Sonic Boom: Travels (Shadora)

Chapter 34: Separated Again

"What do you mean 'missing'?" Aurora asked exaggeratively. "What do you think we said? We said that our family is missing." Aster replied in a passive aggressive tone. "What happened to them? Is there anyone watching your citizens?" Sally asked. 

   "They've been snatched away!" Blitz replied, jumped out of Shadow and Aurora's grasp. She looked at everyone full of alarm. "No warning, it just happened! Aunt Marine has been watching the people since. Then we tried looking for help, and you saw how that turned out." 

   "Tell us, what did the captors look like?" Ember asked. 

   "We didn't get a good view. But we saw that one of them had cream-colored fur." 

   "Another was a bird. Then a lynx, who was fast for his age. Others were two hawks, another wolf, and their leader looked to be a red fox. That whole team of hooligans outsmarted them!" 

   It serves them right, but I still haven't acquired the location of Rouge the Bat. Red fox... Shadow remembered his encounter with that weird looking fox. Did he lead the attack? Why are more and more reports of kidnappings happening now? 

   "And to know that happened right after I left. The irony!" Ember replied. 

   "Yeah. Add the fact that Itzy and I fainted seeing two Shadows who kept switching places, and now we hear about the royal family incident! I can never get a break around here!" 

   "Well, we can't just stand here! We've got to go rescue them!" Sonic demanded, pointing at the night sky. "But how? We have no idea where they are?" Sally replied, facing her palms up. 

   "Let's use the Chaos Emeralds. They can transport us there in a snap!" Aurora suggested. Shadow was about to add something until his Communicator started to vibrate. Shard was saying something to the pink hedgehog, and everybody else seemed to be talking. I better take this. If it's about her. 

   So Shadow snuck away for a minute, and answered the call. "Come in, Shadow. It's me." a familiar said on the other end. It was the stranger. "Make this quick, Fox." the black hedgehog whispered. 

   "Alright, Mom!" the stranger snapped back. The call ended, and here he was tiptoeing through the hall. They stared at each other, and the fox asked, "Have you recovered another Chaos Emerald?" 

   "No." 

   "Well then get to it! You need them to helped collect another one, and the seven rings!" 

   Shadow crossed his arms, as the fox grabbed his hair. "I didn't fail. The right time just hasn't come up yet." 

   "Well it better come soon." 

   Shadow remembered that this guy promised that he'd free Rouge. But it doesn't seem like he'd exactly hand her over. 

   "Just make sure to retrieve them and give them to me. I'll be checking." 

   With that, the stranger was gone. Shadow stared at where he used to stand, and was even suspicious of him. I'm going to find her whether it's an order or not. He never said I couldn't. 

   Someone called his name, and he saw that it was Aura. She ran to him, and said, "Who were you talking to?" 

   Shadow just stayed quiet, and pushed her aside. "What's wrong?" she asked. 

   But he still remained silent, and marched back to where everybody was. 

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What's up with him again? Aurora thought as she gazed at Shadow. She was about to call out to him again, but she knew that he would just continue to keep quiet and be stubborn. Besides, Ember has something to share that would cheer him up!