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Disclamer: I don't own any of the characters in SA2, I wish I did. I'm not rich, I did this for fun and to test my capabilities as a writer so sewing me is a waist of time, so neh!

Special Thanks: A special thanks goes out to Mathew T. for his support, ideas, and for help with editing this story. To Derek R. for his support. A HUGE special thanks to Crazy Pocky for giving me this opportunity to post this on her site. And finally a special thanks to all those who read this story, a writer is nothing without his fans, hope to get feed back (Johnpro11@hotmail.com).

***

A year has passed since that day aboard the space colony Ark. A group of both heroes and villains teamed up to fight for the world they wanted to save, or concur, from complete and total inhalation. This brave group was made up of a two tailed kitsune/fox named Miles 'Tails' Prower, a human genius named Dr. 'Eggman' Robotnic, a bat named Rouge, an echidna named Knuckles, and three hedgehogs named Sonic, Amy Rose, and Shadow. The space colony Ark had been on a collision coarse to earth, and with the responsibility of millions, the help of old friends and new allies, and the dying wish of a young girl, Sonic the Hedgehog and Shadow the Ultimate Life Form use their powers to save the world. But as it goes, all things have a cost. Shadow, in the end, plunged to earth. With his last breath he said "Maria, this is what you wanted, this is the promise I made to you."

"And as I turned from the room I said 'Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog', hmm." Sonic said almost in a trance like state as he looked up to the stars. The date is after colony Ark. Sonic had not changed much since the incident, he had let his spins grow out a bit but nothing much else. He was now looking for the Chaos Emeralds in the Mystic Ruins. "Thinking about... him?" Amy asked over hand held video link. "Yeah, it's been a year now and I still can't shake the feeling that he's out there." Sonic said. "Well don't worry Sonic we're working on it. Gotta go, bye." Amy blew him a kiss over the video link and signed out. "He's out there I just know it, but..." Sonic fell deep into thought as he headed back to his camp site.

***

In another part of the world an island floats idly by in a sea of clouds. Angle Island, a place Knuckles the Echidna calls home. Like Sonic, Knuckles had not changed much ether. He had gotten more markings on his body, aside from the one mark across his chest. He now look more like his highly cherished ancestors who's emerald he was sworn to protect. The night had gotten chilly and a fire cast his shadow on a pillar that rose from the structure long since destroyed. As his shadow dance in the fire light, which is something he swore he would never do, another shadow join his. Knuckles didn't turn around, he knew who it was. Her Iron soul boots made metallic click as she walked and her hips swayed with her steps. The 18 year old bat anthromorph, Rouge walk slowly up to him. "Hey" She said. "Hey" He said back. The conversation seemed to end there. Rouge looked up at the sky, while Knuckles eyes drifted to the young bat girl sitting next to him.

Rouge turned her head sharply catching the guardian in his staring. Rouge would catch him like that many times, she had a crush on the young echidna and was not afraid to show it. Knuckles on the other hand was have trouble showing his feeling towards his new room mate. Rouge had shown up at his door step one cold night a few months after Ark, hungry, shivering, and looking for a place to stay. Knuckles took her in claming that once she was well enough she was 'outta here' but it never happened. She now spent the days in the cities below but would always return to the island.

"You know it's been a whole year since then." Rouge said breaking the silence. Knuckles hummed in agreement. "I never did thank you for saving me that day." She said smiling. "Like I told you before I was saving the Master Emerald." Knuckles huffed. "And you still haven't dropped the tough guy act." She said with a slight smirk. "Why don't you lighten up, enjoy the finer things in life." Rouge purposely exaggerated 'the finer things in life' as she spiraled out on the ground giving him a an eye full. Knuckles couldn't help but stare at her. Why does she do that all the time? He thought desperately as he fought the blush rising in his cheeks.

All Rouge heard was the sound of a very fake cough from Knuckles direction, as you might guess her large ears could pick up a mouse sneezing a mile away. Rouge smiled at the obvious discomfort she was causing Knuckles so she mercifully sat back up. Moments passed as the fire shed light on them. "You know," Rouge finally said. "I can't shake the feeling... that he's still out there."

***

"No way, I can't believe this!" He said, aggravated. Dr. 'Eggman' Robotnic had been sitting at a computer console for over three hours and had still not found anything he was looking for. "Still nothing on our end" Miles 'Tails' Prower said over the video link. "We've been at it for so long I can't remember what we're looking for." Amy Rose's voice chimed in over the link. "We're looking for anything that may have been left behind on Professor Gerald Robotnic or any of his creations." Tails said, slightly irritated by Amy's lack of focus. Eggman, as his new friends called him, had given up his life of evil plots and world concurring ambitions and now worked with Tails to dig up evidence on Eggman's grandfather, Prof. Gerald Robotnic. They where not doing to good though. After much typing and a few more complaints from Amy, Tails shouted.

"I have something! I'm sending it now." A few beeps and clicks and Eggman now read the file titled the 'Ultimate Life Form, Code name Project Shadow, entry log star date 9-11-2025. Eggman read aloud. "My work is nearly complete. Shadow will soon be ready to use his power to heal Maria with his Chaos Control technique. Not even GUN can stop me now. All I need are the seven Chaos Emeralds to make the project a success. Although I risk death at the hands of the government, it's reassuring to know that my son is to be married soon. I hope that they will have a child who will help mankind better then i could. With the immortal Shadow and his power to grant immortality to my beloved granddaughter, my life no longer matters. My only wish is that the world sees the reason in my actions.'" Eggman finished.

"What dose it mean?" Tails inquired. "It means that, Shadow is alive, he's still out there, somewhere." Robotnic said both with hope and remorse.

***

"So now what?" Tail asked. It had been a month since the night that they had found the files of Prof. Gerald Robotnic's research, and three weeks of trudging around in what was the Green Forest area after Eggman had blown the whole thing to kingdom come. "How do we know that Shadow is here or alive?" Tails asked grimly. "My grandfathers' research shows that Shadow could easily survive a fall like that. And the energy signature shows that his landing is around this area." Eggman said with determination. I have to find Shadow,' Eggman thought, 'for my grandfathers sake if anything.' "Hey guys, come quick!" They heard Amy scream. As they ran toward her voice they found Amy standing at the edge of a crater, a mile wide and twenty feet deep.

***

Flashes... memories... pain. 'Shadow! Shadow grab my hand! SHADOW!!!' This is my promise to you Maria, this is what you wanted.' Falling... burning... darkness. These memories awaked the black hedgehog. Shadow opened his eyes ever so slowly, but he didn't really see anything. He couldn't move. He then truly saw why, as he was made to, he had sub-consciously incased him self in a cryogenic-stasis pod. His injuries where incased in super tight ice in order to keep infection out. Above him in the outside world was Amy, Tails, and the relative of his creator Eggman, their cries muffled by the sheer thickness of the fake ice.

"We have to get him out of there." Tails said. "There's no time. We'll get him to the base." Eggman pulled out a remote summoning a ship with none other then Metal Sonic a the helm. As the ship landed with only a hum of the engines the metallix Sonic exited the rear loading dock and approached the frozen hedgehog. With strength only a robot could use, the metallix haled the ice on his back and stepped heavily onto the airship. As the frozen Shadow was carried on to the ship the group saw him mouth out 'Thank You'.

***

A warm feeling filled the water in the tank, it felt good on the hedgehog's fur. Shadow awoke once again, not opening his eyes. He expected the biting cold of his self-made cryogenic stasis pod, but instead he felt a warmth all around him, it reminded him of what Maria gave him, a thing called a hug but this was a bit more moist then he remembered. "Shadow? Can you hear me?" A muffled voice said. This voice sounded familiar. "Come on Shadow, wake up!" It said again followed by a few muffled poundings. "Sonic...?" Shadow mumbled, half awake. "He's awake!" Said the voice of a young boy. "Hooray!" Cheer a young girls.

Shadow opened his eyes. He was surrounded by a gelatinous mass and had a breathing mask over his face. In the clear door of the chamber he could see the whole gang standing there peering in at him with relieved eyes and smiles. Shadow noticed that they all had head sets over their ears. "Can you hear us Shadow?" Rouge's kind voice came from the mask wrapped around his head. "Ugh, yeah but where am I?" Shadow asked, looking around the chamber.

"Your in a recovery chamber," Eggman said. "Your where badly injured so we brought you back here to heal you in my newest invention." He said proudly. "A healing chamber, doesn't seem like your style doctor." Shadow said laughing. "We have all changed somewhat, some more for the better." Eggman said. "Can you move at all buddy?" Sonic asked. "Yeah, but I think it will be a while before I'm at full power again." "It should be about an hour or so before the chamber has completely healed him, we should let him rest." Eggman said. "No wait, s-stay I want to here how you all have been without me. I've been frozen for so long, I could use some company." Shadow said. Sonic was more than happy to tell his story first, after he had finish Tails, Amy, and Eggman gave theirs, and finally Knuckles and Rouge. Shadow listened how everyone had missed him and kept his memory alive and how they never forgot him. When Rouge and Knuckles finished and the blush in Knuckles cheeks was brought to a slow burn Eggman spoke. "Shadow, the healing chamber has done it's job, you might have a little trouble standing but other than that you should be completely healed." The chamber drained of the liquid and the door opened, Shadow took a step and the gravity of the Earth seemed to hit him all at once. Sonic and Tails where there in an instant to catch their friend as he fell. "Heh, I guess I'm not at full power just yet." Shadow said weakly.

***

A week passed since Shadow had been found and healed. His Welcome Back party had been a huge celebration with Knuckles and Sonic as DJs, that is until Amy dragged Sonic out to the dance floor and Rouge had been kind enough to teach Shadow to dance, a daunting task indeed. The party came and gone and Shadow was starting to like his new life, but at night sometimes he would wake up go out to the balcony and stair at a shining twinkle which was Ark as it passed lazily across the night sky. Until one day.

"What's with the call a 2:00 in the morning Eggman? I didn't get a wink of sleep." Sonic yawned. Eggman had called up the whole group to his pyramid base and was now pacing the floor in front of them, giving an occasional glance and shaking his head before resuming his pacing. The group stood confused until Knuckles got impatient. "In the name of the Master Emerald will you tell us!" He shouted. Eggman took a deep breath and let it out slowly, gathering his words up in the right order. "It... It regards Maria." Shadow's attention was instantly on Eggman's every word. "I have reason to believe that she is still on Ark, somewhere, and... Alive. The only thing is... Shadow wait!"

Before anyone could lift a finger to stop him, Shadow was out the door heading to the launch pad, slamming into Silver Sonic who was carrying a jar of batteries. "I was afraid of this." Eggman said as he furiously started hitting buttons trying to open a radio/video link to the already launching shuttle. "Shadow come in, do you read?" Eggman called over the radio link. Static clouded the halogen screen but Shadow's voice came loud and clear. "Maria is up there, she needs me and I won't let her down... Again." He said. "But Shadow you don't know the danger, if you go up there you'll..." *Click* Shadow closed off the link, he didn't care about the danger, all he cared about was Maria.

"Eggman tell us, what will happen to Shadow if he makes it to Ark?" Amy pleaded. Eggman sighed. "He will be captured." "By the military?" Rouge gasped. "Worse, my Grandfather." "What?!" Sonic nearly shouted. "My grandfather was never really killed, he created a biomechanical duplicate of him self, when his double was 'killed' he then set about a plan to revive Maria aboard Ark. He was partially successful , but the process took all the power that Ark had, and Maria was healed but not fully alive yet. Since he didn't have the amount of energy it took to revive her, my grandfather then decided to freeze him self and Maria until Ark had got it's power back. It was in his latest entry."

"But now that Shadow is on his way there he will activate the systems in an attempt to revive Maria. And if my theory is correct, the Chaos Emeralds are also aboard Ark." "What!?" Everyone exclaimed together. "That's why I couldn't find any on earth, they where still on Ark." Sonic said punching his own hand. "Yes and by activating the system Shadow will unwittingly release my grandfather who will use Shadow to revive Maria and grant her immortality like he originally planned." Eggman bowed his head. "And what happens if he tries this immortality thing on Maria?" Tails asked. "He will succeed." Painful pause. "But Shadow, being as old as he is, will die." "NO!" Sonic was horrified. "We need help." Eggman said.

***

"Ok so who are you again?" Amy asked. The boy sighed as Tails gave Amy his trademark look of annoyance, Amy giggle girlishly. "My name is Cyrus Robotnic, I'm Dr. Robotnic's nephew." The young boy said. Cyrus was 16, a year younger then Sonic. He stood before them in his jet black ankle length leather overcoat, a black t-shirt that read Creed under it, his long black hair draped over his shoulders, blue jeans and steel sole leather boots. He looked at the group of heroes through his goggles. "You know, you look nothing like your uncle." Amy said with child like bluntness. Cyrus chuckled and lifted his goggles, his eyes where a cold ice blue. The group looked at Eggman who did the same. They had the same eyes. "Now does that settle the whole family lineage, we have lives to save." Cyrus said slightly irritated. "Okay then, Shadow took off half an hour ago, it will take his shuttle another hour to make it to Ark at his current rate of speed if we use the teleporter then we could beat him there and stop him before he does anything to activate the main power." Eggman told the group.

"Uncle, you forgot something," Cyrus said. "The particle acceleration can only process one person at a time, so given how many people we have it will take us, 70 minutes to get everyone up there." The heroes all stared at Cyrus. "What? Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that almost everyone in our family has high I.Q. levels. Now come on we don't have much time." Sonic came forward and stepped in as the process began.

70 minutes later. Cyrus was last to transport to Ark. Ark had been shut down and off limits to even the GUN military robots. No movement had been seen in over a year, tell now that is. The hallway they where now in was dark, the air was bone dry, and the floor had a protective layer of dust covering it. "Wow, a cleaning lady's nightmare." Amy said. "More like Shadow's nightmare if we don't find him." Sonic said darkly. With a clang and a buzz of electricity the lights in the hallway shot light down on the group. Surprised, everyone dropped to a defensive pose. "What happened?" Sonic whispered still crouched ready to fight. "The main power came on." Cyrus said slightly hushed. "But how?" Eggman asked also hushed, his laser gun humming softly. "Why are we whispering when theirs nobody here." Amy whispered loudly. Everyone looked at her then looked at each other. A nervous chuckle washed over the group but once it was gone the eerie silence over took them. They walked on, the clacking of Tails brand new robot walker the Cyclone 2 echoed down the hallway. The robotic arms carried a large tracking device that connected to the on-board computer.

"What do we have Tails?" Sonic asked. The kitsunes' mouth suddenly dropped. "Sonic, all seven Chaos Emeralds are at the center of the colony!" Tails said. "What?!" Sonic shouted. "That's good isn't it, we get them all at the same time." Knuckles said. "Wong Knucklehead, it means that, that... What does it mean again?" Sonic asked. "Wake up you two, it means that Professor Gerald is back and he's got the Emeralds." Rouge said. "Right, and if he gets Shadow, then it's all over." Cyrus said grimly. "We need to get in there." "There's are four open routes to the main chamber," Tails said. "Up ahead a four passages, each one leads to a different side of the main chamber." Tails checked his map to be sure. "Alright then, we'll surround him. Tails, you go with my uncle, Knuckles with Rouge, Sonic take Amy. We have to stop Gerald before Shadow gets here." "For Shadow." Sonic put his hand in. Everyone put there hands in top of his. "For Shadow." They all said. They broke and move to their assigned hallways.

***

Sonics' Point of view: It was extremely creepy being back in the Ark. Amy seem to feel the same way. She clung to my arm tightly, I must admit Amy might be a pain sometimes but she is cute. We walked on in silence until we came to the door Tails said lead to the chamber, I was ready to walk in when Amy stopped me. "Sonic? I have to ask you something." "Huh?" Had I known what was coming I probably would have said something better. "I know this exactly isn't the place but, Sonic I just want you to know that... I love you, and I don't want to see you hurt, so, so just promise you'll be careful." Over the years I had heard Amy say 'I love you' many times before, but this time it wasn't with her giddy voice that she normally used, it was more sincere. "I'll be careful Amy, I promise." She then gave me a hug that I will never forget. I broke the warm embrace and pushed the button to open the door.

***