SonicSonic54321: Hey, I'd be thrilled to see Maria again in some way, or at least an occasional mention; not so much the bosses though. xD

Cf96: Yeah, that one's not totally obvious. See, the resaon that Black Doom even gave Shadow back his memory of the attack on the ARK (in this adaption, anyway) was an attempt to get Shadow back on his side, but after realizing that Maria had a bigger impact on Shadow than he thought, Doom tried corrupting the memory to make it seem like Shadow was against humans all along, essentially leaving the memory "dyed in darkness". I know, it's a bit of a long shot, but it made more sense at the time of writing. It's actually elaborated a bit more in this chapter and another later on. Hope that helped cleared things up somewhat. xD

Chapter 9: The Day That Hope Died

~Purification Via Ruination~

The President was currently staring out a window in the GUN Fortress, watching the orange-stained sky. He had lost track of time since the invasion started (plus there was the matter of time zones), but it was painstakingly apparent that there was something the aliens had wanted with "tomorrow"…

The anniversary of the return of the Black Comet.

Suddenly, the Commander, two soldiers, and Tails stormed into the room, all of them saluting in the President's presence.

"Sir, your transport is ready," the Commander announced, maintaining his proper stance. "We must go now! Sir, please!"

However, the President was lost in deep thought.

XxX

"Mr. President, reports show that since the incident three hours ago, the country is in turmoil! Our financial communities are impacted and our satellite communications are down. An emergency meeting requires your audience, Mr. President... This is an international crisis!"

The President's secretary, sitting opposite to the President himself in his own personal limo, was reiterating the current circumstances of the country, rapidly typing away on her laptop and gaining updates by the second.

The President was sitting with his head resting on the back of his hands, in deep thought. A threat had just been unleashed onto the world, and was subsequently proven to be very legit by the fact that the half the moon had just been destroyed…

…and the one who had done so was simpering evilly at the President on his communication screen.

"Spare me the details," The President finally muttered to the fiend on the screen. "Exactly just what is it that you want…Doctor Eggman?"

Eggman was grinning like a fool, a finger deviously twirling in his mustache. The moment he'd been waiting for…

"Hahaha, well, let's just get down to business then, shall we, Mr. President? I won't bore you with details since I know you are a very busy man. Mr. President, my demands are quite simple. Surrender to the Eggman Empire and make no attempts to resist…Otherwise…"

"…otherwise?"

"Otherwise your country will cease to exist!" A gleam crossed the doctor's glasses in that moment, and the President felt a lump start to grow in his throat. "You have twenty-four hours to give me your answer."

The President sat forward with his jaw dropped, then leaned back and shook his head.

There wasn't enough time in the world for him to make up his mind…

XxX

"Once again…I have failed my duty to protect my nation."

"Sir, it's not over!" the Commander exclaimed, stepping forward and shaking his head. "We can continue to fight! The black aliens have rendered us unable for now, but we'll rally, sir! You must keep your nation strong and together!"

"Yes," the President sighed, turning away from the window and heading toward his escorts. "Keep the nation united…no matter what happens, we will not surrender to these creatures!"

He thought about the picture of Sonic and I that had most likely been destroyed along with Central City.

"This much…I learned from them."

He finally allowed himself to be led out of the room, with the GUN Commander staying behind to scowl at himself, thinking about the aliens, but more prominently me.

"…those black creatures will feel their own bloody hell!"

GUN Fortress-

"Argh, my freaking head…"

At least Black Doom wasn't controlling me.

I was lying on the floor, where Black Doom had left me before all that flashback craziness had occurred. It felt really cold now, and now that I was finally stirring, I pushed myself up and glanced around.

"What…why am I still here?!"

Grunting, I took a few cautious steps to make sure I had my balance, then shook off the lingering groggy feeling that was clogging my senses.

"All right, there's still five Chaos Emeralds out there, and while Tails has one, GUN still has another in their possession…" I recalled, thinking hard. "Then the other three are-"

A loud bang reverberated throughout the room, and it was so prominent that it sent me right back to the ground.

Whatever's going on now sounds like it'll be fun to deal with.

I leapt back to my feet and started skating after the sound, tearing down the hall and following the echoes. It didn't take long for the noises to lead me back to the surface, where I caught sight of the President and the Commander boarding an aircraft.

"What a pathetic sight…"

I hardly cared about them, though- Tails was boarding the aircraft too, and he had a Chaos Emerald that I needed to take.

"Looks like I'll have to ride first class…" I muttered, quickly climbing aboard one of their planes set to take off. I'd have to reach the one Tails was on, but no matter how long it took, I'd get his Chaos Emerald.

Whether I liked it or not.

Air Fleet-

It was only a matter of time before I reached the craft that Tails was on, but by the time I did, I quickly found out that I wasn't the only hitchhiker on the flight.

We'd just barely managed to take off before the entire craft was bombarded by Black Aliens, crashing through the windows and storming the place. They seemed like they were looking for something, but I just kept low and followed them silently; I wasn't really in the mood to tussle with any of Black Doom's mooks, but I was also curious to their intentions.

Although, it wasn't long before I found what I was looking for.

I had spotted Tails in a complete tizzy, rushing down the aisle in utter panic. I ducked behind a wall and watched his movements- wherever he was going was probably far more interesting than what the aliens were up to.

I kept up with him at a distance, and while I wasn't even as close as I would've liked, I could still hear him panting out of breath, using a wall for support. His eyes darted around, checking to make sure the coast was clear, then rolled forward into a room that was sealed off by a steel door. The door had an authorization lock on it; Tails had his eyes scanned before it allowed him entrance.

As he slipped through the rapidly shutting doors, the doors were suddenly jammed by an object that had lodged between them just before they shut.

"What do you know?" I asked, prying the doors forcibly open and picking up my inhibitor ring from where it fell onto the floor. "There's not even a dent in it."

Espio would be proud.

Anyway, after utilizing what little "ninja skills" I had, I crept after Tails, who was now hurrying along a different hall, but he had suddenly stopped, and I saw his right ear twitching slightly.

Shoot.

"Who's there?!" He suddenly barked into the emptiness, and it startled me so much that I took a step back, and the small clang my shoe made when it hit the floor again was picked up by Tails, so he started flying faster down the hall. I gave up being sneaky and simply activated my jet shoes, taking off down the hall before he got too far ahead of me.

However, when I rounded the corner, I noticed that I'd lost Tails, and as I scanned the area for any sign of him, something soft landed on me from up above and started yelling.

"You'll never get the President!" Tails yelled, shaking me and causing my head to thwack against the floor and couple of times. Snarling, I grabbed him by the fur of his stomach and held him off of me.

"What the hell would I want with the President at a time like this?!"

Tails struggled against my grip, until he realized just who was gripping him. I felt him tense up, and while he looked as though he wanted to knock me out, I guess there was something else on his mind that was more important.

"Shadow! We haven't even been in the air for more than five minutes and there's already big trouble!" he exclaimed, fighting to get free. I stood back up and held him out in front of me.

You don't say.

"The black creatures are after the President's escape pod!" Tails yelled again, pulling at my fist. "We've got to stop them and save the President!"

"Isn't that your job, to make sure the President's safe?" I asked, cocking an eye ridge as I let him go. Blinking, Tails stared back with perplexity as he rubbed his chest and took a step back.

"Well, yes, actually…but how are you aware of that?"

"Your friends are a bunch of chatter boxes," I murmured, taking a few steps closer to him. "In fact, they've helped me discover that you are in possession of the yellow Chaos Emerald. Hand it over and I'll be on my way."

"Shadow, I unfortunately can't help you," Tails stated, clenching his fists and standing a little straighter. "You're still in hot water with the rest of the heroes, and I don't even have the Chaos Emerald on me so ha!"

"Oh you don't, do you?" I replied dangerously, and Tails suddenly looked a ton less confident.

"Man I need to stop doing that."

"I doubt you gave it to anyone else though, so obviously you still know of its location."

Tails bit his bottom lip and debated on whether or not to make a run for it.

"Shadow, I don't have time for this-"

"Neither do I." I cracked my knuckles and Tails visibly gulped. "Tell me where it is, and we both can get on with our lives."

"NO! No, Shadow, just calm down…" Tails pleaded, holding a hand out and slowly backing away as I advanced upon him. "I'll never tell you where it is!"

"Well, I'll get it out of you one way or another."

Tails was palpably panicked, his tails twitching in every direction and his ears lowering slightly. I could tell that he was racking his mind for an idea.

Whatever he planned on using against me I doubted would work.

"Better hurry up, Tails- you're lucky I don't have a gun on me, but apparently you've seen what I'm capable of doing in the past."

"You wouldn't shoot me!" he suddenly screeched, eyes going wide with fear. I had to rethink that statement.

"…mmm, I guess I wouldn't. Debated on Sonic, though."

Black Arms started crashing through the windows, and Tails knew he had to act fast.

"Look Shadow, I'll make you a deal-"

"You have the nerve to make a deal with me?"

"Hear me out!" Tails winced, his fur standing on end knowing that Black Arms forces were creeping up on us. "Just…keep the Black Arms at bay, okay? I'll see that the President is safe, but if you just help me I'll promise you a Chaos Emerald!"

The gravity of the proposal intrigued me, but I didn't reply on the spot. Instead, I stalked right past Tails and threw myself into the aliens, bruising arms, kicking heads, and even chucking a few out the window. More came flooding in from down the hall, and while I proceed to spin dash into them, Tails came flying in, a little orange puff ball that bowled into some of the creatures as well.

I knew his fighting experience (or at least his strength) was nowhere as on par with Sonic, Knuckles, or even Rouge, but he still could hold his own, and I respected that.

I was still going to make sure that I had all the emeralds.

"All right Tails," I said with a huff, crushing a smaller alien under my foot as I grabbed him by the hand. "I'll keep these guys busy while you make sure the President remains unharmed. I expect that Chaos Emerald, I hope you know."

"I do know," Tails replied with a frown, removing himself from the forced handshake, and quickly twirling his tails to fly off.

. . .

The interior of the crafts of the Air Fleet was much nicer than the inside of the Gun Fortress.

At least, it certainly had a better defense system.

Lasers spewed out of the walls and crossed the floor, security cameras were on the fritz, and it didn't have that looming sense of dread. Besides, I had been in the fortress for long enough- my emerald hunt needed to continue.

Wall jumping into the next area, I found that it was a cargo hold…and it was bursting in flames. Black Arms forces were armed to the teeth with weapons, and leading the charge of this particular squad was one of my favorite people.

"TRAITOR!" Black Doom boomed, and I suddenly had the creeping feeling that I would've taken out the Black Arms on the Air Fleet whether I was getting a Chaos Emerald or not. "I give you back pieces of your past showing you why humans are useless even after you blatantly defied me, and now you have the absolute gall to stand before me once again and trash my troops? DIE!"

"Get a grip and go back to the sea where you belong, mutant starfish," I sneered, disregarding his possibly not-so empty threat. "Don't get in my way and I won't have to destroy you."

"It would be I that would destroy you," he bellowed back, and at this point in time I could hardly take him seriously. "But perhaps I could strip you of your death sentence if you were to commit the greatest act against humanity…"

"Besides taking down the internet, blowing up a city, thrashing the military's main fortress, and beating up the world's greatest hero just to prove a point? Because that's what you said back then too-"

"SILENCE, FOOL!"

Man, when did he get bit by the yelling bug?

"Those were just massive strikes against humanity- the ultimate blow against them that will be like pulling the pin out of the machine…is to assassinate their leader!"

I had been completely composed up until that point, in which I felt my jaw slack with completely numbness and disbelief.

"You're telling me to kill the President?!"

"Also using simplistic terms of the fools that cross this planet, yes," Black Doom deadpanned. "Destroy the craft, kill their leader, and watch its effects on the humans!"

"I dunno Doom, destroying the leader of a different race of beings almost sounds more enticing," I hummed, resting my head on my palm and tapping my foot. "Then I can watch that effect on the humans."

"Your dark humor does not amuse me," Doom scoffed, floating off. "The humans and this worthless planet will get what's coming to them, no matter what path you take. Heed my warnings, Shadow…"

"The only reason you haven't killed me is because you need me…" I trailed, watching him take his leave. "…but I promise you that whatever you need from me, you're not going to get."

. . .

Keeping my word to Tails, I lowered the number of the Black Arms…I just didn't get rid of all of them. They weren't worth my time, and as long as the President got away safely, Tails wouldn't care. I was in the middle of another battle when Tails showed up again, careening through the air and taking out three aliens in a single bound.

Wow. I underestimated him.

I didn't want to be outdone, so I advanced upon a pack of five, performing a roundhouse kick that sent one of them out another window. I then gripped the arm of another and swung it into the third, leaving them in a heap. The remaining two were growling and running up to me, but I simply ran towards a wall, skated up the side, did a backflip, and brought my fists down on both of their heads. Needless to say, they went down pretty easily.

"Whoa, nice moves Shadow!" Tails exclaimed, clearly impressed. "That was almost as cool as…"

"Sonic?" I replied without missing a beat, stalking off once again. Swallowing his thoughts, he nodded and tagged after me.

"Yeah, but…there are things about you that I like."

I slowed down a bit, my curiosity having been piqued. "Like what?"

"Well," he looked thoughtful for a moment, pondering this delicately. "A while ago, you did push aside all your differences you had with all of us and managed to buy us the time we needed to save the world."

"Are you referring to before I died?"

"Seeing that you're here now, you didn't die- you simply disappeared and somehow ended up in Eggman's base…if that's what even really happened," Tails elucidated with a shrug. "You're such a mystery, Shadow."

"I'm a mystery to myself, honestly."

Tails suddenly burst out laughing, whether intentional or not. I started at him peculiarly for the longest time until he stopped, and he only did so when he caught my gaze.

"Ahem, uh…sorry 'bout that. Nerves and whatnot, heh heh."

"I'll disregard it for now," I gave back. "But back to business. How's the President?"

"I'm on my way to go check with the Commander," he replied with dignity. "I've managed to deter the escape pod's flight pattern to a safe destination. The black aliens were trying to send it on a path of destruction, but I got there just in time…I'm afraid they're still attacking it though."

"I suppose you'd like me to take care of that, mmm?"

"If it's not too much trouble."

"Of course it is. I just want that Chaos Emerald."

Tails sighed, twiddling his fingers nervously. "I know, and I'll probably kick myself for it later…"

I narrowed my eyes and tried to study the two-tailed fox standing before me. "You really don't want to give it to me, do you?"

"…the others are trying to make sure that you don't get them, and then here I go and promise to give you one, but I had to do something to keep the President safe," he confessed quietly, floating off the ground and folding his arms behind his back.

"Why don't they want me to get the emeralds?" I asked, a sting of pain in my voice that Tails thankfully had missed. "I'm not with the Black Arms anymore- I just want my memories, and nothing else."

"I believe you Shadow, and I'm pretty sure the likes of Rouge and Sonic do too…but we just really don't want the aliens to get their hands on them, and you have been conversing with them a lot…"

We trudged down the interior of another walkway, taking out a few aliens that happened to be lingering about.

If I didn't know better, I'd swear they were having a conversation.

"I don't want to be associated with them, Tails- their leader keeps hounding me, and if that's not enough, he has some way to control me…"

Tails' eyes lit up. "So that's why you were causing all that trouble before! You were being mind controlled!"

"…not quite, Tails," I admitted, glancing away. "At first, I followed Black Doom's orders because I thought he was going to tell me about my past…but he just took advantage of me and used me like a pawn! Before I ended up on the fleet, he tried altering one of my memories of Maria…"

"She must've been really special," Tails whispered after a solemn silence, and I could only half-heartedly nod.

"I bet she was as well…with all that I can recall about her, she just wanted nothing more than to see this planet…this planet full of suffering and selfishness. But I couldn't blame her- she didn't know what it was truly like."

"The world isn't a bad place- just ask Sonic!" he suddenly exclaimed, and I frowned at the mere mention of the name. "He travels the world all the time, and he makes friends with humans that I don't even know about!"

I didn't reply after that, lost in my own thoughts. Tails figured he had struck a bit of a nerve- which he did- but he started flying away to finish carrying out his orders.

"In my opinion…Maria reminds me of Sonic. She loved the world, had an immense compassion for people, and…it seemed like she could forgive easily. Just like Sonic."

My eyes became glazed as I started straight ahead, watching as Tails picked up the pace to meet with the commander.

Sonic like Maria? Maria like Sonic?

No way. After all, that hedgehog was totally willing to die with all the reckless stunts that he committed. Maria never had the choice.

. . .

Now on the plane's exterior, I was making my way around to see if there were any Black Arms I could dispatch. I was grinding on a rail, watching the golden sky wrap the world in a warm yellow blanket. It was a lot more pleasurable to look at than the soulless black clouds and blood-red skies…especially since while all that stuff was up there, it was hard to tell where the sun was.

Time did tend to move pretty slow in my opinion…

Despite that, I'd gotten rid of the Black Arms, and I let the wind whistle through my quills as I grinded to the next platform so I could get back inside.

"Their leader that the humans call 'President' is aboard the escape pod…" Doom's Eye growled as he crept up to me.

It'd be an understatement to say that I screamed.

"Dammit, what the hell, Doom?!" I hissed back, leaping off the grind rail and shuffling my way back inside. Doom's Eye hovered after me, trying to stare into my soul with its only pupil.

"Their 'President' is about to get away Scott free…and you haven't done a thing about it!"

"Yes I have," I replied indignantly, stand my ground. "I've taken out your troops so that he can escape!"

"TRAITOR!" he boomed again, swatting a tentacle in my direction that I easily evaded. "I told you to not attack our forces!"

"And I told you that I don't take orders from anyone!" I snapped back, starting to skate away. Somehow I couldn't shake him, even when I rushed right into laser-filled hallways and rooms that were booby-trapped.

"If you're such a rebel, then why are you helping that orange creature?" he asked lowly. "And why do you allow the humans another fighting chance? They don't deserve it…"

"Like hell they don't, and I'm not doing any of this for them," I sneered, ducking to the left. Glancing over my shoulder revealed that he was still there. "I've got my own agenda!"

"I've noticed," Black Doom grumbled with little amusement. He then suddenly fizzled away, but by the time I had braked and turned back to confirm this, he was already gone. "By the time I check on you again…the President's escape pod better be gone, and the President better be dead."

"Don't count on it," I jeered back to the nothingness, taking off again.

. . .

By the time I ran into Tails again, he was looking palpably exhausted, and I wondered if it was from fighting off Black Arms soldiers that I hadn't bothered with.

Either way, when he glided over to me, he wasn't looking too perky.

"Is the President all right?" I asked out of curiosity rather than concern. Tails landed next to me and nodded.

"Yeah, I managed to finally drive the last of them off…those black creatures really don't want him alive, I suppose. They kept attacking the pod itself and trying to change its direction."

"That's because they believe if they take out the President, the rest of the human race will fall," I explained.

"Perhaps…but GUN was fighting back with this really cool turret! I've never seen vulcanized ceramic used for this sort of thing before!"

Sounds interesting.

"Anyway, now that the President is safe…" I trailed, cutting of Tails' latest description of the well-designed gun. "…how about the Chaos Emerald…"

I knew Tails was dreading getting to this part, and stared hard at his feet. I took a few steps forward and held my hand out to him.

"If you're worried that I'm going to let the Black Arms get their hands on the Chaos Emeralds, you're mistaken. I'm not gonna let them get away with anymore of their plans."

"I…I still believe you, Shadow," Tails finally sighed, producing the cyan Emerald and tossing it in my direction. Frowning, I reached up with my right hand and caught it easily. "There. Now you have three."

"…But you still have one," I pointed out dangerously, staring at the cerulean-colored gem. He bit his lip again and avoided eye contact. "You had the yellow one."

"I told you that I didn't have it on me," Tails uttered with a frown. "That one's the other one that GUN had…please don't tell them I gave it to you…"

"I won't…" I said with gritted teeth, turning and glancing out the window. We were so high that we could literally watch a cloud pass in front of the window. My hand clutched tightly around the emerald, and my gaze tore from the window to Tails. "You know I'll be coming after yours eventually, right?"

"Yeah, I know," Tails breathed, joining me to gaze out the window. "I've already done a bad thing by giving you that one, so it's only fitting that you come for punishment later. Sigh…"

We were left in silence, and I knew that he had places to be while I had the other four emeralds to collect.

But, I did enjoy the view…I could be thoughtful when I wanted to.

Tails caught me watching the sunset and turned to admire it too.

"I guess I've always taken sunsets for granted…" he suddenly stated, and an amused smirk tugged at my lips.

"Well, there is something about them."

"It's just…" His ears drooped. "I'm afraid of nightfall…especially tonight's."

Now frowning, I figured Tails would be afraid since he didn't know if the sun was destined to come up tomorrow, but me…I knew that the Black Arms' true intentions would be revealed that night, and quite possibly the world would come to an end.

"You know what, Tails?" I finally spoke up with a heavy sigh, and he glanced at me with worried blue eyes. "…I think I am too."

Chapters with Tails tend to be some of my favorites, and this one just kicks off Tails' role in everything...it's not quite as big as Sonic, Rouge, the Chaotix, and the Commander's roles (not even nearly as close as Sonic's...), but still important just the same. And next time, we start off the chain reaction of chapters that end Knuckles' major part in all this and usher in a new arc...

Next time, indeed...

Infuriated to the point of glowing red, I kept marching onward into my unknown destination, but anything to get away from Knuckles' shunning of my morals.

"My 'misanthropic' goal this time is to get my memories back," I managed to grit through anger-strained teeth. "That's what this has always been about, and everyone insists on getting in my way, including you!"

My words stung a bit more than I would've liked, but I couldn't take them back now. Sighing, I started carrying on again.

"Do whatever you need to, Knuckles. I've got my own reasons for being here."

Knuckles had started following me again, and I didn't even have to look back to confirm it.

But I knew that he had stopped following me when his footsteps had slowed, coming to a complete stop, and only the sound of mine were echoing throughout the comet's hollow interior.