Secret of Bloodseal Redemption

Chapter I
- Memories -

"Shadow…"

Dimness was filling her vision, everything was getting blurry…

'Maria!"

She could hear him, see him, but it was fading. Everything was pulled into darkness herself, the surroundings, everything,… without delay…

"Shadow, please…, I beg of you.., for me… for all people of the planet… please give them a chance to be happy…"

Her smile was fading and so was her vision, her heart beating like the wing of a little bird. She was feeling it, the blood dripping from her wound, feeling the pain caused by the bullet. So much pain.

But would she regret what she did? No… it was the right thing to do. His safety, his life out of danger… Her wish it was.

"Maria!!!"

She couldn't hang on any longer, resisting the darkness that was covering her, now with all of it's might. And then, without even wanting it, she let go…

"Sayonara, Shadow the hedgehog…"

The pain came to an end and left her body and her mind, but the darkness stayed, for such a long time.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A young woman stood on top of one the buildings, which a countless number of soldiers called their temporary home. So many young men were serving under the command of their leaders for the right thing. The whole world's population was trust their army, and almost blind by that. Knowing they are trained to protect them, to keep them safe and sound. Ironic it is, that things always have different perspectives…

The woman looked down to the guards in front of the entrance, keeping herself in the save darkness of the shadows. Slim in figure, or rather well-trained, she wandered around the roofs with a catlike care and attention. Her long blond hair was put together into a ponytail, hidden under some upper-lying strands. She was wearing a tight suit, obvious for combat, hold in the colour of anthracite with light-emerald stripes running down her arms and legs..

Quite she went to the edge of the roof and looked down, standing there she started to smile,… but it was a smile that was holding sarcasm…

She closed her eyes and shook her head, still smiling.

"How ironic…", she starts. "Thinking of the fact, that the old commander of GUN was replaced by nobody, but HIM… That was most unexpected, even for me."

She watched the guards closely.

"Guess I have no choice, but to intercept as soon as possible…"

With that she stood up, preparing herself for the next step to take. But than she hold it for a second, letting her hand reach for her left ear, touching the golden earring she was wearing.

A single golden ring with a beautiful ruby in it's middle glittering in the light of the moon. It's red was intense, shining in the darkest shade of red possible, the shade of blood…

"This was given to me very shortly before I was saved on the ARK."

She started remembering again… This event.., it changed her life forever.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Dark… everything around her was dark. The conscious of her was already fading. She started to lose her feeling. Her arms, her legs, her whole body and yes, even the pain started to slip away, leaving the young girl in eternal darkness…

'Was it over…everything? Could this really be the end for me…?', that were her thoughts, but no one here to answer her questions, nothing but her and the darkness.

But then a light flashed up, like an electric bolt, rushing through her body. She felt her body, her mind and soul, everything of her was in agony. She wanted to scream out, but it was like being drifting into space, letting no air inside her lungs. Then, in a second she was awake.

Her eyes opened slowly, but her vision still was blurry… that persons standing above her…, who…?

"Grand…father…?"

No, this wasn't the professor.

"Maria… I thank you for what you did. Shadow… tell him about his true destiny when you awake again. His life is connected with yours. The Eclipse Cannon…"

It was one of the researchers working on the projects of Professor Gerald and assisting the professor. His name… she knew him, but… her head was still like covered in fog. Maria had no strength left to focus.

"Maria, listen up! The ARK is holding a secret. You and Shadow, the both of you are the keys to its lock. You have to reunion with Shadow in order to save your life and these of so many others. Find Shadow, Maria! At any costs!"

With that he did something to her ear, her left ear. Maria did not know what it was exactly, but it stung.

"Take that with you… That you'll never forget… it’s a little last gift from the professor."

With that she felt a mask was put over her mouth and nose.

"Now, everything depends on you, Maria…"

A strange gas was flowing into her lungs, let Maria drifted into a dreamless sleep. It was dreamless, but warm, so very warm.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It was true. Even if the world like to know it better, but that was not the case. She was the one, a civilian from the ARK, the granddaughter of Professor Gerald Robotnik.

Maria Robotnik. That was her name.

She survived the disaster, was send to the surface of the planet she always wanted to visit with her friend, able to grow up and became a beautiful, young woman.

Maria was alive. She got a chance to live on and would never risk wasting or even loosing it again. And she would never forget her quest. Not only was it the last thing that she wanted to do for that man, who had saved her from the certain death, but also because it was her own, free will.

She would find him, no matter what, she would find Shadow!

"How strange…", Maria said to herself.

"After all those years… I still remember this like it would be yesterday. But then again… I don't want to forget. I must not forget what happened back there on board the ARK."

She let her look wander, from the spotlights of the GUN-headquarter over the lower roof to one of the main-entrances to the east, her goal. In order to reach it as fast as possible, she needed to wait for one special moment. If she would miss it, she had wasted the whole day, waiting for this one but so little chance to get inside the headquarters without being noticed.

It couldn't be prevented this time. She has to get inside.

"It really can't be helped this time.", she said. Her look was fixed on the guards again.

Two soldiers stood in front of the massive door, assisted by a pair of armed GUN-Beetles.

Wearing the well-known GUN-uniform, they were standing there, proud and steady. Serving under this organisation gave the men lections in combat, self-control, discipline, honour and respect for others… They were proud of doing what they were doing.

But all those qualities couldn't erase a little fact though: Both of them were standing there for hours. It had to be happened soon.

And so she waited.

"I really wonder if this will work. I have observed the HQ for months and still… it seems, that I'm loosing more and more of my footing. I don't know how many CPUs I hacked to find something out, something about Shadow. And still not the slightest clue of his whereabouts…"

She hung her head a little bit. Of course it was depressing.

"If you are searching for someone well-known as Shadow, you actually can expect to find at least a little clue, but nothing. Since Dr. Eggman, my oh so dear cousin, freed Shadow form his coldsleep-capsule on Prison Island, that was the moment when finally hope started to glow inside of me again, but after the ARK almost fall onto this planet, I began to think I lost him for sure this time… I only hope the inside-info, I got is really trustful, otherwise I have to--"

Her inner monolog was interrupted by a sudden scream of sirens. The alarms, they were set of!

Like waking up from a nightmare, Maria rushed backwards into the shadows in order to keep herself hidden from the spotlights. She couldn’t risk it to get caught! Have the soldiers seen her? No, wait a minute, that couldn't be… She was still far away from the security-lines, so…

Maria sneaked to the edge of the roof and looked downwards, not believing what she was seeing there. Complete units of soldiers, aircrafts and battle robots were leaving the HQ. So it wasn't her appearance that caused all of this, but what was it and where were they going? What was going on here?

She turned around in order to find out. Her look stayed on the city of Westopolis, which could be seen very well from the distance. But something was kinda strange…

The sky turned darker by seconds. The cloud over the city of Westopolis started to whirl like a tornado. A strange reddish light could be seen in the centre of the tornado, releasing countless strange creatures.

Some of then almost looked dragon-like and could fly, others were walking on two legs. Their body were all muscular and looked like haven some kind of scales all over the creatures skin, giving them great protection. Claws on their hands and their back made them dangerous enough to make you stay away, only if you just looking at them.

Those creatures also seemed to be familiar with weapons due the fact that most of them carried lasers or weapons for close combat.

Maria starred at the events with disbelief and confusion at the same time. She has seen something like this before.

But she had no time to think about it as the sound of snarl was heard from behind.

Quickly Maria turned around, just to see that even 'round this place those aliens started to appear.

Her eyes were wide open as a single creature came rushing out of the corner behind the young woman and strait in her direction, claws sharp and ready to tear her body apart, letting out a shriek-like battle-cry.

With a quick move Maria managed to escape the creatures attack, but barely. She jumped away and hit the ground. Fortunately the landing was stable. Rolling over as fast as she could, she drew the pistol being hold, hidden under her long hair.

While she drew the silver gun of her, the alien turned around, wanted to repeat it's actions ones more and started to charge again,…

BANG!

…but without success.

"Not today… someday I’ll be ready for this, but not until I finished my mission and fulfilled the wish of mine."

Her breathing went deep and steady. She hold her position, waited until the last bit of smoke was gone from the barrel, her look fixed on the now dropped dead creature. It was lying on the back and from its head flowed the creatures blood.

Maria started to relax, wiping away the sweat.

"Ooff… that surely was close…"

She did it fast and without causing any kind pain. The creature hadn't felt a thing.

After studying the alien for a little bit longer, Maria noticed something odd, but then again so familiar about this strange-looking something. Those creatures colours… May be it was just her imagination, but…

"Black and red…?"

Then it hit her! Of course!

"Damn it!"

Without any hesitation Maria left the roof-top by using one of the gutters and climbed down. A light motorcycle was waiting there, parked on the backside of the building. Lucky for her, that she hadn't brought any heavy equipment along with her. She had no time to waste.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Elsewhere the GUN-soldiers had problems on their own to drag the intruders back. Without much of a success so far…

"Sir, the black aliens are gaining more and more ground! We can't beat them like this! If we don't get backup soon, we're done for!", shouted one of the soldiers to his squad-leader. It was easy to tell, that this wouldn't be that easy anymore. And he was right: they really needed help.

"Let's avoid causing as many casualties as possible! The commander already called for Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends to help. I really hope they make in time."

"Did anybody call my name?"

With that the soldiers turned around to see the all so famous blue hedgehog, standing there and grinning delightful. Everybody knew him, especially since those incidences with the biolizard on the space-colony ARK, the appearance of the monster known as Chaos and the catastrophe which almost caused the ARKs downfall to the surface of the planet a few years ago. Everybody remembered it and the heroes, who prevented it all.

"Sonic the hedgehog!", the leader called it out. "Man, are we glad to see you."

"No sweat. So what's going on exactly?"

Before anybody could explain a thing, parts of vehicles went flying in their direction. The creatures had started to wreck real havoc, tearing the whole place apart with their weapons and claws.

Strong laser-beams came rushing down the sky, causing fires and destruction in this once so rich and modern city.

"Hit the deck!!!"

And so did anybody.

Fortunately the squad took shelter in one almost complete destroyed building, close to the centre of the city. And lucky for them, they hadn't being seen by the creatures yet. But this wasn't as save as they thought it was.

The foot-soldiers of the creatures simply destroyed everything without caring if soldiers could hide in the ruins or not. They did it without thinking for a moment, just followed their orders and did nothing else.

But even if they didn't care they really did damage. And so debris went flying all over the place, where the soldiers were hidden themselves. Lucky them the facade was still strong enough to keep them save for now, causing only a rain of a few smaller rocks over their heads. But still…

"Let me guess… You guys have problems with some ugly-looking strangers…?", Sonic let his sarcasm play, but only for a moment. He had no time for jokes. The situation was far too dangerous and there was no need for him to risk the people’s safety if it could be prevented.

"As you can see, those things came out of the nowhere! And it seems they are after the Chaos Emeralds." the leader started to explain and Sonic thought he had a double-take.

"The Chaos Emeralds…? Why do they want to obtain these? What do they want?"

The leader and the soldiers as well shook their heads in confusion.

"We don't know. They hadn't made any kind of contact. The only thing we know is that they want the emeralds. Those creatures appeared all over the world out of a sudden, without any warning and most strangely without being noticed by our satellites.", continued the leader his explanation.

"Hmm, that's pretty odd indeed.", Sonic wondered. "But I thought your satellites are connected together in a worldwide net, how could you miss a spaceship?"

The leader shrugged his shoulders.

"Honest, Sonic, we don't know. Under normal circumstances, the system would tracked down any kind of intruders, friendly or not, but those creeps passed though our system without being noticed and most strangely of it all: Our system was checked only an hour before the invasion. It was in perfect condition."

It was clear to see that no one of the soldiers had any kind of explanation for this. All of them seemed to be more confused and shocked about the whole situation then being focused for the ongoing events. Sonic bit his lip, crossed his arms and started to think about it once more, his eyes closed as he did.

That really made no sense at all… And what disturbed him even more, was the fact, that those creatures went directly for the Chaos Emeralds. What do they want to do with them?

He knew about their power, and so did only a few others as well… he knew what the seven combined could do if they are used each way, the good one and the evil one as well, but in every case it meant one thing for sure, no matter the intentions: Power.

Sonic knew, he used them himself and more than once by that. With the seven of Chaos Emeralds he was able to obtain his super-form, to boost his physical abilities as much as the Emeralds also gave him new kinds of power, such as Chaos Control.

Oh, he knew far too well about it, all right!

Once again it was a struggle, a fight for the Emeralds then, but Sonic started to wonder, if it really was only that.

Since he and Shadow avoided the downfall of the ARK, Sonic started to act different when it comes to the Emeralds, always remembered the fact in the one moment an Emerald was found, that they weren't power sources alone, but could function as keys as well.

But this didn't matter at the moment. They had problems now that needed to be solved in order to keep the population of the planet from demise.

"Hmm… and there wasn't any kind of decoy or something? No sort of diversions before those black aliens attacked? Man, that really is kinda odd.", said the blue hedgehog in an almost untypical serious tone. The squad-leader nodded.

"You right, but it's true. The only thing that flew in our orbit was the Black Comet and that thing had no live on or inside of it at all. The commander suggested, it had to be a ship that is hold in stealth-mode or something.", he said and Sonic felt more and more uneasy with seconds. Then events started to move.

Suddenly, one of the soldiers received a message from another squad closer to the centre of the City of Westopolis. His mouth stand open in disbelieve.

"Sir!", he called out his commanding officer. The leader turned around.

"What is it?"

"Sir, the other two units has almost been completely wiped out. Only a few remains and are on their way back. The alien’s practical stamped they down! And the backup has no way to come in!"

"What?!", the leader couldn't believe it. What a dark day…

"And to make things even worse…", the soldier continued.

Sonic had an ironical look on his face. That was something new, all right. "Excuse me, but how can things get even worse?"

The soldier paused of a second and looked at his leader. This one simply waved his hand while the other one was held over the man's mouth in a gesture of horror.

"Continue, soldier. I want to know it."

"Yes, sir!", the soldier replied. "Well, it appears that a black hedgehog has been seen with the black aliens. It appears that Shadow is helping them."

Sonic and the squad couldn't believe it, stared at each other in surprise. Of course, they knew Shadow and they also knew that he was known as the ultimate life-form and the project Shadow.

Sonic shrugged. Could it be that Shadow switched sides? No wait… He helped to save this world from annihilation… Why would he help those creatures now? They want to destroy this world.

Sonic had some strange feelings about his, holding his hand in a thinking position while watching the similar reactions of the soldiers around him. The commanding officer shook his head when this name was called. His mind wasn't able to get it.

Despite the fact of total frustration and confusion at the same time, they had no option but to take further steps now and fast. He had to save what was left to save, at least. He had his orders and would follow each of them to the letter, no matter the costs or the circumstances. Therefore he an his men were soldiers.

"Sonic…", the man began. "Sonic, we really need your help. If nothing is done soon, I afraid humanity will perish under those creatures attack. We are dying out here."

Sonic said nothing. On the other hand, it wasn't needed to say anything. He simply nodded and made himself ready to rush.

"Don't ya worry, I got you covered.", he said and started to run the fastest way to the centre of the gigantic city. "And you tell the commander about the situation. Even if it's hard for him now, but I can't get all of the people out of here alone! You get the civilians out of here, I'll handle those aliens and keep them away from you guys as long as I can!"

"Thanks, Sonic. You got our respect and gratitude."

With that Sonic was on his way and rushed through the streets to his destination, tried to avoid the aliens as good as possible.

'Shadow, huh?…', he thought. 'I have no idea what the big deal was, but I really hope you aren't messing around as I think you might do. I know that you can wreck real havoc, if necessary. Well, only one way to find out!'

On the other side of the city, Maria arrived at the same time.

Her mind told her that somehow this was the day she would change the live of her forever. She had to beat herself, if her memories hadn't clicked in.

'I don't believe it. Grandfather was right after all. They really returned after 50 years of waiting and planning. And to the most unfortunate time by that! Thanks to them, my whole plan was for nothing.', she thought depressed.

Maria parked the motorcycle in a save-looking place and started her further way on foot. She had intercepted a transmission of the GUN-soldiers before, therefore she knew that there were at least two Chaos Emeralds in Westopolis. And the black creatures wanted to obtain them.

Maria had no idea, why they wanted to obtain them, but all she new for sure was, that they would use force to get them.

She had experienced it before… If beings followed their orders, there was no place for other standing in the way. And it didn't matter if those are innocent civilians or the foes to fight.

It would be only a matter of time now.

'I only hope, that the leader of the aliens, this Black Doom or whatever his name was, has made no contact to Shadow already. If he tricked Shadow into helping him, I wouldn't be able to find him as fast as I wish to.'

She kept running as fast as she could, her pistol in her hand, full-loaded and ready. Shadow… She had to admit it, that he was her main-priority.

"Shadow… please, do not do anything stupid… at least not until I found you. You need to know the truth and I will find you."