The last 2 months for Maria were great. But it soon came to an end when she heard some news about Sonic. The government was hunting him down for some reason.
"What do you mean, Sonic's being hunted?" Maria asked
Maria soon met Knuckles the Echidna. The guardian of the master emerald.
"What else do you want me to say? He got caught stealing a chaos emerald" Knuckles said
"But, Sonic would never do that!" Maria said
"What exactly do you know about Sonic? You've only known him for 2 months" Knuckles said
"I know him well enough to know that he wouldn't do something like that" Maria said
"Knuckles, don't you think that this strange? Sonic is obviously being framed for something he didn't do" Tails said
Knuckles turned away.
"Doesn't matter to me" Knuckles said
Chuck, Chris' grandfather, just got off the phone.
"Sonic's been spotted downtown" Chuck said
"We need to hurry get to him before the police do" Chris said
"Right, let's go" Maria said
Sonic was downtown, and he just met a black hedgehog, who introduced himself as Shadow. He assumed that this was the Shadow that Maria mentioned before.
He was in the middle of a fight with Shadow.
Maria and the others were in the car trying to make it to Sonic. Chuck stopped the car. They saw Sonic with the headlights. They then saw a black blur kick Sonic in the back.
"What just happened?" Sonic asked
Maria got a close look and froze when she saw who it was. It was Shadow the hedgehog. This time she knew that it was the real shadow this time.
Shadow was looking at Sonic with a smirk on his face. He then revealed that he was holding a green chaos emerald.
"He's got a chaos emerald" Chris said
"Shadow, were you the one that stole that chaos emerald? Why? Why would you do such a thing?" Maria thought
"Where'd you get that chaos emerald you phony freak?! Hand it over!" Sonic yelled
Sonic dashed towards him, but the black hedgehog teleported out of the way.
"You can do better than that Sonic, if you don't light a fire under those feet you'll never get this emerald back" Shadow said
"Shadow, why are you doing this? What happened to you? You're not the Shadow that I know" Maria thought
Sonic tried to get Shadow again, but he teleported again.
"He really is faster than I am" Sonic said
"But that's not speed, he's disappearing" Chuck said
Shadow was now on a lamp post.
"That's not all, I'm full of surprises" Shadow said
"Grandpa!" Chris said
"Shadow, please stop" Maria thought
"Chaos control now" Shadow said
Shadow then disappeared again. Sonic started running again.
"He can cause chaos control with one chaos emerald?! Who is he and where did he come from?" Sonic thought
Shadow the reappeared right beside Sonic. The blue hedgehog tried to kick him but he ducked and gave Sonic multiple punches to the stomach and then a punch to the face and then a quick kick to the legs.
"Leave him alone!" Chris said
"Like to fight dirty, don't you?" Sonic asked
"Consider yourself fortunate, if I had used my full strength you would've been much worse off than this" Shadow said
Sonic continued to look at him.
"Many years ago, Professor Gerald Robotnik endowed me with the power of chaos control. A normal being like yourself doesn't stand a chance" Shadow said
Sonic then smirked.
"Don't underestimate us normal types" Sonic said
Maria couldn't take it anymore. She got out of the care and ran towards Shadow.
"Shadow! Please stop!" Maria said
Shadow looked and was shocked to see his best friend.
"Maria?" Shadow asked
"Yes, it's me, Shadow, please stop what you're doing!" Maria said
Shadow looked at his old friend. He then walked towards Maria.
"Shadow" Maria said with smile
Shadow smirked. Maria saw it and was happy to see that he remembered her. But the next thing that happened left her in shock. The black hedgehog backhanded her and was sent aside.
"Maria!" Sonic said
Maria looked back at her friends with a shocked look on her face.
"Shadow, why?" Maria asked
"People change Maria and I'm no different" Shadow said
"Shadow, please stop" Maria said
"It's too late for me to stop now" Shadow said
The black hedgehog then turned back to Sonic.
"Goodbye, Sonic, It's been fun. Chaos control now" Shadow said
The police then showed up and Sonic with them of his own free will.
Maria thought she could get Shadow to stop, but she wasn't expecting him to turn on her.
Back at the Mansion, Tails asked Maria for an explanation.
The young blonde was reluctant at first, but the moment she stepped up towards Shadow was the moment her fate was sealed. Everyone now knew that she was hiding something. The preteen then explained her long history with Shadow.
Everyone was shocked to hear that Maria had been alive for 50 years. Everyone then learned that Sonic was being held on prison island.
"We'll talk about Shadow later, right now we need to go on a rescue a mission" Tails said
"Let me come too. I need to explain everything to Sonic too" Maria said
"It'll dangerous" Amy said
"I know and I'm willing to take that risk" Maria said
"All right let's go and rescue Sonic" Tails said
The rescue was Tails, Amy and Maria.
They landed and saw that it was Eggman with Shadow
"Shadow!" Maria said
Shadow looked over towards her and frowned.
"Go along, Shadow, I'll take care of everyone here" Eggman said
"Very well, Doctor" Shadow said
Shadow ran off into the prison.
"Shadow, wait!" Maria shouted
Maria was about to run after him, but Eggman got in her way.
"And where do you think you're going, little cousin?" Eggman asked
"Cousin? What are you talking about? I don't even know you" Maria asked
"I'm Dr. Robotnik, but I go by Dr. Eggman these days" Eggman said
"Robotnik?" Maria asked in horror
"Yes, Maria Robotnik, I am your cousin, whether like it or not" Eggman said
"But" Maria said
"Still don't believe then listen to this. Dr. Gerald Robotnik, had more than one grandchild. He was my grandfather too" Eggman said
"Y-you're lying!" Maria said
Eggman started to laugh.
"So, you choose to be in denial. That's fine" Eggman said
Eggman then started to transform his Eggmobile. It now had legs.
"You'll have plenty of time to think about it when I take you with me" Eggman said
Tails then came to her rescue.
"Not so fast, Eggman" Tails said
"Well, well, isn't Tails" Eggman said
"Maria go on ahead. Leave Eggman to me" Tails said
"But Tails" Maria said
"You and Amy need to go save Sonic. Besides, Sonic's the only one who can stop Shadow "Tails said
Amy put her hand on her shoulder.
"Leave this to Tails, Maria, he has just as much experience with Eggman as Sonic does" Amy said
Maria eventually left Tails alone to fight her cousin while she and Amy go off to save Sonic.