Chapter 1: Something Unexpected

Dear Journal.

I thought I should start a journal. Knuckles and the Chaotix invited me to stay here on Angel Island with them. How could I refuse? Angel Island has been the closest thing to home since I've been rescued from Eggman.

It has been a year since we left Earth and Emily. I hope she's doing alright and I hope she's healed from that wound. Espio had said she was healing faster than he had first expected, so I'm pretty sure she's alright.

I know this entry was kinda short, but I'm tired and I start helping out around the island tomorrow. We'll see how it goes.

Silver put away his journal and lay back in his platform bed that was more like a narrow loft in the bedroom, Silver liked it, he felt more secure in there. Knuckles and the Chaotix had built an upstairs bedroom for him so he was a permanent resident of the island. His new room consisted of a tall dresser, a bookshelf filled with books he borrowed from Knuckles, a desk and a latter leading to his elevated bed. There was a trap door in a corner of the room where he entered and left the room.

Silver sighed as he looked out his window at the stars. It was somewhat lonely on the island nowadays. Sonic, Tails, Amy and Cream had gone back to Knothole to help the Freedom Fighters get through winter and Rouge and Shadow had gone back to G.U.N Headquarters. All who were left was Knuckles, Vector, Espio, Charmy and Silver.

Knuckles had moved the island south to warmer climates so the vegetation wouldn't wither and so the island residents didn't freeze. Silver had never seen snow before, he hoped he would get a chance to see it.

Silver turned over and turned out his bedside light. He lay in the dark with his blankets covering him as far as his hips. He closed his eyes as he slipped one hand under his pillow and the other rested on top half hiding his face. As he drifted off, his mind wandered back to Earth, the first morning he spent in Emily's living room, playing the Wii with Sonic, Tails, Amy and Cream. Within minutes, Silver was sound asleep.

I was out riding my horse, Izzy. It was fall again; the sun was shining brightly with a crisp feeling in the air as Izzy and I got ready for a ride. I liked to ride bareback; the feeling of Izzy moving beneath me was an amazing feeling. Izzy and I rode through field after field, enjoying the warm sunlight. It was August, my favorite month. When days where warm and the same temperature as the night.

By the time I got back to my friends barn, the day was starting to get hot. I had already cleaned the stalls so all I had to do was unsaddle Izzy and go home. I dismount and think of Sonic and the others. It was hard to believe it was only two months since they left. I wished they were still here so I could show them how to ride Izzy, I knew Silver or Shadow would have liked that. I wondered how they were doing. Thinking of Silver reminded me of the wound I got protecting him. It still hurt at times, but at least I could still ride. My parents and siblings were the only ones who knew about my gunshot wound, because I never told anyone about my adventure with Sonic and the gang.

"Hey, how did she do?" Asked my friends' mom, Beth, pulling me back to my duties.

I look at her and smile. "She did great. I even got her up to a lope today."

"Well good," Beth said. "Now I got things here, you head home."

"You sure?" I asked.

"Darn sure," Beth replied. "Your dad told me you were working on getting into an art collage. Now go get that portfolio done."

"Yes, ma'am." I said, grabbing my favorite shoes from the tack room and walked to the labarum. "Later, Beth!"

"Later!" Beth called from the barn.

I wave at her and start the car. I got my license last month and I've been driving more often now. It was hard to believe I was so scared to get behind the wheel only last fall.

I drive away remembering how Tails had fixed up the labarum so it would work off of a chaos emerald. But since they left, the labarum ran on a power crystal from Angel Island, making this the most gas efficient car in the world, seeing it no longer worked on gas.

I decide to take a short cut through the forest and take a right. This forest reminded me of Angel Island. I could have sworn driving through this place I could hear each of their voices. Suddenly, the muffler popped and the engine died. I roll my eyes and pull over. I get out and pop the hood to see what was going on. Tails had shown me how to fix it if something went wrong while I was helping him work on it. I take the crystal that Knuckles gave me to replace the emerald out of the engine and examined it. It looked fine.

As I put it back, I suddenly feel the chaos fields rise. This only happened when Shadow was Chaos Controlling to somewhere nearby. It was weird that I would be feeling it now. "Chaos control?" I asked aloud. "Why the heck-"

I didn't finish my question because a bright light surrounded me and my back felt tighter than when I was captured by Eggman. I closed my eyes and curled into a fetal position until it was over.

Next think I knew the feeling was replaced with severe cold. I open my eyes and found myself in the middle of a forest, in the middle of the night, in the middle of a snowstorm. To say it plainly, I was in the middle of trouble.

A cold wind blew, making me cringe and shiver. "Oh, CRUD!" I shouted at the blowing snow. "How d-do I find m-myself in these situations s-so easily?"

I was wearing my favorite short-sleeved shirt and didn't have a jacket or anything. Another breeze blew, forcing me to find shelter. I tried to activate my shoes, but the chaos control seemed to have shorted them out along with my touch. I walked for who knows how long, wandering aimlessly in this forest until I tripped and fell. The snow was biting cold against my skin, but I couldn't stop now. I couldn't get back to my feet so I forced myself to crawl. The cold soon worked its way into my joints, forcing me to stop and lay in the snow.

'Who knew it would end like this.' I remember thinking to myself. 'I thought I would live longer than this. I had hoped to see Sonic and the others again. How is my family going to take this?'

Suddenly, a shadow fell over me. I force my eyes open to see a very tall shadow with two yellow lights towards the top. A red light flooded my vision for a second then the thing picked me up with miserably cold, hard arms.

"Sh-Shadow…" I remember whispering before darkness engulfed me

Shadow was moving through frozen forest with speed and silence. Eggman has been laying low since they came back from Earth; this often made Shadow edgy. When he felt anxious he often went out for a walk just to clear his mind.

Suddenly, his comlink chimed. Shadow stopped and opened it. "Shadow here,"

"Shadow," Came the metallic voice of his team mate Omega.

"Found an organic life form twenty-five kilometers from GUN HQ." Omega replied. "Classified Human, female, late teens. Suffering from stage four hypothermia."

"Take her to GUN infirmary." Shadow ordered. "And why are you calling me?"

"She knows your name." Omega replied. "Perhaps she knows you."

Shadow closed his eyes in annoyance. He didn't like it when his walks were interrupted. "I'll meet you back at HQ in twenty minutes."

"Affirmative." Omega replied and ended the call.

Shadow sighed and walked back to headquarters. It may have been just another fan girl who got herself lost to find him. It happened once in a while during the summer, but never during the winter.

In twenty minutes Shadow was back in HQ, walking through the bland light grey halls of GUN. He got an occasional salute from the other Agents around him. He made his way to the infirmary and met Omega by the door.

"The doctors have already looked her over." Omega reported. "They have her in a pressurized tube to raise her core temperature back to normal."

"Can I see her?" Shadow asked.

Omega nodded and opened the door for him. Shadow walked in stopped dead in his tracks as he looked inside the pressurized tube. Inside lay a human girl with auburn colored hair that was slightly darker because of melting ice. Her wet shirt had been removed and replaced with a white tee shirt. From her waist down she was covered with a blanket. Shadow recognized the face of the human almost immediately. It was the face the girl that showed him kindness while he, Sonic and the others stayed on the planet Earth only a month ago.

It was Emily Bridgestone.

He stepped forward and put a hand on the glass. What was she doing here? How did she get here? A doctor came forward and looked her with Shadow. "Do you know her, Agent Shadow?"

"She's a friend of mine." Shadow said. "How long until she recovers?"

"She's taking the treatment very well," The doctor said. "And recovering faster than most other humans. At this pace, I'd say she'll be back on her feet by tonight or tomorrow morning."

"Thank you doctor." Shadow said.

The doctor nodded and walked away to see to his other patients. Shadow watched Emily as she slept. Was this how others saw Shadow while he was in stasis?

Suddenly, she started to twitch and shiver. At first Shadow was afraid it was a seizure, but then her eyes slowly started opening and looking around. There was panic in those brown eyes.

"Em," Shadow said, tapping the glass.

I look over at him and I feel myself start to calm down, but my body was shivering uncontrollably. "Sh-Sh-Shadow." I said. "W-what are y-you doing h-h-here?"

"I should ask you the same thing." Shadow replied. "Omega found you in the snow not far from GUN HQ. Right now you're in GUN's medical unit. You had hypothermia. You're very lucky Omega found you."

"Wait," I said. "GUN? I-I'm in M-Mobius?"

Shadow nodded. "I'll ask questions after you've rested. Now, go back to sleep, you're safe here."

I nod. I was tired. Shivering like this always did make me tired. I wasn't sure if I liked it in GUN HQ, but I knew I could trust Shadow. I close my eyes again and fell back to sleep.

When I awoke, I found myself in a comfortably warm bed with loose covers. I heard breathing at my side and open my eyes on high alert. I look around to see Shadow asleep in the chair in a corner. How long had he been there? And how did I wind up on Mobius? Sure seeing Shadow felt good, but I couldn't help but wonder how I got here.

Suddenly, I heard clanking sounds. I turn to see a very large robot enter my room. I froze. I knew a lot about Sonic X, but there was never a robot! My thoughts turned to Eggman's creations, his attempt to capture me and use my abilities to gather the chaos emeralds. I felt myself shiver.

"No need for alarm," The robot said, trying to lower his voice so not to disturb the sleeping Shadow. "I am Shadow's team mate in GUN. My identity is Omega-123. But many here refer to me as Omega."

I just stare at Omega, still not sure about him.

"I was the one who found you twenty-five Kilometers from GUN Headquarters." Omega continued. "I had run every possible file to find your identity, but found nothing."

"Umm…." I said, not sure what to say.

"Hey, what are you doing in here, Omega?" Said a voice in what I'd call a Vegas-show-girl accent.

I look around as Rouge walks in. We stare at each other for a moment before Rouge's eyes light up. "Hey, hon! Long time no see."

"Same to you Rouge." I said as she walked over and we embrace like old friends. "How have things been?"

"Boring," Rouge replied. "Eggman hasn't turned up for a while and it has us all on edge."

"Rouge," Omega said, taking a step forward. "Do you know this unit?"

"I sure do, Omega." Rouge said. "Omega, meet Emily Bridgestone. She helped Shadow and me while we were on Earth a while back. Em, this is Omega-123. He's Shadow's and my partner and a fellow GUN Agent."

Now that I knew that Omega was a friend of Rouge's and Shadow's, I offer the robot a hand to shake. "Pleasure, Omega. Sorry about the silence before, I'm kinda careful when it comes to robots."

"No offence taken." Omega replied, gently grasping my hand and shaking it.

"So what have you been up to in the last year, hon?" Rouge asked.

I look at her and raise an eyebrow. "It's only been two months Rouge." I reply.

"We're in a different dimension than yours, Emily." Shadow said from his chair. "We also have a different timeline. Though I thought that a month for us was a year for you. Evidently our timelines aren't as steady paced as we thought."

I sit up from the bed and cringe slightly at the pain in my side. Shadow looks in my direction and gets up from his chair. "Your wound still not healed?"

"Not completely." I answer. "But it is healing. How's Silver doing?"

"He's now a permanent resident of Angel Island." Rouge said. "Knuckles thought it would be good for him since the island had become home to the kid."

"At least he's doing alright." I reply. "What about Sonic and the others?"

"They're also doing fine." Shadow reported. "Winter is taking it's toll on the freedom fighters, but they'll make it to spring. As soon as you're back on your feet, Em, we'll take you to Knothole."

"How long do you think I'll take?" I ask. Personally, the thought of being stuck in a bed again was not appealing.

"The doctors say you'll be back on your feet by morning." Shadow replied. "They are not to lay a finger on you without my say so. They may be fellow agents, but they do not have my trust."

I was going to ask Shadow what he meant, but I stop myself, remembering that is was GUN that took Maria away from Shadow. I wouldn't trust GUN after that either.

"Get some rest," Shadow said as he walked out the door. "I'll check on you again later."

The door closed behind him and I look at Rouge. "Is something bothering him?"

"Eggman has been very quiet lately." Rouge explained. "Shadow, Sonic and Knuckles have been a little nervous about it. I think Shadow's glad you're here though, it'll give him something to think about other than Eggman. But Shadow's right, hon. You'll need all the rest you can get."

I nod and lay back down. "How is it I always end up in a bed around you guys?"

Rouge laughed as she and Omega followed Shadow. "Good question. Maybe you shouldn't get into so much trouble."

"Where's the fun in that?" I asked teasingly.

Rouge laughed some more and left, leaving me alone to go back to sleep. I snuggle against the pillows and blankets and was soon asleep again.