"You?!" Comono asked pointing at her in complete shock.

"Yes, me. You caught onto one thing, alien. It was me who stole the real amulet," she told him.

"Why would you do something like this?" Runa asked her with a death glare on her face.

"It's none of your business. Unless..." Savvy began to form an evil smirk,"...you know what I mean. Or should I say, 'who?'"

At that point, a growl was heard from Shadow. "Don't even tell me it's part of your plan to pursue me. I don't like you the way you like me."

"Well, of course you like me. It's just that your secretly embarrassed around me," said Savvy in her usual seductive voice. "I kept doing anything in my power to get your attention, Shadow. Even I attempted to use some pick-up lines, but you kept ignoring me. I've been doing it over and over again, but you kept avoiding me. Now that I have the real Amulet of Communication—" she held up her amulet. "I can finally know the reason why you've been avoiding me."

"No, Savvy! It's me who should take the amulet! I wanna know what Shadow's ideal type is and I want it now!" they heard Bianca's voice.

"Oh, don't you mean I want to know Shadow's ideal type?" Savvy asked Bianca in her angry tone. "Because he's mine."

"Hey! I'm the fangirl here! He's mine!" said Bianca.
"No, I'm the fangirl here, so he's mine!" said Aleyah getting involved.

Uh-oh. It's happening again, Runa thought as she watched Savvy, Bianca and Aleyah glaring at each other.

"Oh, I've seen him more than you have" said Savvy.
"Even so! The amulet's mine, so Shadow will be mine forever and ever 'til the end of time!" said Bianca.

"Hey! What did I just say?" asked Aleyah.

"Uh, guys—" Reuben started.

"Not now, Reuben!" Bianca cut him in.

"ENOUGH!" Arrogan roared catching everyone's attention. "You have forgotten why I'm here."

"What do you mean by 'why you're here?'" asked Savvy.

"I am here..." he slowly stepped forward in Savvy's direction. "...to take a bite!"

With that being said, he attempts to pounce on her to scare her, but somehow, she manages to do her backflip evading his first move. Her grumbled expression appears on her face.

"It seems to me that you wanted to take my amulet away from me," she says.

Runa then, turned to Savvy and gave her a death dagger glare at her. At the same time, she growled a deadly tiger growl in her direction.

"Y-You're amulet?! This is our amulet and it's our duty to protect it!" Langua's high-pitched raspy voice told Savvy.

That's when everyone surrounded Savvy for the Amulet of Communication.

They made a lot of attempts to snatch the amulet from Savvy, but every time they did so, she kept on dodging and using her skillful moves to take us down.

After a few more attempts, Runa flipped over her and delivered a back-kick on her stomach. "If you really wanna know what Shadow's type is, answers will be figured in your own eyes."

As soon as Runa turn around, Savvy was in a sitting position. She flipped herself back up again to continued the fight. "Yeah? Well, I want answers right now," she said determinedly. Then her fist lunged forward to give Runa's cheek a punch, but unfortunately, it was blocked by her forearm.
Savvy did a roundhouse punch on Runa's right temple, but she evaded it. Savvy delivered a roundhouse kick on Runa's left temple, but it was blocked again by Runa. Runa used her takedown skills to bring her to the ground.

As Runa suspected, Savvy flipped herself back on her feet. She continued to deliver multiple martial arts moves towards her. Even a few deadly ones. But Runa manage to block them quickly at the right time. Punches and hand-to-hand combat skills were averagely handy for Runa, but kicks — especially swift ones — were difficult, but either way, Runa knew she could do it, for she experienced danger, being tough and most of all, fighting crime in dangerous situations. But what she didn't see coming is a swift back-kick delivered on her left temple. This time, it's Runa who's brought down to the ground.

"Runa!" Tangle, Whisper and Aleyah cried out, their hands reaching out to her. The chao could also be heard crying out to her. "Chao-chao!"

Once Shadow saw Runa knocked on the ground, you can see the look in his eyes that despite not knowing the feeling inside of him, he didn't want Runa to get hurt nor be taken away from him.

"Runa!!!" he cried out desperately.

This took everyone else by quite a surprise as they saw his hand reaching out to her and how he cried out a lot more desperate than you think.

Then, what happened next is Arrogan grabbing Runa by her throat with his right hand. Runa attempted to escape from his grasp, but fear started occurring in her. Her nose was now twitching with her eyes now in contact with Arrogan's. Then, the next thing he did feared her horrifyingly. He raised his other arm and claws began to appear on his fingers.

This time, it's not only Shadow feeling his ultimate rage inside of him. Tangle, Whisper, Omega, Rouge, the five chao, Leo, Clifton, Langua, Comono and even Aleyah wanted to save Runa from her worst fate.

Just as anyone was about to leap into action, Shadow glided his way to the scene and kicked Arrogan's stomach. This caused his hands to slip away from her throat. The next thing Runa knew, she was being caught in two arms. That's the same feeling Runa felt the first time she was caught in two arms bridal style. This time, she was caught in two arms wrapped around her. Runa's fingers on her right moved to her throat to clear up her voice carefully, gently and supportingly. At the same time, she found herself burying her head in a tuff of fur.

"Leave her alone or I'll make you," he growled at Arrogan.

"Oh, look who's talking? The Ultimate Lifeform risking his life to protect his girlfriend," said Arrogan.

"This would've been a lot easier if you and Runa accept your defeats and our missions will be completed," said Savvy.

Shadow gave them a meaningful death glare. Mostly in Savvy's direction. "I know what you're going to say, but I keep telling you a hundred times to back off and get over it!"

"Aw, come on, Shadow. I was just teasing you~" Savvy said seductively.

"Tch. You only wish."

Runa's voice was now regained after thinking of something that crossed her mind. And what crossed her mind... was something she should've done a long time ago.

Run gently broke the hug from Shadow, so that she'll rise onto her sitting position. Shadow unwrapped his arms around her and gave her space to rise onto her feet alone.

And so, she did.

Then, the next thing she could do... was to have a discussion about Shadow.

"Listen to me. The three of you," she said, her eyes making contact with Bianca, Aleyah and Savvy. "Just because you have a crush on Shadow doesn't necessarily mean you have to make him like you back. The first step of gaining his trust is not that easy. You just have to earn his respect first, then you'll see what Shadow thinks of you as your friendship goes on."

She turned to Aleyah.

"Aleyah. You already know what mom said about earning Shadow's trust. But please, don't go too far when it comes to pursuing him. Rather, give him personal space and take the time to respect his privacy and earn it. Once you earn his respect, get along as just friends. As your friendship goes on, you'll see what Shadow thinks of you so far. And if Shadow thinks of you as just a friend, then so be it." Then, her head gestured to both Bianca and Savvy. "Same goes with you, Bianca and Savvy."

Then, to her surprise, Aleyah turned her head to Reuben. "Reuben. Go live your life and do the same as Runa said to me. Except that you should not send her creeps and fear inside of her. Rather, you should respect her privacy, earn her trust and be friends with her. Runa's love life may be different, but either way, you have to respect her and her journeyed life. Do you understand?"

Reuben nodded in response. "I understand."

That's when Runa's head turned to Arrogan. But just as either of them were about to speak up, Arrogan moved to their direction to pounce on them, but he ended up being electrocuted by Langua instead. His body collapsed to the ground lying unconscious.

"It looks like we don't have to deal with him anymore," she said.

"Yes. We should all keep him locked in the most secured cell," says Comono.

"Right," said Whisper agreeing with him.

"This mission is totally awesome!" said Tangle jumping up high for joy on her tail as a spring. "Let's do it again!"

This caused Aleyah to let out a laugh. "Maybe on our next adventure, Tangle!"

"Obviously!"

Once Aleyah turned to Runa, she couldn't help, but run in her direction and hugged her tightly, but not too tight. "I'm so sorry, sis! I should've listened to you, your chao friends and our mom from the very beginning!"

As usual, Runa was tensed when she felt two arms wrapped around her. Then, in a split second, she let out a normal chuckle and hugged her back. "It's alright. At least you learned your lesson."

That's when in a few seconds, the two girls pulled away from the hug. That's when the five chao engulfed her in a hug. Not too tight to not make her catch a breath, but rather, they gave her a loving caring hug.

"Chao-chao."

In a split second, Runa immediately wrapped her arms around them in return. "Aw, you guys. I missed you, too."

That's when they all broke away from the hug. Then, it was Whisper's turn to get involved.
"You okay now?" she asked Runa.

"I am, Whisper. I really am," answered Runa smiling at her.

Now, it was Whisper's turn to stretch out a smile on her face.

"Chao-chao-chao, chao-chao-chao-chao?" Shania asked Aleyah.

Aleyah then, turned her head to Shania in confusion. "Huh?"

"Shania is asking which boy has captured your heart now since you learned your lesson," Runa translated.

That's when Aleyah let out a few moments of laughter after she had heard Shania's question. "Did you really think I'd be that quick to have a crush on someone after moving on from my obsessive life? Well, to answer your question, whoever my heart truly chooses."

"Chao-chao!" said Bearace.

"I'm assuming he said, 'that's good?'" Aleyah asked Runa.

Runa let out a light chuckle. "Exactly, Aleyah. Exactly."

Shadow was seen standing there with his arms crossed, watching a moment between Runa and a few others. His eyes were full of conflict and wonder after he had heard all this about a scientific experiment being created to connect with him no matter what anyone else says about him and to always be there for him and connect him to others.
He hesitated whether or not he should help Runa fulfill her real purpose in life. Behind him, Rouge was the first to notice him as she stepped forward to have a conversation with him, but she gave him personal space as she respected his reputation.

"Everything okay, Shadow?"

"I'm fine" was all he could answer.

"I noticed something's up with you. It's probably because of what you have heard from Comono."

"Yeah," he replied. You can see his eyes closed indicating he's still in conflict to choose whether he had to let his guard down and help Runa fulfill her purpose or pretend nothing happened.

"My scanners state you have been conflicted," said Omega.

"Give me a moment to think about it," Shadow told Rouge and Omega.

They both nodded in response as they gave him some space to think of a certain thing he had in mind.

Tangle then, spotted the real amulet laying on the ground in his northwest corner. She walked towards it and picked it up. Now, her eyes made contact with the amulet for a bit before turning to the others.

"Seems like Savvy, Bianca and Reuben have moved on to a better life."

"I figured that out. Due to her reaction after you and Runa told them what's best for Shadow," said Comono. "Shock, then realization."

"And if that means they're gone..." Rouge said finally in her teasing tone. Her eyes were directly on Shadow in the corner of her eye.

Shadow turned his head away from Rouge in denial knowing what she means.

"...well, you know what I mean."

"Yeah. I think I know what you mean," said Aleyah, then her head turned to Langua and Comono. "You might wanna use some time to renew this place."

"Of course. This is our home. Oh, and by the way, you can keep the amulet," said Langua.

Runa, Aleyah, Comono, the five chao and a few others turned to Langua in confusion. "What?"

"I insist. I now know the reason why the professor asked for our amulet."

Runa smiled humbly. "Thank you, Langua."

"No, thank you. You have made me realized the real reason. And just remember. Be careful with it, for it is our most sacred artifact."

"Of course."

With that being said by Runa, Langua handed her the new and real amulet. Once Runa took it from her hands, she parted the clips on the chains away and wrapped it around her neck. Then, she clipped the two parts together again completing the process of wearing her amulet.

"So, now that you have your real amulet, let's get back to the Restoration HQ! Everyone's waiting for us!" Aleyah told the others except Langua and Comono.

Tangle let out a light chuckle, "Right. Jewel will worry about us if we don't come back for long."
Laughter erupted from the small group after Tangle's words were heard.

Later on...

While they're walking their way back to the Restoration HQ, Runa saw Shadow walking away right in the corner of her eye. Again, she wondered if she should go talk to him, now that Aleyah has moved on from her obsession with the latter himself.

Runa was now far from Aleyah and the group's distance.

Then, for the first time ever, Aleyah noticed how Runa was staring at Shadow. But a few moments later, instead of linginr forward to pull her arm with her, she decided to watch how the moment passes naturally.

Next Chapter: An Epilogue to "Secrets of the Amulet." Plus, Runa's full backstory is finally revealed.