A Sonic the Hedgehog based story…

Shadow in the Dark

Section 0: Earth

Chapter 1: Shadowy Cover

June 1st 3235

5:30 p.m.

Somewhere in he northern America

Shadow the Hedgehog looked out of a window on Earth. The hedgehog had only recently sided with the Earth's military. Made by doctor Gerald Robotnik, Ivo Robotnik's grandfather, Shadow was considered the ultimate life form.

And he had an eternal bullet-shaped hole in his heart for Gerald's niece, Maria who was killed in a Military attack. Although, he sided with them, the Military had no idea of Shadow's real mission: To find the Chaos Emeralds through the Earth's space Navy. A small smile spread across his face. He already had 3 emeralds. Four more and he would be able to wreak destruction on the inner colonies. But his smile vanished quickly. There were some who would guess of his mission. He would take care of them personally. But fortunately, his only means of failure lied 4000 miles away.

Sonic the Hedgehog lay on a beach towel in the hot sun. This was his vacation time. His friends were there too. Miles "Tails" Prower, a 2- tailed fox with a skyrocket I.Q.,

Amy Rose who crazily loved Sonic. She was also a hedgehog, and Sally Acorn, a princess who was wa a cross between a squirrel and a chipmunk. She was on her cell phone talking to someone. Although Sonic liked a tan, he disliked water. Very much. In fact he was 17 but couldn't swim. There was a member that wasn't there though. Lieutenant Commander and part of ONI, Chris Vennettilli. Born of an Italian family, Chris lived in New York and worked as a NYPD officer until he was 15 he was drafted into the UNSC in the human/Covenant war. Sonic was glad he was gone. He never had a soft spot for him. Mainly because his intellect had got the better of him, secondly, the princess was in his debt because he saved her from a hairy situation that made Sonic want to plant a 9mm round between the eyes. But he was somewhere. Where, he didn't know but he was somewhere. And that was good enough.

Chris was in Mexico at the time, in a Mayan pyramid. That was where the Master Emerald was being kept. In fact he was here because he volunteered to help Knuckles the Echidna watch it. He was on the phone. "Sonic's been watching all phone calls. This is probably the only time I could reach you. So, Chris, how's life over there?" Sally asked over the phone. "Well, It's Sucks Ville here." Said Chris in a calm voice lowering his M4 carbine. "Well, I guess it's a living, huh. I mean, not all of us can protect the Master Emerald." She said. "Yeah I guess so. Uh oh, here comes the 'Master' now" Chris said. Sure enough, Knuckles came walking up to him. He was wearing a camouflage jumpsuit and was wielding a 44. Magnum in his side holster. "OK, Sally I have to go." He said "See ya soon Chris." Sally said and hung up."Well, Chris," said Knuckles. "Shouldn't you be doing your rounds?". "Again?" said Chris in his most dramatic voice. "Don't you guys have shifts around here?" he asked. Knuckles glowered at Chris's M4 carbine. "Is that thing necessary?" he grunted. "Hey, man, we're in a war. See an enemy shoot it till it bleeds, it IS necessary." He said. "Fine, have a fancy gun but do your rounds. Oh and don't touch the Emerald either." He said. "Why? asked Chris. "Just don't." Knuckles said and left the room. Chris did as he was told. Watch the Emerald. But got the wise idea of touching the Emerald. "What's the worst that can happen?" he wondered out loud. His gloved finger touched the gleaming surface when an alarm rang out in the chamber. A Titanium cage descended on the Emerald. Then, an inch of plastic surrounded the cage. Finally, 2 75 mm. Gatteling cannons emerged from hiding places in the wall. Chris was terrified at the sight and dived for cover. Then, before the guns could fire, Knuckles came up, tapped in a code on a wall keypad, and then waited. The guns, plastic and the cage disappeared from sight. Chris glanced over a rock that served as his cover. He poked his M4 over just in case. "Told you not to touch the Emerald." Said Knuckles lazily. "I didn't touch the emerald." Said Chris nervously. It was err… a bird!" he said. "A bird?" said Knuckles who put his fists on his hips and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, a bird." Said Chris with a small smile. "OK, Chris. How did that hole in the wall get there?" Knuckles asked. "It wasn't there when I left." "Well, boss it was like, err, Super Bird and – did you say a giant hole?" Chris asked. Knuckles pointed a finger towards a hole as big as an average size professional basketball player. Chris gulped and looked out. A bullet screamed through the darkness. Years of training took over. His body went into a status known by some as 'Bullet-Time" When the mind concentrates so hard that the outer world seemed to slow down but really the user's reflexes were temporarily enhanced. Chris ducked when the bullet came over his head and slammed into the wall.

Chris took out a sidearm and fired in the bullets opposite direction

F-123 Charlie was an Elite robot sniper designed and built by doctor Eggman. After the 'E' series of robots, Eggman wanted more combat ready assassins. Charlie's main mission was to locate the Master Emerald. His secondary objective was to eliminate defenders to allow the strike force to go in and steal it more easily.

Charlie held a Sniper Rifle close to his optic sensors waiting for a chance. That mortar that he sent off earlier might've attracted some unwanted attention as soon as it blew through the wall of the pyramid. A figure poked his head through the mortar wall. This was it. Charlie tugged on the trigger. A bullet went screaming into the night. Then without warning, the figure tossed itself out of the way just before the bullet hit. Then, the figure raised his pistol. The 9mm rang off and before Charlie could even compute the odds of how the figure could have dodged the bullet because of it's speed and accuracy, the bullet pierced his faceplate, hit his circuit control board and sent him into a permanent shutdown

"Did you hit it?" Knuckles asked when he found a heavy-duty flashlight and returned to the Emerald room. "Yeah," Chris said emptying his clip and slapping in a new one. "It's one of Eggman's new robots." Knuckles said. "Why do they want you? You've shown no special qualities to me." Chris scowled. "I don't think he's after us." Chris said. "He's after the Emerald." "Why do you say that?" Knuckles asked, "When we last met, he had 3 emeralds. So I'm betting that he probably has more now. But he can't do any real damage until he finds the Master Emerald." A blast shook the pyramid. "Come on!" Knuckles yelled as he sprinted out of the room. They needed to get to the turrets surrounding the base of the structure. Many of them could be remote activated though. Once they reached the Inner wall, they needed to pass to the Outer wall which was comprised of Geo-thermally reinforced Titanium. A big boom and a flash of light enveloped the Inner wall gate and 2 charred turret bodies were flung over and crashed at Knuckles and Chris's feet. Fear enveloped them both. "Good God!" Knuckles exclaimed at the site of more turrets being destroyed.

"That can't be good." Chris said. Then, bullets started coming through. One came so close to hitting Chris that it shot his designer sunglasses off. 'That's it! Now I'm mad!" Chris yelled at the weakening gate. Knuckles look for the first time Chris noticed, scared and he backed away. He knew what happened when Chris got mad, mass-shooting mayhem. He did this until he either ran out of ammo or killed everything that wasn't affiliated with him. Depending on the type of gun. He slammed off his gun's safety and ran to the door. "All right robofreaks! Come and get me!" As if on cue, the doors of the gate gave way and robots poured in. Instantly, Chris's rifle bolted back as the recoil of the mass of bullets forced its way into Chris's shoulder. Many of the robots bought it right away. Others dodged the first wave while the second mowed them down. The smoking, empty clip fell from the carbine and he slapped in a new one with practiced ease. One bot came too close. The "single" option was sent to "burst" for close work. The hail of rounds tore through the metal like a hot knife through butter. Oil was now splashing Chris's face as he kept on capping them. Then, unbelievably, the robots turned and ran. "Hey, Chris, they're retreating!" Knuckles emerged from his cover and came out joined him. "That's right you poor excuses for garbage cans, RUN!" called Chris with his hand cupped to his mouth. As he stepped over Eggman's "F" "G" and "H" class robots. But they weren't clear yet. A giant 'Mech came lumbering up. Stolen Military technology, no doubt. "Knuckles, get back to the Emerald and pack it up for travel."

Chris said not looking at him. "But, Chris, I'm in charge and-" "I gave you an order, soldier! I wanted that Emerald packed up 5 minutes ago!" he said turning to face him. His green eyes burned into Knuckles'. This was possibly the very first time that Chris had displayed his tactical superiority to Knuckles, who was indeed older, nodded his head in agreement. After he left, he smiled at the new threat. It was a 'Mech all right, a stolen Bigfoot. Chris didn't have Sonic's famed Homing attack so that only made it harder for him. But no matter, he was a Marine; he was trained for this, he thought as he walked back. Aim for the rockets. They're the weakest point on that thing. He thought. So with that, he held up his rifle and checked to see if there was a round in his chamber, and there was. Ready to fire. But Chris then reconsidered. He reached into his backpack and drew a 3-part MI6 Rocket Launcher. He assembled it just as soon as the 'Mech stopped. "OK sweetheart buckle up." Chris muttered putting his Index finger on the trigger. "This one goes out to all those stupid-" Chris never fired, nor did he finish his sentence, because at that precise moment, something black cut into the Bigfoot. He knew something cut into it because the robot was bleeding sparks in it's top right side. The black "thing" soared out of another gaping hole it caused as the 'Mech started to glow white. Chris ducked under a large intact piece of the wall when the 'Mech's nuclear reactor detonated and turned it into a fireball. The "thing" came down then. It was hard to tell because the "thing" was so black that it blended into the night. "You" Chris said and quickly drew his sidearm "Yes, me" Shadow the hedgehog said.

Knuckles was walking toward the Emerald room. He grunted as he lifted the heavy

Jewel. He left the room at a run. Hoping that the Bigfoot didn't dismember him too much. But when he got there, the 'Mech had been decimated and Chris was pointing his 9 mm pistol at what looked like a shadow. "Wait, a shadow! Shadow!" Knuckles said. Shadow turned, his burning red eyes were the only thing that he could see. "What are you doing here? "he asked. "Just what I was going to ask him, Knuckles. Well, Shadow, what are you doing here?" Chris asked. "Well," he hesitated, then, continued. " After what happened with Sonic at ARK… " Chris knew ARK was a space station that Dr. Gerald Robotnik created back when Shadow was good and Maria was alive. He should know, he had traveled there when the Military forced Gerald into handing over the facility by killing all that they could. "….so, then I side with the Military to find Eggman and take him down." "Seems like a straightforward story." Said Chris. We need all the help we can get with the Emerald finding." "Fine but how are we getting this thing out of here? " Knuckles asked. Chris thought. "OK, I have a way. Follow me!" Chris said, running back to the pyramid. Knuckles and Shadow followed. And Chris led them down a path that Knuckles had never seen before. This path led to a maglev tram. "How come I've never seen this before?" Knuckles asked. "Because I always make sure you never find out anything besides business."

"But we don't know where this tram goes!" Shadow said stepping into the tram. "I do." Said Chris as he pressed buttons on a keypad. The tram lurched forward and started to pick up speed. "ETA to destination is 3 hours and 48 minutes. "The computer announced. "Wait!" Knuckles exclaimed. "Won't the robots find the track?" "Oh, they won't be finding anything." Chris said turning around. He had a detonator in his hand. His thumb tapped the button and a fireball exploded behind them. A close examination would show that the entrance to the tram was collapsed. "By the time they figure out that that cave-in was recent, we'll be long gone" Chris said with a heroic smile. "Great job Chris. If there's no gold at the end of this rainbow, we're gonna die" Knuckles said with a mocking grin. "Oh Knuckles, you won't be disappointed." Chris said