It had been about three weeks since Shadow the Hedgehog had set off on his trek to find the seven missing chaos emeralds, and Fiona the Hedgehog was still worrying. Actually, she had been since he said he was going off to find them. He promised to come back and visit as often as was possible, but she still worried that something could have happened to him. She was also shaken up because if Alpha Ghost Shadow the Hedgehog could come back once, why not again? Or what if Eggman were to attack Starmen.netville again? Or what if some killer robots were deployed, or Eggman getting the chaos emeralds again?!
Any number of things could have happened. As far as Fiona was concerned, it probably had. Occasionally, Shadow would send souvenirs from foreign countries to pep her up, but every time an almost identical message came:

Hey Fiona!
Sorry I've been gone so long! Gotta keep looking! No emeralds yet! Be home real soon! Love ya lots!

--Shadow

Yes, this was a nice gesture on Shadow's part, but Fiona wanted him to actually be there with her-just to be held by her hedgie-honey (as she loved to call him) even for a while was all she really could ask for by this point. Now, Fiona was doing her part to help with the 'Great Emerald Hunt' as Kindarspirit put it, her family was painfully rich (and to the family fortune, Fiona was the only heir) and they had men around the clock hunting for the precious jewels.
Everyday Fiona checked her mail the second the postman had left, just to check what words Shadow had quickly scrawled on a postcard and set off. Judging from the postcards alone, he had already searched the greater part of the Eagleland and just set into the Summers just a few days before. Shadow could get away with cross-country travel, while lacking a passport because he usually didn't stay long. Shadow always kept on the move; he knew he needed to keep as many chaos emeralds out of the hands of the evil Dr. Eggman as was totally possible.
Since Eggman moved around a lot too, it was impossible to really tell how many the evil doctor might have! Fiona, home and alone, merely sat there and sighed as she drew out a postcard from the east end of the Summers. This one was a bit different.

Dearest Fiona,
Very formal. Very un-Shadow-like.

Man, I really miss you, sweetie. I've come all this way and I haven't found one. Not even ONE emerald. Who'd have thought this was so hard when one city used to have the monopoly on them? I can't give up, so I won't. But I am going to take a break. I'm returning to Starmen.netville tomorrow, sometime around noon is when I'll be arriving. I hope to see your smiling face when I do. I'll admit it, I've cried a bunch while I've been on my own, but knowing you're waiting for me keeps pushing me along. I'll be there in a bit! See ya tomorrow!
With love,
Shadow T. Hedgehog

Fiona squealed so loud it scared herself! The date on the postcard was from the day before, and it was only half an hour until noon! "Oooooh!" Fiona screamed as she took off in a mad dash (no where near as fast as her black counter-part) and giggled like an ecstatic school girl backstage at her favorite boy band concert! She figured she'd wait for him at the central park which was one of his favorite spots.
Knowing her hedgehog husband-to-be, Shadow would want to make a grand entrance to impress her. He told her there is no number to limit you by when captivating a girl's heart. Her heart was going pitter-patter while she smiled and waited impatiently to hold her Shadow. She had already decided she was going to tackle him first (a preference of hers, seeing as how her weight easily over-powered Shadow's much lighter frame) and kiss him passionately.
But when Shadow did arrive, Fiona was in shock over his condition! Apparently, two of her father's patrolmen had found him after a violent conflict between him and some of Eggman's robots. Shadow was bruised and cut all over, but it didn't call for an emergency room visit. After a while of rest in his wife-to-be's house, Shadow recalled the purpose of his visit.
"I had a dream, Fiona," Shadow told her, "That something really bad was going to happen here, so I had to rush back. Sorry I didn't tell you before hand but I didn't want you to worry before I could get back,"
"Can you walk or move?" Fiona asked.
"Not well," Shadow replied, "I'll be fine in just a few days,"
"Rest up," Fiona told him; giving him a soft, loving kiss on his cheek, "I'll make us some pizza. You're favorite,"
"You're wonderful," Shadow told her as he rested his crimson eyes under his jet-black eyelids, "The best ever," he affirmed her. Shadow clearly had fallen asleep by this point, but there suddenly came a knock at the door! Fiona figured it was Kindarspirit who arrived in a huff over the news, which Fiona had 'accidentally' forgotten to mention. When Fiona opened the door, it was a tall blonde-haired blue-eyed girl but it wasn't Kindarspirit!
"Is Shadow here?" she asked before even introducing herself, so Fiona was both startled and a bit upset.
"Yes, who are you?" Fiona asked.
"I'm… an old friend. Shadow and I go way back!" she declared.
"Is that so?" Fiona said, becoming suspicious, "What's your name?"
"Maria," She told the chubby brown wife-to-be.
Fiona raised an eyebrow, "Come to think of it, that name does sound sort of familiar… where was it now?" she asked herself.
Just as suddenly as the question had been asked the orange blur of Shadow bolted around the corner screaming like a bat out of Hell, "We're under attack! Get down now!" Shadow tackled both girls and got them to the floor just as an enormous blast sailed over their heads, "It's Eggman!" Shadow declared, slowly getting up, clearly handicapped by the wounds.
"So pleasant to see you again, hedgehogs!" Eggman declared, "Now where's the emerald?!"
"What emerald?" Shadow retorted, but in a lower tone than he'd have liked, "We don't have one here!" Shadow said, carefully wording his sentences as to not expose weakness.
"You went all that way and you didn't find ONE?!" Eggman exclaimed, "That's a little sloppy on your part, Shadow!" Eggman then examined the new presence, "Who's this?"
"None of your business, mustache moron!" Shadow quipped, "Get lost or else I'll have to trash ya!"
"You're in no such shape as to trash anything but a bathtub with your filthy, dungy self!" Eggman said, clearly indignant, "You may have stopped me before but you seem to be missing the point," he said this gesturing to his bi-pedal mech he clearly designed using his hover craft as a base, "This little beauty here will put more holes in you than Swiss cheese!"
"Figures you'd use a food metaphor, fat man!" Shadow declared, clearly forgetting he probably weighed less than his soon-to-be-wife, "So, we gonna fight or are you gonna sit there and act tough, HUH?!"
"Hmm…" Eggman thought for a moment, "I'll have to pick another choice! I'll just have to kill these two females and then you'll tell me where the chaos emerald is!"
Shadow's eyes widened, "I don't think so egg-belly! I'll take you apart!" Eggman's mech aimed a small targeting red light at Fiona's wide self and he chuckled, "Don't you dare it, Eggman! I'll kill you with my own hands!" Eggman didn't respond and instead put his hand on a control stick on his dash board, "I'm warning you, Eggman!" he pulled the trigger.
Fiona squeezed her eyes shut and expected to be splattered, but opened them just in time to see Shadow hurl himself in front of her and got struck himself! He fell, and the life jewel resting on his forehead, was shattered. The bullet it had struck the jewel, and had deflected from it. Shadow had survived that shot-but just barely. "Shadow! Shadow!" Fiona cried out, "Can you hear me? Are you okay?"
Shadow's eyes slowly closed as he murmured the words, "In the south of the desert… near an oasis… alpha… omega…" and he passed out.
"I think he's really hurt!" Maria told Fiona, "What now?!"
Fiona then stood up and breathed deeply through her harshly-gritted teeth, "Egg…man… I'm… gonna… KILL… you…!" Fiona then threw her head back and let out an ear-piercing screech, which threw Eggman off balance, and she charged at him and knocked his mech down on its back! "MONSTER! MURDERER! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!!" Fiona began ranting and she began putting her fists through the metallic contraption!
"Oh no!" Eggman exclaimed, "I'm outta here!" then, the hover craft dropped the metal legs and flew into the sky and over the horizon. Fiona wasn't satisfied of her rage until both legs had been reduced to paper weights.
Later, Fiona had brought Shadow back inside and laid him down on a bed and pulled a warm blanket over his now-completely nude hide (she took off his gloves and shoes). "Oh no," Fiona whined, calling the hospital.
"Poor Shadow, it's ARK all over again…" Maria commented.
Fiona stopped for a moment and looked at her, "Are you… the same Maria that was with Alpha Ghost Shadow?" She held her breath and hoped badly that the answer was 'no'.
"Yes," she said, Fiona released her breath (rather unwillingly), and Maria went on, "After the attack, I was frozen like Shadow was. I just woke up out in the middle of the desert where the floating fortress was… I can't remember much, but I had been told Shadow was here, so I had to come and see him." Maria appeared young, for being about 66 years old.
Fiona figured she was either buried there, or fell from the fortress when Shadow destroyed it a matter of months beforehand. Regardless, Fiona changed the subject and they chatted a while, trying to remain calm over Shadow's condition. Dr. Ima Quack showed up and she quickly checked over Shadow. "As I guessed, he is in a coma. In very rough shape, might I add? He's lucky that jewel saved him. When the life jewel shattered, it sent all of its energy out into him. Without having the jewel as a conductor, he had to take on too much power, and his body wasn't prepared to take it,"
"Thankfully, however, my best guess is that he'll pull through this just fine," Dr. Quack assured the girls, "He'll be his old self in no time,"
"Thank you," Fiona said, as she showed Dr. Quack out. Some time passed and the girls resumed their worry-filled chatter.
"I know he's going to be all right… but I'm scared that Dr. Eggman might come back for another fight… he saw how rough Shadow was…" Fiona whined.
Maria sighed, "That… Eggman… he's… my cousin, isn't he?" Fiona merely nodded, "I thought so. I was afraid of that. The men in my family have a latent curse on them all," Fiona looked up, a bit surprised, "All of them quickly become intelligent. Very intelligent, at that. But then that intellect becomes an obsession and soon opens the door for many other obsessions-world conquest for instance. He won't quit… not until Shadow is dead,"
Fiona pouted for a moment but then got a wonderful idea, "Then let's go stop Eggman first!"
"What?" Maria cried out, "Where? When? How?"
"I dunno," Fiona commented, "But somewhere, someplace there is an answer for all of our questions. That's what Shadow always told me," Suddenly, it hit her, "The desert! The desert just outside the city! That's what Shadow said when he passed out! The… uhh… south end of the desert! And something about an oasis? Yeah! That's our starting point, let's go!"
"But how will we get there? Without Shadow, we couldn't move all that fast," Maria said lowly.
"I have a car!" Fiona winked, "C'mon! You'll love it! I have a state-of-the-art sound system in this baby!" Maria eagerly jumped into the pink limousine, and they were off. In only a matter of hours, the two females found themselves in the middle of the desert, "Doesn't look like the road ever bends south, according to my map," Fiona commented.
Just then, Eggman flew overhead, "Fiona! Look!" Maria exclaimed, pointing at him, "There he goes!" The two got on foot, took backpacks full of supplies with them, a map and compass, and set southwards. The entire way they talked-about make-up, boys, Shadow (a lot about him), Eggman, the chaos emeralds, and family-you know… girl stuff… I don't get it either…
Eventually, the two wound up before the new base of Eggman, a large, gray, monotone dome, "This must be what Shadow had in mind, see?" Fiona said, gesturing to an oasis no less than five feet from one of the outer edges. The found an entrance and went in, slowly through the dimly lit hallways. They walked deeper and deeper, but saw no sign of any form of security systems anywhere, but eventually entered into an enormous, gray, round room, with a massive computer set up with at least twelve different monitors running at once.
Eggman was there, typing furiously against the keyboard muttering different things, and examining what appeared to be blueprints similar in shape to a tick. Out of curiosity, Fiona and Maria silently tip-toed to look over his shoulder. Eggman was ready some data on Alpha Ghost Shadow!!!

Data research file: Alpha Ghost Shadow Hedgehog
Unit Type: Extermination Unit
Class: 0001
Construction begin: 3/14/XXXX
Construction end: 6/22/XXXX
Time Elapsed: 5 years, 3 months, 8 days, 15 hours, 4 minutes, 32 seconds, 22 milliseconds, 98 nanoseconds.
Mission: Elimination of malfunctioning units (Primary)
Guardianship of Maria & Gerald Robotnik (Primary)
Guardianship of Robotnik lineage (Secondary)
Learn as much data as processor allows (Secondary)
Record data for later usage by mankind (Secondary)
Invariable self-deletion (Error)
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! Error Detected in protocol 293-"Shadow.Bat". Error in emotional restrictions program has caused this unit to malfunction. Possibilities of action are as follows:

Terminate unit

Further usage of this unit will cause its emotions to fly into a blind fury, and destroy other units and possibly harm humans as well. If the three rules of robotics are defied, it could cause a disaster. After each victim, this model will absorb its data into its nanobot-based CPU, which will make it less stable than before. This downward process will inevitably cause an endless cycle, ending in either the destruction of this unit, or the destruction of Earth. This process is called 'Shadow Syndrome'. See "GIZOID" for more data on 'Shadow Syndrome'.

Eggman sat there, mumbling, "My grandfather received this warning… and he did not listen… why, though? What was so special that he would leave that black half-pint active? And what is a… 'gizoid', anyway?"
"No!" Maria shouted, surprising all three people in that room, and Eggman twirled around to face them.
"You! What are you doing here?" Eggman shouted, "And why didn't my guards kill you?"
"What guards?" Fiona asked, "There was nothing between us and you!"
"What? I spent almost a million on defense in this base!" Eggman twirled around and tapped on the keyboard.
"Cousin!" Maria pleaded, "Gizoid was a failed project from Grandpa Gerald!"
Eggman spun right back around, "What? Who are you?!"
"I'm Maria Robotnik! I'm your cousin!" Maria explained.
"Gizoid? A failure project? Do tell!" Eggman laughed.
"Gizoid was a fighting machine with self-will… powered on chaos emeralds… it could copy attack moves from anyone and anything that could fight… the prototype Shadow was based on that data. The one before the Biolizard…" Maria explained.
"Wait…. Did you say… BEFORE Biolizard?!" Eggman exclaimed, "How many shadow's are there?"
"There are ten, in total. The biological Shadow that you know, Alpha Ghost, the nanobot unit, Biolizard, Grandpa's dinosaur project, and…" she hesitated but both Fiona and Eggman let her speak, "Those three you know… and Biolizard is gone. The first was a tall, humanoid mouse, a girl, named Ruby. Then, the first machine Shadow, Darkness Metal. It was because of Darkness Metal that the next one was built-Forte Armadda-of whom I have just learn he is one with the newest Shadow model," As she spoke, she bent her fingers and thumbs.
"That's six. The next were also organic… a humanoid plant-Ivy. A humanoid lizard named Sly. A humanoid bat named Vitra. And finally, one of three gizoids from the ancient ruins became one among the Shadow series having Alpha Ghost's Data programmed into its hard drive…" Maria sighed, "That's the entire Shadow series. All but two are still active. Forte and Biolizard being the only exceptions. Alpha Ghost, I fear, will never be destroyed,"
"Why is that?!" Fiona exclaimed.
"Simple, chubby," Eggman scowled, "Alpha Ghost Shadow is made of nanobots with self-repair and self-reproduction methods. No matter what, unless we destroy him on the molecular level… Shadow's ghost… will not die,"
"IF YOU DIDN'T FRAG MY HUBBY WE WOULD HAVE A METHOD OF DESTROYING HIM!" Fiona screamed down at Eggman.
Maria sighed, "There's… another thing," Eggman and Fiona looked up to Maria at this, "You see, as long as there is more than one Shadow model left… they will cause war… and they are all becoming more frantic now than ever because of the spread of the chaos emeralds…" she shook her head, "I know it's cliché, but there can be only one,"
Eggman raised an eyebrow, "Well, if I had known earlier what I know now, I wouldn't have worried so much about the black hedgehog! No, I would've destroy Alpha Ghost… he's gone berserk and he must be stopped!"
"Right!" Fiona agreed, "But how do you suggest we do that?"
"If we could get just one chaos emerald, I could make a machine to cause an electromagnetic pulse and blow the system right out of Alpha Ghost Shadow!" Eggman explained.
"I don't think so, doctor," a deep, mysterious voice resounded.
"Who's there?!" Eggman exclaimed, "Show yourself!"
All three of them turned to look, and there stood none other than the Alpha Ghost Shadow. "So, now you all know far too much about the Shadow Series. My nanobots have been rebuilding myself and my newest weapons up until this moment! So now, organoids prepare to be terminated!" Alpha Ghost laughed.
Eggman and Maria gasped and backed against the computer desk but Fiona stood her ground, "I beat you once, I can do it again!" Fiona declared.
"But you pathetic friends are not here to aid you this time, fat lady," Alpha Ghost declared, "Eggman saw to that,"
Eggman gnawed on his lower lip, but Fiona went on, "I don't need anybody to be strong!"
"Is that so? Well, then come and prove it, girl," Alpha Ghost challenged, and Fiona then extended the fire blade from the strange, ancient rune from her right wrist and charged. Fiona swung down at Alpha Ghost, but he simply zipped off to the side, "You are far too slow, organic, to be of any threat to me!" But just as he uttered that, a bright flash of light flew across the room at him! He just barely dodged it, and locked eyes with Maria Robotnik, who was holding an Eggman gun. "Why did you try to delete me?" Alpha Ghost asked, stoically.
"You… you are hurting my friend, Shadow… it has to stop," Maria sniffled, "You weren't like this back at the ARK!"
"Yes, it is a shame that the greedy organics didn't kill you as well… now I'll have to!" Alpha Ghost declared, but suddenly, yet another light swung by the prototype Shadow! This time, it was Kindarspirit herself, with her laser sword.
"You're not hurting anyone!" Kindar declared.
"How'd you find us?" Fiona shouted, surprised.
"I just followed your car and foot prints, sorry I'm late, I had some issues to handle!" Kindar explained. Alpha Ghost gave no reply, but gripped Kindar by her throat and hurled her right into Fiona, knocking them both right over!
"I tire of this game," Alpha Ghost Shadow declared, "There is but one true Shadow! Me! I will destroy the other models, and claim their data!" He then began flying down the hallway!
"He's getting away!" Fiona exclaimed.
"You go after him!" Eggman shouted, "I'll stay here and work on an EMP! But don't think that this makes us buddies or anything…" he trailed off and sighed and immediately began to work on a small device.
"Thanks, Dr… Robotnik," Kindar whispered on her way out.
When they arrived outside, Alpha Ghost had vanished. "Where did he go? Oh, I wish the real Shadow was here," Fiona whimpered, "He'd know what to do… or he'd at least make me feel better,"
A great deal of laughter engulfed the stagnant desert air, "Now, organics! I have finally completed my ultimate form! Now, perish!" it was none other than Alpha Ghost Shadow the Hedgehog. Just then, a massive monster flew over their heads! It had a head like a dragon, massive feral arms and claws, gigantic, demonic wings, and lion-like legs. The creature towered over them all, "Now, I have used the scrap parts from Eggman's pathetic creations and used them and my nanobot CPU to create this perfect battle body! I am afraid of nothing!"
"Maybe you'd like to reconsider that, Alpha Ghost?!" a strong voice came from over a sand dune, and there was no mistaking its origin. The true, black and red, hedgehog hero, Shadow the Hedgehog, had arrived on the scene!
"Shadow!" Fiona squealed, "You're okay!"
"You bet I am!" Shadow exclaimed, skating forward, "Now, let's rock'n'roll!" Shadow laughed as he arrived.
"But… how?" Maria stuttered, "Weren't you hurt?"
"I was, but some weird mouse lady showed up and gave me this beauty," Shadow then took out the blue chaos emerald! "She said it was rightfully mine, and then just… vanished! It doesn't matter now, Alpha Ghost must be stopped, once… and for all!" Eggman then caught up, and gasped as the Alpha Ghost Dragon flew towards them!
"Quickly, Shadow!" Eggman exclaimed, "Use this device… if… a chaos emerald! If you use them together… we have a chance at winning… but…"
"But what, Eggman?" Shadow asked.
"The electromagnetic pulse was a rushed project I had left on the shelf for a while… there is no restraint on the power level unleashed by it… the shock might be enough to stop your heart, Shadow," Eggman explained, "And, as little as I like admitting to it, I need you alive until after the rest of the Shadow series is gone,"
"Thank you, Eggman," Shadow replied, "But I'll be just fine," Shadow then began skating towards the now low-flying Alpha Ghost Dragon and shouted, "Here I come, you creep!" The dragon opened its mouth, as Shadow had hoped, and scooped up the hedgehog hero.
"Shadow!" Fiona shouted, "Be careful!"
"Be on your guard!" Maria yelled then.
Next was Kindar, "You can do it!"
To everyone's surprise, Eggman encouraged too, "Show that stupid beast what real power is!"
Shadow plummeted into the dragon's stomach, where there was, apparently, no gravity and he twirled and turned to look around himself, "Where are you, Alpha Ghost?! Come out and face me!" Shadow demanded.
Alpha Ghost's main hedgehog body floated into view, "So… the organic Shadow the Hedgehog… what's that you got? A chaos emerald? Heh! You barely stood a chance when you had seven! How do you expect to beat me?!"
"I will win, Alpha Ghost. I can't afford to lose," Shadow replied.
"I have deleted countless units… and I will also delete you," Alpha Ghost retorted, "Talk is cheap! Let the battle to end all battles begin NOW!"
Shadow stuffed the EMP and chaos emerald into his pouch and readied his fists to thrash Alpha Ghost, but it was the bionic counter-part that delivered the first strike, hurling the organic hedgehog back into the wall! Shadow then leaped forward at Alpha Ghost, and first, struck him across the chest with a chop movement, twirled around and kicked him in the jaw, twirled once more and kicked him a second time, then wrapped up the combo with a double-hand punch, throwing the elder of the two spiraling backwards!
Shadow smirked, "My friend, Forte, and I are one! You can't stop me!"
Alpha Ghost looked up, "The Forte Armadda unit… one of the few I knew I should have destroyed… but I didn't. I never figured he would give me so much trouble!"
"Well, you better figure it out!" Shadow retorted, growing impatient, "I'm gonna take you down, Alpha Ghost! Once and for all!"
Alpha Ghost rocketed towards the black hedgehog, but Shadow vanished from sight! "Where did you go, organoid? How are you hiding in an open room?!" Alpha Ghost demanded.
Shadow flew from the corner behind Alpha Ghost and kicked him firmly into a near-by wall! "I don't need to hide, old rust bucket! I've matured my powers, so now I can move way faster than you!" Shadow smirked, "Every battle only makes me that much stronger!"
"You won't be feeling strong for long, hedgehog!" Alpha Ghost then began laughing! "This entire time, my nanobots have been working their way into your body through your pores and are attacking you… cell by cell!"
Shadow's eyes widened and suddenly a sharp pain traveled across his chest, "Hurk! Ugh… I don't feel all that great," Shadow admitted. Shadow then knew he had no other choice but to activate the EMP, despite the danger to himself. He reached into his pouch and brought out the device and the emerald and activated them both with his mind. "I hope you like this next move, Alpha Ghost! It's a real show-stopped!" Shadow smiled broadly, "Shadow Flash!" he jokingly named the device as it released a blast that hurled Shadow right out the side of the robotic dragon!
Shadow laid limp in the sand and watched the robotic dragon fall apart, piece by piece, and finally, only the original Alpha Ghost stood, "N… nooooo! This… can not be! My… body… my limbs… my head… they are burning! The nanobots… are…. Gone…. I can't… repair… my systems… I… feel so… weak… why… this…. Can……. Not………… be……….. my……………………. Des………..t…………i……n……….y….." and Alpha Ghost Shadow, finally, was destroyed for good-and his body fell into scrapped pieces, and what little flesh the robotic skeleton had left rotted in the noonday sun.
The girls and Eggman rushed to Shadow's side and looked at him, as he was breathing very hard, "It's finally over," Shadow whispered, "It's…. over, isn't it?"
Maria slowly shook her head a firm 'no'. They brought Shadow into the air conditioned base and explained their newfound knowledge of the Shadow series. "You mean that mouse woman who brought me back my father's emerald… was my… sister?!" Shadow gasped, "No way!"
"Yes, that was Ruby," Maria explained, "She was one of the more docile in the Shadow series… hopefully she'll be an ally, not a threat… regardless, I'd call this a victory!"
Eggman sighed deeply and looked at his computer monitor; Shadow then spoke to him, "What's the matter, big guy?"
"I feel somehow obligated to thank you, Shadow. Also, I… think it'd be for the best if we put aside out petty differences to work against the Shadow series together… whether the victor is you, or someone else… I will see to it, though, you all will be gone!" Eggman admitted.
"Fair enough," Shadow said, "But right now, we're all going home," he sighed and stood up, "That's enough excitement for one day… so this leaves only six emeralds left, and only seven Shadow models left, yeah? Well, I guess that's a good start!"
Fiona embraced Shadow warmly, "Let's go home, and take a well-deserved rest, you daredevil!"

To Be Continued in "The Shadow Saga"