Shadow, Sonic, and all other Sonic the Hedgehog-related material belongs to Sonic Team. I do not own any of these characters, nor the plot. This is made solely for entertainment purposes, and is not intended to reap any form of monetary profit.

))~First chapter revised as of 5/18/2011~((

I think most people would agree when I say that, aside from the Last Story scenario, Shadow the Hedgehog had no solid story. The story jumped straight from the invasion of Westopolis right to Shadow somehow obtaining the Chaos Emeralds, with no confirmation as to where exactly they were, how he got them, and what he encountered along the way.

I will be attempting to create the story that Shadow the Hedgehog neglect to fully tell, using all of the levels that are in the game. The characters of the Sonic universe will take on human forms, with their outfits and personality more or less representing that of their anthropomorphic counterparts - some characters will be redone entirely because they are overly generic (lol Black Doom).

Also, since they will be humans and not human-animal things, their names will be adjusted accordingly.

Now, without further delay, I present to you all...

Doom's Day: The Invasion of the Black Arms

Chapter Zero: I Am...

The boy ran down the dimly lit corridor, his scrawny legs carrying him as far as they could, as quickly as they could. Behind him, he could hear the terrifyingly close shouts of their armed pursuers, which only grew more audible despite his fevered attempt to escape them.

He risked a glance over his shoulder, and his fears were mitigated the slightest bit upon seeing the girl. As frightened and tear-stricken as her countenance was - not to mention the fact that he was almost literally dragging her along with him - the boy nonetheless felt a sense of hope and determination. If nothing else, he had to get her off of this doomed colony.

Then, a sudden sense of falling, and he and the girl fell to the ground. He didn't know how it happened, nor did he know how far he was from his destination; both of those concerns meant nothing to him in light of their current situation.

One of the soldiers had a gun out, and aimed right at the defenseless girl...

"MARIA...!"

Shadow's eyes snapped wide open. His chest was heaving up and down, his brow was coated in sweat, and he felt an near-overwhelming sense of fear and horror; all of those unpleasant sensations soon passed as he regained a grip on reality.

"That dream again..." Finally, the teen let out a long sigh, before sitting up and scanning his environment. Now he remembered where he was. The teen was at the very edge of Westopolis - not even in the city. He couldn't quite remember why he had traveled there, but as far as he knew he had fallen asleep on the cliff edge of the only nearby woodlands of the city.

Although, considering his vantage point, he had to admit that he didn't really care about his reasoning at that point; frankly, even to his pessimistic self, the view of the city at sunset was spectacular.

Shadow closed his eyes and took a deep, calming breath - and for the briefest of moments, a slight smile broke his typically sour expression. That one moment alone was enough to bury the troubles of his mind...

If only for a brief time.

The teen let out an irritated sigh as the sounds of fireworks resonated from another area of the city. That - along with other rather loud disturbances - had been going on since this morning, and showed no signs of halting anytime soon. It was times like this in which he wished for normal human hearing; the racket would have been entirely bearable otherwise.

"Damned humans and their noisy..." An involuntary growl rumbled in the teen's throat as a surge of hatred ailed his already troubled mind. Shadow's eyes narrowed at the unbidden emotional spike, before taking one deep, calming breath.

He couldn't explain this hatred; every time his thoughts crossed upon anything relating to humankind, he felt the urge to destroy something. It just didn't make any sense... Why did these humans anger him so much, so often?

"Just one of the many questions that my memories could help me answer..." Shadow closed his eyes, deep in thought as he tried once more to delve into his subconscious, to find out the truth; as usual, he gained nothing. Just like with the concern over his hatred for humanity, several other questions resurfaced.

Two of the most prevalent was the concern over his title, and that girl in his dreams. These people always called him "The Destroyer" - always in a negative connotation. The teen had very little interaction with humans... or, at least, not since he was released from that pod some six months ago; so why did he have such a reputation? And as for that girl... He simply could not recall who she was, yet she and this one mental image nearly drove him crazy with... with fear.

He had faced down massive serpentine machines, god-like entities of destruction and a plethora of super-powered lords of evil - yet none of them could ever hope to scare him as much as that single fragment of his memories...

"Who am I?" He didn't even notice that he was voicing out his thoughts. "Why can't I remember anything... Who is this 'Maria', why am I called 'Destroyer'... And why do I hate humanity so much?"

His eyelids cracked open, and his gleaming red irises looked out at the distant city once more. Day in and day out, these questions echoed in his thoughts, threatening to drive him insane with the desire to remember who he is... Yet this desire always went unfulfilled.

The teen noticed a newspaper coasting towards him out from the peripherals of his vision; as it fluttered past, his right arm slipped out and grasped the paper in one fluid motion. Gripping its other end with his left hand, he lazily scanned the front paper for any significant happenings in the world - or, rather, significant happenings concern certain individuals.

The biggest piece of news was that of what was dubbed the "Metal Madness" incident - that headline alone evicted a half-amused, half-unimpressed scoff from the teen. "Metal Madness... And the worst part is that the title fits..."

Since he was a part of that event, he had no need to read about it; instead, Shadow began to flip through the newspaper, searching for anything of interest and relevance - he didn't get past the second page. Why this particular section caught his eye, he would never know, but he decided to read on regardless.

"The 'Fire in the Sky' festival, celebrating the seventh anniversary of the passing of the Black Comet, will be held at 18:00 this evening." A festival for a comet... Of course they would do something as pointless as that. "Every fifty years, significant events occurred whilst the comet came close to the planet, shaping and redefining human history as we know it..."

Okay, now that was interesting.

Still... Shadow shook his head and continued to skim through the newspaper, letting it fly out of his hands and with the wind. "A worldwide economic crisis, yet these imbeciles find it necessary to hold a festival for a comet... Nothing else to be expected from mere humans."

Oh great, a migraine. The teen ran a hand through his hair, an agitated groan leaving his lips as he forced that recurring anger back down. So groundless and lacking in logic; nonetheless he always fell victim to it... Shadow's thoughts were taken off of his innate anger as he caught sight of the hovering clouds above the city. How odd... he couldn't recall any reports of rain today.

And since when were rainclouds red?

His answer came in three different scenarios - the first being the sudden strike of lightning. The problems were... the thunder struck first, and it wasn't actually lightning - it was a massive beam of energy, which had lanced right through one of the city's skyscrapers.

Following not too long after, many other lances of bright red lights shot out of the looming red sky, which had quickly expanded out as far as Shadow's location - and further still. The distant cries and screams of the city's inhabitants were barely audible to the teen; that being said, the distance between Shadow and the city was too great for the screams to have otherwise been heard. Things had gotten bad in Westopolis, and it was only a few moments since the destruction began. Large organic black pods began to descend, their crash-landings clearly heard even though they couldn't be seen. The constant flashes of red and orange and yellow were soon to follow, and it wasn't long before chaos was to follow.

Shadow simply looked on, his arms folded over his chest, his lips curled into a highly amused smirk. "Look how pathetic they all are; they can't even defend their own civilization..."

Shaking his head, the teen unfolded his arms and turned to go, the tattered tails of his trench coat flapping wildly in the wind as he did. "Whatever. I don't have time to waste with those pathetic weaklings..."

Quite the contrary, young one; these humans hold the key to that which you so desire...

He had only taken four steps when that voice made its presence known inside his head. Instinctively, the teen turned around to see whom the voice belonged to; he received a glowing red orb shrouded in thick black mist as an answer - said entity was mere inches from his face.

Taken aback, Shadow nearly tripped over his own feet as he made to step away from the... whatever the hell it was. "... And how would you know what I want?"

I hold an ample amount of knowledge concerning your very existence, Shadow the Destroyer. Your strengths, your weaknesses, your fears, and so much more...

Now that sent Shadow on high alert. Destroyer...? How did this thing know that name? Nonetheless he did not voice his questioning thought, instead opting to cross his arms and stare at the thing with an unamused expression. "I'll bet you do... But how do you know about me? You and I have never met."

The mist shifted and reformed around the orb, giving it the distinct appearance of what could only be described as its own twisted version of a smile. Frankly, the mere sight of it disturbed the teen.

How very peculiar... I, for one, distinctly remember our past bond with one another, my servant.

Shadow's right eye twitched. "... 'Servant', you say?" Despite his relatively calm - if not scowling - countenance, he was throwing a fit on the inside. How dare this piece of shit call me a SERVANT! Before he could cuss the thing out, however, it spoke again.

The promised time has come, Shadow... If you desire to reclaim what has been lost, to find your true calling and regain what is so rightfully yours, you will collect and deliver to me the seven Chaos Emeralds.

"'Promised time'? 'True calling'?" The teen growled half-threateningly at the entity. "What are you talking about? Who or what the hell are you?"

It suddenly lunged at Shadow, causing the teen to recoil at the sudden, fast movement - he didn't think that he would have been able to react accordingly if it chose to attack. Instead, it hovered there for a moment, a single centimeter away from the teen's face.

In due time, my servant. Until then... Sayoonara, Shadow...

"Sayoo..." The teen's voice faltered as that oddly familiar phrase rendered him dumbstruck. Just as quickly as the entity severely invaded Shadow's personal space, it had gone, the barest hints of its shadowy veil on a course for the city.

The teen was still taken aback by the parting words - so much, in fact, that he almost failed to notice the incoming bombardment from above. His head snapped upward, and he just barely managed to duck and roll away from the worst of it - the rest still managed to singe the back of his coat. An agitated growl left Shadow's throat as he stood again, brushing the excess ash from off of his shoulders. "Dammit..."

His agitation, however, was soon replaced with curiosity, and he turned to face the burning city of Westopolis once more. That... thing, whatever it was... Shadow couldn't trust it; that much was certain. But at the same time... this was the first substantial lead he had gained in the quest to regain his lost memories; moreover... even though they have never met, the thing somehow felt so... so familiar.

"I can't trust it... But as cryptic as he is, I have no choice but to believe him..." As he began to mull over his options, his answer came in the form of an abrupt surge of an indescribable sensation. His head automatically turned towards the city's south precinct, and a wickedly eager grin began to creep over his face; he knew that sensation very well.

A Chaos Emerald had revealed itself.

Shadow began to run towards the city. Sensing the sudden forceful movement, the teen's anti-grav skates activated and propelled him forward in a blur of brown, black, and red.

Interesting... Every time an Emerald reveals itself, something big is bound to occur... His thoughts went uninterrupted, even as he leaped high up and over a blockade of totaled vehicles. What with the arrival of that creature, this invasion, and the passing of the comet... Maybe today will finally be the day that I find out who I am...

Fueled by a new-found resolve, Shadow's smirk transformed into an outright sneer as he rocketed down the ruined asphalt road.

… Well then. I guess it's time to go and fulfill this 'promise'.

Well, that's the prologue. I've changed quite a bit of the dialogue here because, well... the dialogue sucks. After all, for those of you who played the game, you know that the G.U.N. Commander contradicts himself in the most severe way I could ever imagine.

So, yeah. R&R and all that jazz.