I'm back again. By the way, there's a poll on my profile. It asks what I should do after I'm finished writing this story. Go check it out and vote if you'd like.

Also, I decided to change the location of the Emerald to somewhere else. Originally it was in Mexico City.

Matthew stood outside Central City. He transformed into Shadow and shot up into the sky. A sonic boom erupted as he flew into the clouds. He had an angry expression on his face. His eyes were intense and cold, and his scowl was serious. There was no time to have fun, he thought. Now things were serious. Once he had all seven Chaos Emeralds, he would destroy G.U.N.

The blue sky became black as he approached the outer edge of the atmosphere. He flew higher and higher until the stars became slightly visible. He stopped the rockets on his shoes, then just floated there. Closing his eyes, he could feel his black hair soaking in the sun's bright light. There was no sound in space. He couldn't even hear himself breathing. The silence calmed him. It let him know everything would be alright. He opened his eyes and looked at the sun. He saw his mother's face in the light. The Emeralds would help him find Maria. He knew it.

"Sir?" Omega asked through the communication device in Shadow's glove, disrupting his peace.

"Yes?"

"Are you prepared?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I am. You said it was in Acapulco."

"Correct."

"Tell me where it is."

"It is on the southern coast of Mexico. Its coordinates are 16 degrees 51 minutes, 49 seconds north, and 99 degrees 52 minutes, 57 seconds west."

"I have no idea what that means."

"Do you see where the coast slants down to the right?"

Shadow looked down at Mexico and saw it. "Yes."

"It is in the middle of that."

"Good." Shadow shot back down, hurdling back towards Earth's atmosphere. He was aiming for where Omega had told him.

Acapulco was a beautiful place. It was a beach resort filled with tall buildings and beautiful landscape. Shadow figured this would be a perfect place for a millionaire to live. The water off the beach was a stunning dark blue, but it made Shadow nervous. The resort also looked like a popular tourist attraction. Mexico was known for its tourism,after all. Shadow's black hair absorbed the sun's hot rays, but he easily ignored it. He didn't waste his time ogling any beautiful girls he might've seen. He wanted to get the Emerald as fast and subtle as possible.

Shadow hovered above the resort, where he would be out of sight. He saw white, circle shaped house outside the city.

That must be Martinez's villa, thought Shadow. He flew straight to it and landed in front of its front door, which was quite taller than Shadow. He transformed back into Matthew and turned the doorknob. The door opened. Wow, he thought. He must trust people.

Matthew walked in. The house was much more simplistic than Matthew had expected, but it still lived up to some expectations of a rich person's house.

"Hello?" Matthew called, putting on a Mexican accent. Unfortunately, he knew very little Spanish. "Señor Martinez? Hello? I have come to borrow some jalapeños!"

Matthew walked in further, gaining a better view of the villa. "Señor Martinez? Do you have any jalapeños? It is vital for my salsa! May I have some?"

Matthew continued going further into the house. He was about to call again, but he heard the clicking of a blunderbuss, a long gun, behind him, and a voice that said, "Who are you?"

New plan, Matthew thought. He put his hands in the air and asked in his regular voice, "Are you Bruno Martinez?"

"Si," the voice said. "Turn around slowly, so I can see who you are."

Matthew obeyed. He gradually rotated his body until he was face-to-face with Martinez. He was a well-groomed man wearing an expensive robe. The long gun shook in his grip. "What is your name?" he asked.

Matthew quickly searched for a name. "Lupe."

"What is it you've come for, Lupe?"

Matthew glared right into Martinez's eyes. "Your Chaos Emerald."

He transformed into Shadow and began walking towards the millionaire. Martinez fired his gun, but the bullet bounced off Shadow's body without even hurting him. He kicked the gun out of Martinez's hand, then pinned him to the ground.

"Where is it?" Matthew shouted into the man's ear. "Tell me, or I'll rip your goddamn head off and destroy this place."

"No, please, not that!" Martinez begged. "I-I'll tell you! I'll tell you!"

Shadow pushed his skinny elbow into the millionaire's chest, which made him whine in pain.

"O-ow! It's… it's in my bedroom. In a glass case. You cannot miss it."

"Lead me to your room."

Shadow let Martinez get up. He kept his eye on him the whole time being led to his bedroom. He was taken to a room that had a massive chandelier hanging from the high ceiling. The room was easily the biggest one in the house. A long, tucked in bed sat in the corner, and in the other corner was a yellow Chaos Emerald, floating and glowing majestically. It was In a case that reminded Shadow of an exhibit at a museum. Nothing else was in the case. It was obviously too big for the fist-sized Emerald.

Shadow glared at Martinez and pointed to the bed. He got the message and went over to it, sitting down on it. Shadow meanwhile went to the case and stood in front of it. With one swift punch, the glass erupted into pieces upon pieces. Martinez began to whimper as Shadow reached his hand out to the Chaos Emerald. The relic began to glow and move toward his hand. It landed softly onto his palm. He clenched his fingers around it, and it began to glow more, reacting to his touch. He closed his eyes and felt its power. He now had four Chaos Emeralds…

He heard something zip in through the window and hit Martinez. He turned around to see the man lying on his bed, dead. It was a bullet that had killed him. Another zoom shot through the glass window and hit Shadow in the arm. It bounced off and hit the chandelier. Shadow's eyes began to glow in rage. His body began to glow crimson has the anger built up in his gut.

"G.U.N.!" he snarled as he unleashed a Chaos Blast. The explosion leveled the whole house. Shadow closed his eyes and tried to let the anger leave him. He opened his eyes and looked around. The house was now nothing more than piles of debris.

Once the dust cleared, he looked in front of him and, to his horror, hundreds of tanks that were prepared to fire.

He heard the G.U.N. Commander's voice. "Hello again, Matthew."

Shadow turned to his left and saw the commander walking toward him. "What do you want?"

The commander stood his ground. Unlike many, he was not afraid of Shadow The Hedgehog. "I want that Chaos Emerald. I also want to speak with you."

"Like hell."

"These tanks are ready to blow your ass to pieces."

"Let them try."

The commander chuckled. "This is your last chance, Matthew. Come with us, or we'll have to detain you."

"But you've tried that before. Twice. You can't kill me. At least not as easily as you killing my grandfather."

The commander furrowed his brow. "What're you talking about?"

Shadow scowled. He began walking toward the commander, who'd raised his hand, signaling the tanks to hold their fire; if they tried blowing up Shadow, they would blow up their commander instead. Soon Shadow was facing the commander. They were roughly the same height. With one quick motion, Shadow grasped the commander's neck in his large gloved hand. He slowly raised the commander off the ground.

"Don't lie to me," growled Shadow. "I know you killed Gerald. Why? Why did you kill him? Why did you take away the last thing I have?" Tears started welling up in Shadow's eyes. "And for what? To use me as a tool of war? I know why I was created, Commander, and it makes me sick. You were never going to let me see the life of being a human being. You wanted a monster." Shadow dropped the commander, who lay on the ground helplessly. "You got him. Stand up."

The commander slowly stood up. "We didn't kill him, Matthew. I swear on my son's grave." He kept his eyes on his feet. So, now the commander was afraid. Now he realized what he'd done. But no. He slowly took his eyes off his feet and stared into Shadow's own eyes, which were furiously glowing. This commander was still arrogant. It pissed Shadow off.

Shadow pursed his lips together as he gave the commander a well-aimed stomp to the abdomen. The commander sailed through the air and crashed into a tank. The force was so powerful, it sent the tank tumbling into another. Shadow stared at the commander. All that was there was a corpse, with every bone in its body broken.

The tanks began to fire. Shadow didn't want a fight, however. He had the Emerald. That was all he wanted. He dashed into the city. The tanks would not follow him there. Once he was out of sight, he took off, flying into the clouds. He was crying, pained that he'd just taken another life. Shadow hated himself.