The Space Colony ARK floated slowly in space for many following times. Sure, one can not tell whether they have day or night up there but Gerald always seemed to know when they awoke or went asleep. Right now, it seemed to be evening time for them up in the ARK, as Gerald asked Maria to help him with the ship, while he suggested that Shadow and Cmara got some sleep. In the largish room where they had two beds on both sides and windows to look out of, Shadow smoothed out his covers before stretching a little. He looked over at his sister, who sat cross-legged on her bed and fiddled with the necklace charm in her hands, staring at it tensely. She still had questions that needed some answers.

"I'm sure the Professor gave you it for a reason, didn't he?" The hedgehog asked. He still wasn't told from Gerald why Cmara had to have the necklace on.

She looked up a little, "All I know is I'm not supposed to get too mad or something might happen." She smiled a little, "I don't really know why, I hardly ever get mad."

"Bottling emotions isn't really good you know."

"True, but it's what the Professor wants me to do, maybe it's because we might actually get to visit the Earth, and people won't treat us so differently."

Shadow grinned, "Don't get too excited."

"Why not?" Cmara replied, smirking.

Unknown to anyone, as the hallway got darker, footsteps came slowly as figures are seen, holding long weapons. They went to a certain door that slid open silently revealing the sleeping hedgehog and cat…

With Gerald, Maria watched as he was fixing a problem with the wires and as he was finishing up, he asked, "Maria, dear, if you could plug this back in?"

"Yes, Grandfather…" as Maria slowly slid the mentioned plug in place… suddenly red lights flashed and a loud alarm sounded, startling the humans, as the Professor realized, "Intruders!"

"Grandfather! How did they even find us?" Maria grew worried, if they were being intruded… she ran to get her other friends, but the old man grabbed her by the shoulder.

"It's not safe!"

"But then Shadow and Cmara aren't either!"

Cmara stirred at the sounds and light as she awoke, "What's going on?" She then saw the figures in the doorway and gave a shriek, before falling out and Shadow startled up in his bed before getting a glimpse and jumped up as they saw…G.U.N. by the doorway, pointing their weapons at the pair.

"Let nothing escape here alive." Their leader ordered.

Shadow growled, with fists clenched as he raised one high up, yelling, "CHAOS SPEAR!" and shot the yellow-lightning attack at them, making them back off before he grabbed his sister's hand, as she was feeling stunned, "But…"

"We got to go!"

"Shadow-!"

"NOW!"

As they ran past the soldiers, they recovered as they started firing again, "Destroy the Projects, they cannot escape!"

Cmara tried her best keeping up with her Hedgehog brother; she glanced at the necklace and back at G.U.N. What did they even want with them? She stopped almost half-short as her hand slipped from Shadow's.

"Cmara!" He reached for her again but she backed away.

"This can't be right! We haven't even done anything to the humans and they already attack us!"

"We won't be taking that chance!" The G.U.N. leader aimed his gun as Shadow got in front, as Cmara recoiled back in a little bit of fright, and yet… something else that felt like fire, causing her to sweat and she noticed strange bumps on her arms, as if some sort of allergic reaction, she couldn't stop shaking and everything else seemed to blur out on her…

"…get off of our ship!" Shadow was barking at them, "Who the hell even gave you-?"

"What do you think?" The man frowned, "We are sent here to destroy the ARK once and for all, and we won't be allowing such creatures to come onto our planet." He pointed at someone else, as Shadow noticed but Cmara was still blurred out…

"Maria?"

The man growled, "Who gave you permission to interfere!"

"I allowed myself…" Then Maria threw a blinding bomb as it grew bright, as she grabbed the arms of her friends, Shadow on her left and Cmara stumbling on her right.

"Grandfather!" Maria entered the room with her friends, as Cmara fell a little to the floor, as Shadow caught her. She stared at her arms, they were so bumpy looking anymore, that was really weird. But she was still shaking.

"I have the Escape Pods ready for you to get out of here safely." He pointed to the Escape Pods, that looked like giant glass cases… but there was only two and… "Shadow, you and Cmara can get in one while Maria gets in the other…"

"But that only leaves you behind, Professor." Shadow didn't like the idea, but not as much as Cmara didn't either.

"I'm sorry…"

"Gerald, you wouldn't! We were all going together!" Cmara shouted, she felt tears stinging her eyes badly, threatening to leak out.

"Young ones, you must understand, my time has come now, and I've lived such a long time." They heard the G.U.N. at the doorway trying to get in, ready to fire their weapons. Gerald knelt down to hug them for the last time, as Cmara and Shadow did embrace back, as they turned where Maria was waiting and she opened the first Pod, as Shadow climbed inside but Cmara stopped short. She glanced at Gerald, close to crying.

"Go on…" He heard the door breaking down.

"Hurry." Maria cautioned Cmara inside as she hugged Shadow and the girl ran over to the switch, "When I pull this, you two can get away."

"Aunt Maria, not you too!" Cmara begged. She was starting to lose her family too fast.

"Maria!" Shadow called.

The door had broke down as Gerald jumped up, "Do so and quickly!"

"Grandfather, you don't understand-"

A shot. Gerald stopped short in a flash of white… a red stain covered the back of his coat as he fell on his knees… and fell over, letting out a last breath. The cat cried out as Shadow looked horrified himself. Maria even screamed, "Grandfather!"

"Little girl!" The leader aimed his gun right at Maria, "Back away from the switch. That's an order."

Maria turned away, facing her friends, "I want you both to promise me… that you'll help people and make friends with them…"

"Aunt Maria!" Cmara didn't want to see anymore as she banged against the prison of her Escape Pod.

"No!" Shadow also banged on the glass.

"Take care of the people who live there, be their friends, and have a happy life together, you must take care of each other… no matter what happens to me…" Maria closed her eyes slowly as she felt them aim the gun at her back.

"Back away now!"

"I guess… this is our farewell…"

"MARIA!" The animals screamed as the trigger got pulled… Maria's hand pulled the switch as she fell, gasping out her last words.

"Everyone's fate… depends on…both of you…"

"Aunt Maria!" These were Cmara's final words as the Escape Pod got shot out into lonely space… now incredibly lonely. Shadow hugged his sister close as she wept, over the loss for Gerald… and Maria…

"We have to be brave for them…we keep the promise…" He held his hand out.

Cmara slowly touched it, "Pr…Promise…"

Suddenly, something on the Escape Pod exploded and it not only startled them, it split the pod right in half, sending both siblings apart as they grabbed each other's hands in alarm, "Shadow!"

"Cmara, no!"

"I won't let you go! Not after witnessing Gerald and Maria's fate, I just can't!" The cat shouted, struggling to keep her grip tight on her Brother.

"Cmara, listen!" Shadow noticed the Earth getting really close now, they were due to land very soon, "We land apart anywhere, I will find you again! Just as long as you wait for me!"

"I will wait, but I can't for too long, you're the only family I got left!" Cmara felt her hand slipping… before letting go as Shadow was sent off on a different course now, far from hers, "Shadow!"

"Wait for me, Sister!" His final call echoed as he disappeared.

"Brother!" Cmara also disappeared.

She dared to look down and saw how close she was getting to the Earth now, "If I jumped, I'll end up…no, it's either now or never, Cmara! NOW!" She leaped with all the might she had, holding out her arms and glanced down again… Earth looked… so…. beautiful from this high then in space and so much more detail… the trees, the meadows, the hills, mountains, rivers and even bright flowers that glowed in the nightlight… Cmara seemed entranced to the beauty of the Earth…

"It's just like what I dream about…" She frowned in concern, looking behind her, "Shadow will find me because he always keeps his promise…" She turned her attention to where she might land, it looked like an island… that floated in the air! Really bizarre. It also had a little cabin and a glowing green gem which looked pretty huge and as she kept looking below, she finally grew aware of what her landing spot was…

"W-Water?" Indeed, there was a large pond there and Cmara cringed in alarm remembering… "I can't swim well…" She kicked in midair but that did no good so, talking to no one in peculiar, she muttered, "That's all folks!" With that, she let herself drop into the water, making a big splash and it even splashed bigger as half of the Escape Pod landed a few yards behind.

Inside the cabin, the splash must've woken up the person inside, since we see inside a bedroom where a figure was sleeping. We couldn't see him clearly; just that he looked red, had dark purple eyes, and seemed to have dreadlocks. He groaned, muttered something under his breath and walked over to his window, pulling the curtain open. He noticed the escape pod there, and also… a few bubbles on the surface of the water… feeling fully alert, he ran out his room, closing the door behind him.

Cmara sank to the bottom and tried to swim upwards but only sunk back down again, annoyed. She looked around, holding her breath and noticed what seemed to be a ladder. She ran for it… only to find she was running in place but that wasn't going to slow her down.

The figure raced down the stairs from his home and leaped over the bushes that grew there, over to the water, running.

Cmara ran even faster but still remained stuck in place. She accidentally coughed, and choked on the water, letting out air and felt weary. Great, drowning on her first night on Earth… this was just terrific… just…

Suddenly a splash came from above her as the figure, revealed to be some sort of red creature, stretching out. Cmara let out a few more bubbles in alarm as this stranger took her hand in his and pulled her up as she was only watching him. When they got to the surface and onto the bank, Cmara coughed violently as the creature patted her back, assisting the cat to breathe.

"That was a close one." He spoke, in a almost gruff voice, "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine…thank you…sir…" Cmara finally got a good look as her rescuer… a red creature with long dreadlocks, a moon mark on his chest and… she stared in his eyes, a bright violet color, her favorite shade of purple…

"You look as if you've seen a ghost, kid." He spoke, snapping her out of it.

"I'm really sorry, I'm just…still stunned from the ride, I guess." She smiled a little shyly. He looked so… different from other animals she had learned about, she wanted to meet someone like her… maybe she did…

"Well, maybe we should make some introductions. I'll begin first…" He grinned gently to the feline, "I'm Knuckles, the Echidna…" He paused for her to speak, "And you must be? You know, your name?"

She slowly responded, "…Cmara." She smiled, starting to feel comfortable with this stranger, "…Cmara the Cat, sir…"