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  "description_bbcode_parsed": "<span style='word-wrap: break-word;'>I consider this the first of my &quot;filler&quot; chapters. These will extend the story for purposes of narrative or giving the rest of the cast things to do. I decided to also include some more character moments to speed things along and help develop them. Also, added year just cuz, but also the Shadamy finally starts! I hope you guys enjoy this and look forward to when they really start to get edgy lol!</span>",
  "writing": "[b]The Miracle of Love\n\nChapter 3: Take Back Westopolis\n\nDISCLAIMER: This fan fiction contains instances of profanity, extreme violence, nightmare-inducing imagery, and sexual content. Viewer discretion is advised. \n\nAll characters and settings are property of SEGA and Sonic Team.[/b]\n\n-----\n\n[i]Shadow was running through the corridors of a vaguely familiar facility. There was a crowd of soldiers running after him. He didn't know why they were chasing him or why he was even running, but something in him just said he had to. ``Stop that monster! Don't let it escape!'' he heard them yell. He ran and ran, desperate to outpace them. Shadow found a door and ran through it, into a large room. The floor was clear glass for the most part, allowing one to see the planet Earth outside, and a a cross of carbon fiber tiles and metal plating in the middle. He was in space. In the room by a control panel was a girl. Shadow recognized the girl instantly. The one from his visions. ``Maria!''\n\nMaria was turned to the window, watching the stars. Even when Shadow called her name, she didn't turn to face him. ``Maria, thank Chaos I found you! I need to talk to you!'' Shadow said. Maria still didn't budge. ``Maria...?'' he said, trying to approach her. ``Why, Shadow? Why have you done this?'' Maria finally spoke, turning around, but not looking directly at him. ``What? What do you mean?'' Shadow asked. ``Are you really you, Shadow? Is this truly what you believe? Slaughtering people for no reason other than existing?'' Maria looked down at the floor, her side turned to him. ``How could I not? They killed you, Maria! How can I forgive them for taking your life away?!'' Shadow exclaimed. Maria still refused to look at him. ``Are you really Shadow? If you are... why have you forgotten our promise?''\n\nShadow looked at her confused. They made a promise? Of what and when? Just then, some soldiers broke down the door behind him. He looked at them in horror, stepping backwards until he bumped into something. It was solid glass; he noticed that he was entrapped in some sort of capsule. Shadow turned to Maria, womanning the controls and about to pull a lever. ``Maria, please! Why are you so angry?! What did I do to deserve this from you?'' he asked, pleading. Maria finally looked at him with a look of utter disgust and disappointment. It was as if he failed her and refused to even want anything to do with him. ``Sayonara... Shadow.'' She said bitterly and pulled the lever, sending the capsule down from the lab.\n\n``MARIIAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!''[/i]\n\n-----\n\n[b]NOVEMBER 15, 2015\n\n11:54 PM - NiGHTS INTO DREAMS HOTEL[/b]\n\n``MARIIIAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!''\n\nShadow shot up in his bed, breathing heavily. He looked around and was relieved to find he was dreaming. He and Charmy stayed the night at a luxurious hotel near Central City. Charmy was in the other bed, sound asleep. Shadow believed he was probably dreaming of the rabbit girl he had a thing for. The black hedgehog got out of bed and walked on the balcony. His mind was racing with so many emotions: hurt, confusion, anger... love? That last thought got him thinking of Maria, as well as that pink hedgehog. Maria looked so sad and disappointed in his dream and Shadow didn't understand why. Moreover, why would she sympathize with the ones that took her life? And what was this promise he made to her?\n\nAs the night began to end, he could only think of those two and doubts of what his true past was. Charmy's wishes to not do everything the aliens wanted was one thing, but a nightmare of Maria hating him was quite disturbing. His mind was rattling, trying to piece together what he knew. He had three Chaos Emeralds, only four left. He knew that was the only way he could complete the puzzle that was his missing memories. [i]``Once I have all the emeralds, then I'll have all the answers. Maybe then I can be at peace...''[/i] he thought, and then returned to sleep.\n\n-----\n\n[b]NOVEMBER 16, 2015\n\n11:37 AM - GUN GLOBAL HQ - AREA 99[/b]\n\nThe most advanced security and heavily fortified strongholds in the world lied in Area 99, the main headquarters for GUN... and it was being breached without them knowing. Not by the Black Arms, mind you, but by a scrappy ninja detective. Espio's camouflage allowed him to sneak in undetected. With the mainframe still on the fritz, he thought the perfect opportunity to sneak in. GUN had to know something about Shadow. He had received intel from Charmy earlier that GUN raided the Space Colony ARK fifty years ago and captured Shadow. They could have some answers on who he is. Plus, Rouge works for GUN, so he might be able to find her and get some information. \n\nEspio crawled through a vent to reach the main computer room. Data retrieval and computers were something he wasn't overtly skilled with, but he would have to endure it and try to get results. Uncloaking, he accessed the computer with a fake user ID and entered a password. Because the system had been breached, it was not hard to find the password and enter it. ``Maria... why such a simple password? Or did Professor Gerald have a hand in the system?'' he wondered. Charmy brought him and Vector up to speed about what Black Doom claimed last night. None of the witty detectives believed a lot of what he said, but they knew they could not ignore any of his claims or take them so lightly. Espio punched some keys in and searched for anything relating to Shadow. After a good three minutes, he found something. \n\n``Project SHADOW... the Ultimate Life Form.'' Espio mused. He was seeing a lot of lucrative and disparaging things about Shadow here. But many of the files were heavily encrypted. There were some things that GUN was not going to let the whole world know about. However, before he could even consider decrypting the files, he could sense someone's presence behind him. He quickly turned around with a kunai in his hand to face his attacking: a turquoise fennec fox with a cute face, hot body, and bad attitude, holding a plasma gun. The two stood off, the kunai near the girl's neck and the gun in his face. ``Thought turning invisible could help you sneak past the security. You know, for a ninja, you're too fucking loud.'' She said. ``So you heard my motions. Impressive.'' Said Espio, then knocked the weapon out of her hands and put away his kunai. \n\n``May I have this dance?'' he asked mockingly, getting in a fighting stance. ``Oh you are gonna regret picking a fight with me!'' said the fennec, smirking in a similar pose. \n\n-----\n\n[b]12:13 PM - DOWNTOWN WESTOPOLIS[/b]\n\nEven though it was the afternoon, the skies were still so dark from the smoke and debris that you wouldn't think it was. The Black Arms were still occupying the city of Westopolis, or at least what was left of it. Commander Tower issued an order to all GUN units remaining in Westopolis to pull out. With attention being shifted towards Shadow and the remaining Black Arms forces, they couldn't risk losing more soldiers trying to retake a city that already seemed lost. All hope was lost. Or so it seemed....\n\nIt was all up to Sonic and Tails to salvage this. The Fastest Thing Alive had to spend the night hiding in the rubble until Tails arrived. It was a good thing that his two-tailed companion had a first aid kit ready for any of the wounded. Tails was able to treat the gun wound on his leg and wrapped a bandage around it. After a good long rest, Sonic was feeling better but still wearing the bandages. It made him a huge target now, but it didn't matter to him. Not while the aliens still had control of the city, so they needed to move now and move fast. \n\n``I still can't believe Shadow would side with the Black Arms. Why would he do something like this?'' Tails asked. Even eighteen hours after the fact, he was still having a difficult time processing all this. Shadow gave his life for the Earth and now was betraying the planet for these alien terrorists. He couldn't understand it. ``We can worry about that bastard later, Tails! Right now, we gotta drive these aliens out and take this city back!'' Sonic shouted. His mind was on making Shadow pay, but he knew his priorities. Taking back Westopolis came first above all else. ``GUN has pulled back the last of its troops. Commander Tower probably wants to conserve his army so they don't get outnumbered for whatever the Black Arms have planned.'' Tails said. ``Well fuck him! We never needed GUN before to save the planet and we don't need `em now! Let's go!'' shouted Sonic as the two dashed off into the warzone. \n\nThe two blasted through the deserted streets of the dead city. Yesterday, it was bustling with people, excited to see a once in a lifetime event over the weekend. Now the place was empty, save for the Black Arms occupying it. Several Black Warriors were on patrol, awaiting orders to withdraw. With this city a heap of rubble and the Earthlings dead or fleeing, it would only be a matter of time before Black Doom ordered his soldiers to withdraw. Just then, one of them saw a blue and yellow light trail headed towards them. Before they had a chance to react, the soldiers were smacked by a large blue ball that punctured them over and over. Sonic's homing attack was second to none against alien invaders. A couple Black Wings flew down, but Tails jumped up, smacking them with his tails so hard that their wings cut off and they splatted onto the concrete. \n\nSome more Black Arms rushed over, hearing the commotion, weapons drawn. Tails had his own little toy on him. Pulling out of his own pocket dimension was a red arm cannon, which Tails pointed at the aliens and smirked. ``Say hello to my little friend!'' he shouted and launched yellow energy ball attacks that vaporized the Black Warriors, ``Heh. I always wanted to say that.'' Several Black Hawks then swooped down to attack him, but Tails shot more plasma balls at the aliens, destroying them. As Sonic dashed forward at more incoming Black Arms, Tails looked over their weapons. At first glance, they looked amazing. He had never seen guns like these before except in science fiction. One weapon in particular that aroused his interest was one that resembled a vacuum. He tried using it and it pulled in the bodies of the aliens, encasing them and, on occasion, skewering the remains. This was magnificent. He had to get a closer look at the Black Arms tech later. \n\n``Yo, Tails! Stop daydreaming about these damn guns and keep up!'' shouted Sonic. Tails shook his head and put away the weapons for later, flying after Sonic. The Black Arms quickly became aware of the duo's presence in the city and mobilized to fight them off. This city was not as defenseless or finished as they thought. The laser barrage, which seized when the human death toll skyrocketed, was back on, aiming down onto Sonic and Tails. The duo would not be deterred, pressing forward while sidestepping the laser paths. Sonic spindashed right at the aliens, taking them down, while Tails used his cannon to shred them to pieces. One Black Warrior got behind Tails and tried to slash at him, but Sonic sped up to him and punched a hole right through its chest. ``Hole in one. Who's next?'' taunted the Blue Blur. His answer came sooner in the form of a Black Oak throwing a transit bus at the two. Tails flew up, holding Sonic and barely dodged it. Tails then threw his best friend, who used his Light Speed Attack to chip away at the alien's vitals and limbs until only its lifeless chest remained. ``Can't slow down now, let's take back this city!''\n\n-----\n\n[b]1:07 PM - RADICAL HIGHWAY[/b]\n\nShadow and Charmy were back on the road after a good night's rest. After a breakfast and surprisingly quiet lunch, the two were on the highway. Shadow's objective was to find all seven Chaos Emeralds. He had three, he needed to find the other four. Unfortunately, trying to find the Chaos Emeralds was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. He usually had Rouge to help him out, but not this time. She worked for GUN and he didn't know if he could trust her at this point in time. All he could do right now was keep on driving and hope that there was some trail to follow. \n\n``OH MY GOD, SHADOW LOOK!'' Charmy yelled, pointing to a sign. The sign read: [i]``CIRCUS PARK - THE GREATEST AMUSEMENT PARK ON EARTH! IN ONE MILE''[/i]. Shadow rolled his eyes. It didn't seem too important. At least not on first glance. But when he looked again, he saw at the bottom a very familiar insignia. It was of a circular grinning person with a nasty moustache. Shadow and Charmy recognized that anywhere. It was the symbol of the Eggman Empire. ``The doctor made his own amusement park. Poor bastard must be getting desperate for attention.'' Shadow said. ``Ooh! I never been to an amusement park before! Can we go, Shad? Can we? Can we? Can we? Pleeeaaase?'' begged Charmy. Shadow ignored the bee as he shook him. ``Maybe you didn't see the sign, but that amusement park belongs to Doctor Eggman. Your enemy, remember? I doubt he would just build his own Six Flags unless he had an ulterior motive.'' He said, ``Besides, I don't have time for detours. We need to be focused if we're gonna find the remaining Emeralds.''\n\n``Aww, c'mon! Lighten up will ya, Shadow? You don't gotta do everything those aliens tell ya. They may not be truthful about your memory either and are probably just getting you to do their work for `em!'' said Charmy. ``Be that as it may, they're the only ones that know about my past. At least the only ones not trying to kill me.'' Shadow replied. ``When's the last time you ever had any fun? Plus, I owe Eggman for not paying us, so maybe we'll get to snoop around, see what he may be hiding. Maybe one of the emeralds...'' Charmy insisted, ``Please, Shadow? Just one stop and I promise not to ask for anything else the rest of the trip!''\n\nShadow was nearly coming up on the exit. He thought that he could just stay focused on the emeralds and get his memories back without much in the way of fuss, but Charmy obviously had other ideas. The bee and his detective agency were anonymously hired by Eggman to be his grunts, and never got paid like they were promised. He wanted to get back at the good doctor. But his pleas for fun seemed a bit more personal, like there was something more he wasn't telling the hedgehog. He thought maybe he was going soft in feeling sorry for the kid. Sighing, he took the exit and quickly drove on their way to Circus Park. ``Fuck it, why not? Guess we got some hours to kill before we find that fourth emerald...'' he said. Charmy gasped and gripped Shadow in excitement. ``AWESOME!! You will [i]not[/i] regret this, Shadow! I promise!'' he yelled. ``But no detours after this. We go through the park and then we go back to finding the emeralds. Got it?'' Shadow clarified. Charmy nodded excitedly. Shadow thought this was going to be a long day...\n\n-----\n\n[b]3:49 PM - DOWNTOWN WESTOPOLIS[/b]\n\nSonic and Tails had cleared out a good chunk of the Black Arms in Westopolis. They ran through the rubble and remains of the scorched city, attacking and destroying any and all ugly motherfuckers within the city limits. Even though not every Black Arms soldier was to be seen, the alien invaders still had about ten thousand units in the city. Normal men would have died or run away from immeasurable odds such as these. Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles ``Tails'' Prower were not normal men. They were just two guys that loved adventure, and willing to take on all comers. Sonic's Light Speed Attacks burned through the Black Arms forces, and Tails had many weapons, gadgets, and useful tools that put him one step ahead of the enemy. About eighty-nine percent of the alien forces were dead by the time it was hitting 4 o'clock. ``I bet the alien overlord must be throwing his TV out the window seeing these two sexy beasts fuck his shit up.'' Sonic boasted. ``Especially since one sexy beast technically has a bad leg.'' Tails added. Sonic smirked and ruffled Tails' ``hair'' in response. \n\nBut their celebrations were being cut short by a strange arrival. A black alien gunship resembling a large stingray. It opened its back bay, allowing for the remaining Black Warriors and Black Oaks to board it before the ship took off, heading East towards the highway. ``Looks like the Black Arms are retreating, Sonic! We've driven them off! This city will be safe now.'' Tails said. But Sonic wasn't convinced. ``They're gonna be back, buddy. That ship looks like it's carrying a lot of firepower. Let's track it down and finish them off!'' he said. Tails knew exactly where Sonic was coming from and did not protest. The two ran off, chasing the air tank to the Lethal Highway. The Black Arms were not going to get away. \n\nSonic and Tails rushed across the crazy highway and found it mostly intact, but they couldn't help but notice half of it covered in red slime, and poisonous red fruits scattered all over the place. This was becoming more than just acts of terrorism; they were out to conquer and destroy the entire planet. While Sonic remained cool and calm on the outside, he was internally livid. These monsters were going one step too far in leaving their mark on the planet. All the more reason for them to chase down and destroy that airship. They eventually caught up to it after about three minutes of running across loop-the-loops. The ship was dropping pink fruits that acted as motion sensor bombs to destroy the roads. The invaders had thought of everything. Well just about everything. ``Time to say poppa, bitch!'' shouted Sonic, jumping over a bomb and homing attacking the ship. However his attacks never hit the ship. They topped at a blue force shield covering the vessel. ``Man, these Black Arms sure spared no expense!'' he said. \n\nThen the ship dropped a bomb which destroyed one road completely. There were two paths that cars could have gone in this situation, but the Black Arms just thrashed the quicker path. They may be foreign, but they were not stupid in the least. Sonic and Tails were forced to take the longer path to meet back up with the airship. ``The Black Arms are getting desperate. We're a huge monkey wrench in their plans, and they know it!'' Tails said in a more lackadaisical manner of speaking. ``They shoulda checked the wiki before messing with my planet then!'' said Sonic, in his usual cocky way, ``Whatever, we'll just have to go even faster!'' In a huge burst of speed, Sonic ran through the crippled highway, Tails taking after him. Eventually they caught up with the tank again. This time, they needed to be careful in how they approached it. That shield needed to come down first. ``I'd say this calls for some aerial gangrape!'' said Tails, pressing a few buttons on his own smartwatch.\n\nTails flew up into the sky and smirked at the sight of his ride, the Tornado 2, coming from autopilot. Tails boarded his plane and transformed it into its X-shaped battle mode. His plan would be simple in theory: shoot the ship until the shields were destroyed. While most of the aerial enemies were already destroyed, he didn't know how much firepower this tank was packing or if it could fire weapons with the shields up. However, he knew he couldn't just stop to think it over. Not with millions of lives at stake if they failed. Tails pushed the accelerator and sped right after the tank. He started firing laser bullets at the ship, which seemed to do a good amount of damage to the shields. He was so focused on the ship he barely even noticed the Black Hawks tailing him. Sonic did, and leapt up, homing attacking all of them and making them fall. Landing on the wings of the Tornado 2, he was ready to take this down. Tails saw the time was right and unleashed a few missiles at it. Those seemed to do the trick and destroyed the shield. \n\n``Let `em have it, Sonic!'' shouted Tails. The Fastest Thing Alive was more than willing to oblige, charging up and unleashing one powerful Light Speed Attack, cutting through and destroying the Black Arms airship. The last of the Black Arms in Westopolis were destroyed; the city had been liberated. ``That's Earth one, Black Arms zero!'' Sonic boasted, rubbing his finger underneath his nose. Tails kept flying over the city. He had a feeling they still weren't done yet. Shadow still had at least two Chaos Emeralds and was the front man in this invasion. They needed to find him if they were going to get any answers. ``Sonic, I can't seem to find Shadow anywhere!'' he shouted. ``Well let's get back to the city and find that fucker! I dunno what those monsters want with the Chaos Emeralds, but it can't be good!'' said Sonic. He jumped off the freeway and back to Westopolis. Now it was time to find Shadow...\n\n-----\n\n[b]4:33 PM - CIRCUS PARK[/b]\n\nShadow had only intended to spend about an hour at Dr. Eggman's sham of an amusement park. He ended up spending three and a half. But three and a half hours that were well spent. While he was trying to find the Chaos Emerald and whatever scheme the doctor was cooking, Shadow had a bit of a blast with Charmy. He won the kid prizes by dominating the shooting gallery boards, grinding the tightropes like nobody's business, riding the most exhilarating of coasters....and they might have ``accidentally'' busted up some of Eggman's machines as well. Of course, Charmy was having fun too. He rarely got to have much in the way of days off while working as a member of the Chaotix, but winning rings, prizes, and eating honey-flavored ice cream had been so much fun for the little guy. He had almost forgotten what it was like to be a kid. The two sat outside a circus tent, eating ice cream cones while looking at the almost night sky. Shadow probably hadn't had such a great time before, and though he wouldn't admit it, he had the time of his life. \n\n``Man, today was awesome Shad! This was the best time I ever had!'' said Charmy, eating his ice cream and holding a NiGHTS and Reala plush. ``Hmph. Well I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, kid. But didn't look like there was a whole lot for us to get tonight.'' Said Shadow. ``Admit it, Shadow! You had fun yourself!'' insisted Charmy, ``It's great to spend time with good buds, and family...'' Shadow said nothing. He didn't understand at all what the annoying bee was going on about. They were hardly friends, Charmy was more his backup if anything. ``I'm kinda jealous, Shadow... that Maria girl sounded super nice. Woulda loved to have her as my sister...'' said Charmy. Now it sounded a bit more personal. ``To tell ya the truth, I'm jealous... you had a real family and... I didn't.''\n\n``You're an orphan.'' Shadow realized. Charmy just silently nodded. ``My mom died giving birth to me, and I don't even know who my dad was. No siblings, no cousins... nothing.'' He confessed. ``The only real family I knew was Vector and Espio... but they don't treat me like one. They think I'm less of a family member and more a pest. Someone that works for them. Shadow, I... always thought you were cool. Like a bro I never had. I hoped to be like the Tails to your Sonic. That's kinda why I want to help you get your memory back.'' Shadow was at a near loss of words. He always did think of Charmy as an obnoxious brat, but he was starting to see more than that. Like some sort of kid that needed someone to look up to. He had only spent a couple days with him, but he felt more fulfilled spending time with him than he did with anyone before. He felt happy... and it felt good. ``Well... thanks Charmy. You are quite the good friend, better than I could have hoped.'' He smiled. Charmy almost looked like he was going to cry.\n\n``There he is, Amy!'' shouted a voice. The boys looked up ahead and saw two females running their way. It was Amy and Cream. Charmy felt like he was going to melt seeing his crush show up. As for Shadow, his sole attention was focused on the sexy pink hedgehog running his way. He couldn't understand why he was thinking of her so much. What was so important about this girl, other than how hot she looked? His mind was retracing back to when he saw her crying last week. A first instinct would be to ask if she was okay, but Shadow didn't want to make it awkward for her. In addition, he didn't care as much as he should have, so what purpose did it serve to ask? Amy, meanwhile, nervously thought of how to proceed. If Espio was right, then he wouldn't remember her. But she thought back to his advice. She couldn't let fear stop her. Shadow needed her to remind him. Slowly and carefully, she stepped towards the Ultimate Life Form, now about two feet away from each other. \n\n``You're... that girl.'' Shadow said. Amy frowned at that introduction. ``You really don't remember me, do you?'' she asked. ``I wish I could. I feel like you're important to me, but all I remember of you is... what happened last week.'' Said Shadow. ``Th-that isn't important. I just... had a bad day.... Your memory is more important than my romantic troubles.'' Amy replied. Shadow raised his eyebrow. Charmy was already beginning to sense the sexual tension grow, he just wanted to yell `JUST KISS ALREADY!', but he feared Shadow would deck him right in the crown. Charmy instead flew up to Cream and showed her his NiGHTS doll. ``Uhh, hey Cream... Shadow won this for me, but uhh... you can have it.'' He said, with a faint bit of nervousness. Cream blushed at the gesture. He had never given her something before, so this was a nice change. But she was always a fan of NiGHTS, so took the doll and hugged the bee. ``Thank you so much Charmy! It's amazing!'' she said. Charmy blushed but smiled smoothly, looking at Shadow's interactions with Amy. \n\n``Shadow, try to remember. You were a hero once! You gave everything to save the Earth, and we thought you were dead! Don't you remember the promises you made?'' Amy asked. Shadow looked down, almost ashamed. He felt a sharp pain in his chest, right where his heart was. It almost felt like heartache. This was strange to him. To his limited memory, he never felt this before. Looking at her sad eyes pained him. Then he held his head, hearing some faint voices. They were this girl's. [i]``Shadow, please! We need you! Please help them!''[/i] the voice called. But he couldn't recall the visions or anything beyond it. Yet he wanted to, for some strange reason. ``I... I don't...''\n\n``FREEZE, SHADOW!''. His thoughts were brought to a complete halt at the voice of scum. The group turned and found a squad of GUN troops and Beetle droids lining up, drawing their weapons at Shadow. Cream hid behind Amy, who looked confused by all this. Sure, she knew that Shadow was public enemy number one for siding with the Black Arms, but sending a squad like this seemed excessive. ``Step away from the civilians and back against the tent!'' shouted the squad leader. ``You forgot to say please.'' Shadow grinned. ``Yeah, back off!'' shouted Charmy. One Droid shot some warning shots at the bee, nearly hitting his wings. Charmy was startled by this, but the girls even moreso. GUN seemed determined to not only kill Shadow, but anyone that is with him. ``We are not asking again. Back away from the girls, or we start shooting!'' shouted the soldier.\n\nShadow glared at the GUN troops. He had heard of Black Doom?s warnings about the humans, but the fact they're willing to endanger kids lives just to kill him is crossing a new low. No doubt they would try to shoot the girls. He glanced at Amy who looked angry. She couldn't believe the lengths GUN was willing to go to just to arrest Shadow. But then something hit her: they said they would start shooting after he went against the tent. They were going to kill him! Horror hit her face. GUN were no saints, but to do this was terrifying. ``Back off. I don't need your blood on my hands.'' Shadow said quietly. Amy was taken aback. Was he sacrificing himself for her? Her heart was starting to beat like crazy. But she didn't budge. ``Shadow, they.... They're going to kill you! I can't let them do that!'' she said in defiance. ``They couldn't kill someone like me, but they could kill you. I don't need that.'' Shadow said. It felt strange for him to say that. He had to have been going soft now. ``Amy, please. Mr. Shadow doesn't want to see you hurt. Please don't get killed for him.'' Cream begged. ``Chao Chao!'' Cheese said.\n\nThe GUN troops cocked their semi-auto rifles ready to strike. If Amy stayed, she could get hurt, but worse would be Cream. She was like a little sister to her. If anything happened to her, it would be on her. She didn't want to risk that. Before she could respond, however, Amy heard some inhumane roars and shrieks. The Black Arms had appeared from the skies and the tent behind them, surrounding the girls and soldiers. The droids shot at the monsters, killing a couple but were easily dispatched. The human soldiers shot at the aliens, completely forgetting Shadow. The Ultimate Life Form stayed still and did not react. Amy, however, drew her Piko Piko Hammer and began swinging it at the aliens, splattering the Black Wings and severely wounding the Black Warriors. She squicked a bit at the gore she made, but was not allowed to puke. A Warrior with a new laser gun tried to snipe Amy, which Shadow caught sight of. Quickly, he took a random GUN soldier and threw him into the path of the projectile. The laser bullet destroyed him in an explosion of blood and guts, shielding Amy. \n\n``He poured his guts out for that.'' Shadow commented. However, when the hedgehogs were distracted, Cream screamed at the sight of a Black Arms soldier approaching her and ran away. Charmy kicked the alien?s head off and flew after her. ``Cream, wait!'' he shouted, only to be blocked by a Black Hawk. ``Get the fuck out of my way!'' he shouted, stinging it's head. Amy caught sight of this and decapitated another alien before running after her. Shadow didn't understand why, but he felt the instinct to chase the girl. Amy, was her name? She claimed he was a hero. Perhaps she knew about him. But before he or Charmy could give chase, they were stopped by the arrival of Doom's Eye. ``Shadow. It would seem that some vermin have eliminated a portion of our forces. Return to the ruins of Westopolis and exterminate them!'' he ordered. Shadow knew exactly what Doom was talking about and laughed at the Black Arms leader. ``Sonic? You and your chumps were banged by a faker with a bad leg and his two-tailed beta cuck? Dear Chaos, and I thought the doctor was pathetic!'' he snarked. \n\n``Our primary airship was destroyed and all remaining troops at the city were annihilated. This rodent must be eliminated! Return immediately - that is an order!'' commanded Doom's Eye. ``If you need Shad to fight your battles for you, then ya shouldn't have even come here! Now I got a cute bunny to rescue, if ya don't mind!'' said Charmy. Doom for one was relieved to not have to see the pest again. ``I was not speaking to you, but feel free to be gone from my sight.'' He said, matter-of-factly. Shadow did not hesitate in walking past Doom. ``What he said. Besides, I?m on lunch break, so piss off!'' he said. Doom's Eye flew right in the face of the black hedgehog. ``Do not take one step further Shadow! Disobey me, and you will never find the truth of your past!'' he shouted, threateningly. Shadow thought for a few seconds, but only that. He realized he may not need Black Doom for his past, if Amy knew about him or why he disappeared. He flipped off the alien, as did Charmy, who copied him. ``I got other ways, so fuck off.'' And with that, the boys raced after the girls. Doom was not happy with this development. ``You defied my orders, Shadow. Perhaps there is something that is causing your insubordination... I will find it, then, and destroy it!'' he mused and then flew off. \n\n-----\n\n[b]5:08 PM - DOWNTOWN WESTOPOLIS[/b]\n\nSonic and Tails had been running around Westopolis's ruins for well over an hour by this point, looking for even the smallest clues to Shadow's whereabouts. Their search had been futile up to this point, no traces anywhere. Tails had circled the entire uptown and downtown sections of Westopolis and couldn't find any heat trail or any sign of where Shadow had gone. ``Sorry, Sonic. I looked all over the city and there's no trace of where Shadow went.'' Tails reported, landing his plane. Sonic pounded his fist with his palm in frustration. Shadow had already fled the scene, but they didn't know where to look. ``That black edgy bastard must've used Chaos Control to tail it! Where the hell could he have gone to?!'' he yelled in frustration. ``A question that shall be left unanswered, vermin...'' said a voice behind them. \n\nThe duo looked behind them and saw Doom's Eye floating down to them. They had no idea what to make of the abomination before them. However, Sonic recognized it immediately as the creature that was following and ordering Shadow around. He had to think it was the leader of the operation. ``I must admit, you Earthlings are more resilient than I anticipated. Outnumbered by a far more superior race, with no assistance from those pathetic humans, and here you stand, over my most powerful soldiers. Yet you still believe you have a chance against me... how foolish.'' Said Black Doom. ``Sorry to disappoint you, Patrick, but we don't die so easily! A banged up leg is far from the worst thing that's happened to me.'' Said Sonic, running in place to show off to the alien, ``Now, how about you be a good starfish squid, or whatever the hell you are, and fork over those Chaos Emeralds!'' \n\nDoom's Eye laughed floating over the insolence that was before him. ``I'm afraid I cannot do that. The emeralds are in the possession of my greatest warrior, Shadow, and he is... unavailable at present.'' He said. ``Well how convenient? We try knocking and the fucker ain't even home! Guess we're gonna have to bang you and your boys up until you cough them up!'' Sonic said, determination and confidence in his eyes. ``We've faced tougher odds before: evil scientists, mechanized imposters, evil genies, a long dead vengeful researcher, a trio of hooligans, and even a freaking god... and we beat them all!'' Tails shouted, ``This will be no different. We'll stop you and your conquest of this planet!'' Doom's Eye chuckled yet again. He found their bravado all more amusing. ``You are very confident, mortals. But you still do not understand your place... we are on the highest point of the galactic food chain, and it is time to eat!'' he announced, ``Come forth, Black Bull!''\n\nAt that call, Sonic and Tails could feel the ground shaking and a back and red portal appear from beneath their feet. They quickly leapt backwards to get out of the way so they will not sink down. From the bottom came a large ugly red dragon-maggot, with one green, sharp spiky wings, a purple underbelly, and small hands covering its mouth. It looked mean and grotesque. ``Woo! Check you out, big guy!'' said Sonic, smirking. Tails was shocked and a bit scared, but barely showed it. ``Now behold... the wrath of the Black Arms! Black Bull, burn this entire city and these insolent fools to ash!'' commanded Doom. Black Bull roared out, spreading its arms as Sonic and Tails got in fighting position. ``Alright then, pal. Let's have some fun!'' said Sonic, about to run forward. The monster roared and fired a massive fire blast at Sonic. The blue devil sped to avoid it then jumped up and tried a homing attack. To his surprise, though, his ball form just bounced off the Black Arms' blubbery body, not even scratching it. \n\n``It just bounced off his body! That's some skin...'' noted Sonic. Nonetheless, he tried attacking again and again, but the same result happened. Only this time, Blakc Bull used one of its wings to swat Sonic away and into a few buildings. The monster unleashed a fury of red fire on the ground for maximum carnage, intent on burying the hedgehog alive. Tails quickly flew over and started up the Tornado 2 to take to the skies and counter it. Black Bull flew over to where Sonic was and prepared a fireball attack, when suddenly, its body was hit by a barrage of laser bullets. The Tornado 2 laid down cover fire for Sonic while he came to. But Black Bull had another surprise up its wretched skin. It opened its mouth releasing green goo puddles, which morphed into Black Wings to attack the Tornado. Tails performed an aileron roll to evade them, unleashing more fire at Black Bull, trying to figure out its weak spot. \n\n``Damn! Where the hell is this thing's weak point?!'' Tails said, getting frustrated. Black Bull fired off more fire attacks from its mouth at the plane, Tails barely dodging the attacks which hit the Black Wings. Just when it was about to attack again, a breath of fire countered its own attack and dazed it for a second. Tails turned to find a familiar loud croc helping out. ``Man, you are one ugly motherfucker!'' said Vector. Sonic couldn't have been happier to see Vector right now. ``Vector... you're a sight for sore eyes, huh?'' he said, getting back up. ``I got a score to settle with these freaks! We better put our heads together if we're gonna make it out of here alive!'' said Vector. Sonic nodded, but the question was what could be done? This monster was absorbing his attacks like they don't matter to it. But there had to be some kind of weak point somewhere. ``We may have a cyclops on our hands!'' said Vector.\n\nTails was still locked in a dog fight with the Back Arms fliers and could not concentrate on the real fight. Every time he killed some Black Wings, Black Bull would send more out to him. ``These things don't let up! Sonic, hurry and find this thing's weak spot!'' he shouted. ``Think I already got it, Tails. Vector, gimme a lift!'' said Sonic. Vector nodded, as Sonic sped up, lifting Sonic up with one arm, and throwing him into the air. Once Sonic was in the air, he hit a homing attack right into the beast's eye. It screamed in agony. ``It's working! Now to keep the heat on!'' said Sonic. He kept up his homing attacks to the eye, making it scream in absolute pain over and over as Sonic blinded it. All it could do was flail around, shooting fire attacks in random directions. Black Bull threw itself into several buildings in a fit of rage. Vector decided to join in, jumping up and punching its eye several times. ``This is for wrecking my office, you negro alien bastards!!'' he yelled as the beast screamed more painfully. Tails decided to finally seal the deal, launching missiles from the Tornado 2 into its mouth. ``Bon Appetit, bitch!'' he yelled. A few seconds later, Black Bull roared out one more time before it completely exploding, all of its flesh and guts spilling and raining out all over the city. It was times like these Sonic wished he had an umbrella on him. ``Yeesh. Good think Amy isn't here for all this.'' He said. Saying that got him wondering about Amy. It had been almost a week since their little chat, and he was wondering how well she was taking it.\n\nDoom's Eye was not pleased at all about what had just happened. First Shadow disobeys his commands, and now one of his most powerful monsters was killed. The promised time was in two days, and this could not have happened at a more inappropriate time. ``You Earthlings will pay dearly for this! Be forewarned: this is not the end! I, Black Doom, and my Black Arms shall carve out your hearts and feed it to my offspring! Next time we meet, vermin, you shall not see the light of day!'' declared Doom's Eye and promptly left. ``Yeah, well, go suck a xenomorph's dick, asshole!'' said Sonic, flipping off the alien. He then turned to Vector and Tails, the latter of whom landed his plane to meet up. ``Thanks for the assist, Vector! Bit messy, but I imagine that's your personal life.'' Vector crossed his arms in confidence. ``I do what I can. Actually, I wanted to see you guys for something urgent. Me and my boys are doing a case on Shadow, and we could use your help!'' said Vector. Sonic's smile quickly faded the minute he mentioned Shadow. \n\n``Why don't you ask him? He'll probably help write the whole book about how to betray the planet!'' he said, bitterly. ``Afraid that's off the table. The guy's got amnesia. He can't remember a damn thing!'' said Vector. Tails was surprised to hear this. He had speculated that Shadow may have forgotten them, but he didn't believe it was this bad. Sonic didn't even look shocked in the slightest. ``Well no shit, Sherlock Holmes. Is the grass still green too?'' said Sonic sarcastically. Vector retained his serious demeanor, but Tails looked at his best friend with shock. How did Sonic figure it out before them? ``Wait... you knew about this? For how long?!'' Tails asked. ``Since we saw him, Rouge, and Omega in the Lost Jungle. I figured something was off about his behavior, and how he didn't remember us, so I kinda suspected he forgot something.'' Said Sonic. ``And you didn't bother telling any of us, why exactly?!'' Tails exclaimed. He was flabbergasted that Sonic wouldn't come clean or try to approach Shadow. ``You know Shadz, he isn't a people person. I figured it would be better if he figured it out on his own, and let his memory come back to him naturally.'' Said Sonic, in a sympathetic tone. ``I could have helped out in therapy, maybe give Shadow some help in remembering thigs about him! You intentionally kept us and him in the dark, and now those aliens might be exploiting - '' Tails ranted, but stopped himself mid-sentence. He realized the Black Arms endgame for Shadow. \n\n``Those Black Arms claim they know Shadow, said that he promised to give them the seven Chaos Emeralds.'' Vector explained. ``That explains why Shadow was so quick to jump up on joining them. I can't imagine the psychological torture Black Doom must be subjecting Shadow to, with the suspense and false memories.'' Said Tails. He couldn't forgive Shadow, but he could understand the reasons. Amnesia is not a mental condition that should be taken for granted. Sonic was less sympathetic. ``Amnesia or not, Shad isn't completely off the hook. I saw that bastard slaughter hundreds of people! He isn't getting off so easy!'' he said. ``I?m not saying he is. But he thinks he's someone we both know he's not. We have to help him realize that.'' Argued Tails. Sonic still wasn't sure. He couldn't forgive genocide, regardless of motive. Nonetheless, he changed the subject and turned to Vector. ``In any case, I?m happy to help out, Vector!'' \n\n``It all started when GUN arrested me for a bunch of crimes that I didn't even commit. It turns out Eggman set me up. He found Shadow locked away on Prison Island and had him steal the Chaos Emeralds. I was at the wrong place at the wrong time.'' Sonic began, ``It turns out Shadow was created by Eggman's granddad, who manipulated Shadow's memories and used Mr. Edgelord to fire the Eclipse Cannon on the Earth and blow it up.'' Vector nodded. ``Espio spoke to Amy about this. He said it was revenge for GUN killing his granddaughter.'' Vector said. ``Sonic fought him a few times and won, but Eggman still unwittingly went through with Gerald's wishes. We didn't see Shadow again until he came to our side to stop the Ultimate Life Form prototype from crashing the colony into the planet.'' Added Tails, ``That was the last we saw of him, until Sonic, Knuckles, and I found him in the Lost Jungle with Team Dark. But he didn't seem to remember us.'' Vector took notes on all this. It was pretty similar to Amy?s story, but there seemed to be a bit of hostility in Sonic's interpretation. Those two must have had a fierce rivalry. \n\n``You mentioned Rouge. Do you think she might know about Shadow's condition?'' he asked. ``It's possible. We gotta find those two first.'' Sonic shrugged. ``I got Charmy watching Shad, so I wouldn't worry. Espio was headed to Area 99 to find out more. Those two are the best guys I know, so relax!'' Vector reassured. ``No offense, Vector, but having a suck up kid watching Shadow isn't exactly reassuring.'' Said Sonic. Tails was about to interject but recalled a bit of their conversation. ``Wait. If Shadow is collecting the Chaos Emeralds for Black Doom, then maybe we can find them before he can! That way, Black Doom can't use them for whatever he has planned, and Shadow will have no choice but to trust us.'' He suggested, ``Meanwhile, I can also try to analyze the Black Arms weapons and reverse-engineer it to make our own weapons!'' \n\n``Way to think ahead, Tails!'' said Sonic. Tails blushed a tiny bit, and checked his watch, which had an Emerald tracker. He opened the app and found readings of one near Eggman's Circus Park, along with three others nearby. ``Looks like I found him! He?s at Eggman's amusement park, chasing the next Emerald.'' He said. ``Nail Shadow and fuck with Egghead! Now that's a double win! I'm on it!'' Sonic said, running off towards Circus Park. Tails left for his workshop at once. Vector stayed there for a minute before going to attend his business. Everything was happening so quick, and things were getting more puzzling. He could only help he could solve this case and stop this invasion, before it was too late...\n\n[b]TO BE CONTINUED...[/b]\n\n",
  "writing_bbcode_parsed": "<span style='word-wrap: break-word;'><strong>The Miracle of Love<br /><br />Chapter 3: Take Back Westopolis<br /><br />DISCLAIMER: This fan fiction contains instances of profanity, extreme violence, nightmare-inducing imagery, and sexual content. Viewer discretion is advised. <br /><br />All characters and settings are property of SEGA and Sonic Team.</strong><br /><br />-----<br /><br /><em>Shadow was running through the corridors of a vaguely familiar facility. There was a crowd of soldiers running after him. He didn&#039;t know why they were chasing him or why he was even running, but something in him just said he had to. ``Stop that monster! Don&#039;t let it escape!&#039;&#039; he heard them yell. He ran and ran, desperate to outpace them. Shadow found a door and ran through it, into a large room. The floor was clear glass for the most part, allowing one to see the planet Earth outside, and a a cross of carbon fiber tiles and metal plating in the middle. He was in space. In the room by a control panel was a girl. Shadow recognized the girl instantly. The one from his visions. ``Maria!&#039;&#039;<br /><br />Maria was turned to the window, watching the stars. Even when Shadow called her name, she didn&#039;t turn to face him. ``Maria, thank Chaos I found you! I need to talk to you!&#039;&#039; Shadow said. Maria still didn&#039;t budge. ``Maria...?&#039;&#039; he said, trying to approach her. ``Why, Shadow? Why have you done this?&#039;&#039; Maria finally spoke, turning around, but not looking directly at him. ``What? What do you mean?&#039;&#039; Shadow asked. ``Are you really you, Shadow? Is this truly what you believe? Slaughtering people for no reason other than existing?&#039;&#039; Maria looked down at the floor, her side turned to him. ``How could I not? They killed you, Maria! How can I forgive them for taking your life away?!&#039;&#039; Shadow exclaimed. Maria still refused to look at him. ``Are you really Shadow? If you are... why have you forgotten our promise?&#039;&#039;<br /><br />Shadow looked at her confused. They made a promise? Of what and when? Just then, some soldiers broke down the door behind him. He looked at them in horror, stepping backwards until he bumped into something. It was solid glass; he noticed that he was entrapped in some sort of capsule. Shadow turned to Maria, womanning the controls and about to pull a lever. ``Maria, please! Why are you so angry?! What did I do to deserve this from you?&#039;&#039; he asked, pleading. Maria finally looked at him with a look of utter disgust and disappointment. It was as if he failed her and refused to even want anything to do with him. ``Sayonara... Shadow.&#039;&#039; She said bitterly and pulled the lever, sending the capsule down from the lab.<br /><br />``MARIIAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!&#039;&#039;</em><br /><br />-----<br /><br /><strong>NOVEMBER 15, 2015<br /><br />11:54 PM - NiGHTS INTO DREAMS HOTEL</strong><br /><br />``MARIIIAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!&#039;&#039;<br /><br />Shadow shot up in his bed, breathing heavily. He looked around and was relieved to find he was dreaming. He and Charmy stayed the night at a luxurious hotel near Central City. Charmy was in the other bed, sound asleep. Shadow believed he was probably dreaming of the rabbit girl he had a thing for. The black hedgehog got out of bed and walked on the balcony. His mind was racing with so many emotions: hurt, confusion, anger... love? That last thought got him thinking of Maria, as well as that pink hedgehog. Maria looked so sad and disappointed in his dream and Shadow didn&#039;t understand why. Moreover, why would she sympathize with the ones that took her life? And what was this promise he made to her?<br /><br />As the night began to end, he could only think of those two and doubts of what his true past was. Charmy&#039;s wishes to not do everything the aliens wanted was one thing, but a nightmare of Maria hating him was quite disturbing. His mind was rattling, trying to piece together what he knew. He had three Chaos Emeralds, only four left. He knew that was the only way he could complete the puzzle that was his missing memories. <em>``Once I have all the emeralds, then I&#039;ll have all the answers. Maybe then I can be at peace...&#039;&#039;</em> he thought, and then returned to sleep.<br /><br />-----<br /><br /><strong>NOVEMBER 16, 2015<br /><br />11:37 AM - GUN GLOBAL HQ - AREA 99</strong><br /><br />The most advanced security and heavily fortified strongholds in the world lied in Area 99, the main headquarters for GUN... and it was being breached without them knowing. Not by the Black Arms, mind you, but by a scrappy ninja detective. Espio&#039;s camouflage allowed him to sneak in undetected. With the mainframe still on the fritz, he thought the perfect opportunity to sneak in. GUN had to know something about Shadow. He had received intel from Charmy earlier that GUN raided the Space Colony ARK fifty years ago and captured Shadow. They could have some answers on who he is. Plus, Rouge works for GUN, so he might be able to find her and get some information. <br /><br />Espio crawled through a vent to reach the main computer room. Data retrieval and computers were something he wasn&#039;t overtly skilled with, but he would have to endure it and try to get results. Uncloaking, he accessed the computer with a fake user ID and entered a password. Because the system had been breached, it was not hard to find the password and enter it. ``Maria... why such a simple password? Or did Professor Gerald have a hand in the system?&#039;&#039; he wondered. Charmy brought him and Vector up to speed about what Black Doom claimed last night. None of the witty detectives believed a lot of what he said, but they knew they could not ignore any of his claims or take them so lightly. Espio punched some keys in and searched for anything relating to Shadow. After a good three minutes, he found something. <br /><br />``Project SHADOW... the Ultimate Life Form.&#039;&#039; Espio mused. He was seeing a lot of lucrative and disparaging things about Shadow here. But many of the files were heavily encrypted. There were some things that GUN was not going to let the whole world know about. However, before he could even consider decrypting the files, he could sense someone&#039;s presence behind him. He quickly turned around with a kunai in his hand to face his attacking: a turquoise fennec fox with a cute face, hot body, and bad attitude, holding a plasma gun. The two stood off, the kunai near the girl&#039;s neck and the gun in his face. ``Thought turning invisible could help you sneak past the security. You know, for a ninja, you&#039;re too fucking loud.&#039;&#039; She said. ``So you heard my motions. Impressive.&#039;&#039; Said Espio, then knocked the weapon out of her hands and put away his kunai. <br /><br />``May I have this dance?&#039;&#039; he asked mockingly, getting in a fighting stance. ``Oh you are gonna regret picking a fight with me!&#039;&#039; said the fennec, smirking in a similar pose. <br /><br />-----<br /><br /><strong>12:13 PM - DOWNTOWN WESTOPOLIS</strong><br /><br />Even though it was the afternoon, the skies were still so dark from the smoke and debris that you wouldn&#039;t think it was. The Black Arms were still occupying the city of Westopolis, or at least what was left of it. Commander Tower issued an order to all GUN units remaining in Westopolis to pull out. With attention being shifted towards Shadow and the remaining Black Arms forces, they couldn&#039;t risk losing more soldiers trying to retake a city that already seemed lost. All hope was lost. Or so it seemed....<br /><br />It was all up to Sonic and Tails to salvage this. The Fastest Thing Alive had to spend the night hiding in the rubble until Tails arrived. It was a good thing that his two-tailed companion had a first aid kit ready for any of the wounded. Tails was able to treat the gun wound on his leg and wrapped a bandage around it. After a good long rest, Sonic was feeling better but still wearing the bandages. It made him a huge target now, but it didn&#039;t matter to him. Not while the aliens still had control of the city, so they needed to move now and move fast. <br /><br />``I still can&#039;t believe Shadow would side with the Black Arms. Why would he do something like this?&#039;&#039; Tails asked. Even eighteen hours after the fact, he was still having a difficult time processing all this. Shadow gave his life for the Earth and now was betraying the planet for these alien terrorists. He couldn&#039;t understand it. ``We can worry about that bastard later, Tails! Right now, we gotta drive these aliens out and take this city back!&#039;&#039; Sonic shouted. His mind was on making Shadow pay, but he knew his priorities. Taking back Westopolis came first above all else. ``GUN has pulled back the last of its troops. Commander Tower probably wants to conserve his army so they don&#039;t get outnumbered for whatever the Black Arms have planned.&#039;&#039; Tails said. ``Well fuck him! We never needed GUN before to save the planet and we don&#039;t need `em now! Let&#039;s go!&#039;&#039; shouted Sonic as the two dashed off into the warzone. <br /><br />The two blasted through the deserted streets of the dead city. Yesterday, it was bustling with people, excited to see a once in a lifetime event over the weekend. Now the place was empty, save for the Black Arms occupying it. Several Black Warriors were on patrol, awaiting orders to withdraw. With this city a heap of rubble and the Earthlings dead or fleeing, it would only be a matter of time before Black Doom ordered his soldiers to withdraw. Just then, one of them saw a blue and yellow light trail headed towards them. Before they had a chance to react, the soldiers were smacked by a large blue ball that punctured them over and over. Sonic&#039;s homing attack was second to none against alien invaders. A couple Black Wings flew down, but Tails jumped up, smacking them with his tails so hard that their wings cut off and they splatted onto the concrete. <br /><br />Some more Black Arms rushed over, hearing the commotion, weapons drawn. Tails had his own little toy on him. Pulling out of his own pocket dimension was a red arm cannon, which Tails pointed at the aliens and smirked. ``Say hello to my little friend!&#039;&#039; he shouted and launched yellow energy ball attacks that vaporized the Black Warriors, ``Heh. I always wanted to say that.&#039;&#039; Several Black Hawks then swooped down to attack him, but Tails shot more plasma balls at the aliens, destroying them. As Sonic dashed forward at more incoming Black Arms, Tails looked over their weapons. At first glance, they looked amazing. He had never seen guns like these before except in science fiction. One weapon in particular that aroused his interest was one that resembled a vacuum. He tried using it and it pulled in the bodies of the aliens, encasing them and, on occasion, skewering the remains. This was magnificent. He had to get a closer look at the Black Arms tech later. <br /><br />``Yo, Tails! Stop daydreaming about these damn guns and keep up!&#039;&#039; shouted Sonic. Tails shook his head and put away the weapons for later, flying after Sonic. The Black Arms quickly became aware of the duo&#039;s presence in the city and mobilized to fight them off. This city was not as defenseless or finished as they thought. The laser barrage, which seized when the human death toll skyrocketed, was back on, aiming down onto Sonic and Tails. The duo would not be deterred, pressing forward while sidestepping the laser paths. Sonic spindashed right at the aliens, taking them down, while Tails used his cannon to shred them to pieces. One Black Warrior got behind Tails and tried to slash at him, but Sonic sped up to him and punched a hole right through its chest. ``Hole in one. Who&#039;s next?&#039;&#039; taunted the Blue Blur. His answer came sooner in the form of a Black Oak throwing a transit bus at the two. Tails flew up, holding Sonic and barely dodged it. Tails then threw his best friend, who used his Light Speed Attack to chip away at the alien&#039;s vitals and limbs until only its lifeless chest remained. ``Can&#039;t slow down now, let&#039;s take back this city!&#039;&#039;<br /><br />-----<br /><br /><strong>1:07 PM - RADICAL HIGHWAY</strong><br /><br />Shadow and Charmy were back on the road after a good night&#039;s rest. After a breakfast and surprisingly quiet lunch, the two were on the highway. Shadow&#039;s objective was to find all seven Chaos Emeralds. He had three, he needed to find the other four. Unfortunately, trying to find the Chaos Emeralds was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. He usually had Rouge to help him out, but not this time. She worked for GUN and he didn&#039;t know if he could trust her at this point in time. All he could do right now was keep on driving and hope that there was some trail to follow. <br /><br />``OH MY GOD, SHADOW LOOK!&#039;&#039; Charmy yelled, pointing to a sign. The sign read: <em>``CIRCUS PARK - THE GREATEST AMUSEMENT PARK ON EARTH! IN ONE MILE&#039;&#039;</em>. Shadow rolled his eyes. It didn&#039;t seem too important. At least not on first glance. But when he looked again, he saw at the bottom a very familiar insignia. It was of a circular grinning person with a nasty moustache. Shadow and Charmy recognized that anywhere. It was the symbol of the Eggman Empire. ``The doctor made his own amusement park. Poor bastard must be getting desperate for attention.&#039;&#039; Shadow said. ``Ooh! I never been to an amusement park before! Can we go, Shad? Can we? Can we? Can we? Pleeeaaase?&#039;&#039; begged Charmy. Shadow ignored the bee as he shook him. ``Maybe you didn&#039;t see the sign, but that amusement park belongs to Doctor Eggman. Your enemy, remember? I doubt he would just build his own Six Flags unless he had an ulterior motive.&#039;&#039; He said, ``Besides, I don&#039;t have time for detours. We need to be focused if we&#039;re gonna find the remaining Emeralds.&#039;&#039;<br /><br />``Aww, c&#039;mon! Lighten up will ya, Shadow? You don&#039;t gotta do everything those aliens tell ya. They may not be truthful about your memory either and are probably just getting you to do their work for `em!&#039;&#039; said Charmy. ``Be that as it may, they&#039;re the only ones that know about my past. At least the only ones not trying to kill me.&#039;&#039; Shadow replied. ``When&#039;s the last time you ever had any fun? Plus, I owe Eggman for not paying us, so maybe we&#039;ll get to snoop around, see what he may be hiding. Maybe one of the emeralds...&#039;&#039; Charmy insisted, ``Please, Shadow? Just one stop and I promise not to ask for anything else the rest of the trip!&#039;&#039;<br /><br />Shadow was nearly coming up on the exit. He thought that he could just stay focused on the emeralds and get his memories back without much in the way of fuss, but Charmy obviously had other ideas. The bee and his detective agency were anonymously hired by Eggman to be his grunts, and never got paid like they were promised. He wanted to get back at the good doctor. But his pleas for fun seemed a bit more personal, like there was something more he wasn&#039;t telling the hedgehog. He thought maybe he was going soft in feeling sorry for the kid. Sighing, he took the exit and quickly drove on their way to Circus Park. ``Fuck it, why not? Guess we got some hours to kill before we find that fourth emerald...&#039;&#039; he said. Charmy gasped and gripped Shadow in excitement. ``AWESOME!! You will <em>not</em> regret this, Shadow! I promise!&#039;&#039; he yelled. ``But no detours after this. We go through the park and then we go back to finding the emeralds. Got it?&#039;&#039; Shadow clarified. Charmy nodded excitedly. Shadow thought this was going to be a long day...<br /><br />-----<br /><br /><strong>3:49 PM - DOWNTOWN WESTOPOLIS</strong><br /><br />Sonic and Tails had cleared out a good chunk of the Black Arms in Westopolis. They ran through the rubble and remains of the scorched city, attacking and destroying any and all ugly motherfuckers within the city limits. Even though not every Black Arms soldier was to be seen, the alien invaders still had about ten thousand units in the city. Normal men would have died or run away from immeasurable odds such as these. Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles ``Tails&#039;&#039; Prower were not normal men. They were just two guys that loved adventure, and willing to take on all comers. Sonic&#039;s Light Speed Attacks burned through the Black Arms forces, and Tails had many weapons, gadgets, and useful tools that put him one step ahead of the enemy. About eighty-nine percent of the alien forces were dead by the time it was hitting 4 o&#039;clock. ``I bet the alien overlord must be throwing his TV out the window seeing these two sexy beasts fuck his shit up.&#039;&#039; Sonic boasted. ``Especially since one sexy beast technically has a bad leg.&#039;&#039; Tails added. Sonic smirked and ruffled Tails&#039; ``hair&#039;&#039; in response. <br /><br />But their celebrations were being cut short by a strange arrival. A black alien gunship resembling a large stingray. It opened its back bay, allowing for the remaining Black Warriors and Black Oaks to board it before the ship took off, heading East towards the highway. ``Looks like the Black Arms are retreating, Sonic! We&#039;ve driven them off! This city will be safe now.&#039;&#039; Tails said. But Sonic wasn&#039;t convinced. ``They&#039;re gonna be back, buddy. That ship looks like it&#039;s carrying a lot of firepower. Let&#039;s track it down and finish them off!&#039;&#039; he said. Tails knew exactly where Sonic was coming from and did not protest. The two ran off, chasing the air tank to the Lethal Highway. The Black Arms were not going to get away. <br /><br />Sonic and Tails rushed across the crazy highway and found it mostly intact, but they couldn&#039;t help but notice half of it covered in red slime, and poisonous red fruits scattered all over the place. This was becoming more than just acts of terrorism; they were out to conquer and destroy the entire planet. While Sonic remained cool and calm on the outside, he was internally livid. These monsters were going one step too far in leaving their mark on the planet. All the more reason for them to chase down and destroy that airship. They eventually caught up to it after about three minutes of running across loop-the-loops. The ship was dropping pink fruits that acted as motion sensor bombs to destroy the roads. The invaders had thought of everything. Well just about everything. ``Time to say poppa, bitch!&#039;&#039; shouted Sonic, jumping over a bomb and homing attacking the ship. However his attacks never hit the ship. They topped at a blue force shield covering the vessel. ``Man, these Black Arms sure spared no expense!&#039;&#039; he said. <br /><br />Then the ship dropped a bomb which destroyed one road completely. There were two paths that cars could have gone in this situation, but the Black Arms just thrashed the quicker path. They may be foreign, but they were not stupid in the least. Sonic and Tails were forced to take the longer path to meet back up with the airship. ``The Black Arms are getting desperate. We&#039;re a huge monkey wrench in their plans, and they know it!&#039;&#039; Tails said in a more lackadaisical manner of speaking. ``They shoulda checked the wiki before messing with my planet then!&#039;&#039; said Sonic, in his usual cocky way, ``Whatever, we&#039;ll just have to go even faster!&#039;&#039; In a huge burst of speed, Sonic ran through the crippled highway, Tails taking after him. Eventually they caught up with the tank again. This time, they needed to be careful in how they approached it. That shield needed to come down first. ``I&#039;d say this calls for some aerial gangrape!&#039;&#039; said Tails, pressing a few buttons on his own smartwatch.<br /><br />Tails flew up into the sky and smirked at the sight of his ride, the Tornado 2, coming from autopilot. Tails boarded his plane and transformed it into its X-shaped battle mode. His plan would be simple in theory: shoot the ship until the shields were destroyed. While most of the aerial enemies were already destroyed, he didn&#039;t know how much firepower this tank was packing or if it could fire weapons with the shields up. However, he knew he couldn&#039;t just stop to think it over. Not with millions of lives at stake if they failed. Tails pushed the accelerator and sped right after the tank. He started firing laser bullets at the ship, which seemed to do a good amount of damage to the shields. He was so focused on the ship he barely even noticed the Black Hawks tailing him. Sonic did, and leapt up, homing attacking all of them and making them fall. Landing on the wings of the Tornado 2, he was ready to take this down. Tails saw the time was right and unleashed a few missiles at it. Those seemed to do the trick and destroyed the shield. <br /><br />``Let `em have it, Sonic!&#039;&#039; shouted Tails. The Fastest Thing Alive was more than willing to oblige, charging up and unleashing one powerful Light Speed Attack, cutting through and destroying the Black Arms airship. The last of the Black Arms in Westopolis were destroyed; the city had been liberated. ``That&#039;s Earth one, Black Arms zero!&#039;&#039; Sonic boasted, rubbing his finger underneath his nose. Tails kept flying over the city. He had a feeling they still weren&#039;t done yet. Shadow still had at least two Chaos Emeralds and was the front man in this invasion. They needed to find him if they were going to get any answers. ``Sonic, I can&#039;t seem to find Shadow anywhere!&#039;&#039; he shouted. ``Well let&#039;s get back to the city and find that fucker! I dunno what those monsters want with the Chaos Emeralds, but it can&#039;t be good!&#039;&#039; said Sonic. He jumped off the freeway and back to Westopolis. Now it was time to find Shadow...<br /><br />-----<br /><br /><strong>4:33 PM - CIRCUS PARK</strong><br /><br />Shadow had only intended to spend about an hour at Dr. Eggman&#039;s sham of an amusement park. He ended up spending three and a half. But three and a half hours that were well spent. While he was trying to find the Chaos Emerald and whatever scheme the doctor was cooking, Shadow had a bit of a blast with Charmy. He won the kid prizes by dominating the shooting gallery boards, grinding the tightropes like nobody&#039;s business, riding the most exhilarating of coasters....and they might have ``accidentally&#039;&#039; busted up some of Eggman&#039;s machines as well. Of course, Charmy was having fun too. He rarely got to have much in the way of days off while working as a member of the Chaotix, but winning rings, prizes, and eating honey-flavored ice cream had been so much fun for the little guy. He had almost forgotten what it was like to be a kid. The two sat outside a circus tent, eating ice cream cones while looking at the almost night sky. Shadow probably hadn&#039;t had such a great time before, and though he wouldn&#039;t admit it, he had the time of his life. <br /><br />``Man, today was awesome Shad! This was the best time I ever had!&#039;&#039; said Charmy, eating his ice cream and holding a NiGHTS and Reala plush. ``Hmph. Well I&#039;m glad you enjoyed yourself, kid. But didn&#039;t look like there was a whole lot for us to get tonight.&#039;&#039; Said Shadow. ``Admit it, Shadow! You had fun yourself!&#039;&#039; insisted Charmy, ``It&#039;s great to spend time with good buds, and family...&#039;&#039; Shadow said nothing. He didn&#039;t understand at all what the annoying bee was going on about. They were hardly friends, Charmy was more his backup if anything. ``I&#039;m kinda jealous, Shadow... that Maria girl sounded super nice. Woulda loved to have her as my sister...&#039;&#039; said Charmy. Now it sounded a bit more personal. ``To tell ya the truth, I&#039;m jealous... you had a real family and... I didn&#039;t.&#039;&#039;<br /><br />``You&#039;re an orphan.&#039;&#039; Shadow realized. Charmy just silently nodded. ``My mom died giving birth to me, and I don&#039;t even know who my dad was. No siblings, no cousins... nothing.&#039;&#039; He confessed. ``The only real family I knew was Vector and Espio... but they don&#039;t treat me like one. They think I&#039;m less of a family member and more a pest. Someone that works for them. Shadow, I... always thought you were cool. Like a bro I never had. I hoped to be like the Tails to your Sonic. That&#039;s kinda why I want to help you get your memory back.&#039;&#039; Shadow was at a near loss of words. He always did think of Charmy as an obnoxious brat, but he was starting to see more than that. Like some sort of kid that needed someone to look up to. He had only spent a couple days with him, but he felt more fulfilled spending time with him than he did with anyone before. He felt happy... and it felt good. ``Well... thanks Charmy. You are quite the good friend, better than I could have hoped.&#039;&#039; He smiled. Charmy almost looked like he was going to cry.<br /><br />``There he is, Amy!&#039;&#039; shouted a voice. The boys looked up ahead and saw two females running their way. It was Amy and Cream. Charmy felt like he was going to melt seeing his crush show up. As for Shadow, his sole attention was focused on the sexy pink hedgehog running his way. He couldn&#039;t understand why he was thinking of her so much. What was so important about this girl, other than how hot she looked? His mind was retracing back to when he saw her crying last week. A first instinct would be to ask if she was okay, but Shadow didn&#039;t want to make it awkward for her. In addition, he didn&#039;t care as much as he should have, so what purpose did it serve to ask? Amy, meanwhile, nervously thought of how to proceed. If Espio was right, then he wouldn&#039;t remember her. But she thought back to his advice. She couldn&#039;t let fear stop her. Shadow needed her to remind him. Slowly and carefully, she stepped towards the Ultimate Life Form, now about two feet away from each other. <br /><br />``You&#039;re... that girl.&#039;&#039; Shadow said. Amy frowned at that introduction. ``You really don&#039;t remember me, do you?&#039;&#039; she asked. ``I wish I could. I feel like you&#039;re important to me, but all I remember of you is... what happened last week.&#039;&#039; Said Shadow. ``Th-that isn&#039;t important. I just... had a bad day.... Your memory is more important than my romantic troubles.&#039;&#039; Amy replied. Shadow raised his eyebrow. Charmy was already beginning to sense the sexual tension grow, he just wanted to yell `JUST KISS ALREADY!&#039;, but he feared Shadow would deck him right in the crown. Charmy instead flew up to Cream and showed her his NiGHTS doll. ``Uhh, hey Cream... Shadow won this for me, but uhh... you can have it.&#039;&#039; He said, with a faint bit of nervousness. Cream blushed at the gesture. He had never given her something before, so this was a nice change. But she was always a fan of NiGHTS, so took the doll and hugged the bee. ``Thank you so much Charmy! It&#039;s amazing!&#039;&#039; she said. Charmy blushed but smiled smoothly, looking at Shadow&#039;s interactions with Amy. <br /><br />``Shadow, try to remember. You were a hero once! You gave everything to save the Earth, and we thought you were dead! Don&#039;t you remember the promises you made?&#039;&#039; Amy asked. Shadow looked down, almost ashamed. He felt a sharp pain in his chest, right where his heart was. It almost felt like heartache. This was strange to him. To his limited memory, he never felt this before. Looking at her sad eyes pained him. Then he held his head, hearing some faint voices. They were this girl&#039;s. <em>``Shadow, please! We need you! Please help them!&#039;&#039;</em> the voice called. But he couldn&#039;t recall the visions or anything beyond it. Yet he wanted to, for some strange reason. ``I... I don&#039;t...&#039;&#039;<br /><br />``FREEZE, SHADOW!&#039;&#039;. His thoughts were brought to a complete halt at the voice of scum. The group turned and found a squad of GUN troops and Beetle droids lining up, drawing their weapons at Shadow. Cream hid behind Amy, who looked confused by all this. Sure, she knew that Shadow was public enemy number one for siding with the Black Arms, but sending a squad like this seemed excessive. ``Step away from the civilians and back against the tent!&#039;&#039; shouted the squad leader. ``You forgot to say please.&#039;&#039; Shadow grinned. ``Yeah, back off!&#039;&#039; shouted Charmy. One Droid shot some warning shots at the bee, nearly hitting his wings. Charmy was startled by this, but the girls even moreso. GUN seemed determined to not only kill Shadow, but anyone that is with him. ``We are not asking again. Back away from the girls, or we start shooting!&#039;&#039; shouted the soldier.<br /><br />Shadow glared at the GUN troops. He had heard of Black Doom?s warnings about the humans, but the fact they&#039;re willing to endanger kids lives just to kill him is crossing a new low. No doubt they would try to shoot the girls. He glanced at Amy who looked angry. She couldn&#039;t believe the lengths GUN was willing to go to just to arrest Shadow. But then something hit her: they said they would start shooting after he went against the tent. They were going to kill him! Horror hit her face. GUN were no saints, but to do this was terrifying. ``Back off. I don&#039;t need your blood on my hands.&#039;&#039; Shadow said quietly. Amy was taken aback. Was he sacrificing himself for her? Her heart was starting to beat like crazy. But she didn&#039;t budge. ``Shadow, they.... They&#039;re going to kill you! I can&#039;t let them do that!&#039;&#039; she said in defiance. ``They couldn&#039;t kill someone like me, but they could kill you. I don&#039;t need that.&#039;&#039; Shadow said. It felt strange for him to say that. He had to have been going soft now. ``Amy, please. Mr. Shadow doesn&#039;t want to see you hurt. Please don&#039;t get killed for him.&#039;&#039; Cream begged. ``Chao Chao!&#039;&#039; Cheese said.<br /><br />The GUN troops cocked their semi-auto rifles ready to strike. If Amy stayed, she could get hurt, but worse would be Cream. She was like a little sister to her. If anything happened to her, it would be on her. She didn&#039;t want to risk that. Before she could respond, however, Amy heard some inhumane roars and shrieks. The Black Arms had appeared from the skies and the tent behind them, surrounding the girls and soldiers. The droids shot at the monsters, killing a couple but were easily dispatched. The human soldiers shot at the aliens, completely forgetting Shadow. The Ultimate Life Form stayed still and did not react. Amy, however, drew her Piko Piko Hammer and began swinging it at the aliens, splattering the Black Wings and severely wounding the Black Warriors. She squicked a bit at the gore she made, but was not allowed to puke. A Warrior with a new laser gun tried to snipe Amy, which Shadow caught sight of. Quickly, he took a random GUN soldier and threw him into the path of the projectile. The laser bullet destroyed him in an explosion of blood and guts, shielding Amy. <br /><br />``He poured his guts out for that.&#039;&#039; Shadow commented. However, when the hedgehogs were distracted, Cream screamed at the sight of a Black Arms soldier approaching her and ran away. Charmy kicked the alien?s head off and flew after her. ``Cream, wait!&#039;&#039; he shouted, only to be blocked by a Black Hawk. ``Get the fuck out of my way!&#039;&#039; he shouted, stinging it&#039;s head. Amy caught sight of this and decapitated another alien before running after her. Shadow didn&#039;t understand why, but he felt the instinct to chase the girl. Amy, was her name? She claimed he was a hero. Perhaps she knew about him. But before he or Charmy could give chase, they were stopped by the arrival of Doom&#039;s Eye. ``Shadow. It would seem that some vermin have eliminated a portion of our forces. Return to the ruins of Westopolis and exterminate them!&#039;&#039; he ordered. Shadow knew exactly what Doom was talking about and laughed at the Black Arms leader. ``Sonic? You and your chumps were banged by a faker with a bad leg and his two-tailed beta cuck? Dear Chaos, and I thought the doctor was pathetic!&#039;&#039; he snarked. <br /><br />``Our primary airship was destroyed and all remaining troops at the city were annihilated. This rodent must be eliminated! Return immediately - that is an order!&#039;&#039; commanded Doom&#039;s Eye. ``If you need Shad to fight your battles for you, then ya shouldn&#039;t have even come here! Now I got a cute bunny to rescue, if ya don&#039;t mind!&#039;&#039; said Charmy. Doom for one was relieved to not have to see the pest again. ``I was not speaking to you, but feel free to be gone from my sight.&#039;&#039; He said, matter-of-factly. Shadow did not hesitate in walking past Doom. ``What he said. Besides, I?m on lunch break, so piss off!&#039;&#039; he said. Doom&#039;s Eye flew right in the face of the black hedgehog. ``Do not take one step further Shadow! Disobey me, and you will never find the truth of your past!&#039;&#039; he shouted, threateningly. Shadow thought for a few seconds, but only that. He realized he may not need Black Doom for his past, if Amy knew about him or why he disappeared. He flipped off the alien, as did Charmy, who copied him. ``I got other ways, so fuck off.&#039;&#039; And with that, the boys raced after the girls. Doom was not happy with this development. ``You defied my orders, Shadow. Perhaps there is something that is causing your insubordination... I will find it, then, and destroy it!&#039;&#039; he mused and then flew off. <br /><br />-----<br /><br /><strong>5:08 PM - DOWNTOWN WESTOPOLIS</strong><br /><br />Sonic and Tails had been running around Westopolis&#039;s ruins for well over an hour by this point, looking for even the smallest clues to Shadow&#039;s whereabouts. Their search had been futile up to this point, no traces anywhere. Tails had circled the entire uptown and downtown sections of Westopolis and couldn&#039;t find any heat trail or any sign of where Shadow had gone. ``Sorry, Sonic. I looked all over the city and there&#039;s no trace of where Shadow went.&#039;&#039; Tails reported, landing his plane. Sonic pounded his fist with his palm in frustration. Shadow had already fled the scene, but they didn&#039;t know where to look. ``That black edgy bastard must&#039;ve used Chaos Control to tail it! Where the hell could he have gone to?!&#039;&#039; he yelled in frustration. ``A question that shall be left unanswered, vermin...&#039;&#039; said a voice behind them. <br /><br />The duo looked behind them and saw Doom&#039;s Eye floating down to them. They had no idea what to make of the abomination before them. However, Sonic recognized it immediately as the creature that was following and ordering Shadow around. He had to think it was the leader of the operation. ``I must admit, you Earthlings are more resilient than I anticipated. Outnumbered by a far more superior race, with no assistance from those pathetic humans, and here you stand, over my most powerful soldiers. Yet you still believe you have a chance against me... how foolish.&#039;&#039; Said Black Doom. ``Sorry to disappoint you, Patrick, but we don&#039;t die so easily! A banged up leg is far from the worst thing that&#039;s happened to me.&#039;&#039; Said Sonic, running in place to show off to the alien, ``Now, how about you be a good starfish squid, or whatever the hell you are, and fork over those Chaos Emeralds!&#039;&#039; <br /><br />Doom&#039;s Eye laughed floating over the insolence that was before him. ``I&#039;m afraid I cannot do that. The emeralds are in the possession of my greatest warrior, Shadow, and he is... unavailable at present.&#039;&#039; He said. ``Well how convenient? We try knocking and the fucker ain&#039;t even home! Guess we&#039;re gonna have to bang you and your boys up until you cough them up!&#039;&#039; Sonic said, determination and confidence in his eyes. ``We&#039;ve faced tougher odds before: evil scientists, mechanized imposters, evil genies, a long dead vengeful researcher, a trio of hooligans, and even a freaking god... and we beat them all!&#039;&#039; Tails shouted, ``This will be no different. We&#039;ll stop you and your conquest of this planet!&#039;&#039; Doom&#039;s Eye chuckled yet again. He found their bravado all more amusing. ``You are very confident, mortals. But you still do not understand your place... we are on the highest point of the galactic food chain, and it is time to eat!&#039;&#039; he announced, ``Come forth, Black Bull!&#039;&#039;<br /><br />At that call, Sonic and Tails could feel the ground shaking and a back and red portal appear from beneath their feet. They quickly leapt backwards to get out of the way so they will not sink down. From the bottom came a large ugly red dragon-maggot, with one green, sharp spiky wings, a purple underbelly, and small hands covering its mouth. It looked mean and grotesque. ``Woo! Check you out, big guy!&#039;&#039; said Sonic, smirking. Tails was shocked and a bit scared, but barely showed it. ``Now behold... the wrath of the Black Arms! Black Bull, burn this entire city and these insolent fools to ash!&#039;&#039; commanded Doom. Black Bull roared out, spreading its arms as Sonic and Tails got in fighting position. ``Alright then, pal. Let&#039;s have some fun!&#039;&#039; said Sonic, about to run forward. The monster roared and fired a massive fire blast at Sonic. The blue devil sped to avoid it then jumped up and tried a homing attack. To his surprise, though, his ball form just bounced off the Black Arms&#039; blubbery body, not even scratching it. <br /><br />``It just bounced off his body! That&#039;s some skin...&#039;&#039; noted Sonic. Nonetheless, he tried attacking again and again, but the same result happened. Only this time, Blakc Bull used one of its wings to swat Sonic away and into a few buildings. The monster unleashed a fury of red fire on the ground for maximum carnage, intent on burying the hedgehog alive. Tails quickly flew over and started up the Tornado 2 to take to the skies and counter it. Black Bull flew over to where Sonic was and prepared a fireball attack, when suddenly, its body was hit by a barrage of laser bullets. The Tornado 2 laid down cover fire for Sonic while he came to. But Black Bull had another surprise up its wretched skin. It opened its mouth releasing green goo puddles, which morphed into Black Wings to attack the Tornado. Tails performed an aileron roll to evade them, unleashing more fire at Black Bull, trying to figure out its weak spot. <br /><br />``Damn! Where the hell is this thing&#039;s weak point?!&#039;&#039; Tails said, getting frustrated. Black Bull fired off more fire attacks from its mouth at the plane, Tails barely dodging the attacks which hit the Black Wings. Just when it was about to attack again, a breath of fire countered its own attack and dazed it for a second. Tails turned to find a familiar loud croc helping out. ``Man, you are one ugly motherfucker!&#039;&#039; said Vector. Sonic couldn&#039;t have been happier to see Vector right now. ``Vector... you&#039;re a sight for sore eyes, huh?&#039;&#039; he said, getting back up. ``I got a score to settle with these freaks! We better put our heads together if we&#039;re gonna make it out of here alive!&#039;&#039; said Vector. Sonic nodded, but the question was what could be done? This monster was absorbing his attacks like they don&#039;t matter to it. But there had to be some kind of weak point somewhere. ``We may have a cyclops on our hands!&#039;&#039; said Vector.<br /><br />Tails was still locked in a dog fight with the Back Arms fliers and could not concentrate on the real fight. Every time he killed some Black Wings, Black Bull would send more out to him. ``These things don&#039;t let up! Sonic, hurry and find this thing&#039;s weak spot!&#039;&#039; he shouted. ``Think I already got it, Tails. Vector, gimme a lift!&#039;&#039; said Sonic. Vector nodded, as Sonic sped up, lifting Sonic up with one arm, and throwing him into the air. Once Sonic was in the air, he hit a homing attack right into the beast&#039;s eye. It screamed in agony. ``It&#039;s working! Now to keep the heat on!&#039;&#039; said Sonic. He kept up his homing attacks to the eye, making it scream in absolute pain over and over as Sonic blinded it. All it could do was flail around, shooting fire attacks in random directions. Black Bull threw itself into several buildings in a fit of rage. Vector decided to join in, jumping up and punching its eye several times. ``This is for wrecking my office, you negro alien bastards!!&#039;&#039; he yelled as the beast screamed more painfully. Tails decided to finally seal the deal, launching missiles from the Tornado 2 into its mouth. ``Bon Appetit, bitch!&#039;&#039; he yelled. A few seconds later, Black Bull roared out one more time before it completely exploding, all of its flesh and guts spilling and raining out all over the city. It was times like these Sonic wished he had an umbrella on him. ``Yeesh. Good think Amy isn&#039;t here for all this.&#039;&#039; He said. Saying that got him wondering about Amy. It had been almost a week since their little chat, and he was wondering how well she was taking it.<br /><br />Doom&#039;s Eye was not pleased at all about what had just happened. First Shadow disobeys his commands, and now one of his most powerful monsters was killed. The promised time was in two days, and this could not have happened at a more inappropriate time. ``You Earthlings will pay dearly for this! Be forewarned: this is not the end! I, Black Doom, and my Black Arms shall carve out your hearts and feed it to my offspring! Next time we meet, vermin, you shall not see the light of day!&#039;&#039; declared Doom&#039;s Eye and promptly left. ``Yeah, well, go suck a xenomorph&#039;s dick, asshole!&#039;&#039; said Sonic, flipping off the alien. He then turned to Vector and Tails, the latter of whom landed his plane to meet up. ``Thanks for the assist, Vector! Bit messy, but I imagine that&#039;s your personal life.&#039;&#039; Vector crossed his arms in confidence. ``I do what I can. Actually, I wanted to see you guys for something urgent. Me and my boys are doing a case on Shadow, and we could use your help!&#039;&#039; said Vector. Sonic&#039;s smile quickly faded the minute he mentioned Shadow. <br /><br />``Why don&#039;t you ask him? He&#039;ll probably help write the whole book about how to betray the planet!&#039;&#039; he said, bitterly. ``Afraid that&#039;s off the table. The guy&#039;s got amnesia. He can&#039;t remember a damn thing!&#039;&#039; said Vector. Tails was surprised to hear this. He had speculated that Shadow may have forgotten them, but he didn&#039;t believe it was this bad. Sonic didn&#039;t even look shocked in the slightest. ``Well no shit, Sherlock Holmes. Is the grass still green too?&#039;&#039; said Sonic sarcastically. Vector retained his serious demeanor, but Tails looked at his best friend with shock. How did Sonic figure it out before them? ``Wait... you knew about this? For how long?!&#039;&#039; Tails asked. ``Since we saw him, Rouge, and Omega in the Lost Jungle. I figured something was off about his behavior, and how he didn&#039;t remember us, so I kinda suspected he forgot something.&#039;&#039; Said Sonic. ``And you didn&#039;t bother telling any of us, why exactly?!&#039;&#039; Tails exclaimed. He was flabbergasted that Sonic wouldn&#039;t come clean or try to approach Shadow. ``You know Shadz, he isn&#039;t a people person. I figured it would be better if he figured it out on his own, and let his memory come back to him naturally.&#039;&#039; Said Sonic, in a sympathetic tone. ``I could have helped out in therapy, maybe give Shadow some help in remembering thigs about him! You intentionally kept us and him in the dark, and now those aliens might be exploiting - &#039;&#039; Tails ranted, but stopped himself mid-sentence. He realized the Black Arms endgame for Shadow. <br /><br />``Those Black Arms claim they know Shadow, said that he promised to give them the seven Chaos Emeralds.&#039;&#039; Vector explained. ``That explains why Shadow was so quick to jump up on joining them. I can&#039;t imagine the psychological torture Black Doom must be subjecting Shadow to, with the suspense and false memories.&#039;&#039; Said Tails. He couldn&#039;t forgive Shadow, but he could understand the reasons. Amnesia is not a mental condition that should be taken for granted. Sonic was less sympathetic. ``Amnesia or not, Shad isn&#039;t completely off the hook. I saw that bastard slaughter hundreds of people! He isn&#039;t getting off so easy!&#039;&#039; he said. ``I?m not saying he is. But he thinks he&#039;s someone we both know he&#039;s not. We have to help him realize that.&#039;&#039; Argued Tails. Sonic still wasn&#039;t sure. He couldn&#039;t forgive genocide, regardless of motive. Nonetheless, he changed the subject and turned to Vector. ``In any case, I?m happy to help out, Vector!&#039;&#039; <br /><br />``It all started when GUN arrested me for a bunch of crimes that I didn&#039;t even commit. It turns out Eggman set me up. He found Shadow locked away on Prison Island and had him steal the Chaos Emeralds. I was at the wrong place at the wrong time.&#039;&#039; Sonic began, ``It turns out Shadow was created by Eggman&#039;s granddad, who manipulated Shadow&#039;s memories and used Mr. Edgelord to fire the Eclipse Cannon on the Earth and blow it up.&#039;&#039; Vector nodded. ``Espio spoke to Amy about this. He said it was revenge for GUN killing his granddaughter.&#039;&#039; Vector said. ``Sonic fought him a few times and won, but Eggman still unwittingly went through with Gerald&#039;s wishes. We didn&#039;t see Shadow again until he came to our side to stop the Ultimate Life Form prototype from crashing the colony into the planet.&#039;&#039; Added Tails, ``That was the last we saw of him, until Sonic, Knuckles, and I found him in the Lost Jungle with Team Dark. But he didn&#039;t seem to remember us.&#039;&#039; Vector took notes on all this. It was pretty similar to Amy?s story, but there seemed to be a bit of hostility in Sonic&#039;s interpretation. Those two must have had a fierce rivalry. <br /><br />``You mentioned Rouge. Do you think she might know about Shadow&#039;s condition?&#039;&#039; he asked. ``It&#039;s possible. We gotta find those two first.&#039;&#039; Sonic shrugged. ``I got Charmy watching Shad, so I wouldn&#039;t worry. Espio was headed to Area 99 to find out more. Those two are the best guys I know, so relax!&#039;&#039; Vector reassured. ``No offense, Vector, but having a suck up kid watching Shadow isn&#039;t exactly reassuring.&#039;&#039; Said Sonic. Tails was about to interject but recalled a bit of their conversation. ``Wait. If Shadow is collecting the Chaos Emeralds for Black Doom, then maybe we can find them before he can! That way, Black Doom can&#039;t use them for whatever he has planned, and Shadow will have no choice but to trust us.&#039;&#039; He suggested, ``Meanwhile, I can also try to analyze the Black Arms weapons and reverse-engineer it to make our own weapons!&#039;&#039; <br /><br />``Way to think ahead, Tails!&#039;&#039; said Sonic. Tails blushed a tiny bit, and checked his watch, which had an Emerald tracker. He opened the app and found readings of one near Eggman&#039;s Circus Park, along with three others nearby. ``Looks like I found him! He?s at Eggman&#039;s amusement park, chasing the next Emerald.&#039;&#039; He said. ``Nail Shadow and fuck with Egghead! Now that&#039;s a double win! I&#039;m on it!&#039;&#039; Sonic said, running off towards Circus Park. Tails left for his workshop at once. Vector stayed there for a minute before going to attend his business. Everything was happening so quick, and things were getting more puzzling. He could only help he could solve this case and stop this invasion, before it was too late...<br /><br /><strong>TO BE CONTINUED...</strong><br /><br /></span>",
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