DISCLAIMER: I do not own Sonic or any of its properties.

Aloha, everybody! Welcome to my first story, Shadows of the Past. This isn't meant to follow-up or lead up to the main continuity; this is an entirely different universe, an AU in a way. As you probably know, this is what would have happened if Shadow had died for good in Sonic Adventure 2. (TAKE NOTE THAT I AM MESHING THIS TOGETHER WITH THE SONIC X SERIES, because there will be characters and events from that show included here.) I'm taking care of every game up to maybe Sonic Generations, but if enough people like this story, I'll go further; however, I am skipping over Sonic Battle and Shadow the Hedgehog, since I really dislike those games, and if you look back on it, they're never referenced again in the series; in a way they never happened. I'm also skipping over all the handheld games; yes, including Sonic Rush. But anyhow, let's get the story on. However, before we start, I'd like to tackle the last act of Sonic Adventure 2 as a prologue, just so that you all have a clear understanding of what leads up to the timeline split. So, enjoy.

"Shadow..."

The voice of Maria echoes through the gold and red male's mind. "Maria?" he calls out to no one in particular, causing a look of confusion to appear on Sonic, the other gold hedgehog to his right.

"Shadow," the voice says again. "Give them a chance... to be... h..a..p..p..y..." The two super-powered hedgehogs race to the gargantuan space station hurdling to earth.

"Alright," Sonic shouts over the noise of his own emanating energy, "now, Shadow!" The pair gathers a large amount of energy in the form of a golden orb. "Chaos... Control!" they both chant in unison. Their power flows toward its target; said space station, ARK, mentioned earlier. Defying all common logic, their attack expands to the size of the ARK, enveloping it in a field of supercharged Chaos Energy. In a blinding flash of light, the colony is gone, leaving nothing but deep space where it was before. As the hedgehogs send the colony far away to another site, while they do not know it, our two heroes are being cheered on from afar by hundreds of millions of people on the surface of the precious planet they worked so hard to protect. Earth.

Unfortunately for the Ultimate Life Form, his minutes are now numbered. As the last of his power leaves him, he gravitates down to the big blue planet earth. The Blue Blur notices this, and turns back, in trying to rescue his fellow hedgehog. "Shadow," Sonic calls out, "grab my hand!" Opening his eyes, the male hedgehog weakly raises his hand up. When it looks like he is about to grab on, he reels back and slaps the other hedgehog's hand as hard as he can, propelling himself back and causing his right Power Ring to fall.

"Maria," Shadow whispers, "this is what you wanted... right?" He suddenly feels tears welling up in his shut eyes. "This... is my promise... I made... to you..." With those last words, he is finally pulled into the earth's gravity... and is falling.


It is a few minutes later. The main room of the ARK has many uneasy creatures; each of them expected Sonic and Shadow to be back at the ARK by now, but neither one has turned out. Suddenly, when it seems that all hope is lost for the pair of hedgehogs, the door hisses open. It reveals... one hedgehog. Everyone in the room turns around, expecting to see Sonic and Shadow... but the latter is missing. The first to speak is Rouge the Bat herself. "Where is Shadow?" she asks, emotionless. As an answer, the returning blue male holds his head low and shakes it... indicating that the Ultimate Life Form will not be returning from his battle. He slowly walks to Rouge, and hands her something...

It is Shadow's gold ring. It is the only thing that any of our mobian heroes will have to remember him by.

Rouge begins again, "Do you really think... that the professor created him... Shadow... to carry out his revenge on all human life?"

"He was what he was," Sonic replies bluntly. "He was a brave and heroic hedgehog..."

"I guess you're right," Rouge replies. "Maybe he was evil... but in the end... he was still a hero."

Everyone converses with each other for the next few minutes; talking about Shadow, Professor Gerald, or their hopes for the future.

"To end... all human life..." Sonic says to himself, until Amy Rose approaches.

"What's the matter, Sonic?" she asks him. The blue male turns his head to the right.

"Oh," he says, "it's nothing. Come on, let's go home! To the planet as cool, and blue as me!" The pink female to his left walks off to the door, and Sonic follows. Before leaving, however, he turns back to view the earth from afar. "Sayonara, Shadow, the Hedgehog..." he whispers under his breath.

Now, I am sure that you all know this story. You have all probably heard this about ten times. So, why am I retelling it?

Because this time, the game will change.

(A/N: Well, that is the end of Chapter 1, Prologue. Like I said, I just wanted to retell the events leading up to the timeline split. I know this chapter was also fairly short, but since it is the prologue, and it is also not technically part of the story, since it actually happened in the continuity, I did it like that on purpose. From now on, chapters will be a lot longer. Make sure to favorite and leave your comments on the review page.

Best wishes,

Just Another Writer)