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"Okay, now all I have to do is get this hunk of wood out of here." Shadow mumbled to himself. "Okay, this thing is ready to sail!"
"Shadow!"
The black hedgehog jumped at the voice.
"Who's there?" He demanded.
"Down here! In the water!"
Shadow looked over the edge of the boat.
"Pebble?" He asked.
"That's me!" The young dolphin said.
"What are you doing here?" Shadow asked.
"I got caught in a whirlpool and ended up here!" Pebble said. "Where's you're friend?"
"You mean Shelby, she's getting something." Shadow said.
"So, how many dates have you two been on?" Pebble asked.
"What does that mean?" Shadow asked, blushing slightly.
"You know what I mean, I could see the moment I first saw you! You like her! And I mean more then just a friend!" The dolphin said, doing a back flip.
"I do not!" Shadow shouted, not noticing his red cheeks.
"Suuuuurrrrrrrre." Pebble said.
"Why don't you go eat some tuna?" Shadow growled, not noticing his glowing cheeks.
"Aw, alright." Pebble said. "But I still think you two make a good couple!"
"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!" Shadow yelled after him but the young dolphin had already swum away. "Idiotic little…"
A soft breeze began to blow, and something slowly drifted into Shadow's sights. It was a piece of paper. It slowly drifted on the wind until it finally reached Shadow's grasp. He carefully grabbed the yellow paper just before it was out of reach. Shadow slowly opened the paper. There was a message on it.
To my beloved children,
I long for the day that we will meet again, I have cried so many times because we cannot be together. Like you, I have longed to see all of you again. But know this, my children: the rule of Robotnik will soon fall. The time for us to meet again is fast approaching. But it will take more then just us alone the on thing Robotnik Does not know will be his downfall. But before that time comes, you must discover it for yourselves, Sonia already has and now, my sons must discover its joys or maybe one of you already have. Once you have discovered the joys of Crystal, and Sapphire, I will meet with you in Freedom City but before you do, you must discover the secret of the robotizer. Once you have discovered its secret, you will be able to discover the secret to defeating Robotnik, but you may not even realize it. And once the time comes, you will discover the last of my secrets. I wish the best of luck, to all of you.
I love you with all my heart,
Queen Aleena
Shadow could scarcely believe his own two eyes. Was he reading this thing right? A message…from the queen herself, Shadow could barely breath. Maria had told him stories about her, he had always wanted to meet her, maybe she knew his mother but when he got older, he assumed that she was just a story. But now, he was sure she was real. Because of all the times Maria said that he wouldn't be alive without her, he figured that she knew something about Queen Aleena that he didn't but what it was, he didn't know.
That was when Shadow's gaze came to the bottom of the paper. There were five strange marks but he knew them. Three of them were the royal hedgehog medallions the triplets wore, the fourth was the one he owned, and the last one looked like a microphone. His and the royal triplets' surrounded the microphone and he noticed that the speaker part of it was in the shape of a heart. He cocked his head, wondering what it all meant. And the 'joys of crystal and sapphire', what did that mean?
"I have to find Sonic and the others." He whispered.
In the jungle…
"'Scuse me, pardon me, out of the way, comin' through!" Kevin said, rolling past the Kankers.
"POKE!POKE!POKE!POKE!POKE!POKE!POKE!POKE!POKE!POKE!POKE!POKE!POKE!POKLEPOKE!" Johnny cried, pecking the Kankers like crazy!
"AUGH! GET THIS THING AWAY FROM ME!" Lee cried, running from the nutso woodpecker.
"Hey Kankers!" Nazz cried, drawing their attention away from the bomb.
"What's the matter, afraid we're gonna beat you?" Sonic asked.
"Maybe they're scared of us." Sonia said.
"And maybe it has NOTHING to do with the fact that we have pirates swinging swords." Manic said, pointing over his shoulder.
"Let freedom reign!" Ed cried.
"Very GOOD Ed!" Double D said happily.
"Yeah, it' even got ME going!" Eddy said.
"Uh, could someone tell us what's going on here?" Sarah asked.
"Maybe in a minute." Nazz said.
"Tell Robotnik that the Freedom Fighters are NEVER gonna give up!" Tails said, flying around Lee.
"Stay behind me, Tune." Nova told the small white hedgehog.
"But I wanna help!" He protested.
"It's too dangerous." Nova said. "Fill Sarah and Jimmy in, I'll cover you."
"Okay Nova." Tune nodded and ran to the two foxes.
While the others fought, Topaz started defusing the bomb.
"Okay, now all I have to do is cut this wire and the timer should stop." Topaz whispered to herself, using her one of her tails as a knife. "Please work, please work…please."
The timer above her head faded away from the screen.
"YES! Now to help the others!"
The Kankers were easily overpowered by the heroes, and with the bomb defused, things were looking pretty good.
"GUYS!"
"Huh? Shadow?" Double D asked.
The black and red streak came tearing through a bunch of bushes and he looked like a mess.
"Shadow, what happened?" Sonia asked.
"Message…wind…secret to beating Robotnik…Queen Aleena!" He managed to pant out.
"What?!" The royal triplets asked in shock.
"Here." Shadow held up the rolled up piece of parchment.
Sonia took the scroll and started reading with her brothers reading over her shoulders.
"Whoa." Manic breathed once he was done.
"Seriously." Sonic agreed.
"Wow, what do you think Mother means by 'joys of crystal and sapphire'?" Sonia asked.
"Don't know, but whatever Mom says will defeat Butt'nik, you've discovered it and maybe Sonic or me have as well." Manic said.
"Yeah, but what about those marks at the bottom of the page?" Sonic asked, pointing. "Three of them are our medallions, but what about the other two?"
"Well, that one looks like the medallion Maria gave me before she was killed." Shadow said, pointing to the mark.
"What? You have a royal hedgehog medallion?" Sonia asked.
"So that's what this is." Shadow said, moving a small bit of the white fur on his chest showing the medallion. "She said that it was from Queen Aleena before she died, she told me that if I was ever in danger, all I had to do was to activate it, but I never really understood what that meant. When the queen gave it to her, she said that less then a week before I turned fourteen, I would be able to activate it."
"We learned we were royalty when we were thirteen and turned fourteen less then a week later." Manic said.
"Mother must have known Shadow is important for something and gave him the medallion to be safe." Sonia said.
"You think so?" Sonic asked.
"That's how Mother is." Sonia shrugged.
"Well, I think that it's time we thought Shadow here how to activate a medallion." Manic said.
"I agree." Sonia said.
"That makes three of us." Sonic said.
"Then it's decided!" Manic said. "Shadow, my man, its time to find out what that medallion of yours can do!"
"It's simple, really." Sonia said. "Just place your hand over the medallion, focus some energy…" Sonia performed the actions as she explained and Shadow did the same. "And something should happen." When Shadow touched his medallion, there was a flash of black and red light! When it died down, in Shadow's hands, was a guitar that looked just like Sonic's, but with Shadow's head and his colors.
"Whoa!" Manic cried.
"Astounding." Double D said.
"Whoa." Sarah said quietly. "What was that?"
"It was…amazing! Like something out of a dream, or a play!" Jimmy said.
"Double D, you explain." Eddy said, feeling a headache coming on.
"Yeah, while you do that, Sonic, Manic and I will train Shadow with his guitar." Sonia said.
"That's fine with me." Double D said.
"I'll see if there's anything else Queen Aleena put in her message, like some sort of riddle." Topaz said, taking the parchment.
"You'll have to put all of that off until later." Shadow said firmly. "Shelby and Imp still need our help, or did you forget that?"
"Wait, they STILL didn't have the emerald when you left?" Topaz asked. "Then where are they?"
"…Still on the Revenge." Shadow said quietly.
"What? Then we have to go and help her. NOW!" Topaz aid, starting to run back.
"Why worry, from what we've seen, I'd say that she can hold her own very well." Manic said.
"It's not Scar Blade that worries me." Topaz said, slowly stopping.
"Then what is?" Sonic asked.
"See that T on the bomb?" Topaz asked, pointing. "That's his mark!"
"His?" Sonia asked.
"Tucker's! If he's here, then Shelby's his first target!" Topaz said.
"What'll he do?" Shadow demanded.
"I'd rather not say." Topaz said quietly.
"What'll he do?" Shadow demanded again. "What'll happen?"
"If Tucker gets his hands on Shelby, he'll…"
"He'll what?" Shadow demanded.
"…He'll kill her."
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Now things are heating up and if they were before, then this is on fire.