Suddenly Sonic, Tikal, and surprisingly Espio ran up to them. "We have to get out of here!" Sonic exclaimed. "This place is gonna blow!"
Shadow noticed Espio looked more like his old self again but the black hedgehog turned to Sonic. "What did you do?" he demanded.

"I kinda set up some charges," the blue hedgehog replied, laughing nervously.

"You what?!"

The place started to shake and rumble. "Can we discuss this later?" Tikal asked. "We have to get out of here!"

Everyone got moving. As they ran Sonic said to Espio. "Hey, Espy! It's great to have ya back!"

"It's good to be back," the chameleon replied. "But now isn't the time for this."

"Why?"

Espio pointed ahead. 'That's why." he said rather calmly

Everyone looked ahead. A dead end. They all stopped and stared at the wall. "Oh great!" Shadow exclaimed, glaring at the wall angrily. "Now what?"

Jonas walked forward. "Maybe I can help," he said.

Everyone stared at him. "Who's this guy?" Sonic asked.

"A friend," Rouge answered quickly.

Jonas looked at Shadow. "I need you to focus with me," he said.

"Why?" Shadow questioned.

"Just trust me, okay?" the black and blue hedgehog said.

Shadow knew he had no other choice. He turned to the wall and mirrored everything the other hedgehog did. Jonas put his hand before him and closed his eyes as he focused. Shadow did the same.

"Now!" he exclaimed.

Both he and Shadow hit the wall with powerful amount of Force energy and the wall burst open. To everyone's surprise Knuckle's ship was hovering in the spot just beyond the wall. The echidna stood at the hatch and waved. "Hey guys!" he called.

"Knuckles!" Tikal exclaimed in disbelieve.

"Hey, can you all get over here?" he called to them as parts of the castle crumbled to the ground.

"Can't you get closer?" Rouge called back.

The echidna shook his head. "This is as close as I can get. You'll have to jump!"

That was easy for Sonic because he could run so fast it enabled him to jump pretty far. He was the first to go and had room to spare. Rouge, who could fly, flew Espio over but Shadow, Tikal, and Joans had a bit of a problem. They couldn't fly, or at least two of them couldn't.

"What are we going to do?" Tikal asked worriedly.

Jonas grabbed her hand then offered the other to Shadow who hesistated. "I can handle this," He said to the black hedgehog. "Trust me."

The black hedgehog had no other choice and grabbed the other hedgehog's wrist. The three jumped toward the hole in the wall. As one they jumped out. All of a sudden there was a sound like a parachute opening and Shadow and Tikal looked up to see two black wings had spouted out of the third hedgehog's back. Everyone stood open mouthed as the last three landed on the ship and Jonas wings snapped shut.

Knuckles pulled away from the castle a second before it crumbled.

"What are you?" Tikal asked the black and blue hedgehog.

He looked at her then the others and sighed. "I guess it's time for me to explain."

Somewhere else in the galaxy Ivo and his Master Black Doom were watching the whole thing on a computer screen. "So much for that," Ivo seethed in bad temper. "So what now?"

Black Doom answered him rather calmly. "We finally found what we'vce been looking for. All we have to do with watch and wait. He'll come to us eventually."

After Jonas finished telling his story Rouge asked. "What are we going to do?"

The hedgehog shook his head. "I don't know," he said, looking out the window at the stars. "Black Doom isn't one to just give up. He'll be back."

Tikal was worried. "Then how can we stop him?"

"I don't know that either."

"Don't worry, Tik," Shadow said to her as he joined them at the window. "If we keep our gaurd up we'll be ready. Let's just hope that won't be for a very long time."

If only he'd known what Black Doom was planning next...

To Be Continued... In Volume 2

A/N

And that's it for now. It's like the thank to people who gave me all 39 reviews for this story. Thank you very much.