"Hey, Sonic!" a black and red hedgehog called across the wings of the jet. "What are you doing?! This is my mission! Surely you've got something better to do than get in my way!"
The blue hedgehog merely shrugged, the harsh speed of the plane sending the wind through his quills.
"Sounded like fun! Anyway, your business is my business; there's something fishy here!"

Shadow growled in anger, his red eyes narrowing. That blue hedgehog was always getting in his way; why couldn't he get a life? It wasn't as if it was that important to Sonic; this only concerned Shadow. Dubbed 'The Ultimate Lifeform' by his creator, he had discovered something that may have been linked to his clouded past. Yet this insufferable fool kept getting in his way! What the heck was wrong with him?

"Sonic!" A familiar and annoying voice shouted. It was the voice of Sonic's little sidekick, the fox boy. A wave of fury passed through Shadow's body. Couldn't he do one thing without Sonic's interference?

The child was in his aeroplane, the X-Tornado. Oh, and who should be in the passenger seat but that annoying little girl, Amy Rose. The two young animal kids both had that sickly sweet aura around them that was associated with young heroes. Of course, Shadow might have had it worse; if that little rabbit girl had come along, he might have lost it.

"So, Shadow? Whatcha doin' on a G.U.N. Automated Jet? I thought you'd given up working for them! Or maybe you're going to steal something from them, huh?"

"If I was, Sonic, you'd have no business snooping where you aren't welcome! I'm doing this for me, so leave it alone!" Using the Chaos Emerald the Doctor had given him, Shadow attacked with Chaos Spear, but Sonic quickly dodged, leaving the power to pierce the plane's armour, whereupon Sonic, though holding up his arm to shield himself, lost balance and was swept off his feet by the force, causing him to tumble from the wing of the rapidly falling plane.

Shadow was unconcerned; no doubt Sonic's little friends would leap to his rescue, and even if they didn't, Shadow didn't care one way or another about that hedgehog. Why should he? He had no responsibility if he got himself killed doing something stupid.

He vaguely noticed the silver plane swiftly accelerate, dipping a sharp angle. Of course, he had more important matters to be concerned about; the damage to the jet, for example. The power of the Chaos Spear had in fact ripped the balance and control system to pieces.
That damned blue hedgehog! This was entirely his fault!
Shadow peered over the side of the jet, seeing nothing but clouds beneath him. As the cold wind rushed through his quills, he assessed the situation; there was nothing to jump onto, so he could either jump and hope for the best, or stay on the dangerously descending plane.
He decided to take his chances with the plane; it was better than hope. Hope was a useless emotion. Hope wouldn't show him his past, or get rid of that horrifying image of that girl falling at the hands of those who wished to harm him. Hope couldn't change the past or the future.

The air around the jet suddenly cleared; the clouds had disappeared and the ground seemed to be moving rapidly towards him. Two hundred metres, one hundred... Shadow was running out of time.

As he prepared to hit the ground, a solution suddenly formed in his head, along with an epiphany; he was the Ultimate Lifeform. He was Shadow the Hedgehog. And he had a Chaos Emerald.
He quickly grasped it in his gloved hand, willing the Emerald to carry him to his final destination, feeling the ground moving ever closer.

"Chaos... Contr-"
Shadow was suddenly whipped off his feet, and found himself feeling extremely heavy. It seemed gravity was acting on him. Realising he was on an ascending plane, he looked around to find himself lying on the left wing of the X-Tornado, Sonic crouching beside him. He glared in fury, leaping into a defensive stance.
"What's happening, Sonic? I was fine!"

"Fine, huh? Would you like to look at the wreckage of that jet?" Sonic signalled to a large ball of flames that covered the mangled remains of the once beautiful G.U.N. jet. "You could be more grateful to me and Tails; we just saved your life!"
"I told you, it was under control!" Shadow gripped the Chaos Emerald in his fist again. "Don't you dare try to follow me! Chaos... Control!"

In the blink of an eye, Shadow was gone, leaving in his wake a trail of destruction and confusion.

Opening his angry crimson eyes, Shadow found himself in a pitch black room. It was cold, uninviting, and something about it seemed to give out a bad vibe. Shadow noticed a few red lights darting about in the dark, and had only moments to react before a loud alarm began to sound. The lights in the room activated, showing a warehouse-like structure; cold and uninviting, the corrugated walls and the large, mysterious crates, all sealed tightly against any intruder, showed that no visitor was welcome; a theory strengthened by the many guard robots that hovered in the air.
Each one of them was armed with a Volcan Cannon.

They opened fire.

A/N: So, my first ever author's note.
I have written a few pieces of fanfiction before, so this wasn't my first; only my first uploaded. I'm not expecting it to be perfect; run-on sentences may be prevalent; I can never tell what is and isn't a run-on sentence. I think I managed to capture the characters' personalities quite well, though I'm not sure.
The next chapter will take a while; I don't know how busy I'll be in the near future.

Well. I don't suppose a request for reviews is needed; all authors want reviews, as long as they're not flames, or (at least in my case) annoying fangirls squeeing over their... 'bishie'? Save the squees for someone who agrees. Or at least, for romance stories.
Obviously, I don't own anything but the idea for the story. All characters etc. belong to their respective owners (duh).

I apologise to any fangirls who feel offended by my comments. If you are a fangirl, don't take it the wrong way, I know you don't all squee all the time, I was just trying to get a point across. Once again, my apologies.

Have a nice day, humans.
--BlackT.