Shadow cried quietly until he felt he could do it no more, then he just lay there in his chains, believing that this cold, hard steel was all he would ever feel again. It was many hours that passed, and he suddenly shot up into a sitting position when he heard footsteps in the hallway. The door began to open, slowly, and he let himself fall to the floor again.
It didn't matter if it was Eggman or Bujin, he wouldn't acknowledge them. The hedgehog decided he would lay there until he died. Let them torture me, shock me, do whatever they want, I don't care anymore, he thought in despair. He closed his eyes, waiting for the pain. But none came.
Well, I see you were sleeping, so maybe I should just leave you alone for a while." Shadow shot up again, finding himself staring into the eyes of his sister.
"Foxy?! Where the HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!" The fox sighed, taking out a rather curious looking device and using it to cut through his metal bonds. "Glad to see you too, brother. Next time I'll send Omar to save you instead of me." The purple fox muttered and began to walk towards the door. The ebon hedgehog followed her, irritated.
"It seems that even this world in danger from the Fallen Race. I guess you'll all be involved anyway." She said, almost to herself. They walked out the room into the hallway, and Shadow saw all that the place was practically falling apart. The walls were close to collapsing, huge holes and cracks in them, and fires were blazing. He stared at it in shock.
"Did you do all this?!" He asked her as they walked on. "In a way I did, but that isn't what matters." The hedgehog glanced at the mess around him again, then shook his head.
"So, you left your kits knowing I would find them? Why? What the Hell did you have to do that was more important them?!" Shadow started, his voice rising. They had left the filthy laboratory, now that it had been almost completely destroyed, and gone to the ARK. The black hedgehog had found some relief that his niece and nephew were unharmed, having been rescued by their father just an hour after they had been captured.
Bujin had been so busy with being sure Shadow was secure, he hadn't had time to conduct anything inhumane upon them. The two little hedge-foxes were sleeping in another room, Omar watching over them while their mother tried to explain what had happened.
"Yes, I trusted you would take care of them, and the time hasn't yet come for you to know where I was." The purple fox said softly. Her brother stared at her. Why is she acting like this, he wondered, her tone, and the way she is talking is different.
"What's going on?" He asked. She suddenly looked much older, more mature, and tired. Her eyes seemed to glow beyond their natural green, brighter and yet looking so forlorn. "As I said, it isn't yet time." Foxbeast whispered and her eyes glowed even brighter. Shadow watched curiously as she raised a hand up, a strange ball of light glowing in it, it wasn't a chaos emerald however. "Goodbye, for now, brother." The light grew brighter, then blinded him.
When Shadow awoke, he was lying facedown on the floor, alone. "Foxy? Jazz, Julie?!" He stood up and frantically searched for them, but the ARK was empty, save for himself. Again. "What is she doing?" The hedgehog asked himself.
He turned when he heard a sudden beeping coming from the bridge of the station. He ran to it, and sat in the chair as he saw the radar. Had the Black Arms returned? No, it couldn't be, these were different. Shadow quickly ran the computer controls, and brought the new images of the space ships on screen. They were all different sizes and styles, but there was one large one that stood out from all the others. It was possibly the greatest ship, besides one other that equaled its size.
It caught his eye only because unlike most of the others, it was covered in vines, and plants were flourishing on its hull. The others had similar differences, one seemed to have dark energy flowing all around it, and yet another was encased in water. They didn't seem to be coming to the earth though, just passing by.
The hedgehog waited. No hails were made, and they moved farther and farther away. He had a strange feeling about them, as if he was connected to them somehow, but as they moved out of sight and range of radar detection, he pushed the feeling away, and went back to wondering where his family had gone.
It wasn't but twenty minutes later when Shade teleported onto the ARK. "Where have you been?" His father asked him, rather annoyed. He knew from his son's confused expression that he had seen Foxy as well, and was wondering the same thing. "She had Jazz and Julie with her when I saw her. She gave me this." The younger hedgehog showed him a small crystal. It was glowing a bright lavender, like his eyes, and they could both feel the energy waves it was emitting.
"She said it was mine. And then she said yours was up here, and that the professor had hidden it from you." Shadow stared at him, shocked. Why would Professor Gerald hide something from him?
"When did you see her?" He asked his son. Not to his surprise, it was the same time about that the ships had been passing him by not to long ago.
"Well, let's go find this crystal of mine, whatever it's for." He muttered, and began walking out of the room. Shade followed him, putting his own crystal on himself like a necklace.
"Aunt Foxy said it was in the lower levels, somewhere around the C-86b2 section, and she said you'll have to hack it." He said as he adjusted his sash and tucked the crystal inside it. His father rolled his eyes, but followed the advice.
It took the hedgehog longer than he thought it would, to hack the ARK's main computer for this section. He had never been here before, much less tried to enter it. 'I wonder why the professor never told me about this, whatever it is.' He thought to himself. The room was dark and small, with a small platform in the middle.
There, encased in a glass covering, was a crimson red crystal. He took it, and when he left the room, the door sealed shut and locked once more. He immediately felt a connection to it, a power seeming to flow through it and into himself. "Whatever this is…" Shadow never even finished his sentence, instead, he turned to look for Shade, who had again disappeared.
Shadow once again went to the earth, but this time it was not to look for Shade. He wanted to know what this crystal was, and why he suddenly felt as if energy was moving through his entire body and soul. The hedgehog was in Japan walking down the sidewalk, when he heard a familiar laugh.
Turning, he saw a rather young purple hedge-fox across the street. She was skipping happily down the lane. Shadow's jaw dropped. It couldn't be her, Julie, walking?! And then, just as quickly as she was there, she pulled out a crystal that was glowing and emerald green, and began twirling it. It glowed brighter, and an orb appeared out of nowhere in front of her, the same color as the gem, and the faster she spun, the faster it grew.
Within moments, she had leapt into it and disappeared, orb, crystal and all. Shadow ran to the spot he had seen her, but she was truly gone. He copied her movements with his own gem, but to no avail, and after a while, he finally accepted the fact that he couldn't follow her.
Now again, he wondered what Shade was doing. He didn't have to wonder long, as his son once again appeared without warning next to him. "Good, I was just wondering about you. Hold onto this for me." Shadow handed the younger hedgehog his crystal. Shade stared at him strangely, but took it without a word, and teleported away.