Prologue
Long ago...
Gerald Robotnik pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration. He can't give up yet, he just can't. He would never forgive himself if he did, Maria is counting on him.
But what more can he do? The scientific community didn't blame him for using his funding to save his grandaughter, but they couldn't afford to give him any more. He's out of options.
"Grandpa?"
Gerald turns in his chair to see Maria standing there. She is barely six years old as she stares at her near-defeated grandfather. She has some genetic disease that hasn't ever been seen before, and so there is no clear way of treating her, let alone curing her. The world's best doctors had told him that she wasn't likely to see twenty years of age.
"Yes, what is it dear?"
"There's a weird man at the door, and he's got a badge."
Gerald furrows his eyebrows, the police? He hasn't broken any laws, though he supposes he might be at that point soon. He stands up, and follows Maria to the living-room where a red-haired man in a suit stands.
He smiles when Gerald walked in, "Ah, Dr. Robotnik, I presume?"
Gerald nods, "Yes, and you are?"
The red-haired man extends a hand, "I'm Michael Huff, it's a pleasure to meet you."
Gerald shakes Micheal's hand, and then gestures for him to have a seat. Michael sits on the couch, and Gerald takes a seat in his favorite armchair.
"My daughter told me that you showed her a badge?" Gerald raises an eyebrow curiously as Maria climbs into his lap.
"Ah, yes," Michael pulls a badge out of his pocket, and shows it to Gerald.
He inspects it closely, "GUN? I've heard of you, I think."
Michael nods, "I can't say that I'm surprised, what with being a scientist of your standing. We're a top-secret military unit working to keep the world at large a safe place. We also handle some of the greatest scientific developments of our time."
At this Michael leans forward, puts his elbows on his knees, and steeples his fingers. "Dr. Robotnik, I believe you've heard of a recent project that is being planned? It's called, "ARK."
Three Years Later...
"It is done, Doctor." Black Doom hovers behind Gerald, sounding pleased. Gerald is happy as well, in the life-capsule in front of him floats a marvel of modern science. The black hedgehog with red stripes in his quills looks so peaceful in his slumber.
"When will you be able to wake him?" Black Doom crosses his arms.
"I could do it now, but I want to make sure that he is in perfect condition first." Gerald picks up a hand-held scanner, and carefully runs the wide beam over the unconscious hedgehog. A computer in the corner of the room beeps at him. After staring at the screen, and pressing a few quick keys the screen lights up green.
"It is perfectly safe," Gerald announces, walking back over to Black Doom.
"Was that really necessary?" Black Doom narrows his three eyes at the doctor.
"If I hadn't he may have died the moment we opened the pod. Now we know that there is no chance of that." Gerald walks to the side of the life-capsule, hand hovering over a palm-scanner. He, and Black Doom nod to each other, and then Gerald presses his hand to the scanner. There is a loud mechanical whirring sound as the pod is set vertically. The fluid inside slowly drains out, and air pumps into it before the glass is opened.
The ebony hedgehog opens crimson colored eyes, and slowly takes in the scene around him. Gerald helps him to step out of the pod, "Welcome to life, little one."
The hedgehog glances between Black Doom, and Gerald, "Who are you?"
"I'm Dr. Gerald Robotnik, your creator, and this my associate, Black Doom."
Black Doom hovers towards them, and stares down at the smaller figure, "It is a pleasure to meet you at last... Shadow."
Shadow frowns slightly, and then grins, pleased with his name. Black Doom turns to Gerald, "I hope you will remember your promise, doctor."
"I cannot thank you enough, Black Doom."
With a nod, Black Doom fades away. Shadow raises a single eyebrow at the doctor, "Promise?"
"Nothing that you need to concern yourself with just yet, Shadow." Gerald walks to the laboratory door, "Now please follow me, there's someone I would like you to meet."
Shadow follows the doctor to the observation deck, where Maria stands looking out the massive window at the earth below. She turns when she hears their approaching footsteps, and smiles. Now nine years old she's about as tall as Shadow as she she steps up to hug her dad.
"Shadow," he says. "I would like you to meet my grandaughter, Maria."
Four Years Later...
Gerald pounds his fists onto the lab table, making everything on it clatter in protest.
"Impossible..." He had been so sure that it work! The Black Arms were immune to all manner of diseases, and Shadow had proved the same thus far. Gerald had subtly exposed Shadow to all manner of viruses, and bacteria. The result were not even a runny nose, Shadow can't get sick! Yet every cure he has made by using Shadow's DNA has proved useless to Maria's blood samples.
"Where did I go wrong?!" The horrified whisper escapes him as Gerald looks up at the pictures on his desk across the room. One was of him sitting in a chair with Maria standing behind him with a smile. The second was of Gerald, Maria, and Shadow on the observation deck. Shadow has his arms crossed, a small grin on his face. Maria stands behind Shadow, her hands on his shoulders. Gerald stands next to them, hands in his pockets.
"She's counting on me... I can't give up!"
And then it hits him, perhaps he had simply based his research off of the wrong subject. He, and Black Doom had tried so many different species other than humans, but found that only hedgehogs were capable of sustaining the power of the Black Arms. Even then, Shadow still needs to wear inhibitor rings to stop the power from destroying himself. Gerald had been sure that a hybrid that was half human would have proven to have better results, but Black Doom had refused to do that.
Gerald rubs his chin in thought, so if he can't change the species... then what about the gender? It could be possible that Shadow's Y chromosome could be interfering with a cure intended for a girl. It could be worth looking into, but it won't be as easy as simply removing Shadow's Y chromosome from the samples he has on hand. No, he'll need samples from a body like Shadow's that has naturally omitted the Y chromosome.
Last time he had needed Black Doom's DNA to create the Ultimate Life-Form, but with the Black Comet still decades away from returning Gerald will have to make do.
For the next few months he works in secret to clone Shadow, but this time he would create a female hedgehog. At times he can tell that some of the other scientists on the ARK were growing curious about his work, and so he creates the BioLizard to throw them off his trail. When the time comes to renew his contract with GUN, he sets to work building the Eclipse Cannon, claiming it to be weapon for the defense of earth. He had also done this with the intention of destroying the Black Comet, when Black Doom returned to claim the Chaos Emeralds. He won't allow all life on earth to pay for his selfishness.
And so another year passes, Maria is fourteen years old now, and growing up nicely. Shadow has been her constant companion, and has made life onboard the ARK bearable for the both of them. Gerald is growing short on time to find a cure, but he takes some comfort in knowing that Maria is happy.
One day Maria, and Gerald are enjoying lunch in the Ark's garden. It resembles more of a small field on the edge of a small forest, but this is one of their favorite places on the ARK. Suddenly Shadow skates through the gates, and up to them, talking fast.
"Doctor, we've got trouble! GUN is here, and they're arresting everybody on the ARK!"
"What?!" Gerald quickly get to his feet with a little help from Maria. "Why?!"
"Someone found out about Black Doom, and they said that you were conspiring with him. I don't know how, but we've got to move, now!"
As they run, Maria looks at her father with fear in her eyes, "Black Doom?! Grandpa, what's going on?"
With labored breathing, Gerald explains as much as he can. He tells Maria about his deal with Black Doom; that in exchange for helping to create Shadow, Gerald would collect all seven Chaos Emeralds for Black Doom. Maria is so scared that she didn't have time to feel betrayed, and so they just keep running. Gerald is old, and well out of shape at that. Before too long he's beginning to fall behind.
"Shadow," the black, and red hedgehog turns his head to look at his creator. "Take Maria, and get to the escape pods as fast as you can. I'm just slowing you down, so hurry! I'll see you two again, I promise!"
After a minute Shadow nods, taking Maria by the hand, and pulling her on ahead. Maria casts a final mournful look at her father, and then disappears around a corner.
"Good," he says to himself. "At least she's being well cared for. Now I have to go look after the rest of our family." Gerald turns, and runs back to his laboratory, where the clone is being kept. He dashes inside, gasping for breath. He slaps a hand on a control panel, sealing the door closed.
"Ai," he calls out. "Move subject to the crash-vault, and seal it there."
"Yes, doctor." The robotic reply comes from unseen speakers as Gerald jogs over to a computer terminal. He opens the files on Project: "Shadow", and moves all information regarding the clone into a hidden terminal, the same terminal where Ai's memory is kept.
"Ai, I want you to listen to me very closely. The care-taking of the subject is your primary function from now on. I don't know what will happen after today, but keep her safe. I don't doubt that in nearly fifty years from now Black Doom will return for the Chaos Emeralds, and I'm hoping that we will be able to stop him. Keep the subject in stasis-sleep until either I return for her, or the Black Arms are dead. Am I understood, Ai?"
"Yes, doctor. Primary function reprogrammed, "Protect the Subject." Doctor, GUN agent are at the door, and attempting to break in. Orders?"
Gerald sighs, "Stand down, Ai, you can't let them know about you, or the subject until she is awakened. She is all that matters to you, understand?"
"Understood, Doctor." And with that, the door is blasted open. GUN agent grab Gerald, and cuff him. Pointing guns at his back, they escort him to their ship, and wait. Minutes later they depart, and head back to earth.
Days pass on Prison Island without indecent. One day, while Gerald is typing in his diary, the door to his cell opens, and Michael Huff comes in. Gerald raises his eyebrows when he sees how downcast Micheal's face looks.
"Hello again, Dr. Robotnik," Michael takes a chair, and sits in it with the back in front of him. "You know, when I asked you to join us, this isn't what I had in mind."
Gerald furrows his eyebrows, "What's going on, Mr. Huff? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Michael manages a weak smile, "I'm about at that point, yeah." he closed his eyes, and takes a deep breath, "Gerald, I'm afraid I have some bad news..."
Gerald freezes with fear, "...no..."
"It's about your grandaughter, she's-"
"No... It can't be!" Gerald starts shaking his head.
"... She's dead."
"NO!" Gerald shoots up out of his chair, and grabs Michael by his shoulders. "You're lying, you have to be!"
Micheal puts his hands on the doctor's, and pulls them off gently. "She was seen helping a being suspected of being your "Ultimate Life-Form" escape. She refused to stand down, and one of the agents shot her. The black, and red hedgehog was sent back to earth in an escape pod, but fell unconscious on impact. GUN found him, and kept him sedated long enough to put him in Cryostasis sleep. With what our sources tell us, it's the only thing that will keep him down without killing him."
Gerald can't hear him anymore, he can only see his darling Maria lying on the metal floor of the ARK, surrounded by a pool of her own blood. He can't even move for the longest time. Michael calls in a doctor who diagnoses Gerald with extreme shock.
With there being nothing they can do for him, they leave. Over the next few days Gerald mutely works on various projects with no clear purpose. The walls of his cell are covered with calculations, and he speaks to no one, choosing instead to write in his diary. A few days after that he is found collapsed in a heap in his cell. They take him to a hospital on the mainland, and the news is not good.
They claim the Gerald has simply lost the will to live. That, combined with his refusal to eat, means that in a few hours time Doctor Gerald Robotnik has died.
Chapter One
All is quiet on the ARK, all systems are running in standby mode. GUN has replaced the guard drones that had been in place before Eggman had destroyed them all. No signs of life can be seen anywhere.
Ai sees all this through his hidden connection to the ARK's security footage. He has deduced that the time has come, the will of Dr. Gerald Robotnik must be fulfilled.
"Retrieving Subject," The floor in the old laboratory opens in a circular hole, and the door to the laboratory seals shut. A life-capsule rises from the safety of the crash-vault, and comes to rest vertically in the middle of the laboratory.
"Beginning diagnostics scan," a ring of blue energy appears around the life-capsule, and slowly goes down, illuminating the subject within. When the ring vanishes, Ai says, "Scan complete, Abnormalities: Negative. Beginning Animation process."
The blueish fluid in the glass capsule begins to drain out through the bottom, resting the subject on her feet. Air pumps slowly into the capsule before it opens with a hissing sound.
"Mmm," the subject opens her crimson eyes, and blinks at her surroundings. Slowly she steps out of the life-capsule's base, and turns in a circle to look around the laboratory. Her eyes fall on a mirror secured to a wall. She walks over to it, and inspects her reflection closely. She's dressed in a black, sleeveless top, and black pants. Her quills, and fur are the same color as her irises, deep crimson. She turns her head to see that her quills stretch down her back to her hips. Taking one in her hand, she trails a finger along one of the black stripes in her red quills. Light glints off of one of her bracelets, and she traces it with a finger.
"I would advise you not to remove those, if you please."
The sudden voice makes her jump, and whip her head around, looking for the speaker. "Who's there?!"
"Forgive me," the robotic voice comes again, and a screen on a computer terminal lights up. "My name is Ai, I was designed by Dr. Gerald Robotnik to care for his laboratory, and act as his assistant. Before he left he reprogrammed me to be your care-taker. Welcome to life."
She walks over to the computer terminal, and cocks her head at it curiously, "What do you mean, "Welcome to life?" Was I dead?"
"Negative, quite the opposite. Today is the day you are born, the date is January sixth, year two-thousand and thirteen, in case you were wondering."
"Born?" She can't understand exactly what Ai is trying to tell her.
"Allow me to explain," Ai pauses as he bring up a holographic image of the ARK in the middle of the room. She stares at it in wonder.
"Your are on the Space Colony ARK, a station designed by the GUN over half a century ago. It was once home to some of the greatest scientific minds on earth."
"Earth?" she watches as the hologram of the ARK changes into a hologram of Earth with the ARK orbiting around it.
"They were brought here so that they could work in seclusion, and secrecy. One of these scientists was Dr. Gerald Robotnik." The hologram changes into the doctor, standing straight with his hands in his pockets. "He was one of the main contributors to the ARK, but was eventually persecuted for some of his creations. These creations included Shadow the Hedgehog," the hologram becomes Shadow, arms crossed, and a cold look in his eye. "Shadow was created under the pretense of being the Ultimate Life-Form, but while this is undoubtedly true, Dr. Robotnik had an ulterior motive."
The hologram takes the form of Maria, "Dr. Robotnik's grandaughter, Maria, was deathly ill, and Dr. Robotnik had hoped to find a cure by using Shadow. However when the GUN arrested the scientists on the ARK for supposedly being in league with DR. Robotnik, Maria was killed, and the doctor was taken into custody with Shadow. This all took place here approximately fifty-six years ago."
She is understanding a little better now, but she still has questions, "But why would they do that, just because of Shadow?"
"I believe it was more a question of Shadow's lineage. In order to create Shadow, Gerald Robotnik had made a deal with a race of aliens named the Black Arms." The hologram becomes Black Doom, "Their leader, Black Doom, agreed to give Dr. Robotnik a sample of his own DNA in exchange for the seven Chaos Emeralds." Black doom vanishes, and seven holographic Chaos emeralds appear in a rotating circle. She watches in amazement at the beautiful colors, Crimson, Emerald, Gold, Silver, Violet, Saphire, and Azure.
"Seven gems of unknown origin, and unlimited power. Sadly, Black Doom's intent for them was not kind. He had intended to use them in order to teleport the Black Comet down to earth's surface, and invade."
"How awful," she puts her hands over her mouth.
"They're attempted invasion took place approximately six years ago, fortunately Shadow stopped them. He used the Chaos Emeralds to put the Comet back into space, and destroyed it using the Eclipse Cannon. It is another of Dr. Robotnik's creations, just like you, and I."
The Hologram changes again to show the Black comet heading towards the ARK. Suddenly a green beam lances from the ARK, and collides with the comet. After a few seconds the comet bursts into various fragment, and scatter out across the galaxy. She flinches as a piece drifts harmlessly though her shoulder.
"Wait, what about me?" She looks at the terminal again.
"When Dr. Robotnik failed to produce a cure for Maria with Shadow's blood, he developed a hypothesis that Shadow's Y chromosome was interfering with the cure's effectiveness. He required a subject that had been born without the Y chromosome, but was biologically the same as Shadow. Therefore he used the DNA of Shadow that he had on hand to clone him, creating you. Sadly, the GUN initiated their raid of the ARK before you could be safely awakened. He had me move you to the crash-vault, and wait for the appropriate time to awaken you."
She doesn't understand all of what Ai just said, but she thinks that she understands one important bit of information.
"So I'm... Just a clone?"
A minute of silence, and then Ai says, "I do not believe that you are merely "just a clone." If the Doctor had just wanted a clone, he would not have tampered with the genetic material to make that clone female. Though the Doctor wanted to use Shadow to heal Maria, he still saw Shadow as a person. If he were here with us now, he would do the same for you. I apologize if I caused you discomfort, I only told you of your origins because firstly, I am your care-taker, and secondly, no one else would be able to. He ordered me to keep you a secret for as long as possible."
She mulls that over in her mind, Ai is right. He's making perfect sense, so she shouldn't worry about her past. She still has two questions though.
"Ai, what is my name?"
A beat of silence, "It appears the Doctor wished to name you when you were standing awake in front of him, therefore I have no name of yours in my files. Would you like for me to compose a list of feminine names so that you may choose one for yourself?"
She thinks about it for a moment, and then nods, "Yes, please."
"A moment, please..."
The terminal whirrs, and after a few seconds a sheet of paper two feet long slides out of the terminal. Picks it up, and frowns, a new question has just come to mind.
"Ai, how come I can read, and talk? Not that I'm complaining, but isn't that usually something people have to learn?"
"Typically yes, however the Doctor's studies show that the Black Arms are capable of passing on skills through their genetics."
"Thanks," she says, and begins scanning the list. She stays that way for a few minutes, and then she says, "Ai, what's this one say?"
"I am unable to focus the cameras in this room well enough to read, miss, you will have to spell it."
"L-U-N-A."
"That name is pronounced "Luna", and it happens to be the name of the earth's moon."
She thinks about it, and then she smiles, "Okay, my name is Luna. But I have one more question."
"Yes, Luna?"
"What do I do now?"
Hey Y'all! I'm back after a short wait. Please note that this story in no way ties to my first book, Operation: "Rewind". I'm still waiting on the reveiws I need to write the book, and looking back I realized that I never made a deadline for those reveiws. Somthing tells me that if I don't, then I'll never get those reveiws, so please forgive me if I'm being pushy. Anyhow, I'm going to wait until March to write the sequel to Operation Rewind, and until then I'm working on this book as a Lark. For those who don't know what that means, it's when an author is bored, and decides to just put out a story for the hell of it. I'm not expecting Sister Mine to be all that grand, but Reviews would be nice, if it's not a bother.
Thanks for the attention, and thank you TechnoSam, and Chocoholic Princess for your thoughtful reveiws on Rewind.