Hello fellow readers. Welcome to a story that a friend who used to be on here wanted me to adopt for her. She is no longer creating stories and thought that, even with her leaving this part of her life behind, she still wanted this to be completed. I hope I can do it for her, and I really hope that you guys will give me a chance on this story.

I have edited it to fill it out a little bit more with information, and will be doing the other chapters when I have the free time on my hands. I really like the concept done, so I hope that it is an enjoyable read for you all.

I hope I have kept everyone in character as much as possible, and if there are any mistakes, please let me know.

I don't own a thing. Sonic and all characters are owned by Sega, while the story is originally owned by SilhouetteTheDaemonWolf.

One or two years had passed since the Chaos disaster in the city of Station Square, and things were slowly but surely settling into a new light. Doctor Robotnik, or Dr Eggman as what the heroes of Station Square affectionately referred to him as, had fallen silent over the time that the Chaos tragedy had passed. It seemed like only yesterday that Sonic and his friends were out there risking their very lives for the sake of planet Earth.

Nowadays, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, along with Amy Rose were pretty famous for what they had done for the human race, and Station Square thought that they owed a lot more than just thanks alone. The Mayor of Station Square made sure that Sonic and all his friends were comfortably accommodated while they were stuck on Earth until there was a way for the Mobian heroes to safely make transport in order for them to get back to their home, Mobius. It wasn't until this had happened though that more Mobians had appeared from seemingly nowhere and began to cause a slight panic in the human population.

Were they going to end up having to share the planet? Was something wrong with Mobius and that was the reason why the anthropomorphic inhabitants were popping up everywhere? They did not know. But all they could do at the present moment in time was understand that they had visitors, possibly for long term due to being kept in the dark about almost everything, and try to make their stay as peaceful and hassle free as possible. They did save the planet after all, shouldn't that count towards a little bit of hospitality?

Sonic the hedgehog, the new hero of planet Earth was doing what a hedgehog as impatient and carefree as he was would do when he was bored.

Running around at the speed of sound.

He was zipping past the various towns and cities, letting the fresh air surround and hug him like an old friend he hadn't seen in a while. He sighed and closed his eyes with a smile as he felt his quills sway like leaves in the wind. A day like this only meant one thing for him. He needed to get his curiosity cravings seen to and go exploring. Life to him these days just seemed to be too boring, and since Dr Eggman had vanished without a trace of his fat behind anywhere, now was as good a time as ever to get some relaxation time in. Discovering new places and running free was his own personal way of doing just that.

To others, the peace for so long would be a welcome thing for any other living creature, whether it be human or Mobian, but not to this hedgehog. He couldn't stand still for five minutes without incessant pacing or fidgeting of some sort. It got to the stage where Tails had to physically kick him out of his slowly expanding workshop in the Mystic Ruins so that he could focus more on his projects getting finished, rather than constantly being distracted by his cerulean surrogate brother who was for the lack of a better term; being a pain in the butt.

Still, the lack of action from the good old Doctor played in the back corners of the cobalt speedsters mind, much more than he would care to admit out loud. Tails was keeping an eye on things at his lab, so if there was a sudden appearance of his nemesis he would be the first to know. That settled things a little, but Sonic was always on edge regardless.

With these thoughts in his mind at present, Sonic had lost track of where he was going and somehow ended up in unfamiliar territory. Yes, even the worlds supersonic hero didn't have a perfect sense of direction when deep in thought sometimes.

As he shook the thoughts of possible attack in the city out of his mind for the moment, he looked around to realise that he had unintentionally ended up inside. The fact that he was no longer standing upon grass and more along the lines of metal sheets made him scratch his head in confusion as well. Surely he would have noticed leaving the more nature inhabited area? Why did the clang of his feet on the shiny surface not bring him back to attention sooner either?

Emerald green eyes got used to the darkened area due to being out of the Sun, and then looked around to find he was in what he guessed to be an old abandoned Eggman base. Naturally, curiosity began to take over the cerulean hero as he stepped into the base and immediately started looking around in wonder and awe, his eyes shining at the possibilities of this holding something interesting.

"Hmm... this doesn't look like anything Egghead created," He thought out loud to himself with his head in his hand thoughtfully, not seeing anything in the nearby vicinity that donned the typical logo that the Doctor proudly showed off on all of his previous robots Sonic and the others went up against. His head was scratched once again in the same manner as before.

He scanned the area and noticed that there were many more unusually designed robots that looked shut down all around the main area he came to as he ran up and down the corridors to make sure there was no danger lurking about. They were slimmer in design in general, and they were pretty bland in terms of colouring. Eggman always gave his junk heaps bright colours which was another easy way of telling that they were his if they didn't have the typical logo on show.

He wondered what time it was, but being Sonic the hedgehog meant he never really thought about taking a watch with him, or a phone for communicating with others. He shrugged his shoulders at the tiny nagging thought in his conscience, and gave a cocky grin to nobody in particular while lifting his right leg up to get ready to set off running once again.

'This is the perfect place to go exploring!' The blue speedster thought as he took off full speed down a corridor he hadn't taken yet.

As soon as the dust and old papers settled back into their original resting places, many sets of red glowing orbs began to light up the room ominously. A soft whirling of mechanics began to echo throughout the room as rapid movement was detected…

The blue hedgehog was having a blast running around the unfamiliar place. As he ran around in tight circles he had a tornado of dust follow him for a short while before slowly settling back into its once undisturbed place before the cobalt hedgehog's invasion. The cobalt hero was having so much fun running around the place and having old papers floating around him that he didn't notice that one of the ancient papers had all of a sudden flown into his face until it was too late. As energized eyes re-opened to the world in front of him, he panicked at being momentarily blinded by a dirty yellow colour and crashed into a nearby wall loudly. Giving a slight yelp of surprise, he slid to the ground very slowly with a loud groan escaping as his eyes swirled comically.

"Uhhh... five more minutes mom... " The blue bundle on the ground slurred to nobody in particular. He regained himself steadily and shook his head to get rid of the stars swirling around. Maybe he should have tried to convince Tails to tag along with him or something, then he would have possibly avoided that slight mishap by getting told to pay attention. That kid was definitely an adult in a kids body that's for sure, but nothing excited the kitsune more than unusual machinery or electronics.

Sonic looked down to his hand to see what exactly caused him to have an unexpected meeting with the bricked wall, and found it was a large piece of old yellowing paper with something written on it. He began to read what appeared to be an old diary entry.

27th July 1949

We finally did it! We successfully captured the Project! At present it is being secured in a stasis pod in the lower basement of the base to ensure it is kept away from the public eye. I do not understand what makes it so dangerous. It didn't have any weapons on it and it certainly did not look like a robot that's for sure. It was definitely a living, breathing creature that was captured, so how can something that uses the same ways to live as us be as powerful as the records suggest?

A lot of people died today, good men. But there is one thing that I will never forgive myself for. How could I have done it? How did I bring myself to do what I did to that poor defenceless little girl? She was protecting the Project so she was an enemy, but it shouldn't have happened like that. The files we recovered say that the Project was created to help others like the little girl, Maria I believe her name was. She had the incurable disease N.I.D.S, which was the basis of the Projects creation, but it would also be the answer to curing the likes of cancer and all the other life threatening diseases. My own wife is suffering from Leukaemia, so I know that this creation is important to secure for the worlds future. From what we know it seemed to going well in their favour, but why would Professor Robonik make it so dangerous and powerful if it is to cure disease?

Whatever the case test will be run on it tomorrow morning and the results will determine exactly what we are dealing with in regards to this creatures abilities. Both medicinal and in combat. It said in the records that it hold the ability to use the Chaos Force, but surely that is just a rumor. Chaos cannot be contained.

Sonic finished reading and looked around him in question to what he just read to himself. Where could that secret basement be? Was this 'Project' still in this base? Sonic contemplated his future actions while noseying around the area, and shortly afterwards finding a large folder with PROFESSOR G. ROBOTNIK written on the front. The cerulean Mobian held the folder under his arm and set off once again, eager to find this 'Project.'

After many twists and turns, Sonic was beginning to lose hope for his little treasure hunt as nowhere he looked seemed to hold a secret switch or anything that would open up to another room in it at all. Contrary to popular belief, he was actually very good at finding things, especially secret objects and rooms. Knuckles and Tails just took the credit for finding things because he was such a nice guy. Thinking of his two friends, he chuckled quietly and rubbed under his nose with his thumb just thinking of what they would say if he said that out loud. He knew Knuckles would obviously get mad and shout at him, saying he was better. It was one thing that Knuckles prided himself in, and he was not about to be outshone by his blue rival in treasure hunting. Sonic could never pass up on teasing the scarlet echidna regardless. Knuckles was a lot better at hunting things down than him, but he was still pretty good at it himself, for the little things obviously.

Sonic slowed down to a halt and looked to the folder that he was carrying in his arms and opened it, looking for a possible answer to the puzzle that he couldn't solve inside the aged pages. As he flicked through the thick folder, he came across a very old black and white picture with a very familiar man in it and a young girl with light coloured hair standing next to him, both smiling for the photograph.

"Eggman!... Wait he's too old to be the same one…" Sonic exclaimed out loud with wide eyes, again sounding a little crazy as it was as if he was talking to himself. "Hmm, but who would that be next to him?"

Sonic turned the picture over to find his answer. On the top right hand corner were the names of the two in the picture written in very neat cursive writing. Maria and Gerald Robotnik, and the date it was taken 12/24/1949. Sonic could not bring himself to understand it. "Why were they so happy? I thought everyone who shared the Robotnik name was evil. That girl though...she couldn't be related to them. Her eyes... they're too pure. "

He continued to stare into the picture as if trying to uncover a secret evil in either one of the two occupying the photos eyes or something, but came up empty. The smiles and sparkle in the girl's eyes were completely genuine, but he did see something in Marias eyes other than happiness.

Pain.

The clatter of something falling sounded behind the hedgehog and Sonic spun around to face a rather large arm cannon. Sonic gasped in surprise and looked up to find the owner of the arm cannon was in fact one of the robots he thought was shut down or more hopefully, broken. He yelped and ducked just in time as the robot had fired, aiming for his face as he was standing right in front of it. When he straightened back up, Sonic saw more and more of the robots that were in the main room pile in behind the first and they formed a circle around the now bewildered hedgehog.

"Warning, Intruder In Section 5, Warning Intruder In Section 5, Removing Intruder Immediately." All the robots sounded in unison. At this Sonic gulped and looked around him for a possible way out.

There was absolutely no way these tin cans were made by Eggman.

"On Behalf Of The Guardians Of The United Nations We Order You To Surrender Immediately Or Else." the robot at the very front spoke monotonously. Sonic looked at the robot and raised an eyebrow in question of what it meant. As the robot began to raise its arm up again, Sonic gave a toothy grin and waved in a cheeky manner, then as always was off at full speed with the robots scattering all over to look for him. They were clearly not programmed to work for faster moving targets.

Sonic had no idea where he was going at this point, he just wanted away from those machines as they were nothing like what he had encountered before. He walked up to a huge metal door and pressed a dimly lit switch beside it to see if it would open for him to get to safety. A loud screeching sound was heard before the enormous door started to open very slowly. Sonic lowered his ears a little, not liking the noise of the opening door very much as it would attract attention to where he was. Just as he thought that, a group or four robots, two smaller flying ones and two soldier ones came charging down, aiming and trying to shoot the blue hedgehog. The blue blur jumped up, curled into a ball and homing attacked the two flying robots closest to him, tearing right through both of them. This got the attention of the two soldier robots and they attempted to charge at the cerulean speedster, but crashed into each other due to Sonics last minute dodge.

The door was almost open now and Sonic had just remembered he was trying to get through the door for protection. He ran through the opening and started slamming on the switch on the other side hoping the door would close quicker than it opened. As the door was beginning to close, remarkably faster than when it was opening up, a second group of robots emerged around the corner and launched towards at Sonic at full speed. Sonic's ears flattened to his head as he curled up again and spun around the robots feet to trip them up before jumping back through the opening just before the door closed with a loud, dull thud resonating through the whole area. The crunching sounds of the mechanics being used for the first time in years fading away in an echo to leave the cobalt hero in silence once again.

Sonic pulled himself to turn away from the door where some robots had been crushed halfway at their attempt to crawl through to get him. He flicked his thumb under his nose with a cheeky smirk to no-one in particular.

"No matter who makes them, they all go out the same way."

He gazed at the huge room in front of him and whistled loudly. The room was unlike the rest of the base as it didn't look like it had been left for too long. Sonic could sense a strange energy in the room that seemed to be pulling him towards the large mechanism in the centre of the room. No dust was settled anywhere, which arose suspicion in the emerald eyed Mobian that someone else was here. As he looked around he found that this room was like he had stepped into the future. Strange machines everywhere keeping power running into the strange tank-like thing in the middle, as if the machines were trying to keep it alive alone and having no care for the rest of the machines dotted around. The floors were a solid marble, but not like as if the floor was put down, it was as if the ground itself was made from marble. It was very unusual to the blue hedgehog indeed. The air smelled different too, cleaner and rejuvenating, which was unusual considering this room was very much inside and more to the fact of underground which made the idea of the oxygen being better absurd.

Sonic cautiously approached the machine in the middle of the room that had all power going into it to see what exactly it was that was so important inside the pod-like thing. Unfortunately for him, the tank was clouded up on the inside so there was no hope of seeing inside at all. He looked around for something that could open the tank and have a look at what inhabited this mysterious piece of machinery. Sonic looked around the sides of the structure and found a control pad with the imprint of what looked to be a Chaos Emerald just beside it. The blue hedgehog stared at the panel for a minute, wondering what to do to make it work, then an idea struck him. He had been given a Chaos Emerald to keep protected from the museum as a way of partial thanks for saving them during Perfect Chaos' terror. He reached into his quills and pulled out the white Chaos Emerald and gazed into its depths fondly with a soft smile.

"You have helped me out before when it was needed," he spoke gently to the glowing orb in his hand. "I hope you can do it once again." Sonic lowered the Emerald into the imprinted mark on the control panel which made the machine in front of him start to glow slightly, then looked at the keypad next to it in slight worry. This meant a password was needed too. Oh how he wished Tails was here right now. Thinking like his best little bro, he remembered the folder he had been carrying and opened it up again to look for possible clues on how to open up this thing.

"Hmm, PROJECT….nope, LIFEFORM….? Nope. Erm, ROBOTNIK?… no!" Sonic soon found he was locked from using any more password attempts for fifteen minutes and growled to himself in frustration as he slid down the side of the pod structure to the floor to lean against it, and put his focus solely on pouring his brain power into figuring out this darn password.

He would not be beaten by a piece of scrap metal!

He continued to look through the folder in hope that something would jump out at him and scream 'I'm the password!' but he had no such luck. He looked at the picture that caught his attention earlier and it suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks. He started getting impatient and was jumping up and down like a child as the timer seemed to take forever to fall to zero. He composed himself quickly as he began to enter the password that he was so sure was right this time. "MA…RI…A… Yes! Wahoo! I did it!"

A positive bleeping sound came from the control panel that lit up green for a few seconds as the whole room had all the lights turn on and the door to the tank opened, letting a cloud of smoke out. The gurgling sound of water going down a drain was also heard as Sonic waited as patiently as he could muster to see what this mysterious thing was inside the machine, and why it drew him to it. Once the smoke had cleared a little, Sonic could make out the basic shape of a creature very similar to the shape of a Mobian standing before him. Then as the room completely cleared, Sonics eyes widened at the sight. There stood a black hedgehog, about the same height as him, but with the side quills turning upwards, as if they were defying gravity. It was clearly male as it wore no clothes and Sonic could not see anything that made it look female. He had on white gloves with black and red cuffs, held together with golden bracelets. On his feet was a pair of rather unusual shoes that looked like they could help him sustain temporary flight as they looked like oddly designed futuristic skates. His ankle area showed the same designed cuffs with the golden bracelets keeping them in place. On the hedgehogs quills were red streaks running through right to the tips, along with up his arms and legs. What got Sonic the most was his eyes though.

Ruby.

The next thing Sonic knew, the hedgehog had bowed in front of him addressing him as what looked like royalty and began to speak.

"My name is Shadow. I'm the worlds Ultimate Lifeform. Since you were so kind to release me, my master... I will grant you one wish."

Sonic couldn't have had a more unusual day.

I have tried to keep some things from the game in this alternate universe fic, the speech from Shadow is actually a kind of merge from the first words spoken to Eggman, and a little bit of the first time he met Sonic after City Escape.

This may take a while, but please bear with me while I try to fill out the chapters I've been given, and add more chapters. I also work full time so only really have two days a week to have a look over what I have and try to expand on whats there already.

Reviews are love and my motivation guys.

Until next time, ForevaYoung signing off o/