CHAPTER 10

It was early in the afternoon the next day in Tech City. The day felt like a warm spring day even though the season was going into the beginning of autumn.

Tikal rushed towards a group of familiar faces that were standing in front of where the old Chaotix building used to be. She couldn't believe that there was no longer anything standing there. She shook out of her thought and focused on the Chaotix team standing there and reunited once again. Once she approached the group, a wide smile formed on her face, "You guys!"

Midnight turned to her with a warm smile, "Tikal, it's so good to see you made it ."

"Same here", the orange echidna agreed.

Tonya placed her hands on her hips, "About time you got here. I told you to leave with Espio, Ker, and I but no, you just had to sleep in."

Tikal glanced around to see if everyone was actually there, "Oh no! Am I late?"

Espio shook his head, "Nope. Apparently we're all here except for Shadow and Rouge."

"I thought Shadow told us all to be here around noonish?" Ker spoke in a confused tone.

Appex crossed his arms and sighed, "How very unprofessional of him."

Tikal had then caught sight of a yellow and black bee who had distanced himself from the group.

The bee looked down at the left over pieces of rubble that were laying in the middle of the spot where the agency once stood. He seemed to be deep in thought as he stared down at the ground until he heard Tikal's voice from behind.

"Charmy?"

His eyes slowly looked over to her and then looked back down at the ground without saying a word.

Judging by his lack of talking, she assumed that he was still upset about what had happened to the agency and Vector. However, she still tried to talk to him. "It's so good to see you again. How have you been?"

"…Fine."

His short and bitter answer had led her to assume that he was definitely not in the mood to talk. She decided to leave him alone. She walked over to Espio who looked like he had witnessed the entire thing that happened between them. "What's wrong with Charmy? He's acting so…different."

Espio made a small yet sad sigh, "Yeah we tried talking to him a bit before you got here but…he's still clearly tore up over Vector."

A saddened expression had formed on her face, "…Oh."

"Yeah, it breaks my heart to see him like this."

She lightly bit her lip as she tried to relate to the terrible time Charmy was having trying to get over Vector's death, "…Me too."

The two were interrupted when they heard Midnight's voice.

"They're finally here!"

Appex turned to see a black and red hedgehog with a white bat woman walking alongside him approaching the group. "It's about time."

"Hey, guys", the hedgehog spoke as he approached the group. "Sorry we're a little late."

Charmy flashed his eyes over at the sight of the hedgehog.

Espio arched an eyebrow, "A little?" He watched as Tonya and Tikal ran over to Rouge and hugged her while squealing in excitement.

Shadow and Espio watched as the girls reunited with each other happily.

"The girls seem pretty happy to see each other huh?" Espio said with a snicker.

"Has it really been that long?" Shadow asked.

"It has been a long ass couple of weeks . Everyone was kinda…spread out you know?"

He made a nod, "Yeah and this is kinda why I wanted to meet with you all today." He turned to the group, "I have quite a few announcements to make as well."

When she saw Shadow standing in front of the group, Rouge stood next to him before be began to start making his announcements.

Shadow sighed heavily before he began to speak. "First off, I want to apologize to all of you for the way I was acting after everything had happened. I was being selfish to you all and it wasn't fair. That day when it happened…I was blaming myself for everything and I couldn't bring myself to face any of you to talk about it. I felt guilty, but I learned that was a natural feeling to have because I know a lot of you felt the same way."

Everyone made a small nod in agreement.

"I learned that it wasn't my fault. It's none of our fault. It just happened. That unfortunate day just…happened."

When she saw him getting emotional as he remembered that awful day the Silver Fangs attacked, Rouge held Shadow's hand and leaned her head on his shoulder for comfort.

Shadow continued, "But we can't let something like this destroy the rest of our lives. Vector may be gone but his spirit lives on within all of us. We can't let this tear us apart."

Tears swelled in Tonya's eyes as she listened to Shadow's encouraging speech.

"He had a vision…a dream. He wanted to make a difference in this world. I won't let his dream die with him…I won't", he spoke in a firm tone.

Ker had decided to speak, "But what's going to happen? What'll we do?"

"…It'll be rough at first, but we'll start over. We'll rebuild the agency and continue to do what we've always done best. To serve and help people who are in need." Shadow replied.

Tikal found it hard to believe that they could just simply rebuild the agency with ease. "Start…over?"

Midnight scratched the back of his hand uneasily. "That kinda seems like a lot of…work."

"Yeah", Appex agreed. "Just look around. There's nothing left."

Everyone sounded so discouraged about the idea, but Espio was determined to get everyone to stay positive. "Come on, guys. Like Shad said, it'll be hard at first but we can do it and it'll be better than ever." He turned to the hedgehog, "Right , Shad?"

He made a small smile with a nod.

"So does this mean…Shadow will…" Tonya began.

Shadow made a nod towards the purple cat. "That's right. I'll be managing the Chaotix." He then turned to the rest of the group. "That is if you all will give me the chance to be your leader."

The red porcupine shrugged his shoulders, "What are you talking about?"

"Yeah", Espio spoke. "I thought you were already our leader?" When he saw Shadow warmly smile at him, he gave him the same warm smile back.

Rouge saw the look on everyone's faces and was relieved and happy that everyone had agreed with what Shadow had wanted to do to rebuild the Chaotix.

Ker turned to Charmy happily, "I'm so happy we're all going to become a team again."

Charmy was the only one in the group who didn't seem at all excited about the new changes Shadow had in store for everyone. "…Yeah."

Tikal clasped her hands together in excitement. "You don't know how happy I am to know that we're all reuniting again."

"I'm so excited", Tonya spoke. "Everything will be just like old times."

Rouge had gotten Shadow's attention when she slightly tightened her grip on his hand. "Maybe you should tell them that other thing", she spoke in a whisper.

He then realized that was the perfect moment to make their huge announcement. He turned back to the group, "…Well, not everything."

Everyone paused and turned to Shadow in confusion.

"I have another announcement", he began as Rouge leaned against his body and nuzzled her head against his chest. "Rouge and I are getting married."

"Wha?" Ker was practically speechless for words.

"No way!" Midnight exclaimed.

"It's about time!" Espio added.

Tonya and Tikal's mouths hung open when Rouge had flashed her engagement ring that was on her finger.

Tonya felt like she couldn't take her eyes away from the glistening diamond that was attached to the ring. "Wow! What a rock!"

Tikal admired the ring as well, "So beautiful!"

"I know right! I'm so happy!" Rouge spoke with a wide warm smile on her face.

Espio walked over to Shadow while everyone else was looking at Rouge's engagement ring. "I'm happy for you, Shad. I'm glad you broke out of your emo funk. I don't know if you noticed, but we all need you."

He made a small nod, "I realize that now. It's what Vector would've wanted me to do. To take care of everyone."

"…Yeah." He then saw Shadow look up towards the light blue sky.

"I don't believe in Heaven or Hell but I just know that somewhere Vector's looking out for us."

Espio looked up into the sky as well and sighed. "He sure is, Shad. He sure is."

In The Next Chapter…

Zena: You idiots!

Razi: I don't understand how could this have happened…

Nack: No one will dare to stop us!

Damon: There could be one problem…

Nack: If you catch hint of that damn hedgehog, you turn him into demon shit!