Prologue
Sonic walked into the abandoned warehouse. Strange, he thought. Why would shadow want to meet me here? Ah, well. Never trust an anonymous letter, I say. The warehouse was entirely made of stone and concrete, inside and out. The inside room was dark, much darker than what he would've thought. I don't have a good feeling about this. Something is telling me to leave… A figure was seen dropping from the ceiling, onto the concrete floor. "Shadow", Sonic said. "Is that you?"
The figure took a step forward. It was around Shadow's size, but the darkness of the warehouse shaded the creature's body. It extended his arm out towards Sonic, and quickly made and retracted a fist. Suddenly, Sonic was sent flying back to the nearest wall. 50 feet. Sonic slid down the wall, and dropped to one knee and a foot, with both hands on the ground. "Oh, no", he said. "You can't be Shadow." Sonic took ten, quiet steps forward, and looked around: no one. He felt something breathing on his neck, and a blackened face slowly appeared beside his. "Surprise."
It pounded Sonic's neck down with awesome might, forcing him to drop to his knees. It grabbed one of Sonic's arms, pulls it back, twists it behind his back, and punches him in his lower spine. The force pushing Sonic forward with his arm backwards almost utterly shattered his right arm. "AAAAAAAAAAAA", Sonic screamed in agony. It turns him around, extends an open hand, and pushes Sonic back once more, giving him also a quick, hard elbow to the face as well.
"Oh…my…god. Wh-what is that? It came at me with such a speed, I-I didn't even see him!" He looks around the room once more. Once more, he's not in sight. Sonic can hear his voice echoing throughout the room. "I needed to test my strength, Sonic. Happy you could oblige. Is this honestly all the power you possess? My analysis stated you hade superior strength over Shadow." Sonic turned side to side, looking for where the voice was coming from. "What did I expect, though. I'm not Shadow."
Sonic was scared. Only once had he faced anything this powerful in his lifetime. It could easily kill him. A wave of air shifted past his face, and Sonic turned around to see what it was, so he could avoid any more brutal blows.
Too late.
The creature stared him eye to eye, without blinking, not even an inch away. It looked like a dark-red Echidna, with cyber attachments for the ends of his hair. He had a thin, black line running up each of his arms, and into a glowing, silver ball in the center of his chest. His shoes were like Shadow's, except they were all black but the top, which was white. And his eyes…they were unlike anything he had ever seen…his pupils, along with the rest of his eyes, were white. Death was staring him in the face. He jabbed Sonic in the stomach harder than a freight train, forcing air and blood to spurt out of his mouth. Sonic was temporarily out of breath, and could not move. He made a quick attempt to stop the creature, kicking him in the shin. It made a short, faint breath, and disappeared into the blackness of the warehouse.
Sonic then felt a hand grab the back of his head, and it pounded Sonic's skull into the ground. He had a bloodshot eye, now, and could barely move. Still having hold of his head, it rushed at Hyper-Sonic speeds to the next wall, and pressed Sonic's head into it as hard as he could. The wall cracked and dented, with Sonic's head creating a cavity for it. He had blood coming out from one ear and the top of his head. It pounded two fists into the wall directly beside each side of Sonic's face. "Sonic, I intend to kill you, if that's not what you were thinking. What did you expect when you came here, anyhow? A friendly meeting with Shadow?"
Sonic was stunned. Mentally, yes, but mostly physically. "What? Of course, not. Me and Shadow are mortal enemies, you retard. I came out here to get rid of him, because the letter said he would be here. Now, just go ahead and kill me, please." The creature was confused. "I came here to see if you were actually willing to meet and talk with Shadow, and if you did, I would kill you. Are you simply here to kill Shadow, as I am?"
"Yeah, that's what I expected. I never thought I would get the beating of a lifetime handed to me. Now, kill me, already. I've suffered plenty enough."
"No, if you are simply here to kill Shadow, I have no reason to decimate you. Not yet, at least. In fact, I might need your help in annihilating the specimen STH-001."
"If it involves the destruction of Shadow, I guess that I'll help. First, you gotta tell me who you are, or rather, what you are."
"I am specimen ETE-UL001, codenamed Eclipse. I am the superior artificial life-form, out to make extinction of Shadow. I was created in Space Colony Arch, by Eggman and the Chaos Crystal. If you were here to put an end to Shadow, then your death will be put off for another time in the future I need your help for something else as well."
"My help. I figured that would be the last thing you would say, much less think something I would do. I guess I owe you for sparing my life. Oh, well. Couldn't hurt me too much. So, what do you need me to do, Eclipse?"
"I simply need for you to help me find someone. Now tell me, Sonic, I heard that you know most people on this earth that are at your aid, correct?" "I might." "You wouldn't happen to know anyone by the name of Rippal, would you?"
