---

Shadow and Maria were running down the hall. A gunshot rang out and Maria gasped as if hit. She slowed herself down as if feeling a great deal of pain. She looked at Shadow and saw him looking at her from the corner of an eye.

"Are you-"

"We'll worry about that later Shadow, Grandfather told me to get you out of here."

"But Maria..."

Now in the room with escape pods, Maria couldn't help but regret what she was about to do, she thought about the still small hedgehog hidden somewhere in the ARK, remembering that he was going to make Shadow stronger. Maria contemplated how she and the project would get to the planet as she set up the launch of Shadow's escape pod. 'I'm sorry Shadow...'

Shadow gasped as one of the pods came down with him inside. "Maria, what are you doing? You have to get out of here too!"

"I'm sorry Shadow," she threw herself on the floor and made what she knew Shadow would always remember. "Shadow, you were created for the benefit of man kind, please Shadow... for all the people on that planet, give them a change to be... happy..."

"Maria!"

"Promise me Shadow...."

"I promise Maria..."

"Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog..." Maria said as the pod was ejected from the colony.

"I thought I heard voices in here..."

Maria hid her face as two G.U.N agents walked into the room.

All they saw was what they thought was a dead girl. "Shit! She must have gotten him out of the colony before she died, this place is of no use to us now, let's go tell the Commander..."

Maria waited for half an hour before getting up and making her way to where Project: UM Code named Sonic was hidden...

---

It’s been thirty-five years since the disaster. Maria watched the project, Code Name: Sonic as he floated in the liquid, it was time to wake him. Maria took a deep breath and hit the button to drain the liquid from the tank. Inside Sonic stirred sensing a difference in the environment.

Maria sighed in relief. ‘He will survive this, I should never have doubted him… he is Shadow’s mate after all…’ She looked out the window at the dense foliage outside, soon they would be out there and they could look for Shadow… after teaching Sonic about the outside of course.

Maria noticed Sonic stirring in the tank and pushed the button to open it. The young hedgehog stepped from the tank without opening his eyes. Maria thanked heaven that she had found a cure for her decease so that she ccould go with Sonic. “Welcome, Sonic the Hedgehog.”

The hedgehog turned in the direction of her voice and she saw that the liquid had sealed his eyes shut. She stepped forward and began to clean off his face. After getting all the gunk off he opened his eyes. They were a brilliant emerald.

"Who are you?" The blue hedgehog asked quietly.

"I am Maria...and your name is Sonic. My grandfather and I created you..." She explained, smiling.

"All right." said Sonic quietly.

"Now...I've got a lot I need to explain to you, okay...?"

Sonic nodded and looked around. "Where are we?"

"We're on a planet called 'Earth' and we're in a secret area, for our protection..."

Sonic blinked. "Why?"

Maria's smile drooped... "Well...that's a bit of a long story. Think you're ready for me to start explaining, Sonic?"

Sonic nodded.

Maria began to explain their situation, about Shadow, her grandfather, Sonic's purpose, and so forth... It was a lot of information, for someone who'd just been "born", but she tried to let all of it soak in...

Sonic was trembling; he might never meet Shadow...

"I've been trying to locate Shadow..." Maria added.

"How can we find him Maria?" asked Sonic. "Do you have any hints? Maria?" Sonic nudged her, trying to get her attention.

"Hmm? Oh...I'm sorry, Sonic." Maria nodded. "Yes, I was just thinking. I _did_ meet someone, a bat girl named Rouge, who said she knows Shadow and is a friend of his..."

"Do you believe her?"

Maria nodded. "I'm fairly certain that she's trust worthy."

"Ok. Did she tell you where he was?"

"He's in a city, called "Westopolis"..."

---

Sonic and Maria arrived on a red suspension bridge and saw a dark figure standing on the tower above them.

Eyes narrowing darkly at the city below, the black hedgehog at the bridge's top murmured low..."I promise you, REVENGE..."

Sonic blinked. "Did you hear him speak Maria? Maria?" Sonic waved a hand in front of her face.

"Shadow..." Maria murmured. It had been a long time. She nodded to Sonic.

"Why does he-" Before Sonic could finish his question Shadow was grinding down the cable and began killing GUN officials and robots. Sonic looked up at Maria. "What do we do?"

Shadow smirked, cutting down a few more guard bots. "Nothing can stand in my way..."

'That's not what he promised me...' Maria frowned, not wanting to see her friend destroy all those people. "We have to stop him..."

Sonic nodded and waited for Maria to continue.

Shadow chuckled, having already knocked down the last of them in his way, but there were many more coming...and he planned to "deal" with them all... He slowly walked away, scanning the area, ready for more...

"Hey!" Shadow ignored Sonic’s call.

"Shadow, STOP!" Maria shouted.

Shadow stiffened... 'That voice...I know that voice' He turned around...and his eyes widened. "M...maria?"

The woman nodded.

"But...you...you're...I...I thought you...died..." Shadow muttered, very confused...

"You can't do this..." said the blue hedgehog that was standing next to her, bringing Shadow's attention to him.

Shadow frowned, having believed they deserved it for killing Maria...and yet, she was alive. They _Still_ deserved it, in his mind...but, for now, he'd put that subject aside... "Who...who is he, Maria?" Shadow asked.

Sonic looked up at her.

Maria smiled. "This, Shadow, is Sonic...your...mate."

Shadow's eyes widened... "My...what?"

Sonic looked at Shadow, trying to gage his reaction. Sonic smiled.

Shadow looked at Sonic again and his face turned a little red...

Sonic spoke this time. "Mate. I am also the key to your true abilities." He looked up at Maria, wondering if he should have said anything.

"My...true abilities?" Shadow asked, raising an eyebrow with interest.

Sonic looked at his mate adoringly. "Yes." Sonic had to look away to hide a blush.

Shadow smirked, taking a moment to appreciate how nice that blush looked on his..."mate's" face... "What abilities, Maria?" He asked, forcing himself to look away.

Sonic also looked up at her.

"For one, an ability called 'chaos blast.'" Maria explained, smiling.

"Chaos blast?" Shadow echoed, curiously.

Sonic also looked curious. "Sounds destructive..." said Sonic.

"Chaos blast is rather destructive. It's a very powerful force you can call up to destroy anything in your path, so you have to use it wisely. At first, it'll be activated by your desire to protect and help Sonic. Afterwards, you only need to have Sonic near you to use it." Maria explained.

Sonic looked at Shadow to see his reaction.

Shadow smirked.

Sonic blinked and tried to hide behind Maria, that smirk scared him a little.

Maria chuckled and Shadow looked a bit apologetic. He hadn't meant to scare the other hedgehog.

Sonic's ears perked; he heard sirens.

Shadow frowned. "We'd better get out of here..."

Sonic nodded and went to Shadow's side. "What are you going to do Maria?" asked Sonic.

"I'll be all right, don't worry." Maria reassured them. "I'll see the two of you later, okay?"

Shadow reluctantly nodded.

Sonic did the same. "See you Maria." He turned to Shadow. "We'd better get going..."

Shadow nodded and held out his hand for Sonic, with a trace of a smile on his lips. Sonic was about to take the hand when a bullet struck the wall between them. Sonic pulled his hand back and looked to where the bullet came from. Shadow turned around to see the commander of GUN aiming for his head. His eyes widened.

Sonic backed away from the human pointing a gun at him; he couldn't suppress a whimper.

�No wait,� Shadow thought hearing Sonic�s whimper. �He�s not aiming at me, he�s aiming at Sonic!�

Shadow growled and stepped in front of Sonic.

The commander blinked. "I'll destroy you project!"

Sonic whimpered again and tried really hard to hide behind Shadow.

Shadow glared at the commander murderously. "I won't let you touch him...and if you so much as try, I'll make you wish you'd never been born..."

"Move." demanded the commander.

Another growl from Shadow which suddenly faded. A small smirk crossed his lips. "If you say so..." He replied, shrugging...then he grabbed Sonic, scooped him up, and bolted. Sonic blushed, and held on to Shadow tightly.

Something hit Shadow in the back making him tumble and let go of Sonic.

"Sonic!" Shadow called out, followed by a soft grunt of pain.

Sonic rolled and skidded away from his mate; he hit a window and went through it, he was only stopped by the inside wall of the building. Sonic yelped in pain.

Shadow groaned and picked himself up, trying to get over to Sonic and help him up.

Sonic tried to move; glass was everywhere. Sonic was also covered in it some of it was in small cuts all over his body. Every time he tried to move he would yelp in pain.

Shadow carefully entered through the shattered window and gently picked Sonic up. "Are you okay?"

Sonic whimpered in pain; the whimper quickly became a whine.

Shadow held Sonic close. "Hang on, okay...?" He got out of the building and sprinted for his home. Shadow wasn't moving very smoothly. Every bump and jostle pushed the glass further into Sonic's flesh; his whines became loud keens of pain.