Shadow's Journal:
Sonic has just restored time and space. Always being the hero. Of course, if I hadn't let him beat me in that race and take my chaos emerald he would've never succeeded (reference to Sonic Generations). But my intentions weren't to write about that experience. No, this is a story all for me. None of the others know, at least, not the others you know about. Today is December 26th, and I'm writing at 2 A.M. What? You thought I wasn't the type to write in a journal, better yet, write at all? The reason I'm documenting is so I don't forget, ever. This is too important for me to lose in my fragmented mind. I'm tired of having lost memories.
It was about 3 months ago I believe. Early in the morning, I had been startled awake by another dream about that terrible day on the ARK. Even having the safety of a home given to me by GUN couldn't calm me. It wasn't a home. Just a house I was living in; no love, no warmth. I woke up in a cold sweat, mentally hitting myself for remembering that day. I had chosen to put the past behind me. It wasn't working. I always put up a strong front in front of Sonic and his friends, but when I was alone, those damn memories would haunt me. So, being clammy and shaky, I took a shower and made sure the water was hot enough to burn. "Please be careful Shadow, you don't want the bath water to be too hot, it will make you drowsy and nauseous." Of course that memory would come back to me. My first bath. She took it with me so we could play and make sure I washed properly. I was getting pissed off and frustrated. "She's dead, you damn idiot," I told myself. No good. It was never any good. I needed a distraction. Eggman's robots had been spotted in the city lately. I figured Sonic could use my help; he's pathetic on his own.
The rest of that morning was a blur of flashbacks, breakfast, a phone call, and making my way to the city. Fighting Eggman's robots was just what I needed. Every hit I gave and took made my blind blank and the adrenaline pump through me. I loved it, and I never wanted to stop. The Doctor is a smart man though, and he knew when to pull back his attack and recover for a while. The fighting took me until late afternoon. And afterword, I was confronted by Sonic and Tails. He said something stupid and annoying like usual, I'm guessing it was something like, "Yo faker, thanks for the help, Tails and I are going to the forest to investigate, why don't you and Rouge head to the military base and see what's going on?" Of course he meant for it to be more of an order than a suggestion. Whatever. I simply nodded my head in agreement and ran off with Rouge trying to catch up behind me. Don't get me wrong, I consider her a friend of sorts. But that's it. She can be rather annoying when it comes to treasure and Knuckles. She likes him a lot, that much is obvious.
The military base brought more fighting and a few puzzles, nothing Rouge and I couldn't handle. It was when we broke inside the research facility things began to get interesting. Rouge looked at me and said in that adult themed voice, "Shadow, take a look at the equipment, I'll hack into the computer." This is the only time I will be grateful for someone telling me what to do. Most of the equipment was junk. The machine in the back left corner caught my attention however. It looked like a metal pedestal, with a dull orb sitting on top. The orb had a hole in it, shaped just like a chaos emerald. I pulled out mine, always the green fourth, always. I let my curiosity get the better of me and placed my chaos emerald inside the slot.
Suddenly, everything around me, including Rouge, was gone. I was surrounded by endless white. A voice, like the voice you hear in the back of your head when you're reading, spoke to me. "Welcome to empty space, user, please identify yourself." Hesitantly, I replied, "Shadow, Shadow the Hedgehog."
"User, Shadow the Hedgehog, please standby, your memories and thoughts are being scanned." I stood completely still and silent for what seemed like centuries, when finally the voice spoke again, "Scanning complete. Shadow the Hedgehog, do you wish to use SECOND CHANCE?"
"Second chance? A second chance on the ARK? What is this thing talking about?" Out of pure instinct, I replied "Yes."
