Another chapter! Yay! Shout outs to Hawk, AlexJ, and emzhao07010. Also! Hawk (JoyoftheStorm) gets all the bragging rights so far. If you'd still like to participate in the "Blink and You'll Miss It," challenge, check out her review on chapter twelve, because one of the points she brings up is the answer. I may just give you another hint in the next chapter, but it all depends on you! (Or I'm just not being as subtle as I think I am and y'all are going... wut?) As always, please leave a review! Tell me what you think! I've pretty much made this Maria from scratch so I'm still a little worried about how her character is coming across, though reactions have been fairly positive thus far, so fingers crossed!

You know it! I own nothing. Enjoy!

Shadow woke up to the feeling of Maria stretching beside him. It was still so unreal, having her right there. He'd spent months trying to ignore the ache that came with not ever being able to see her blue eyes or her fly away blond hair again. The need to be able to hold her in his arms had been a physical ache inside his chest that would never see relief. Now, though, now she was here, and he could do all of those things. Starting with a hug sounded perfect.

He rolled over despite the soreness in his right shoulder, draping himself over her in the most obnoxious way possible.

"Shadow!" Maria giggled beneath him, though she wasn't fighting back at all. "That's not fair! I can't retaliate when you're injured like this!"

"Maybe that's the point," he teased her and it occurred to him that he could tickle her, but maybe that was pushing things too far. He resisted the temptation… barely.

"Guess there's not much point in fighting," Maria said, freeing a single arm so she could stroke his quills. "After everything that's happened, I kinda just want to stay here."

Shadow sighed discontentedly. "I get the feeling we're not going to be able to," he said. "We need to get back to Tails' workshop. I told Rouge to meet us there after she… could get away."

"You're up to something," Maria said quietly.

"It ties into…" Shadow faltered as he thought of the events that had set him on this track in the first place. She didn't even know about her grandfather's attempt on destroying the planet… or his involvement in those events. "There's something I need to tell you." He made an attempt to sit up, and Maria's hands were there, gently supporting him as she always did.

"I think we've got a little time," Maria said, a worried look in her blue eyes. "Are you alright with Sonic being here?"

"I think it would take a cannon going off by his ear to wake him up at this point," Shadow said, casting the other hedgehog a look of amusement. Not that his sleep wasn't deserved.

Sonic was still deeply asleep, mouth slightly open, features relaxed and peaceful. It took years off his face. He looked so young.

Maria smiled and softly stroked a hand over those cobalt blue quills. "He's pretty tired," she said.

"It isn't anything he doesn't already know about, anyway," Shadow said.

"Is this about how you met?" she asked.

Shadow nodded, swallowing hard as he remembered his state of mind when that escape pod was on its way down to Mobius. "After I watched you…After the raid," he began falteringly. "I did something I wasn't proud of. To be fair… I don't actually remember the pod landing. I think I ended up in the doctor's possession for a time, and he… he twisted my memory of your last wish. I knew on some level that it was wrong, that you would never have wished for revenge, but I was so angry, that I almost carried out your grandfather's wish instead."

Shadow told her the entire story from meeting Sonic to collecting all the chaos emeralds, and how he was reminded in the end that Maria had wanted him to be a hero.

"You had all seven chaos emeralds!" Maria said in awe.

"I learned a new trick that day," Shadow said, smiling fondly. He'd never told Sonic this, but going super was one of the best things he'd ever experienced.

"Going super is freaking awesome!" Sonic said, startling both of them. He must have woken up some time during the story. "It's even better with a friend!"

"Going… super?" Maria asked.

"Hehe!" Sonic laughed mischievously. "Don't spoil it, Shadow! Just imagine the look on her face when she gets to see!"

Shadow closed his mouth, his expression turning thoughtful.

"What? No!" Maria protested. "You gotta tell me what it means!"

"Hmm…" Shadow said. "You know, I think I'll wait."

"Sonic! You are the worst!" Maria said and reached over to tickle him. "Oh! You are going to pay for this!"

"Hey! Cut it out! Hah! No, stop!" Sonic protested as he laughed helplessly. "It'll be worth it! I promise! Please, stop! HE DIDN'T TELL YOU THE REST OF THE STORY!"

Maria relented, but there was a playful grudging look on her face. "I'll show you mercy…" she said. "For now!"

"There isn't much else to tell," Shadow said.

"You're telling it wrong!" Sonic said, sitting up to smooth down his ruffled fur. "He's cutting out all of his own heroic parts!"

"You tell it then!" Maria said and Shadow glanced up in slight alarm.

"Without spoiling the super thing…" Sonic said. "We defeated the biolizard and managed to put the Ark back into a stable orbit, but it pretty much cost Shadow everything he had. Sneaky stinker used Chaos Control to put me safely with the Ark, then got hit by the planet!"

Maria frowned and looked at Shadow as she parsed out what Sonic was saying.

Shadow sighed, looking away in embarrassment. "I ran out of energy and fell from the upper atmosphere," he admitted. "Sonic found me. I was fine."

"I should show you the jar of pebbles I picked out of his hide!" Sonic scoffed. "Fine my foot!"

Maria sat up and pulled Shadow into a hug. "I'm glad you're alright," she said.

"You're not mad at me?" Shadow asked, shoulders remaining tense.

"How could I be?" Maria asked. "I was your life line, and they took that away. If you had been the one who died, I think I would have been just as angry. The difference is, you're strong enough to back it up."

"Don't sell yourself short," Shadow told her. "You're smart."

"Hmm," Maria said with a distinctly mischievous smile. "I might have come up with something. Do you remember the series of failed lab experiments by any chance?"

Shadow's eyes widened in shock. "That was you?!"

"Okay, this I gotta hear!" Sonic said, rolling onto his tummy to rest his chin on his hands.

"Shadow wasn't the only project happening on the Ark," Maria said. "So whenever a certain group of scientists did something… bad. I would go in and either make it look like the printer had an error and they had a bunch of unlabeled things that they then had to throw out and start over. Or the time I managed to contaminate over a thousand petri dishes. Little things that put them behind by years!"

"I can still hear their howls of despair," Shadow said, a satisfied smile on his face. "It's even better knowing you had a direct hand in it. And you did that all without getting caught…"

"No one would suspect Dr. Robotnik's poor angelic ailing granddaughter!" Maria said, batting her lashes in an innocent manner. She added a few pathetic fake coughs for good measure. "That and I had figured out how to loop the camera feeds by the time I was twelve. There was just nothing else to do."

Shadow shook his head. "I thought they were just incompetent," he said.

"That was kinda the point," Maria said. "Do you know how many groups had to leave the Ark because they lost funding?"

"Dr. Shipman!" Shadow said. "He'd been lacing my food with increasing amounts of cyanide just to see what it did."

"Got him," Maria said with a grim smile.

"Dude!" Sonic said looking absolutely horrified. "How are you still alive?"

"My body was metabolizing it faster than it could cause harm," Shadow said. "Starvation was actually the larger danger, so I had to eat it. Though I was starting to get sick at the end of his stay."

Maria's stomach chose that moment to growl.

"We need to get you some food," Shadow said, beginning to disentangle himself from the bed.

"I'm not sure I want food after that conversation!" Sonic said, still looking a little bothered.

Shadow hesitated. "That era of our lives is over, hedgehog," he said. "It's just history now."

Sonic took a breath and forcefully brought his ears forward from where they'd been threatening to pin down to his head. "Right, end of an era," he said. "Anyway… We could go straight to Tails' workshop," Sonic suggested, pulling out his chaos emerald. "I need a change of socks…"

Maria looked down at her dress. It had spots of Shadow's blood on it. "We left all my new things at the Ren and Larry's," she said.

"Oh, don't worry about that," Sonic said, inspecting his ankle. "I let Amy know what was going on, and she was able to get some help to drop it off at home."

Shadow brushed a hand over a spot of dried blood on Maria's skirt regretfully. "Sorry about your dress," he said.

"I'm not," Maria said. "I don't think I ever want to wear this dress again actually. I think I like the idea of a fresh start, and these clothes are from the past."

Before Shadow could agree with her, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" Maria called, ever the polite one.

Shadow had been tempted to tell them to shove off.

A rabbit opened the door. "Good mornin' darlin's," she said. "I'm so glad to see you lookin' better today. How's that ankle sweetheart?"

Sonic lifted his foot to show off. The swelling was completely gone. "Good to go!" he said. "Nothing keeps me down for long!"

"And it's nice to see you awake as well, sir," Bunny said, offering her hand to Shadow. "My name's Bunny, nice to meet you properly."

Shadow took her hand and shook it. "You as well," he said and indicated his bandaged shoulder. "Are you the one I have to thank for this?"

"Oh, that would be Miss Sally Acorn," Bunny said. "Speakin' of which, she'd like a chance to sit down with you over breakfast this mornin'. I think she'd like to thank you for all the things you've helped us accomplish over the years."

"It's not such a big deal," Sonic said, sounding oddly strangled. "Anyway, we were gonna- ow!"

Maria elbowed him lightly and interrupted. "We were going to be delighted to sit down with her," she said. "I'd like a chance to thank her as well."

Bunny's expression broke into a delighted grin. "Darlin' you and I are gonna get on like a house on fire!" she said. "I like you already. Come on!"

"You'll have to excuse my dress," Maria said, as she fussed with her hair, attempting to smooth it down from having slept on it. "It's a long story."

"Honey, the Freedom Fighters are quite used to living without," Bunny told her assuringly. "Trust me, no one minds. I'm just sorry we don't have anything in your size."

Bunny led them to a tent that almost counted more as a pavilion from its sheer size. Inside was a decently stocked kitchen area, but the main portion of it was taken up by long tables. They sat down with a chipmunk mobian who was splitting her attention between her breakfast and a device on her wrist.

She looked up and smiled when they sat down. "Thank you for taking time out of your day for this," she said warmly. "I was hoping to get the chance to welcome you to Knothole properly. For those of you who might not know, I'm Sally Acorn, the leader of the Freedom Fighters."

The group introduced themselves as they picked up plates of food.

"It's lovely to meet you!" Maria said, setting her plate down and taking a seat next to the chipmunk. "I wanted to thank you for providing us with a safe place for Shadow to recover."

"It was the right thing to do," Sally said. "And besides, Sonic has been among our best allies for years. It was nice to be able to return the favor, even a little."

"So this is the first time you've even been able to meet?" Maria asked.

"For how much he's done for us, surprisingly, yes," Sally said. "I've seen him in the field a few times, but we never got the chance to speak properly. There's always something else going on."

Maria nodded sympathetically. "That's been my last few days," she said. "Just one thing after another."

"So, if you don't mind my asking," Sally said, lacing her fingers together, and bracing her elbow's on the table. "Where did you learn your medical skills? You're pretty young to have that kind of skill."

"Necessity," Maria said smoothly. "That and when you grow up in a research facility, you pick up some things."

Maria hadn't actually lied, but Shadow could hear her heart starting to race. Perhaps a change in subject was in order. "If you'll pardon my curiosity," he said. "How long have the Freedom Fighters been operating? There are still a few gaps in my knowledge of recent history."

"That's alright," Sally said. "We were the ones who first responded to Dr. Ivo Robotnik's attempts at world domination. It actually started very nearby in Robotropolis. That was the first city he ever conquered. We were under different leadership back then, because I was just a small child when the man flipped his lid."

"Stripe," Sonic said and Sally looked at him in surprise.

"Yes, the original leader of the Freedom Fighters was Colonel Tig Stripe," Sally said. "Not many people remember that."

Sonic shrugged uncomfortably. "I just remember hearing about how he led the survivors of the coup d'etat to Knothole," he said. "The guy saved a lot of lives."

Just then a ringtone went off, startling Sonic badly. It was his wrist communicator.

"Hold on, that's Tails," Sonic said, stepping away from the table. "It's gotta be important if he's calling."

Shadow turned back to the table.

"Strange," Sally said. "Sonic's a lot quieter in person than I thought he'd be."

"He's been acting off since we got here," Maria admitted. "Maybe he's just eager to get back home."

"He has been oddly jumpy," Shadow said. "I wonder if he's hiding something."

"What would he have to hide?" Bunny asked.

"I looked him over pretty well last night," Maria said, casting a worried glance at the blue hedgehog. "I don't think he's injured. Maybe there was something I missed…"

"You're pretty thorough, Maria," Shadow said, putting a reassuring hand on hers. "He doesn't even have a limp from his ankle either."

Sonic zipped back up to the table before they could toss around any more ideas. "Guys, we've got a situation," he said. "We need to get over to the Green Hills Zone right away. Tails and Knuckles are already there, and they need our help."

"One thing after another," Sally said. "Is it anything with which we could offer our assistance?"

"Guess you guys should know," Sonic said. "GUN has a weapon that scrambles chaos energy. We've been calling it pandemonium. They had a weapons test in the Green Hills Zone, and it sounds like it affected the ambient chaos energy there. We have a cure, they're just having trouble getting it close."

"Sonic and I should have this well in hand," Shadow said, standing up.

"Sugar? Are you sure about this?" Bunny asked, standing up as well with a look of concern on her face. "You were just in surgery last night. Shouldn't you be trying to take it easy?"

Shadow rolled his shoulders and stretched his right arm out in front of him, rotating his wrist back and forth. "I'm back up to full range of motion," he said. "I heal quickly."

Bunny didn't look entirely convinced, but she didn't argue further.

"There's no time like the present," Sonic said, already reaching for his chaos emerald.

Maria stood up as well. "Thank you again, Miss Acorn," she said.

Sally smiled. "No need for formalities, go ahead and call me Sally," she said. "You'll need to call on us again soon! I'd like to stay in contact with you."

"I'd like that too," Maria said, ducking her head a little shyly.

"Good luck out there, all of you," Sally said. "And stay safe!"

Sonic gave her a tense little wave and took Maria by the hand. Shadow grabbed Sonic by the arm.

"Chaos… Control!"

Shadow looked around the moment they arrived. He soon spotted Knuckles and Tails camped out at a nearby ridge. They were crouched down as if taking cover, but most notably was the presence of the Master Emerald nearby.

"Great! You made it!" Tails said as soon as he spotted them. He sounded relieved. The fox had a scratch on his snout almost directly between his eyes, the red blood stood out sharply against his pale fur.

Knuckles motioned them over and indicated that they should stay low. There were interesting noises coming from just over the ridge. It was thunder, and metal screeching on metal all at once, almost like every horrific noise possible was playing on repeat all at once.

Shadow made sure that Maria was tucked safely into a sheltered spot before crouching down beside her.

"Alright, what exactly is the situation?" Sonic asked. "And how did Tails get hurt?"

"This entire area has been affected by Pandemonium and it's spreading," Knuckles said. "Tails and I tried to handle it on our own, but there's just too much debris flying around."

"I got hit by… well I think it was just a jagged rock," Tails said. "It's not bad."

Maria leaned forward and gently examined the cut before huddling back into her place again. She nodded. "It'll keep."

Sonic relaxed a little.

"We need to get the Master Emerald to the epicenter of all this," Knuckles said.

"So that's where Shadow and I come in," Sonic said. "You need a shield, or something fast enough that it doesn't matter."

"It's a simple plan, but I think it will work," Knuckles said.

"I wanna get a look at what we're facing," Sonic said, standing up.

"Sure," Knuckles said. "Just don't stare at it for too long."

"Stay here," Shadow told Maria, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

Maria smiled at him and nodded.

Shadow followed Sonic to the top of the ridge, standing even with him to examine what they were facing. Pandemonium was a fitting moniker. It looked a little like a sand storm, only it was lit up with dizzying colors, and there was an occasional spark of light that lit up sections like lightning inside clouds. He could only assume that what was occurring inside was even worse, not that they could see much.

Sonic turned away from the sight, setting his hands on his knees and breathing evenly.

Knuckles had been right. Even looking at it was causing Shadow's stomach to churn uneasily. "Let's go back down," Shadow said. "I think we need to get started as soon as possible."

"Right," Sonic agreed.

When they got back down the ridge, Shadow felt a tug on his senses, almost as if he was being called from a great distance. He looked around and when his eyes fell on the Master Emerald, it was like a puzzle piece clicking nicely into place. Sonic was already reaching out to put a hand on one shining surface. Shadow joined him, sighing in relief as some of the sick feeling eased.

"Hmm," Knuckles said thoughtfully. "I didn't consider just how badly the two of you would be affected by this. Should we find another way?"

"There's no time," Sonic said. "We're just gonna have to deal with the consequences afterwards. I don't want Tails or Maria anywhere near this."

"I concur," Shadow said. "The two of you should start making your way to the end of the zone. Keep each other safe."

"But Shadow! What if something goes wrong?" Maria asked.

"Oh! I just remembered!" Tails said and dug quickly into the little pack he had with him. He pulled out something shiny. "Think fast, Shadow." Without pausing to show them what it was, he tossed it in Shadow's direction.

Shadow caught it by reflex and just about startled at the warm feel of chaos energy that flowed up his arm. He knew it was a chaos emerald without having to look. Tails had just tossed it to him like it was nothing. They trusted him. A feeling of warmth spread through his chest that had absolutely nothing to do with the white chaos emerald in his hand. "Thank you, Tails," he said.

"We've got another chaos emerald?" Sonic said excitedly. "Su-weeet! Great job, Tails!"

Tails jumped into the air, twin tails whirling to keep him airborne. "I swear if you mess up my fur, you get to do all the chores at the shop for a week!" he growled.

Sonic laughed. "Knuckles already beat me to it, huh?" he said. "Alright, I promise I won't ruffle your fur. Take care of Maria alright?"

"Count on it!" Tails said, landing beside the girl. "Come on. This is a job for the ones with chaos abilities." He took her hand and began to gently pull her away.

Maria looked worriedly back over her shoulder. "Be careful, Shadow," she called.

"I will," he promised. "I'll see you soon."

Knuckles took his place with the Master Emerald, and Sonic grinned as if he was about to perform some daredevil trick as he began to run in circles around the echidna. He was keeping the circle fairly tight, so it was about twelve feet in diameter. Shadow joined him staying at the exact opposite end of the circle from the other hedgehog, simply running at first, then igniting his jet shoes as the pace quickened.

From the outside it looked like alternating blue and red blurs of light going around and around, getting faster and faster until the colors merged into a shade of magenta. Inside, Knuckles was pretty much blinded by the display, but the Master Emerald was giving him directions, guiding them straight into the heart of the pandemonium.

Shadow was going so fast, it was a little difficult to discern what was happening outside the whirlwind they were making, but he knew the second they entered the cloud. He could feel the pandemonium pushing against the barrier of chaos energy and he felt it when Sonic faltered slightly, he slowed in response and they were able to recover their pace. It almost felt like he was going at mach speeds on the edge of a cliff. If either of them put one foot wrong, they'd be swallowed by the storm.

The further in they moved, the more difficult it was to keep moving as fast as they were, and Sonic's stream of chaos energy was starting to break apart almost before Shadow could reach it. They needed a boost. He began drawing on the white chaos emerald to help him, and the barrier began to stabilize. Sonic must have caught on to what he did because, all at once, things got easier again.

Time itself was beginning to feel strange to Shadow. It felt as if they'd been at this for hours, and that he was going to be stuck in this eternal game of chase forever; never letting Sonic catch up to him, and never outrunning the blue hedgehog himself, but also somehow acting as a single unit, like a dog chasing its own tail. Then all at once he felt it, like a massive strike against the barrier that threatened to blow away every bit of chaos energy they'd worked up. Shadow dug deep, drawing as much power from his emerald as possible and releasing it in his wake, and he was relieved to note that Sonic was doing the same. He began to feel a little worried however. With the amounts of chaos energy they were putting off, his reserves were drying up fast, and he could only guess that Sonic was feeling it as well. They wouldn't be able to keep this up for much longer.

Just as he was starting to think he might need to release his inhibitors, he felt the Master Emerald stir. He kept up his pace, pushing just a little more knowing that the end was near. All the clashing forces seemed to reach a crescendo, but then a green light cut through it all, and Shadow had to close his eyes, it was so bright. Something caught his foot and he knew it was over. Shadow went down hard, and the tooth rattling smack of the ground drove all the air out of his lungs, leaving him so badly winded he knew he was going to have to teach himself how to breathe again.

Power crackled viciously just over his head, and he pushed himself into the ground as hard as he could, some instinct telling him to stay as low as possible. He wasn't sure how long it lasted, or even quite when it ended, but he had the disconcerting feeling of waking up without knowing when he passed out.

Someone was messaging his ribs. "Come on, Shadow breathe!" Sonic was saying, sounding a little panicked.

It was a strange moment of deja vu, but Shadow concentrated and managed to suck in a breath of air, letting it out with a wheeze.

"He's waking up," Knuckles said, a note of relief behind the gruffness.

It took a lot of effort to pull in the next breath, but he'd done this enough times to know that he couldn't stop quite yet. Shadow let himself lay there for a bit as he managed to train his lungs back into their proper motions. Once the phantom pressure on his chest felt more manageable, he opened his eyes and pushed himself into a sitting position. The first thing he saw were those damned nets wrapped in a hopeless tangle around his legs. He growled angrily and kicked himself loose, igniting the jets in his shoes to burn some of it away.

"I forgot about these," Sonic said, reaching in to help clear away the ropes.

"We both did," Shadow said. "We were a little preoccupied at the time. We're we successful?"

They all looked around. The pandemonium cloud was gone and they could see blue skies between the fluffy white clouds that were scooting by. The ground however…

Sonic took a step, kicking lightly at the fine dry dirt. The wind picked up the puff and carried it away. The patch they stood in went roughly a full mile across, and it had been reduced to barren dirt, every inch just as dry and lifeless as the bit Sonic had kicked up. One of the loops that Green Hills was famous for stood broken. The uppermost piece had collapsed and the rubble lay blocking the path.

"This is one of my favorite places to run," Sonic said quietly.

Shadow watched him square his shoulders and straighten his posture.

"It'll grow back," Sonic said brightly as he turned to face them, though he didn't quite manage to hide his sadness over the destruction of one of his favorite places. "We should find Tails and Maria."