"Goodbye forever, Shadow the hedgehog," Shadow said softly as he turned around and threw the photo of Gerald and Maria behind him. Ready to leave the past behind him, he walked towards the exit of the large circular room. Before he could leave, a bright flash made him cover his eyes, and move back a few steps. When the hedgehog opened his eyes, he saw Black Doom hover in front of him. Surprised to see that his blood relative had survived, Shadow struggled to hide his fear.

"You fool, Shadow. Did you really think you'd killed me? I'm the ultimate being of this universe; I don't die so easily," Black Doom boasted.

Shadow failed to see the fairness in this chain of events; he felt tired and beaten, yet Black Doom looked like he hadn't taken one punch.

"I didn't kill you, but I did destroy your home. So, what can you do now?" Shadow said arrogantly and raised his fists as though he was asking for a fight.

"Take yours."

Shadow narrowed his eyes, since it only took those two words to make him angry.

"What are you referring to, the ARK or Earth?" Shadow seethed.

"Both will do just fine," Black Doom said and held out his hand. Shadow grabbed the sides of his head with the palms of his hands and dug the tips of his fingers into his scalp in a feeble effort to hold off Black Doom's mind control.

"Damn it! I thought I was immune," Shadow complained as he slowly dropped to the floor. The hedgehog went down fighting.

"Your immunity was fuelled by your energy. You're awfully low on that, aren't you?" the alien teased. Shadow was on his hands and knees panting by then; he looked up at his enemy in anger and frustration.

"What will it take to get rid of you?" he cried out in exasperation.

"Are we bargaining now, hedgehog?" Black Doom asked. Shadow shook his head angrily.

"That's not what I meant."

"Because I will leave for a price. It's very apparent that you're unable to protect that beloved planet of yours," Black Doom went on. Shadow's blood began to boil in anger. "It would be unfair to leave those humans open to attack after such a disastrous war, wouldn't it?" Shadow still said nothing, he just sulked on the floor. He tried to be the bigger person and not give into Black Doom's goading, but the fiendish alien knew his son more than anyone. "You could always leave your friends with the burden of defeating me."

Shadow banged his fist on the floor.

"They're not my friends, and I'm not letting them take my responsibility!" Shadow cried out and struggled to stand up again. Shadow growled and grunted like a rabid dog trapped in chains until he could move himself a mere inch, then he dropped again. He continued to breathe through his teeth, determined to get up and fight. It was such an inconvenience this time around for the emeralds to dispatch after using super form. Shadow made a bad call by letting them go so soon, leaving himself in a difficult situation.

"You'd better get up soon. I'm about to make a surprise attack on the humans, and you won't be there to stop me," Black Doom pestered. Shadow grit his teeth and scowled at the alien. "I need to teach you a thing or two about respect and obedience," Black Doom's tone became dire. Shadow felt a wrenching, twisting pain all throughout his body, like all of his muscles were getting pulled at once. The hedgehog grit his teeth harder and tried his hardest to hold back the screams of pain, but he couldn't hold up the hard act for long.

"You're a sick bastard! You're enjoying this; I can tell!" Shadow cried out, his voice breaking in the process. Black Doom let out a small chuckle.

"You're going to learn how to behave appropriately. You must follow every order I give you, otherwise I'll increase the pain by tenfold."

Shadow couldn't even begin to imagine what twice as much pain would feel like, let alone speculate what ten times the pain would feel like. The helpless hedgehog realised that it might be the end of him, so he was left with no choice. Shadow stopped fighting the mind control and flopped onto the floor, the pain stopped a few seconds after.

"I give in… just tell me what you want me to do, and I'll do it," Shadow sighed in exasperation; he made a tactical submission.

Black Doom gave his demand and everything seemed to go silent in Shadow's mind; he could only hear ringing in his ears. The ultimate life form couldn't do anything but agree to it, despite his disgust. It was as simple as that. When Shadow promised to implement his command, Black Doom left to keep his side of the bargain. Shadow banged his fist against the floor to relieve himself of some of his frustration then got up shakily. He stumbled over to the door frame and leant against it to try and gain his composure. What Shadow had agreed to was life changing, and held great risks for Earth.

"Aww man. When is Shadow getting back?" Sonic asked. He was sitting on a rock on the Mystic Ruins, waiting for him to return. Surely, Sonic thought, Shadow wasn't dead. Not yet. The ultimate life form didn't die last time, so he wouldn't have died this time. He may have gotten amnesia again, so Sonic wanted to make sure that Shadow got his memory back before he joined the wrong side.

Tails walked over from his workshop which was within eyeshot from where Sonic was sitting.

"Are you still waiting for Shadow? You do realise that he may not be back for weeks. If he went to the ARK and he lost the emeralds already, then he can't return with Chaos Control," Tails said. "And that's if he planned to return. What if Shadow wants to stay up there?"

"Why would Shadow want to stay up there? All of his friends are down here," Sonic said optimistically. Tails sighed, Sonic saw the best in most people, even people like Shadow who most likely didn't consider the Sonic Heroes as friends. "What can Shadow do up on the ARK anyway? He'll be bored out of his mind. I know I'd be."

"I don't think Shadow is the type to get bored, Sonic," Tails said. "Just don't get your hopes up, please.

"But, I wanted to race him. I think I've become faster since our last one," Sonic said eagerly, then looked to the sky, hoping he'd see Shadow emerge from it in his super form, or a space ship of some kind. He watched and waited all day, but Shadow didn't come how Sonic hoped.