Disclaimer: I own nothing
For all intensive purposes Night Carnival is now Dark Carnival. Why, you ask? Because I said so.
Shadow stood at the top of a ridge above the valley that housed Dark Carnival, looking down at the whirring machinery, illuminated by the innumerable lights that burned away the darkness of the night. It had been approximately two hours since he had received the mission from G.U.N. Command.
"Shadow," Commander Tower had said, "our analysts have picked up a strange energy signature emanating from Dark Carnival."
"Dark Carnival?" Shadow responded, "that's one of Eggman's bases, isn't it?"
"Correct, Shadow. I'm sending you on a reconnaissance mission to Dark Carnival to find the source of the energy signature."
"Very well, I'll get Omega and Rouge-"
"No," Commander Tower interrupted, "it's a stealth mission so you're going in alone."
"If it's a stealth mission," Shadow asked, "wouldn't it make more sense to send Rouge?"
"It would seem so, but I have my reasons. Now go."
After that brief briefing, Shadow had set out to find what Eggman's latest crazed idea held in store for the world.
"I guess I better get going," Shadow thought out loud, looking down at Dark Carnival.
It only took a few minutes for Shadow to get to Eggman's control tower, even faster than usual. He came up against very little resistance and the few mechanical soldiers that did try to stop him were unprepared and easily overpowered.
"Security seems lax, even for Eggman," Shadow had thought just before reaching the control room.
Shadow broke open the sealed blast doors with a burst of energy, revealing a room filled with blank monitors and sensors that were scanning the park, but one thing was missing. The room was completely vacant. Eggman was not there.
All of a sudden, the monitors burst to life, each showing the enlarged face of, the would-be conqueror.
"Where are you hiding, Doctor!?" Shadow shouted intimidatingly at the monitors.
"That's not important!" the Doctor interjected before responding, "Why are you trashing my Dark Carnival base!? Do you have any idea how long it took me took build that park!?"
"G.U.N. picked up your energy signature, we know you're up to something."
"That's preposterous," Eggman yelled, "if I were up to something, I would be the first one to know about it-"
As Eggman finished his statement, the scanners in the control room where Shadow was standing went ballistic. Flashing red screens filled the room with a bright red light, while a deafening alarm pierced Shadow's ears.
"What the hell's happening!?" Shadow yelled over the noise.
"Something's happening at Dark Carnival," Eggman yelled back after looking into a monitor off to the side of his camera view, "it looks like that energy signature you mentioned is a dimensional corridor. It's starting to grow! At this rate it will destroy my whole base!" After that, the monitors shut off, leaving Shadow in the control room with the flashing screens and blaring alarms.
"Damn you!" Shadow yelled at the now-flashing screens.
Then the ground began to rumble, slow, resonating with the rhythmic beating of the pulsating singularity that had formed above Dark Carnival.
"Guess I better get out of here."
Shadow took off down the steel corridors of the control tower towards the exit, rocketing past the smoldering wreckage of Eggman's security robots. He could feel his body vibrating to the distant thrumming of the dimensional corridor now forming, far above his head.
"If it wasn't Eggman," Shadow thought while navigating the maze-like complex of corridors, "then what caused this?"
As Shadow was rounding the last few corners of the complex, he felt the rhythm and force of the pulses grow faster and stronger with each beat.
Shadow had just gotten outside of the command tower when a massive boom echoed throughout the valley that Dark Carnival rested in. Shadow looked up to see that the corridor had metastasized into a swirling vortex of energy, which had sent out a massive shock-wave that shook the very foundation of the twisted amusement park, and was now heading right for him. Seeing this, Shadow took the hint to get out of there. He pulled out his Chaos Emerald, said his signature phrase, and disappeared in a flash of bright green light.
Shortly after, Shadow appeared back at G.U.N. Command. After his debrief with Commander Tower, Shadow returned home, opting to take his motorcycle rather than use Chaos Control. For some reason, unknown to him, Shadow enjoyed riding his motorcycle after a mission. He could feel the roar of the engine travel through the chassis and seep into him. It was relaxing, therapeutic, even.
We've seen this kind of thing happen before, Shadow. It should start to recede after a few hours. Let's just be thankful that it decided to open up over Dark Carnival and not Central City!
Shadow remembered the Commander's blunt response to his debrief. It had been an unusually lax response, completely unfitting to his belligerent nature. This made Shadow uneasy.
"What if it doesn't 'get better,' what if this is just the beginning?"
"Trust me, Shadow. It is nothing to worry about."
He continued to think the conversation over until he reached his and Rouge's apartment. Shadow pulled his motorcycle into the parking lot and tiredly walked into the apartment. Shadow was so exhausted he didn't even go to his bedroom, he just sank into the leather couch in the living room. Sleep finally came to him after an hour or so of conflicting thoughts about the happenings of the day. Part of him wanted to believe the Commander; everything was going to be fine. However, he couldn't escape the nagging feeling of dread for what was to come, of what might happen; and that nagging feeling continued to persist until, finally, sleep had come.
"Wake up, Shadow!" the feminine voice of his roommate yelled from across the room, "Commander Tower called you in. He said it was important, but he wouldn't tell me what it was! What's happening, Shadow!?"
After propping himself up on his elbow, Shadow sat immobile, listening to the ongoing rant of worry and paranoia that Rouge continued to spew.
"You said the Commander called me in?" Shadow finally cut-in. Stated, more than asked.
"Yes, but before you leave, I wanna know wha-"
Rouge was cut off by a flash of light.
"Sometimes I just wanna kill him," Rouge growled to herself.
Shadow reappeared at G.U.N. Command, with Commander Tower waiting impatiently for him.
"I hope you slept well," the Commander said as Shadow walked into his office, hinting at Shadow's tardiness. Shadow grunted in response.
"Enough with the small talk," Shadow's deep voice ordered, "why did you send for me?"
"This." The Commander gestured to the view-screen at the front of the Command Room. It showed a satellite video of the dimensional corridor from the previous night, just after it went critical.
"I don't understand," Shadow said, "you said that the corridor would not be a problem-"
"And indeed it is not, however, this is," Commander Tower pressed some buttons on his computer and the view-screen began to zoom in on a small part of the corridor, just below the origin. As the video became clearer, it became obvious that something, someone, had fallen out of the corridor just after the massive shock-wave erupted from its surface. The shape detached itself from the image of the corridor, it took the form of a vaguely humanoid body, with a predominately lavender coloring.
"This, Shadow. This is the problem," the Commander said, with a grim look.
"Someone came through that corridor," Shadow said, the gravity of the situation dawning on him.
"Correct."
"And you want me to find this person," Shadow pressed on.
"Yes."
"Where do I start?"