Shadow the Hedgehog: A Rogue’s Adventure

 

By Master hunter

 

 

As soon as I played the new Shadow the Hedgehog game I wanted to do a fic of it. Its so plot heavy yet confusing, I’m going to try and make some sense of it. Firstly goodbye set system; I’ll be doing the levels how I think they should appear, not following one of the 300 or so paths in the game.

 

Also a first for me (well for a very long time, I used to write like this a lot), this is first person from Shadow’s perspective. Therefore many scenes that don’t actually involve Shadow will not appear, and some lines will be more how Shadow (or to be more accurate how I) remember it. They will also be written to make more sense.

 

One last thing about the fic. This is Shadow remembering stuff most of the time, not me telling the story in third person. Therefore some parts may be left unexplained and really up to you. For Example, how Shadow loses his memory considering he regains it in one of my fics.

 

Keep checking my Blog and DA.

 

Character copyright:

 

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Cream, Big, Shadow, E-123 Omega, Rouge, Vector, Espio, Charmy, Metal Sonic, Black Doom, Doom’s Eye, The Black Arms, The GUN Commander, Dr. Eggman and anything else from the games I've forgotten about are all copyright SEGA

 

Joz the bat aka Master hunter, Sapphire the bat, Ruby Rose, Emerald the Chameleon, Diamond the Rabbit, The Annemuir, GASH, The Brotherhood of Ultimate Lifeforms, and anything else that’s usually associated with me are all copyright me. Just in case I throw a 3 Shadows ref in there.

 

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Shadow the Hedgehog: A Rogue’s Adventure

 

By Master hunter

 

Chapter 1 - The Alien Invasion Begins

 

That Blue Hedgehog doesn’t get all the glory you know. Good old Sonic, everybody loves him, well except for The Doctor. But there was this one time where I alone had to save the world, even though I had no intention of doing so. This is the tale of my adventure and a rediscovery of who I am.

 

My name is Shadow the Hedgehog and my tale starts with me alone with only one memory. I don’t recall how I lost my memory again; no-one has been able to give me a straight answer. I just woke up to find myself alone, wandering the world searching for something to remind me of my old life.

 

I arrived at the field outside of Westopolis. I kept asking myself who I was. All I could remember was my name and a horrific image of a young blond haired woman getting shot. I guess I was with her as we ran down the corridors of some space station. I could see the Earth out of the windows to my left surrounded by the blackness of space. Behind us were some soldiers. The girl looks at me as a soldier pulls out a gun and fires. There the memory stops.

 

“What does this memory mean?” I asked myself out loud.

 

Suddenly the sky went red with dark clouds forming above the city. My eyes followed the dark sky formation and saw lots of strange creatures fall from the sky. I decided it was none of my concern despite hearing many screams. They were just humans after all.

 

I turned my back on the chaos happening in the city to find a deep chilling voice cry out to me.

 

“Shadow the Hedgehog”, said the voice.

 

I turned to see a ghostly apparition of a weird creature. It wore a long cloak lined with some comet shaped medallions on a small chain. It sort of had three eyes, though only one had a pupil. Its head spiked out horizontally making sort of a T-shape. It didn’t appear to have any legs.

 

“Who are you and how do you know my name?” I asked suspiciously.

“Shadow, the day of reckoning is upon us. Bring me The Seven Chaos Emeralds as promised”, said the figure.

 

It then disappeared, so I called out for it to wait but it was gone. When he mentioned the Emeralds I remembered what they were and more importantly what they could be used for. I then realised that if he knew my name perhaps he knew more about me and could help me discover who I really am. I raced off to the city, questioning whether or not to get the Emeralds for this stranger, or go for them myself.

 

Regardless I needed the Emeralds and I could sense one of them was in the city. I couldn’t explain it but I felt something call out to me. I played back what the figure had said to me earlier.

 

“Promise time huh? Well maybe it’s time to fulfil this promise”, I said as I jumped down from the rooftop into the city. It was pure utter chaos. Lasers struck the ground randomly around me with only a quick highlight of light given you any sign of an attack. I saw a soldier attack a bat like creature before a laser caused an explosion knocking him off his feet.

 

He dropped his gun which I picked up, deciding it could be useful. Soon afterwards I came across the Blue Hedgehog Sonic. As soon as I saw him I remembered his personality. A boring pure speed hero that just loves the thrill of adventure at high speed. Nothing seemed to get to him though; it was the one aspect I admired. He did what he felt was needed and never questioned it. I sort of envied his one dimensional approach to life.

 

“Hey Shadow long time no see buddy”, said Sonic.

“Hmm, Sonic. Should’ve expected to see you here”, I said.

“These Black creatures are destroying everything, they need to be stopped. Think you could lend a hand?” asked Sonic.

 

I ran on ahead and Sonic followed for some reason. He gave me advice on how to destroy the black creatures but I didn’t care. We then came across a cage guarded by some soldiers fighting a big black creature. This one was much larger and looked like a very muscular man.

 

“We have secured the Chaos Emerald. But we’re under attack”, I heard a soldier say.

 

A CHAOS EMERALD! I ran straight to the cage and demanded they opened it. Sonic meanwhile attacked the Black creature. The soldiers ignored my command and attacked me. I avoided their pathetic gun fire and fired back at them.

 

“Hey Shadow what are you doing? They’re on our side!” said Sonic.

 

The cage fell and I took the Emerald. It was the Green Chaos Emerald. For some reason I felt connected to that one more than the others.

 

“Listen Sonic I’m not here to help you. I just want the Emerald. If anything gets in my way then…well you’ve seen the result. They shouldn’t have fired on me”, I said

“Whatever Shadow. Just don’t attack the GUN soldiers”, said Sonic.

 

As soon as he said GUN I remembered who these Soldiers were. GUN was the Earth’s Government. They protected the people but they didn’t always do what was right. I could see why Sonic wanted to protect them though. He needed them to help him fight the Black creatures.

 

I ventured onwards to find a floating eyeball with 5 thick blood red tendrils.

 

“You’re late Shadow” it called out to me.

“Come again?” I asked.

“This is my third eye. I have sent it so I can assist you as you help us”, said the eye.

“And you are?” I asked.

“Hrrmm? What is the matter Shadow? Have you injured head in some way? I am black doom, I lead the black arms now attacking these pathetic humans”, said the eye.

“Oh right. Oh of course, this is your army attacking the human’s right”, I said.

“Yes, now come and assist your Black Arm brethren. There is still a chaos emerald in this city but first we much take care of the human resistance”, said Doom’s eye.

“Hey you, call off your army and go back to wherever it was you came from slime”, said Sonic

“More resistance. Shadow take care of this pest”, said Doom’s eye.

“There’s another emerald here huh? Screw this I don’t want any part in this war”, I said running off ahead.

 

I looked back to find Sonic attacking Doom’s eye who flew into the air and chased after me. Sonic soon followed. Both offered me conflicting advice but I tried to ignore both of them. I found the emerald attacking anyone who attacked me. Black doom was pissed off at me and appeared in front of me.

 

“Shadow you deliberately disobeyed me”, said Black Doom angrily

“Disobeyed you? I answer to no-one fool. Now you’re going to tell me about my past now”, I said, “I have two Chaos Emeralds already. Nothing’s going to stand in my way”

“You ignorant fool! How dare you insult me! Because of you we have to leave this place”

“Shadow come on, they’re trying to flee. We have to destroy their tank”, said Sonic appeared behind us.

“So you have chosen to side with the humans, so be it”, said Black Doom.

“Hey, I’m not siding with anyone”, I said, “Now tell me about my past Doom!” I said angrily.

 

Black Doom disappeared and I quickly realised if I was going to discover the truth I needed to take down that tank. That way the cornered rat will have no other choice but to co-operate

 

“Come on then Sonic. I still have questions he needs to answer”, I said.

“Cool. Here we go”, said Sonic.

 

Being blessed with the ability to run at the speed of sound it didn’t take us long to catch up with the tank. Once again Doom’s eye joined us.

 

“Shadow, the human resistance has been stronger than we first thought. I demand you leave us alone and flee the city with us”, said Doom’s eye.

“How dare you demand I do anything! You are not my master, I do not owe you anything”, I replied.

“Enough of this nonsense Shadow”, said Doom’s eye even more angrily

“No, you will tell me who I am; you will tell me my past. I will not let you escape before you do”, I said

“We do not have time for this. Urgh! Try to stop us then Hedgehog”, said Doom’s eye.

“Now you’re talking. Lets smash that thing up”, said Sonic

 

We chased down the tank ignoring the continuing war around us. We attacked the tank with everything we had but it just seemed to bounce of a shield. Then the normally blue shield turned green.

 

“It’s working Shadow. It’s not invincible after all”, said Sonic.

 

I nodded and continued attacking it. Eventually it fell, crashing into the ground. The smoke cleared to reveal Doom’s Eye waiting for us.

 

“Ha Ha! I expected nothing less of you Shadow. But enough is enough”, said Doom’s eye.

“Indeed. Tell me what I need to know. I don’t want to hurt you”, I said angrily.

“Bah! This little hiccup will not stop us achieving our ultimate goal. Black Bull I summon you. Assist us in our escape”, said Doom’s eye.

 

The ugliest monster ever appeared in front of us. It was a huge, fat creature that somehow flew with tiny wings. Its ugly face was just asking to be hit.

 

“Alright, more action”, said Sonic.

“Why won’t you just tell me the truth?” I screamed angrily

 

The beast fired a huge fireball at me which I quickly dodged. I jumped up, gained some height using some of the Black bull’s minions and smacked the ugly thing right in the face. It seemed to shriek in pain before running off to cry. It was as weak as a child, what was Black doom thinking?

 

It soon turned to face us again and in a rage created shockwaves of fire. I jumped each one but they weren’t easy to avoid. One of the shockwaves struck a gun carrying minion and I picked his gun up when he dropped it. Once in the air I used Chaos Control to freeze time and fired all the ammo the gun had. When time resumed the Black bull fell to the ground. It was nothing compared to me.

 

I was then surprised to find Black Doom waiting for me.

 

“Shadow, our troops have left this area for now. We’ve had to re-adjust our plans. I have a new task for you”, said Black Doom.

“Haven’t you got it through your thick skull creep, I listen to no-one”, I said

 

I should’ve taken his request more serious because he roared in rage before warping me and knocking me out.

 

“I will show you what happens to those who disobey me Shadow”, I heard Black Doom say before I lost consciousness.

 

I awoke on the grounds of some ruins sitting inside a giant canyon. I was no longer in Westopolis and Sonic was nowhere to be found. I slowly got back on my feet, still a little sore from Black Doom’s sudden attack. I scanned my surroundings and for the first time felt impressed by Black Doom’s power.

 

“Urgh! Maybe I shouldn’t have underestimated him. For now I’ll play along with him and stay on his good side, yes that should get him to reveal something to me”, I said to myself.

 

I decided then to side with Black Doom. I needed his power and knowledge if I was to find the truth. I ventured on and came across Knuckles. He called out and asked for my help. He said the Black creatures were here also as was GUN’s soldiers. I had hoped I was out of that war zone but I guess I wasn’t going to get out of it that easily.

 

I ignored Knuckles even though for some reason he continued to follow me. Doom’s eye reappeared ready to instruct me.

 

“Good you’re awake Shadow. These ruins hide our most devious secret. Your life-force should activate the power crystals in these ruins and our true power will be revealed. Do not fail me this time Shadow”, said Doom’s eye.

“Ok Black Doom I will side with you for now, providing you tell me something about my past later on”, I said.

“You have my word Shadow. Once we have gathered our full strength I will reveal as much as I can”, said Doom’s eye.

“Wait! Shadow! You’re on their side? What the hell happened to you?” asked Knuckles.

 

I took a moment to consider my reply. Knuckles wasn’t really that much of a friend, he was more Sonic’s. Even so I didn’t want to hurt him either. Knuckles was a decent echidna, but right now he wasn’t helping my cause. Like with Sonic all it took was to see him and my memories came flooding back.

 

“I’m sorry Knuckles but I have my reasons for siding with the Black Arms. Stay out of my way”, I said.

 

Knuckles froze in confusion. I don’t think he understood how I could help them at all but I didn’t feel like explaining. I ran off ahead, attacking anything that attacked me. Sometimes that included the Black Creatures which angered Black Doom but I felt they were getting in my way.

 

I succeeded in activating all the crystals and the ground began to shake.

 

“Well done Shadow. Now witness the Black Arms’ true might”, said Black Doom laughing.

 

I looked down from a higher platform to see Knuckles fighting some of the Black Creatures. All the others had left the area and soon he had nothing left to fight. He and the GUN soldiers watched on as the ruins began to fly in the air. Earthquakes knocked Knuckles and the Soldiers off their feet and over into the dark abyss. I saw Knuckles gliding and clinging onto the Canyon walls.

 

Knuckles was safe but those pathetic human soldiers fell into the abyss. The Canyon was now bare as the ruins became a fleet of flying battleships for the Black Arms.

 

“Now we attack”, said Black Doom.

Chapter 2 - Data Corruption

 

As the flying ruin battleship headed towards more populated areas Black Doom summoned me to the main bridge area. I arrived there to find a strategic master ready to reveal his plan.

 

“Shadow it’s about time you showed up. A good leader knows when he has made a mistake and we certainly made a mistake”, said Black Doom.

“Stop! Just tell me about my past already”, I shouted at him.

“All in good time. For now know this though, you are one of my children”, he said.

 

I froze in confusion. I stood gormless wondering what he meant.

 

“The same blood runs through our veins can’t you feel it”, he said.

 

I could. It was a weird sensation and somehow I could tell from that alone that he was telling the truth.

 

“I will explain more later. We underestimated the human’s defences and as such lost many of our brethren. However I have noticed a common weakness through all dominant life on this planet. This is the reliance on Technology. Many important systems for storing information all have one flaw. It exists in a world where most could not tread, until recently”, said Black Doom.

“I think I see where this is going. You’re talking about computer data and Cyberspace”, I said.

“Precisely. I will warp you into Cyberspace where you must destroy the human government’s main systems from within. This will send the human government into Chaos and will make them easy targets to overcome”, said Black Doom.

“Understood”, I said.

“Right then, let’s not waste anymore time”, said Black Doom.

 

I was warped into Cyberspace, amongst the digital circuits of GUN’s computerised information storage. I felt weird being inside what was essentially data, electricity and light. I felt lighter and could travel along streams of electricity. The sensation of travelling at those high speeds was incredible.

 

I ventured on with Doom’s Eye at my side guiding me. GUN tried their best to hold the Black arms and myself at bay but it was no use. Soon I came across Rouge. She was a rather sexy young lady, though the concept of True Love was something I never really understood. I only ever cared about Maria and I lost her.

 

She said GUN sent her to find a Chaos Emerald. Result! Another Emerald to take as I destroy this place for the Black arms. She assisted me as I travelled through the digital realm. Using Light and Electricity to get across traps and long distances, we eventually came across the Chaos Emerald.

 

I ran to grab it but Rouge beat me to it.

 

“Sorry Sugar but this Emerald is mine”, said Rouge.

“You sneaky little….” I said.

“Never mind that Emerald Shadow, we can get it later. We have a job to do”, said Doom’s eye

“I thought you wanted me to get the Emeralds Doom?” I asked.

“All in good time. First we must send the humans into chaos”, replied Doom’s Eye.

 

I nodded and continued onto the core. The human’s weak security robots were nothing and using their own weapons I destroyed the core. The place suddenly shook like crazy as if there was an Earthquake. Doom’s eye had disappeared leaving me alone in this collapsing hellhole.

 

I somehow managed to find a warp hole out of there and found myself in a computer room. It had been long since deserted so I made my way out of the building I was in. I ended up outside in a large military base. Surrounding the base was nothing but Dense Jungle. Throughout the base ran rivers of toxic green slime.

 

It was an ugly, smelly place but oddly it felt familiar. The Name Prison Island soon came into my head as did another memory. It started in Darkness with a familiar voice saying the letters of Maria’s name out loud. I felt energy return to me and binds that had held me were released. I awoke from a prison to find myself in a large room and beneath me was a fat moustached man in a walking machine.

 

“Sonic! Are you trying to ruin my plans again”, said the man.

 

It was the Doctor. The ones Sonic’s friends referred to as Eggman but I paid him more respect. He was highly intelligent and hell bent on world domination. Something told me he was also in a way family, but at the time I couldn’t remember why.

 

“Wait a minute, you’re not Sonic, this is impossible”, said the Doctor.

 

And that’s when the memory faded. I remembered that was the time when the Doctor released me from Suspended Animation. How I got there I didn’t remember but he freed me and back then I owed him.

 

I then remembered what happened in GUN’s Digital Circuits. How Black Doom just left me to make my own way out. He didn’t care about me but that was expected. At the moment I was alone again and as I remembered the Doctor again I figured he might know something too. Perhaps it was time to hunt him down.

 

Suddenly a bee flew into my face.

 

“Shadow! Shadow! Shadow! Oh I some glad to see you”, said the Bee.

 

It was Charmy Bee. An annoying hyperactive insect that I really didn’t have time for.

 

“Urgh! How could things get any worse?” I said softly

“Vector told me to find five top secret discs but what’s a top secret disc? Do you know?” asked Charmy, “He said we needed them to enter Eggman’s Computer System.”

 

The Doctor! I instantly decided that helping the little runt may not be such a bad idea. Together we hunted down the discs as we got caught up yet again in the war. I was annoyed, especially when we met up with Doom’s Eye again and he started ordering me around.

 

“Screw you Doom. After the way you left me there to die why should I help you?” I asked him.

“I’m sorry Shadow but the safety of my Third eye is more important than you”, it replied.

“Well I’m sick of being your puppet”, I said to him.

 

Doom’s eye tried to convince me to return to the battleship with him but I wanted to pursue the Doctor. Charmy and I found the discs and met up with Vector and Espio, the rest of Team Chaotix. They were a bunch of detectives that never seemed to catch a break.

 

After they tried to hack into The Doctor’s system using the terminal I used to escape GUN’s computer system, I smashed the panel which opened a warp hole. I jumped in and was taken to The Doctor’s Mad Matrix.

 

This Cyberspace world consisted of 4 massive towers, each housing its own data terminal. Espio wanted to hack into each terminal to steal data. That sounded like a good idea; maybe the Doctor had something on me hidden within this Mad Matrix of his.

 

Doom’s Eye caught up with me and asked me to set off some bombs to destroy the place. He said that the Scientist was a liability and this was a good chance to neutralise him. I didn’t care. We stole the data from the terminals to find the doctor waiting for us in a huge machine.

 

“You little thieves. Stealing my precious data. How dare you?” said the Doctor.

“Ah Doctor! I need to ask you something”, I said.

“Shadow, Espio prepare to face the might of the Egg Breaker”, said the Doctor.

“Wait! I need to know more about my past”, I said in a panic.

“You haven’t got a past Shadow. And in a second you won’t have a future either”, said the Doctor.

 

The Doctor attacked us using a variety of attacks. Usually he would fire a barrage of black energy orbs at us or smash the ground with his giant spiked hammer. The latter would create a shockwave with enough force to seriously hurt us. To make matters worse he had summoned some robots to assist him.

 

Though to our advantage the guns these robots brought with them gave me the edge I needed to rip his machine apart. I destroy the robots and used their weapons on the Doctor. The machine fell and the doctor fled before I had the chance to speak with him.

 

“Alright! We’ve got what we came for, let’s head back”, said Espio

 

Doom’s Eye appeared and stopped me in my tracks.

 

“Shadow a situation has developed we need you”, said Doom’s Eye

“Shadow, you’re helping that Black army?” asked Espio.

“The foolish Scientist is attacking our battleship. You must return with me at once”, said Doom’s Eye.

 

I knew the Doctor had escaped me and this was my best chance to confront him again. I Nodded to Doom’s Eye and he warped me to the Battleship. There they were a fleet of The Doctor’s battleships.

 

“Shadow glad you decided to help us again”, said Black Doom, “But I demand you stop being such a rogue. You should be assisting your brethren”

“Can it Doom! I need to speak with the Doctor”, I said before running out.

“I need you to stop those ships Shadow. DO NOT LET ME DOWN!” shouted Black Doom.

 

I ignored his plea and headed straight for the flagship. Venturing through the Black Arm’s battleship felt the same as when I was activating it back at Glyphic Canyon. This time however there was nothing but clouds beneath us and falling simply wasn’t an option.

 

I managed to knock out one of the Black Arm’s Black Hawks to take me to the Flagship however I should’ve destroyed the cannons first, as one of them managed to hit me and sent my Black Hawk diving into the ground beneath us.

 

It fell to the ground at an incredible speed and while I did my best to slow down my fall I eventually crashed into the ground. While it has been daylight during my race to The Doctor’s Battleship it was Dusk when I awoke. I quickly gathered up the two Chaos Emeralds I had dropped and sprung back to my feet.

 

Rubbing my head in pain I thought about all the people I had met so far. Why couldn’t one give me a straight answer on my past? I ventured through a forest like area; it didn’t seem familiar to me at all.

 

Suddenly the area went all red and I was standing in Space.

 

“What the?” I said out loud.

“Shadow I realise you won’t assist us until I show you this. Let me tell you a little something about your past”, said a familiar voice.

 

It was Black Doom who had just appeared behind me. He pointed at a space station in orbit around the Earth. It looked so familiar yet I couldn’t quite identify it.

 

“This is the Space Colony ARK 50 years ago”, said Black Doom.

 

I looked down towards the windows of the space station. For some reason without moving they suddenly got bigger. I saw myself running from some GUN soldiers with that Girl, just like in my memories.

 

I suddenly remembered who she was, my darling Maria. She lived on the Space Colony ARK, I could never remember why. She was the Granddaughter of the main research scientist there called Gerald Robotnik. It was all coming back to me.

 

“Let me show you why you cannot trust the humans”, said Black Doom.

 

I continued to watch on as one of the GUN soldiers fired at Maria. I closed my eyes at that point. I couldn’t bear to watch.

 

“Shadow?” said a familiar female voice

 

I keep my eyes closed.

 

“Shadow? Come on we have to help them”, said the voice again.

 

I opened my eyes to find myself inside ARK once more. In front of me was Maria. Young, vibrant and cheerful she tugged at my arm.

 

“Who do we have to help?” I asked

“The hurt scientists silly. Come on, they can’t last for long at this rate”, said Maria.

 

This was the start of a memory I wish never really existed. The memory of THAT day.

Chapter 3 - I will get my Revenge

 

I had forgotten how huge ARK was, oh wait I guess that’s not all I forgot, silly me. Anyway Maria showed me the Heal unit, Gerald’s most famous creation besides me. She told me these quite heavy capsules can completely heal any injured person. Together we helped heal many of the researchers, for some reason I felt compelled to help them.

 

Soon however we met GUN soldiers. One of them brought a radio to his mouth and started to use it.

 

“We’ve found a strange looking Hedgehog and a young teenage girl. Please advise”, said the soldier.

“Did I not make myself clear, destroy them all!” said a female voice back over the radio.

“But they seem innocent. Maybe not the Hedgehog but this girl can’t be more than sixteen”, said the Soldier.

 

We didn’t stick around waiting for him to shoot us. I pulled Maria through the corridors, hiding from the soldiers. It seemed like a desperate escape for the two of us even though she insisted we helped them. I met up with Doom’s eye, I think here only I could see it.

 

“Shadow look around. These humans seem to want to hurt everyone here, even the innocent. Do you want to know why? To save their reputation”, said Doom’s Eye.

“Shadow please don’t hurt these Soldiers. I know they want to kill us but they are still people. We must lead by example”, said Maria.

 

I looked deep into Maria’s eyes and I felt warmth in the centre of my stomach. I felt like I belonged to her, and I would do anything to make her happy. I kept running with her, trying to find somewhere safe or a safe way to escape. We passed the escape pod room so many times but she insisted we did not leave until we helped everyone.

 

We reached a large room with a huge tank inside. In front of it was a Blue bat.

 

“Dammit, I can’t be seen with you and we have visitors. Quickly dispose of them”, said the bat before disappearing.

“Understood. Heavy Dog activated, preparing to take care of the girl and the Hedgehog”, said a soldier in the huge tank.

 

I pushed Maria out of the way, doing my best to keep her from getting hurt. She winced a little from the pain but I think she understood why I did it.

 

“See the humans, corrupted by their greed, willing to kill another, using pathetic excuses for justification. They are indeed a stupid race who are heading straight for their own destruction”, said Doom’s Eye.

 

What he said had some truth to it. But it didn’t matter. This Heavy Dog was standing in my way, and nothing stands in my way.

 

“There’s no time for games”, I said before rushing to strike the Heavy Dog.

 

It was tougher than it looked. I kept hitting it with my homing attack but nothing seemed to damage it. However I did manage to smash off a rocket launcher and I used it straight away, targeting the cockpit. After hitting the cockpit with several missiles the soldier cried out that he didn’t think he could last much longer.

 

The Heavy Dog charged what the solider called “The Particle Beam Cannon”. It fired and scraped one of my spines, leaving a burn on the tip. This sent me over the edge.

 

“For that I’ll show you no more mercy”, I said in anger.

 

I fell onto the cockpit and stared the soldier in the face. I felt my anger completely consume me and with the two emeralds I had I fired a Chaos Blast. A Huge wave of energy came from my body, blasting out in all directions. The Heavy Dog couldn’t take it and crashed into the wall.

 

I looked over to Maria, still filled with rage, and saw fear in her eyes. Immediately the evil power faded and she began to smile. Especially when she saw the Soldier inside make it out of the cockpit OK. I raced over to him as he crawled on the floor, alive but ready to pass out.

 

“Who was that Blue Bat?” I asked him.

“Sa….Sa….” the soldier stuttered.

 

Suddenly a GUN troop burst into the room. In front of the main entrance stood Maria ready to leave. One of the Soldiers pulled out his gun and aimed it at her. I raced towards him but they were too far away. Instead I saw her gasp as she turned to me with a look of fear.

 

And then it happened. I closed my eyes as the inevitable gunshot sounded. I had failed to protect Maria again, even though it was only a memory. I asked myself whether ignoring the soldier and racing straight for the escape pods could’ve saved her. I questioned my priorities but in the end there was only one real truth.

 

It was the humans fault. And I will have my revenge.

 

I opened my eyes to find myself in a deserted city. Not just any city, this was Central City, home of the President. Behind me was an army of Black Arm Soldiers and beside me was Black Doom.

 

“Do you see now? The humans must pay for what they did to you. They sought to destroy you and they did. They feared you so much that when they finally captured you they imprisoned you in suspended animation. You became a shell of your former self and it’s all because of them”, said Black Doom.

“It was all because of them. Maria’s Death, Gerald’s crippling insanity, my memory loss and imprisonment. They will pay for what they’ve done to me”, I said in anger

“Good Shadow. This is what the humans call Central City. Planted around this area are large bombs of our design that the human resistance have managed to secure. We don’t have much time, we must regain possession of the bombs and destroy this city”, said Black Doom.

“One city will not be enough”, I said.

“I know. But this will be a good enough start. The human leader called The President is still here inside the city. If we’re quick enough we can take out many human lives including The President”, said Black Doom.

“Understood”, I said

 

I ran into the heart of the city where I came across Sonic, Tails and Knuckles. Together they called themselves the Sonic Heroes. They soon became a liability, an annoying one at that.

 

“Hey it’s Shadow. Come on Pal we have to take care of these bombs the Black Arms have left around the city”, said Sonic

“GUN have captured the larger ones, now we must neutralise the smaller ones”, said Knuckles.

“Make sure you suck them up into this special gun. Those Black Arms have actually helped us this time”, said Tails presenting me with a special vacuuming weapon.

 

I began to walk away from them when Knuckles shouted at me.

 

“So you’ve really decided to side with them now. I thought maybe you had lost you mind back at Glyphic Canyon”, he said.

“Lost my mind?” I laughed, “You have no idea. But thanks to Black Doom I have recovered some of it. The Humans will pay for what they did to me!”

“Oh man you must’ve really taken some knock to the head. Don’t you remember what Maria asked you to….” Said Sonic.

“How dare you speak her name faker! Even before Black Doom came to me I remembered one thing, the Humans shooting her”, I interrupted back

 

We both stared each other before Sonic bowed his head and walked away.

 

“Come on guys, Shadow has his own demons he has to take care of”, said Sonic

“But Sonic, shouldn’t we?” asked Tails.

“No, this is his problem and he’s made it clear he doesn’t want our help. Besides we have more pressing matters to take care of”, said Knuckles.

“Right, here we go”, said Sonic grabbing his two team-mates before speeding to the nearest bombs.

 

I didn’t know what to think. Here I just threatened them and they’ve just left me to uncover the truth on my own. Should I be angry that they weren’t willing to help me discover? Or pleased that they had realised it was none of their concern? Nether the less they knew something and had refused to tell me. This angered me even more.

 

I should’ve known that alone I would be no match for the Sonic Heroes. A great warrior knows his limits and fighting all 3 of them would be foolish. They prevented us from blowing up the bombs. Black doom was furious.

 

“We failed. How could we have failed?” screamed Black Doom in rage.

“They are the world’s greatest heroes Doom and together they had far superior strength, speed and resources”, I said, “But I have a plan”

 

Indeed I did. Being back on ARK I regained my memories relating to Gerald’s most deadly weapon. Aboard ARK was a cannon capable of destroying planets. Sonic had managed to destroy it before but it could always be repaired. I began to tell him all about it and before long Black Doom was laughing again.

 

“Excellent Shadow. Ok then to ARK”, said Black Doom.

 

Within second I was standing in space next to Black Doom looking at ARK. A Black Hawk flew towards us and Black Doom told me to stand on it.

 

“You know what you must do Shadow. Secure the ARK and the Eclipse Cannon”, said Black Doom.

 

The Black Hawk took me to the area just outside of ARK. I needed to destroy the defence nodes scattered around ARK. GUN maintained a presence here and there was some strange water creatures there too.

 

It didn’t take me long to secure ARK and I immediately made my way to the Cannon’s Core. The Black Arms and the GUN robots neutralised each other. Black Doom entered the area pleased with me. I placed the two Emeralds I had in the cannon.

 

“This cannon has the power to destroy the entire planet but it needs all seven chaos emeralds to do so. However two should be enough to destroy a city”, I said.

“Is there any way to send a message to Earth?” asked Black Doom.

“That won’t be a problem”, I said fixing it so Black Doom could make his speech.

“Excellent, time to strike”, said Black Doom, “Target Central City”

 

I did so as Black Doom began his speech.

 

Citizens of Earth, behold the power of the Black Arms. Surrender your planet to us now or prepare to be destroyed. For those sceptical of our power take a look at Central City.

 

I charged the cannon and fired straight at The President’s home. The Green beam struck the building and created a massive energy wave that destroyed everything. I could taste the fear coming from every person on Earth. For some reason it didn’t feel good even though it seemed to be exactly what I wanted.

 

“Hmm, yes I can feel their fear”, said Black Doom, “We have the upper hand now, time to make our final strike”

“Hold on, how do we know they didn’t evacuate the city first?” I asked.

 

Black Doom froze as he thought about what I had said. I used the computer to find television signals, knowing that what we did would be international news. I soon found a suitable channel

 

This is a recording of what happened to Central City just moments ago. It seems that the Black Aliens have managed to deal a crushing blow to our kind. Fortunately thanks to the aid of the Sonic Heroes most of the people living in Central City have been evacuated, including the President.

 

Here live with us right now are The President, the GUN commander and the Sonic Heroes themselves. Mr President what do you have to say to the Black Aliens.

 

The president began to address the world

 

I urge the people of Earth to fight with us against this Alien Menace. We will never surrender to Black Doom. I urge you all to remain calm. We still have our military strength and the power of the Sonic Heroes on our side.

 

The news reporter asked another question

 

And what of Shadow the Hedgehog sir, do you have any comment.

 

The President replied with

 

I do not know why Shadow has betrayed us, but I remain faithful that Shadow will do the right thing in the end. It wasn’t all that long ago he and Sonic saved the world from tyranny and total annihilation.

 

The GUN commander interrupted

 

Excuse me sir, but I know for a fact that Shadow is a demon sent to destroy us all.

 

Sonic then stood up for me.

 

You’re wrong commander. Shadow is going through a rough time right now. He’s not himself. I know he’s a hero like me.

 

At that moment I smashed the screen in anger. Sonic didn’t understand, neither of them did.

 

“You stupid faker. You made me look like some kind of goody two shoe hero”, I said.

“Hmm, I should stop assuming stuff about him”, said Black Doom under his breath

 

I pretended not to hear that and took the Emeralds from the cannon.

 

“What now Black Doom? I don’t think attacking another city would help us”, I said.

“Indeed. We must find this “President” and capture him Dead or Alive”, said Black Doom.

“Then there’s not a moment to lose. I will get my revenge”, I said angrily.

Chapter 4 - No more life, No more death, somewhere in between

 

As Black Doom scanned the planet for the president we were interrupted by a loud crash. I proceeded to investigate with Doom’s Eye by my side. GUN had responded quickly by sending up a Blue version of the machine I fought 50 years ago.

 

“HQ this is Blue Falcon. Have spotted the target and proceeding to destroy”, said a soldier from the machine.

“Understood, destroy that demon”, said another voice.

 

The only difference I could see this time was that the machine could fly this time, whereas it could only hover before. This made things a little more difficult as I had to climb to the top of the arena at certain intervals. But it fell the same. I smashed off its rocket launchers and used them against it.

 

The missiles smashed into the machine causing more and more damage and soon it just fell back to Earth and exploded. For a moment I felt sorry for the human inside, only for a moment though.

 

“Good work Shadow. We have found the President too. I’m going to warp you there now”, said Black Doom through Doom’s eye.

 

I nodded and found myself in a military base. Then I thought it was some sort of special tunnel that ran from Central City to GUN’s Headquarters, when it was actually a giant blimp flying in the sky, escorted by more ships. There waiting for me was Tails.

 

“Hi Shadow. You going to help us out this time? Sonic and Knuckles are on that ship guarding the President directly. We’re taking it to GUN headquarters”, said Tails.

 

I ignored him and moved on.

 

“Come on Shadow, I know this isn’t you. Help me take out the Black Arm soldiers’ ok?” shouted Tails.

 

I continued to ignore him and grabbed the nearest gun. I followed the heavily armoured ship and sent it down a more dangerous path. I got some good clear shots on the plane like machine and soon saw it start to catch fire and smoke.

 

Later I found myself outside overlooking a long drop. One false step and I was doomed. At that moment I remember thinking that the humans were quite intelligent despite their greed and corruption.

 

I proceeded through the tunnels, ploughing through the wind tunnels and giant armouries. I caught up with what they called the President’s Escape pod and attacked it some more. Its engine’s exploded a little but just as I was about to make the final strike I heard a voice in my head.

 

“Shadow listen to me”, it said

 

I sounded like Gerald and as a closed my eyes I heard him speak to me. It was some sort of memory I had long since forgotten.

 

“Shadow listen, I created you to help people however I needed help from someone. Fifty years from now they will ask you to collect the Chaos Emeralds. You must do this, it is a promise I needed to make to create you”, said Gerald.

 

I opened my eyes to find myself inside GUN’s Headquarters. The Air Fleet had landed and now the Black Arms were making their last assault. I saw the Escape pod land, with two humans helping each other to safety with Sonic and Knuckles following them.

 

“Please Shadow, you must fulfil this promise”, said Gerald.

“I will professor, I will”, I said to myself before proceeding through the base.

 

The more I thought about it the more I left the two armies to fight between themselves. They were still equally matched. The Black Arms had the numbers but GUN had kept their big machines to protect themselves. Yet again both attacked which just enraged me.

 

Later I came across Rouge again. I felt like strangling her for what she did to me back in GUN’s Digital Circuits. Instead I just shouted at her.

 

“HEY! Where’s that Chaos Emerald”, I shouted

“Oh it’s you Shadow. Where do your priorities lie these days? I can’t believe you destroyed Central City with the Eclipse Cannon”, said Rouge

“The humans betrayed me Rouge, and so did you. The Chaos Emeralds belong to me”, I said

“No way. Those Aliens aren’t getting their hands on the Chaos Emerald we have, we need it”, said Rouge.

 

Doom’s eye then appeared.

 

“Excellent Shadow. Now for the finishing blow. We destroy the computer cores here in the base and it’ll become defenceless”, said Doom’s Eye

“You’re siding with this squid thing? Urgh! What happened to the Ultimate Rogues? I know Omega is tracking down Eggman for us, but we used to be a team”, said Rouge

 

She had reminded me of the team but I had more important concerns.

 

“Rouge I need to find the truth”, I said

“I know. But put it this way, have they revealed anything?” asked Rouge.

“Well yes, the showed me how the humans killed Maria in cold blood for their own greed”, I said.

“That it? You don’t remember what Maria asked you to do?” asked Rouge.

 

I froze. It immediately became clear that Doom was deliberately holding back on me.

 

“You held back on me Doom. Why?” I asked.

“It wasn’t important. She asked you to avenge her death, but somehow they froze you and you couldn’t do it”, said Doom’s Eye

“That isn’t true Shadow. He’s only telling you what he wants you to believe”, said Rouge.

 

I felt confused, like at the start. I didn’t know who to trust. Rouge could’ve been lying too, she had deceived me before. But she could’ve been right about Doom, and honestly it sounded like something Doom would do.

 

“I don’t know who to trust. Rouge lead me to this Emerald. If you do I will take it for my own, not for the Black Arms. I promise and you know I always keep my promises”, I said.

 

Rouge took a moment to think about it, but then led the way.

 

“Do not betray us Shadow. You know what happened last time”, said Black Doom.

“Betray you? How do I know you’re not betraying me? All I know is that I need the Emeralds. I am no longer helping you or them”, I said before running off.

 

I could tell Black Doom was angry but at that moment I didn’t care. I raced through the base and collected the Emerald. There I saw an army of GUN soldiers with Sonic and Knuckles

 

“You know what to do Knuckles. You lead this Army and attack the Black Comet while most of their troops are down here”, said Sonic.

“Will do Sonic. But what are you going to do?” asked Knuckles

“The Commander is preparing the Diablon. I will protect him until its up and running and then we’ll join you”, said Sonic, “Time to teach those Black Aliens a lesson. No-one invades Earth without fighting the Sonic Heroes”

“Well well Sonic. How Sneaky. Attacking their home when their back is turned. It’s so unlike you”, I said flipping the Emerald up into the air and grabbing it again.

“Shadow! Please stop this now. Those Aliens aren’t your friends,” said Sonic

“Oh and I suppose you are faker. At the moment I need to hear the truth and no-one is giving me a straight answer. If you attack Black Doom, I will protect him. However I can no longer trust him either”, I said.

 

I looked around and found Black Doom had entered behind me. As did the Diablon.

 

“Now Shadow finish them off or you’ll face my wrath”, said Black Doom

“Well Well Shadow we meet at last. I will destroy you for all those people on ARK and Maria”, said a man inside the Diablon.

“Who are you?” I asked, “And how do you know about Maria? Wait wasn’t it GUN who murdered everyone on ARK? ARGH! I don’t understand”

“Of course you don’t Shadow. But we don’t have time to tell you the truth”, said Sonic, “Commander let’s go and destroy the Black Comet and leave Shadow with his pain for now”

“You are attacking our home, how dare you?” shouted Black Doom in rage, “Come on Shadow you must protect us”

“I don’t know who to trust but for now I can’t let you hurt Black Doom”, I said

 

Black Doom warped me into the Black Comet. I stood on a small platform with a floating disk saucer in front of me. I looked around and found the dark walls really emphasised the Black in Black Comet. There was no floor, just a strange thick liquid with a strange red, purple, black colouring. The smell was quite nice despite others trying to tell me otherwise. Part of me felt like I was home but this was the first time I had entered the Black Comet.

 

Doom’s Eye was right there to greet me and I jumped on the floating disk saucer.

 

“Shadow there’s no time to lose. Destroy all the pathetic humans, eliminate them all from our precious home”, said Doom’s Eye, “That liquid is our life-force; it is fatal to everyone else including yourself. Stay out of it”

 

I didn’t want to risk it; I stayed on the saucer and used them to get past the vast lakes of the strange liquid. The GUN robots had secured some platforms; I smashed one and used its gun against the others. I was in the middle of the war again but I needed the Black Arms and so I helped them.

 

Anything that got in my way was soon destroyed by my hand. I came across Knuckles but I simply ignored him. He was rather mad that I had destroyed so many of the GUN robots that at one point he attacked me directly. Black Doom opened up a warp hole for me which I quickly used to get away. It immediately closed and I was in the Comet’s Core.

 

There I saw Sonic and the GUN Commanders’ huge machine. It was mostly red, with two large arms and no legs. It floated in the air and protected its head with some sort of yellow energy shield. They were advancing to Black Doom who was leading his troops. I had to stop them.

 

“Oi faker! Leave Black Doom alone or face my wrath”, I said.

“No can do Shadow. This war ends now”, said Sonic.

“Yes! Shadow now I can destroy you for what you did on ARK. Feel the might of the Diablon”, said the Commander.

 

I felt a special sort of energy inside the machine, a very familiar energy and I smiled. I knew that thing must’ve been powered by some sort of crystal. But I had to be sure.

 

“That thing’s powered by a Chaos Emerald isn’t it? I’ll tell you what, give me that Emerald and leave now and I promise to spare your life”, I said.

“How did you…? No matter I will avenge the people of ARK”, said the Commander.

“So be it”, I replied

“I can’t believe I’m going to fight you, after all we’ve been through. Very Well Shadow, let me show you why I’m the number one hero”, said Sonic.

 

I jumped at the machine but I merely bounced off it. Direct attacks didn’t seem to work. I tried attacking the head but my jumps did not reach high enough. Sonic bounced into me and sent me flying to the edge of the arena. I sprung back to my feet and made another attempt, this time I bounced off sonic head and I got enough height to hit the head. The Diablon fired a laser but I dodged it and attacked. Using the laser made the machine drop its shields and I managed to smash the head and do some damage.

 

I had found its weak spot but there was much more to this Diablon that I first though. The Commander had charged a massive weapon that created a dome of energy. Unprepared it hit me and knocking me on my back. I started to breath more heavily and sweat. The humans had made quite a weapon.

 

Regardless I kept attacking and managed to destroy some of the jets. This made it easier to hit the head but Sonic proved to be a massive annoyance. Doom’s Eye descended into the arena and handed me a weapon. I picked it up but this left me directly in front of the machine. I was so close it tried to swipe at me.

 

“Hold still you devil”, it said as it tried to whack me with its metal arm.

 

I back flipped away and found that his swipe attack had dropped its shields. I fired my gun at its head and saw the thing start to spark. When the shield came back up and dodged an attack from Sonic and lured the Diablon into another swipe attack. I fired the last of the gun’s bullets into the machine’s head and it started to explode.

 

As the thing fell I dashed into Sonic who had been distracted by the explosion and smacked him straight into the machine. I heard Sonic scream and the machine fell on top of him.

 

“Dammit, I failed”, said the commander.

 

When the smoke cleared I saw Sonic trapped beneath the machine. He extended his hand as if to ask for my help. I reached into the machine and took the Chaos Emerald for my own. I now had 4, the two from Westopolis, the one from GUN HQ and the other I got from the Diablon. 3 remained, Black Doom was safe and my job was done.

 

“Just whose side are you on anyway?” asked Sonic.

“I fight for those wiling to reveal the truth to me. However no-one is giving me a straight answer. No you, not him, not Black Doom”, I said angrily.

“Shadow well done, Now finish them off”, said Doom’s Eye.

“No. I need them to stay alive too”, I said.

 

I used the four emeralds to warp Myself, Sonic and The Commander back to GUN HQ. The Black Comet was safe for the Black Arms but they knew something and they were going to tell me everything.

Chapter 5 - The hunt for the Doctor

 

“Well, start talking”, I said to Sonic and the Commander as they lay on the floor

 

I folded my arms and gave a very serious look at them. I wanted them to know I meant business.

 

“Shadow I don’t know much but I do know you have to remember more about Maria and what she as…..” said Sonic before being interrupted by the Commander.

“You destroyed everyone on ARK. It’s all your fault the Government went up there in the first place”, said the Commander.

 

I froze as I took all this in. A little voice in the back of my head was saying it could be true. Was it really all my fault?

 

“Shadow don’t listen to him. Find Eggman, maybe he’ll show you his grandfather’s diary or some of the old ARK files. Either way your best bet to find the truth is to go after Eggman”, said Sonic.

 

Sonic spoke with an air of sincerity. He wasn’t one to lie, or deceive. Not as Sonic anyway. He was right too, that was what I had to do. I had to find the Doctor. I then heard them whisper something between themselves and I suddenly became suspicious.

 

“What are you talking about, WHAT ARE YOU KEEPING FROM ME?” I shouted angrily

“The Commander has revealed to me that a handful of his soldiers are investigating a huge theme park Eggman has built. I suggest you go there”, said Sonic.

 

I turned my back at them and made a short angry hmm sound before racing off to find this theme park they had mentioned. It was quite a search but once I saw the bright lights and the big sign saying Circus Park, I knew I was there.

 

I ran straight to the entrance and saw Tails fly overhead in his plane. He got shot down by some sort of cannon and bailed out of his plane, leaving it to crash. I remembered that The Tornado, as he called it, was powered by a Chaos Emerald. Time to kill two birds with one stone as I ventured through Circus Park.

 

I ran into Tails who asked me to help return all the rings the Doctor has stole to build the place. I ignored him and eventually ran into a flying television screen with the Doctor’s face on it. I grabbed hold of it and shouted into it.

 

“Doctor, I need to know the truth”, I said.

“Shadow? Well what do you say you help me out first? Those GUN geeks are trying to bring down this awesome theme park. Could you get rid of them for me? Then I’ll help you best I can. I promise”, said the Doctor.

 

There was something about the tone of his voice that made me suspicious but I went for it anyway. Tails watched in horror as I smashed all the GUN robots ahead in my path but when I was done the Doctor’s flying screen thing flew away. Instead I saw Black Doom waiting for me.

 

“Ah Shadow! I was wondering what happened to you”, said Black Doom.

“Can it Doom! I need to find the Doctor”, I said to him, “I don’t have time for this”

“Our troops are engaging the foolish scientist as we speak in some sort of stone castle”, said Black Doom.

 

I stopped to think for a moment. I could either look for this castle myself or allow them to show me the way.

 

“Ok Doom, lead me to this castle”, I said, “Come on you owe me for protecting the Black Comet”

 

Black Doom took a moment to think before warping me to the Doctor’s Cryptic Castle. It was a dark dreary place. Kind of reminded me of his other castle but more yellow. Black Doom had disappeared and I was on my own again. I soon remembered the Emerald and cursed the fact that I had left it behind.

 

I smashed open a door to find Amy Rose on the other side. God I hated her. She was a whiny little brat that, thank god, was obsessed with Sonic. Still I would never get on her bad side as she had a giant hammer and was very adept at using it. I quite liked my face as it is.

 

Anyway she begged me to find a young rabbit named Cream. I had no beef with her. She was always so polite, pure and innocent. She was impossible not to like to some degree. Her high pitched voice though could burst ear drums, as could her Chao Cheese’s excessive cries.

 

I felt after all the bad I had done I should help a little and we soon found Cream, but needed to find Cheese as well. I found the Doctor’s screen thingy again. He asked me to help him activate the castle’s defence system. I proceeded to do both and ventured through the castle’s devious traps.

 

With the Doctors advice I managed to put up his defences and while finding Cream’s Chao Cheese hidden within a mass grouping of Chao. I decided I was out of there quick as a shot and reached a cliff just outside the castle. Amy had followed me.

 

“Thank you Shadow. With all I’ve heard about you siding with the Aliens and all I actually thought you were a bad guy”, said Amy

“Just don’t expect me to take you home too. I have to find the Doctor”, I said back.

 

A huge Machine then fell into the Arena. It looked identical to the machine I fought in Mad Matrix.

 

“Well Shadow here I am. But after you hacked into my computer system and destroyed my virtual Egg Breaker why should I trust you?” asked the Doctor.

“I apologise for that. I did it to find the truth but now I asking you politely. Please tell me the truth”, I said.

“I’ve also seen you with those Black Aliens, using the eclipse cannon to destroy cities. The Black Aliens are yet another annoyance in my campaign to take over the world. Shadow I’m sorry but I cannot trust you. Prepare to face the Egg Breaker…er again”, said the Doctor.

 

It jumped in the air and smashed the ground next to me. I fell backwards annoyed. If it was a fight he wanted then a fight he was going to get. Oddly he hadn’t learned from his mistakes. His support robots provided me with guns to attack the head. Despite moving much more quickly and using a berserk attack, where he kept charging at me while swinging his mace, he didn’t actually stand a chance.

 

Amy helped out with her hammer and soon the thing fell once more. The Doctor immediately fled and I followed him into a Jungle. Things were starting to get more intense and I was glad that for once I was away from that silly war, until of course I ventured through the Jungle and came across Rouge.

 

“Oh Shadow. We could use your help. The last of The Black Arms troops on Earth have been rounded up here. GUN believe that they are regrouping on the Black Comet since you made it safe for them”, said Rouge.

“Oh great, I thought I got away from this war. Well I don’t really have the time to help you, I’m chasing down the Doctor”, I said.

 

Rouge smiled at me and I knew she was planning something, or she had some leverage on me. Something told me though I was about to do what she wanted.

 

“Well Shadow sweetie, Omega is at Eggman’s Base right now. Help me out here and I’ll show you the way”, said Rouge

“Humph! I can find it myself”, I said.

“You sure? It’s a pretty big Jungle and his base is well camouflaged. Come on Shadow help us out”, said Rouge.

 

I sighed and signalled for her too follow.

 

“Ok then what do you want me to do?” I asked.

“Defeat the remaining Black Arm soldiers”, said Rouge.

 

Oh great I thought, more fighting, more betraying Black Doom. All I wanted was to get to the doctor.

 

We ventured through the Death Ruins area knocking out all the Black Arm Soldiers on our way. We met up with Doom’s Eye again who wasn’t all that pleased, but I didn’t really care. I helped Rouge out and for some reason this time she stuck with me.

 

“So where’s The Doctor’s base?” I asked

“It’s not too far from here. Come on I’ll lead the way”, she said.

“Won’t you have some sort of Government mission you’ll need to take care of?” I asked.

“Nope, with the Black Aliens successfully repelled from the planet I can go back to helping a fellow Rogue”, she said, “We’ll meet up with Omega and together we’ll find the truth for you”

 

I was surprised to say the least. I didn’t suit her being so concerned about me. I had to admit though the thought of siding with the other two rogues as I confronted the Doctor made me smile. For some reason fighting with them just seemed right. I smiled back at her and nodded before Doom’s Eye smacked into me.

 

I wiped his disgusting mucus of me and turned to face him.

 

“So Shadow you’ve decided to side with the humans?” he asked.

“No. I side with no-one. I seek the truth and you know I’m hunting down the Doctor”, I said.

“You knocked out most of our brethren and are siding with that bat again. She works for the humans”, said Doom

“Let us go Doom, our matters do not concern you”, I said.

“I cannot allow that. Black Bull, destroy these pests”, said Doom.

 

The Black Bull descended from the skies above into the area ahead of us.

 

“Ew! What is that thing? I think I’m going to be sick”, said Rouge.

“What is it with people re-using the same weapons? Very well if I must take this thing down again so be it”, I said.

“I’m right behind ya Shadow. Let’s take this ugly creep down”, said Rouge.

 

I defeated one of the nearby Black Arm soldiers and stole its gun. The Black Bull flew too high to shoot at but I soon noticed a rail above that would give me enough height. I couldn’t jump at it though.

 

“Rouge, the rail!” I shouted.

 

Rouge nodded and flew up to the rail taking me with her. She dropped me on the rail and I shot at the Black Bull as I grinded along it. The Black Bull fired some pretty nasty fire attacks at me which made staying on the rail difficult. However whenever I fell off Rouge was always there to bring me back up.

 

As the last plasma bullet ripped into the beast’s skull the Black Bull collapsed, screaming in pain. The last of the Black Arm soldiers had been defeated though I didn’t care. Rouge shouted out to me, asking me to follow her and I did.

 

We ventured through the jungle until we came across a massive facility. It was hard to see how it was so well hidden, but it was. We dropped onto the metal walkway and there waiting for us was Omega.

 

Omega was a fairly large humanoid robot. He had been sealed in one of the Doctors darkest storage rooms to guard something. Actually I think it might have been me, my memory is still not too clear on that.

 

“Are you the original?” he asked

 

I shrugged my shoulders, what he asked completely confused me.

 

“Yes he is. He’s our Shadow. So where is Eggman hiding?” asked Rouge.

“Eggman is fleeing from this base in his airship, the Egg Balloon. GUN have more or less secured this area”, said Omega

“Fleeing, we better hurry then”, I said.

 

Just then one of GUN’s soldiers came out of nowhere. I prepared to attack him but to my surprise he did not attack me.

 

“Rouge, the Commander has given you special orders. You are to report to GUN HQ immediately”, said the Soldier.

“Oh do I have to?” she asked.

“Hey wait a minute why aren’t you shooting at me?” I asked.

“The Commander has told all GUN troops not to fire at you for the time being, unless they absolutely have to. Something about a deal made with Sonic. Plus we saw what you did in the Death Ruins”, he said.

 

I filled up with rage. I didn’t need that faker’s help. I cooled down, turned to Rouge and smiled.

 

“I guess the Ultimate Rogues won’t be taking down the Doctor. Oh well take care Rouge”, I said.

 

Rouge smiled and waved goodbye before racing off towards GUN HQ.

 

“Right then Omega, let’s go. We have an appointment with the Doctor”, I said.

Chapter 6 - This is what it means to be free

 

Omega and I raced down the metal walkway towards the grey building ahead of us. Suddenly we were stopped by an Army of, well, me.

 

“What the?” I asked

“Have you forgotten Shadow? Eggman has made an army of robotic clones with your DNA”, said Omega.

“So these are robots, but then am I….?” I asked.

 

Just then the doctor’s television robot thing smashed into us. I grabbed the floating thing and shook it like mad.

 

“Doctor just where are you? I need to speak with you now?” I screamed at it in anger, “There’s no time for games, I want the truth now”

“Scanning nearby area. Eggman found. Eggman is fleeing in his airship the Egg Balloon. If you wish to speak with him help me take it down”, said Omega.

“What? No? Not you too Shadow. First GUN now you. ARGH!” replied the doctor.

“Doctor you better land that thing and talk to me, unless you want it destroyed”, I said

 

The Doctors face was consumed by a mixture of anger and fear. He gave the impression of a cornered rat, and then all of a sudden a large orange blimp appeared and fired at us.

 

“Very well. Just try and take me down Shadow but I warn you I’m not holding back”, said the Doctor.

 

We dodged its attacks and raced on. Stealing a rocket launcher from the Doctors robots I fired as many rockets as I could at the blimp. Soon it started to catch fire from damage and later crashed into a tower in the centre of the base. I saw him escape the blimp, landing safely in the tower. It was time for answers.

 

Omega and I ran into the tower and cornered the Doctor who had activated yet another Egg Breaker.

 

“Ok Doctor enough is enough. I got to know am I one of them….?” I started to ask

“Yes. You an Omega are my creations. Creations that had turned against me”, the doctor replied.

 

I was stunned but Omega was charged for action. He gave out another battle cry, another cry that said he would prove that he was better than him.

 

“You two have betrayed me long enough. Time to finish this once and for all”, shouted The Doctor.

 

I prepared for another jumping attack but to my surprise the machine just stood on the raised platform in the centre of the arena. Instead it fired a couple of thin plasma lasers directly at us. Omega pulled me away from the attack and fired his machine gun arms at the body of this new Egg Breaker.

 

“Omega you need to fire at the head”, I said.

 

Before he could fire though we were surrounded by robots. I scanned the arena and found a machine gun turret. That crazy man gave us all we needed to finish him off.

 

“Omega! Distract him!” I shouted.

 

Omega tried to figure out how to do just that as he scanned the Egg Breaker.

 

“Scan data reveals Egg Breaker has limited vision”, said Omega.

 

That was it. If I could run behind him to the other turret on the other side of the room and quickly fired, I could do a lot of damage. I proceeded to put my plan into action while Omega shot down as many robots as possible. I reached the turret and fired some bullets at the Egg Breaker’s Head.

 

The Doctor shouted something in anger and jumped off his platform. We could now attack the head directly. But then he did something that made me realise why he left those turrets there. They were traps as his laser quickly cut through it and struck me before I could get away. It grazed the side of my arm and stung like hell. That was it, this thing was going down.

 

I picked up the sliced off gun from the turret. Amazingly it still worked and I fired the remaining rounds at the machines head. It was sparking like crazy but I was out of bullets.

 

“Looks like I have to finish you off the traditional way”, I said.

 

I jumped into the air and used my homing attack on the head. I ripped it off the Egg Breaker and saw the machine fall to the ground. The Doctor crawled out and I grabbed him by his shirt.

 

“It’s over Doctor. For attacking us first I should destroy you were you stand”, I said.

“No Shadow, please don’t hurt me”, pleaded the Doctor.

 

I don’t know why but something stopped me. Something didn’t seem right. If I was nothing but an android created by him, how come I remember what happened on ARK.

 

“Something tells me you aren’t telling me everything doctor”, I said.

“I’m sorry Shadow Android, but since I fought with the real Shadow that time on ARK and stopped the space station crashing into Earth, I kind of miss having him at my side. That is why I created you in the first place”, said the Doctor.

 

My head cramped and I started to remember the fight on ARK. Sonic and I were fighting some beast in our super forms. It was dragging the ARK towards Earth and we had to stop it. I remember I was exhausting my super form, going beyond my limits. I kept hearing Sonic’s concerning comments and the cheers from the others.

 

I felt myself start to fade as we defeated the beast but we still had to stop ARK. We used a lot of chaos energy to warp ARK back to its normal resting place but I couldn’t go on. Only one hedgehog was returning to ARK and it wasn’t me. I warped Sonic back to ARK and fell exhausted into Earth’s Orbit and blacked out.

 

I, I mean the real Shadow must’ve died that day. All that remained was some of his DNA and the memories concealed inside it. I was not the real Shadow, just a replica, a robotic one at that. I felt angry. Shadow’s life was still continuing when he should be dead due to the Doctor’s selfishness. Instead of a noble death he’s alive in me, haunted by a past that should be long forgotten.

 

I was going to make him wish he never created me. I was going to destroy him and all the Shadow Androids he had created. That meant taking me to where I was created in the first place.

 

“So I’m nothing but your plaything. A robot to fill a void. You denied Shadow a noble death, multiple times. Enough is enough. Take me to where I was created so I can destroy all the Shadow Androids!” I said angrily.

“You don’t want to do that Shadow. Join me and we will bring glory to the Eggman Empire”, the Doctor said.

“Empire? You? Actually that doesn’t sound like a bad idea. Still I want to see where I was created. Take me there”, I said.

“Very well. Together we will take the world while GUN and those stupid aliens have their backs turned”, said the doctor.

 

I had no intention of letting him be boss of course. What he didn’t know was that it was my empire now. I felt like I was finally free, as if I had woken up for the first time. My life as Shadow Android was just about to begin.

 

The Doctor led me and Omega to a huge base in the middle of a volcano. As we ventured deep within his Lava Shelter it started to get much hotter and more dangerous.

 

“Right then, which way to the main control room doctor? Doctor?” I asked to find that the doctor has disappeared.

“Scanning, Eggman found this way. Follow me”, said Omega.

 

We ventured through the base with intentions to corner the Doctor once more. We came across his television thing again and he asked us to bring up the base’s defences. That sounded useful actually so I proceeded to do just that. I had to activate some computers as we ventured through the lava filled base. It wasn’t too difficult and we soon found ourselves in front of another one of the doctor’s weapons.

 

“What is the meaning of this Doctor? I thought we were to rule this world together”, I said.

“Yeah like I would trust you two renegade robots. No Shadow Android, this is the end for you”, said the doctor.

“Aw! You saw through me did you? Well it doesn’t matter. Your armies are mine now Doctor. I will rule this world as I see fit and no-one will stop me”, I said.

 

It was then that I felt the energy of a Chaos Emerald and I knew the Doctor’s weapon was powered by it. With this emerald I only had two more to get and I knew one was in Circus Park. For some reason even then I felt I had to get all the Chaos Emeralds. I could still Chaos Manipulate and with their power I would be unstoppable. Nothing has beaten a Super form, ever, besides maybe another Super form.

 

The Doctors weapon was shaped like a spider with four legs and a bulbous torso. On its front were three screens and a button underneath each. The screens began to spin like a slot machine.

 

“Scanning Eggman database. Weapon found. Name Egg Dealer. Shadow when all of the screens stop the same it will attack with either a missile or a bomb. Identified weakness, if the slots stop of Missiles or bombs prematurely it will attack Eggman”, said Omega.

 

That was good to know. The cockpit was too high for jumping attacks and there didn’t seem to be any guns nearby. It was our only hope and I proceeded to use the buttons to stop the screens at the right time. The first time was a disaster; I got missile, missile, and bomb.

 

The second time though I managed to stop it on three bombs. The Egg Dealer fell to the floor and dropped its bombs where it stood. The machine caught fire and as the Doctor tried to fix it I headed straight to some ammo crates I noticed in the centre of the arena. I grabbed a gun and started firing at the cockpit.

 

The Egg Dealer started moving again and dodged my bullets. I didn’t have many left and it was moving too fast to strike it again. I would have to bring it down. Omega and I rushed to the screens again and kept trying until we got another weapon strike. This time it was missiles. Their premature launch meant that they went straight for the Egg Dealer. As it collapsed I fired the remainder of the bullets from my gun. It was sparking like mad and even exploded in some areas.

 

It was still moving however and we finished it off by making it drop its bombs again after a few attempts. The Egg Dealer collapsed and the Doctor fell out of the cockpit. He could barely stand, trapped and helpless just like Sonic was. I felt like finishing him off there and then.

 

I saw the Emerald and took it for my own.

 

“Five down, two to go. Hopefully the one from Tails’ Plane is still in Circus Park. And I’m betting Sonic and his friends have another somewhere”, I said to myself.

“What do we do with Eggman?” asked Omega.

“We don’t need him anymore. Goodnight Doctor”, I said preparing to strike him.

“No Shadow wait! I’m sorry, I’ve been lying to you all this time”, said the Doctor

“What? All this time….” I said angrily.

“Yes. I wanted you to fight with me once again but I can see that isn’t going to happen”, said the Doctor

“So then what is the truth?” I asked.

“Why should I tell you? This way you won’t kill me, just like you won’t kill Black Doom”, said the Doctor.

 

He had me there.

 

“Bravo Doctor. But now what do I do?” I asked

“You’re going to have to work that one out on your own. I’m not saying a word”, said the Doctor.

“This facility looks like it’s for badnik producing only. Perhaps the Iron Jungle facility has a computer we can examine”, said Omega.

“Good idea”, I said, “It’s pointless to stay here anyway”

 

I placed my hand on Omega’s shoulder and warped us both back to Iron Jungle.

Chapter 7 - But I can’t change the things I’ve done.

 

We arrived at Iron Jungle to find the area completely deserted. I was angrier than I had ever been in my life, well besides when Maria got shot of course. Doom had left out things in his revelations, obviously so I would become his puppet. Sonic and the GUN commander were holding back for some reason. And now I just spent so much time tracking down the doctor and I’m more confused that ever.

 

I may or may not be an android created to replace a noble fighter who gave up his life for this planet. Or I could be that fighter, who somehow survived over exhaustion of a super form and re-entry through Earth’s orbit. Someone told me it was the latter, and that the memories I had of Maria were hiding a secret, one that could make or break me. I just knew there was something I still needed to uncover and that no-one was willing to just tell me.

 

I felt as helpless as a child, practically begging for help yet getting nothing in return. I decided to focus on collecting the emeralds again. I never break a promise and I did indeed promise Doom I would collect the emeralds for him.

 

Just then a spaceship descended from the sky and hovered next to the walkway. Standing on top was a smiling confident Sonic.

 

“Hey Shadow, fancy meeting you here”, said Sonic.

“Dammit Faker what do you know?” I angrily asked.

“Sorry Shadow, that’s something you really need to find out for yourself. Though in the meantime how about you help us take out the Black Arm troops on ARK. I’m sure something there will help you uncover the truth”, said Sonic.

 

I stopped to think for a moment. ARK, that’s where it all began. My brief encounter up there with Doom didn’t really give me enough time to explore. All of Gerald’s data was stored there too. It made more sense to go with Sonic on this one. And then I noticed a familiar energy coming from the spaceship. It suddenly became clear that the spaceship used a Chaos Emerald to function.

 

I knew then what I had to do.

 

“Ok Sonic, lead the way”, I said jumping on board the ship.

“What about you Omega, you coming too?” asked Sonic.

“Scan indicates some Eggman activity in the region. I will stay here and look into that”, said Omega.

“Oh well Omega, it’s been fun but I have my own agenda. Keep the Doctor out of trouble and harms way”, I said

“Affirmative”, said Omega.

 

The ship took off into orbit. I just stared at the Emerald, waiting for the right time to take it.

 

“You know Shadow there’s something that’s always bothered me. Why do you always call Eggman, ‘The Doctor’?” asked Sonic.

“Hmm good question. To be honest I just have this feeling that I should treat him with respect. He is a Robotnik after all. Grandchild of my creator, cousin to my Maria. A part of me still sees him as family”, I said.

“I suppose that makes sense. I guess I only really see the bad of old Egg belly. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that he is only human”, said Sonic.

 

I paused for a moment and then decided to ask Sonic a very serious question.

 

“After everything I’ve done why do you still trust me? It seems foolish to me that you would still trust me after I blew up a city and crushed the Diablon on top of you”, I said.

“Because Shadow I know you’re going through a rough time. I can see that you’re rediscovering yourself. And when you finally do realise what you need to realise I’m sure you’ll be your old self. My greatest friendly rival”, he replied.

 

That actually made a lot of sense. The rivalry we had was something I always liked. While I would never admit it to his face it was nice to have a rival who could match my speed and abilities. That memory of fighting the monster dragging ARK into Earth was as fresh as ever, and fighting alongside Sonic, especially in our super forms, was something quite special.

 

“Hey guys we have a problem”, said Tails suddenly.

 

Sonic and I rushed to the cockpit and found a squadron of Black Hawks waiting for us. They fired a barrage of energy attacks at the spaceship. The blasts sent the ship flying into ARK’s underbelly. The force created from the crash knocked the Chaos Emerald out of his place and it rolled out of the hole left, when the airlock door flew open.

 

I watched and saw the Chaos Emerald use Chaos Control to protect itself. I could still feel it’s presence nearby.

 

“THE EMERALD!!” I shouted angrily.

“Shoot, we need that”, said Sonic.

“Heh! You’ll have to take it from my cold dead fingers first though”, I said.

 

I saw a floating platform quite far down beneath us and made a jump for it. Sonic smiled and soon followed.

 

“Alright a race! This is just like old times buddy,” said Sonic.

 

I actually smiled back. This could be fun.

 

“Come on Shadow try to remember. We once fought alongside each other to protect ARK. We once raced each other to the Eclipse Cannon. Me to destroy, you to stop me”, said Sonic.

 

I did remember. With only the space between Earth and ARK beneath us, falling off the few platforms meant instant death. It was a rush to say the least. Falling a lot and manipulating the weak gravity in this area was a real challenged that I relished.

 

I soon came across Doom’s Eye. The Black Arms and GUN were still fighting each other. GUN were pushing the Black Arms back to the Black Comet to claim the ARK. Doom wanted me to bring down more security nodes but I ignored his plea and raced on for the Emerald.

 

Things got more complicated as we ventured through ARK’s power rooms. Even here the gravity changes were still in force. It was tough to keep a level head with perspective constantly changing. But I wasn’t going to lose to that faker. I had the advantage of course, I had the emeralds. I could use them to pinpoint the other one.

 

I was grinding along one of the many bars and suddenly saw a small light. I also saw Sonic closing in on it. I tried to speed up on the bar but Sonic still managed to beat me.

 

“Alright! Score one for the good guys”, said Sonic.

“Hand it over Sonic. There’s no time for games”, I said.

“No can do Shadow. This one’s ours”, he said and then warped somewhere using Chaos Control.

 

It came as no surprise that I was furious at this point but I was given no chance to vent my anger. Suddenly there was a loud explosion and I felt the chains holding the platform I was standing on shake. I looked behind me and saw the platforms around me start to fall. I raced towards one of the power terminals as it was only the floating platforms on the underside of ARK that seemed to collapse.

 

My heart started to pound as I saw more and more platforms collapse. The entrance to the power terminal seemed to get further away as I raced ahead. One final jump and I made it inside ARK.

 

“Phew! I made it”, I said out loud before hearing a gun click.

 

I looked up to find the Commander of GUN aiming a gun at my head.

 

“At last Shadow, I will have revenge”, he said, “Oh how long I have waited. This is for everyone on ARK and Maria”

“Commander? Please you have to tell me, what exactly did I do?” I asked him.

“Don’t play dumb with me. I remember it like it was yesterday.

 

I was only a little boy back then and would spend my time with Maria. She was like a sister to me, always looking out for me. One day I was playing with her in the corridors of ARK and I raced off ahead of her, leaving her to chase me. I came across a dark part of ARK, one I had never been before. That’s when I saw it. A monster with the professor toasting their success. They were saying how together they created the ultimate weapon. Then the chamber holding you rose up and I saw you for the first time. A demon created by a foolish man and a monster. At the time I didn’t know what to think. Professor Gerald didn’t seem like the kind of man to create weapons, monsters, but here he was with a monstrous creature celebrating the creation of a weapon. I couldn’t believe my eyes and ran off horrified. Then we were attacked on ARK. I was lucky enough to be captured and not killed, but I put two and two together. GUN attacked ARK because of you, because of the Professors darkest secret. The world was in danger and rightly took action. I grew up on Prison Island; I trained as a GUN soldier and rose through the ranks. All to kill you. I had heard that they had captured you but then for some reason Dr. Eggman freed you. I was surprised that you made no efforts to hide but was pleased to see I would finally get my chance for revenge. And now here we are. I have a gun to your head, ready to kill a black arms monster.

 

See you in hell Shadow the Hedgehog”, said the commander.

 

I wasn’t ready to die and warped behind him as he fired the gun. I thought a lot about what he said and it made some sense.

 

“Huh?” said the commander

“If what you say is true I will gladly accept my fate. Just give me time to find the real truth for myself”, I said.

“What? You mean you honestly don’t remember?” he said.

“I don’t have time for this. I have to find out what caused that explosion, get the Chaos Emerald back from Sonic and hopefully find the truth”, I said.

 

I heard the Commander start sobbing a little after falling to his knees.

 

“All this time and I couldn’t do it”, I heard him say softly.

 

I ran ahead to that explosion. Whatever it was, it was destroying my home. ARK was a sacred place to me, it was where Maria died and I wasn’t about to see it destroyed. The place was getting worse, more and more of ARK was collapsing. If I didn’t do something soon the whole place would fall into space and burn up on Earth’s atmosphere, before destroying Earth completely.

 

I passed Doom’s Eye as I navigated through the falling platforms. He wanted me to get the Chaos Emerald and leave as soon as possible. Later I met Vector who wanted the same thing I did. I accepted the crocodiles help and headed straight for the computer room. Vector had told me that Black Doom had set off a bomb that was causing the place to fall apart since his troops were pushed back so much. Made sense, if he couldn’t have ARK, no-one could.

 

We reached the computer room to find Sonic waiting there.

 

“Hey it’s Shadow. He should know how to stop ARK falling”, he said.

 

I raced to the terminal and found that the power supply to the computer had been blown apart. I needed a new power supply.

 

“The Emeralds! Give me yours now”, I said.

“No way Shadow”, said Sonic

“I need power, and six emeralds should be enough to power this massive computer system”, I said, “Hurry!”

 

Sonic hesitated before handing it over. I place it with the five I had and used them to power up the computer. The screen gave a message saying enter system password and I entered MARIA, hoping it was right. It was and I quickly restored ARK to normal.

 

Some damage still remained but most of ARK returned to normal. I reached down and grabbed the six emeralds.

 

“One left”, I said.

“Hey give our emerald back!” said Sonic

“You’re going to have to catch me first”, I said before warping to the other side of ARK.

 

I placed my hands against the walls of the corridor I was in and fell to my knees in exhaustion. With the fear of impending doom gone I was able to take in what the commander had told me. If Black Doom was involved in my creation then that would answer a few questions I had.

 

But was I the reason the soldiers attacked ARK? That changes everything. I took a long hard look at myself and saw an ugly truth. I loved to destroy and fight. It felt great destroying the human’s robots, fighting Sonic, fighting The Doctor and even destroying the Black arm soldiers. It definitely seemed to support the ‘I’m a weapon’ theory.

 

I could feel myself getting closer to the truth but I knew there was still something I needed to find out. Something important.

 

I opened my eyes and realised I was in the corridor Maria and I ran down. Something just clicked and I started to remember so much more. I closed my eyes and relived that memory once more.

Chapter 8 - Heroes Rise Again

 

“Come on Shadow”, I heard a familiar voice say

 

“Maria? Is this another memory”, I said softly. I opened my eyes to see Maria standing in front of me.

 

“Come on Shadow, Grandfather’s experiments have escaped and are terrorising ARK. We have to stop them”, said Maria

 

She led the way and soon we came across a GUN soldier being attacked by a floating blob of water. If you could call it that, the water had a bright blue glow and seemed to stick to a metal head.

 

“There! It’s an Artificial Chaos Creature and it’s attacking one of the soldiers”, said Maria, “We have to do something”

 

Without hesitating I smashed the creature’s metallic head and saw it split into smaller versions of itself. I smashed each one of them up and returned to the ground soaked as the liquid exploded.

 

“Thank you”, said the Soldier, “I owe you my life”

“Good job Shadow. I’m so proud of you”, said Maria.

 

This must’ve been a memory before the attack on ARK. The Soldiers seemed to be friendly and more focused on the experiments. Seeing one of them reminded me of what they actually were. The Professor had researched ancient echidna civilisation and had discovered information about a creature made up of pure chaos. It was a beast made of a watery like liquid that used to guard the Master Emerald. Gerald wanted so badly to create his own version and that thing was the result. Sadly there were more of them out there.

 

“Shadow we have to hurry. There are still plenty around ARK”, said Maria.

 

I nodded and proceeded to destroy every single one of them we could find. I thought back then that we had destroyed them all but obviously either more was made or we missed a couple. They still haunt ARK to this day. It didn’t feel right that the soldiers didn’t attack us but I guess we were all on the same side that day.

 

I pulled Maria into Gerald’s main lab. It was the safest place in all of ARK and my primary concern was her safety. Maria hugged me and thanked me for all I had done. I had saved some people from Gerald’s Experiments and it suddenly hit me. The Soldiers didn’t attack ARK because of me; no it was because of this.

 

They feared Gerald’s experiments, which included me. From their point of view I guess they must’ve seen it as controlling an out of hand situation in case it spread. I could sort of understand that though it was no excusefor what they did. Suddenly there was a Flash and I was pulling Maria down a corridor.

 

Sirens were blaring; loud noises and flashing red lights filled the corridors. Maria had her hand over her chest. My god she was bleeding and the soldiers were still chasing us. She was dying but I knew if I could get her to the escape pod room maybe, just maybe, I could save her.

 

I brought her to the escape pod room and she let go of my hand. She collapsed on the control console and I skidded to a halt. She pressed a button and trapped me inside a pod. She had struggled so much, fought so bravely, I didn’t want her to give up now.

 

“MARIA!” I shouted.

“Shadow it’s too late for me”, she said coughing, “thought I want you to do something for me. Those people down there on Earth. They deserve the right to be happy to live for their dreams. Please protect them, let them live in peace. Shadow I know you can do this, that’s the reason you were brought into this world”.

“MARIA!” I shouted even louder and banged the glass as hard as I could.

“Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog”, she said.

 

I screamed out her name as she pulled the lever and send the pod I was to Earth. I closed my eyes and began to cry. That’s how it happened and even though I knew it was coming I still wished I could’ve done something.

 

She died for me, for the world. I opened my eyes to find myself on my knees in the middle of the escape pod room. I could see exactly where she had died, there was even still some dried on bloodstains.

 

I got back up on my feet and felt more determined that I had ever been.

 

“Oh Maria, how could I have forgotten. I’m sorry. I will fulfil your promise”, I said

“Do you see now why I didn’t just tell you?” asked a familiar voice behind me.

 

I turned to find Sonic standing in the doorway.

 

“You had to discover that for yourself. I remember clearly what you were like before you fully remembered that memory. You were hell bent on revenge you almost helped Eggman take over the world. That single memory, the one of Maria’s wish drives you to be a hero and you had to discover it all over again. It wouldn’t have been the same if I just told you”, said Sonic.

 

I stopped to think about what he had said. He was right. When the memory ended with her being shot I thought about nothing but getting my revenge. Now though I had an overwhelming urge to fulfil her plea. I actually felt like myself again. I actually felt happy.

 

“Thank you Sonic”, I said softly

“Er what was that? The Ultimate lifeform thanking me the faker?” said Sonic smiling.

“Ok don’t make such a big deal it or I’ll rip off you head”, I said.

 

Sonic just started to laugh and for some reason so did I.

 

“But on a more serious note Shadow there is something threatening Earth right now”, said Sonic as he stopped laughing.

 

Sonic pointed out of the huge window at the Black Comet. This was the first time I saw it from the outside. It was huge and had a very deep red tail. Sort of reminded me of one of my spikes.

 

It was time to end this once and for all. Time to stop Black Doom and save the world. It’s what Maria would’ve wanted. But then I remembered what I promised Black Doom at the start of this Adventure.

 

“I have a problem. I promised Black Doom I would collect all Seven Chaos Emeralds”, he said.

“I know. But According to Rouge you wanted to collect them all for yourself, to decide how best to use them”, said Sonic

“That sounds right but I’d rather get all seven before I confront him”, I said.

“Well here’s where it gets interesting. We’ve found out where the last Emerald actually is”, said Sonic, “In Black Doom’s hand”

 

Well that took me by surprise, but he was right that made things far more interesting. It was time. Either I give him my six or I take his seventh. Either way it was all going to happen on the Black Comet.

 

“Ok Sonic, grab hold”, I said.

“Now you’re talking buddy”, said Sonic.

 

Sonic placed his hand on mine and I warped us both inside the Black Comet for the final showdown.

 

The awful reddish purple liquid that once filled the comet was gone, which meant I no longer needed to use those floating saucers. We ventured through the twisting corridors, dropping down large drops and kept following a projection of Black Doom. Doom’s Eye pleaded with me to raise the comets shields but I was having none of it.

 

Doom sent out his strongest troops to try and stop us but they were no match for me let alone both of us. The Dark Abyss below reminded us of our fate if we missed a platform or fell off the small ones we had to use. We were even attacked by huge gun ships.

 

None of it could stop us and soon we were in Doom’s main chamber staring the Alien right in his face.

 

“Finally we’ve reached the end of this little game. Now to take out the last boss and claim our prize”, said Sonic.

“So Shadow I suppose you’ve come to stop me”, said Doom.

“I’m here to find the truth. You have the seventh emerald, hand it over to me so I can decide the fate of these gems”, I said.

“What? How did you? I don’t understand Shadow, you promised me the Seven Chaos Emeralds”, said Doom.

“But I also promised Maria I would protect the Earth. You held back on me Doom, I knew it. The most important part of that event, missed out for your own greed”, I said.

“But I will protect the Earth, you have my word”, said Doom.

“Don’t listen to him Shadow, they want to invade Earth not protect it”, said Sonic.

“You going to listen to that blue rat or do you want to find the truth”, said Doom.

 

I took a moment to think and decided that taking the seventh emerald from Doom directly was the best course of action. I jumped up at his head and prepared to kick him. He disappeared before I could connect with my kick, reappearing behind us.

 

“Very well Shadow. I made you I can break you as well”, said Doom.

 

That comment was a surprise but I had no time to take it in. Doom fired a couple of fireballs at us. I wasn’t quite sure how he was doing it; perhaps it had something to do with the Emeralds. Sonic tried a direct attack but was blown to the other side of the room by a meteor or some kind.

 

Doom’s attacks were rapid and deadly. I needed to find his weakness and exploit it. I had a feeling it was his head but he didn’t stay long enough for me to get a good enough hit. By the time I caught up with him he had fired his attack and was preparing to disappear.

 

“Give up Shadow. I’m too strong for you”, said Doom.

“Nonsense. I am the Ultimate Lifeform, let me show you why!” I said.

 

I noticed a red crate around the side of the arena. These crates had held alien weapons before and a gun might give me an edge. I smashed open the crate and grabbed the alien laser weapon. I waited for him to reappear and fired as many bullets as I could at his head.

 

Doom had to block most of the attack but some got through, grazing the two horn-like spikes that stuck out from his head. Doom responded by attacking more frequently and moving around faster. He came up from behind me and smashed me off the raised platform I was standing on with a few meteors.

 

The attack hurt quite a lot but it wasn’t enough to stop me fighting.

 

“Here Shadow use this”, said Sonic

 

Sonic threw me a GUN assault rifle. I picked it up and waited for the right moment to strike.

 

“Shadow I’ll distract Doom, you finish him off”, said Sonic.

 

I nodded and Sonic proceeded to jump at Doom’s head. He made contact, enough to make Doom really mad. Doom focused his attacks on Sonic. What a fool he left himself open to attack.

 

I fired every bullet directly at his head and forced him to block again. The bullets from the gun hurt him bad though and he fell to the floor clutching his face. The rifle was now empty but Doom was clearly defeated. I grabbed the seventh emerald and made all seven circle around me.

 

“What are you going to do now Shadow?” asked Doom.

“I have ultimate power now. Only a fool would challenge me when I have all seven emeralds. I will do what is best for the world. That is what Maria wanted”, I said.

“And what is best for the world Shadow? You are nothing more than a weapon, you know nothing. I will tell you the real truth only if you hand over the emeralds”, said Doom.

 

I was caught up in two minds here. On one hand I had the power to get rid of the Black Arms once and for all and keep the planet safe, on the other I wanted to know the truth. Doom had mentioned something about making me. Something that the Commander had backed up. He gave me his word he knew how to protect the people and I’m guessing allow his race to live in peace. I was intrigued.

 

“Ok Doom, here’s the deal. You tell me EVERYTHING you know, and I do mean EVERYTHING and I will hand over the emeralds as promised. As you know I keep my word, I fulfil my promises”, I said.

“Very well. I suppose you have earned the truth”, said Black Doom.

Chapter 9 - Black Hearted Evil? Brave Hearted Hero?

 

It all started 50 years ago when we were last orbiting Earth. I believe you humans call this the Fire in the Sky festival or something. Anyway for centuries we have been planning to invade your planet as it has the exact level of resources we need to live on. This comet may be our home but it’s awfully cramped and we’ve wanted a planet of our own for as long as I can remember. I don’t quite know why we’re stuck on this rock but we know that we are.

 

Around the time of our last visit we received a signal from Professor Gerald aboard ARK. He was fascinated by us, considering he was a scientist it was understandable. I in turn was fascinated by ARK when I ventured through its corridors for the first time. It seemed like the perfect palace for me and my most loyal brethren.

 

Gerald had discovered a part of my DNA that reacted with the special Chaos Emeralds of your planet. I too had discovered my ability to control the power of Chaos and was intrigued by this development. He told me of seven gems even though we only had the one to experiment with.

 

During our discussions we came across the subject of Project Shadow, the quest to create the Ultimate Lifeform. A being of unmatchable power, speed and stamina. I allowed Professor Gerald to take a sample of my DNA and with some genetic research we eventually led to you Shadow.

 

In return for my services I only asked that when the Black Comet returned the end result of Project Shadow would collect the Seven Chaos Emeralds for me. However I knew by Gerald’s state of mind that the end result would be a creature of great benefit to mankind. He didn’t see the potential of a powerful warrior to be feared by all.

 

It was then that I decided to release his Artificial Chaos Creatures, causing havoc and despair throughout ARK. It was about the time that Gerald had been called to Earth and it was my last act before returning to Earth. I left a spying device on ARK to record what happened there while we were gone, and was delighted to see a chain reaction that would turn you into a heartless warrior.

 

I thought the horror of seeing the humans fear and greed would lead you on a path of utter destruction for the humans. That horrific night on ARK, a memory that would haunt you but also define you. It would make it easier for you to blindly follow me for vengeance on the humans, if you hadn’t already taken their lives.

 

But I was wrong. That promise the Maria girl asked you to fulfil turned you into a hero. It was something I had feared so much. Despite my best efforts you were going to fulfil your potential as a helper rather than a weapon. If things remained the same you would be a thorn in my side rather than the weapon I would use to conquer the planet.

 

But when I returned something unexpected happened. In desperation I called out to you for your promised help and found you had lost vital parts of your memory. I knew with some manipulation you would help me conquer this planet and I was so close to achieving it with you.

 

Then you began to question my motives but still felt the overwhelming desire to collect the Seven Chaos Emeralds, knowing that it would lead to this. My blood runs through your veins but because of what that girl asked you to do I knew if you knew the truth it would mess up my plans.

 

It all made so much sense to me. How I personally felt always conflicted with my promise to Maria.

 

“Now Shadow, fulfil you part of the deal hand me the Chaos Emeralds”, said Doom

“No Shadow, don’t do it”, protested Sonic and the rest of the group.

 

I closed my eyes and handed over the Chaos Emeralds to him. I had to fulfil the promise I made, I had to keep my end of the bargain. Doom laughed while Sonic and the others froze in horror. I looked behind me to find Sonic, Rouge, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, The Doctor, Omega and the Commander watching it all.

 

“I knew you were nothing but trouble Shadow. I was right all along”, said the Commander.

“Dammit Shadow don’t you see what you’ve done”, said the Doctor.

“I don’t believe it Shadow, why?” asked Sonic

“Enough talk. With the Seven Chaos Emeralds I can now put the next phase of my plan into action”, said Black Doom, “CHAOS CONTROL”

 

The Black Comet shook wildly as if it was hit by an Earthquake. I could feel the energy in the Black Comet getting stronger and stronger. Something had obviously happened.

 

“Oh my, I understand now. Of course that’s why you needed the seven Chaos Emeralds”, said the Doctor

“Yes, the Black Comet’s shielding is not strong enough to pass through Earth atmosphere, nor can I completely control its velocity. Though with these Seven Emeralds I have the ability to warp it there anyway. Now it will feed from the nutrients in the earth giving my brethren strength. It will transform the Earth into a habitat for us, quite like what happened in those ruins. We have finally found our new home”, said Doom.

“And what will happen to the people of this planet?” asked Sonic angrily.

“Why they will live peacefully, as our slaves!” said Doom laughing.

“Enough, it’s not going to end this way. Not if I can still fight”, said Knuckles preparing to strike Black Doom.

 

But then something odd happened. Knuckles seemed to freeze as if he was paralysed. Then all of a sudden the others started to freeze in place too.

 

“What? I can’t move”, said Sonic.

“Neither can I” said the doctor.

“With the added strength gathered in the Black Comet all none Black Arms will be affected by a special undetectable gas. As long as you remain here on the Black Comet you will only be able to make small movements. This is it, you lose”, said Doom.

 

I was on one knee at this point, while the smaller larvae Black Arms went in to devour the others.

 

“Eat my children and grow into strong warriors”, said Doom.

 

The others screamed in pain while I began to look back on what I had learned. Everything went through my mind and I was more confused that ever. I argued with myself, Black Doom created me, but the others want this planet saved, Maria wanted me to protect the people but my desire for revenge was still strong. All of this conflict of my past running through my head.

 

I realised then it was my past that was holding me back. I had always thought my past had defined me and so I looked back on what had mattered to me recently, what I remembered before all this happened. I decided then and there that the planet Earth was my home and above all else it had to be protected.

 

A part deep inside of me awoke. I had made up my mind. It ended now. I will get rid of my past to protect my future. I will destroy Black Doom and in turn keep my promise to Maria. That is all that matter to me now.

 

I returned to my feet and stomped on one of the little larvae creatures. I smacked the others from the rest of the group and returned to face Black Doom.

 

“All this time I have let my past define me. Well not anymore. It’s over Black Doom. I will destroy you and return everything to the way it was”, I said boldly.

“So after all that I have told you, you choose to defy me. You annoying little pest! I do not have time for you. Chaos Control!” he shouted before disappearing.

“Alright Shadow! That’s more like it”, said Sonic.

“Go for it Shadow. I know you can beat Doom”, said Tails

“I knew there was some good in you. You helped me find Cream in Eggman’s Castle”, said Amy

“Yeah Good luck Shadow. We’re counting on you”, said Knuckles.

“We all know you have the power to stop him, now use it”, said the Doctor

“Finish him off for the Rogues Shadow”, said Rouge.

“Hmm. Prove me wrong Demon. Stop that monster for all the people on Earth. It’s what Maria would’ve wanted”, said the Commander.

“Go Shadow, I will take the others out of the Black Comet”, said Omega, “Being a robot I seem to be immune to the gases effects”

 

With the support of everyone, even the Commander, I was more determined that ever to finally rid myself of my past. I finally knew who I was and it was time to finish this once and for all.

 

I ventured through the comet once more but soon found myself at a dead end. Black Doom had sent out his most elite troops to stop me and it wasn’t easy to get past them. My main problem lay with getting to the seemingly unreachable exits.

 

Oddly I felt a power grow inside me though. The cheers from the others, the sense of purpose, doing what was right, seemed to combine with the energy inside the Black Comet. It was almost as if I had a Chaos Emerald in my hand. A warm glow consumed my body and soon I was flying straight through the exit. Somehow I was using Chaos Control.

 

It didn’t last long but that familiar glow came to me whenever I knocked out a Black Arms soldier. If all the negative rage inside me allowed me to use the Chaos Blast, all the positive feelings I had allowed me to warp for short periods of time.

 

With this power I wasn’t going to be stopped and soon I was back in front of Black Doom.

 

“DOOM! You can’t hide from me. You made me all powerful and now I’m going to use this power to destroy you”, I said angrily.

“So you made it Shadow. But there is one thing you need to know. My Blood flows through you veins and I can control it”, said Doom.

 

He raised his hand and I froze in place. I fell to my knees paralysed and in pain. I screamed a little and with the last remaining strength I had to defy it, I punched the floor in frustration. Doom had won.

 

“Of all my children you were my most favourite. You would’ve been my prince. You would’ve ruled the world at my side. We would’ve created the perfect race and lived like gods. But you chose to defy me and now Shadow, it’s time for you to die”, said Doom.

 

I closed my eyes to embrace death and then something unexpected happened. Several screens suddenly appeared, all with a picture of my other creator Gerald on them.

 

Shadow listen to me. If you are viewing this message then perhaps you have given Black Doom the Chaos Emeralds like we promised. I do not trust these aliens and I’m betting you don’t either. That is why I created the Eclipse Cannon. It has the power to finally destroy that blasted comet once and for all. Please Shadow you must use the emeralds to power up the cannon and fire it at the Comet. I’m counting on you.

 

“Very Devious Gerald. But there’s no way of your plan working now. I have control of Earth, the Seven Chaos Emeralds and even Shadow himself. There is no-one who can stop me now”, said Doom.

 

Then Maria appeared on the screen.

 

Don’t worry Grandpa. Together Shadow and I will get rid of any threat to the planet. Won’t we Shadow.

 

Her smiling face, her soft gentle voice, her positive attitude. A tear fell from my eye as I watched her so full of life and optimism. I was not going to let her down or Professor Gerald. I fought Doom’s control with everything I had and somehow got enough strength to break his hold over me.

 

“What? This isn’t possible!” Screamed Doom.

“You forgot one vital thing Doom. You weren’t the only person involved in my creation. Gerald and Maria Robotnik were there from the very beginning. They are like family to me. And you, you are nothing but a creep”, I said.

 

I jumped to attack Doom’s head but he just managed to warp away. Fortunately I didn’t give him enough time to warp the emeralds too and they fell to the floor. I then heard his booming voice echo through the wide halls of the comets bridge.

 

“It seems I underestimated your power again Shadow. You really are a special being you know that. Well I won’t go without a fight. This planet is mine and if you thought I was tough before wait until you see my true form”, said Doom, “I’ll be waiting for you outside of the Black Comet. Face me if you dare”

 

I had decided enough was enough. No matter what form he could take it would be no match for my ultimate form. Now that I had regained the Seven Chaos Emeralds I had the power to achieve my Super form once more, and this time I was going to use it.

 

The Seven Chaos Emeralds circled around me as I absorbed their energy. I was going to stop Doom, for Maria, for Gerald, for everyone on Earth even The Doctor. My Black fur turned gold as a powerful energy aura consumed me. I was stronger, invincible, faster and incredibly pumped up.

 

Nothing had beaten a Super form before and it was time to show Doom exactly why. I warped out of the comet to see this true form of his, to face my destiny.

 

Chapter 10 - Never Turn Back

 

I stood hovering outside of the Black Comet staring at Black Doom. He had some sort of red aura around him as he laughed loudly. Then his body started to mutate. His torso burst out of his jacket as it became a giant ball. The two spike like horns then mutated into two heads pointing in opposite directions. The heads grew bent spiked horns as each head became an upper half of a body each. Each torso sprouted arms and the big connecting the two halves sprouted two giant wings.

 

The monstrous sight in front of me began laughing as the tentacle creature Doom’s Eye flew into one of the heads. Each of the heads had one giant eye and when Doom’s Eye merged with the head its eye opened.

 

“This is your true form? An Ugly mass of grey flesh. Urgh! I think I’ll enjoy tearing you apart limb from limb”, I said.

“You should feel honoured worm. This is my Devil Doom form. Few have seen me like this but know that my power has increased to immeasurable lengths”, said the Beast in a much deeper voice than Doom’s.

“You should’ve done you homework. Nothing has beaten a Super form. You think your power has increased wait until you’re seen mine”, I said.

“Enough Talk. Earth is mine Hedgehog”, said Devil Doom.

“Bring it on”, I said.

 

Omega must’ve succeeded in rescuing the others because as soon as I started fighting Devil Doom I started hearing familiar voices cheer me on.

 

“Oh man I think I’m going to be sick. What is that thing?” asked Amy uneasy.

“I’m betting that’s Doom in some ultimate form or something. Nothing a super hedgehog can’t handle. Damn I wish I was up there with him”, said Sonic.

“Go get it Shadow. We all know you have the power to beat that thing”, said Tails.

“Yeah, show him what Earth is made of Shadow”, said Knuckles.

 

Doom surrounded himself with the debris of Central City. I ventured straight towards the head looking at me and soon found myself dodging the debris as Doom threw chunks at me. A couple of chunks hit me but only really knocked me back a bit. Nothing could hurt me in this form.

 

I flew full speed straight at the head with a ramming attack but just bounced off him. Doom then charged a fireball that sent me flying. It didn’t take me long to realise direct attacks wouldn’t hurt him and I would have to try something else. I flew around him to the other head as he surrounded himself with meteors. That head didn’t have an open eye.

 

That’s it, the eye. That’s the weak point. But how to strike it? It was time to use my signature Chaos Attack, The Chaos Spear.

 

“You can’t hurt me in this form Shadow, give up”, said Doom.

 

I raced back to his other side, the one with the eye, charging up a Chaos Spear. At full strength I fired it straight at his eye and he roared in pain.

 

“ARGH! How did you…? Doesn’t matter. You will not hit me again”, said Doom.

 

Doom then disappeared and reappeared leaving some distance between us. He then started throwing more debris at me. I charged up a Chaos Spear and flew full speed towards the head, avoiding as much of the debris as possible.

 

“Alright you found his weak spot Shadow…Shadow this may not be the best time to bring this up but you need to know this. Soon after your battle with the Biolizard on ARK we all assumed you died. Then one of my robots found you and brought you to me. With you by my side I felt stronger but knew you wouldn’t do anything against Maria’s wishes. That’s why I created the android clone army from your personality, abilities and some of your DNA. You are indeed the real Shadow”, the Doctor told me.

 

I felt more determined than ever. The Doctor rarely said anything that would ruin his chances for world conquest. I then realised I was fighting for him too.

 

I reached the head but found Doom had shut that eye. I raced around to the other side and found that eye was now open. He tried to attack me with another fireball but I dodged it and smashed another Chaos Spear in his eye. Doom screamed and warped to another location.

 

“URGH! Very good Shadow. I expect nothing less from my own brethren. But you are only really just putting up a good fight. I will kill you traitor”, said Doom.

 

I was now sweating and starting to feel the strain. This was a sign that I was pushing my super form too far. I had to end this now. I raced ahead to strike him again. As I dodged the debris it was the turn of the Commander to speak.

 

“Shadow I can see now how wrong I was. You are no demon, you are the Ultimate Weapon. Thank god you’re on our side. Destroy this thing once and for all, not just for me, Sonic, Eggman or even Maria. Do it for yourself and for everyone around the world”, said the Commander.

 

It was good to hear that pathetic old man admit it. He now believed in me too, which made me even more determined. Oddly his support added to the others gave me strength and I reached the head with ease. I had stayed back a little to get a good shot and was annoyed to find he shielded his eyes with one of his wings.

 

“Nice try Shadow but I’m starting to see through your attacks”, Said Doom warping to another location.

“Damn I have to get closer before I fire my Chaos Spear”, I said out loud.

“Shadow there is only a small window of time between getting close enough and him warping to another location. You must get your timing exactly right”, said Omega.

“We know you can do it Shadow. After all you’re the Ultimate Lifeform and part of the Ultimate Rogues”, said Rouge.

 

I took Omega’s advice seriously and charged the Chaos Spear as I approached Doom again. Just as I broke through the debris field I quickly fired my attack straight at the eye. Doom didn’t know what hit him. He warped away again screaming in pain as he went.

 

“You…..will….not….defeat….me!” said Doom panting heavily.

 

I was now panting heavily but I didn’t let it deter me. I could tell Doom was on his last legs.

 

“He’s almost finished Shadow. Time for the final attack”, said Sonic

 

I navigated through the debris field as Doom made another taunt at me.

 

“You…fool….don’t…you…know…who….you…are?” asked Doom

“I…Know….who….I….am”, I said angrily back at him while panting heavily.

 

I prepared to fire the final Chaos Spear as he prepared to fire his fireball attack.

 

“I am Shadow the Hedgehog”, I said smashing the Chaos Spear right in his skull.

 

Doom writhed in pain before collapsing to the floor. His body reverted back to normal as it crashed into the ground below.

 

“But…I am…I am…” said Doom weakly.

 

Soon GUN soldiers surrounded the near dead Doom as they captured him and sent him off somewhere. Probably to a prison or laboratory. As soon as I knew Doom was in safe hands I proceeded to destroy the last piece of my past for good.

 

I headed straight for the Black Comet and flew to its base. It pushed it away from Earth’s surface before warping it back into orbit, letting it float towards ARK a little. I then warped into the main control room for the Eclipse Cannon, put in the co-ordinates and charged the cannon up myself in my super form.

 

“Goodbye Black Comet!” I shouted before firing the cannon.

 

The Green laser tore through the armoured comet like a knife through butter. The force caused the Black Comet to explode into tiny little pieces. The huge meteor was now nothing more that dust floating in space.

 

It was over at last. I collapsed out of the Cannon as I reverted back to my normal self. The chaos emeralds disappeared, probably scattering around Earth as always. I then realised I was in the Arms of Vector.

 

“Awesome Shadow, Just Awesome”, said Vector.

 

I smiled as I looked around to find the Chaotix Detectives there to help me. Normally I wouldn’t accept it but I was too exhausted to make a fuss. They had a radio which linked to Sonic and the others.

 

“Wow! Shadow that was sweet. Sure wished I could’ve been up there with you”, said Sonic.

 

I heard more cheers for me, and Knuckles making sure that the Doctor didn’t escape.

 

“Shadow I only wish you could hear me now”, said the President.

“Mr President? Shouldn’t you be back at GUN Headquarters where it’s safe? er sir?” said the Commander.

“After researching the events of fifty years ago I realise that we are to blame as well as Doom. We all misjudged Professor Gerald, and of course Shadow the Hedgehog. I just wish he could hear me say, I’m sorry. Not just for me, but for the entire world”, said the President.

 

I had regained some of my strength and started to walk a little smiling a little.

 

“I appreciate your help guys but if you don’t mind I’d like to be alone now. Could you three please leave ARK”, I said.

“But Shadow you clearly need help”, said Espio.

“Yeah we can’t leave you like this. What are you crazy?” asked Charmy.

 

Vector looked at me and realised I was serious.

 

“Come on guys, time to go home. We got what we came here for. Let’s leave Shadow to sort things out himself”, said Vector.

“But...But…But…But”, said Charmy

“No buts Charmy. It’s time to go home”, said Vector.

 

The three soon left ARK, leaving the place to myself. I went straight to the observatory room and looked down at Earth once more. The peaceful giant blue orb looked so fragile, so beautiful. I began to wonder what I was going to do next.

 

Was I going to be the weapon GUN wanted? Was I going to help the Doctor takeover the world? Would I return to the Rogues? Or become the hero Sonic wanted me to be? I would be none of these things.

 

I examined the photo I always carried of Maria and Gerald. The photo showed how happy they were before all this happened. Before Black Doom created me with Gerald, before he released all the Artificial Chaos. Before the humans attacked ARK and killed Maria. I cried knowing it would never be like that again.

 

I knew the life I had, the life I wanted would never be mine again.

 

“Goodbye Shadow the Hedgehog”, I said as I threw away the photo and walked out of the observatory.

 

So that was my story. My Adventure of Self Discovery. In the end though when I discovered the truth it didn’t matter. I was none of the things others wanted me to be and they all seemed to bend the truth to get me to do their bidding. I still feel as if they used me, all of them, even Sonic.

 

Now I don’t care. The life I wanted is gone; my past no longer holds me. The only thing that matters to me now is fulfilling Maria’s wish. It’s the only part of my past I choose to keep, as well as keeping ARK a sacred place in the memory of those who died here. What I was no longer concerns me. What I will be? Now there’s the real question.

 

Whatever happens though I’ll never turn back to the way I was. I will never be used again. I know who I am now, I am Shadow the Hedgehog and I will live my life the way I want to.

 

THE END