Maria recovers enough from being ill that she can return to school. Luckily she hasn`t missed much since Amy has kept her informed of what has been going on in the classes. It`s also lucky she hasn`t missed any tests so she won`t have too much to make up for. Her grades won`t suffer. Her walking is a little off but it is attributed to the fact that she is recovering from being ill. It`ll regulate itself once she`s recovered all the way.

She is walking with Shadow to the school. It`s early morning so things are pretty busy out with students going to school and adults going to work. To ensure no more accidents happen, Shadow does the gentlemanly thing and is walking between Maria and the road. As usual, his messenger is carrying both his and Maria`s books. With her health state, he isn`t going to make her carry a bunch of heavy books. His hands are in his pants pockets and his expression showing the common sight of him brooding on something. Whereas Maria, she seems perfectly content.

Along the way, Shadow and Maria are met up with the small group of Sonic, Amy and Tails. Quickly, Amy and Maria are engaged in conversation with one another. Sonic contently walks along with his arms folded behind his head. Tails is occupied by a hand-held device of some kind. Shadow is continuing to brood over something unknown to the others. But they have gotten used to this habit of his so they pay it no mind.

It doesn`t take long before the rest of the group joins along with them. Silver and Blaze are next to join with Cream. Knuckles comes along with Espio, Mighty, Charmy and Vector. Big comes along by himself as usual, but he`s always happy to see everyone else.

They come to the school grounds after the kids (Cream, Tails and Charmy) are dropped off at the elementary school. It`s still early yet before classes start. As the norm, the group will be hanging out together before class. They decide to hang around outside the school and enjoy the outdoors before they are stuffed indoors for several hours.

Arriving late are Rouge and Fang. They haven`t approached the group close enough for their words to be heard but Fang must be telling a humourous joke or something of the sort to Rouge as she has an amusing smile to her face and Fang is laughing. Hearing Fang`s laughter, Shadow seems to wake up from his brooding. With his arms folded as per usual, Shadow lifts his head and shifts his eyes to Fang and Rouge`s direction. No one has noticed this. As Rouge and Fang come closer to join the group, something in Shadow seems to be rising. The two are within feet of the group when Shadow moves from his place and walks towards Rouge and Fang.

Noticing that Shadow has moved, Maria interrupts her conversation with Amy and Blaze, turning her attention to Shadow,"Shadow...?"

One by one, as Shadow walks by them all, everyone turns their attention to Shadow, curious as to what he`s going to do. They won`t have to wait long.

Fang turns his attention to Shadow coming his way. He lifts his right hand,"Hey, Shad. `Sup-"

Fang is quickly interrupted by Shadow grabbing him by the front of his shirt with both hands,"Silence! I know it was you!"

Everyone`s interest peaks. They quickly move in closer. What is Shadow talking about? What does he know that everyone else doesn`t? Rouge, who is right next to the scene, looks at Shadow, but says nothing. She`s worked with Shadow on many occasions, she knows better than to interject.

Fang tries to remain calm despite the obvious danger he is in,"Hey hey hey, what`s all this about? Let`s talk this over, ah?"

This is drawing the attention of other students of the school who are arriving for classes. They begin to stop and watch as the commotion draws their attention. Fang notices this as he looks around,"Hey, Shad, you`re making a scene here!"

Then suddenly Fang feels himself thrown down onto the ground roughly. He falls backwards, landing on his back. Soon as he can, Fang begins to sit himself up. He won`t be able to get far though. Once he is beginning to sit up, an object gets thrown at him, hitting him in the face. The object falls into his lap as it bounces off his face. As an instinctual reaction, Fang closes his eyes as the object hits him,"Urk!"

The object is the bracelet that Fang gave to Maria at the party. This comes to a surprise to everyone. Shadow took a gift away from Maria? Fang looks down at the bracelet at first and then up at Shadow who is towering over him. Shadow may not be facially expressive but anger is evident in his face right now as he looks down at Fang. He gives Fang a stern warning,"Don`t come near Maria again."

With that, Shadow walks away from Fang and heads straight for Maria. Fang remains sitting on the ground with the bracelet sitting in his lap. His facial expression is of shock. Shadow reaches his hand out and takes a hold of Maria`s hand, then he walks off, taking Maria with him. He heads inside the school building with her, leaving everyone behind.

Amy blinks,"That`s weird..."

Knuckles scoffs,"What the hell is his problem this time?"

Sonic folds his arms and looks down at Fang,"All right, Fang, what`d you do to make Shadow mad?"

Fang spreads his arms out,"I didn`t do nothing!"

Rouge quirks an eye at the bounty hunter,"Well something happened."

"It wasn`t me!"

Silver looks at Sonic,"You think it`s because Shadow got jealous that Fang gave Maria jewelry?"

Sonic shakes his head,"I doubt it. We all gave Maria a present on the same day. He wouldn`t pick Fang out for something like that, he`d be that way to all of us."

Rouge rolls out her suggestion simply,"Let`s go ask Shadow what`s up then since Fang doesn`t know anything."

Fang remains sitting on the ground as he had been since Shadow threw him down there. He watches everyone walk away from him to go find Shadow and Maria. Amy gives Fang a suspicious look before she walks off. Once they are all gone, Fang sighs, picks up the bracelet from his lap and begins to get up off the ground.

Inside the school, the group finds Shadow and Maria in the cafeteria where most students hang out in until the bell rings for them to go to class. Shadow looks over to the group when he notices them heading his way. At first he scans for Fang`s presence but he isn`t with the group so Shadow calms down. Rouge is the first to speak,"So, Shad...What was that display about?"

Shadow is silent at first, shifting his eyes to everyone that has confronted him for an explanation of his behaviour. He folds his arms in his usual fashion and then finally speaks,"That bracelet was a tracker."

Instantly, everyone drops their mouths open. Knuckles quickly speaks up,"What? Fang put a tracking device on Maria? For who?!"

Amy turns to Sonic,"He`s a traitor!"

Rouge shakes her head a little,"How do you know this for sure, Shadow?"

Shadow shifts his eyes to Rouge, not moving any other part of his body,"Normal bracelets don`t blink or make noise."

Blaze looks among everyone,"Who could he have tracked Maria for?"

Sonic, who has his arms folded as well, has a serious tone to his voice,"I think I know..."

Knuckles immediately turns to Sonic,"You do? Who??"

Sonic looks straight to Shadow,"I bet it`s for Eggman, isn`t it?"

Shadow looks right back at Sonic,"It`s how Metal found Maria at the condo. It`s the only way he could have known where to find her."

Amy stomps her foot on the floor and shouts,"That sleaze! How could he do that to Maria?!"

She turns to Sonic,"We never should have let him join our group!"

Sonic shrugs,"What`s done is done."

"Aren`t you going to do anything about this?"

"Fang`s out."

Just then, Fang enters the cafeteria and comes towards the group. He puts on a smile and greets everyone,"Hey, guys, so what`s going on?"

No one answers him. Instead, the whole group is quiet and just look at Fang. Their expressions are less than inviting to Fang. Fang drops his smile as he takes notice of everyone`s stand-off attitudes. He stands there a moment looking among his former teammates. Finally, Fang breaks the silence,"Feh! Who needs ya?"

He walks away from the group and they watch him go until he`s out of sight and lost in the crowd.

The bell rings.

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