Sonic the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog, and any other series, franchise, or intellectual property I may reference or mention do not belong to me. This is a fan-made non-profit work.
After all this time, after all the pain and confusion, Shadow the Hedgehog finally understood. His memory, previously a darkened room punctuated by the occasional ember, had fully returned; it did not answer his question, did not tell him who he was. In his naivety, he had assumed that learning of his past would let him know himself- that was clearly not the case.
Shadow the Hedgehog was, is an artificial life form created by mixing the Black Arms DNA with that of a Mobian Hedgehog and more cybernetics than should be possible. He is an abomination created to both doom and save the Earth, to both kill and heal the humans.
But he knew one thing: what he is does not determine who he is.
He still had an alien race to kill and a world to save, and he would sooner kill himself than let his friends die. He may be an eldritch abomination, but his infinite power was the only thing that could save the world, and he refused to turn back.
The true form of the Black Arms' leader was fearsome, but Shadow did not falter; he was chaos energy incarnate, and his power was endless. His foe attempted to stall him by throwing entire cities at him, but they did naught but fill him with greater fury and determination. When his rage reached the boiling point, he would create explosions of red chaos energy, searing the flesh from the gargantuan alien's hide; when his willpower reached its peak, time itself was his plaything, and he could land countless blows in the time it took his foe to blink.
The battle was fierce, but there was no doubt he would win; the warlord, for all his might and massive size, was nothing compared to Super Shadow.
A final blow struck the gargantuan extraterrestrial, and Shadow knew he had won. His foe slowly fell, dissolving into red particles like his minions before him. His golden form slowly fading, Shadow returned to his friends, whose captors had died, their life energy tied to that of their leader.
His friends asked if he was okay, but he assured them he was. Most were satisfied with that, but Rouge, the one person who knew him best, wasn't.
"Shadow, you don't have to keep this bottled inside. It isn't healthy, even for the ultimate life form."
Shadow, for all his might, could not disagree with her.
"I am who I am. My origins don't matter, because we are all determined by our actions, not our birth. I am Shadow the Hedgehog, the ultimate life form. I was created to protect this planet, and I was created to destroy it. I was created to kill all humans, and I was created to heal a single girl. My destiny is my own, and I choose to fulfill the wish of the first person to truly love me: I will protect this planet."
"Well, I don't know about you, but I can't really see you just running around looking for trouble like Sonic. GUN is always looking for more special agents, and I think Gamma misses you."
"Gamma misses the destruction I dealt, nothing more. Still, I think that sounds nice; you've been there for me before, and I wouldn't mind watching each other's tails."
Rouge simply smirked, smacked the Ultimate Life Form's rear, and sauntered off, leaving him even more confused than his identity crisis and amnesia. He hurried after none the less; for all he didn't know, for all he was and was not, he was in charge of his own destiny, and he liked how that destiny looked.
I was inspired to write this one-shot after finishing Shadow the Hedgehog and listening to Never Turn Back. Shadow, though originally just an 'edgy' Sonic recolor, has become his own character, and I can appreciate that. And, just like Sonic's true max speed, we never really know what his true power is, or what he's really capable of.