So hello everyone! I must say I've been rather lazy on writing, with writer's block and what, although I've been busy with cosplaying as well. I recently got back into the Sonic fandom with playing Sonic Adventure again, so I'm having tons of nostalgia. I've always been reading fanfics again and came across several amazing fics that have to do with the ARK and Sonic being transported back. I gained inspiration from them, something I had not had in a long time, and so I just had to roll with it. This is a Sonadow fanfiction, but there's more of the emotional buildup to that, so I hope that you all enjoy it, and please leave a review if you want! They really fuel me into updating soon, especially when the next chapters are almost done, hint hint. Also going to let you know this is unbeta'ed and written in the early morning hours, so if you see a mistake, let me know so I can fix it, there's only so much I can pick up when re-reading it. Enjoy!

Sonic remembered the first time when he saw the black and red hedgehog. He had been on the run from GUN, falsely accused of breaking into Prison Island and stealing a Chaos Emerald. One of the robots they sent had gotten in his way in the streets, but the blue blur had expertly dodged the missiles and sent them back to the robot. It had been far too easy, but when the smoke cleared, something strange happened. A golden light sprang into existence on top of the robot's remains and that was when he saw him. It was Shadow, a hedgehog that called himself the Ultimate Life Form and looked almost exactly like him. The similarities were so uncanny, and the way those eyes were filled with hatred and anger… and some sort of recognition?

The blue hedgehog sighed and stretched out on the roof of Tail's workshop, listening to the breeze as it blew past. Usually he didn't think too much of that incident, or even of his rival that often, but ever since Shadow's amnesia had cleared, it looked like he had withdrawn even further away from everyone, more so him than the others. Sonic's emerald eyes slid shut, frowning ever so slightly. It was strange; curiosity had grabbed ahold of him ever since then and urged him to go and find the stubborn hedgehog, but no one, not even Rouge, knew where he went. It wasn't as if anyone hated him, he did help save the world from Black Doom, even though he could have decided to destroy it. What was it about his memories that caused him to distance himself more than usual?

Briefly the inclination to simply wander up to GUN HQ and ask where he had been was present, but he squashed it quickly. He still wasn't on good terms with them and even though they had forgiven both him and Shadow's actions, he still found himself hesitant. It was a wonder why Shadow even accepted working for them as an agent, he remembered quite clearly that the Commander and he had always been at odds. He never told anyone else that his usual runs were now more geared to checking any place nearby for signs of the elusive hedgehog. A little voice in his head nagged at him, telling him the reason he was looking for Shadow was more than just wanting to race…

His thoughts were in a jumble over all of this and he quickly shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind. The last time any of them had seen Shadow was his birthday party a few months ago. No one expected the dark one to show up, so it was a surprise when he was leaning against the wall behind everyone. Sonic let out a small chuckle, it was pretty funny; the only reason why he had been at the one before that was due to the Time Eater. Plus it was one of the first times he thought he saw an actual smile.

"You know, Shadow should be glad he isn't here. I don't think he'd like the sight of you right now." Tails teased his idol, smiling as he tried to wipe off a piece of chili that had landed on him while Sonic was scarfing down the table full of foot long chilidogs. It had been a surprise from the whole group, one giant present, although everyone did give him individual gift. Knuckles wrinkled his nose, standing a bit away so he didn't have to endure being bathed in particles of chili. Sonic on the other hand ignored them, enjoying what looked like to be the world's fastest consumption of one hundred chilidogs.

"I've seen worse." A dark voice, one that was surprisingly was tinged with humor, came from behind everyone. It was easy to say that every single person in the house had jumped, even Sonic had trouble swallowing the food in his mouth as he wildly glanced around until his gaze landed on a dark figure who was leaning on the wall in the back of the room, hidden from almost everyone's sight.

"S-Shadow?" Sonic pounded on his chest to get the rest of the delicious chilidogs to go down the right way before he stood up, a wide smile on his face. Rogue was the fastest to recover, sauntering over to his side and crossing her arms over her chest with a slight smirk.

"So, you did end up receiving my message after all." She said, looking proud of herself and of him for joining them. Shadow didn't pay too much attention to his companion and instead turned his gaze towards his rival, a subtle hint of what Sonic swore could have been a smile. It was only a split second, as Shadow returned his gaze back to the bat soon after looking at him.

Opening his eyes again, the blue hero sighed, bringing his arms from behind his head to rest on his stomach. Clouds drifted in front of the sun, bringing a welcoming coolness to the air around him. Still to this day, he couldn't tell if he had been imagining the smile, or it had actually happened. Shadow was not one to be so… cheery… He had been happy to see him at the party, but even before everyone had left, he had upped and disappeared. It was as if Shadow was smoke, as soon as one looked away, he was gone again. Disappointing as it was, a gift had been left on the table where the hedgehog had been near, meaning that he didn't leave without saying some sort of goodbye.

Sonic's lips twisted upwards in a smile. He remembered what had been in the small package; it was a rather surprising thoughtful gift. A few green Chaos Drives, ones he ended up giving to his Chao in the gardens. Honestly he spoiled that little thing, and boy did it start to look like him, with the blue quill spikes and everything. Even developed a taste for chilidogs… His ears drooped, the incident where the chilidog he was going to eat vanished into the Chao's mouth still fresh. Next time, he decided, he should eat before he went in to play with it.

Sonic.

Huh, did someone call his name?

Sonic!

Oh please don't let it be Amy, anything but her! Couldn't he be left alone to daydream underneath the cloudy sky? Okay, never mind the fact that's what he had been doing for quite a while already.

"Sonic, we have trouble!" Tail's voice brought him back to reality. His eyes snapped open and he sat up, peering over the edge where the two tailed fox was looking up at him. Knuckles didn't somehow lose the Master Emerald again to Rouge, did he? Or break into pieces like that one time?

"What's up Tails?" he asked, jumping down as he saw the panic in the kit's blue eyes. The expression told him more than enough. It wasn't about the Master Emerald…

"Eggman, he's located the last Chaos Emerald!" The last Chaos Emerald… Feeling the green Emerald he had stored in his quills, he frowned. It had been a while since they had the emeralds together, and Eggman was up to his tricks again. Quickly doing a count as he ran after the kit to jump onto the X Tornado, he remembered where the rest of them were. Tails had three of them, he had one, Shadow had another, and Eggman had one, with the last one now being found after two months of searching.

Pulling back the cuff of his right white glove, he checked that Tail's Emerald radar was working correctly before he knelt down on the outside of the jet. Using the three Chaos Emeralds to power it, the X-Tornado shot off, drawing the energy to travel faster than before. The wind on his face felt nice, but his feet itched to be running on the ground. Every few seconds the hedgehog glanced down into the cockpit to see the bigger radar, the white and purple blips recording where Eggman and the newly found Emerald was.

According to Tails, using the speaker to talk to him, it was near the mountains over at the Blue Lake. It was awfully close to where one of the wild Chao gardens were, and he was thankful that the X-Tornado was fast enough to get there before any damage could be done. The first hint that they were heading in the right direction was a mass of metal blobs in a clearing, advancing on the sparkling lake.

Leaping off the jet while raising a two fingered salute to Tails, he decided to clash head-on with the squadron of Eggman's robots on the ground as his little brother attacked from the sky. Rolling once he hit the ground, the blue blur lived up to his name and promptly dashed through three of them before they realized that he was in their midst. A flash of light caught his eye through the large robot bodies and he saw the white Emerald on the ground near the lake, Tails diving in to try and snatch it when Eggman rammed his ship into the side of the X Tornado. He went to speed past the wall of robots, intent of sending them all flying, when…

"Oof!"

Misjudging the speed of the metalhead in front of him, Sonic was sent flying sideways. At the speed he was going, added to by getting hit by the robot, he found himself coming face to face with one of the upgraded versions. That meant Sonic was about to faceplant directly into one of the laser-headed E-144s, not something he had planned on putting on his 'to-do list' today. Before he could curl up into a ball, there was a flash of red light from overhead and something black slammed into the top of the robot, instantly destroying it. The smoke cleared as Sonic rebounded off the heap of junk to quickly glance up at the red-streaked figure who was withdrawing his fist from the metal casing.

"Looks like the Faker's losing his edge." It wasn't every day that Shadow came to his rescue, and to even see him here was strange, though he was more focused on claiming his prize than wondering about his arrival. Those words from his rival brought his trademark grin back, instantly slinging back a retort, emerald eyes shining.

"Looks who's talking. How long did it take to get here, need to wait for the bus?" With that, and barely seeing the narrowing of Shadow's eyes, he darted away in between E-141s. Trust Eggman to make the last Emerald difficult to get. Luckily his speed and tight turn ability helped him pass by most of the robots without any problems before he headed back and used his legs to knock an entire row off their now mangled feet. Their missiles and hand to hand were not as strong when they were bunched up together, something that bowed to his favor.

"You blasted fox, that Emerald's mine!"

Tails circled overhead, both trying to block Eggman from proceeding, and leveling more than half of the metal bots in three seconds. If the fox couldn't directly grab the Emerald, then he would at least try and buy time for Sonic to grab it. A laser out of nowhere incinerated the tree near to Sonic even before he had passed it, causing him to attempt to skid to a stop and speed the other way. Eyes darted over to the mech that had fired, seeing it start to charge again, he zigzagged and at the last moment spin dashed through it-

-right into a swing fist. Letting out a cry of pain, he flew through the air. Was it him or did the mechs' AI systems get increasingly better with predicting his movements? This was an off day for him; it was almost tempting to cross his arms over his chest and pout, but now was not the right time. Eggman's laughter over his plight annoyed the hero and he twisted, ready to curl into a ball to lessen the landing when something dislodged from his quills. Immediately he reacted, eyes fastening onto the green Chaos Emerald as it tumbled through the air.

Time to put it into use and show Eggy how fast he can destroy this batch of robots. His lips pulled back into a devilish grin. A bit of Chaos Control can lead everything into his favor, not that he normally used the power. Even though he relied more on his speed than anything, it couldn't hurt to use it.

His fingertips were just brushing up against the falling jewel, clenching it tightly when he heard Tails call out a warning as he flew overhead. Twisting in midair, his eyes fell upon the charging laser canon on Eggman's ship, powered by the purple Chaos Emerald. Eyes widening only slightly at not having noticed it before, his lips turned up into a full-blown smirk. Too slow Eggman, too slow!

"Chaos – "

The beam fired just before it slipped out of his mouth, energy crackling as it was sent spiraling towards him, surprising him with how quickly it had fired. And then… everything froze, the words from farther away lost in the noise of the laser and explosions. It was silent as Chaos energy halted time, a dark figure leaping towards and landing next to the blue hedgehog. Crimson eyes darted back and forth from the incoming laser then to Sonic, whose eyes had caught sight of him, but in the time locked space, couldn't do anything. Shadow simply knelt down next to him, several words being spoken only for the other hedgehog's ears to hear before he leaped away, time restarting.

The laser collided with both Sonic and the reacting Emerald, the words "-Control" being swallowed up by the resulting explosion. In shock that his idol was hit, Tails cried out Sonic's name, Eggman laughing gleefully over his success as the light from the explosion slowly began to diminish.