Special Thanks to Reviewer gwencarson126 for proofreading and helping me with this chapter.
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Shadow stood out on the roof of the Thorndyke Mansion, looking more serious than usual as he blasted off into the city. Ever since they encountered the ghosts, Shadow had been acting weird. Count in the fact that Robotnik had been spotted with a new ship and was on the move, that didn't help his nerves much.
Sam had challenged him to a race, but Shadow blasted the engine with a Chaos Flare when he was rudely woken up. The group had also gone on a cruise, but that ended with Shadow saying it was a waste of time.
There were three more Chaos Emeralds out there, Robotinik was on the move. This wasn't a time to take things easy, and nobody seemed to care!
Maria walked down the set of stairs with Tails and Amy.
"He's just trying to get us home. Don't worry about him." Tails stated. However, he was worried. He'd seen Shadow be determined, but for the past two weeks Shadow had been nothing short of obsessive.
"Miss Maria..." Mr. Tanaka called, getting her attention. "Your father is on the line, would you like to speak to him?"
Maria jumped at the chance, taking the phone excited. "Hey dad, how's it going?" She said in rapid fire. Tanaka chuckled a little bit, knowing why she was so excited. "What? Today? Ok then, that would be great!" Maria said hanging up. "Tails...can we get a ride to Filmdome City?"
"Why do we need to go there?" Tails asked.
"My dad is going to surprise my mom there for her birthday!" Maria answered excited, Tails nodding his head. They left for the X Tornado when they saw Shadow standing in the doorway.
Shadow turned to see them. "Where are you guys headed?"
"To see Maria's parents. You coming?" Amy answered.
Shadow scowled at this. "Another side adventure? Give me a break." Shadow said under his breath, walking past the group.
That one hit Maria, hard. "Hold it." Maria said as Shadow turned. "I don't know what your issue has been lately, but you need to knock it off. We're trying to find the Chaos Emeralds, we are. But we're also living our lives Shadow."
Shadow's fists tightened. "What's this "We've been searching" nonsense? I'VE BEEN SEARCHING while you would rather enjoy life! Robotnik is out there, plotting his next move! And if we don't stop him then your life is going to be cut short. We need to get home Maria." Shadow let out as he walked away.
"I'll get him." Tails stated, running by as Amy came up next to Maria.
Searching for the right words, Amy grabbed Maria's hand. "He's just-"
"Save it." Maria stated flatly. "I get it, he needs to get home. I was just a place to stay at...I just thought I was getting through to him..." Maria said quietly, holding back the tears before shaking her head to keep her emotions in check. "I'll be fine. I always am."
"Just need to keep my chin up...chin...up..." Maria still had mist in her eyes.
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"Shadow, hold on!" Tails yelled, getting in front of Shadow. "Stop for just a minute Shadow, we need to talk."
"Not now Tails." Shadow said walking around him.
Tails wasn't going to take no for an answer. As Shadow walked by, Tails grabbed his wrist. "Shadow, slow down! You're no good if you can't keep yourself upright." Tails stated, trying to reason with Shadow. "I get that you want to go home, I want to go home to. But pushing yourself like this won't get you anywhere but hurt."
Shadow yanked his arm away. "You don't get it Miles. The past two times we've gone out, I wasn't good enough. The missions are getting more dangerous and you know it. If we stay around here much longer, somebody could get hurt."
Tails stood his ground. "Shadow, you don't have to fight alone. We've come out on top every other time. We have four of the Chaos Emeralds, and Knuckles is out there probably searching for one. You've searched everywhere you could. So please, take it easy for now. Maria could really use our support."
Shadow sighed. He'd never say it out loud, but Tails has been the voice of reason more times than should be necessary, including this time. "Fine." Shadow stated, walking back to the others. Shadow sat in the back with Amy, while Tails was up front with Maria.
As they flew through the air, Amy turned to see Shadow starting to close his eyes a bit.
"I just wish you could go back to the way you were..." She thought, turning forward.
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The flight was short, to short for Shadow's interest. They found the room Mr. Thorndyke was staying in. Knocking on the door, Maria rushed in and bear hugged her dad and he hugged her back.
Shadow and Tails stood next to each other when suddenly, the emeralds they had were reacting to...something.
"I'm happy to see you to, honey." Mr. Thorndyke stated as he walked up to Shadow. "And I'd like to thank you for keeping Maria safe." He said, holding his hand out to Shadow.
Deciding to just play the part for Maria's sake, he shook the hand. "It's the least I can do." Shadow stated. Maria introduced everyone else as well, when her father announced his "big plans."
"So you see, I'm going to dress the part of her love interest in the movie. I'll give her the ring and say "With my love", what do you think? Then all of you will yell surprise, and there'll be confetti, and well...you get the point. So, what do you think?" Mr. Thorndyke (Nelson) asked.
"That sounds..." Maria started, trying to find the right words.
"Cliched." Shadow thought irritably.
"Oh, and here's what the ring looks like. Think she'll like it?" Nelson asked, popping open a ring box and showing...A CHAOS EMERALD! Shadow gasped as his emerald reacted along with Tails's. Nelson closed the box, not expecting it to glow like that.
"The filming is about to begin, sir." Tanaka stated, leading his boss away.
"We need that Chaos Emerald." Shadow stated flatly.
"Shadow, not here. Can it wait until the surprise party is over?" Tails asked, not wanting things to be ruined. Shadow reluctantly nodded, but he was still willing to do whatever it took. They needed to get home, and he wanted to do it now.
However, the energy spike the Emeralds produced was not unnoticed by a giant flying ship, two engines coming out the back and a circular front flew through the air, alarms blaring. Robotnik turned, smirking as he checked his arm, making sure the improvements would work. His arm now had the mass of an actual arm now, but still showed wires and something like ports on the side of it. The Madman smiled darkly, setting a course for Filmdome City.
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Everything was being set up for the shoot with Nelson, Shadow standing next to the door when he heard his name. Turning he saw Knuckles walking up.
"What is it Knuckles?" Shadow asked.
"Well, I was flying around when suddenly my Chaos Emerald reacted to something." Knuckles answered, seeing his Emerald start to glow as Shadow stepped back away.
"That makes four here. Keep a distance, we don't need anymore attention." Shadow stated. Knuckles nodded, then caught himself.
"Wait, four?" Knuckles asked and soon he heard a commotion, seeing Nelson fall down with the Chaos Emerald roll out of the box, reacting to the other three around it violently.
"GET IT BACK IN THE BOX!" Shadow yelled as Nelson quickly put it away, looking up to see a not so pleased wife.
"What are you doing here!? We're shooting the most important scene!" Lindsey demanded.
"I was just trying to surprise you for your birthday. Sorry I forgot I married a dramatic movie star!" Nelson responded defensively.
The two didn't notice Maria with a pained look on her face as she covered her ears, shaking her head slowly.
"Well how would you like it if I just barged into one of your office meetings and made a fool of myself!?" Lindsey countered.
"Well at least I cared enough to come visit you." Nelson shot back.
"And WHAT is that supposed to mean!?" Lindsey asked offended.
"STOP IT!" Maria yelled, putting her face in her hands. "Stop it, please, just..." She couldn't even finish her sentence as she ran outside, tears in her eyes. Her parents looked at each other, the turning away as Lindsey rubbed her arm and Nelson put his face in one hand frustrated, the two separating from each other.
Shadow sighed. "I'll go check on her." He stated, walking off. Knuckles thought to himself for a moment, coming to his own conclusion.
"Shadow?" Knuckles asked, Shadow turning as Knuckles tossed him the Chaos Emerald. Shadow caught it confused, looking at Knuckles. "You have more of them than me...they're probable safer with you anyways. Just find me before...you know." Knuckles stated as he turned and strolled away.
"Hold it." Shadow got Knuckles's attention, tossing him the wrist communicator. "We'll contact you..." Shadow said as he left to find Maria walking away, tears on her face.
Shadow caught up and seemed at a loss for words for a moment, unsure of how to handle this. "Maria, are you-"
"Yeah Shadow. I am." Maria cut him off. "I'm just fine. Thanks for asking." She stated as she walked faster, doing her best to keep her emotions in check.
"Oh boy." Shadow thought to himself. "Maria, what's really bothering you?"
"THEY ARE!" Maria blurted out, now becoming a bit of a bumbling mess. "I just want one night where we're together as a family! I just want one night where we can go without either of them arguing, or leaving AGAIN. I get so hopeful every time..." She bumbled out, then looked Shadow dead in the eye. "But what do YOU care? All you want is to go back to your own planet! To get back to your own life before any of this started." At that, Maria noticed the Red Emerald. "That makes six, right? Well, you just need one more of your DAMN EMERALDS to go back your own planet. So go! LEAVE!...I'm used to it." Maria said defeated, breaking down. Shadow was tunned by the outburst. Maria could be a bit outspoken at times, but she always kept her emotions in check. But what really worried him were her eyes, filled with so much hurt pain, and loneliness. Eyes he recognized.
"Maria, I-" Shadow walked up, but wasn't expecting this from Maria. She came up and slapped him across the face, stunning Shadow.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" She yelled, running off. Shadow was to stunned at what just happened. He went to run after her, but Amy cut him off.
"Let her go Shadow. Talk with her in the morning..." Amy advised.
"Amy, I need to-"
"Shadow, trust me on this." Amy stated, and Shadow nodded backing down. The group packed up with Maria riding in the car rather than flying with Tails, Amy, and Shadow. They took off, not knowing the danger from above.
Floating higher in the clouds, safe from view or detection was Robotnik listening in to the whole thing.
"So...they have six of the Emeralds eh?" he asked himself when his alarm blared again, a scout robot reporting it found the last Chaos Emerald in a junkyard. "Today just gets better and better..." Robotnik said darkly.
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Once everyone was back at the mansion, Maria stormed off to her room and slammed the door shut, collapsing onto her bed and let out her told Cream she'd explain in the morning as Shadow, Tails, and Chuck left for the garage.
"Tails, this isn't safe. Holding these Emeralds here..." Shadow pointed out. "And I don't think it's a good idea for me to stay here much longer."
"What do you suppose we do?" Chuck asked as Shadow and Tails nodded at each other.
"Tomorrow morning, me, Shadow, and Knuckles are going out on our own." Tails answered. Chuck was surprised, but Shadow cut him off before the questions rambled.
"Listen, I don't want you to be a target. I don't want to see Maria get hurt anymore, or worse. She also had a point today, we need one more Chaos Emerald and we go home." Shadow stated. "We're asking if Cream and Amy can stay here, safe. Amy can fight, but she's a bit to impulsive. The less people with us, the more we can travel and the less stops we'd have to make. I don't completely trust Knuckles, but I know he wants to get home. Probably more than I do." Shadow explained. Chuck leaned back in his chair.
"I understand." Chuck stated. He really did understand their logic, the time had come to send them home. But that didn't mean he had to like it.
"We'll say our goodbye's in the morning. They deserve that at least." Shadow explained, Chuck nodding as he got up.
"Well, then let's not sit here and pretend this is our last meeting. Thank you for telling me." Chuck said sincerely. He shook hands with the two as he walked inside, Tails giving Knuckles their location. He showed up a few hours later, the three of them deciding at what time they'd leave. Tails put the Chaos Emeralds in the X Tornado, thinking they'd be safe as he headed for bed. What they didn't notice was that Maria saw and heard the plan from her window, heading back to her bed as a fresh set of tears came.
Knuckles woke up first, heading outside to watch the sunrise. He gazed at the horizon, thinking of his island back home when he heard something like a whistle. He looked up and saw Robotnik's ship approaching as it fired rockets.
Knuckles smashed through doors. "EVERYBODY WAKE UP!" Knuckles screamed out, but soon an explosion went off behind him. More rockets hit the mansion as Shadow was flung back, getting up quickly and heading down to meet Knuckles."Robotnik found your Chaos Emeralds! Get them out of here, NOW!" Knuckles yelled.
"Not before I get everybody out of here!" Shadow responded, zooming through the wreckage. Shadow found almost everybody when he kicked open Maria's door, seeing her room in flames. But he didn't find a body, and he wasn't sure if that relieved or scared him.
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"EVERYBODY WAKE UP!" Maria heard just before an explosion rocked the house. She jumped back, as debris fell from the ceiling. Her house was going up in flames around her. Not wasting any time, Maria got out the window, determined to grab the Chaos Emeralds when she found that robots had already beaten her to it as they turned to see her.
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"Shadow...the Emeralds..." Tails warned between coughs. Shadow burst to the garage to see The X Tornado in a wreck, with the Chaos Emeralds missing.
"SHADOW!" He heard a desperate cry as he looked up to see Maria being taken into the sky, along with all the Chaos Emeralds.
"Thank you for collecting these for me...and don't worry about your precious Maria. She'll live long enough to see my Empire become a reality. GAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Robotnik boomed out of his ships speakers as the ship started to leave from the front of the house. Shadow jogged up before bolting away emitting a sonic boom.
"GOOD LUCK SHADOW!" Knuckles yelled out.
Has Robotnik finally won? Does Shadow stand any chance, or will he finally meet his match? find out, NEXT TIME on Shadow X!