"Shadow!" I land in a crouched position, my legs tenser than I knew was possible. My eyes dart to Rouge as she gasps my name, and I can see in her eyes that she's surprised to see that I came for her. In her arms rest the only tickets I have to Maria's wish; the three Chaos Emeralds she had gotten from the safe. "You actually--"

"Come on!" I yell, grabbing her arm and tapping into the Chaos Energy of the four total Emeralds present, and see the ARK in my mind. Shouting what needs to be said, I proclaim my will and feel the energy bending to it. "CHAOS CONTROL!" The warp barely lasts a second, but it feels like a century as I yank Rouge and myself through space-time. !!Wham!!

"Wha--?" I hear the Doctor proclaim his surprise at our sudden arrival, but I'm more focused landing on my feet. Rouge's weight drags me off kilter as she twists to land upright herself; I'm still holding her arm. We both stagger, but I catch my balance first and release her arm. The Doctor recovers quickly from his shock, and continues. "Shadow, Rouge, you're back! I was getting worried that the island blew up before you could get off, you know." Rouge responds, and I make the decision to leave as soon as possible.

"Maybe it would have if Shadow hadn't--" Teleporting out of the situation, I reappear by instinct in front of Maria's favorite window.

"Huh?!" A short, pitiful imitation of a word forms in my mouth, but it won't leave my choking throat. Maria's... We first met in front of... No! I force the words in my head to stop, blocking them from continuing. I'm doing everything Maria wanted. I'm going to fulfill her wish, and then she can rest easy knowing I have punished the world for killing her. I form my thoughts slowly, and try to see them with logic and reason.

Besides, crying won't bring her back, or her killer closer to justice. Somewhere in my chest something's twisted into a knot, and I hear a plea in my head. "It's not fair... Why is the world so cruel?! This isn't fair!" Steeling myself, I crush the voice and replace it with my normal, calm tone. The world isn't fair. It never will be fair, and I'm not going to whine about it. I'm going to do something about it. I'm going to get revenge so that Maria will be avenged. Sighing, I remember standing with Maria in front of this window, marveling at the stars outside.

She did love looking out on the world, at the stars. Maybe it's good that I came here. I let my mind relax, and an image of Maria ripples onto the glass next to me as I gaze at her favorite scene. I remember the time I had asked her about the planet, the time when she replied that it was the most beautiful thing ever. She wanted to visit Earth, even though she knew very little about it. She wanted to see space from the planet, to see clouds above her head. And now, I've gone to the planet without her. My memories feel so real that I'm caught up in them completely, and I don't even notice Rouge has walked up behind me until she speaks.

"Why so melancholy?" She asks, strolling over to stand at my side. "I have to say, that was so unexpected, so unlike you, Shadow, to come and rescue me. Your ability to use Chaos Control has come in very handy, you know."

"Hmph. I wasn't after you," I respond, feeling the need to explain to this spying bat that I held no trust for her. "I was only after the Chaos Emeralds."

"Yeah, yeah, but I don't think that's really the whole story, now is it?" She asks, the lift in her voice confidant. A shudder starts to run through me, but I don't know why. This bat should know by now that I don't trust her. Why would she say something like that to me? Does...does she suspect that I actually care for her? Is that what her comment means? Because... I don't. Just as I'm wondering what exactly her cryptic observation could mean, I hear a loud cough from behind us.

"Everything is ready to go, so if you two would follow me..." The Doctor says gruffly, but I can tell he is excited about the prospect.

"Are you sure?" Rouge asks him, raising one of her eyebrows. "We only have six out of the seven Chaos Emeralds, so will that be enough?" Narrowing my eyes, I can tell that she's stalling, trying to trick us into getting the final Emerald. At least, I'm pretty sure she is... Darn bat!

"That," I growl, "will be more than enough to demonstrate the power of the Eclipse Cannon to the world. We don't need to waste time overstocking on power when this is so long overdue, so let's get this show on the road!" Leaving through the door, I walk at a fast pace down the hall, and Rouge glides to keep up with me. I walk towards the main bridge, where the Doctor has built broadcasting equipment.

"Yes, let's!" Agrees the Doctor, easily matching my quickstep with his longer strides. I can see that Rouge is studying me; I glare at her in return, but I can't help a smirk from breaking out on my face. The humans will finally see the power Professor Gerald possessed! Then maybe they'll realize just how much they should fear his--my--revenge. Gerald created me, and I am the perfect example of his brilliance; I am the most powerful living thing on this planet, the Ultimate Lifeform. No birthed creature can match me, and I will use my powers to avenge Maria's death. Never again will humans steal from me someone I love. Never again; they won't get the chance! We arrive at the camera the Doctor will use to broadcast his message to the world.

"Okay, we are live in three, two, one... Action!" Counts one of the doctor's two main robots. Bocoe, I believe. I never did like that machine... It's strange the Doctor would keep such a troublesome robot in his personal retinue.

"Greetings, Earth!" The Doctor begins enthusiastically, "I am Doctor Eggman Robotnik, the world's leading evil scientist! I'm also soon to be your ruler, as I have an ultimate weapon with which I can easily destroy all who oppose me!" The Doctor throws back his head and laughs, and I can't help but imagine the reactions of people down on the planet. Do they realize yet what's coming? Or do they think this plan is a bluff? The Doctor continues on, demanding the planet's surrender within 24 hours. Then, the part I have been waiting for. The part where the world sees a demonstration of the Eclipse Cannon's abilities, of Gerald's genius mind.

"And now, I want to show you just why you should surrender!" The Doctor exclaims, and I see Rouge lean forward in interest slightly. She seems genuinely happy about this, but I don't trust her for a second. "Behold! The Eclipse Cannon!" Tapping buttons on the cannon's control panel, the Doctor aims and presses the button marked "fire." A rumble runs through the ship as the outer shell falls away to give way to the cannons nose. VRUMMMM...

!!!PHSHYEW!!!

The blast of energy that rushes out of the cannon is incredible; I can feel it through my connection to Chaos. It shoots towards Earth's moon, utterly destroying half of it.

"*Gasp!*" Rouge lets out a humongous exclamation as the moon's facing side floats away in chunks. The Doctor cackles insanely and continues his requests that the planet make him its emperor.

"Haha! So, now that you know what I am capable of, are you more eager to listen? Remember, I request you surrender in less than twenty four hours!" The other useless robot, Decoe, clicks a button on the camera and stops rolling. Practically bouncing with joy, the Doctor turns to me and Rouge, and opens his mouth to say something.

!!Bringggg!!

"What?" The Doctor's turns to look at the ringing communicator. Grinning insanely, he jumps over and grabs the receiver. "Hello? Ah, yes, so you're calling about the surrender..." His voice trails off as he strolls down the corridor, away from the Eclipse Cannon. The person on the other side begins to speak, and Rouge shrugs beside me.

"Well," she says, "that got boring rather quickly. I think I'll leave it to you two to discuss a deal with Earth; I would much rather go and catch up on some wonderful gem observing! After all, there's no harm in observing a Chaos Emerald, now is there?"

"Hmph," I grunt, refusing to answer her question. She knows who she's going to have to deal with if she touches those Emeralds. This bat may be a gem-obsessed spy, but something tells me she won't try for the Emeralds while I'm actively around; even she knows that's asking for the worst. Turning on my heel, I observe her out of the corner of my eye as I leave the room. I might as well see how Earth is responding to the Doctor's threat... After all, it's my plan's cover for action. By the time Earth even considers mine, there won't be an Earth left to worry about. I need to make sure I appear as the Doctor's ally; if I don't the humans may get suspicious. Oh, well, they seem to have made a habit of underestimating creatures, even themselves, but especially non-humans. That trend will, in one way or another, end with me. 

Author's Note: I want to apologize for how long it took me to finish this chapter. It's finals month, and I've been swamped, but that's not a good enough excuse for taking so long to finish one chapter. Please tell me if this chapter is sub-par, because I cut a lot of parts in it in an effort to keep the quality. I am not sure if I did that as well as I could have, so please tell me if this falls short of what it should be. I am going to start work on the next chapter tonight, and I hope to have at least most of it done by tomorrow. Please keep reading! I'm going to try to get on chapter ahead so that this doesn't happen again. Thanks!