This is a rated M fanfic because of violence, drug use, mild language, and sexual themes. Most of these are more prominent in later chapters since the story gets darker then. This is a shadouge fic though you won't get any mushy stuff between them until the later chapters. The story centers around an AU universe where most of the Sonic characters are attending a high school called Green Hill High. Some of the characters have had their ages changed so they can appear as high school students (like Charmy and Tails). Also I changed some of the events based on the game's storyline around (for example Shadow didn't lose his memory when he was in stasis and there is no space colony ARK instead the ARK was a lab on earth).
I do not own Sonic nor will I ever.
Chapter 1: Shadow's Past
6: 37 AM is what the alarm clock read when a black hedgehog rolled himself out of bed. He put on a white T-shirt, a pair of black jeans, and his air shoes after washing his face. After taking a quick look into the mirror the hedgehog growled at himself, because today wasn't like any ordinary day, today was the first day of school for him at Green Hill High. He'd be lying if he said he was even a little excited, Shadow saw no point in going but he had to or Robotinik would have a cow. He practically had to drag himself into the small apartment kitchen so he could make himself breakfast. There was barely anything in the refrigerator, just a carton of eggs that was only ΒΌ of the way filled, a block of cheese that was cracking due to it being exposed to the air for so long, and a bottle of milk he snuck out of a local 7-11 a few days back. Shadow turned his stove top on to 400 degrees while he got his edibles prepared. Shadow absolutely hated cooking; especially in the morning, but if he didn't do it. Who would? It's not like he had a mom or dad to do it for might be wondering; Hey! If he doesn't have any parental guardians how can he afford to live in an apartment or anywhere for that matter? Well you see he doesn't. His rent is paid by a man named Ivo Robotinik, a dastardly man who by day is a simple school janitor, but at night he shows his true colors as a deranged underground scientist who spends his free time planning world domination.
The story of how they met is one that Shadow doesn't like to relive. It all started in a secluded lab far away from the rest of society. In this lab Shadow would have to go through a series of tests (which he despised greatly) that involved testing his physical capabilities. The various scientist that worked there would start each of Shadow's training sessions by hooking him up to one of their "Death Machines" as he self dubbed them. The machines each had about 14 small tubes each tipped with a very small but sharp needle that would be injected into parts of Shadow's body depending on the machine, the tubes would then pump some weird dark red fluid into his body that apparently was used to stabilize his body while performing these physical activities. Most days he started off in the Pressure Tank, a tank that stood 9 feet tall and was about 20 feet in circumference. After the doctors pierced him with the needle tubes he would be placed at the bottom of the tank and the mechanism would turn on. A green fluid with start to fill the tank all the way to the brim and it was Shadow's job to sit in their for five 30 minute intervals without losing any oxygen. The fluid wasn't water it was thick but not like oil or blood, more like milk. You would think he would drown in the stuff but that was the idea of it, so long as you kept your breathing to a minimum you wouldn't drown at all. Shadow's first time in the machine was a rather frightening one, he almost drowned since he was breathing too much but after awhile his body got used to it and it just became an everyday thing like walking or breathing. After he was done with the Pressure Tank it would be time to do the next machine, the Typhoon Generator. The Typhoon Generator was an odd mechanism that was composed of a small cart attached to a long rod which was connected to a tall pole. Shadow was buckled into the cart face down so he couldn't see anything in front of him and then his least favorite part would come, getting those needles pierced into him. The contraption would turn on and before he knew it he was spinning at such an incredible speed that it made roller coasters look like kiddy park rides. That wasn't all though, through out the course it was his job to steer the cart out of the way of various holographic obstacles. If he failed to do so he would have all time he currently spent in the machine refreshed meaning he had to do it again for another 2 hours, it wasn't hard to beat this contraption though since the holograms were pretty easy to read.
After the Typhoon Generator he would move on to one of his favorites (though he would never admit it out loud), the Tread Mill Court. The Tread Mill Court was just as its name suggest, a court filled with tread mills. The main idea here was to run on each Tread Mill (which there were 150 of) reaching 200 mph on each in under 2 minutes for 1 hour. Just like the previous machine, if Shadow so much as failed one task he would have to restart and do it all over again. You might think this is an easy task for a speed demon hedgehog like Shadow but in reality it was harder then one would think considering Shadow had to wear a 50lb fluid tank filled with the dark red stabilizing liquid that he hated so much. It really was a burden with that thing on since the stabilizing liquid would make his legs cramp and make his lungs jump up and down in his chest to the point where it felt like his lungs would implode. Despite this however he never once failed the Tread Mill Court which is probably why this was the machine he had to do for the lowest amount of time.
After that it was time for "lunch" if you could even call it that. Shadow would be served 3 and exactly 3 nutrient cubes that looked like overgrown sugar cubes but tasted nothing like them, a glass of water with one ice cube if the temperature was 80 degrees or up, and a tube of jelly that apparently made the cubes "taste better" but if you were smart you wouldn't put that stuff anywhere near your meal and leave the tasteless cubes tasteless. Shadow's lunch time was 30 minutes long but if he finished the meal it would be cut to 15 minutes so it was always wise to simply prolong the meal for as long as possible. Despite this there was one thing Shadow looked forward to during lunch and that was getting to see his only friend, Maria. Maria was a young girl with blue eyes, medium blonde hair, who wore a blue dress. She was a kind hearted young girl who accepted Shadow as a friend even when he was being distant. Sadly she had a terrible virus within her called N.I.D.S. that basically shuts down a person's system slowly causing an aggravating death. The virus is also contagious and because of this she was segregated away from the rest of society, she was the granddaughter of one of the main doctors here, Doctor Gerald Robotinik. Who also happens to be the Grandfather of the same Doctor Robotinik who put me in this hell hole to begin with, but you'll hear more on that later. Maria didn't deserve such a life style, she did nothing wrong to anybody and was far from malevolent yet she was a young girl with an expiration date that was set to too soon. You might be wondering why I'm not segregated away from her, well you see, the virus doesn't affect non-human species such as myself so I have nothing to worry about but even if the virus could have affected me I wouldn't care, I'd still spend time with her. Maria and Shadow got along well, most of the time they simply talked about how there day was going or she would try to get Shadow to act or do something silly much to his dismay. Regardless Shadow still enjoyed his time with Maria and wouldn't have given it up for anything, not even a break away from his physical training.
After Shadow's lunch session things got slower training wise, he no longer had to be injected with the dark red fluid so no tubes were necessary. He was just told to do several push ups, sit ups, and other basic exercises under the crowd of half a dozen scientist until it was time to go to bed (which was scheduled at 8: 00 PM). Shadow actually liked going to bed since not only did it give him some much needed rest but also some privacy away from those nosy humans. This was Shadow's daily schedule and it continued like this until he was 18 when the unexpected happened.
Wednesday, February 8th 2: 34 AM was the time when loud sirens and flashing red lights filled the laboratory. Shadow quickly woke up to the sounds and slid his bedroom door open. He heard several foot steps marching on the top floors and several gun shots. Shadow wasted no time and sped off into the opposite direction. He came across a staircase and decided to head up, as far as he could remember there was no way to escape on the lower levels since they were just storage bunkers, the closest escape route would have to be through the main entrance but a problem arose, Shadow never set out through there before so he had no idea where that would lead him. He had to take a chance, it was obvious something was going on and he wasn't going to be caught in the cross fires. Shadow raced up to the 3rd floor from his destination when he saw a pile of bodies littered across the stair case, it was obvious these people were dead since last time he checked the stairs were white not red. Shadow decided to go through the 3rd floor's staircase door and find another way out of the facility. Shadow had only been on the 3rd floor once and that was when Gerald Robotinik asked for his presence, he didn't get a tour or anything but he didn't need one to know which way was out. After passing through the 3rd floor's halls he heard foot steps not far off behind him as well as a voice saying, "N.I.D.S. patient has been spotted on the 4th floor, we are proceeding now." With that Shadow snapped into reality and realized what must be going on. With one quick burst he sprinted up onto the 4th floor and tried to locate Maria. He opened each door but saw no sign of her, it wasn't until he heard a faint voice that he ran to the 16th door across from him and opened it completely. To his relief he saw Maria and Gerald Robotinik hiding between two tables.
"Shadow, it isn't safe here you must leave, take Maria and run!" called Gerald from between the tables.
"But, Grandpa what about you?" asked a terrified Maria.
"I will be alright, they are here to kill you and Shadow, you mustn't waste anymore time"
Shadow was dumbfounded; he didn't know what to say. Why would these people come here to kill him? Why would they come here to kill Maria? She was already kept away from the rest of society, and as sad as it was she already had a timer on her yet someone was trying to take her out early. Shadow became upset, he no longer had any interest in escape but instead he wanted to stand his ground. The sound of foot steps broke Shadow out of his thoughts however so he decided to grab Maria's hand and run out of the door. The foot steps must have been closer then he thought because several men with helmets had pointed guns at the pair with one shouting, "The patient and the experiment have been located, prepare to capture, do not hold back!"
Shadow ran forward as fast as he could without leaving Maria trailing behind. Luckily she knew the way to an escape rocket that apparently would launch them away from this place. Shadow didn't care where this rocket would lead him he just knew that with people out to kill him and Maria he had to get away from the facility. The rocket was apparently located on the 5th floor so it wasn't far away but it was a tricky contraption that Maria didn't know how to operate very well. She just knew the launch system.
"Shadow this rocket already has a predetermined course; I don't know where it will take us I'm sorry." said Maria.
"That's alright Maria anywhere but here is fine, we don't have much time the men are on their way up" said Shadow
The sound of banging was heard on the outside door, they couldn't get in but it was obvious that the door couldn't hold them back for long. One of the men put his face on the door and called out, "Step away from the Evacuation Shuttle and we will not have to shoot. Open this door! We are only trying to take you to a better place. Don't you want to be free?"
Shadow could pick up on the blunt lie the man said, if he truly had any interest in putting us in a better place he wouldn't have to threaten them with their lives.
Shadow was already buckled into his seat on the rocket since Maria was going to initiate the landing and hurry in.
The doors were shot down and the men all swarmed in, guns raised high into the air. I yelled for Maria to jump in quick and initiate launch but something else happened. I heard the sound of an engine. The glass door that was over my seat immediately closed and I was left there buckled in my seat. I banged on the glass and told Maria to open it so she could get inside too but she stood there with a smile on her face.
"Shadow, please we don't have much time this is the only way you can escape safely. They want us because we threaten the lives of the people of this planet. I can't control this sickness, I'm unsafe to be around, but you can control your abilities. Grandpa told me you were created to be the Ultimate Lifeform, but you can be more. You can save the people of this planet from their own wronging I know you can." said Maria from the other side of the glass.
With that the shuttle began screeching forward and the sound of the rocket's engine roared, however no amount of noise could cover up the last sound he heard as the rocket shot into the sky. One single gun shot.
Shadow stared out side the glass frame for what felt like an eternity, he watched the landscape below. It was a desert so he assumed the lab he lived in all his life was in the middle of nowhere, which made sense. He still couldn't shake of that sound, the sound of a gun firing. Did he imagine it? Maybe it wasn't a gun maybe it was just something that sounded like one. Maybe they were just shooting at the shuttle that's all. But despite these unproven glimmers of hope something inside him told him he was without his friend. At these moments Shadow did not care where the rocket was heading nor did he care what he would do once it landed. Only one thing was on his mind, and that was to fulfill Maria's last request. Even if he despised these humans if what she said was true, that he had the ability to cure them of their wronging, he would do it. Shadow would forgive but he will not forget, he will never forget. Almost immediately Shadow felt a sudden breeze, it felt like he was in a freezer, his eye lids became heavy and his muscles stiffened. Little did Shadow know that the Evacuation Shuttle he was in wasn't a shuttle at all but one of Gerald's final inventions; a cryogenic pod.
The pod's coordinates where scheduled to land in a hidden underground base. Shadow spent 50 years in this pod until Dr. Robotinik, the grandson of Gerald Robotinik found it. He released Shadow from his stasis and told him about his past and what has happened since he was gone. Robotinik also offered him a deal. If Shadow agreed to allow Dr. Robotinik to experiment on his chaos control abilities he will give Shadow shelter. However Shadow must go along with all of Robotinik's plans without any question.
