CHAPTER 34

Later on that evening at the Chaotix headquarters, the detectives were gathered around a strange and old thick book that was laying on the front desk in the main lobby.

Appex arched an eyebrow as he studied the book. "What the fuck is it?"

Ker picked the book up and sat down in the chair behind the desk. "It's a book…duh." He opened the book and began to flip through the pages.

The porcupine gave Ker an irritated expression while he looked through the book. "I know it's a damn book! What's in it?"

Shadow shrugged his shoulders as he leaned his back against the wall while he was drinking coffee. "I have no idea. It was the easiest to grab before I almost got hacked to death from a booby trap they set."

Rouge rested her head on his shoulder while she stood next to him. "Thank God you got out there in one piece."

"Tell me about it. I practically risked my left arm for that ancient book."

Espio slammed his fist down on the surface of the desk Ker was sitting at. "Damn! I still can't believe those bastards got away! Not after when we were so close!"

"They probably saw us snooping around yesterday", Shadow spoke.

"But how?"

Shadow figured that they saw them on one of the many cameras they had hidden around the house. "They had a shit ton of cameras everywhere. I'm pretty sure they saw us before we could even make our move."

Espio shook his head in disbelief, "God damn it…"

"Hey we were lucky enough to get this book. Without Charmy's invention, Shadow may had never found their base of operations", Midnight spoke.

Shadow glanced over to Charmy and saw him giving him a cold glare. He could still remember all the sudden and hurtful things he had shouted at him yesterday. He couldn't even bring himself to look at him.

Ker set the book down onto the surface of the desk and glanced through it. "This book is quite amazing. It tells of ancient relics, powerful spells, charms. Myths about powerful jewels too." His eyes had suddenly widened in shock. "Um, Shadow? Come look at this."

Shadow walked over to Ker and looked at a page of the book that had a picture of a familiar diamond.

Ker turned to the surprised hedgehog. "Does that diamond look familiar to you?"

He made a nod, "Yeah that's the same one The Raiders stole from the museum that night. What does it say about it?"

Ker began to read some of the description, "It says whoever posses the diamond will gain unthinkable God like powers."

"Sounds like one hell of a diamond", Tonya spoke.

"But that's only a myth right?" Midnight asked.

Ker shook his head and remembered back when he and Shadow had fought that strange demon together. "No way. When that abnormal demon absorbed that diamond in its body, he got bigger and stronger."

Shadow made a nod, "He's right. When he got a hold of that diamond, Ker and I could barely touch him."

Espio had thought that Nack had probably had other plans for the diamond. "And with Nack still having that diamond on him, this could be more bad news for us."

"But Nack packed up his shit and left town for all we know. We have no clue where he and the rest of The Raiders ran off to", Appex spoke.

While everyone tried to think where The Raiders would be, an orange echidna woman swung the door open and skipped into the lobby in a cheerful mood.

"Good morning, everyone!"

Tonya arched an eyebrow towards the echidna, "Um, it's the middle of the afternoon."

The echidna turned to her with a wide smile, "I know! Isn't it a beautiful day!"

"It's cold as shit out there", Espio spoke in a bitter tone. His eyes widened as Tikal skipped in front of him.

"I know! I just love it! It makes me so happy!" She extended her arms and hugged Espio without any warning. "Hugs!"

Tonya practically fell over as Tikal hugged her as well.

"Hugs for everyone!"

Tonya giggled towards Tikal's sudden happy mood, "My, my someone's in a chipper mood."

"I know", Rouge added. "Look at her face. She's practically glowing."

Espio's eyes widened as he observed Tikal more closely. "Hold on…I know that look…"

Rouge's heart stopped as she realized what Espio had noticed. "…Oh…"

Shadow suddenly dropped his mug full of coffee to the floor when he had figured it out as well. "…Holy shit! Nails fucked her."

The room had awkwardly got silent as everyone's shocked faces stared at Tikal.

Tikal had noticed the room had gotten quiet and everyone giving her shocked expressions. "…What?"

In panic, Rouge ran up to her and grabbed her shoulders. "You let Nails take your sweet virgin essence?"

The echidna made a small nod, "Um, yeah?"

"Oh my God!"

"What? What's wrong?"

"You had sex with Nails!"

"Um yeah I know", she spoke with a light blush on her face.

Tonya nervously began to think all kinds of thoughts. "But I mean…were you willing to go through with it?"

"Yeah", Espio did want to think that Nails had changed, but he had hoped that she didn't use any type of magic to trick Tikal into having sex with her. "She didn't…force you did she?"

Tikal shook her head, "Not at all. She respected me and my body. She really loves me and…I love her." She turned to Rouge. "Oh Rouge, I never understood anything about love and psychical attractions. But now I know. I know how wonderful it is to be with someone you really care about. You care so much for someone, you would do anything for them." She glanced at Shadow and then back to her. "That's why you and Shadow married each other right? Because you love each other so much."

Rouge made a small nod and smiled at her. She was taken by surprise when Tikal hugged her.

"Love is such a wonderful feeling. I never want this feeling to stop…ever."

After Tikal had talked about how great it felt to love someone Tonya and Espio looked at each other. They looked at each other like they haven't seen each other in years.

Later on that evening, Shadow decided to go over to Margaret's house to talk with her about Charmy's behavior. He angrily knocked on the door a few times before the door had opened.

When the door opened, a light green female crocodile appeared at the doorway. Once she caught sight of the hedgehog, her eyes widened in anger. "You!"

Shadow stood there with an angry look on his face, "Got a minute? We need to talk."

"I don't think so." When she was about to slam the door in his face, Shadow had held the door open so she couldn't close the door. "Get off my property, you damn hedgehog!"

"Look, you old hag! I didn't come all this way for nothing!"

"Then why are you here? What do you want?"

"This is about Charmy!"

After when he had mentioned Charmy's name, she decided to allow Shadow to speak to her. "…What about him?"

"I don't know if you've noticed, but he's been acting strange for awhile now."

Margaret made a nod, "Well yeah I noticed. This is all because he's still torn up over Vector."

Shadow crossed his arms, "Yeah and apparently he's pissed."

"Yeah I am too. He was my husband after all."

"…Apparently, Charmy thinks I'm the bad guy for some reason."

She now knew the real reason why Shadow had came to her house. Apparently, he had thought she was the cause of the problem. "Why are you looking at me for? That's not my problem!"

"Margaret, you've been talking shit about me this entire time in front of Charmy! You put all those thoughts in his head! Because of you, he fucking hates me!"

"Whoa, hold on, hedgehog! It's true I don't like you and yes back when everything first happened, I was pissed off and I had to blame someone."

Shadow continued to listen to her.

"But I know how much Charmy loves you and I wouldn't drive my personal hate for you inside his head. I never spoke ill of you in front of him after the funeral. I swear."

"Why am I having such a hard time believing you?"

"Trust me. If he truly hated you, do you think he would've went to your wedding? Or would he still be working alongside you at the Chaotix?"

Shadow had to admit that she was making sense. If Charmy did hate him then why was he still in the picture? There had to be more going on with him.

"I don't know what's going on with Charmy, but I do know that whatever he's going through, it's got nothing to do with how I feel about you."

Shadow stood there deep in thought until he heard Margaret speak out again.

"Just save yourself the trouble and just let it be. He'll get better eventually…"

Before he could say anything else to her, she had walked back inside and shut the door.

In The Next Chapter…

Espio: Why would Charmy hate you?

Shadow: I just don't understand…

Nack: This the perfect opportunity to take this diamond out for a test drive!

Maxcell: This is unbelievable!

Nack: No one can touch me!

Espio: Shad, is that…

Shadow: Nack!